Chorizo, Bean and Cabbage Tacos / Tostada / Nachos

Occasionally I order from Chef's Plate or Goodfood which are meal delivery services. They provide easy to follow recipes and all the ingredients you need (except for things like salt, pepper and olive oil). I normally pick recipes that are things I wouldn't typically make or that have fun ingredients I wouldn't typically buy as to expand my cooking horizons. 

The following recipe is inspired from one of the dishes I got from them. To be honest, I don't think I ever made their exact version as it was vegetarian and Conor is usually against that. I happened to have some Chorizo sausage on hand when I went to cook this so I added it. We were not disappointed. 

Since the original recipe was vegetarian, this could easily be made back to being so by omitting the sausage! 

The original recipe was done on tostadas shells (flat crispy taco) and I've also made in soft tortilla wraps and in regular crunchy tacos. For left overs the next day, I normally eat it with a few tortilla chips so it makes me think this would be a very good nacho topping option as well! 

If you're looking to change up taco night, this recipe is for you! :) 

Ingredients

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced (or for convenience sake you can use half a bag of pre-shredded cabbage)

1 can of diced tomatoes (14 oz)

1/2 white or Spanish onion ,diced

1 tsp each of oregano, onion powder, cumin, chili powder

1 lbs Chorizo sausage (you want the raw soft kind… I use “Spanish Chorizo” from Selections by Compliments found in the regular meat section at Sobeys. Confusing because Spanish Chorizo is normally cured like a deli meat… and the raw crumbly stuff is normally Mexican Chorizo, but as long as you can cook it like a regular sausage it will work)

Toppings (optional, but suggested):

Lime

Avocado

Salsa

Radish

Cilantro

Cheddar cheese

12 corn tortillas or tacos or tostadas shells

Directions:

Cook chorizo in a large pan over medium-high heat breaking it down as you cook. Once browned (10-15 minutes) remove from pan. I don’t normally need to add any oil, but if the pan is dry add a little splash of olive oil. In the same pan used to cook the sausage, add onions and cook until translucent (4-5 minutes). Add can of tomatoes and it’s liquid. Cook for 10 minutes until liquid is mostly absorbed. Add sausage back. Add spices and mix. And cabbage and stirring frequently cook for 3-4 minutes while the cabbage wilts. Add beans and cook for 5 minutes.  The filling is done!

Heat your tortillas or tacos or tostada shells and top away!

BBQ Steak and Vegetable Kabobs

This marinade is SO flavourful and delicious. I've made it twice in the last two weeks and it will be reoccurring throughout the summer so I had to share. Original Recipe found here . The best part is all the ingredients are stuff everyone should have in the cupboard! We're now thinking of ways we can use this marinade on other things because we love it so much.

 Vegetables for the skewers are totally by what you like, I've included my preferences below.

Marinade: 
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup soya sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 cloves of garlic, grated or minced
1-inch piece of ginger, grated or minced
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp red chili pepper flakes
1/2 tsp black pepper

Other ingredients: 
2-3 Sirloin Steaks, cut into cubes (if there is a fat edge, remove all if not most)
Red pepper, bite size chunks
Purple onion, bite size chunks
Zucchini, cut into rounds
Mushrooms, whole or halved depending on the size
6-8 wood skewers
Oil (canola or olive) for the bbq grates

Directions: 
In a large bowl, mix all the marinade ingredients. Add the cubed steak and set aside to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 10 minutes. Cut up the vegetables and set aside in a bowl.

Preheat your bbq to medium-high. While BBQ is preheating, make the skewers. Alternate meat with vegetables.

Carefully oil the grate (a little oil on a piece of paper towel, use tongs to move it around) and then place the skewers on. Cook for 8-10 minutes, rotating every few minutes. This ended up with medium rare steak.

ENJOY!

Chicken, Brie & Apple Grilled Panini

What can I say about this sandwich? It's delicious. I would pay to eat this sandwich. Every time Conor and I make these sandwiches we go "oh yessssss" after the first bite. Every little aspect of this sandwich gives another burst of flavour. The original recipe, which we got from Chef's Plate food delivery service, was without Chicken. However, as soon as I read the ingredients I knew I wanted to add chicken. We didn't even bother making it without it ... what I'm saying though is this COULD be vegetarian and I'm sure it would be delicious... but add the chicken. TRUST.

I fresh bake (or BBQ) my chicken for the sandwich, but left over chicken or rotisserie chicken could always be used here.

Makes 4-8 sandwiches (depending on size of bread used)

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
S & P
1 1/2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dry thyme
1/4 tsp smoked or regular paprika

4 long panini buns (or 8 square Ciabatta buns... or something along those lines that will flatten well... panini style)
6-8 oz Brie Cheese (one of those triangle sized from the store works well), thinly sliced
1 Granny Smith Apple, thinly sliced around core
1 Small Red Onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp smoked or regular paprika
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 cup warm water
S&P
Honey mustard (a squirt for each bun!)
Pam cooking spray or slice of butter

Preheat the oven to 350 F . While the oven is pre-heating in a large bowl mix chicken with S&P, olive oil, garlic powder, dry thyme and paprika. Set aside until oven is preheated. Once preheated, place chicken on baking sheet or in baking dish and cook for 25-30 minutes until cooked. Let rest until ready to assemble.

While the chicken is cooking, in a large pan add 1 tbs of olive oil over medium heat until hot. Add the sliced red onion & garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until softened. Add brown sugar, paprika, thyme, white wine vinegar & water. Cooking for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very soft and brown. Season with salt and pepper. When the onions are done, you can turn off the heat and put them in a bowl until ready to use. Carefully wipe the pan clean - you will use this to grill the sandwiches.

At this point, remove the brie from the fridge and slice up. Slice the apple. Cut up the chicken into thin slices. Cut the buns horizontally. Get ready to assemble!

On the bottom bun, spread honey mustard. Place apple slices to just cover the bottom bun. Place chicken slices on top. Top with caramelized onions. the brie cheese and then the top bun. Heat pan over medium heat - either spray with some pam or add a knob (that's not a proper measurement... 1 tbs?) of butter. When hot, add 2-4 sandwiches to the pan - depending on how big the pan is and which type of bread you've used (long or square). Cook for 4 minutes - flattening it slightly with a spatula. Flip & cook for 4 more minutes (also pressing down with spatula - not for the full 4 minutes... that would be exhausting). At this point the sandwich should be crisp and the cheese melted.

ENJOY xo

Moroccan Chicken & Vegetable Soup

For Christmas my co-worker Linda gave me a "Clean Eating For Every Season" cook book. It is super awesome! This is my favourite recipe from there so far. SUPER flavourful and easy to make. Just takes a little bit of time (1 hour, 40 minutes). I made it for dinner for the first time about a month or two ago and my Mom was in town. While she may have had a few glasses of wine, she did say this was the most delicious soup she's ever had... and not because I made it! 

It could very easily be turned into a delicious vegetarian soup if you omit the chicken and use vegetable broth instead. 

Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients

Chickpea Croutons

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 tbs 1 oil

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of ground ginger

Chicken

2 chicken breast

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp garlic power

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tbs olive oil 

Soup

2 tbs coconut oil 

2 celery stalks, diced

1 medium carrot, diced (half moons or quarters depending on size)

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 1/4 tsp ground turmeric

3/4 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cumin 

pinch of black pepper

1 18 oz can of diced tomatoes (with juices)

1 tsp salt

2 sweet potatoes, peeled an diced

6 cups low sodium chicken broth 

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley 

3 cups lightly packed baby spinach 

1 lemon, cut into wedges for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place chickpeas on a parchment lined baking sheet; remove any loose skins. In a bowl, mix chicken with the olive oil and spices until they are well coated. On a separate baking sheet, place the two chicken breasts. Add both to the oven and roast for 20 minutes. Remove chickpeas and add 1 1/2 tbs of coconut oil & pinch of salt.   SIDE BAR: the first time I made this I melted the coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl and drizzled it over top. Last night, I simply dropped it on top and mixed it around allowing the heat of the baking sheet and chickpeas to melt it - either works!   Return to oven and roast for another 15 minutes. When you put the chickpeas back in, remove the chicken breasts and set aside to cool. When the additional 15 minutes is done on the chickpeas, remove from the oven and turn the oven off. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of ginger. Mix around. Put the chickpeas back in the oven with closed door and heat off for 50 minutes to one hour. 

Time to prepare the soup! Dice up the celery, carrot and onion. In a medium stockpot on medium heat, heat 2 tbs of coconut oil. Add diced celery, carrot and onion. Cook until tender, about 6 minutes.  While they cook, prepare the potatoes. Add turmeric, 3/4 tsp ginger, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cumin and black pepper and cook for 1 minute stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and 1 tsp salt. Cook for 3 minutes. 

Add potatoes and broth to the pot. Turn up heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover to simmer for 20-25 minutes, until potatoes are tender. 

While the soup is simmering, either dice the chicken to bite site pieces or shred with two forks. Add chicken, cilantro and parsley and heat through, approximately 2 minutes. Taste and add additional salt if needed! Stir in spinach and allow to wilt. 

The soup is ready! If the chickpeas are ready (aka the hour is up) then serve up the soup and top with the chickpeas and a squeeze of lemon. If the chickpeas aren't ready (aka crispy) then just keep the soup on low or cover and turn off heat, it will stay warm!

Enjoy! 

Pork Dumplings

My brother and I lived together for a few years and I would always do the cooking. "You're better at it..." is something he used to say (not a direct quote ;) ). But turns out when he moved out on his own and started cooking for himself, he's a pretty great cook. And very adventurous! He makes all sorts of things I've never tried and uses exciting spices I don't even have (and I've got a pretty good spice collection!). Recently at a party, I tried his pork dumplings which were delicious. He was in town this past weekend so I asked him to teach me how to make them.

Yields about 30 dumplings

Ingredients
1lb ground pork
1 tbs light soya sauce
1 tbs dark soya sauce
1 tbs Chinese black vinegar
1/2 tbs seasme oil
1 tbs dried Sichuan pepper, crush (optional to roast them prior)
1 1/2 tbs finely chopped green onion (green parts)
1/2 tbs grated fresh ginger
Optional: ~ 1 tsp tapioca starch
Dumpling wrappers
Bowl of Water

In a large bowl, combine ingredients from the ground pork to ginger. Mix by hand. If it seems a little "wet" you can add some tapioca starch - no more than a tsp. You don't want the meat to soak the dumpling wrappers. Prepare are large plate or baking sheet with parchment paper. You will put the dumplings on here prior to cooking.

Take a dumpling wrapper and put 1 tbs of filling directly in the middle. Dip a finger in the water and go along the edge of one half of the wrapper. Fold over and pinch the edges closed. My brother was closing the dumplings with a fancy "coin purse" method, but I was struggling with that. A simple "messy" pinch gets the job done.

Once you've used all the filling or dumpling wrappers, heat a medium sized non-stick pan over medium-high heat with 2-3 tbs of vegetable oil. Make sure you have a lid that will properly fit this pan. Once hot, add some dumplings. You want all of them to touch the bottom of the pan, so don't over crowd. Pour in 1/2 cup of water and cover with the lid. Cook undisturbed for 6 minutes and then remove the lid. Remove the lid and flip the dumplings and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes or until desired crispiness or the water has evaporated (I still had a little water left). Repeat the same process over - no need to discard any remaining water/oil that may still be left. Add just a splash more of oil, the dumplings, more water and cover the pan and repeat.

My "messy" pinch closure

Post 6 minutes with lid cover with a flip

They're ready! 

Spicy Sausage and Tarragon Risotto

I made this recipe up on the go and I will admit I did not measure or time anything, so everything below is just guess work, but sound right to me. The flavours in this were super delicious. I added tarragon as a last minute idea and I'm so glad I did. Spicy sausage and tarragon are a very good mix of flavours.

If you don't like mushrooms, leave them out! If you don't like spinach, leave it out! This recipe is very adaptable.

When I went to type this up I realized I didn't use any olive oil or butter (which I normally do while cooking risotto). I was using a brand new non-stick pan and the sausage grease was sort of used as oil. If you're using an older pan or one without non-stick, you might have to add a little olive oil at the beginning.

Serves 3-4

3 spicy Italian sausages
1 small Spanish onion, (or 1/2 big one) diced
4-5 Crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup dry arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
~ 3 cups chicken stock (have a little more on hand just in case)
handful of spinach
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan
1/2 tsp tarragon
s & p

Remove sausage from casing and add to a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Break sausage up with a wooden spoon while it cooks. When the sausage begins to appear cooked, add in the diced onions. Cook for about 5 minutes until the onions begin to become translucent. Add the mushrooms. Cook for another 5 minutes or so - try to get some color on the mushrooms. Add the garlic and red pepper. Cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add arborio rice and mix in with the sausage mixture. Add wine and stir to absorb. Add just enough of your chicken stock so it covers the rice. Allow the rice to absorb the chicken stock while stirring occasionally. Once the rice has almost fully absorbed the stock, add more - around 1/2 cup at a time. Repeat until you've used the 3 cups. This should take at least 15 minutes, if not longer. Test the rice to make sure its not too firm. If it tastes too firm, add more stock. Add a handful of spinach and stir until wilted. Add Parmesan, tarragon, black pepper and mix. Taste, I added just a little pinch of salt!

Enjoy!

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

For mother's day this year, my sister and I made butternut squash and sweet potato soup as an appetizer for a surprise meal for my mom. There are plenty of recipes out there, all pretty much the same, but we made up our own. A lot of them have you peeling the butternut squash first and chopping it up into small pieces before roasting, but that seemed like a lot of work so we roasted it whole! As we enter December and the weather is supposed to be colder, soup felt like a good thing to make so I re-created the recipe to the best of my ability, since we obviously didn't write it down last time. Enjoy!

Serves 5-6

Ingredients:

1 medium or large butternut squash 

1 large sweet potato

1 medium spanish onion

4 cloves of garlic

6 fresh sage leaves 

1 tbs dry thyme

Olive oil 

1 tbs butter

2 cups chicken stock 

2 tbs goat cheese (plus more for topping) 

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

s & p 

Preheat oven to 375. Spray large baking tray with oil (or drizzle with a little olive oil and rub with a piece of paper towel). 

Cut butternut squash in half length wise. Remove seeds. Drizzle insides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. In each "hole" (where the seeds were) put a sage leaf. Place face down on baking sheet. 

Cut sweet potato in half length wise. Drizzle inside with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. Place face down on baking sheet with a sage leaf under each half. 

Cut onion in half and remove skin. Separate into a few pieces. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. Add sage leaf underneath or between pieces of onion. 

Add 4 garlic cloves (skin on) to the baking sheet. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake everything for 30 minutes or until the butternut squash is tender. Remove everything from the oven and set aside. 

In a large pot on medium heat, add butter. Using a spoon, scoop the inside of the butternut squash and sweet potato without getting the skin. Add to the pot. Remove skin from garlic and add roasted garlic to pot. Add onions and sage leaves to the pot. Add 1 cup of chicken stock. Using an immersion blender, start blending the soup. After its starts to break down, add the remaining chicken stock. Continue to blend until smooth. Add goat cheese, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix together and allow the goat cheese to melt. Salt & pepper to taste. 

Top with extra goat cheese & parsley if desired!