Tamale Pie

Tamale Pie

½ C. Chopped Onion
½ to 1 block firm tofu (about 8 to 14 oz)
1 6.5 oz can olives
1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes (include juice)
1 15 oz can corn (include juice)
1 ¼ C. corn meal
1 C. sour cream
Chili pepper, cumin, salt and pepper to taste
1 C. grated mozzarella cheese

Cut tofu into small cubes about 1/3” square. Sautee onions and tofu cubes in olive oil using deep skillet (at least 2 ½ to 3” deep). Chop stewed tomatoes into small pieces. Add corn and tomatoes, including juice from both. Add drained, chopped olives. Mix in sour cream and corn meal. Corn meal can vary in absorbency…so the measurement is approximate. Top with grated cheese. Simmer covered on stove for about 30 minutes. Make sure it is low heat or the bottom will burn. Serve topped with sour cream, salsa, and tortilla chips on the side.

If you’re scared by tofu, you could substitute chicken, but honestly,…I prefer the tofu. Also, I make this a lot, and hardly ever have mozzarella so I use cheddar, pepper jack, or whatever I have. It is still good. Even my husband who doesn't like tomatoes, tofu, or olives likes it. It’s fast, easy, and makes a lot. Serves 6-8.

Avacado Bacon Pasta Salad

(This is actually a recipe I got from Karma, but I beat her to posting it! It's really good and works well doubled, too.)

8 oz dried pasta (bowtie works well)
2 medium avacados, diced
6 slices of bacon, cooked crispy, dried, and crumbled
2/3 cups fresh basil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves galic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup finely shredded Romano cheese or Parmigiano-Regiano

Cook pasta in salted water and drain.

In a large bowl combine pasta with olive oil and lemon juice. Add remaining ingredients and toss. Serve chilled or room temperature.

Chicken Pita Wrap

This is one of my most favorite meals right now. It is so yummy. I got this recipe from the same friend that gave me the Thai Tuna Wraps recipe. She's given me quite a few that I am absolutely in love with. I hope you enjoy this one, and the nutrional information is at the bottom.

P.S. The recipe says to use Teriyaki Sauce. When I used regular teriyaki sauce it wasn't as good. Use the Teriyaki Sauce "Baste & Glaze" it says on the bottle that it can be used as a bbq sauce. That sweetness gives the whole thing SOOO much more flavor!

Sariah's Disclaimer

First of all, let me apologize for the content of my recipes. I really don't know if they are what you would consider "healthy", but in our house anything that doesn't come from a fast food restaurant or the frozen dinner isle is healthy. And while it does ask for some canned ingredients, I think that is just for simplicity sake. You can easily use fresh foods for most of the canned stuff.

The next thing is that I apologize for my inconsistancy in color. All I could remember was that I had picked green as my color, but I couldn't remember which green as you can see from my posts! I'll try to be more consistent.

If you make any of my recipes and modify anything, please let me know what works so I can try it, too. Thanks!

Tuscan Pasta (For Your Slow Cooker)

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces
1 medum green pepper, chopped
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 can tomato sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans Italian style stewed tomatoes
1 cup water
1 jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
6 oz. thin spaghetti, broken into pieces

Place all ingredients, except spaghetti, in slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low for 4 hours or until vegetables are tender. Turn to high. Stir in spaghetti, cover. Stir again after 10 minutes. Cover and cook 45 minutes, or until pasta is tender. Garnish with basil and bell pepper strips, if desired.

Sweet and Sour Pork

Another recipe from the Preston 4th Ward Cookbook. This one from Connie Maughan, who is AWESOME, so I knew it would turn out.

Sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
2/3 cup water
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch (I usually mix this with sugar before adding liquids)
When thick and bubbly, remove from heat and add 4 Tbs. ketchup

Cut 1 1/4 pound Boston butt pork roast into 3/4 " cubes. Mix with:
1 Tbs cornstarch
2 Tbs flour
1 egg
Sprinkle salt on pork and fry in deep fat until brown. Remove from fryer when cooked onto serving dish.
Make ahead sauce. Pour over pork while hot.

Saute:
1/2 cup onion, sliced
1/2 cup carrots, sliced
1/2 cup green pepper
Don't overcook. Remove vegetables from pan and place on top of fried pork. 1/2 cup pineapple warmed at last minute with vegetables, or added cold. Pour sauce over top of pork and vegetables, pineapple, and serve with rice. Serves 6-8.

Sariah's notes: Ches mentioned he would have added the pineapple juice (we used canned pineapple chunks) to the sauce. You could also double the sauce and still have enough. We couldn't find a Boston butt pork roast, so Ches just bought a regular pork roast, and it worked great. We fed the missionaries and ourselves with it, so I'd say it fed more like 4-6.

Hawaiian Chicken

I hope I'm not stealing anyone color :)
We ate this when we were over at a friend's house in Oklahoma. We LOVE it!

Sauce:
1 can sliced pineapple (drained, use juice plus enough water for 1 ½ cups)--just use the juice for the sauce and save the actual pineapple slices until the last step.
½ cup honey
2 tbsp cornstarch
½ cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp ginger
1 chicken bouillon cube (I use more, probably 2 cubes, just go by how salty you like things.)
These amounts make more sauce than we've ever needed, but whenever I cut the recipe in half it doesn't taste as good for some reason. Could just be in my head :)

Bring all those ingredients to a boil in a saucepan. Boil for a good minute (longer won't hurt it).

Flour and salt 4+ chicken breasts, brown in hot oil. (We totally skip this step and just leave the chicken plain. Less fat and the taste isn't much different in the end)

Place chicken in a casserole dish, pour sauce over and bake uncovered 30 minutes at 350°

Add:
1 bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 can sliced pineapple

Bake 30 minutes longer.
Serve over rice.

Paul's Pork Tenderloin

Paul invented this marinade last month and we've made it more than once since then -- it's that good!

Marinade ingredients:

Vernors
Olive Oil (small amount)
Garlic, minced
2 Mangoes


Marinade pork tenderloin for a few hours (3-4 ish) and then grill. (Broiling in the oven works but grilling is, of course, best.

Thai Tuna Wraps

When we were living in Phoenix, we became really good friends with this couple. (I've mentioned her before in other posts on my regular blog). Since they had two kids and we had none they had us over for dinner all the time. One night when we were over she had made us this meal. I absolutely loved it, and about a year later when I was pregnant with Will I had cravings for it all the time. I would be talking to her on the phone while I was at work and I would mention my craving. She would tell me to come over after work and she'd have them made for me. Later when we had moved to Albuquerque, we really missed Christy's cooking. She had always promised to get me copies of all the things that she had ever made for us when we were over at her house. When I was pregnant with Sydnie I again had cravings for this meal. 3 months after she was born and I was up in Washington with the kids did I finally get copies of all her recipes, including this one. Shane loves it, and I love it, and I make it quite often. I hope you like it too.

Thai Tuna Wraps

INGREDIENTS:
2 TBSP lime juice
2 TBSP Mayo
1 TBSP Soy Sauce
1 TBSP Sugar
2 TBSP cayenne pepper
3 cups chopped cabbage
1 medium carrot grated
3 green onions chopped
2 TBSP cilantro
2 cans tuna
6 flour tortillas
12-18 large spinach leaves

DIRECTIONS:
In large bowl mix together cabbage, carrots, green onions, cilantro and tuna. In small bowl mix together lime juice, mayo, soy sauce, sugar and cayenne pepper. Add mayo mixture to veggie mixture. Spread mayo on each flour tortilla, spread cabbage mixture, place spinach leafs on top and roll up. Cut in ½ diagonally.

(the original recipe calls for red pepper slices. You place two slices on the mixture with the spinach leaves before rolling them up. I use cayenne pepper in the sauce instead.)

Month of January Posts

I know we're all probably feeling a little thicker then we would like to be after the holidays. I prepose that for the month of January we post recipes that could be considered healthy.