.grilled chicken tostadas.

This was a new recipe I found in an old magazine of mine. We had been purging like mad a couple weeks ago and there was a magazine stash in our closet upstairs that had almost a dozen old Bon Appetit on the shelf! What a surprise!

I was really interested in making these because they're grilled, which means not as fattening ladies AND it meant I didn't have to turn my stove or oven on for anything. Even better! Very fast and easy to make. I know it's fast because we were starving and I had them done within a half hour.


Let's start with our prep.


Start with some shredded chicken. I had cut up a fryer the other night to make Jerk Chicken Salad w/ Grilled Pineapple Salsa. I only used the breasts for the salad, then cut the other pieces for fried chicken. There was still quite a bit of meat left on the carcass so I tossed the rest of the bird into a pot with celery, onion, bay leaf, and carrot and then filled it up with water. Left on a stovetop to simmer and I have some chicken stock now and all of this wonderful cooked chicken. I pulled it off the cooked meat and then seasoned with chili powder (about 1 tsp) and some salt.



Grate some Cotija cheese. This is a mexican cheese made from cow's milk. It's a harder cheese and when you go to grate it, you'll find it more or less just crumbles on contact. It also has wonderful flavor. I found this at Walmart. If you have a Mexican grocery store, you can also find it there.


Cotija doesn't melt like normal cheese, so for added measure I grated some cheddar. Mix the two cheeses together.

Seed and dice some tomato.


Finely shred some lettuce.


Dice a little onion.


Chop a little cilantro.

Now comes the fun part! Grilling!


Place three fajita size flour tortillas on a hot BBQ grill. I didn't put any kind of oil on these. They don't need it.


When they start browning nicely, flip them over. Let them grill for just a minute before putting the toppings on.


Pull all of the tortillas close to the edge away from the heat. Top with some pinto beans (drained and rinsed), a little onion, tomato, chicken, cilantro, and cheese.

Push them back a little, turn the heat down to low and put the lid down and let the cheese melt.


This is what they'll look like when done. As you can see the cotija cheese holds it's shape. Remove from the grill and bring inside.

Top with shredded lettuce, sour cream, and guacamole. We also put some salsa on top. Enjoy!

.jerk chicken salad w/ grilled pineapple salsa.

I'm always looking for new things to make. It seems I make the same things over and over from two or three ethnicities. Chinese, Mexican, Japanese...

Well, while I was perusing blogs, I came across one where the guy made a jerk chicken salad. It looked so good. I've only had Caribbean food a couple of times. Jerk food only once and WOW!!! It's so hot!!!!!! I like spicy food, but not spicy spicy where you can't even enjoy it, you know? But I loved the blends of hot and sweet, the cinnamon and allspice flavors mixed with citrus. So I thought I could temper the flames if I made the dish myself.

I tempered the flame so much.. it wasn't spicy AT ALL. I was a bit bummed because I thought there would at least be a little "pow"... so I'm going to adjust *my* recipe so it's more spicy. Here's how I did it.


JERK MARINADE:

In a blender, put:
2 scotch bonnets, seeded and roughly chopped
1 onion, chopped
the juice of 1 orange
the juice of 1 lime (including some zest)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp allspice
1 Tbsp thyme
1 1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup white vinegar

I cut this recipe in half because I didn't want a ton leftover. I wasn't sure when I would actually use it again. :)

Make sure when you handle these peppers that you wear gloves or use a piece of plastic wrap to keep from touching it. The oils and seeds will burn your skin horribly. If you do happen to get some on you and it's burning your fingers, soak in milk.

Puree all of the ingredients until nice and smooth.


Put chicken breasts (1 per person) in a ziploc. Pour the marinade in and let sit for 30 minutes on the counter, or in the fridge overnight. The longer you let this marinate the better!


The other day I made pineapple mango upside down cake. This pineapple is left from what I used for that. I diced it up the other night where I probably should have or could have left them in ring form. Whatever you have, put on skewers. We're going to grill the pineapple for the salsa. Don't used canned pineapple!!!


We are going to need some diced avocado. My friend, Marie left a comment asking how to get the seed out so I'm going to take a quick minute to show you how to dice an avocado. Cut it in half, around the seed. Sometimes the seeds pop right out. But you don't want to go digging around it to get it. Take the blade of your chef's knife and knock the seed with a little force to get the blade to stick into it. Twist it a little and then pull out!


Carefully use your fingers to pull the peel off. You want firm but not hard avocados. If they're too hard, they're going to have a very stringy tough texture. To ripen them up, sit them on your window sill a day or two where they will get sun. Once slightly soft, put in the fridge. If they're too soft, they aren't good.. and are usually even a little too over ripe for guacamole.

Lay the flat side of the avocado down on the cutting board and cut up and down, then side to side. This will dice it up!

Set the avocado aside. We'll need it for the salad.


Chop up a little cilantro and set aside.


Put half of a olive oil rubbed red bell pepper on a hot bbq grill. We want to blacken the skin up.


Take two thick slices of onion (I used spanish onion for this, but you can use any kind. Red onion would be prettier!) and skewer. Rub with olive oil and put on the bbq grill. Grill until soft.


Put your chicken on the grill and sear each side. This locks in the juice. Turn down the heat and continue to cook with the lid down until they're slightly firm. If you push the thick part of the chicken and it's no longer spongy, it's done. Don't cut into it as that will release all of it's juices.

A few minutes before the chicken is done, put the pineapple on the grill and cook until nice grill marks form and the pineapple is slightly soft.


When the onion is done, pull off skewers and chop up. Put in a bowl.


Pull the skin off the bell pepper, then cut into a small dice.

Put in the bowl with the onion.


Add the grilled pineapple, the cilantro you chopped, and squeeze half a lime in.


When you pull the chicken from the grill, let it sit for a few minutes. Then slice on the diagonal.


To assemble the salad, put some spring salad mix on your plate. Scatter some of the avocado around, then sprinkle a handful of rinsed pinto beans around too.

Put a handful of salsa right in the center.


Put the chicken down the center and drizzle lightly with mango vinaigrette (recipe below). Serve immediately.

MANGO VINAIGRETTE:
1 cup mango, diced
3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
juice of one orange
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp dijon mustard

Put all of the ingredients in a blender and puree until no lumps appear.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_87cbth5psz

.chili con carne.

I'm embarassed to admit this, but I have never made my own chili. I know! But I conjure up images of my childhood when my mother would make chili and it was this really bland, boring mix of beans and meat. (Sorry mom!!!)

I finally got up the courage to try it for myself because we're trying to use up the stuff in our freezer... and I had a pound of hamburger in there. It turned out awesome. I will never EVER buy what I usually buy again.


Dice up two jalapeno chilies. If you want heat, leave the seeds and pith in. If you don't want it hot, cut out the pith. That's where the heat is.


Mince 2 cloves garlic.


Dice one medium onion. I used red onion because it's what I had on hand. I would have preferred white or yellow.


Take 1 pasilla chili (also referred to as chili negro) and cut into pieces.


Put in a spice grinder until all ground up.


Heat a little olive oil in a stock pot. Saute the onion, jalapeno, and garlic for a minute.


Add 1 Tbsp cumin


and the ground pasilla chili. Sauteing the spices first brings out the oils and giving your food rich, bold flavor. Saute for about 30 seconds.


Add 1 can diced green chilies and saute for another minute or two.


Add your ground beef. About 1 1/2 lbs.


Break the hamburger apart as it cooks. This is what it will look like once it's all cooked through.


I used three different kinds of beans for this. You can use all of one, or mix it up like I did. Don't drain the beans. Add them all with their liquid to the pot.


And finally add 1 can of diced tomatoes. I used the spiced tomatoes that have chili spices in it.

Let this cook on your stovetop on low for 2-3 hours. This allows all of the flavors to marry together.

If you want to crock pot this, add everything to the crock once the beef has browned. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper!

Serve with crackers and cheese. Pickled jalapeno slices would be awesome on top too.

.baked beans.

This is a recipe I got from my Grandma Joyce years ago. She passed away 2 Christmases ago and I miss her. She was an amazing baker and cook. She taught me a lot of what I know and I'm so happy I had those moments with her.

This recipe I still have on a 3x5 card because I love looking at her perfect penmanship and I think back and remember her with great fondness. I miss you Grandma Joyce!

This recipe can be made in the crock pot, but baking in the oven is preferred. It makes them thicker and yummier!



In a bowl, mix together:

1 can of Busch's baked beans
1 can (rinsed) butter beans
1 can (rinsed) kidney beans
3 strips bacon, cut up
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup mustard
1 cup brown sugar







Put in an oven safe dish and bake at 325* for 1 hour or longer.



Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_19f56whsf4