Stuffed Tomatoes

The stuffed tomatoes recipe jumped out at me this week while browsing the table of contents. I go to page 232 and begin reading the recipe to Mike to see if we wanted to put it on the menu for the week. I get to Anchovies and said, "I don't like Anchovies, I'll just leave them out." I finish reading it and Mike said, "You won't like that at all. You don't like black olives, anchovies, or capers." He was right! Once I read it, I knew I had to adjust this recipe. Mike tells me all the time that I'm the worst Italian ever! I'm picky with cheese, I don't like olives or seafood and I'm pretty indifferent about pasta. I decided to make a Mexican version of this dish and it was fantastic! Mike said I can make this one again. Stamp of approval! The awesome thing about stuffed tomatoes is that you can pretty much fill it with anything so go ahead and experiment!


Ingredients:


Original Recipe:


6                     large tomatoes
2 Tbs             olive oil
1/2 cup          bread crumbs
1 medium     onion, chopped
1 can             Anchovies, chopped
3 tsp              parsley
salt 
pepper
1/2 cup          pitted black olives, chopped
3 Tbs             capers


My Mexican inspired recipe:


4                   large tomatoes
9 oz              Chihuahua cheese, cut into small chunks
1/3 cup         green onions, chopped
2 Tbs            olive oil
1 tsp             salt
2 tsp             pepper 
2 tsp             chili powder
                     sriracha sauce (to taste, depends on how much heat you want. Can leave out.)


Procedure:


original procedure:

• Carve out each tomato. Set aside. 
• Reserve the insides and chop. 
• Add bread crumbs, onion, anchovies, parsley, capers & olives to tomato insides. 
• Salt & pepper to taste.
• Mix stuffing. 
• Oil the outside of the tomatoes with olive oil.
• Add stuffing into the carved tomatoes. 
• Bake @ 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.

my recipe procedure:

• Carve out each tomato. 
• Oil the outside of the tomatoes with olive oil.
• Add into the tomato cheese chunks, green onions, and spices.
• Bake @ 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, depending upon the time it takes for the cheese to melt. 

Guacamole Salad

This dish is not out of the recipe book, but I've made it every week for the past two months! I figured I would share because it is amazing. I know you will all love it as much as Mike and I do and this should become a family staple! I got this recipe off of Food Network's website and it's a Barefoot Contessa dish! Those that know me well, know I am not a Barefoot Contessa fan, but this dish won me over and I swear Mike can't get enough of it. Every time I ask him what he wants for dinner for the week, he says guacamole salad or the Tortellini salad. Sometimes both! It's meant to be a side dish but if you're like us, you will want to just eat this for dinner! It's seriously that good.

Ingredients

• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and 1/2-inch diced
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup small diced red onion
• 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 ripe Hass avocados, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced

Directions

Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.

Just before you're ready to serve the salad, fold the avocados into the salad. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature.

Hawaiian Salad

I made this side dish for Mike's Mom's 50th surprise birthday party in Michigan over 4th of July weekend. I chose this dish because it was easy and something that I would not normally make unless going to a large party. Let me tell you, the people came out of the woodwork for her party. In true Michigan fashion, they fed the entire town! Neighbors who were having their own parties all came over to eat. 


Mike and I wouldn't just eat this all the time, actually Mike didn't even taste it. When I was deciding on what to make, I think his exact words were, "I won't eat that." I was skeptical myself. The sour cream was throwing me off, I wasn't sure how it was going taste. I made it anyways and as soon as I tasted it I was thrown back to being a kid again. I remembered eating this as a child at family functions! For those of you who are not my family reading this, my grandma had 7 boys...we have a large family. A dish like this works great for large gatherings. I haven't had it in many years and totally forgot about it. I liked it still but it's not something you can eat a lot of. This is definitely a dish that you take to a block party and the kids will love because of the sweetness and the marshmallows. 


I forgot to take a picture so I took one off the internet! It's close to what mine looked like. 


Ingredients:

1 large can fruit cocktail (14oz)
1 pkg small marshmallows
1 cup sour cream

Directions:

• Drain fruit cocktail
• Add fruit cocktail, marshmallows and sour cream.
• Mix well.
• Chill for minimum 1 hour.

Roasted Vegetables

Mmmm roasted vegetables! Feel free to swap out the vegetables that I used for any other vegetable. I know there are some of you that are VERY picky about your veggies. No matter what vegetables you choose, stick with the same roasting process. The trick is to chop up the vegetables all about the same size, that way it will cook at roughly the same time. If you've never had roasted veggies of any kind, you've been living under a rock.  Make this recipe and join the rest of the world! (You will know when they are done when you can put a fork through the potato) Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 small      Butternut Squash, cubed
1              Red Bell Pepper, diced
1              Red Onion, quartered
1 Tbs       Thyme
2 Tbs       Rosemary
1/4 cup    Olive Oil
2 Tbs       Balsamic Vinegar
3              Potatoes, cubed (I like the little red potatoes)
1              Sweet Potato, peeled & cubed
Salt & Pepper

Procedure:

• Chop, Chop, Chop all the vegetables.
• Preheat oven to 475 degrees
• In a large bowl, combine the squash, red pepper, sweet potato, and regular potato.
• Separate the red onion quarters into pieces and add them to the mixture.
• In a small bowl, stir together thyme, rosemary, olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper. 
• Toss with veggies until they are coated. 
• Spread evenly on a large roasting pan.
• Roast for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, or until veggies are cooked through and browned. 

Uncooked veggies:

Cooked veggies: