Nopales Con Pollo

I just love nopales. This one is really good!

Nopales Con Pollo

Ingredients

* 3 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 1/2 tablespoon seasoned salt and a dash of pepper
* 8 Small tomatillos
* 1/2 White onion-sliced
* 2 Garlic cloves-diced
* 2 jalapenos-Seed and cut in half
* 1 Chicken Bouillon cube
* 2 Tablespoons Vegetable oil for frying
* 1/4 Teaspoon cumin
* 1/4 Jalapeno salt
* 1/4 Mexican oregano
* 15 Oz jar nopales (cactus) drained and rinsed
* 1 tablespoon corn starch mixed with 2 tablespoons warm water.
* Salt and pepper to taste


Directions

1. Dice chicken into small peices. Place in stock pot and cover with water. Add, salt,bayleaf and pepper. Let boil until chicken is tender, about 30 minutes. Once tender remove chicken from pot with slotted spoon and set aside (go to step 2). Drain all water from pot except about 1 cup. In remaining 1 cup of water add tomatillos, onion, jalapeno, galic. Boil them until tomatillos are golden brown.
2. Heat oil in skillet. Using a slotted spoon remove chicken and add to oil. Fry chicken until golden brown on all sides. Set aside.
3. Once tomatillos are brown add everything to blender (including water). Blend until smooth. Pour back into stock pot, add chicken in also. Add the cumin, jalapeno salt, oregano. Bring to boil. Once mixture is boiling prepare corn starch and water. Slowly stir the corn starch mixture into pot. This will help it thicken (if it's thick enough then you may skip this step).
4. Drain and rinse nopales. Add nopales to stock pot also. Boil for about 15-20 minutes.
5. Serve with rice and tostados.

Asian Peanut Butter Noodles

Oh, I just love this. I like to really dress it up with chicken and broccoli, but it is really good just as it is.

Asian Peanut Butter Noodles


Ingredients

* 1/2 cup chicken broth
* 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
* 3 tablespoons soy sauce
* 3 tablespoons peanut butter
* 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
* 2 teaspoons hot chile paste (optional)
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 8 ounces Udon noodles
* 1/4 cup chopped green onions
* 1/4 cup chopped peanuts


Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until tender according to package directions. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, combine chicken broth, ginger, soy sauce, peanut butter, honey, chili paste, and garlic in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until peanut butter melts and is heated through. Add noodles, and toss to coat. Garnish with green onions and peanuts.

Big Daddy's Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing

Oh, this dressing is really good! I don't believe I will ever buy dressing again.

Iceberg Wedge with Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing

Recipe courtesy Aaron McCargo Jr.

Prep Time: 15 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients
* 1/2 head iceberg lettuce, cored
* 1/4 cup mayonnaise
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1/4 cup buttermilk
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* Dash hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco)
* 2 tablespoons chopped chives
* 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
* 1/2 lemon, juiced
* 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
* 1/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes
* 1/2 avocado, diced
* 2 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

Directions

Slice the lettuce into thick wedges. In a medium-sized bowl, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk, salt and pepper, to taste, hot sauce, chives, garlic, and lemon juice. Whisk together, then slowly fold in the blue cheese crumbles. Arrange the lettuce on a serving platter and drizzle with the dressing. Garnish with tomatoes, avocado, and bacon. Serve.

Shrimp and Spaghetti in Coconut Broth

I'm not a big Rachel Ray fan but this recipe is REALLY good and very very simple! It's a keeper!

Shrimp and Spaghetti in Coconut Broth

* 12 Servings
*
* Prep 10 min
*
* Cook 25 min

Ingredients:

* Two 13.5-ounce cans coconut milk
* One 14.5-ounce can chicken broth
* 1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
* 2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger
* 2 teaspoons hot chili sauce
* Two 2-pound bags frozen, raw shrimp (31 to 40 per pound), thawed and tails removed
* 1 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped
* 1 1/2 pounds spaghetti

Directions:

1. In a large, deep skillet, bring the coconut milk and chicken broth to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the fish sauce, garlic, ginger, chili sauce and lime juice and cook for 2 minutes.

2. Stir in the shrimp and cook until just opaque, about 4 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and remove from the heat. Transfer two-thirds of the shrimp mixture to a bowl; let cool.

3. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the spaghetti until al dente; drain. Using tongs, transfer one-third of the pasta to the skillet of shrimp.
4. Cook one meal now: Toss the pasta with the shrimp mixture and simmer until warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes.

5. Freeze two meals for later: Divide the remaining shrimp mixture between 2 resealable 1-gallon freezer bags; seal. Divide the remaining spaghetti between 2 more freezer bags; let cool, then seal. Label each and freeze. THAW 1 bag each of the shrimp mixture and pasta per meal in the refrigerator overnight. Cook as directed in Step 4.

Tortellini and Chickpea Soup

Had this at the cafeteria at work the other day and it was so good. It also looked pretty simple as far as ingredients so I figured I could make my own variation. I started by looking it up online and the few recipes I found did indeed look pretty simple. One added spinach (the version at the hospital didn't) so I swiped that idea for my version.

One carton low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth (or make your own. I had some homemade broth in the freezer)
One container tortellini
One can chickpeas, rinsed
One bunch fresh spinach (bought just the day before at the farmer's market), washed and stems trimmed, then cut into bite-sized pieces
One to two tablespoons prepared pesto sauce

Throw everything in the pot, simmer til tortellinis are cooked through. That's it! I think it would be better if I cooked my own chickpeas rather than use canned, but hey, they are a quick option.

I found a similar recipe on SparkPeople Recipes and the calorie count is pretty reasonable.

Holy Hot Tequila, Batman!

I found this recipe online and have changed it up just a bit. Was too sweet for me the way it was originally made

http://cooktobang.com/2010/05/07/i-feel-ya-tequila/

DAYUM good! Gets yer attention!

2 cups white sugar
2 cups water
4 jalapenos or serranos
2 to 4 shots tequila (I prefer gold but as you like)
Whole limes or lime juice

Pour sugar and water into a pan to make a simple syrup. Roughly chop two of the peppers and add to the simple syrup. Bring to a rolling boil and cook til sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes.

Let cool for about 30 minutes, then strain peppers out of simple syrup. Refrigerate until chilled.

Once chilled, fill two glasses with ice. Add two shots of lime juice, one to two shots of tequila and two shots of simple syrup to each glass, stir well. Garnish each glass with another pepper if you really wanna get someone's attention.

Sounds weird, tastes good!

Mexican Rice

3 cups rice
1 can El Pato
Chicken broth to fill to 3-cup line
1 small onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, mince
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp Adobo
1 tbls oil

Cook vegetables in oil until soft. In the meantime, add rice, cumin, El Pato, broth and Adobo to ricer cooker. Once vegetables are cooked, add to rice mixture. Stir well and cook according to rice cooker directions.