Crispy Smashed Potatoes

I've taken to making these instead of fries. 

This recipe is so easy and so yummy! Faster, easier and crispier! No measuring, peeling or slicing! Healthier than deep frying!

Choose small new potatoes - the bag will say size B.  Make the "ok" sign with your finger and thumb - about that size.  I like to pick out my own potatoes from the bulk bins. Yukon Gold or white skinned potatoes give a fluffy interior like french fries.  I imagine red potatoes would also be good, but their waxy texture would mean the end potato will be heavier.

Scrub and cover with cool water, and boil until tender, about 20 minutes.  Starting potatoes in cool water results in a tender potato.  Starting them in boiling water would seem to make sense, but the hot water will cause the starch on the outer part of the potato to solidify, preventing the interior from becoming tender.

While they boil, preheat your oven 425F, line a jellyroll pan (cookie sheet with sides) with foil and oil it.  Drain the potatoes, put them back into the hot pot and let the extra moisture steam away. Shake the pan once or twice.  When they have stopped steaming, put them onto the jellyroll pan.  Dry potatoes will be crispier.

Take a pancake turner and gently press down until the skins split and the potatoes are smashed.  Do it gently or they will fly across the room.  I tell you this, because it happened to me. I rinsed it off, dried it, and continued.  Please don't say "Ewww" - remember, they grow in dirt.

Drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Pop them into the hot oven.

Let roast 15 minutes.  In the photo above, I thought it would be awesome to add some fresh garlic.  It kinda burned, so I would hold off on the garlic until the second roast.

When the first 15 minutes are up, flip them with a pancake turner and if you are daring, top each with a bit of fresh garlic.  Drizzle again with EVOO, sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh pepper.  Then back into the oven for 15 minutes.

So very ugly, and so very delicious!

Gluten-Free Crock Pot Vegetarian Enchiladas AND Dessert Enchiladas

Vegetarian Enchiladas

Dessert Enchiladas

I saw a wonderful sounding recipe for enchiladas you can make in your crock pot.  It needed a little tweaking to make it work for me.  Oh boy!  They were delicious!  My darling husband said "Mmm. Wow. Make them again."  Here's what I did:

Spray the inside of your crock pot with non-stick.  Pour 1 cup of chunky salsa in the crock pot.  Chop some red and green sweet bell peppers and half an onion, grate 8 oz. of Monterey Jack cheese and measure out some salt, cumin and garlic powder.  Rinse and drain a can of black beans and pour into a medium bowl.  Add the veggies and spices and stir until combined.  

Scoop 1/3 cup onto one side of a flour tortilla and add 1 tablespoon of cheese; roll up and place seam down in the crock pot.  Roll and add until you have 5 or 6 side by side in the bottom of the crock.  

Pour 1 cup of salsa over them, and spread with a spoon.  Sprinkle half of the cheese evenly over the salsa.

Fill and roll tortillas until filling is gone.  Pour the rest of the salsa over the top and spread so all the tortillas are moistened with the salsa.  Don't add the rest of the cheese yet.

Cover, turn to High and cook 2 - 3 hours or until heated through.  

 Sprinkle with the remaining cheese, cover and let sit until the cheese melts.

Crock Pot Vegetarian Enchiladas

Adapted from recipe found at thekitchn.com

Serves 4 - 6, 2 enchiladas per serving

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup chopped sweet bell pepper

1 (16 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 teaspoons chili powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

32 oz. chunky salsa

10 - 12  8" flour tortillas, I use gluten-free corn tortillas

Spray inside of crock with non-stick.

Pour in 1 cup of salsa.

Combine onion, bell pepper, beans and spices.

Scoop 1/3 cup onto a flour tortilla.  Add 1 tablespoon cheese.  Roll up and place seam side down in crock.

Continue filling and rolling until you have a layer of enchiladas snugly side-by-side.

Pour half of the salsa over and spread to moisten the tortillas.  

Sprinkle with half the cheese.

Repeat filling and rolling until filling is gone.

Pour remaining salsa over the enchiladas and spread to moisten.  Don't add remaining cheese yet.

Cover and cook on High 2-3 hours or until filling is hot.

Sprinkle with remaining cheese, recover and let stand until cheese melts.

Make Salsa Rice.  Recipe link: http://www.food.com/recipe/salsa-rice-97070

Serve with Salsa Rice and corn. Corn completes the protein of the beans.

Dessert Enchiladas

When you have a pack of 12 tortillas and the dinner recipe only uses 10 of them, then make Dessert Enchiladas in your microwave.

Spread a teaspoon or so of peanut butter on one side of a flour tortilla.  Head's up: corn tortillas don't taste as good.

Add a tablespoon of chocolate chips.

And some mini marshmallows.  Roll up, microwave 45 seconds until the marshmallows are gooey.

Walt got the green plate, I got the pink plate.  Oh, yum.  Peanut butter cup meets s'more.  

Roasted Garden Vegetables with Spaghetti Squash (Gluten-Free)

Spaghetti squash, eggplant, yellow squash, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.

When one day's harvest is as bountiful as this, I have to get as many as I can in one meal, because I simply need to eat them all.   Seriously.  They call to me.  Here's what I came up with, it's simple, incredibly low calorie - only 231 for a very generous entree serving, and bursting with flavor.

Eggplant, yellow squash, plum tomatoes, red bell pepper, onion and garlic were cut up and went into a bowl.  A drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper were stirred through.

Then onto a jelly roll pan that I had coated with spray oil.  I slid it into a very hot (425F) oven and left it to roast for 20 minutes while I dealt with the spaghetti squash.

Scrubbed, halved vertically and seeded, I placed them cut side down and added 1/4 cup of water, covered tightly and microwaved on High for 10 minutes.  When they were tender, I drained them well and returned them to the microwave and set it to Keep Warm. My spaghetti squash were home grown and small, so I used two and cooked them in batches.

Meanwhile, the time was up on the veggies.  I gave them a stir and returned them to the oven for another 10 minutes.  I love those browned bits.  Brown = flavor :)  Then I dumped a jar of pasta sauce in a large pot and set it to heat to a simmer.  I used Prego Garden Chunky with Baby Portabella.  (Got it on sale, natch).  The browned, softened veggies were gently stirred into the pasta sauce.  Then the plating began.

I scraped the spaghetti squash into serving bowls with a fork. 

Added the sauce and veggies combination.

And sprinkled with grated parmesan.

This is so full of flavor from the roasted vegetables that it is completely satisfying.  Happy-Dance-in-the-Chair good.  I had planned on serving bread and butter with it and totally forgot.  Didn't matter.  Walt was so happy with the healthy-ness of it that he went out and bought some ice cream.  Because we had bananas to use up.  I didn't feel quite so guilty eating ice cream after this meal.

Cooking from my garden makes many meals very inexpensive.  For this meal I only had to buy oil, salt, pepper, garlic, onion, pasta sauce and cheese, all of which I already had in the pantry.  The spaghetti squash, eggplant, yellow squash, bell pepper, and tomatoes came from the garden = almost free.

Here is a link to the printable recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/roasted-garden-vegetables-with-spaghetti-squash-484654

And here is the recipe:

Roasted Garden Vegetables with Spaghetti Squash
1 (2 1/2 - 3 lb.) spaghetti squash, halved and seeded
1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
2 yellow squash (or zucchini or one of each), cut into 1/4" slices
2 roma tomatoes, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2" pieces
1 cup onion, cut into 1/2" pieces
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (24 ounce) jar pasta sauce
6 teaspoons grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Toss all vegetables, except spaghetti squash with olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Spray an 11x17" pan with nonstick and add vegetables in a single layer.  Use 2 pans if needed.
4. Place into hot oven and roast 20 minutes.
5. Stir and roast 10 minutes longer.
6. Place halved and seeded spaghetti squash cut side down in a microwavable dish, add 1/4 cup water, cover and cook on High 10 minutes or until tender.  If your microwave doesn't have a turntable, turn it often.  You may need to cook it in batches, but that's fine.
7. When the spaghetti squash is tender, drain well and keep warm until vegetables are done.
8. Heat pasta sauce in a large pot to a simmer.
9. When vegetables are roasted, add them to the pasta sauce and stir gently to coat.
10. Holding the spaghetti squash half in a pot holder or oven mitt, gently scrape the strands with a fork onto 6 serving dishes.
11. Top each dish with vegetables and sauce; sprinkle with parmesan.

Two Bean Tamale Pie (Gluten Free, Vegetarian)

Two Bean Tamale Pie

This is a regular on the rotation here as we try to eat vegetarian at least once a week.  It's very quick to put together.  A one pot meal that feeds the two of us very generously twice - that means I only have to reheat one night :).  The flavors and textures are true comfort food.  It's moist, but not saucy.  If you like your casseroles saucy, add another can of V-8.

I found this recipe years ago but don't know where I found it.  I made a few changes until I really liked it.

Preheat your oven to 400F and spray a 2 quart casserole with non-stick. Saute 1 cup chopped sweet bell pepper, 1/2 cup onion and 2 cloves of minced garlic in 1 tablespoon oil.  Add 2 cans of rinsed, drained beans - I use black and great northern, but you can use whatever you have on hand.  Add a 6 ounce can of Spicy V-8 - feel free to swap out with regular V-8 if you're not into spicy.  No V-8?  Use a 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and a pinch of ground red pepper.  Stir in 1/2 tsp. of ground cumin and 1 tsp. Mexican style chili powder (I once bought Indian chili powder by mistake - ouch!) .

Heat it all through, then pour into the casserole you've sprayed.

Mix up a box of Jiffy corn bread* with egg and milk listed on the box; then fold in 1/2 cup shredded colby-jack cheese and 4 tsp. dried cilantro.  Have fresh?  Use 1/4 cup finely chopped.  Don't like cilantro?  Use parsley or leave out if your kids don't like little green flecks in their food.

Spread the batter over the beans and make sure it touches the side of the casserole all around.  Bake at 400F 20 - 25 minutes, until golden.  Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

Add a salad or fresh fruit and dinner is on the table.
*Jiffy has gluten.  I use a gluten-free mix made by Bob's Red Mill.  Just get one that makes an 8" pan.

Printable recipe with photo