cheese

Apr

20

Chiles Rellenos, Revisited

I’m still in my yoga pants after working out this morning, and have been thoroughly enjoying the day despite the great awful that I woke up to. When my alarm went off at 7, I wrenched my head off the pillow to peep out the window. Snow. Slush. Grey. Blech. Michigan, I thought, I know our relationship has been on the rocks but this is the last straw. After turning my alarm off and going back to sleep, (the snow did get me out of going to work!) I got up around nine and headed off to the gym. On the way back I stopped and did some thrifting, finding a summery green dotted tee. After achieving some level of productivity (working out) I’m letting myself loaf around for the rest of the day ;) This includes, but is not limited to, reading about Spain, Skyping with my newly engaged best friend(!), texting, laying in bed watching movies, drinking coffee and eating chocolate.

This time last year snow and slush wasn’t even a worry when I got up in the morning. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a year since I was living in Mexico! We had some chilies in the fridge so for lunch today I decided to whip up some Chiles Rellenos, like my host mom had taught me how last February.

Start by charring the life out of your peppers. You want them burnt and black!

Peel them. This is the messy part.

I found that peeling them under running water helps get the skin and burt parts off quicker, and keeps your fingernails a little cleaner!

Set them on a clean towel to dry.

In the meantime, mix up your batter for dipping the chiles in. I was only making three, so cut my original recipe in half and used 2 eggs. Start by beating the whites until stiff.

Add your egg yolks + 1 TB Flour after the whites are stiff.

Give it a quick mix.

Now grab those chiles and stuff them with cheese! I recommend Queso Chihuahua or a Mexican Queso Blanco, which I’ve found even at Mejier. I was doing this on a whim, so just used the provolone we had in the fridge. Chiles Rellenos mean Stuffed Peppers, and you can add whatever you like- Chorizo is a popular stuffer.

Coat the peppers in flour. About now is a good time to start heating up some oil in a fry pan.

Coat ‘em up!

Immediately put them in HOT oil, and when they are brown flip them over. Test your oil out with a little egg batter before frying them. If it’s not hot enough you will have an oily, eggy messy on your hands.

Set them on paper towels/napkins to absorb any excess oil… ‘Cause we want to be healthy with our fried, cheese-stuffed foods, ya know? ;)

I had mine with a side of leftover black beans+chicken and some fresh avocado +tomato.

Fresh cilantro.

Yummm. You can wrap them up in tortillas, they are great with refried beans, a side of rice, a little salsa+plain yogurt- however you like!

Mar

04

Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Asiago {low carb}

Blog Posts / Personal / she cooks she bakes / 2 comments

I found a recipe for Roasted Cauliflower and Aged White Cheddar Soup on one of my favorite food blogs, Closet Cooking. Cauliflower is one of my “free foods” while eating low carb according to the Curves plan, so I was excited to try this recipe out. We have a fridge-full of cauliflower in all colors and sizes at the moment, because Meijer had them on sale for .25 cents a head! I’ve eaten more cauliflower in the past two days than I have in the past two months! (Not tired of it yet!) I especially loved the purple variety that we roasted up with brussel sprouts and fennel a few nights ago. Anyways, after church mom and I made up a similar soup to Closet Cooking’s. We used asiago and mozzarella instead of cheddar, and bumped up the serving size to feed a family of 5. I didn’t add the full 1.5 cups of cheese, which I didn’t think was necessary, but mom thought it could have used a little more. Check out the link above for the recipe! I would definitely make this again.

Mar

03

Rosemary Asiago Flaxseed Crackers {low carb}

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While browsing for more low-carb recipes I found this recipe for Rosemary Flax Crackers on the blog “I Breathe…I’m Hungry”by Mellissa. She has a collection of great low carbohydrate recipes that are on my list to try! I cut her recipe in half, and substituted asiago for parmesan cheese. The crackers are tasty, very “flax-y”, which is expected because they are 100% flaxseed, but good! I think I should have pulsed my flaxseed a little more in the grinder because the consistency was off, but easily fixed with a little extra finely ground flax. You can find the recipe by following the link to Mellissa’s blog.

Mar

02

Ruben in a Bowl

Blog Posts / Personal / she cooks she bakes / 2 comments

I magically received the weekend off work, and am very excited to have some time to spend doing what I’d rather do, i.e. anything but homework (which I still have plenty of to plow through…). I woke up with no alarm this morning to the sunshine coming through my window, which is a rare sight for us sun-deprived Michiganders. After putzing about and having a light breakfast I headed out of a ride on the snowmobiles with my daddy =) Second ride of the year, and let me tell you it was gooooorgeous out. I waffled about going at first, until dad convinced me that it was above 32 degrees (practically the bahamas for us) and it was going to be beautiful out. Which IT WAS. What a pretty ride, and got my heart racing a couple times going up and down some pretty dang steep and winding hills!

Today is grocery shopping day, which means we have no fresh veggies in the house. Me on a low-carb diet+no veggies=no good. This low carb thing has been sucking my last creative juices out! I came home after snowmobiling pretty hungry, and headed to the cupboards. I found some sauerkraut, which, probably because of my Polish roots, is a favorite of mine. I’ve been craving Ruben sandwiches, but bread’s not an option, so I decided to make a “Ruben in a Bowl”. Original creation =P It was delicious. I didn’t even miss the bread! And the carb count is a pokey 6 carbs. Win!

Ruben in a Bowl

1/2c. Sauerkraut
1 oz Turkey Deli Meat
1 oz Pepper jack Cheese, shredded or thinly sliced
1 oz Avocado, sliced
Mustard
Salt and Pepper
Sprouts

Layer sauerkraut in the bottom of a small, oven-proof bowl. Top it with the avocado then turkey, topping it off with cheese. Broil on high until the cheese is bubbly, then top with S&P, mustard and sprouts. There you have it! Enjoy!

{One of my dad’s clients sent us some fresh lemons off their tree in Arizona!}

Jul

31

A Week of Unordinary Breakfasts: Wednesday

Blog Posts / she cooks she bakes / 3 comments

Hey folks! I am reposting a series of posts I did last year on another blog that I don’t use anymore. It was called “A Week of Unordinary Breakfasts”. I decided to make something a little unusual each morning for one week to break up the morning yogurt routine =) Enjoy the photos and some tasty recipes!

Monday Raw Vegan Flaxseed “Oatmeal”
Tuesday Mango and Banana Pancakes
Wednesday Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce
Thursday Huevos Rancheros
Friday Quinoa Cereal with Pomegranate
Saturday Egg and Avocado Wrap
Sunday Pumpkin Oatmeal

New favorite breakfast! Eggs poached in tomato sauce. I’m not sure if it really counts as poaching, but I’m not sure what else to call it… =) I made my own version this morning after seeing this recipe on Italian Foodies.

Dice on small onion and cook it over medium heat with a little EVOO. Sprinkle a few red chili flakes on top.

Puree 2/3 of a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes.

When the onions are cooked, pour the pureed and the remaining 1/3 diced tomatoes in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. P.S. I added about a 1/2 cup of leftover homemade tomato soup to mine, I thought it needed a little more liquid to cook the eggs in.