South Beach Chock-full-of-Veggies Chili

This is a delicious and healthy chili.

Instead of canned tomatoes I prefer using five on-the-vine tomatoes.

It would also be great with added ground chili or beef.

Go heavy on the spices - LOTS of chili powder, and consider adding cayenne.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 bell peppers, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 (15 ounce) cans pinto beans
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes

Directions:

1. 1
   In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add peppers, mushrooms, onion,celery, and garlic. Cook about 7 minutes until vegetables begin to soften. Add seasonings and continue to cook an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. 2
   Add beans and tomatoes with all their juices and bring to a gentle simmer. Simmer 25 to 30 minutes, until chili is fragrant and slightly thickened.

Crock Pot Carne Asada Nachos

Crock Pot Carne Asada Nachos

Made these for New Year's Eve 2014... Delicious!

I deviated from the recipe by keeping the steak, corn, and cheese in the crock pot (with about half of the liquid from cooking the steak). The toppings were served on the side.

Roasted Carrots with Honey-Mustard Glaze

Made these for Thanksgiving 2014. Yummy.

Breakfast Tostadas

Source: My kitchen
Tried it: YES
Thoughts: This was good. Really good. Threw it together in about 15 minutes.

• Prepare the corn tortillas (four)
• Light coating of olive oil, salt, garlic powder, heat on medium-high. Place in 250 degree oven to keep warm.
• Prepare the beans
• Drain/rinse one can black beans
• Heat over medium-high, smash with a potato masher
• Add desired amount of La Morena Chilpotle Sauce 
• Sprinkle with cumin
• Top tortillas with beans. Return to oven
• Prepare the green chilies
• Lightly coat pan with olive oil
• Heat one can of Trader Joe's Fire Roasted Diced Green Chile over medium high
• Sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin
• Add approx 1 Tbs half & half
• Top tortillas with green chili mixture.
• Top tortillas with white cheese (preferably Mexican cheese, but I used mozzarella)
• Broil on low while preparing eggs 
• Prepare eggs
• Lightly butter pan (medium high)
• Cook four eggs - over easy
• Sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin
• Remove tortillas from oven, top each with one egg, sprinkle with cheese
• Optional: Top with reserved chilpotle sauce

Chicken Shawarma Sandwich

Source: My own imagination and love of shawarma

Tried it: YES

Thoughts: Great! Next time I will put more chicken on the sandwich and use a pickle with more flavor. Best with the toum (garlic sauce) made a day ahead so it can be chilled overnight.

How this came together:

Inspired by the abundance of garlic sauce from the previous night's experiment, I stopped at the store for some thin pita and chicken and got to work...

• Placed the pita in a 250 degree oven to warm while the rest was being prepared.

• Thinly sliced the chicken and sauteed it in olive oil and greek spices:

• Chopped up some tomatoes & dill pickles, then layered the garlic sauce, chicken, tomatoes and pickles on the warm pita:

• Rolled it up, secured with a toothpick, and enjoyed with some other Mediterranean treats! Delish.

Toum (Lebanese Garlic Sauce)

Source: Mama's Lebanese Kitchen

Tried it: YES

Thoughts: Wow. FINALLY, a garlic sauce recipe that turned out just like the restaurant! Click here for the recipe (and watch the video - it helped the most).

The recipe made enough garlic sauce to feed an army... luckily it stores well!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peeled garlic cloves (about three whole bulbs)
• 1 tsp salt - I used Kosher
• 4 cups canola oil
• Juice of one lemon

Lettuce Wraps

Source: Followed a Food.com recipe: click here. It's a "copycat" recipe intended to taste like PF Chang's lettuce wraps.

Tried it: Yes... Yum.

Thoughts: I followed the recipe exactly for the sauces, but will change things up next time. Although everything was great when combined together, the "special sauce" alone was a little too sweet for me... I'll definitely cut the sugar content, and mix up the other ingredients a bit.

My changes for this time around were:

• Added the hot mustard & chili paste directly into the Special Sauce before refrigerating
• Used pre-cooked chicken: Trader Joe's Roasted Rosemary Chicken Breast (about 3/4 of the package). 
• Added Chinese noodles to the wraps (boiled them briefly, then crisped them in a lightly oiled pan)
• Added a bit more soy sauce to the hot mixture when cooking
• Sprinkled cayenne on each wrap before serving