Prosciutto and Mushroom Quesadillas

Ingredients

olive oil

1/2 medium red onion, sliced thin

2 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper

20 oz button mushrooms, trimmed and sliced

1 T lemon juice

1/4 lb prosciutto, thinly sliced

Gruyere cheese, grated

6 cups baby arugula or spinach

4 pieces lavash bread or 10-inch flour tortillas

Preparation

1. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add red onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes.

2. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and toss with lemon juice. Wipe skillet clean.

3. Divide prosciutto, Gruyere cheese, mushroom mixture and arugula among bottom halves of lavash bread or tortillas; fold top half over filling to close.

4. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in skillet over medium-high heat and cook a quesadilla until cheese melts and lavash is crisp, 1-2 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining quesadillas.

*Recipe from Everyday Food Issue 70

-Sarah

Gluten Free...

Okay, so I have been trying (key word being trying) to go Gluten free for about a month now. This has been hard, mostly I get really hungry and the only the around has flour in it! Ahh... I'm still working it -- Priss convinced me and then the doctor ordered it. As a result, I have been cooking differently lately. My greatest success recent was this...

Edamame Salad (my very own recipe!)

1 bag frozen shelled edamame (thawed)
4 roma tomatoes (diced)
1 can corn (drained and rinsed)
1 red onion (chopped)
1 tbls olive oil
4 green onions chopped (may substitute basil or chives)
1 small bag sliced almonds
2 tsp lime juice
1 small container crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste

In skillet heat olive oil over medium heat. Add red onion, edamame, salt and pepper and cook till tender. Add corn and lime juice and cook until heated through. Remove from heat and let cool to your desired temperature. Add tomato, feta, and almonds - stirring till combined. Top with green onions. Serve warm, room temperature, or cold. For those of you not going gluten free, this salad would go well with a side of cous couse also flavored with olive oil and lime juice.

Enjoy my latest creation!

Love, Rachel

Snowy Saturday

Well...it snowed!

This is a picture of our deck and the woods in the back of our home. I just love the look of un-touched snow...don't you? So, what do you do when you're snowed in? You turn on some music and cook!


For some odd reason, I was feeling French this morning, so I explored my French feelings and decided on crepes for breakfast!


Here's how I did it...

I whisked together 1 cup of all-purpose flour and 2 eggs.


Side note: I've started composting, so I tossed those pretty lil' egg shells right into my temporary composter that my mom gave me for Christmas. I let it fill up next to my sink and then when it's full, I dump it into my back yard composter. You can buy one like it here.


Ok - back to the recipe. Gradually stir in 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of water. Then added 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons of melted butter.


I heated my frying pan and poured about a 1/4 cup of batter into the pan making sure to tilt the pan in a circular motion so that the batter coated the surface as evenly as possible.


Cooked the crepes for about 2 minutes until the bottom was lightly browned, flipped 'em over for just a sec and then folded 'em up on my plate. They were looking a little plain Jane so I made up my own recipe with some blueberries that I lying around to sweeten them up!


I heated 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water on the stove top and then added my blueberries. After cooking them a bit, they were perfect and ready to dress the top of the crepes.


I dusted a little powdered sugar on top to get my sugar fix in honor of the snow day. Of course, the meal wouldn't be complete without a glass of cold milk...


DElicious!!!

And I think that Julia Childs would have been proud of me...Bon Appetit!!


*Crepe Recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com

Love,
Priscilla

Labels

Hey Everyone! In the past week I have had 5 days off of work due to weather! So, I've had a lot of time stuck inside with little to do. One thing I did do was go through all of the posts on our food blog and add labels to them (you know I was getting antsy if I went and did all that!). I thought this might be helpful now that we have so many posts because we can go to the blog and look up recipes by category. Like, maybe I want to make a dessert, so I can click on desserts and all the recipes with the dessert label will come up. All you have to do is write in the labels during the compose/edit phase located on the bottom right. I hope you all find this helpful.

-Sarah

Veggie Chili

Full of fiber, full of flavor.

Ingredients

3 cups water

1/2 cup Bulgur wheat

2 t. olive oil

1/2 cup red pepper, chopped

1 T. chili powder

1 t. minced garlic

1 t. ground cumin

2 cups water

1 cup crushed tomatoes

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 medium zucchini, diced

1/2 cup frozen corn

1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

cheddar cheese for garnish

sour cream for garnish

Preparation

1. Put 3 cups water and bulgur in a medium microwave-save bowl. Cover and microwave on high until bulgur is tender, about 13 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large pot. Add onion and pepper; saute 5 minutes.

3. Add chili powder, garlic and cumin; saute until fragrant.

4. Add remaining 2 cups water, the tomatoes, pumpkin, zucchini and corn; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

5. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.

6. Stir in beans and bulgur; heat through.

7. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

For me, chili is always better with cheese, so I always add a healthy portion of cheddar to my bowl. Some people also like a little sour cream. And you can have crackers or fresh bread with it as well. It's really delicious and healthy.

*Recipe from www.egglesscooking.com

-Sarah

Couponing

Okay ladies. I know I've talked to Kristen about this, but I've been into some serious couponing lately. Go to my other blog, The App Beahms, to read how I've been doing it. If you want to know more of the strategies to save lots of money, call me!

I love you girls and miss you tons! Let's see some new posts, especially Rach, Pris and KT (I'll help you when I come in 2 weeks). Sarah, yours rock!

~Lynn

Banana Bread

I eat a banana a day and sometimes I'll have some left over bananas at the end of the week that don't get eaten and turn brown in the bowl. Do not throw these away! Take the peel off (it's easier to do this now than later) and put it in a Ziploc bag and into the freezer. When you have built up enough, make some banana bread!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 5 medium-sized bananas) (if you're bananas are in the freezer, put them in the fridge the night before you want to make the bread)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

I like to eat banana bread heated with cream cheese on top. If you've never tried it that way, don't scoff, it's delicious.

-Sarah