sorry for the negligence...

So, once again school ate ALL my free time, and therefore my food blog is starving :(  BUT am stealing a few minutes away from my billion projects in order to share a few recipes with you.  

I Love Mexican Food.   I love all tings Hispanic, really- lingo, music, history, food, culture.  I've informed my fiance several times that if he's ever inclined to move to Mexico or Ecuador or Peru forever, I'm totally fine with that.  Unfortunately, there are things like education, jobs, and family keeping us here in the hot-dog-eating, English-speaking, US of A. (don't get me wrong, I'm very patriotic. I love hot dogs.)  
ANYways, last night I made Mexican for the two of us, and I thought I'd share it with you. :) Disfrutan! (Enjoy!)

Chicken Nachos


2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tomato
1/2 of a yellow onion
1 T Tobasco sauce
1 T garlic powder
1 T cilantro 
1 t crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste
Shredded cheese (I prefer a mix of part-skim Mozzarella, and sharp Cheddar.  Mozzarella is actually what they use in Latin/South America, not Cheddar.)
Tortilla chips of choice (I like Tostida's or Mission's whole grain restaurant style)
Cooking spray (use canola spray, it's healthier!)


Dice the tomato and onion.  Chop the chicken into small cubes.  Spray a large frying pan with cooking spray, bring to a medium heat, and add tomatoes and onions.  Once the onions become a little more translucent, add the chicken, Tobasco, and spices. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is done.  Prepare a baking sheet by spreading foil over it, and spraying it with cooking spray.  Spread a single layer of tortilla chips on the sheet, and spoon the chicken mixture on top of the chips.  Try to aim for one piece of chicken or clump of veggies per chip.  Sprinkle with cheese.  If you want, you can layer more levels of chips, chicken, and cheese on the same sheet, or use multiple sheets of single layers.  I've done it both ways, with great success.  Multiple layers tend to turn out a little more gooey and chewy, and singles are more crispy.  Simply broil them until the cheese is bubbly, and enjoy! this makes about 3 big servings, or 4 normal ones.   


Homemade Guacamole


2 avocados
1/2 c lime juice
1 T cilantro
1 t garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 T milk (for creaminess)


Scrape the meat out of the avocados, dice them, and toss all the ingredients into a food processor! I used my roommate's blender (not owning either a blender or food processor myself), and it turned out chunky, but really yummy.  If you try using a blender, I recommend using the pulse option and scraping down the sides frequently.  


YUM! Que rico!

I can have my green and eat it too (without grimacing!!)

So, I've tried one of the green smoothies that seem to be taking health food world by storm... and it wasn't bad. But despite the sweet pear-ey, grape-ey flavor of my smoothie, I just couldn't get over the GREEN color... Drinking something the shade of Shrek just isn't appealing.  

However, this morning, I figured out how to sneak some healthy green spinach into my Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Milkshake, and get a result in a pleasing, yummy-looking shade of MAUVE :)

I'll share my very simple little recipe for healthy, non-gross smoothies with you, should you wish to try it.  

Secretly Healthy Strawberry Milkshake

1/2 cup skim or lowfat milk

3-4 big scoops of strawberry nonfat frozen yogurt

1 1/2 cups frozen green smoothie

Combine everything and blend the heck out of it!

FYI: I used some frozen leftovers of my Pear Medley Smoothie in this, and it did nothing to hurt the strawberry flavor- if anything, it just added some extra sweetness.  :) But I'm pretty sure that any green smoothie that's not too crazy will work well.

busy-ness

So, I could go into this long spiel about how my life is crazy-insane, and how this week has been the craziest yet, but I'll spare you the details.  Just know that I'm sorry if this little blog gets neglected, but sometimes I actually have to prioritize... and that means NOT procrasti-blogging.  

BUT, I do have a few moments this evening (Happy April Fool's, by the way!) and thought I'd share one of the low-stress meals I made during this week's madness.  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Chili

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Meat (I usually use 80-20 or 90-10 ground turkey, but I used ground chicken this time, and liked it better!) 

1-2 cans low sodium red kidney beans (use 2 if you like bean-ey chili, 1 if you like it meaty.)

1 can diced tomatoes, low sodium

1 small can tomato puree, low sodium (can you tell we're on a low-sodium diet at my house?)

1 can chicken broth, low sodium

1/4 c chopped yellow onion

chili powder

garlic powder

red pepper

cinnamon

Directions:

Brown the meat with the onions.  Drain the pan of any excess grease.  Stir in a tablespoon each of garlic and chili powder, and a teaspoon each of cinnamon and red pepper.  Allow to simmer on very low heat while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Pour the beans into a colander and rinse. Pour diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and tomato puree into a crockpot and stir until well mixed.  Add beans and meat and stir.  Simmer on low for 3-5 hours, stirring occasionally, and adding spices to taste.  

I personally enjoy eating my chili with sweet cornbread crumbled into it!