Pico, Guac, Quesadillas and an Aggravating Husband

I love to watch cooking shows and experiment with the recipes I see. Sometimes I stick strictly to recipes, sometimes I don't.
OK, so most of the time I don't stick strictly to the recipes. I tweak and add and take away ingredients. I almost always add more vanilla in my baking and more onions and herbs in my cooking.
I'm also not a big person for measuring, which is why I enjoy cooking more than baking. I just hate dealing with exact numbers.
And I have a confession. I like cooking by myself. I think it has to do with my OCD but I prefer to cook without anyone in the kitchen. It's not usually a problem until my daughter wants to help. I want to encourage her to learn how to cook but my, oh my, is it difficult for me! :) I'm working on it though.
My husband also likes to cook when he has the time. He makes a killer omelet and his breakfasts are always great.
Usually he leaves me alone in the kitchen because he's busy but last night, nope.
I decided I was going to make my favorite quesadillas and try new recipes for pico de gallo and guacamole. I wanted a tasty and very healthy meal. (Yes, the quesadillas are healthy).
I made the pico de gallo first, using a recipe from one of my favorite food bloggers and Food Network personalities, Pioneer Woman, a.k.a. Ree Drummond (www.thepioneerwoman.com). I discovered her blog a couple years ago and just really like her recipes. Now she's on Food Network and it's great!
The recipe didn't really work for me -- too much cilantro for my family's tastes -- but I tweaked and it turned out wonderful.
I also used the pico for the guacamole. I got that tip from the Pioneer Woman, too.

Pico de Gallo

• 4-5 tomatoes (equal to 4 cups when diced)
• 2 small onions (equal to 4 cups when diced)
• 2 cups cilantro, rough chopped
• 2-4 jalapenos, diced (I used 2, but you can use more if you want it spicy)
• lime juice
• salt

Dice tomatoes

and onions.

Rough chop cilantro.

Mix together.

Dice jalapenos. Don't forget to removed the seeds to take out some of the heat. 

Leave the seeds for more fire.

Add to mixture. Squirt lime juice and salt to taste.

NOW, here's where my husband decided that this just wasn't enough. He wanted cumin. So he sprinkled onion as I'm behind him going "No!" :D
He says cumin makes it better. Gotta add a little sweet. Ornery man messing with my recipe! (Don't tell him, but it did taste good with the cumin. Hehehe)
And no, I didn't get a picture of his recipe tampering. I did get a picture of his plate tampering later on, though!

Guacamole

• 2 avocados
• salt
• pico de gallo

Halve the avocados lengthwise, separating by twisting the two halves.

Take out pit by stabbing with a knife and twisting.

Dice avocado flesh inside shell and scoop out with spoon.

Sprinkle with salt and mash with fork until avocado with it is the texture you want.

Throw in some pico de gallo (however much you want) and stir gently.

Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach Quesadilla

(I forgot to take photos of my process.)

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 8 ounces white button mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 cups cooked chicken breast, chopped (about 1/2 to 1 large breast)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 3 cups fresh baby spinach leaves, sliced into ribbons
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 8 flour tortillas
• 2 cups shredded Mexican or sharp cheddar cheese
• salsa, pico de gallo, guacamole or sour cream for garnish

Heat a tablespoon more or less of canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add onions and mushrooms. Cook until mushroom water is evaporated and the mushrooms begin to brown, about 7-8 minutes.

Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute.

Add chicken, cumin, chili powder and oregano and stir until spices are mixed well.

Add spinach, salt and pepper and cook until spinach is wilted, 2-4 minutes.
Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.
Lay one tortilla on flat surface. Layer cheese, chicken mixture and a little more cheese. Cover with second tortilla. Place quesadilla in pan, cooking about 3 minutes until cheese is starting to melt. Carefully flip tortilla and cook another minute or two until cheese is melted.
Slice quesadillas into quarters, or sixes.

And here's my husband's plate tampering! What can I say? I love him even when he aggravates me :D

And here is the whole healthy meal! Delicious!

Mini Bacony Meatballs

Every week I ask my family if they have any requests for dinner the next week. Inevitably my daughter asks for spaghetti and meatballs.
I was growing tired of my plain little meatballs, so I decided to experiment!
And boy howdy! (to borrow an expression from my hubby)
Instant Hit!
Of course, anything with bacon goes over very well in our house... even turkey bacon. :)

Mini Bacony Meatballs

• 3-4 strips bacon, cooked and diced (I used turkey bacon)
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook bacon over medium-high heat until starting to crisp and remove from skillet. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon drippings.

Saute onion in the drippings over medium heat until softened.

Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Combine meat, bacon, onion mixture, bread crumbs, parsley, paprika, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in beaten egg.

Form into 1-inch meatballs. Place on broiler pan sprayed with non-stick spray.

Bake 10 minutes.

Magnolia Lace Trumpets.... The "Grown-Up" Cookie

This weekend was busy, busy, busy.
Our usual ministry work Saturday morning and worship on Sunday afternoon always keep us busy on the weekend but this weekend we had dinner with Brian's parents and brother and his wife on Saturday evening. Then on Sunday we had Hospitality and then watched the Super Bowl with some friends.
For those who don't know, Hospitality is when we feed the speaker for our Sunday worship. This week the speaker was a dear friend from our own congregation, so we held Hospitality at our home. I always enjoy Hospitality because it gives us an opportunity to really get to know new people when the speaker is a guest from another congregation. And when the speaker is from our own congregation it makes it easier to get to know them better since our congregation is a larger one.
So... Another sister and I decided she would make a salad and I would make my taco soup (always a hit and SUPER easy).
But could I just make the easy soup?
Nope. I just HAD to use guests as "guinea pigs" for a new recipe... Magnolia Lace Trumpets.
I have no idea where I found this recipe. It's probably been in my recipe files for years. But recently I was going through my files deciding which recipes I really wanted to keep and try and getting rid of the ones I knew I would never try (because I've figured out that if a recipe is too complicated and fussy, I will not cook it). Anyway, I came across this cookie recipe and it looked easy enough and oh-so-pretty.
My cookies, of course, didn't turn out as pretty as the picture, but they weren't horrible and they tasted great!
One word of caution though. These do entail a lot of time because of how you have to bake the cookies, so be prepared to spend a two or three hours in the kitchen. 

 Magnolia Lace Trumpets 

Cookies

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 stick salted butter
• 1/3 cup corn syrup (the recipe called for dark but I only had light and they turned out beautiful)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon Irish cream liqueur (optional but it adds a lovely flavor)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Get a cookie sheet and grease it VERY well. (Make sure your cookie sheet is a metal sheet. I tried baking a couple cookies on a stoneware cookie sheet and they didn't turn out well.)

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and corn syrup. Cook over low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat.

Mix flour and ginger in a bowl. 

Add to the butter mixture and stir in liqueur, if desired. (As I was adding the liqueur, Hannah said, "I can't eat those now. They're definitely grown-up cookies." I had to assure her she could eat them because the alcohol cooks out and only leaves the flavor.)
 Drop batter by rounded teaspoonful, (I forgot to take a photo of this step) 3 to 4 inches apart, onto cookie sheet. (Make sure they are at least that far apart because the cookies spread).

 Bake only 2 or 3 cookies at a time because you have to form them into cones before they cool and become brittle. If they become brittle before you get to work with them, simply put them back in the oven for about a minute to soften them.
Bake cookies 9 to 10 minutes, until the cookies spread and are bubble and golden brown.

Work VERY quickly and gently lift each cookie off the sheet with a spatula and form into a cone.
Cool on a wire rack.

Filling

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
• 1 stick salted butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 large egg white
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk, heated.

 Directions

Using a mixer, cream the shortening and butter in a bowl.

 Add sugar and beat well.

Add egg white and vanilla and beat thoroughly.

Add the hot milk 1 tablespoon at a time until mixture is creamy.

Scrape filling into a pastry bag with a star tip and fill the cookies.

Hannah really wanted to eat one before our guests came. :)

These cookies were a big hit not only at our house but we took the rest of them to our friends' house for the Super Bowl. They were a hit there, too. :)