Chicken Tortilla Pie

This Christmas a new addition wound up in our kitchen:

The spring-form pan! Little did I know: not only does the pan produce delectable cheesecakes, it can create some wonderful Mexican food as well!

This reciept is pretty simple:
* Shredded Chicken (We just shred a rotisserie chicken from Fred's. No prep and cheap!)
* Salsa (We just got some of the healthier stuff from the Alberson's deli)
* Low fat refried black beans
* Shredded monterey jack cheese
* Whole wheat tortillas (Medium sized - 8 inch diameter - fit perfect in the spring-form pan)

Layer all this stuff a couple times, like a lasagna. Bake in an oven at 450 for 15 minutes. Voila!


The taste was pretty good, but standard. I dumped a ton of hot sauce on it which spiced it up to my taste. The convenience factor of this dinner is pretty huge. The hardest part was shredding the cheese.

Hoisin Pork Lettuce Wraps with Ginger, Mushroom & Basil Soup

Tonight I'm on my own - David went to the blazer game tonight with his brother Cam. I frequently have cravings for Asian flavors - so tonight I decided to make some lettuce wraps & some soup.

As with many of the recipes I attempt, there is usually a snafu - either I don't have an ingredient or I bought the wrong thing.  This was one of those recipes - but I made do.

Lettuce wraps:

3-4 Pork chops thinly sliced, browned
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce (recipe calls for 1/3, but I always use a little less)
Tablespoon or so each of lime juice and water
 When the chops are done browning, I quickly stir in the sauce and take it off the heat.  The sugar in the hoisin sauce likes to burn to the pan if you let it sit too long.

Couple strips of pork go into a lettuce leaf - top if off with a small handful of coleslaw salad mix (without any dressing of course), throw on a couple of peanuts - and dazzle - a lettuce wrap.  The recipe called for cilantro to be mixed with the coleslaw mix - but I didn't have any of that handy either.

Soup:
1/2 portobello mushroom chopped into small chunks (the recipe called for enoki mushrooms - which are nothing like portobello mushrooms - see picture below - but again - I made do with what I had)

I cooked the mushrooms in a saucepan with a tablespoon of grated fresh ginger until mushrooms turned brown.  Added 2 cans of chicken broth with a bit of soy sauce.  I cooked on medium until it came to a boil, then threw in some green onions and basil for a touch of color. Fancy, ehh? (I think I was supposed to use fresh basil - but didn't have any of that on hand either).

Overall, a pretty decent meal.  Start to finish took me about 20-25 minutes. Not as good as a PF Changs lettuce wrap, but it gets the job done.

Southwestern Rice and Veggie Cakes wih Spicy Tricolor Pepper Stir-Fry

After an ordeal for both of us trying to get home through Portland snow we were ready for something hearty.  David's journey took him 3 hours to get from Wilsonville to his parent's house - due to closed off-ramps and blocked roads from stalled cars. It took me 4 hours to get home from Vancouver due to bridge blockage and tunnel closures.  Needless to say - we were both frustrated, tired and hungry and ready for something fast.

We've made this recipe in the past and enjoyed it - quick, easy and very filling.

I think from start to finish it took us 15 minutes.

Rice cakes:

2 pouches of Uncle Ben's microwavable Santa Fe flavored ready rice, cooked for 90 seconds in the package

1 cup of bread crumbs

3 egg whites, lightly beaten (the recipe called for 4 egg whites, but after separating 3 eggs, it looked like enough)

3/4 cup reduced fat mexican blend cheese

(the recipe called for a light sour cream mixture as a topping, but we skipped that due to distaste by both of us)

The rice cakes just went into a non-stick pan just to brown them up a little bit.

Veggies: 

1 each: red, yellow, green pepper cooked with a bit of oil, garlic and red pepper flakes.

Overall - a very tasty dinner that was super fast.