Week 92: BBQ Chicken and Pineapple Quesadilla

I love cooking things on the grill.  It just gives everything better flavor, right?  Pioneer woman got it right when she paired barbequed chicken with sweet grilled pineapple.

Year of Yum Rating: 4 1/2 STARS

INGREDIENTS
■8 whole Flour Tortillas
■Butter Or Margarine
■2 cups Grilled Pineapple, Sliced
■3 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
■Salt And Pepper, to taste
■3 cups Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
■1 whole Jalapeno, Sliced
■Cilantro
■3 Tablespoons Barbecue Sauce

DIRECTIONS
(To grill pineapple: cut wedges, stick on skewers, and grill over low heat. Cut into slices.)


(To pound chicken, place inside a Ziploc bag and pound with a mallet or large can to flatten to uniform thickness.)

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and Cajun spice (or cumin/cayenne, etc.) Drizzle olive oil on a grill pan and grill on both sides until done, brushing with barbecue sauce. Set aside and slice into very thin slices.

Warm griddle over medium heat and put sizzling butter or margarine in the pan. Slightly warm and toast tortillas on both sides, then remove from griddle and set aside.

To assemble, sprinkle four browned tortillas with grated Monterey Jack. Arrange chicken slices evenly over the surface. Add pineapple slices and jalapeno slices. Sprinkle on cilantro. If desired, drizzle extra barbecue sauce over the top. Add second browned tortilla on top of each one. (You'll have four complete quesadillas at this point.)
Add to oven to warm, or back to skillet to warm, until cheese is melted. Cut each quesadilla into six wedges. Serve with sour cream, pico de gallo, and lime wedges.

Recipe courtesy of Pioneer Woman

Week 90: Green and Red Chile Nacho Burgers

One thing that you really need to admire Ms. Rachael Ray for is her ability to concoct SO many different kinds of burgers. I've frequently said that I think I could probably be a vegetarian if it wasn't for hamburgers. This one is definitely one that would cause me to cheat. I love Mexican flavors, and crumbling tortilla chips just sends this burger over the edge.

Year of Yum Rating: 4 1/2 STARS

INGREDIENTS
For the Burger:
•1 1/2 pounds ground beef sirloin
•Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Red Chili Paste:
•2 red Fresno chilies, sliced
•2 large cloves garlic
•1 small red onion, coarsely chopped
•2 fresh bay leaves
•Generous handful fresh cilantro leaves

For the Green Chili Sauce:
•2 large poblanos
•Vegetable oil, for drizzling
•5-6 tomatillos, papery skins removed, coarsely chopped
•1 small onion, chopped
•2 cloves garlic, chopped or sliced
•Small handful fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
•1 teaspoon cumin, (1/3 palmful)
•2 teaspoons honey or agave
•1 lime, juiced
•Kosher salt

For Topping:

•Good quality tortilla chips
•Mild Mexican melting cheeses, Monterey Jack, or Cheddar cheese, shredded
•Pickled, sliced jalapenos, drained
•8 hamburger slider rolls or brioche rolls, split

DIRECTIONS
To make the red chili paste, place the Fresno chilies, garlic, red onion, bay leaves, and cilantro leaves into a food processor and process into a fine paste. Scrape into a mixing bowl and reserve. Return the food processor bowl to its base. Do not rinse.

To make the green chili sauce, char and blacken the poblanos over the burner of gas stovetop or under the broiler with the oven door ajar to allow steam to escape. Place the peppers in a bowl to cool, covered with plastic wrap, then peel and seed.

Meanwhile, in a sauté pan over medium-high heat, add a good drizzle of vegetable oil. Cook the tomatillos, onion, and garlic until the onions are tender, about 8-10 minutes. Place the onions and tomatillos in the food processor with the charred poblanos, cilantro, cumin, honey, lime juice, and salt. Puree sauce and adjust seasoning.

Combine the ground beef and ground pork with the red chili paste and season with salt and pepper. Form 8 (3-inch) patties that are thinner at the center and thicker at the edges. Heat a griddle pan or large cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Add a drizzle of vegetable oil to the pan and cook the burgers, about 3 minutes on each side. Leave in the skillet.

In a small skillet over medium heat, reheat the spicy refried beans with a splash of water to thin them out a bit.

Top the burgers with green chili sauce and a few chips. Top the chips with refried beans, shredded cheese, and pickled jalapenos. Tent the pan with foil to melt the cheese, 1 minute. Serve nacho sliders on slider or brioche rolls.

Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

•1 can spicy vegetarian refried beans

Week 61: Veggie Kabobs and Whoopie Pies

Today Mara and I wanted to test a recipe we found for S'Mores Whoopie Pies for this weekend's baby shower we're hosting. It's irresponsible to eat Whoopie Pies for dinner, so I planned on grilling kabobs to start us out and give us energy to bake. The kabobs didn't require a recipe, but here's how we did it...


Year of Yum Rating: 4 1/2 STARS

INGREDIENTS
Mushrooms
Bell peppers, various colors
Grape tomatoes
Yellow onion
Potatoes
Tofu, extra firm
Extra virgin olive oil
Soy sauce
Lemon juice
Sea salt
Pepper

DIRECTIONS
Mix the marinade in a large bowl. I just poured in a few glugs of EVOO, several shakes of soy sauce, juice from half of a lemon, and freshly ground pepper.

Cut the veggies and tofu so they're all about the same size. Put them all in the marinade and mix it all up so everything's coated.

Once the grill is ready (I had it on medium-low), skewer those veggies, sprinkle with sea salt, and put on the grill. They're done with everything has that good grill-charred look.



NOW...these whoopie pies (courtesy of Brown-Eyed Baker). I'm not much of the baker, but I was fortunate enough to have great helpers. After I messed up the flour step of the recipe TWICE, I asked Abby to be in charge of looking at the recipe and telling us what to do. These actually turned out to be pretty good, but very rich. We also thought they didn't have an extremely strong s'mores flavor. If we didn't know that this was the inspiration, we might not have recognized it. Also, the marshmallow filling had quite a bit of shortening, and my mouth definitely picked up on that.

Year of Yum Rating: 4 STARS

INGREDIENTS
For the Graham Cracker Whoopie:
1½ cups graham flour (I couldn't find this at the two grocery stores I tried, so I looked up a substitution online. For each 1 cup of graham flour called for in the recipe, you can use 2/3 cup white flour, slightly less than 1/3 cup wheat bran, and 1.5 teaspoons wheat germ. I wonder if I also could have used whole wheat flour here...)
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Classic Marshmallow Filling:
1½ cups Marshmallow Fluff (or other prepared marshmallow cream, which will do in a pinch)
1¼ cups vegetable shortening
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Ganache Filling:
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips (or solid chocolate, finely chopped)
½ cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together both flours, baking powder, and salt.

3. In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, shortening and brown sugar until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and the buttermilk and beat until combined.

4. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, baking soda, and vinegar. Add the milk mixture to the batter along with the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Add the vanilla and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until completely combined.

5. Using a spoon, drop about 1 tablespoon of batter onto one of the prepared baking sheets and repeat, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes each, or until the cakes begin to brown. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

6. Make the Marshmallow Filling: In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the Marshmallow Fluff and the vegetable shortening, starting on low and increasing to medium speed until the mixture is smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low, add the confectioners’ sugar and the vanilla, and beat until incorporated. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes more.

7. Make the Chocolate Ganache Filling: Put the chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat just until it bubbles. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl and let it sit for about 10 minutes, until the chocolate is melted. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until smooth. Allow the mixture to rest at room temperature until firm enough to spread, about 2 hours. You may also refrigerate the mixture for about 30 minutes, until it is firm enough to spread, stirring every 10 minutes.

8. Assemble the whoopie pies: Pipe or spread (whatever your preferred method) a layer of chocolate ganache filling onto the flat side of one of the cakes. Using the same method, top the chocolate filling with the marshmallow filling. Top it with another cake, flat-side down. Repeat with the rest of the cakes and filling.

Week 51: Black Bean Burgers

I've made "veggie burgers" before, but I enjoyed these way more than any others that I've made. I think that cooking them on the grill gave them a really great flavor. When I put it on the bun with all the fixings, I didn't even miss the meat.

One of my favorite things about this recipe was that you could use some of the reserved black bean mixture to make enchiladas later in the week. I would like to find more recipes that are two stages like that.

Year of Yum Rating: 4 1/2 STARS

INGREDIENTS
1/2 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves
2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup bread crumbs (we used seasoned)
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
4 hamburger rolls
*We also added 1/2 a jalapeno for more flavor

DIRECTIONS
Heat a grill or grill pan over medium-low heat.

In a food processor, pulse onion, jalapeno, and garlic until finely chopped. Add 1 can black beans, cilantro, parsley, egg, and red pepper flakes and pulse to combine.

Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl, add the remaining can of black beans and the bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and mix until well combined.

Reserve 1/3 of the black bean mixture for Round 2 Recipe. Divide remaining mixture into 4 portions and form into patties. Place on hot oiled grill over medium-low heat and cook about 6 minutes a side or until heated through. Toast hamburger buns on a grill. Place a burger on the bottom of each bun. Top with lettuce, tomato and ketchup. Cover the burgers with the top of the bun and serve.

Use the leftovers from this recipe in Black Bean Enchiladas.