The inspiration for this dish? One big beautiful heirloom tomato… that’s all it took, well that and some good looking poblano chiles. Watch out – the onions, garlic, bell peppers, and jalapeno are used for both the renello stuffing and the pico de gallo;, so be sure not to toss it all in the skillet for the filling. Reserve the indicated amounts and set aside for the pico. Also, it is important to rinse and drain the black beans well, otherwise they will discolor the filling. You don’t want that to happen since the vibrant colors are a big part of this dish. OK, gotta run, that’s all I have to say about this yummy vegetarian meal, enjoy!

Rice and Black Bean Chiles Rellenos with Pico de Gallo

4 large poblano chiles
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, peeled and diced; divided
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced; divided
2 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, seeded and diced; divided
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced; divided
1 cup cooked rice
15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed well
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup white cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

1 large or 2 medium tomatoes, stemmed and diced
1/4 cup minced cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
2 avocado, peeled and sliced, for garnish

Place the poblano chiles directly on the flame of a gas burner. Use tongs to turn the poblanos and char on all sides, then place them in a plastic bag to steam. The steam will help the skin loosen. When the chiles are cool enough to handle, rub the skin off with your hands or paper towels. Carefully slit each chile up one side and remove the core and the seeds. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and sauté 3/4 of the onion and 2 of the garlic cloves until soft. Add 3/4 of each of the bell peppers, and 3/4 of the jalapeno to the onions and garlic in the skillet and cook for 2 minutes over medium heat.

Add the rice, black beans, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir until heated through. Meanwhile preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place poblano chiles on baking sheet and stuff each chile with 1/4 of the rice and bean mixture. Top each chile with shredded cheese and bake for 20 minutes.

While the chiles bake, make the pico de gallo; place the remaining onion, garlic, bell pepper, and jalapeno in a bowl. Stir in the diced tomatoes and cilantro. Add the lime juice and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Remove chiles from oven and place one on each of four dinner plates. Place a large spoonful of pico de gallo alongside each chile and garnish with avocado slices.

Serves 4

I confess, sometimes I’m a cheapskate to a fault. A perfect example of this character flaw? Mandarin oranges. Here’s how it went down; I needed an 11-ounce can of mandarin oranges back in April for a sorbet I was creating for this very blog. At the same time, I was shopping for a cooking class, which meant that I’d be going to my usual three stores to get everything needed for the class. The three stores are Safeway Grocery, Trader Joe’s, and Costco. I loaded the cooler in the car and headed out. At stop number one, Safeway, I noticed the price for a can of mandarin oranges was $1.99.  That seemed a bit high to me, so I passed them by, thinking maybe I’d find them at Trader Joe’s for a better price.  Stop number two, Trader Joe’s – no mandarin oranges. Oh well, I’d double back by Safeway after the final stop at Costco and pick up a can. Good plan… until… I spotted a case (12 cans) of mandarin oranges at Costco for….. wait for it….. $5.99! In miser terms, that is 50 cents a can! Now I had a serious dilemma on my hands. Should I pay 4-times the price for a single can of mandarin oranges at Safeway or be stuck with 11 extra cans if purchased at Costco? Let me tell you how long I pondered that question… less than 2 seconds. I loaded up the case into the cart with all the other mega-size items and figured that after I used just 3 of the cans from the case, the rest would be FREE (at least they would be free if they would have been purchased at the Safeway $1.99 price!) And FREE is my second favorite 4-letter word, next to LOVE. How sweet is that?

So here it is the 7th of July, three months later, and how many of those cans have I used? I have used four cans, thank you very much, the last one used was FREE!  Now that I’m into the free cans, if you live nearby and would like to purchase an 11-ounce can of mandarin oranges for this, or any other recipe, just give me a call.  What?  Did you think I was going to give you that 11-ounce can of mandarin oranges for free? Well, I think you missed the first sentence of this post… go back and read that and then give me a call.

Avocado -Mandarin Orange Salad

(To make this more of a main-course salad, add some shredded rotisserie chicken.  Sliced strawberries are really yummy too!)

Balsamic Dressing
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon or lime juice
3 tablespoons olive oil

Salad
11-ounce can mandarin oranges, drained
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions (white and green portions)
1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
6 cups mixed baby salad greens
2 medium ripe avocados, peeled and cubed

Dressing: Whisk together the vinegar, cheese, garlic, and lemon juice to combine in a medium bowl. While whisking, slowing drizzle in olive oil and continue to whisk until well combined.

Salad: In a bowl, combine the drained mandarin oranges, green onions, and pecans; set aside.

Just before serving, place the greens in a salad bowl; top with orange mixture and avocado..

Drizzle with dressing and serve.

It’s nearly summer, and a true summer staple is fruit salad. This is a springboard recipe. Start with this and then add in whatever fruit is fresh and in season. The obvious choices for summer are berries, cherries, mango, kiwi, pineapple and such. But even in the dead of winter, when those choices are not only out of season but out of range for many pocketbooks, this base recipe will get you going. This was one of the recipes I made on Channel 12 Valley Dish yesterday (you can watch the other dish we made on the “In The News” page at the left).  We added in sliced strawberries, kiwi, blackberries and raspberries. The pictures from the live show were taken by birthday girl, Sloane. I have no idea why I look so darn serious in the first shot, I was just setting up my stuff, but look at those huge lemons in the foreground, no those are serious!  Get out to a farmer’s market this weekend and let your imagination run wild with all the colorful fresh fruit possibilities.

Any Season Fruit Salad

Dressing
1/3 cup agava nectar or honey
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup canola oil

Salad
2 pears, cored and diced
2 bananas, sliced
1 avocado, peeled and diced
Juice 1 lemon
11-ounce can mandarin oranges, drained
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans or almonds

Dressing: Place the honey, orange juice, vinegar, poppy seeds, mustard, and lemon zest in a medium bowl and whisk well to combine. Slowing add the oil, while whisking, until oil is incorporated into dressing.

Salad: Place the pear, banana, and avocado in a large glass bowl and toss with the lemon juice to prevent the fruit from oxidizing and turning brown. Add the mandarin oranges, cranberries, and nuts.  Add the dressing and toss gently to coat well.  Serve immediately.

Serves 6

Today I am sharing another southwestern inspired recipe from my friend and mentor, Barbara Fenzl of Les Gourmettes Cooking School. I helped Barb teach a couples’ class earlier in the week and this was just one of the six delectable dishes the class made. If you’re looking for something special for you and your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, these quesadillas will fit the bill. Enjoy them before you head out to a romantic dinner, or make them together and then sit down, relax, and enjoy with champagne. Avec amour (with love) xoxo

Here is a picture of the roasting of the two peppers used. A poblano has a much thinner skin than a bell pepper, so watch it more closely and turn it more often, it will roast more than twice as fast of the bell. These two peppers began roasting at the exact same time, but as you can clearly see, the poblano is ready to be covered with plastic wrap to steam and the bell still as a ways to go.

Smoked Salmon Quesadillas

2 ounces (1/4 cup) chèvre goat cheese
2 ounces (1/4 cup) cream cheese, room temperature
Four 8-inch whole-wheat tortillas
1 poblano pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded, and cut into thin strips
1 red or orange bell pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded, and cut into thin strips
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut into thin slices
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
2 ounces smoked salmon, cut into thin strips

In a small bowl, mix together chèvre and cream cheese until smooth and well blended. Divide the mixture evenly between the four tortillas and spread evenly over each tortilla.

Divide the poblano and bell pepper strips evenly over half of each tortilla. Layer avocado over the pepper strips and sprinkle with the chopped shallots.  Divide the salmon strips evenly between the tortilla halves.  Fold over tortillas, pressing gently to seal. (May be made ahead to this point, wrap each quesadilla separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before continuing.)

Heat a non-stick skillet (at least 10-inches in diameter) over medium high heat and toast the quesadillas in the dry pan, two at a time, until the cheese melts and they are brown, turn over and brown on the other side.

Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges and serve warm.

Makes 16 wedges

Soup and salad… the two of the most versatile parts of any meal. Or complete meals all by themselves. I’ve previously mentioned my deep admiration for soup. My husband, Dave, on the other hand, has those same feelings for salad. Given the choice, he would take salad over soup about 90% of the time. I’ll take soup over salad 99.9% of the time when it is under 100 degrees here in sunny AZ. But once the thermostat hits the century mark, I turn my back on my favorite child. I feel like a traitor, but I’m just not a huge fan of most cold soups, so salad it is. And considering that is reaches 100 degrees an average of 106 days a year here, that’s nearly a third of the year I give up on my beloved soup. So I need a backup plan!

Currently on this blog, I have 13 soups and only 10 true salads. What do I consider a “true” salad? One that has lettuce or greens as the primary player; not just a tart on a bed of greens used to “fancy it up” or a salad with fruit only, or quinoa laying on a little bit of spinach. But a Real Salad with lettuce! So soup is currently winning the war, I mean the race! Unfortunately, salad is gaining ground with this entry, and with the dog days of summer only a couple months away… I need to make more soup!

La Ensalada el Fregadero de Cocina –  “Kitchen Sink” Mexican Salad

Romaine or iceberg lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
Kidney beans, drained
Thinly sliced red onion
Chopped tomato
Diced avocado
Diced English cucumber
Diced celery
Shredded Mexican cheese, such as Casero, Ranchero, Cotija, or Queso Blanco

Salsa-Cumin Dressing
Equal parts of lite mayonnaise, lite sour cream, and salsa
Ground cumin

Make as much or as little of this salad as you need. Just toss the proportions you wish of the various ingredients in a bowl. Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, and salsa in another bowl and season generously with cumin. The cumin really makes the dressing. Be sure and season well. (For instance, if I’m making salad for one; I’d use 2 tablespoons of each of the 3 ingredients and season with about 1/4 to 1/3 teaspoon cumin. Salad for four; 1/2 cup of each and about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin.) Toss the salad with the dressing – enjoy, feeling healthy and refreshed. If you feel the need, add shredded grilled chicken to “beef” it up.

The best thing about this breakfast or brunch dish is that it can be prepped the night before. In the morning, just fill the cups and pop in the oven while you leisurely make the coffee and read the newspaper. Plus it may easily be doubled or tripled. Add a layer of cooked chorizo, mix in roasted poblano or red bell peppers, green onions, or whatever floats your boat!

Arizona Tortilla-Egg Brunch Cups

Olive oil or bacon drippings, for brushing cups
Two 6  to 8-inch-diameter whole wheat or corn tortillas
1/2 cup refried black beans
4-ounce can diced mild green chilies
6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
Chili powder
1/2 cup grated Ranchero or Monterey Jack cheese
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
Purchased salsa or hot sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush two 8 to 10-ounce ramekins or custard cups with olive oil or drippings. Stack tortillas; microwave uncovered until warm and flexible, about 25 seconds. Gently press 1 tortilla into each cup. Brush tortillas with oil.

Place beans, all but 1 tablespoon of the green chilies, all but 6 of the cherry tomato quarters, and cumin in small bowl; stir to blend, season with salt and pepper. Spoon bean mixture into bottom of tortilla cups, spreading and dividing evenly. (May be made up to 12 hours ahead to this point, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.)

Crack 1 egg into each tortilla cup atop beans. Top with the remaining chilies and tomato quarters and sprinkle lightly with chili powder. Top each with grated cheese, covering egg completely, sprinkle with a little bit more chili powder, for color.

Placed ramekins on a small baking sheet and bake uncovered until egg yolks are firm to touch and whites are set, about 30 minutes.   The yolks will still be soft inside.

Use a large spoon to lift the tortilla cups from cups; transfer to plates and serve immediately with avocado and salsa.

Serves 2

My various citrus trees are producing pounds upon pounds of citrus. The oranges, lemons, and grapefruit are being picked and eaten or used in cooking daily. The limes, blood oranges, and Meyer lemons aren’t quite ready yet, and I’m grateful for that, I can’t keep up as it is! So don’t be surprised to see citrus popping up in just about every post here on out, for months to come.

To kick it off, here is a quick and light salad using another couple favorites; avocado and fennel. The fennel bulb, fronds (leaves), and seeds are used in cooking. The bulb is a crisp, root vegetable and may be sauteed, roasted, stewed, braised, grilled, or eaten raw.  The fronds are delicately flavored and look very similar in shape to dill. The seeds are used either fresh or can be found dried in the spice aisle. The hollow stems are tough and stringy and are usually discarded or used in making vegetable stock. Fennel pollen is actually the most potent form of fennel, but is very expensive and difficult to find. Fennel grows like a weed, so be sure to cultivate the pollen yourself, if you grow fennel in your garden, it is amazing! For this salad, we’re using the bulb and a few of the fronds, as garnish. If you can not find, or do not want to pay the price for, blood oranges or Meyer lemons, use regular oranges and lemons instead.

Fennel, Citrus, and Avocado Salad

Citrus Dressing
1 teaspoon grated Meyer lemon zest
1 teaspoon grated blood orange zest
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2  teaspoons oriental sesame oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad
2 large pink grapefruits, peel and white pith removed (see photo above)
1 blood orange, peel and white pith removed
1 pound fennel bulbs, trimmed, cut into paper-thin slices, fronds reserved
3 cups baby spinach leaves
2 large avocados, halved, pitted, cut into thin slices in the peel, then spooned out of peel

Whisk together all dressing ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Season with salt and pepper.

Holding the trimmed citrus over a bowl, to catch the juice and segments, use a sharp paring knife to cut between membranes of grapefruits and blood orange to release segments. Using a slotted spoon, remove citrus segments from juice, place in another bowl and set aside.

Toss the fennel slices in the citrus juice.

When ready to serve, mound the spinach on a  large platter. Arrange fennel slices, grapefruit segments, and avocado slices atop spinach. Drizzle 3/4 of the dressing over salad.  Garnish with the reserved fennel fronds.

Pass the remaining dressing in a small bowl with the salad.

Serves 8

This photo shows a cut-away so you can see the layers – I filled it in after the photo was taken, don’t want you to think I served it this way!

It is “birthday week” around here. Marissa’s was yesterday, and today is Blake’s 12 birthday!  Blake is the one of three sons of our very best friends in the world! His parents are Dr. Jeffrey and Jennifer Markett, who live in St. Charles, Illinois. Jeff is my husband best friend from college. He was our best man and is godfather to both Marissa and Connor. Jennifer is my best friend, whom I just adore… more on her tomorrow… Until then, Happy Birthday Blakey! We Love YOU!

In Blake’s honor, today we have a seven layer dip that I’ve never seen a kid to turn their nose up at. Use this recipe as a guide, you can add in or sub out so many great ingredients; such as shredded lettuce, roasted red pepper strips, chopped jalapenos, sliced black olives, chopped tomatoes, etc.  In the picture below, I assembled the dish with a cut away, so you can see the layers.  Then I just filled it all in after snapping the photo, don’t want you to think I served it this way! :)

Blake this past summer picking strawberries in Wisconsin :)

Mexican Layer Dip

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 pound ground beef
Salt and ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
16-ounce can refried pinto or black beans
2 cups salsa
2 Haas avocado, diced
7-ounce can whole green chilies, drained and diced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese
3 green onions (green and white parts) diced

Tortilla chips

Heat oil in a large skillet, add onion and garlic, saute until onion is soft and translucent. Stir in beef and cook until browned, season with salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder. Remove to paper towels, with a slotted spoon, to drain.

Spread refried beans evenly to cover the bottom of a large platter.  Top with ground beef mixture. Spread salsa over ground beef, then layer with avocado, green chilies, sour cream, and shredded cheese.  Sprinkle with green onions and serve with tortilla chips.

Serves a crowd

So here are my feelings about Thanksgiving leftovers – I love having mass amounts of white meat leftover for turkey sandwiches, and it wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving without all the fabulous turkey stock I make from the carcasses, but the rest of it… not so much!  To that end, I always make two turkeys, one is roasted the traditional way, the second is always grilled or smoked. This year I wound up with 36 cups of stock, happy day!

To use up all that dark turkey meat, I just make our family favorites and add in the turkey.  Our all-time favorite salad is another of Barbara Pool Fenzl’s recipes.  It comes from her 1994 Southwest The Beautiful Cookbook. I’ve made very few changes to the recipe over the years… instead of whisking by hand, I use a food processor for the dressing.  Since the original recipe makes about 1 1/3 cups of dressing, I double all the other fixings so that all that amazing dressing can be utilized, it would be shameful to waste even one drop!  Also in the original, the tortilla strips are dusted with chili powder prior to frying. Instead I salt and dust them immediately after removing from the hot oil so the seasoning really sticks to the strips. And with all this turkey on hand, it quickly becomes a perfect main course salad for a busy weeknight family dinner.

Southwestern Caesar Salad

(adapted from Southwest The Beautiful Cookbook by Barbara Pool Fenzl)

Dressing
2 eggs
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 shallot, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons anchovy paste (or one whole anchovy)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup corn oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Vegetable oil, for frying
8 corn tortillas, cut into thin strips
Salt
Chili powder

4 cups cooked and shredded turkey meat
2 avocado, peeled and diced
4 heads romaine lettuce, washed, spun dry, and torn into bite-size pieces
1 cup Parmesan cheese

Dressing: Place eggs in boiling water for 1 minute. Remove from water with slotted spoon. Crack open into a bowl, discard egg whites and place yolks in the bowl of a food processor or blender.  Add garlic, shallot, chipotle, mustard, vinegar, lime juice, anchovy paste, cumin, and cayenne to the yolks. Process for about 30 seconds.  With the machine running; add both oils through the feed tube and process just until dressing is emulsified.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour vegetable oil in a small skillet to a depth about 1/4-inch. Heat over medium-high heat.  Fry the tortilla strips in batches until they are crisp and lightly browned.  Remove with tongs to paper towels, immediately sprinkle with salt and chili powder.

Place shredded turkey and avocado in a medium bowl and toss with 1/3 cup dressing, to lightly coat.  In a large serving bowl, toss romaine with remaining dressing, toss in the turkey.  Gently mix in the cheese and tortilla strips.

Serves 16

In a comment on the “Pomegranate – Another Super Food” post, Marissa requested a guacamole recipe that includes pomegranate seeds.  This amazingly delicious recipe comes from Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza, chef/owner of Bario Cafe in Phoenix, Arizona. It is simple and straight forward and oh so addictive!  Over the years, I’ve made one tiny change – and that is changing the serving size.  The original recipe was half the amount that I have here to serve four.  Believe me, it was never enough, so I have doubled the ingredients and now it really will serve four and they will be a very happy four people!  One of the best tips ever – to slice or dice an avocado, cut in half as usual and remove the pit.  Place one half of the avocado in the palm of your hand and, using a table knife, slice or dice the flesh while still in the shell/peel. Repeat with remaining half and then, using a spoon, scoop out the avocado out and into a bowl or onto a plate.  No need to peel, easy, and no mess!  Another bonus, if you have a large quantity of avocados to slice for use later in the day, slice or dice as directed, then replace the pit and put the avocado back together like puzzle pieces and wrap tightly in plastic wrap, set aside, then just scoop out when ready.  This keeps the avocado from turning brown and prevents you from having to prep it all at the last minute.

avocado diced in the shell, ready to scoop out

Guacamole from Bario Cafe

2 avocado
2 heaping tablespoons diced tomatoes
2 heaping tablespoons diced Spanish or red onion
2 heaping tablespoons of jalapeño, seeded and diced
2 heaping tablespoons diced fresh cilantro
1 fresh lime
Salt and fresh-cracked pepper to taste
2 heaping tablespoons fresh pomegranate arils (seeds)

Dice avocado into small chunks and place in a serving bowl. Add tomatoes, onion, jalapeño and cilantro. Squeeze fresh lime juice over mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Fold together gently. Add pomegranate seeds. Mix gently and serve immediately with your favorite tortilla chips.

Serves 4