One of the difficulties of having a kid who doesn't do well with food that had gluten in it or food that has dairy products in them is keeping some kind of variety. One of the best and easiest meals we had last week was worth sharing here.
Stupid Easy Tostadas
Ingredients:
tostadas or corn tortillas cooked to stiffness in oil
canned black or pinto beans
rice, white or spanish
cooked ground beef or chopped sausage or pepperoni or other meat
salsa, if wanted
Heat up a can of black beans or pintos or whatever kind of beans you like, we use the organic beans from Trader Joe's. Add some spices to give it some personality. Mash them up.
Spread a dollop of mashed beans onto a tostada, trying not to crack it. Once spread, add warmed up white or spanish rice. Top with browned ground beef, chopped sausages or whatever other meaty protein you like. If you like you can put a spoonful of salsa and a splash of hot sauce too but my kids aren't into salsa or hot sauce.
And if you can swing cheese then this is just begging for a layer of cheese and then a melting before adding the rice, beef and salsa on top. Other things you could swap in, corn, avocado, guacamole, tomato, grilled/sauteed onions, fried rice. Whatever you think might taste good just might taste good.
Its pretty easy to whip out six or eight of these in a quick period of time though you'll need a second can of beans. They are fast, pretty healthy, pretty easy and surprisingly awesome tasting. And you can enlist the help of your kids to assemble these too!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Bananas Foster
I don't know if this how Bananas Foster is supposed to be made but this is how I learned it from my step-dad who used to run a bed and breakfast and is a kickass cook (so's my mom for that matter).
Anyway, let's get to the good stuff.
Ingredients:
Bananas, the more the merrier
Brown sugar
Butter
Rum, optional
Vanilla ice cream
You may have noticed that I don't have measurements for the ingredients, you don't really need them. Add more or less brown sugar, more or less butter as you like. The rum you should probably go light on until you've got the other parts of the recipe down.
Start by melting butter in a skillet on medium heat, you do not want the butter to brown at all, just melt. Add brown sugar to the butter and heat until it gets all bubbly and gooey and awesome. Add sliced bananas until the skillet is mostly covered with a single to a layer and a half of bananas, they will cook down a little bit. Stir and heat until the bananas are thoroughly coated and just starting to soften. Add a dash of rum, you can opt to flambe this but do so at your own risk. Stir and serve immediately, preferably over some vanilla ice cream.
Make sure you make extra because I can promise you that people will want more.
Yep, this is a pretty easy one but wowee does it make for an amazing and memorable dessert!
Anyway, let's get to the good stuff.
Ingredients:
Bananas, the more the merrier
Brown sugar
Butter
Rum, optional
Vanilla ice cream
You may have noticed that I don't have measurements for the ingredients, you don't really need them. Add more or less brown sugar, more or less butter as you like. The rum you should probably go light on until you've got the other parts of the recipe down.
Start by melting butter in a skillet on medium heat, you do not want the butter to brown at all, just melt. Add brown sugar to the butter and heat until it gets all bubbly and gooey and awesome. Add sliced bananas until the skillet is mostly covered with a single to a layer and a half of bananas, they will cook down a little bit. Stir and heat until the bananas are thoroughly coated and just starting to soften. Add a dash of rum, you can opt to flambe this but do so at your own risk. Stir and serve immediately, preferably over some vanilla ice cream.
Make sure you make extra because I can promise you that people will want more.
Yep, this is a pretty easy one but wowee does it make for an amazing and memorable dessert!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Kickass Chicken Tortilla Soup
This is a very loose recipe that can be tailored to your tastes and outfitted with all manner of accessory food but we'll get to those in a bit. All credit goes to my wife for developing it.
Ingredients, more or less:
medium white onion
tomatoes, canned, chopped
fire roasted green chilis
roasted garlic salsa
better than bouillon soup base
chicken breast, pan seared and then shredded
Chalula hot sauce
cheese, grated
avocado, cubed
tortilla strips, recipe below
Pan sear the chicken with the onions and some of the fire roasted green chilis. Once the chicken is cooked, put it aside and continue cooking the onions and green chilis and add the tomatoes. Let it all come up to heat and then add the bouillon and water. Simmer for a while, add as much roasted garlic salsa as you like and continue to simmer. Add the hot sauce to taste, we like the Chalula brand.
The longer it simmers, the better the flavor will be and your house should smell insanely good by now. The cheese, avo, chicken and tortillas should be put in bowls buffet style
Ladle up a bowl and add any or all of the cheese, avocado, chicken and tortilla strips. I usually add a couple more dashes of Chalula here too. You can add whatever else you like that might appeal to you, we go with these because they work for us. Try whatever you like and let me know how it goes.
The truly best way to do this recipe is to make your own tortilla strips. Its surprisingly easy and the results make for awesome snacking material even outside use in the soup.
Tortilla Strips
6-8 inch white corn tortillas, the more the better, trust me
vegetable oil
salt
seasonings
Stack the corn tortillas five or eight deep and cut them into strips, don't worry about the curve on the edges. Heat up an inch or more of vegetable oil in a sauce pan and use a wok scoop to deposit and remove the rapidly cooking strips. Lay them on paper towels to cool and drain a little extra oil. Make sure to hit them with some salt (or whatever seasonings you fancy) while they are still hot. Once they cool, they are awesome in the soup and easily worth the little bit of extra time to make them. Oh and make alot more than you think you'll need because people will scarf them like mad.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever cheese you like, we usually use a medium cheddar but I will use Cabot Extra Sharp every so often for a different kick. The Better Than Bouillon is also swappable with whatever broth you prefer. The tomatoes could be fire roasted as well. Really, anything in the recipe can be changed around and tweaked to your particular liking though the garlic salsa seems to be a really key ingredient in making the whole thing come together so well. We use the Roasted Garlic Salsa from La Mexicana from Nob Hill (Raley's) specifically.
The soup also improves with age, as in, it gets even better if you make extra and eat it the next day or the day after. Just don't add any toppings until you've reheated and you'll be amazed at how complex and just downright awesome the soup is. I wish I had some pictures to share, maybe when I reheat a bowl tomorrow I'll add one.
Ingredients, more or less:
medium white onion
tomatoes, canned, chopped
fire roasted green chilis
roasted garlic salsa
better than bouillon soup base
chicken breast, pan seared and then shredded
Chalula hot sauce
cheese, grated
avocado, cubed
tortilla strips, recipe below
Pan sear the chicken with the onions and some of the fire roasted green chilis. Once the chicken is cooked, put it aside and continue cooking the onions and green chilis and add the tomatoes. Let it all come up to heat and then add the bouillon and water. Simmer for a while, add as much roasted garlic salsa as you like and continue to simmer. Add the hot sauce to taste, we like the Chalula brand.
The longer it simmers, the better the flavor will be and your house should smell insanely good by now. The cheese, avo, chicken and tortillas should be put in bowls buffet style
Ladle up a bowl and add any or all of the cheese, avocado, chicken and tortilla strips. I usually add a couple more dashes of Chalula here too. You can add whatever else you like that might appeal to you, we go with these because they work for us. Try whatever you like and let me know how it goes.
The truly best way to do this recipe is to make your own tortilla strips. Its surprisingly easy and the results make for awesome snacking material even outside use in the soup.
Tortilla Strips
6-8 inch white corn tortillas, the more the better, trust me
vegetable oil
salt
seasonings
Stack the corn tortillas five or eight deep and cut them into strips, don't worry about the curve on the edges. Heat up an inch or more of vegetable oil in a sauce pan and use a wok scoop to deposit and remove the rapidly cooking strips. Lay them on paper towels to cool and drain a little extra oil. Make sure to hit them with some salt (or whatever seasonings you fancy) while they are still hot. Once they cool, they are awesome in the soup and easily worth the little bit of extra time to make them. Oh and make alot more than you think you'll need because people will scarf them like mad.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever cheese you like, we usually use a medium cheddar but I will use Cabot Extra Sharp every so often for a different kick. The Better Than Bouillon is also swappable with whatever broth you prefer. The tomatoes could be fire roasted as well. Really, anything in the recipe can be changed around and tweaked to your particular liking though the garlic salsa seems to be a really key ingredient in making the whole thing come together so well. We use the Roasted Garlic Salsa from La Mexicana from Nob Hill (Raley's) specifically.
The soup also improves with age, as in, it gets even better if you make extra and eat it the next day or the day after. Just don't add any toppings until you've reheated and you'll be amazed at how complex and just downright awesome the soup is. I wish I had some pictures to share, maybe when I reheat a bowl tomorrow I'll add one.
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