Tex-Mex Orzo

Who doesn't love a side dish of flavorful Southwestern infused spices with black beans, corn, jalapenos, onions and orzo? Orzo, you ask? Well, I didn't have any rice but had an abundance of orzo (rice shaped pasta) and decided it would do the trick. This is quick and a perfect side with anything you're serving. And the good news? After you've put together your spice mix and chop your onions, this dish comes together in less than 20 minutes. Tempting? Let's give this recipe some star treatment.

Tex-Mex Orzo
Inspired by a very bare pantry

SPICE MIX
You won't use all this, but you certainly can for a bit more punch

1 tsp ground chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper

ORZO
1 T unsalted butter
1 T olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 can reduced sodium (15 oz) black beans rinsed and drained
1 can diced green chilis (4 oz)
1 cup uncooked orzo
1-3/4 cups water (you can use chicken broth)
1 cup frozen corn defrosted
1 tsp kosher salt
1-2 T Franks hot sauce

Let's cook! Mix together the spices.

On stovetop, in medium size sauce pan on low heat, melt the butter and olive oil. Now add the chopped onions and a teaspoon of spice mix and sweat for 4 to 5 minutes. I cover my pot and make sure the onions don't brown.

Looking and smelling goods far. Now add the orzo and another teaspoon of spice mix and toast the orzo for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the beans, chilis, and water. And one more teaspoon of spice mix and stir to incorporate.

Increase heat until water begins to simmer. Stir in another teaspoon of salt, lower heat, cover and gently simmer for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, your orzo is almost done. Add in the corn and stir. Now turn off the heat, cover with a paper towel, then your pot lid, and let sit for about 5 minutes until all liquid is absorbed.

Uncover and add in your hot sauce and stir. Tex-Mex Orzo is ready.

For the spice lovers in your group, serve some extra hot sauce on the side. It will be much appreciated. And by the way, this is not too spicy to serve the kids. It packs a little bite at the back of your mouth, but it's a very pleasant bite. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to re-mix this recipe to your liking. Add some tomatoes, red peppers, and even some healthy spinach. Oh, and don't forget to top with some cheese. I'm looking forward to a stocked pantry by the weekend when we might even have a weather forecast without snow or sleet!

Creamy, Cheesy Mexican Chicken Vegetable Soup

This is a re-mix of Laura Lopez's award winning soup. If I had all the ingredients on hand, I would have made her soup exactly as I did last time. But cold weather and a bit of the lazy gene made me put my thinking cap on and I used what was available in my pantry and fridge.

Normally I have loads of cheese on hand. But tonight I only had a partially-made cheese ball (without the outer coating of nuts). Well the cheeses that make up this decadent little hors d'orvre are rich, meltable and easy to find in your market. Nuefchatel, Wispride Spreadable Sharp Cheddar and Crumbled Blue, perfect for this soup! Check out the recipe for the combo of cheeses from a very old blog post. Now let's get cooking. It's soup weather and this is a quick fix.

Creamy, Cheesy Mexican Chicken Vegetable Soup
Serves 3 or 4

1 T canola oil
1 large carrot chopped
1 medium celery chopped
1/2 medium onion chopped
2 Fresno chilies chopped or you can leave them whole- I chopped one and kept one intact
4-5 tsp taco seasoning divided (I use the low sodium)
Pinch of kosher salt
1 can (10.5 oz) Cream of Chicken soup- lower sodium/98% fat free
3 canfulls (10.5 oz) Chicken Broth- low sodium/fat free
2 cups (or more) cooked chicken breasts shredded
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup of cheese ball mixture (you can add more- it's so delish)
2-3 oz fresh baby spinach chopped

In large soup pot add canola oil and heat on low. Add the carrots, celery, and onions. Sprinkle with 2 tsp taco seasoning and kosher salt. Now add 1 Fresno chili. Cover and sweat on low until veggies are soft.

Add the cream soup and the broth and stir to incorporate. Now add the remainder of the taco seasoning and the additional Fresno chili. Cover and cook on low for about 5-7 minutes. Now add the chicken, cheese and frozen corn. Stir to make sure the cheese melts and after a few minutes you can add the chopped baby spinach. Cook another minute or two and dinner is done. Serve piping hot.

I'd love this soup topped with a slice or two of Texas Toast. Or fried tortillas. And if I had a can of black beans, they would have made an appearance in the broth as well. What a versatile meal and a big thank you again to Laura, TV star and cook extraordinaire. 

Evie's Cornbread Tamale Pie

One of my new internet cooking buddies cooks for seven on a daily basis. I cook for one- that would be me and sometimes a few good friends who enjoy my cooking. So when Evie posted her recipe for Cornbread Tamale Pie for 4, I jumped at the opportunity to give one of her recipes a whirl. I didn't follow Evie's recipe to the letter, but I kept pretty close, and wow is this a delight to the senses and tastebuds. Pleasantly spicy, meaty and cheesy inside with a simple, cool (slightly sweet) cornbread topping. What more do you need for success at the dinner table? Maybe a side salad with a cool ranch dressing. Yes, I'd recommend a salad. Here's what you'll need to put my version of Evie's lovely little pie together:

Chicken and Cornbread Tamale Pie
Inspired by Evie DB
Serves 4

1 pound ground chicken
2 jalapeno peppers diced
1 fresno chili diced
1 T cilantro chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 T olive oil (canola oil will work fine too)
salt and pepper to taste
2 packs Goya Sazon seasoning
1-1/2 tsp Old El Paso Hot & Spicy Taco Seasoning Mix
1 cup corn
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix (8.5 oz)
1 cup Colby cheese shredded
Cooking spray

In large skillet on medium heat add your oil and saute onions, peppers, cilantro and garlic. Add a small amount of salt and pepper if you like (I always do). Cook about 5-8 minutes until onion is transparent and peppers are cooked. Evie cooks her veggies on high, but I've burned way too many a good meal on my over ambitious stovetop.

 
Remove onion mixture from pan and set aside. To the same pan, add your ground chicken and cook until all the pink has disappeared. I usually don't have much fat accumulation from ground chicken, but if you do- please drain. Now add your Sazon and taco seasoning and incorporate with the chicken. Add the onion mixture back to the pan with the chicken and toss in your corn. Remove from heat and set aside.

Doesn't that just look good enough to eat already? Hold on, we're almost done. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a small baking dish with cooking spray (I used my 7 inch round souffle dish and it worked like a charm). Prepare the Jiffy corn bread mixture according to package directions. Now we're ready for assembly

Into your prepared pan, place 1/2 of your cooked chicken. Top with the Colby cheese. Now add the rest of the chicken/veg mix.

Pour the cornbread mixture on top.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, let cool a bit and then dig in.

Garnish with sour cream, salsa, guac, or anything your little heart desires. Thanks Evie, next time you have the ladies to lunch I'll be waiting for another one of your recipes for 4.    

Mexican Chicken Soup

I'm loving my internet cooking friends. Their recipes are tried and true and they are sure helping me out these days. I'm getting ready for the World Food Championships which is less than three weeks away and there is hardly any time to make dinner. But a gal's got to eat something other than desserts, right? So last night I made Laura Lynn Lopez's Mexican Chicken Soup and wowzer! is this a great recipe. She makes hers in a crock pot, but I put this together on my stove top in about 35 minutes. Here's the recipe with a few of my additions (and omissions):

Mexican Chicken Soup
Inspired by Laura Lynn Lopez
Serves about 6

2 Idaho potatoes peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2-1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken (I used a rotisserie from my market)
1-1/2 cups frozen corn
1 can Campbells cream of potato soup
1 can Campbell's cream of chicken soup
1 4 oz can diced green chiles undrained
2 T minced fresh cilantro
1 package taco seasoning mix (I used Old El Paso Hot and Spicy)
3 cups chicken broth
8 oz sour cream (I omitted this ingredient but if I had some on hand I would have certainly used it)
4 oz jalapeno pepper Velveeta cheese cubed (I used the 2% plain because that's what was in my fridge)

Directions:
Cook diced potatoes for about 12 minutes on stove, starting potatoes in cold water. Drain and set aside. In large soup pot combine chicken, corn, both canned soups, chicken broth, cilantro, cooked potatoes and taco seasoning. Stir until heated and smooth. Now cook on low for about 10 minutes. Add your cheese and serve. Delish!

I just reheated this tonight and added some chopped bacon and home made corn chips as a garnish.
Thank you Laura, I love your recipes.  

Ultimate Nacho Mac and Cheese

I've been under the weather for the last few weeks, and when I started feeling better, like wanting to eat solid food again, you know I went for the the most comforting thing I could think of, an ooey, gooey cheesy casserole. My friend Dana Ramsey made a dish called Nacho Mac and Cheese and that sounded right up my alley. But I took her recipe a step further and made her side dish a main course by adding seasoned ground beef and all the toppings you'd add to nachos. I also tried to cut some of the calories and carbs and was ever so happy with the results.

Ingredients:
Serves 6-8
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni, I used Dreamfields
1 pound 2% Velveeta cheese
1 can Rotel Original Diced Tomatoes and Chilis
2 tsp canola oil
3/4 pound ground sirloin
1/2 package taco seasoning mix
3 six inch corn tortillas quartered, I used low carb, high fiber
1/2 can fat free re-fried beans
1 small can chopped chilis
1 T Mrs Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning Blend

Toppings:
Use them all or choose your favorites
shredded iceberg lettuce
chopped tomatoes sliced olives
lite sour cream
chopped avocado
chopped scallions
chopped cilantro
salsa

Prepare elbows according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, brown meat and taco seasoning in canola oil and chop Velveeta into 1/2 inch cubes.

When pasta is done, drain in colander and place back into the warm pot you cooked it in. Add the chopped cheese, can of Rotel, seasoned beef, and can of chilis. Stir to combine and leave on stove top while you put together the bean nachos.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Take your corn tortilla wedges and spread with the re-fried beans and sprinkle each little chip with the Mrs Dash seasoning. Now you're ready to assemble the dish. Place warm cheese/pasta/meat mixture in casserole dish dusted with cooking spray. Top with bean coated tortillas. Here's the dish ready to go into the oven.

And here it is after it's baked uncovered for 25 minutes. Creamy, crunchy, toasty and oh! so good.

The beauty of this casserole is that the top becomes crunchy and the inside stays creamy. Serve this as you would any nacho dish- lots of toppings, so that with each bite, you can try something new. Dig in and enjoy!
I sure did.

Chili Mac

I've been making a lot of Tex Mex dishes since joining Just a Pinch about a year ago. What a great web site for home cooks. The membership is world wide and the variety of recipes on there can at times be overwhelming. Like what should I make first? Should I go off my diet?  Well if I'm going off my diet, what should I make first? You get the picture. So tonight I made Dan Clark's Chili Mac. Being a northern gal, I'd never had chili mac and wanted to give it a try. It's similar to American Chop Suey, but has a nice bite. Dan is a great cook, and most of the recipes I've seen of his have been done outdoors on a smoker or grill. I don't do that kind of cooking so when he posted this recipe I took the bait. I made a few changes- halved the recipe, added some pork sausage to the ground beef and used Dreamfield's elbow macaroni. This was the perfect dish to end a miserable weather week and say goodbye to the noreaster that hit us on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Chili Mac
Serves 4-6

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
3/4 pound ground beef
2 sweet Italian sausages, removed from casings
1 medium onion diced
4-5 cloves garlic minced (about 1-1/2 T)
1 14 oz can petit diced tomatoes (I used no salt added, and added my own salt later)
1 16 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3 oz tomato paste (half a small can)
1 4 oz can chopped green chilies
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp chili powder (I would have used a bit more but I ran out)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
5 oz Mexican Blend 2% shredded cheese

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Cook macaroni according to package directions until just less than al dente. Meanwhile, in large skillet over medium heat brown ground beef, sausages, onion and garlic until meat is no longer pink.

Drain fat and return to stove. Add remaining ingredients except for the cheese.

Drain macaroni, add to meat/bean mixture and stir to combine. Cover and simmer 5 minutes.

Transfer to a baking dish coated with cooking spray. I used my good old souffle dish.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake 25 minutes. Uncover, top with cheese and bake 8 minutes more. Cheese will be ooey, gooey and melty.

This is comfort food at it's best. I'll be making this again for sure and I'll probably add a fresh green pepper to the onion, garlic, and meat saute. This was so good, I'd serve it to company with a crisp green salad dressed with a lemon vinegarette and homemade cornbread. Which reminds me, the cornbread recipe needs to be shared.

Refried Bean Cakes

I've been enjoying my spicy little love affair with Tex-Mex cooking, so when Cooking Light had a 20 minute recipe for Black Bean Cakes in their September issue, I decided to give it a whirl. But I didn't have black beans. So I did a quick re-mix in my head and decided to use a can of fat free refried beans, add a few more spices to their already nicely-spiced recipe, and came up with a simple little ditty that took me a bit longer than the anticipated 20 minutes, but well worth the extra 10 minutes.

Refried Bean Cakes
Inspired by Cooking Light
Makes 4 patties

1 large egg lightly beaten
1 16 oz can refried beans- I used Old El Paso fat free
3/4 cup panko crumbs, divided
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground chili powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
2 cloves of garlic grated
Canola oil for frying

In large bowl combine all ingredients except canola oil.

The mixture seemed a little loose, so I covered it with plastic wrap, and parked it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to set.

Remove from refrigerator, separate bean mixture into four portions and shape each portion into a 3/4 inch thick patty. Dredge in remaining panko and get ready for a quick saute. In large nonstick skillet add about 1-2 T canola oil. Add patties and cook three minutes on each side.

You can serve these with fried eggs and a salad as Cooking Light suggests. I gobbled mine down with some homemade pico de gallo, low fat sour cream and spicy sriracha sauce and loved every bite of it.

But the fun has only just begun, because tonight I think I found the real reason I made these bean cakes. These creamy, slightly spicy, healthy little darlings were meant to be married between 2 mini corn tortillas, stuffed with cheese, sriracha/mayo sauce and pico de gallo, then sauteed in a med/high skillet. Here's the procedure I used to make one:

Make a mixture of equal parts of light mayo and sriracha. Take 2 small corn tortillas (6 inch) and spread mixture on one side of each tortilla.

Now sprinkle a tablespoon of low fat shredded cheese over the sriracha mixture.

And cover the cheese with a bean patty topped with pico de gallo.

Top with a little more cheese, cover with second tortilla (sriracha side down) and press down slightly so the bean patty will spread to almost the size of your tortilla (it's that pliable). Spray cooking pan with PAM or similar product, heat burner to medium or medium high and add tortilla sandwich to the heated pan. Cook about 3 minutes, and right before you're ready to flip the tortilla, spray top with PAM. Flip and cook another 3 minutes. Let cool a bit and serve with anything your little heart desires.

It's as easy as making a burger, but cheaper, healthier with a lot more crunch. I promise you, all of your senses will thank you.

Sriracha Quesadillas

My friend Lynn is a genius when it comes to whipping up simple and unique food combinations. In her latest quesadilla recipe she added Sriracha Hot Chili Garlic Sauce, and it took the dish over the top, into the realm of perfection. These little darlings are simple to make, and absolutely heavenly. Lynn made hers with tomatoes, portobello mushrooms, a mexican cheese I can't find around here and the lovely, spicy Sriracha sauce (found in the International aisle of your grocery store). I didn't have mushrooms so did what I could with the ingredients I had on hand.

Sriracha Quesadillas with Chicken and Vegetables
Inspired by Lynn Socko
makes two 6 inch quesadillas

4 corn tortillas
1 tsp canola oil
1 green pepper chopped or sliced
1 tomato chopped or sliced
1 onion chopped or sliced
salt
pepper
2% Monterey Jack cheese shredded
1/2 cup shredded cooked chicken
Sriracha sauce
Cooking spray
Sour cream and/or cilantro for garnish

In large pan on stove top add oil and heat on medium. Add vegetables, salt and pepper and cook until veggies soften.

Remove vegetables to cutting board to cool a bit. I ended up chopping the vegetables and not leaving them in strips, only because I thought it would be easier to eat, but I do think they look much nicer when they're long and lanky. Clean/wipe your saute pan and get ready for a quick assembly and pan fry. The process goes fast. I only made 2 quesadillas tonight, but I see myself developing a rhythm, making oh-so-many stacks, hijacking a food truck and selling these beauties outside Fenway Park during a Sox game. Yes, my dreams are a little bizarro- I think it's the Sriracha that sends me to this world.

Coat 4 tortillas on one side with Sriracha sauce. Don't soak the tortillas too much because this sauce packs quite a punch. Coat pan with cooking spray. Place tortillas in saute pan, Sriracha side up, and add a bit of cheese. Now add the veggies and shredded chicken.

Top with a little more cheese, and cover each with another Sriracha coated tortilla. Make sure the Sriracha coating faces the inside.

Pan fry about 2 mintes and flip. Cook another 1 or 2 minutes on second side. When the cheese is oozing, your Sriracha quesadillas are done.

Serve with sour cream and sprinkle with cilantro. A slice or two of avocado would have been nice but I'm saving mine for a pazanella salad I plan on making tomorrow.

Southwestern Sweet Potato Oven Fries

I'm always trying to add sweet potatoes to my diet because they're just so darn good for you.  Sunday night I was experimenting in the kitchen and decided to make myself a little appetizer with a Southwestern flair. I had two medium sized spuds (can you call sweet potatoes spuds?) and thought it would be a healthy way to end the weekend. Before I get to the recipe, check out the sweet benefits of this hearty vegetable: Sweet Potatoes help save your eyesight, lift your mood (always a good thing at the beginning of a work week), combat cancer and strengthen bones. I love the benefits and especially the taste of this simple dish.

Southwestern Style Oven Fried Sweet Potatoes
Adapted from Country Living
Serves two

2 medium size sweet potatoes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 T canola oil

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash the sweet potatoes and dry well. I like to peel off the hairy, knobby, not so attractive parts of the skin, but leave on as much skin as possible to take advantage of the nutrients. I also cut off the tips of the taters because they seem to burn in the hot oven.

Cut each potato in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 6 wedges (24 pieces).

In large bowl combine the sliced potatoes, oil, and spice mixture. Toss together (I use my hands and get messy) until potatoes are evenly coated. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet (easy clean-up) and place in the middle rack of your pre-heated oven. Bake until the edges are crisp and the potatoes are cooked through, about 30-35 minutes. While potatoes are cooking, make some guacamole and get ready to dip away.