EGGS, BEANS & CHlLES IN TORTILLAS ala Diana

Sometimes the best recipes come about when throwing whatever is on hand together.  The other night I was too tired to put much effort into making dinner, the cupboards were near bare, so I worked with what I had.  This recipe can be varied by changing the cheese, adding tomatoes, or other available ingredients to your taste.

Ingredients I had on hand:

Eggs (brown free range organic)
Green chilies (chopped/canned)
Provolone cheese slices
Corn tortillas
Red chili powder
Garlic salt
Sweet chili sauce
Black beans (organic canned)
Dried chopped onions
Olive Oil
Amounts are per your taste.  This is how I made it, yielded enough for 4 tortillas full.

Drizzle frying pan with olive oil, heat, add 1/2 of the organic black beans, sprinkle in chili powder to taste, salt, dried chopped onions, garlic salt, a teaspoon of sweet chili sauce, a couple tablespoons of green chopped chilies (drained) and saute.  After it is heated drizzle a bit more olive oil and heat more.  Add 4 eggs scrambled and cook to done. Turn off heat.  Sprinkle parmesano-reggiano cheese over top, place provolone slices on top of the egg mixture and cover with a lid to melt cheese.  In the meantime, heat corn tortillas in toaster oven until soft. 

Scoop the egg mix with cheese into the softened corn tortilla. 

I added lettuce and shredded carrots on top and whipped up a quick thousand island dressing (1Tablespoon mayo, a few drops of red wine vinegar and a squirt of catsup...whip it up).

I had leftovers the next day so to break things up, instead of the salad topping, I served the cold egg mix on the warmed soft tortilla spread with apricot jam. The sweetness offset the chilies nicely.

It is quick, easy and also very high in protein.  You can experiment and come up with your own variations.  

Use your imagination with whatever you have on hand, and enjoy!

Presto Pesto - Fast and Easy Pesto - Use What's On Hand

Photo courtesy of www.dreamstime.com

Fresh pesto rich with the flavors of pine nuts, Parmesiagno Reggiano cheese, olive oil and basil is one of my favorites whether blended with cream served over pasta, dropped by the tablespoon into a bowl of garden fresh vegetable soup or spread on a slice of toasted rosemary bread, it never fails to satisfy.  Some pesto recipes are made without the cheese and I have also seen it made with peas instead of basil.

I had a craving for pesto but did not have all the ingredients on hand.  A little experimenting lead to a wonderful outcome!  This is a quick fix pesto and the amounts are estimates.

Pesto Presto

Photo courtesy of  www.dreamstime.com

Ingredients:
2 cups frozen spinach
a handful of shelled walnuts
olive oil
Parmesan cheese (shaker style)
2-3 cloves garlic

Cook up frozen spinach per package directions, drain well through tight mesh sieve or squeeze out water in your hand by balling up small amounts of the spinach. Drop into food processor with walnuts, and 2-3 cloves of garlic (per your taste). I added cheese as I went approx. 1/3 cup as you don't want it over power the freshness of the spinach (and by the way you could also use fresh spinach).  Blend.  Drizzle in olive oil from above until you have achieved a nice smooth paste.  Not too oily and not to dry.

Variation: Add well-drained sun-dried tomatoes and blend well into the mix.

Can freeze in small amounts in small baggies for future use to have on hand.

Voila...Pesto Presto!

Quick Pesto Over Pasta

Boil pasta of choice. Drain pasta and return it to the pan.  I used bow tie pasta enough for two servings and added 1 healthy tablespoon of the Presto Pesto along with Trader Joe's Soy Creamer (for a healthier light version) and a splash of chicken broth I had on hand for added flavor.  Heated the pasta with the sauce enough to cook the flavor into the pasta (just a few minutes).  Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan over the top. 

Variation: steam chopped carrots and broccoli and add in veggies to your pasta dish.

Other ways to use pesto:  As a condiment instead of mayo, mix in with steamed veggies, mix with Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese for a healthy dip, mix with vinegar & oil for a great vinaigrette dressing, rub chicken breasts with olive oil and pesto mix then wrap in foil individually and bake.  Pesto is very versatile...have fun with it.

 Quick, affordable, delicious!

Jenny's Lentil Soup ~ A Mediterranean Recipe

My neighbor Jenny grew up playing in the ruins of the Parthenon in Greece, she claimed her initials were etched into one of the stony pillars.  She would pick chamomile along the roads where it grew wild.   Cooking was her passion and she shared many wonderful dishes with me.  Jenny passed away in 2010 but her memory lives on in all the wonderful dishes she taught me to make.  This is one of her simple soup recipes. It is wonderful on a cold winter day. 

Jenny’s Lentil Soup 

(serves 8 people)

1 lb lentils (2 ¼ cups)

1 ½ quart water and 1 quart broth of your choice (I use veggie or chicken broth)

3 cloves garlic chopped

½ cup olive oil (can adjust to your taste)

2-3 bay leafs

salt/pepper

2 TBSP wine vinegar

1 TBSP catsup (organic)

1 cup chopped tomatoes (can do organic canned)
1 med. sweet or yellow onion (chopped), can also use leeks if you prefer.

Follow prep directions for lentils on package beforehand.   Some read soak overnight, some don’t.*  Next day, sauté onions, garlic and lentils in half the oil in large stock pot.  Add the water/broth and the bay leaves and boil 1 hour.  Then add the tomatoes and rest of oil per your taste.  Do not add salt/pepper until end as salt toughens the beans and   there are some theories on pepper that say it should not be heated as it will cause irritation to digestive tract.  At the end, after taking soup off the heat, add the red wine vinegar and catsup and stir.  Remove bay leafs.

You can take ½ of soup and puree or use a hand blender to create the texture you desire.  It will be very watery if you do not puree it some. 

SERVE WITH...a thick tear of home baked bread, (or grab your favorite from your local bakery), a slice of feta cheese and a swirl of olive oil over the bowl of soup.  Delicious!

Variations:  As you heat up smaller amounts in the ensuring days try adding a little curry, a dollop of pesto or yogurt on top, spice up with chili powder or add other precooked veggies (will change the taste).

*If you have issues with gas from eating beans, after rinsing and sorting lentils if you opt to pass on the overnight soak, simply cover with water (good amount) bring to a boil and rinse.  Then proceed with cooking per recipe.

Recipe For Love

My family is Italian, we love to mangia (eat)!  As a little girl my grandpa would rise at four o’clock in the morning to start cooking. The first aroma that tickled my nose was coffee. I would crawl out of bed and into grandpa's ample lap as he read the morning paper. After he finished he would hoist me onto a nearby vinyl and metal stool while he pounded veal paper thin, breaded it in his own special mix and fried it up in obscene amounts of butter and olive oil.  A giant pot of meat sauce simmered nearby.  Grandpa let me throw in the various herbs and enjoy little tastes. But most of all he made me feel that none of it could happen without my invaluable help.

My Aunt Rena made everything from scratch, from homemade ravioli to polenta dulce, (sweet lemon polenta). These polenta mounds were my favorite. As they came out of the oven she would sprinkle sugar over the tops.  I was just the right height to snatch one.  Aunt Rena would always give me samples and winks.

My great grandfather made red wine down in his cement basement. It was so strong it corroded the bottles! The basement was off limits to women, but once in a blue moon he let me slip down and watch the goings on in their male retreat and he would whisper something in Italian and let me sip from his thick glass. I never knew what it was he said, but I think it was, 'don't tell your mama'.

My father introduced me to little toasted rounds of Italian bread hollowed out with rolled up hot Cappicola (Italian ham) and a dab of his special mayo mix.  He made it whenever it stormed outside to take my mind off the scary thunder...my mouth was so much on fire from the hot ham that I quickly forgot the lightening bolts and loud booms.

I can never decide what I love more today...cooking or eating.  I may not remember all the details of the wonderful dishes they made but the recipe for love they each shared will be with me forever. 

Easy Bake Oven Days



Recently I visited a friend that gave her nine year old daughter an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas.  I scanned the room for the massive toy oven I had known as a child only to discover things have changed!  The current model looks more like a small microwave.  Although technology has improved over the years, I felt a certain comfort in knowing that despite its new exterior design, today's toy oven still cooks with a single lightbulb that barely heats up the famous flour and water cake mixture that thrilled me and gagged anyone I could persuade to eat in bygone days.  But as disgusting as it may have been, it set me on the path of curiosity over how a concoction of ingredients could actually turn into something edible. 

Today I am rewarded with great joy in preparing a wonderful meal to share with family and friends and fortunate for them...I have come a long way since my Easy Bake days!