Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Cilantro Lime Chicken Enchiladas with Avocado Cream Sauce....

We love enchiladas and had a good go to recipe, but since we're huge fans of avocado I knew I had to try this recipe when I saw it on Pinterest, and oh my goodness it was AMAZING! This isn't the simplest of recipes but it's totally worth the little bit of effort because these Cilantro Lime Chicken Enchilada's with Avocado Cream Sauce are SO delicious!



Tip from Rebecca's kitchen: My local grocery store didn't have any poblano peppers in stock so I substituted with anaheim peppers. Using a rotisserie chicken definitely made this recipe easier and added to the delicious factor! We had extra sauce and a little extra chicken; both kept well so we used those to make quesadillas for our little man which he loved! These enchiladas are also awesome as leftovers!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Black Bean Tacos with Avocado...

These black bean tacos have been another of our favorite easy and delicious meal finds from Six Sisters Stuff, they have an awesome blog that has tons of great recipes and craft ideas!

We've made them with corn tortillas and also with flour; both are delicious. Honestly, we only had a couple corn tortillas this time when we made them, and I actually think it was easier with the flour tortillas as they held up better to the flipping in the pan and didn't crumble or break apart like corn tortillas can sometimes do. They were also a bit easier to eat. We're big fans of avocado too, so anything that adds that ingredient into the meal is usually something we'll like.

Look at that beautiful mixture of black beans, red onion, fresh cilantro and spices...YUM!
Corn tortilla topped with some Monterrey Jack Cheese ready for cooking....
 Black bean taco with corn tortilla ready to be devoured...
 Black bean tacos in flour tortilla ready for consumption...

Tip from Rebecca's Kitchen: We've made these with a couple different types of cheese and each time they turned out great. We've tried Pepper Jack, Smoke Gouda, & Monterrey Jack. We typically just top them with sliced avocados and enjoy!

These are an awesome quick weeknight meal or weekend lunch; the prep time is very short to pull them together and cooking them only takes a few minutes. Give them a try for your next Meatless Monday meal. You won't be disappointed!


Monday, April 22, 2013

Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas...

Since we have a toddler, ensuring we try to set a good example by eating our veggies can sometimes be challenging which is why I love recipes like this that offer up an entire meal full of delicious fresh vegetables that everyone in our family can enjoy!!! We're also big on exposing our son to lots of different foods while he's young in the hopes he'll develop healthy eating habits and most of all not be a picky eater! This Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchilada recipe from Perry's Plate is an awesome choice for your next meatless Monday meal or next time your hosting a get together for your vegetarian friends...bonus it's also gluten free!

Look at all those beautiful fresh vegetables...
Veggies sliced and ready for roasting....
 Finished product....


Tip from Rebecca's kitchen: I used a whole head of cauliflower and just one red pepper. Also, my local grocery store didn't carry poblano peppers, so I substituted with an anaheim pepper. If there is a veggie in this dish you don't care for just substitute with another; that's the great thing about this veggie enchilada dish, you can make it your own! I also just used EVOO in place of the coconut oil called for in the recipe since it's what I had on hand along with a jar of store bought salsa. 

And yes, although my dish didn't turn out quite as pretty as Natalie's trust me, it's still all kinds of delicious, and if you're not a huge veggie fan this roasted veggie dish might just help you see how delicious vegetables can be! 

Since it's going to be cold and dreary this weekend I have this one on my to bake list. It's healthy comfort food and leaves me dreaming of summer when I can get all those veggies at our local farmers market! 


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Strawberry, blueberry, avocado pecan salad...

So this is a salad combination that we came up with ourselves and absolutely love!!! We used a spring mix salad then sliced up some strawberries and avocado, added some blueberries and honey roasted pecans, and then topped it with a balsamic vinegar salad dressing. Is this not a gorgeous salad?



Thursday, April 18, 2013

Whole wheat zucchini, carrot, apple chai seed muffins...

So we're a bit muffin obsessed at our house. First because I love to bake, secondly muffins make such a nice easy snack for our toddler, and third they're an awesome way to get extra fruits and veggies in our diet. This recipe for zucchini carrot apple muffins is our new favorite. I did make several small changes to the original recipe as discussed below. I love carrot cake and these honestly remind me a bit of that with the texture and raisins but they are healthy...win-win!

As you can see from this picture the batter is really thick, but don't worry it bakes up great!


Delicious muffins....these are awesome for adults and kids alike! Even my friend who doesn't really care for veggies said she loved them!





Tip from Rebecca's kitchen: The food processor is your friend with this recipe! Since all those veggies and fruits need to be shredded I used the food processor as it would have taken a really long time to shred them all by hand. I decided to make these whole wheat as we're trying to change to whole wheat with as much as we can in our house. For every 1 cup of all purpose flour in the recipe I substituted 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and it worked well. I also added 1 Tablespoon of Chai seeds to to the batter, and we love raisins, so included about a cup of those. I did not include the coconut that the original recipe called for and used pink lady apples since that's what we had at home. The recipe baked 24 regular size muffins and we just froze the extras! I did follow her recommendations for baking them at 400 degrees for the first 10 minutes and then turning the oven down to 350 for the remainder; it took an additional 8-10 minutes from there for ours to be cooked.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Chili Lime Chicken Burgers with Avocado and roasted vegetables...

I had never cooked with ground chicken prior to trying these, but this recipe completely made me a believer! As usual, almost everything I try from Iowa Girl Eats blog turns out to be delicious and this Chili Lime Chicken Burger certainly impressed us! We love these burger; they're so fresh with the cilantro, red pepper, green onions and garlic mixed together with the chicken. And at our house almost anything with avocado is an instant favorite.

Ready for the grill...

Ready to be devoured....

Tip from Rebecca's kitchen: We've tried swiss, pepper jack and mozzarella cheese on these and all of them are delicious. We also just use hamburger buns. These roasted vegetables make an awesome side dish! We use this Badia seasoning that our friends Jose & Elizabeth hooked us on! Just slice up all of your favorite veggies (we did sweet potatoes, mushrooms, onions and broccoli) cover them in some EVOO and then this seasoning. We usually bake them at 425 for 20 min or so until the veggies look like they're done.



Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Slow Cooker Pork Burritos...

Who doesn't love a delicious simple slow cooker recipe? Especially with warmer weather approaching I love being able to throw some ingredients in the crock pot in the morning and have a delicious dinner ready in the evening while we enjoy the outdoors. It seems like my experience with crock pot recipes is hit or miss; we either really like them or think they're awful, and not much in between. This Slow Cooker Pork Burrito recipe is one we stumbled upon thanks to Pinterest and is definitely a keeper.





Tip from Rebecca's Kitchen: This is another that gives us plenty of leftovers so we can enjoy it for lunches and maybe even another dinner during the week. I did find that I needed to cook it a bit longer then the recipe called for so that the meat was more tender and easier to pull apart. I did ours for a good 6 1/2-7hrs before shredding it and adding the black beans for it to cook another hour on low. I didn't have kale at the time we made these, so skipped that ingredient and just used the store brand green enchilada sauce instead of the brand listed in the recipe, but otherwise followed her directions and loved the result!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Shrimp and zucchini tostadas....

These shrimp & zucchini tostadas have been a favorite at our house for several years now! They're another great easy-to-throw-together meal with just a few ingredients and a delicious result.

The cast of characters we use for this dish...

Tip from Rebecca's kitchen: I just defrost some large precooked shrimp for this. Also, I sprinkle some chipotle chili pepper seasoning on the shrimp to add some heat; careful not to add too much unless you like a lot of spice! As you can see in the above pic I just use the lime juice I have on hand. The smell when you add the lime juice to the sauteing garlic zucchini shrimp is amazing! We always use medium sized tortillas instead of the large burrito size and have also switched to primarily using whole wheat tortillas.

Yum, finished result....


Garnished with some sour cream to complete the dish...