Super Nachos

Here is another Rachael Ray recipe, and I'm totally addicted to it! I'd probably have it every day if my family didn't mind.
Beef and Beans Topping:
1 Tbsp olive oil1 lb ground meat (I like turkey)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 sm. onion chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. dark chili powder
1 Tbsp. cumin
2 tsp. cayenne pepper sauce (add more if you like it hot)
1 15 oz can black beans, drained

Cheese Sauce:
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
2 cups milk
3 c. pepper jack cheese, shredded (I actually use whatever cheese I have on hand)

Heat a skillet over med. high heat. Add oil, garlic, onion, and peppers to the pan, and saute 2 minutes, then add meat and crumble with wooden spoon. Season meat with salt, chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper sauce. Cook meat 5 minutes, then stir in beans and reduce heat to low.
In a med. sauce pot, melt butter and add flour to it. Cook flour and butter 1-2 minutes over moderate heat, then whisk in milk. Whn milk comes to a bubble, stir in cheese. Remove cheese sauce from the heat.
Spread some tortilla chips out, put beef and bean mixture on and top with cheese sauce. Sooooo good! Top with guacamole, sour cream, or whatever you feel like.

Guacamole

Okay, this is the yummiest guacamole recipe I've found. It's from allrecipes.com.

3 avocados-peeled, pitted, and mashed
1 lime, juiced
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)

In a medium bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in onion, cilantro, tomoatoes, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Refrigerate 1 hour for best flavor, or serve immediately.

Julia

mexican cornbread

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 1 Hour

Ready In: 1 Hour 15 Minutes Yields: 6 servings

"This has got to be the tastiest and the most moist cornbread I have ever made. It is the most requested thing I cook, so I am sharing it. Don't let the ingredients fool you. It's unbelievable."

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, melted 1 cup white sugar 4 eggs 1 (15 ounce) can cream-style corn 1/2 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers, drained 1/2 cup shredded Monterey

Jack cheese 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup yellow cornmeal 4 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2.	In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in cream corn, chiles, Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese.
3.	In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to corn mixture; stir until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4.	Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into center of the pan comes out clean.

**yes catherine this is the bread that you scarffed down at the chili cook off!

easy & delicious salsa

i make this all the time (it's super fast) and a SUPER hit.
mix:
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes (usually one with chiles etc)
add:
juice from 1-2 limes
1 T sugar
chopped cilantro
finely chopped onion (optional)

stir it up and serve with scoop style tortilla chips! it is best if you make it the morning of so that it has a chance to soak up the lime!

fancy schmancy quesadillas

i'm more of the "cheese crisp" type (where you put grated cheese on a tortilla and melt it in a pan, oven or microwave) but i have to admit that this recipe i stole from realsimple is a nice touch. it's simple and yet fancy all at the same time... great if used with the mexican salad i posted.

ingredients:
1 15.5-ounce can black beans, drained
1 11-ounce can corn kernels, drained
3/4 cup salsa, drained (or you can even drain a can of diced, spicy tomatoes)
1 8-count package large flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack

Heat oven to 400° F. In a medium bowl, combine the beans, corn, and salsa. Place 4 tortillas on a parchment- or foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with half the cheese. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the black bean mixture on top of the cheese. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and sandwich with the remaining tortillas. Bake until the cheese has melted, 5 to 7 minutes.
Transfer the quesadillas to a cutting board. Cut each into 6 wedges.

*i even added shredded chicken to mine.

Mexican Quiche

1/4 c margarine or butter, melted
5 eggs
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1--4 oz. can chopped green chilies
1 c. cottage cheese
2 c. grated monterey jack cheese

Mix all together and pour into greased 8x8 pan. Bake at 350 for 35-40 min.

Chalupa Mix

2-4 lb pork roast
1 10-14oz. can diced tomato w/green chilies
(depending on the size of the roast)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1/2 to 1 tsp chili powder (opt.)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic

Cook on low in a crock pot for 6 hours, or until it's soft. Take the meat out and shred it, then add 2 15 oz. cans pinto beans (drain if your roast has lots of juice, or leave the juice if it's dry). Cook on low 2 more hours.

For you carnivores, this is one of my all-time favorites. I can eat it forever and ever until it's gone, it saves and reheats well. It makes a great snack with a little shredded cheese and chips, or you can go all out for dinner with tortillas, sour cream, avocado, cheese, the usual taco-like fixings.
I don't know if the name is accurate, but it's what we've always called it.

Blog info. and NEW CATEGORY

As you may have noticed, there are a few changes to the blog. My friend Robin has accepted the position of tech. support and to her we are truly grateful!:) As you can see, she has added tabs and so we can access the recipes more easily. Also, now you can register yourself as a contributor to the blog. Sign in under 98105@hotmail.com and use the password seattlerecipes and then go to "settings" and then "permissions" and invite yourself to be an author of the blog. Then you can sign in with your google account, or just create one (super easy, just make a name and password, I don't have a gmail account and so I just created one for this purpose).

This way you can post as yourself, and the NEXT step is that you can create a profile, telling who you are, where you are living, post a picture under your profile and all that. It would be super fun to know who is blogging, and have a reference of who they are since we have all invited friends. Sounds complicated, but it is not. It doesn't take much time at all, and I think that it is completely worth it, because this blog is going to be a long-term thing. This blog is awesome! I have never made so many good salads in my life!

Okay, so now for more important things. Our next category is going to be LATIN. This includes mexican, spanish, cuban, brazilian, basically anything Latin. It doesn't have to be a main dish just anything that falls in that category. It would also be helpful to maybe give a meal plan, what to have as a side dish etc.. Yeah for Jenn Tukuafu for already posting some recipes that look REALLY good.

Let's get started...

hey ladies

just a note for all of you that will really help this blog be user friendly... when you post a recipe go ahead and give it a label. the label box is directly at the bottom of your "posting box" that you type your recipe in.... you can give one recipe several labels, such as chicken enchiladas could be labeled mexican as well as chicken dish. or fruit salad could be labeled fruit and salad.

this labeling processes allows the labels to pop up on the side of the blog so you can click on whatever label interests you and have access to those recipes, rather than going through the entire archive...

hopefully this makes sense! if not, let me know.

robin

mexican salad

this salad goes great with quesadillas or tacos or beans and rice, but it does not keep well so hopefully it gets eaten up!

Combine in a Bowl:
juice from 2 lemons
1 T olive oil
pepper & salt to taste (1/2t - 1t)

Add & Mix:
1 large or 2 small finely chopped onions
(i like to let this marinate while i do the rest)

Slice Romaine lettuce (or anything else you prefer) in about 1/2 inch thick slices.
Chop Cilantro (i really really like cilantro so i almost use the whole little bushel).
Add to bowl and mix with dressing,
Top with thinly slice tomatoes.

--Robin