Dip March 7, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 Layer Bean Dip:

 

Ingredients:

• 1 can refried beans
• 2 tablespoons Jalapeno juice
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup diced onions
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• Juice from 1 lime
• 1 large avocado
• 1 container of sour cream
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 1/4 cup sliced olives
• 1/4 cup diced green onions
• Tortilla chips

Directions:

Heat refried beans on the stove top and add the jalapeno juice. Stir until nice and smooth. Add beans to a serving dish and spread out evenly.

Next make the guacamole. Combine 1/4 cup diced tomatoes, 1/4 cup diced onions, garlic cloves, lime juice and avocado. Stir until well combined and smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread this mixture on top of the refried beans.

Next add the sour cream and smooth out evenly. Sprinkle shredded cheese all over the top and then sprinkle the remaining diced tomatoes, green onions and olives.

Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

 

 

Buffalo Pizza August 30, 2010

I was craving Buffalo Chicken pizza really bad. So here is my version of it. Pretty easy to make and it tasted wonderful. Definitely hit the right spot and satisfied that craving of mine.

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Pizza:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound skinless chicken breast, chopped in small pieces
• 1 pizza dough (I used the one in the can)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• ½ red onion, chopped
• Handful fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 ½ cups Buffalo wing sauce
• 1 cup Colby Jack cheese
• 1 cup Shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven according your pizza dough directions.

Brown chicken with garlic. Add 1 cup of buffalo wing sauce and stir to combine well.

Prepare pizza dough on a greased cookie tray. Depending how spicy you want your pizza add the rest of the buffalo sauce to the dough and spread out evenly. Top with 1/2 cup of the Colby jack cheese. Add chicken, onions and then cilantro. Top with the rest of the Colby jack cheese and then the mozzarella cheese.

Bake according to the pizza dough instructions.

Meat Pies August 25, 2010

So ever since I left Australia 10,000 years ago I have always wanted to try and make a meat pie. Meat pies were my favourite snack back home, besides fish and chips. Yummmmm. I haven’t made them because I figured they would be to hard to recreate. Well, I tried them yesterday and they came out pretty ok. I couldn’t find the individual pie tins that I was looking for so instead I used a jumbo muffin pan. This worked out ok but I learned that I needed to use more pastry on a few of them, since they pretty much exploded when I took them out of the pan. So as a first time experiment I would give them a B-. I must say that the filling inside tasted wonderful and pretty dang close to the real deal. Oh and next time I wouldn’t use the puff pastry. Just stick with a pie crust.

Australian Meat Pies:

Ingredients:

• 1lb minced beef (I used 80/20)
• 1 medium onion, diced finely
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup water
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1/4 cup ketchup (my favourite!)
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• pinch of nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons plain flour
• 4 pie shells or 2 pie shells and 1 puff pastry, thawed
• egg or milk wash

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Brown meat, onion and garlic in a skillet. Add 3/4 cup of water, bouillon cubes, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, oregano and nutmeg. Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Mix flour with remaining water until it becomes a smooth paste. Add this to the meat mixture and combine well.

Let meat mixture cool.

Meanwhile roll out pie crusts a little and cut circles to fit inside the pan. Be sure to cut them big enough that it will cover up the sides and hang a little bit over the top of the pan (This is what I failed to do on a few of the pies and they ended up falling apart). Place pastry in the pie tins. Fill tins with the meat mixture. Cut out pastry circles once again to fit on top of the pies. For my tops I used puff pastry but it should work with just pie crusts as well. Press sides together with a fork making sure the two pieces of pie pastry are pushed together well. Brush tops with beaten egg or milk.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Eat with lots of tomato sauce! aka ketchup.

Adapted from food.com.

Lettuce Wraps August 4, 2010

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken breast meat, cut in small pieces
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 2 tablespoons ginger, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup shredded cabbage and carrot mix
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup plum sauce
• 1 cup basil leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• Iceberg lettuce leaves separated

Directions:

Heat a large skillet. Add oil, then chicken and cook for about 2 minutes. Then add ginger, garlic, peppers, cabbage/carrot mix and green onions. Stir fry for another 2-3 minutes. Add plum sauce and mix well. Then add basil leaves and fish sauce. Toss for 1 more minute.

Place spoonfuls of chicken into a piece of lettuce and fold over like a taco and enjoy.

Adapted from foodnetwork.

Simple and Easy July 15, 2010

Beef Kabobs:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb beef for grilling, cut in cubes
• 1 white onion, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 3 jalapeño, cored and sliced
• 1 yellow zucchini, sliced
• skewers for grilling

Directions:

Preheat grill.

Add ingredients to the skewers alternating between the beef and vegetables.

Grill until meat is cooked to desired liking.

You can also use chicken, pork, lamb, shrimp and any type of vegetable that will will hold on the skewers while grilling. Try a chicken, pineapple, onion and garlic one. YUMO!

Also, if you wish you can marinate your meat the night before in your favourite marinade to give some more flavour. There are many possibilities with this easy dinner.