Mini Cheddar and Beef Quesadillas with Black bean and Corn Salsa

This was last weeks "Taco Tuesday" installment. Man were these good. As I was making these mini quesadillas I thought of how I can't wait until football season starts up again so I can make these for a crowd. Even though I don't like football, I love making game day food and pickies (as we call them in our house).

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package soft taco sized flour tortillas
• 1 package shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 package fajita seasoning
• 1 pound ground beef
• olive oil
• 1 can corn
• 1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 limes
• 1/4 cup chopped chives or green onions
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon honey

In a skillet brown the ground beef. Drain the excess fat add 

2 tablespoons of water and the fajita seasoning. Stir to combine. 

Arrange taco shells on a work surface and build your quesadillas. Add a little cheese then some beef and then a little more cheese. Fold in half. 

After you have prepared all of the quesadillas. Heat up a griddle to 350. 

You can also use a skillet. Cook quesadillas about 2-3 minutes on each side until 

golden brown and cheese is melted. 

Serve with toppings of your choice: Lettuce, tomato, olives, sour cream, guacamole. 

To make the salsa, in a mixing bowl combine the corn, drained and rinsed black beans, juice of 2 limes, chopped cilantro, chives, honey, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. 

Eggplant Pizzas

Sorry for the picture quality, and lack of picture directions. I was on vacation when I made these guys for our Meatless Monday. So all I got was a picture of the finished product. These were delish. The kids loved making them- and wished I had brought more toppings than just the cheese. Next time I'll let them pick from a variety of veggie toppings.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large firm eggplant
• 1-2 cups prepared tomato sauce
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• olive oil
• italian seasoning
• salt and pepper 

Slice the eggplant into about 3/4 inch thick slices. Arrange on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. This will extract some of the moisture and bitterness from the eggplant. 

After about 30 minutes you can blot the eggplant slices dry with paper towels. This will remove the bitterness and excess salt.

Arrange eggplant slices on a baking sheet, brush each slice with olive oil and sprinkle with italian seasoning.

Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes. Don't bake to long that they become to mushy.

Remove from the oven and top with sauce and a generous amount of shredded cheese.

Place back in oven under the broiler for about 3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and golden brown.

I will for sure be making these again. This was the "cheat" version of the recipe I read. The original (see below), gives directions on how to make your own tomato sauce and what not. Since I was on vacation when I made these I took the easy way out. Check out both and see which one you'd like to try. Cheers!

Adapted from: Eggplant Pizzas

Spicy Italian Crescent Ring

This was a fun Saturday night dinner to make with the kids. It's easy enough to prepare, and pretty delicious as well. I served this with steamed broccoli and potato salad. It was the perfect combination of flavors and textures. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cans of refrigerated crescent rolls (8oz each)
• 1/2 cup roasted red peppers from the jar (well drained and sliced)
• 8 slices provolone cheese, halved 
• 1/3 pound sliced hot salami
• 1/4 pound sliced ham
• 1/4 pound sliced sweet capocolla 
• 1/2 cup banana pepper rings from jar (well drained)
• pepper
• sesame seeds (optional for garnish)

Unroll both cans of dough, and separate them into 8 rectangles. 

Arrange them so the bottoms slightly overlap making a sun shape.

Arrange the drained and sliced roasted red peppers around the ring.

Top the peppers with half of the cheese.

Layer the salami, ham and capocolla slices over the cheese.

Arrange the banana pepper rings on top of the meat.

Finally, add the rest of the cheese on top.

Fold each of the rectangle dough pieces up and over the ring, and tuck the dough underneath to secure it. Some of the filling may show. Sprinkle with pepper and sesame seeds.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top.

We ended cutting into ours and putting it back in the oven, the underneath was a little doughy and undercooked from it all being bunched up under there. So you may need to bake a little longer, or slice then return to the oven like we did so the heat can get under and in-between each slice. Cheers!

Adapted from: Spicy Italian Crescent Ring

Chicken and Broccoli Teriyaki Lo Mien

I made this a few days ago, and it was literally just a "throw together meal"- but it was so friggen good! I plan on trying this again with tofu instead of chicken to make a meatless monday meal soon. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Knorr Teriyaki Lo Mein sides packages ( I get these for $1 each at my local store)
• 3 cups broccoli 
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups cooked chicken chopped
• 1/4- 1/2 cup your choice of teriyaki sauce (depends how saucy you like it)

Make the teriyaki noodles according to directions. While those are cooking, throw your butter into a large skillet. Melt over medium high heat then throw the broccoli in there to steam. Stir occasionally you may have to add a little more butter or liquid to help it. 

Once broccoli is steamed and is a bright green, add in the chicken and 

cooked noodles. Stir in teriyaki sauce as needed. 

The kids went crazy for this, and I've been experimenting with variations since I originally made this bowl of goodness. So more Lo Mien blog posts sure to follow. Cheers!