Chicken Chili

There was still some delicious fajita filling (with bonus extra tomatoes and corn) after making our quesadillas, so I decided to turn it into chili!

Chicken Chili
Quesadilla filling
1 tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
Cheddar cheese, grated (optional)
sour cream (optional)

1. Combine everything in a pot and simmer for at least 20 minutes.
2. Garnish with grated cheese and/or sour cream as desired. Serve with a piece of crusty bread.

Chicken Quesadillas

So, it turns out that leftover fajita filling actually makes for pretty excellent quesadillas!

Chicken Quesadilla
Chicken Fajita filling
1 (14 oz.) tin diced tomatoes
1 c. frozen corn
1 Tbsp. dehydrated onion
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
cheddar cheese, grated
refried beans
soft tortillas
sour cream, optional

1. Add tomatoes, corn, onion, and cilantro to your fajita filling and heat until warmed through.
2. Spread a tortilla with refried beans and top with a layer of chicken mixture.
3. Cover with a layer of grated cheese and a second tortilla.
4. Toast (in toaster oven) or bake until filling is hot and cheese is melted.
5. Serve with sour cream.

Chicken Fajitas

This is probably not even slightly authentic, but I wanted fajitas. This is what I came up with and it was pretty tasty, so I figured it deserved a spot on the blog!

Chicken Fajitas
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. sweet paprika
1 Tbsp. granulated garlic
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
2 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
1 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
1/4 tsp. celery seeds, ground
2-3 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken thighs, sliced
2 Tbsp. corn oil
2 red onions, halved and sliced
4 small bell peppers, sliced
1/4-1/2 c. lime cordial
cheddar cheese, grated
soft tortillas
sour cream, optional

1. Combine all the spices and mix well.
2. Toss chicken with some of the spice mix. (You won't need all of it!)
3. Sauté the onion in the corn oil.
4. Add the seasoned chicken and cook until done.
5. Add the bell peppers and the lime cordial and give a good stir. Cover and cook until peppers are heated through.
6. Add some filling to a warmed tortilla. Top with cheese, sour cream, and anything else you like. Fold and enjoy!

Sweet Potato Alfredo

I stumbled across this recipe on Table for Two and really liked the results! I just never got a chance to write it up at the time. Anyway, I'll try to make this short and sweet as I probably don't have long before the Toddle-Bot starts demanding my attention again.

Brown Butter Sweet Potato Alfredo
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, browned
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 Tbsp. flour
1 c. milk or coconut milk
1 1/2 c. water
1 c. Parmesan cheese
1 lb. dried pasta (I like spaghettini), cooked
1/4 tsp. ground cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil sweet potato until tender.
2. Drain and blend the sweet potato until smooth, adding water as necessary.
3. Whisk flour with brown butter over medium heat.
4. After about 30 seconds, increase heat to medium-high and add (coconut) milk. Whisk for 3-4 minutes until mixture thickens.
5. Add sweet potato and remaining water. Simmer for 5-7 minutes.
6. Add cheese, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
7. Toss with cooked pasta.
8. Served garnished with chopped scallions or chives and additional Parmesan.

Breakfast Pizza

This is a recipe from Cook's Country magazine, which we've been cooking out of a lot. It's called "breakfast pizza", but it's fairly involved, so we made it for lunch instead.

The recipe as written calls for doing it in a baking pan, but we have a pizza stone and decided to use that instead. This also meant some changes to timing; as written, the original recipe calls for pre-browning the crust, then removing it from the oven, adding the toppings, and cooking it again.

Pictures to come once I find them. I'd swear that we photographed it...

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 slices bacon, cooked until just crisp
• 2 C shredded mozarella cheese
• ½ C fresh grated parmesan
• ½ C small-curd cottage cheese
• ¼ tsp dried oregano
• salt, pepper, and cayenne
• 1 lb pizza dough
• 6 large eggs
• 2 scallions, sliced thin
• 2 tbsp minced fresh chives

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 500°F with pizza stone inside.
2. Prepare toppings:
1. Cook bacon until just crisp and crumble into a bowl.
2. Mix mozarella and parmesan in another bowl.
3. In a third bowl, combine cottage cheese, oregano, a pinch of cayenne, ¼ tsp ground black pepper, and olive oil.
3. Roll out dough. Transfer to pizza peel.
4. Spread with cottage cheese mixture. Sprinkle bacon evenly over top.
5. Sprinkle mozarella mix evenly, then make six wells, one for each egg. Arrange them as you see fit for the shape of your pizza -- for a round pizza, 5-6 wells surrounding a central one works well. Season with salt and pepper, but do not add the eggs yet or they will go everywhere when you transfer to the pizza stone.
6. Open the oven, transfer the pizza to the pizza stone, then crack an egg into each well.
7. Cook until the crust is browned and the eggs are set to your taste, 10-15 minutes.
8. Remove, let cool, sprinkle with scallions and chives, slice, and eat.

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