Frankies Spuntino Spaghetti and Meatballs

Spaghetti and meatballs is a staple in our home. It's one of our favorites and a true comfort food for us. This recipe is from the Frankies Spuntino cookbook which is apparently a super yummy Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, I haven't been there (yet) so I get to enjoy this whenever I'm craving pasta and it makes it more bearable :)
The recipe is huge so I cut in half. The tomato sauce is simple and yummy and I'll never make a different one ever again. The meatballs are tender and juicy. David's cousin made this recipe for us a few years ago and I was hesitant about the meatballs because they had pine nuts and raisins in them. They ended up being my favorite ever. The raisins plump up when you cook the meatballs and provide a sweet little bite that goes so great with the rest of the ingredients. This is a true winner!

Here's the ingredients for the meatballs. I mix all of this together and form balls, and then either bake them on a baking sheet until mostly cooked through or in a pan with a little oil until just browned on all sides. Then, either way I've cooked them, I put them in the sauce to finish cooking for an hour or so.

• 2 slices plain white bread, torn into large pieces (about 2 packed cups)
• 1 pound ground beef (90 percent lean, no fattier)
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• 2 Tablespoons finely grated Pecorino Romano, plus more for serving
•  2 Tablespoonscup pine nuts
• 2 Tablespoons raisins
• 1  teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup dried plain breadcrumbs

For the sauce:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 6 medium garlic cloves,chopped
• 2 (28-ounce) cans high-quality whole tomatoes, I prefer CENTO brand, with juices 
• 2 teaspoons salt

 Heat the oil in a high sided skillet. Open cans of tomatoes and have them ready. Add garlic and pepper flakes to the warm oil and cook for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and stir. I usually grab some scissors and cut the tomatoes up a little bit (they'll break down because the sauce cooks so long). Add salt. Cover and simmer on low for a few hours. 4 hours is ideal, but 2 should work fine. And the meatballs cook with the sauce for the last hour or so.
I always serve this with spaghetti, but it would work with any pasta, really.

 

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese

I saw this recipe today on food gawker and my mouth was watering. I've been obsessed with buffalo lately, I love the flavor! These grilled cheese are super easy to make, I kinda made it up as I went along so there aren't exact measurements.

Ingredients:

2 cans of chicken (this saves a ton of time, but feel free to use shredded chicken)

buffalo wing sauce

cheese

red onion

bread

butter

Heat a flat pan on medium heat.

Meanwhile, drain chicken and combine with buffalo sauce in a bowl. I added enough buffalo sauce to make it look like tuna with mayo, make sense? Grate cheese and add it to the meat & sauce mixture, you want a good amount since this is a grilled cheese after-all. Chop up a little red onion and mix it in too.

Take two pieces of bread and butter one side of one slice. Put a good amount of the meat mixture on the bread (with butter on the outside). Take your other piece of bread and butter one side then place it on top of the sandwich.

Grill on flat pan til both sides are golden brown. Cut in half and enjoy!

Turkey Kabobs (turkey tenders)

My husbands family has these every year on the 4th of July and they are quite popular. For some reason I haven't ever been a fan of turkey, but I really like these and I have slowly been liking turkey more and more.

These are really delicious & lean, and go great with any side dish.

Ingredients:

turkey tenders

1 c. 7-Up (I use Sprite)

1/2 vegetable oil

1/4 c. soy sauce

1/2 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. horseradish powder

Cut turkey into chunks and place in ziploc bag with remaining ingredients. Marinade overnight in the fridge. Grill over medium heat for 5-7 minutes each side, turning only once.

About the recipe:

I'll be honest, the first time I read this recipe I thought horseradish powder said worchestershire sauce, how that happened...I have NO IDEA!! So I still replace mine with 1/2-3/4 t. worchestershire sauce and we love it. So if you don't have horseradish powder, use worchestershire sauce.

The turkey tenders I found were in a package from Jennie-O and came in 3 large pieces. For the two of us I used 1 1/2 and froze the rest. The first time I cut them they were large enough to go on the grill alone, the second time they kinda fell apart so we skewered them so they wouldn't fall through on the grill. I recommend cutting them smaller for more flavorful meat. They taste great reheated as leftovers or even cold and shredded on a sandwich.

Easy Taco Salad

Every week I ask my husband what he wants for dinner, and every week he says "taco salad". It's kind of become a joke because I feel like it's such a random thing to crave all the time. I don't make it every week, but I try to fit it in as much as my taste allows. It's a super easy and fast dinner, and it's completely customizable which is good for us because we like a lot of different toppings!

Here's some things you need for 2 servings:
1 head Romaine, chopped small (or any leafy green. Spinach works too)
1/2 pound of Ground beef, cooked and drained (we eat everything cool on the salad, not hot)
1/2 can each Kidney and pinto beans, drained and rinsed (I freeze what we don't use for the next time)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Handful of crunched up tortilla chips on top
We top our salads with either a dollop of sour cream or homemade ranch dressing
I've also added olives, chopped tomatoes or salsa, cilantro, limes, diced onion or green onion and avocado!

The meat and beans are hidden underneath!

We pile everything up in a big bowl and top each salad with our favorite things. It's a fun dinner especially for guests, I think, because you get to pick and choose your toppings. Hope you enjoy!

Pot Roast- In the Crock Pot!

I think one of everyone's favorite Sunday meals is the trusty pot roast and vegetables. It was a common smell on Sunday afternoons when we got home from church. My favorite part was always the yummy, tender veggies. I think I thought it was a difficult dish to make, when really it takes less than ten minutes to get it all in the pot and cooking! I heart crock pot meals. I especially love buying a bigger piece of meat on sale for a meal like this and then I use the leftovers for one or more meal remixes. I turned this leftover meat into yummy fried shredded beef tacos.

Here's what you need:
Serves at least 4 people (just two of us ate this and I had a ton of leftovers)
3-4 pound chuck roast (depending on the size of your crock pot)
3 non baking potatoes (I really prefer the creaminess of yukon gold)
Half a red onion
1 cup baby carrots
Big handful of green beans, stems cut off
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon season salt
All I did was put the roast on the bottom of the pot, put the season salt on it, then threw in the veggies, potatoes and onion cut into big chunks and everything else thrown in on top. Then I covered them in the seasonings and salt and pepper. You can add other seasonings if there's a flavor you prefer- These are just the seasonings we like here. I put the top on, put it on high for four hours (or you can do low for six or more hours). When we ate, the meat was SO tender, the veggies were perfect and not overdone or soggy. I took some of the juice at the bottom of the crock pot, ladled it into a pot on the stove and simmered it on low to reduce it a bit for a quick pan gravy. Make sure to taste it for seasonings because I added a little more salt. Serve the meat with the veggies and top it off with a little of the gravy. It's an all in one meal pretty much. All it needs is a little bread on the side. I think this dinner is fancy enough for Sunday dinner but simple enough for a weeknight meal, like we had it last week. Yum!

new enchilada recipe

My husband and I love green enchiladas and I love my mom's recipe. But sometimes I try to mix it up with a new enchilada recipe, usually they aren't better than my mom's...but this one just might have hers beat.

Sorry mom!

I found this recipe and was very intrigued but knew we wouldn't like a couple things in it. So I changed it up a bit and I'm posting my variation on the recipe below. I took out the serrano pepper and also the avocado, we love avocado...but didn't want them in our enchiladas.

Sauce Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3/4 cup medium salsa verde
1/2 cup fat free sour cream

Enchilada Ingredients:
shredded cooked chicken, however much you prefer (I used one large breast)
Shredded cheese, however much you prefer
8-10 corn tortillas

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Saute garlic, for 1 minute. Stir in flour, constantly stirring, and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in the chicken broth, cumin, salt and pepper and bring to a low boil. Once boiling, whisk in the sour cream, salsa verde and cilantro. Remove from heat.

Spray/grease an 8x8 baking dish. Add 1/4 cup sauce to the bottom of the pan. Add chicken and cheese to the center of each tortilla and roll, placing seam-side down in the dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas (sauce may be thin at this point but will thicken a lot in the oven). Top with leftover cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes or until bubbling.

These cook much quicker than normal enchiladas since the sauce is already warm. I highly recommend this recipe!

recipe review

Over the weekend I tried 2 recipes I've never tried before and both were a hit! One was on my menu from last week and the other is on my menu for this week (not posted yet ). 

The first one I tried was Creamy Black Bean Chicken Burritos

 photo credit

The recipe calls for smoked paprika & 1/2 tsp of chipotle peppers. I didn't have either of those and I didn't want to buy an entire can of chipotle peppers for 1/2 tsp. So instead I added a little regular paprika and a little taco seasoning (maybe 1 T). The recipe is super easy to make and only took about 30 minutes total. After the mixture was done I put 2 large spoonfuls on a tortilla, sprinkled with cheese and folded them up like a burrito. Then I put them on a hot flat pan and grilled either side til they were crispy.

And there ya go a delicious crispy chicken burrito. I thought they were delicious and so did my husband :)

The next recipe I tried was foil dinners from Little Miss Momma

To be completely honest I had never had a foil dinner in my life, my family never went camping so there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity to try them. So I was intrigued when I found the recipe. I thought they were delicious and so so so easy. Anything cooked on the BBQ that doesn't require the oven to be turned on in warm weather catches my attention. Try them out, they were yummy!

 

photo credit

They took about 15 mins to prepare and only 15-ish minutes to cook.

Twice Baked Potatoes

These really take me back to my childhood. Sunday dinner in our house was special and usually involved barbecued chicken or steak, salad, my mom's homemade bread and a potato side. I liked sides even more than the main dish most of the time, especially when I saw her scooping out the middle of potatoes in preparation for twice baking them!

Twice baked potatoes are super easy to make and they taste amazing.
Here's what you need (makes 6 halves):

3 large russet potatoes, scrubbed clean
1 cup sour cream
4 tablespoons butter
2 green onions, chopped
2 cups cheddar, shredded
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Bake your potatoes in a 350 degree oven for an hour and a half, or until tender. Cut each potato in half and carefully scrape the potato insides into a large bowl. Take care not to scrape too much out because you want it to keep its shape. Add the rest of the ingredients into your bowl (I save a little cheese to top them with) an mix well, breaking up any potato chunks.

Now fill each potato with the filling and place it on a baking sheet. Top with more cheese if you want, or just more green onions. Bake the potatoes at 350 for about 15 more minutes or until the cheese on top is melty and filling is heated thru. These go well with grilled meat, pulled pork sandwiches or as a leftover lunch the next day. :)

Mexican Lasagna

I just tried this recipe for the first time last night and we really enjoyed it. I hope you do as well!

Mexican Lasagna

recipe source

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

3/4 c. salsa

1 pkg. taco seasoning

4 flour tortillas

1 can pinto beans, drained & rinsed

1- 1 1/2 c. grated cheese (I used cheddar)

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Brown your beef and drain. Add salsa and taco seasoning (may not need the whole pkg, season to taste) and simmer for 10 mins.

Grease an 8x8 square pan and spread 1/2 c. meat mixture across bottom of pan.

Layer 2 tortillas on top of that.

Pour half the remaining meat on top of the tortillas.

Pour half of your can of beans on top of that followed by half of your cheese.

Layer once more with tortillas, beans & cheese.

Cover and cook for 30 minutes, let sit for 5 minutes after removing from oven.

We ate this with a little sour cream on the side and a salad.

You could easily do more layers with only one tortilla and less of your meat & beans per layer. You can experiment with it.

Swedish Meatballs over Mashed Potatoes

I love pretty much anything served over mashed potatoes (one of my absolute favorite things). I saw a recipe for Swedish meatballs last week and thought that it might be fun to try them out. I've never made them before but I have had them at Ikea :) The photo I saw of the pretty little meatballs sitting in a creamy, brown gravy really got my attention. I added it to my weekly menu and made them tonight. I cut the recipe in half and it made about 15 meatballs which is more than enough for the two of us. The meatballs were tender and flavorful and the gravy was sooo yummy. I mixed up my own version of my favorite potatoes to serve under the meatballs. 


Here's the recipe (below it's cut in half), and my variations are in parentheses.

1 slice fresh white bread (I used sourdough)
1/8 cup milk
4 tablespoons clarified butter, divided ( I just used regular butter and still used all 4 T)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon kosher salt in the meat + 1 teaspoon koser salt in the gravy
3/4 pound ground beef (I only used beef, not pork)
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice (left this out)
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups beef broth (i used chicken)
1/4 cup heavy cream


You can read the directions on the actual post, but I'll break down what I did since I changed it up a bit.


Soak the bread in the milk in a little dish.
While it soaks, saute the onion (which I grated, not chopped) in one tablespoon of butter for about 3 minutes. Then turn the heat off of the onions and let them sit.
Now take the beef and put it in your kitchen aid bowl (if you don't have a kitchen aid, just mix it by hand. This tip was amazing tho, and from Stephanie Meyer's recipe). Add the egg yolk, salt, nutmeg, pepper to the meat. Add the cooled onions and milky bread. Now mix it for like 2 minutes in medium with the paddle attachment.


In the same pan you cooked the onions, add another tablespoon of butter, heat on medium-low and start forming meatballs. As you form them, put them in the pan. Brown them all over, but don't worry about cooking them through. As they are done browning, place them in the crock pot. 


Once all of the meatballs are browned, put in the last 2 tablespoons of butter, melt it, and whisk in the 2 tablespoons of flour. Cook it for about 30 seconds. Then add the broth and cream plus salt and pepper to taste. Stir it until it's decently think, then pour over the meatballs in the crock pot. I simmered mine for about 3 hours on low. That's it!


As for the mashed potatoes- let me tell you two things that will change your life. 1) YUKON GOLD. For mashed, NOTHING is better. They're creamy, golden and perfect. 2) A POTATO RICER. I thought they were a bulky piece of whatever that didn't make a difference. Well, I was wrong. 


Golden Mashed Potatoes:


4 Large Yukon Golds
2 Tablespoons of butter
2/3 cup sour cream or cream cheese or both
1/2 cup milk OR cream OR buttermilk
1 or 2 or 3 teaspoons of salt (add it slowly and taste as you go)
1 teaspoon of pepper (I like a lot of pepper)


Cut your potatoes the same size (like 1 inch). Place in a pot and cover them with cold water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, simmer for about 10 minutes or until you can pierce the potato piece and it falls apart. Rice the potatoes a scoop at a time into a bowl. I like to put the other ingredients in first so as the hot potatoes fall on the cream cheese and butter, it melts it. Then add in the liquid and stir. DON'T stir your potatoes for ten minutes. They'll get gummy and cold. Stir until everything is incorporated and thank me later. 

Easy Ranch Chicken Pillows

We pretty much love anything wrapped up in a crescent roll and baked. Who doesn't?! Well the other night I was thinking about what to make and this popped into my head. It is a combination of a couple recipes. I cooked an extra breast at the beginning of the week and put it in the fridge. When it came time to make this it took like 15 mins in total to prepare. Simple. 

If this is for a family you'll want to double the recipe, this feeds me & my husband.

Ranch Chicken Pillows

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast cooked & shredded (I bbq'd mine)

1/3 cup cream cheese, softened (1/3 less fat tastes great in this)

1/3 cup cream o ckn (or more depending on how saucy you want it)

2 t. Ranch Seasoning (ranch dressing mix)

1 pkg. crescent rolls (the ones with 8 in them)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine cream cheese, cream o ckn & ranch seasoning in a bowl. Add pepper to taste or more ranch seasoning. Add chicken and mix well.

Open crescent rolls, spread them all out on a cookie sheet. It should be one large rectangle. Take 2 crescents and press the centers together making 4 small rectangles in total (make sense?).

Add a spoonful of ckn mixture in the middle of each rectangle, fold sides over and seal edges.

Bake for 13-15 mins, checking often after 13 mins. You want them to be golden brown, like a normal crescent roll.

Serve with a side of veggies and enjoy!

Sorry no pictures again...my point & shoot got wet last weekend :(

Natalie's Menu

It's already Wednesday! We skipped a few days of making dinner to meet up with friends we hadn't seen in years. But I'm back on track tonight! And I'm planning on making these yummy no-bake cookies since it's so dang hot.

source

Sunday: Homemade hamburgers, fresh cut french fries with lots of salt + pepper and salad.

Monday + Tuesday: Ate out

Wednesday: BBQ chicken drumsticks, roasted lemon broccoli, garlic bread

Thursday: Chicken enchiladas + green salad (we didn't end up getting to it last week)

Friday: We're shooting a wedding in LA so we'll grab dinner afterward.

I'm excited about chicken drumsticks tonight. We eat chicken breast every week and my husband likes a break with a little dark meat every once in a while and these organic ones I got were on sale for less than $3 for a pack of 5.

Steak Sandwich with Chimichurri

David introduced me to chimichurri when we came across it already bottled at a farmer's market a few years ago. It's an argentine type sauce they put on meat and vegetables. I tried it and fell in love! It has so few ingredients, a while ago I figured I'd try to make it myself. It's tangy and fresh and amazing. We made steak sandwiches marinated with a Paula Deen's marinade recipe (just the marinade not the horseradish).

Chimichurri "sauce" ingredients:

bunch of parsley
6 cloves of garlic
juice of one lemon
splash of vinegar
1/4 to 1/3 cup of olive oil
lots of salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in the food processor and blend until it becomes almost creamy looking. Marinate meat in it or just top your sandwich with it, like I did.
I toasted french rolls, sliced and spread a teeny bit of butter on them, topped with the grilled, thinly sliced steak, spinach and LOTS of chimichurri. I ate two and didn't want to stop there. :)

Dinner this week

Monday: David's making us homemade ravioli! Using this pasta recipe

Tuesday: Penne with spicy sausage and tomatoes

Wednesday: Corn chowder with bacon

Thursday: Shrimp in white wine + garlic

We eat out on Friday nights a lot, and we'll probably make homemade pizza on saturdays.

I'm also planning on making this garlic vinegar dressing this week. It looks amazing.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Hey everyone, this is Dresden, hopefully I'll be posting a recipe every week or so to add to Natalie's delicious recipes! Want to know more about me? Visit my blog and feel free to visit often. Today I'm sharing a recipe that happens to be one of my very favorite. I cook this as often as my husband will let me, especially because it's really easy and quick. I hope you enjoy!


Ingredients:
3 cups Rotini, cooked & drained (or any other pasta works, I use penne a lot)
2 Tbl. butter
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced in strips about 1/2" thick
3 glove of garlic (minced)
1 bunch green onion chopped
2 Tbl. Cajun seasoning
1 tsp. ground pepper
1 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne pepper)
8 ounce heavy cream
1 green bell pepper (cut up)
1 red bell pepper (cut up)
8 oz. fresh mushrooms quartered (optional)
½ cup parmesan cheese grated (fresh really makes a huge difference)


Directions:

Cook rotini (or similar pasta) according to the package directions. Drain and set aside. Melt butter in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Add chicken. Cook stirring frequently done (10-15 mins). Add garlic, onions, Cajun seasoning, ground black and red pepper. Add bell peppers and mushrooms. Stir to combine. Cover for 5 minutes.

Uncover stir in cream and let it simmer another 2 minutes. Stir in parmesan cheese. Stir in cooked pasta and serve immediately.

Side notes: Cajun seasoning can be a little spicy,
I would start with a little less if you do not like spice.
This makes quite a bit, for two people I usually only do 1 large chicken breast and 2 cups of pasta. This recipe can be stretched really far by adding more pasta and whipping cream.



garnish with more parmesan cheese

BBQ Chicken Pizza

above:pizza ready for the oven

I'm so excited to welcome Kari to the blog! She posted the great recipe below and I'm patiently waiting to see what else she will add to this neglected blog! Hopefully things will slow down for us so I can actually remember to take pictures of my dinner before I eat it. :)

Yes, another pizza recipe. But who doesn't like pizza? It's always a good go-to and since the dough is so easy, and there's a million variations that work to mix things up. BBQ chicken is one of my faves. Plus its easy.

Start with my favorite pizza dough recipe.
Last time I made it I used half white flour half whole wheat flour to make it a little healthier.

Let it rise, roll it out- Here's what you can top it with:

-BBQ sauce instead of tomato sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's is my favorite BBQ sauce right now)
-tons of mozzarella
-grilled chicken
-chopped onion: red onion is good, green onions, or shallots (david's favorite)
-chopped fresh cilantro
-sprinkle of salt and pepper
-sprinkle of red pepper flakes to give it a little spice
For a hawaiian twist you can even add some pineapple.

Bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes- or until the cheese is bubbly and brown and the bottom of the pizza is browned.

Stuff that looks good

It's pizza day at our house. My dough rising as I type. I even made homemade sauce for the pizza this time! I was browsing through tastespotting.com and found 3 new takes on pizza dough I need to try SOON.

Pizza bites look fun and easy, just to mix things up from the normal pizza pie.

David loves homemade breadsticks so I'll need to give these a try as well.

And last but not least, I NEED to make this stromboli. Instead of the feta I'd use mozarella, since I'm quite picky about my cheese selections.

On a note completely unrelated to pizza, here's an image of a dinner I made last week. I barbecued chicken legs and vegetable kebabs. I'm so excited to get back into grilling now that it's finally warm.

Crock Pot Chicken

Ok. This is seriously one of the easiest dishes I've ever made, especially when you taste how good it is! I'm writing it from memory, but I found it in a family cookbook. I will say that it's far from healthy. But sometimes you need something quick and easy and delicious. Serve a big salad next to it to make yourself feel better about the butter! :)

Here's what you need:

1 brick cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 ranch packet
1 can cream of chicken soup (you could use cream of anything probably)
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
3-4 chicken breasts

Let the butter and cream cheese come to room temperature, then mix everything together (I mix it all in the crock pot, then add in the chicken on top.) Cook for about 4 hours and serve over cooked rice. It's so good!

Teriyaki Pineapple Chicken Burgers

Something about a big piece of pineapple on top of a hamburger just sounds so refreshing- After a recent trip to the Trolley, one of my favorite little places to eat in Utah, I decided to recreate it on my own.

What you need:

Grill a chicken breast that's been marinated in teriyaki
Pineapple slices (I used canned rings because the fresh ones didn't look good)
lettuce
some kind of roll or hoagie

I sliced the chicken breast (after letting it rest, of course) and loaded it on a warmed roll with the pineapple slice and lettuce. It was so juicy + refreshing. It's the perfect meal for the warmer weather.

Cilantro chicken quesadillas

I love Guru's but it's a bit expensive. One night Christiana and I decided to recreate their Cilantro Lime Quesadilla so we could enjoy it at home. It was a success! You can mix and match the ingredients but I think the chili powder on the outside of the tortilla really makes it. Here's how to assemble:

Ingredients for 2 large quesadillas (serves 4-ish)

1 bunch cilantro
4-5 garlic cloves, peeled
2 limes
flour tortillas (we prefer the uncooked ones)
1 chicken breast, cooked zn the oven and shredded
2-3 cups of shredded mozzarella and white or yellow cheddar (you can shred as much as you like and combine)
canned corn
black beans

To make the paste that you'll spread on the tortilla, combine cilantro (just the leaves), zest and juice of both limes and garlic cloves in a food processor or blender and blend until it's a paste. I also add a little salt and pepper to this mixture.

Spread the paste on two tortillas. Cover one of the tortillas in chicken, cheese, corn and black beans. Put the two tortillas together and top one side with a little chili powder. Spray your pan and heat. Cook each side of the quesadilla for a few minutes, or until very brown and the cheese is melted. I like to cut mine with my pizza cutter. I served it with the salsa (see below) and sour cream.



We served the quesadillas with Cafe Rio's cilantro lime rice:

1 1/2 cups rice (I like jasmine)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 limes
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 stick of butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 bullion cubes
3 cups of water


Melt butter in a pot and add onion, celery and rice and the 1/8 teaspoon of salt. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the chopped cilantro, zest in the lime zest and add the juice of both limes as well. Add the water and bullion cubes. Bring to a boil and cover. Lower heat to low. Cook for about 20 minutes.




I also made Kelsey Nixon's guacamole-tomatillo salsa. It was really good with the quesadillas and with chips.