Mexican Style Spaghetti Squash

I like trying new recipes that incorporate lots of veggies - and actually taste really good. I was perusing Printerest, looking for dinner ideas, and found this recipe that sparked my interest. I didn't feel like cooking the vegetables or using as many ingredients, so I put my own spin on it and came up with: a Mexican style roasted spaghetti squash bowl topped with fresh salsa and black beans. That's a mouthful. I'm somewhat obsessed with the combination of avocado, lime and cilantro. Cilantro is the crowing jewel to any dish for me. I can't get enough of the stuff! I also like black beans. The flavors are so fresh! You can use whatever veggies you like. 

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash
1-2 ripe avocados
1-2 Roma tomatoes
Half a yellow bell pepper
Half a small onion (or less, the flavor is strong)
1 can black beans, drained (or better yet, Caribbean seasoned black beans)
Half a lime
Fresh Cilantro
Olive Oil 
Salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray. Cut spaghetti squash into 4 pieces. Rub squash flesh with a little olive oil and sprinkle a little salt on pieces. Roast squash, skin side down on baking sheet, for 50 minutes or until strands are tender. 

10 minutes before squash is done roasting, make fresh salsa topping. Drain can of black beans. Dice avocados, tomato, bell pepper, onion and tear pieces of cilantro. Add beans and vegetables to a bowl. Squeeze juice of half a lime into bowl. Drizzle with light amount of olive oil. Sprinkle a tiny bit of salt. Gently mix everything together. 

When squash is done roasting, let cool for 10 minutes or until it's easy to handle. Scrape 1 section of squash into a bowl, fluff strands and top with a few spoonfuls of fresh salsa. Enjoy! 

Makes 4 servings. Or, if you're like me, you'll eat two helpings, because it's that good! Refrigerate squash and salsa separately if you have leftovers and enjoy the next day.

Easy Chicken Fajitas

Lately, we've been so busy at work, that dinnertime has turned into figuring out what we can make as quick and easy as possible, and hopefully it's healthy and affordable too. Sometimes that's a challenge. Last night we tried a new recipe that fit the bill. Easy chicken fajitas that were true to their name, found here. We tweaked the recipe a little. Add a side of rice and dinner is ready! I tried to snap a photo before I devoured these. They were good!

Ingredients
Cooking spray
2 bell peppers, sliced in thin strips
1 large onion, vertically sliced thin 
1 LB boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin slices
1 teaspoon chili powder (or substitute a PINCH of cayenne pepper)
1/2 teaspoon groung cumin
2 cans (10oz each) RoTel Original Dived Tomatoes & Green Chilies, DRAINED
8 flour tortillas (6 inch) warmed


Directions

1. Spray large skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Add bell peppers and onion; cook 7 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from skillet; set aside.
2. Add chicken to skillet. Sprinkle with chili powder and cumin. Cook 4 minutes or until no longer pink, stirring occasionally.
3. Return peppers and onion to skillet; add drained tomatoes. Cook 2 minutes more or until hot. Divide chicken mixture evenly between tortillas.

Ham and Cheese Crescent Rolls

This recipe is a no-brainer-must-try. Brought to you by Martha Stewart (yes, again). Perfect for dinner, lunch or breakfast/brunch. 

 

Anything involving Pillsbury Crescent Rolls is a winner in my book. Add ham and cheese and you've got a crescent roll on steroids. 

We made these the other night for dinner and Andrew loved them. He even enjoyed making them with me and said it was fun. I repeat. He said making dinner was fun. This recipe will now be added to my permanent rotation. I suggest you add it to yours too! 

Roll out the dough triangles. Add a dot or two of Dijon mustard. Top each with a slice of ham, then shredded cheese. Roll 'em up. Brush with a beaten egg. Bake for 12-14 minutes. What could be easier?

You may want to make a double batch. I ate 3 and Andrew ate 5. True story. Here's Martha's recipe for Ham and Cheese Crescent Rolls.

Ingredients
1 (8oz) can crescent-roll dough
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1-2 slices cooked ham, cut into 8 2-in square pieces (or just sliced into strips)
1/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese, plus more for topping (or cheese of choice)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
   
2. Open can of dough and roll out. Cut along the pre-scored lines and separate. Spread 1/4 tablespoon mustard over each piece of dough and top each with 1 piece of ham and 1 1/2 teaspoons grated cheese.
   
3. Starting with the long end, roll each piece of dough up toward the point to form a crescent and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Brush each crescent with egg and top each with a pinch of grated cheese. Transfer baking sheet to oven and bake until golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Serve.
   

Baja Fish Tacos

I'll be the first to admit that the thought of fish tacos initially did not sound appealing to me. In fact, I've never had one until Andrew made them for me last week. I was curious to see what they were like. Andrew had them when he was in Los Angeles a couple years ago and really liked them. He found a recipe on foodnetwork.com and decided to try it. I'm thrilled when my husband wants to tackle meal preparation! They were actually very tasty and the white sauce is what made them so good. We cut the food network recipe in half and modified a few things. Here's how we made them:

Ingredients:

White Sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise 
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
pinch of salt

Fish Tacos:
Vegetable oil
1 package/box tempura batter mix
1/2 can beer
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 large boneless talapia fillets, cut into 2-inch pieces
corn tortillas
shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes
1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions:

For the sauce:

Mix all ingredients together and set aside.

Preheat a fryer or a deep pot halfway filled with oil to 375 degrees F.

Mix half of the package of batter, but only use 1/2 the required amount of water and use beer for the remaining amount instead. Add the beer until the batter becomes almost like a heavy cream consistency.

Using the other half of the package of batter add salt and garlic powder, coat talapia pieces with the dry mix, then dip into prepared batter. Deep-fry for about 3 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through.

Place fried talapia pieces on warmed corn tortillas, add white sauce to fish, a little shredded lettuce, tomato and a squeeze of lime, to taste.

Andrew and I were extremely impressed with his new found deep frying skills. He didn't stop raving about his own meal! That was after we had to open all the windows and doors in an effort to air out the cloud of smoke from the burning hot oil. Lesson learned! Our house is just returning to it's normal scent, 6 days later. Haha! I've been bumping up the air freshener. 

These fish tacos were a delicious new way to eat fish - and tacos. Kinda like fish nuggets you could dip into the white sauce all by themselves. If you're skeptical about fish tacos like I was, give this recipe a try. You might really like it! 

Thin Crust Sausage and Pesto Pizza

I like experimenting with making my own pizzas. When I'm not making naan pizza, thin crust pizza is my next favorite. This time I made a sausage and pesto pizza with caramelized onions, Greek olives and mozzarella cheese. It. Was. Amazing.

Pillsbury has a really good refrigerated thin crust pizza dough. It comes in a tube like their crescent rolls. And it makes a good size pizza.

Ingredients:
11 oz Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Crust
2 links of Italian sausage (mild or hot)
8 oz jar of pesto sauce (I used Classico)
1 white onion
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
6-8 Ciliengni mozzarella balls, sliced in half (fresh mozzarella)
Greek olives, sliced in half


Directions:
Preheat oven according to pizza dough directions (350 or 400) 
Unroll pizza dough onto a large baking sheet that has been coated with cooking spray. Pre-bake crust for 10 minutes.
Saute the sausage, casings removed and broken into pieces, in a little olive oil, then remove from pan and set aside. 
Add thinly sliced onion to pan and cook until translucent and caramelized.
Spread pesto sauce onto pre-baked crust (as much as you like, I used about 1/2 the jar).
Top with shredded mozzarella cheese and a little grated Pecorino Romano cheese if you like.
Add the cooked onions and sausage.
Add the sliced Greek olives and fresh mozzarella. 
Sprinkle a little more cheese on top.
Bake about 10-12 minutes, depending how crispy you like your pizza. 

When it comes out of the oven, I slide it onto a wooden cutting board and slice it up. The flavor of the pesto with the onions and sausage is sooo good. Delicious! Andrew doesn't like Greek olives (he doesn't like olives of any kind for that matter), so I kept them on my half of the pizza. You can add whatever toppings you like - artichoke hearts, maybe asparagus or veggies. You can be very creative when it comes to pizza. The dough is a blank canvas waiting to be filled with your favorite toppings.