Mexican Corn Quiche

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pie crusts
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped red bell pepper or pimento
• 1-1/3 cups milk
• 6 eggs
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 small drained canned whole kernel corn or tex-mex corn and forget the chopped peppers
• 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 1 can (10 oz each) Ro*Tel® Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, drained

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Lightly prick side of pie crust with fork. Bake 5 minutes or until lightly browned; set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
2. Melt butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook and stir 6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Beat milk, eggs, flour, salt and black pepper in medium bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Add onion mixture, corn, ro-tel and hot pepper sauce; mix well. Pour into prepared pie crust, if extra filling, pour into small dish. Cover edge of crust with aluminum foil to prevent overbrowning if needed.
3. Bake 30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. When quiche is done, let stand 10 minutes before cutting into 8 slices.

Adapted from Ro-tel's South-of-the-Border Quiche

Jalapeño bacon wrapped shrimp

Made a wonderful Saturday night dinner with jalapeno bacon wrapped shrimp, roasted broccoli and brown rice.   Sliced the bacon in half and precooked it until about halfway done in a skillet.  Drained and let it cool on a brown paper bag.  Peeled and deveined 1.5 lbs of large shrimp.  Seeded three jalapenos and sliced in thin strips length wise.  Place a piece of jalapeno on the shrimp, wrapped with bacon and secured with a toothpick.  Placed all the shrimp on a cooling rack on top of sheet pan and baked at 350 for 15 minutes or until bacon was thoroughly cooked.

Blackberry Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 sticks salted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• One 10 to 12-ounce jar blackberry jam

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9-by-13-inch rectangular pan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.Mix together the butter, flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Press half the oat mixture into the prepared pan. Spread with the blackberry jam. Sprinkle the other half of the oat mixture over the top and pat lightly. Bake until light brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely, and then cut into squares. 

Adapted from Pioneer Woman's Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

Weekly Menu - Monday, Feb 20th

Soccer, lacrosse and basketball every night of the week, so we took the easy way out a couple of nights:

Monday - (President's Day/No School and mom can I have the entire basketball team over to celebrate my birthday) - Sandwich tray leftovers after the basketball game!
Tuesday - (Soccer practice & lacrosse practice) - Jason's Deli to the rescue
Wednesday - (Soccer only, yeah) - Rotel's Mean Black Bean Soup
Thursday - (Soccer practice & lacrosse practice) - TBD
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - (Soccer and lacrosse games)- Bacon wrapped shrimp, broccoli and brown rice
Sunday -(Soccer practice & lacrosse game) - Mexican Corn Quiche for brunch and Pot Roast for dinner

Rotel's Mean Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable Oil
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 cans (15 oz each) Ranch Style® Black Beans, undrained
• 2 cans (10 oz each) Ro*Tel® Chunky Tomatoes & Green Chilies, undrained
• 1 can (11 oz each) whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add carrot, celery and onion; mix well. Cook 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.
2. Add undrained beans, undrained tomatoes and drained corn; mix well.
3. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cilantro just before serving.

Notes:  I soaked and cooked a pound of black beans a couple of weeks ago on quiet weekend and froze them to use later.  I also cut up the vegetables when I was making something else, placed them all in a freezer bag so they were also ready to go.  While defrosting the beans in the microwave, sauteed the vegetables in oil (just dumped them in frozen) - still only took about 10 minutes.  Dumped everything else in and heated to a boil.  Since the beans weren't very seasoned, I added 1 tsp of salt.  Reduced to a simmer.  My family isn't big on cilantro, so I just left it out, besides that just meant one less trip to the store.  The entire family loved it and deemed it a make again dish!

Original Recipe found at http://www.ro-tel.com/recipes-Mean-Black-Bean-Soup-2711.html.

Homemade Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (3 ounces)
• 3/4 cup skinned hazelnuts, toasted (about 4 ounces)
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk, such as Eagle Brand
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• Toasted baguette slices
• Sliced fruit, such as apples, pears, pineapple and/or bananas

Directions

Cook's Note: To toast the hazelnuts, arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 15 to 18 minutes until lightly toasted. Cool completely before using.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and place over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Cool to room temperature.

Grind the nuts in a food processor until pasty (the nuts will be stuck to the sides of work bowl), 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the condensed milk, honey and salt. Blend well, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the cooled chocolate and pulse until combined. Transfer the spread to a small bowl.

Serve with the toasts and sliced fruit.

Cook's Note: The chocolate can also be melted in a microwave. Microwave the chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl in 15-second intervals until the chocolate is very soft. Stir until melted and smooth.

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis and FoodNetwork

Manicotti

A late birthday dinner at home due to Morgan's basketball game (they won) and Mitchell's lacrosse practice! Happy birthday Matt!

Olive Garden Copykat Pasta e Fagioli Soup Recipe

Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli Soup in a Crock Pot

INGREDIENTS
* 2 lbs ground beef
* 1 onion, chopped
* 3 carrots, chopped
* 4 stalks celery, chopped
* 2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
* 1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
* 1 (16 ounce) can white kidney beans, drained
* 3 (10 ounce) cans beef stock
* 3 teaspoons oregano
* 2 teaspoons pepper
* 5 teaspoons parsley
* 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional)
* 1 (20 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
* 8 ounces pasta

INSTRUCTIONS
1.Brown beef in a skillet.
2.Drain fat from beef and add to crock pot
3.Saute onion, carrots and celery in same pan and add to crock pot with everything else except pasta.
4.Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 4-5 hours.
5.Cook pasta and add to bowls and cover with soup
The Olive garden soup recipe of pasta e fagioli is ready to serve...enjoy it !

Weekly Menu - Monday Jan 30th

So, three kids and lots of activities require some advance planning, so here it goes:

Monday - Kung Pao Chicken and Brown Rice
Tuesday - Monterey Chicken, Roasted Broccoli and Mashed Potatoes
Wednesday - Chicken Fajitas, Pinto Beans and Fresh Pico
Thursday - Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
Friday - Olive Garden Copykat Pasta e Fagioli Soup and Breadsticks
Saturday - Leftovers and Pizza for the "I turned 16 and want to have a bunch of friends over" party
Sunday - Game Day ~ Baked Wings, Baked Onion Dip, Vegetable Tray, Ranch, Blue Cheese and Brownies