Bean enchiladas

Do you have an enchilada recipe you love? We are so simple with ours, it is a bit embarrassing. First, we go get some fresh corn tortillas from a local tortillaria, make some guacamole, make pico or salsa, shred some cheese, and get the beans.

12 corn tortillas
Refried beans or 1 can
2 C shredded cheese
Salsa or Green chile sauce
Guacamole
Chopped onion

Spread beans on the tortillas, top with cheese and roll. Put into baking dish, cover with green chile sauce, cheese, and chopped onions. Bake on 375 till bubbly.
Serve with salad, salsa, and guacamole.

**We say yum. I canned the salsa in the late summer this year.

Green Salad with tuna and poached egg

Seems silly to post about a salad, but there you go. It is a meal! The Black Russian tomato came from my garden.

Lettuce
Cucumbers
Carrots
Avocado
Tomato
Tuna
Poached egg

For the dressing, I did a 2 to 1 ratio of balsamic vinegar to olive oil, threw in some italian herbs, salt, and pepper.

**Wonderful!

Poached Salmon Salad with Lemon Dill Dressing

Got inspired by a greek salad on the Martha Stewart website.

Lettuce
Tomatoes
Avocado
Cucumber
Poached Salmon

Dressing:
2 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
1/2 t dill (used dried)
1/4 t coarse sea salt

Caesar Salad with grilled chicken

Got the dressing recipe from the smitten kitchen blog. I've copied it directly below.


Caesar Salad Dressing
Because I created this for me, me, me, my Caesar salad dressing is raw egg and anchovy optional, and I swear you won’t miss them. But if this offends the Caesar purist in you, I’ve given options for both. Now can’t we all get along?

2 tablespoons mayonnaise – or – 1 egg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, plus a drop or two more, to taste
1 oil-packed anchovy fillet, finely chopped (optional)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Whisk all except last together. Gradually whisk in 1/4 cup olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. (Dressing can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature and rewhisk before using.)

**I used romaine lettuce, shaved the parmesan cheese, marinated the chicken in Newman's organic Tuscan Italian salad dressing before grilling, and topped the salad with the last of the kalamata olives from the previous night's pizza. We used the egg instead of mayo in the dressing. I would add one more anchovy next time to better balance the garlic.

Salad with tuna and egg

First tomato from the garden on this salad. Poached egg, tuna, and capers. Delicious!

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

I love these rolls wrapped in rice paper. They are perfect for a warm day. You can find a multitude of recipes on-line for the fillings and for the sauces. Here is what we did:

For the spring roll
Cucumber, cut into long slices
Carrot, long peels
Tot Soi, washed and left whole
Basil, cut into strips
Mint, cut into strips
Parsley
Tempeh, cut into strips
Rice vermicelli

For the Sauce
1/4 C hoisin sauce
2 T almond butter
1 t rice venegar
1 garlic, crushed
1 squirt Thai hot sauce

In bowl of warm water, dip each rice paper wrapper for about 3-5 seconds (depending on rice paper thickness). Do not over soak your rice paper wrapper! Place on work service and allow rice paper to soak up water and become gelatinous and pliable (about 30 seconds to 1 minute, again, depending on the thickness rice paper).
On top 1/3 side closest to you, lay noddles and greens on the bottom for added strength to the wrapper. Then place herbs and other vegetables. Roll up spring roll about 1/3 way through, then fold in the sides.
Serve with hoisin almond dip (or any other sauce).

**Delicious. Keeper.