Veggie Tacos/Burritos/Quesadillas

Ingredients needed:

1 package of extra firm tofu, drained and cut into small pieces

6 medium white mushrooms, sliced

1 bell pepper (whatever colour you like), sliced

2 limes, juiced

1 field tomato

5-6 cloves of fresh, diced garlic

1 package of taco seasoning

1 tbsp of dried oregano

1tsp of butter or oil 

1 package of soft or hard taco shells

Shredded lettuce or pre-made salad mix

Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Sour cream

In a large non-stick pan, heat butter or oil, then add tofu and let cook until all sides start to brown. 

Add mushrooms, bell pepper, garlic and oregano. Cook until mushrooms are brown and soft. Add lime juice, taco seasoning, and 1/4 cup of water. Stir and let the liquids reduce over medium low heat. 

Serve in hard or soft taco shells with tomato, lettuce, cheese and sour cream. 

Mini Mango Cheesecakes

I was racking my brain, trying to come up with a delicious nibbly bit for my Mom's annual Easter Egg party.  While perusing my favourite section of the grocery store - PRODUCE!!!! I found my inspiration.  Mango cheesecake.  Since it's a party and I want everyone to have a sample, I decided to make miniature cheesecakes instead.  This recipe yields a lot of batter... enough to make near 60 of the miniatures or if you use regular muffin tins, you'll get around 20 servings. 

Ingredients:

1-1/2 C. graham cracker crumbs

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp melted butter

2 packages of cream cheese (250g) - I used PC Brand's Blue Menu

3/4 C. granulated sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1/8 tsp salt

3 large eggs

1/2 C. sweetened mango puree - found near the canned peaches 

juice of 2 small limes

1 Tbsp vanilla

2 Tbsp plain lowfat yogurt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C

Line muffin tins with paper liners.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and melted butter.  Press mixture firmly into the bottom of each liner.

In a large bowl, whip the cream cheese with an electric mixer, until light and fluffy.  Add the flour, sugar, salt and eggs, continuing to beat the mixture and scraping the sides of the bowl until there are no more lumps.  Add the mango puree, lime juice, vanilla and yogurt, and continue to mix until all ingredients are combined.

Pour the batter on top of the graham cracker crust - I used a tablespoon to measure, and for the miniature muffin tins, 1 tablespoon of batter filled each liner.  For regular sized muffin tins, use 3 tablespoons of batter for each liner.  

Place in the oven and bake as follows:

The miniature muffin tin version needs 15 minutes in the oven; the regular sized muffin tin version needs 20 minutes.  Once the time is up, remove from the oven and let cool, placing in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or even best, overnight.

To serve, top each cheesecake with some leftover mango puree and a few pieces of fresh mango.

Refried Beans

The simplest recipe... ever!

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Olive or Vegetable Oil

1 Small Cooking Onion, Diced

1-2 Cloves of Minced Garlic

1 Un-drained Can of Black Beans

1 Tsp Chili Powder

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Directions:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, saute the onion in the olive oil until the onion is translucent.  Add garlic and continue to cook for another minute or two.

Add the can of beans, including the liquid and blend using an immersion blender until you have your desired consistency.

Stir in chili powder and salt and pepper.

Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until the mixture has thickened.

Serve as a filling for burritos, a dip for corn chips or a lovely topping for your favourite nachos.

Potato Jalepeno Soup

Not for the faint of heart, this soup is extremely spicy but yummy, thanks to the peppers. You could cut down the number of peppers to decrease the heat of the soup, but where's the fun in that?

Serve the soup with a dollop of sour cream and some corn tortilla chips.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup hard margarine or butter
1 large cooking onion, diced
4 jalepeno peppers, seeds removed and diced
2 cloves garlic
4 cups chicken stock
5-6 medium white potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup milk (I use skim milk)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large pot, over medium-high heat, melt butter and saute onions until they start to turn clear. Add jalepenos and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes more. Stir in chicken stock, and add potatoes. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let cook for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. Stir in milk and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat, and blend soup with an immersion blender, until smooth.

Cinnamon Cup Cake with Orange & Raisin Sauce

My best friend has a love of all things cup cake, and someone had posted a link on her blog with regards to a literal cup cake. It's a great idea, but the cake was a bit bland by itself. Once you added some frosting, it was a cake that could do in a pinch. The other night, I wanted a piece of spice cake, but it's so wasteful for me to bake an entire cake just for myself. Then I remembered the cup cake recipe and decided to play around a bit with it. The finished product is nothing to look at, but overall, the process took under 10 minutes. Not bad when you're really having a sweet tooth moment and there's nothing prepared in the house!

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 egg
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tbsp margarine or butter

1/2 a peeled, seedless navel orange, cut into bite size pieces

2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup raisins

Directions:
In a large mug, combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add the milk, vanilla and egg and mix until combined. Stir in the vegetable oil and mix well. Place mug in the microwave and set for 3 minutes on high.

While your cake bakes in the microwave, over medium heat in a small saucepan, melt the margarine and add the orange pieces. Let the oranges cook for a couple of minutes and then stir in your brown sugar and raisins. Continue stirring, while the sauce thickens to a caramel-like consistency. If your sauce becomes too thick, add a small amount of water and continue to stir until the sauce is the desired thickeness.

Remove cake from the cup and serve in a bowl. Pour the orange raisin sauce on top of your cake and enjoy. To let even more of the sauce soak into your cake, cut the cake into smaller pieces and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Living on your own can be challenging in terms of cooking for one. Sometimes I go grocery shopping and forget it's just me I'm shopping for. Here's a super-easy spaghetti sauce that tastes better than store-bought sauce, and can lend itself to using up your extra produce in your fridge. In my case, I had mushrooms that went unused a few days ago, and some home-grown hot house tomatoes from one of my co-workers.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
10 large white mushrooms, sliced
2 large, ripe tomatoes, diced
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp ketchup or tomato paste (whichever you have)
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Directions:
In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and let cook until the pieces start to turn translucent. Add the garlic and mushrooms, cooking and occasionally stirring until the mushrooms have reduced in volume, and a bit of liquid has formed in the bottom of your saucepan. Continuing to stir the mixture, add in the diced tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook until the tomatoes have lost their shape and released liquid to form a very watered down sauce. Add the ketchup or tomato paste and oregano and stir. Reduce to minimum heat and cover, leaving to simmer for at least 10 minutes. If possible, let the sauce simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.

Serve over your favourite pasta. To compliment your meal, also serve with salad and a nice crusty italian or french loaf.

Peach and Mango Chicken

I recently purchased a fairly large basket of Ontario peaches and there's just too many for me to eat as is. Tonight's creation is an attempt to use put these delicious little peaches to work in my entree. I only had dehydrated mango slices in my cupbord, but a real mango would've made this even better.

Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
10 mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic
4 small Ontario peaches (or 2 large peaches), peeled and sliced
1 mango, peeled and diced (or in my case, 5 slices of dehydrated mango, soaked in warm water for 10 minutes)
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp brown sugar
pinch each of salt and pepper
1/4 tsp chili flakes

Directions:
Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces to skillet and cook until no pink is showing. Add the sliced mushrooms and garlic, and cook until the mushrooms are tender and reduced in size. Add the cinnamon, salt, pepper and chili flakes and stir. Squeeze the juice of 1 lime over the mixture and add the peaches, mango and brown sugar. Turn heat down to medium and let cook until the peaches are warmed through and slightly soft.

Serve over pasta or rice.

Un-Rocky Road Brownies

Okay, so I don't like nuts in my brownies, which makes these ones un-rocky road style with the marshmallows on top, but you could undo the "un" part of it by adding your choice of nuts to the batter. Also, a girl's gotta use convenience foods sometimes when she cooks or bakes... this one's made with a store-bought brownie mix and chocolate icing. For an even more decadent treat, serve while still warm with a large scoop of your favourite ice cream.

Ingredients:
1 box of brownie mix + ingredients as shown on box
1 package of white mini marshmallows
4 T. of chocolate icing, warmed in microwave until runny.

Directions:
Bake brownies according to the package directions. Once baked, cover the top of the brownie with as many mini marshmallows as you like (I like to cover it completely with no brownie showing) and broil until the marshmallows are puffy and nicely browned. Remove from oven and set aside on a cooling rack. In a small microwave-proof bowl, warm the chocolate icing and then drizzle over the top of the marshmallows. The icing will seep into the brownie layer a bit, but the majority will stay on top of the marshmallows and will firm up as the brownies cool. Once cooled, cut into bars.

Garlic Dipping Sauce

As if the guacamole chicken pizza didn't have enough garlic, I decided that an extra treat for the crust was absolutely necessary. This isn't an exact science, the measurements are approximations, since I go by texture and taste when I make this.

Ingredients
3 T. margarine
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of salt and pepper
2 T. all purpose flour
Skim milk

Directions:
Melt the margarine in a small saucepan and lightly saute the minced garlic. Add salt and pepper. Add flour and stir well, allowing the roux to cook for a minute or two. Gradually whisk in skim milk until the sauce is creamy and smooth. Remove from heat and allow the sauce to cool. As the sauce cools, it will further thicken and resemble a creamy, pizza store-bought dipping sauce. Promptly refrigerate any unused sauce.

Guacamole Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:
1/2 T. active dry yeast
1/4 C. warm water
3/4 C. warm water
1 t. granulated sugar
1 - 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1 t. salt
1 T. olive oil
2 small avacados
Juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 large chicken breast, cooked and cut into bite size pieces
1 C. shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper

Directions:
Mix the yeast, 1/4 C. warm water and sugar in a small bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. Combine the flour and salt in a separate small bowl. Pour the yeast mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the 3/4 C. warm water. Slowly add the flour and salt mixture, until a stiff dough forms and add the measured olive oil. Knead the dough until it's shiny. Lightly brush the ball of dough with olive oil and place back in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let the dough rise for an hour or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, place the peeled and pitted avacado flesh in a bowl (I use a pyrex 9x9 dish, as it's easier to mash the avacado on a flat surface). Add the juice of one lime, 2 cloves of minced garlic, a pinch each of salt and pepper and mash the mixture with a potato masher until smooth. Cover and refrigerate, while you prepare the rest of the toppings.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Lightly oil a large pizza pan and set aside. Roll the pizza dough with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface until it's about 1/4" larger than your pan. Gently lift your dough and place on the oiled pizza pan, rolling in the edges to form an outside crust.

Spread the avacado mixture on the crust, layer with chicken, tomato slices, mushrooms and top with the shredded mozzarella cheese. Place in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until the edges and bottom of the crust are nicely browned and the cheese is fully melted.