Chipotle burritos. Chipotle's a chain of cheap, natural, hormone free, healthy Mex fast food, sort of like Baja Fresh, but more focused ( only burritos and tacos, beef, chicken, pork and vegetarian ). Anyway, they're killer three-pounders.

So, tonight it sounded good to knock off their burritos for dinner.

Prep:

Cilantro-lime rice. Fine chop up some cilantro and put it in the fluid along with lime juice and a touch of lime zest. A little salt. Minced garlic. Some minced onion. Touch of cumin or chili powder. Water. Bring to boil and put in rice, stir, simmer covered, stir occasionally; or just do it all in a rice cooker. Oh yeah, use Basmati rice, a lot more flavor and better texture.

Chipotle chicken. Just grill up some chicken sliced up into little chunks, in olive oil. Grill em up then finish them off with Lawry's Chipotle marinade - Finish em off enough that the marinade caramelizes a little.

Can of pinto beans.

Jumbo sized tortillas. Steam these in a microwave anyway you see fit, but steam them good. You could do a bit with them between damp towels, cloth or paper.

OK, then you just put a good dollop of the rice on a tortilla, then a dollop of pinto beans, then a dollop of the chicken. You could put other stuff, like fresh salsa, tomato, etc, but I prefer just the cilantro-lime rice, pinto beans, and chipotle chicken. Sour cream work, too, but not tonight ( no sour cream ). Or some fresh guacamole is killer, too ( but the kids killed that off for lunch, with nachos ).

Start to roll from one end, but not completely, then fold up and tuck the two sides, and finish rolling. That sucker should end up huge, a couple pounds at least.

They're big and delicious, so we just had them, a platter of mixed fruit ( strawberries, blueberries, melon slices, pineapple slices ), and Arnold Palmers ( half tea and half lemonade or thereabouts, my preference towards 2/3 lemonade topped with 1/3 tea ).

Cheap, fast, simple, delicious dinner, and somewhat healthy, too.

Ed

Wow! This thread is 3 years old now!

Trying this tonight, so I don't know the outcome. It's currently baking.

Maple-Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

1 1/2lbs chicken (whatever floats your boat..we like boneless skinless chicken thighs)
Salt & Pepper
2 cups carrots, cut to 1" pieces (or baby carrots..which is what we used)
1/2 red onion, cut into 1" pieces
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp Thyme

It also calls for 3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cut to 1" pieces, but we didn't have any of that.
Also, it calls for poultry seasoning, to taste. We don't know what that is! heh

Arrange chicken in 8x13" baking dish. Sprinkle with the poultry seasoning, salt & pepper. Place carrots, sweet potatoes, and onion in the dish. Drizzle with maple syrup and olive oil. Sprinkle with Thyme and toss to coat.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove foil, stir, and cook for about 15 minutes longer or until chicken is golden brown.

Let stand covered with foil for 5-8 minutes, then serve.

Before cooking

Click for full size

These are killer.

Feta cheese off of a block, cut into cubes to fit tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
1.5 tablespoon minced shallot
1/2-3/4 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano, or dried, to taste
12-18 large cherry tomatoes
12-18 pitted Kalamata olives, halved lengthwise

Toss cubed feta, oil, vinegar, shallot, and oregano in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Let marinade for at least an hour.
Cut tomatoes in half, across the equator. Scoop out tomato pulp with melon baller or small spoon, turn upside down for a few minutes on paper towel to drain.
Place tomatoes, cut side up, on serving plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Stuff hollowed cherry tomatoes with marinated feta.
Slide in olive half alongside cheese.
Drizzle with additional olive oil or marinade.
Do ahead: Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover and chill.

I use no salt, and added the Balsamic vinegar to the recipe, I like a 3:1 oil to vinegar ratio. Cut the feta into whatever size will fit the tomatoes you have, enough to leave a bit of room for the olives. Also rather than drizzle with plain olive oil I use the marinade. The longer you marinade the feta the betta, an hour is fine but I like to go overnight. I've left the feta cubes in the marinade for a week, the feta won't get mushy, it softens just bit but it's still plenty firm. Keep the feta/marinade mix refrigerated if marinading overnight, and pull out an hour so ahead as the olive oil hardens. I've nuked it for about 5 secs or so if in a rush to melt the oil.

I've had them the next day and they are still fine, the tomatoes soften a bit and lose some flavor when refrigerated but they are still good with all of the other stuff in there.

You can stabilize them with a toothpick put in at an angle, and to make them less messy to eat. For home I don't, if taking them somewhere they transport better that way.

Jalapeño Cheese Soup

3-5 tablespoons butter
1 medium to large chopped white onion
1/3 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
12 ounces shredded PepperJack Cheese with Jalapeño
2 cups half and half, you can substitute 1% or 2% milk, may just want to thicken a little longer
1 4.5-ounce can diced green chili peppers, juice and all
Pepper to taste
Tortilla chips of choice

In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the chopped onion. Cook and stir over medium heat until the onions are soft. Add the flour and whisk until combined. Cook for a minute or so to rid the flour of the raw taste. Slowly add the chicken broth while whisking. Cook and stir over medium heat until it thickens somewhat and bubbles. Cook and stir another few minutes.
Whisk in the half and half/milk. Reduce the heat; gradually add the cheese, whisking until the cheese is melted. Be careful not to overheat the cheese, it will break and get gritty. Add the diced green chili peppers and pepper. Heat through on very low heat until it thickens to taste.

Crumble the tortilla chips and either pour soup on top of some in a bowl or put on top for crispier chips.

Would You ALL Quit !!

you're makin me Hon-gry !!

gotta try that cheese soup.... you paying for my cholesterol /triglycerides meds ??

LOL.

CLEAR!

The pint of half and half is 1/2 the fat, there's 58g of fat in the half and half. 1% only 4g per pint, 2% 10g.

It is sooo good though.

Have it as a starter or with some tacos or something. I can eat half the batch if I have nothing else. I add some other hot sauce to my my portion, but as it is it's good for those that don't like a lot of spice. It's just spicy enough, more just a good jalepeño/chilis flavor.

Myoh my, this sounds delicious !

A couple months ago I bought one if those restaurant gallon sized jars of sliced jalapeños . Thought they would bethe same as the smaller jars ,but NO, much hotter. Don't know why. They are cut with thicker slices. Have more webbing so that might be it.

After my first taste of them I thought that i would have them around for a year, but have seen the jar become more empty until its on it's last few.

I made some salsa this week that would knock the socks off a lot of people. But so good.

Dave

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[bUmP]

Greek Yogurt Cheesecake

Greek yogurt lends an unexpected tanginess to this light no-bake cheesecake.

Special Equipment
* A 9-inch-diameter springform pan

Ingredients
Crust
* Nonstick vegetable oil spray
* 1 1/2 cups fine graham cracker crumbs
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
* 1/4 cup sugar

Filling
* 2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
* 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
* 1 1/2 cups plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt


Preparation
Crust
* Coat bottom and sides of pan with nonstick spray. Line bottom with a parchment-paper round. Using your fingertips, mix remaining ingredients in a medium bowl until mixture holds together when pinched tightly. Pack onto bottom of pan in an even layer (using the bottom of a flat measuring cup works well). Chill until firm, at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Filling
* Place gelatin and 3 tablespoon cold water in a heatproof bowl. Let stand until softened, 5-10 minutes.
* Pulse cream cheese, yogurt, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt in a food processor, scraping down sides as needed, until completely smooth.
* Pour water to a depth of 1/2-inch into a small skillet over medium heat. Place bowl with gelatin in skillet; stir until gelatin dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove bowl from skillet.
* With processor running, drizzle gelatin into cream cheese mixture; mix until well blended. Pour into prepared crust. Tap pan firmly on the counter to break up any big air bubbles. Smooth top. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill for at least 6 hours before serving.

DO AHEAD Cheesecake can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.

OMG !!


I'm still HON-GRY !!!

David, you are a good man.