Tortilla casserole

Recently I visited my sister and she had made a tortilla casserole for dinner . I used that a few recipes on the internet for inspiration and made my own tortilla casserole. 

Ingredients

Carb balance Tortilla - 4

Olive oil - 3 tbsp 

Frozen corn- cooked per instruction- 1 10 oz bag

Green bell pepper - 1 

Orange bell pepper - 1 

Garlic paste - 2 tbsp 

Spices :

Onion salt ( Trader Joe’s ) - 1 tbsp 

Cumin powder - 1 tbsp

Taco seasoning - 2 tbsp 

Salt - to taste 

Pepper - 1 tsp

Hatch Chile powder - 1/4 tsp

Salsa ( mild ) - 1/4 cup

Water - 1 cup

Refried beans can ( sauté on the pan with 2

Tbsp of taco seasoning) - 1.5 cups 

Low fat Shredded taco cheese - 1.5 cups

Instructions 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 F

2.  Cut the peppers into small cubes 

3. Place a deep pot on the stove . Heat up 3 tbsp of olive oil 

4. Sauté the peppers

5. When the peppers are soft add in the garlic paste , and the spices and sauté well until the raw smell is gone.

6. Now add in the corn and mix in 

7. Add the salsa and the water and mix in 

8. Let the water boil off until the mixture is thick 

9. Turn off the stove and let the corn pepper mixture to cool

10. Take a 9” round pan and coat with olive oil

11. Place a tortilla. Add 1/3 of the refried beans and spread it evenly 

12. Then add the corn mixture and spread evenly 

13. Then add the shredded cheese 

14. Then cover with a tortilla 

15. Repeat steps 11-13 again twice 

16. Cover the top with the fourth tortilla 

17. Coat  the tortilla with olive oil

18. Place the pan in the pre heated over uncovered for 15 minutes 

19. At 15 minutes pull the pan out carefully and cover with shredded cheese and cover it and cook for 5 minutes 

20. Let it cool and then cut into 6 pieces 

21. Serve with sour cream ( can have salsa, guacamole , lettuce, tomatoes etc as well on the side) 

Tik tok pasta with baked goat and boursin cheese, asparagus, tomatoes and olives

I only recently learned about this tiktok pasta craze ! It was made popular by a Finnish blogger in 2019 and called uunifetapasta .  I am quite late to the game :) My sister told me she had made variations of it with Boursin cheese and Trader Joe’s spinach artichoke dip as a base for the sauce. 

I decided to give it a try since I had recently bought some goat cheese and new type of pasta I wanted to try. It was called Ronzoni and was made with rice/corn/quinoa. 

Ingredients:

Ronzoni rotini - cooked according to the directions on the box ( cooked for 14-15 min) - al dente - 2 cups 

A block of plain goat cheese - 8 oz

Herbed Boursin cheese - 1/2 package 

Asparagus - 15 spears - cut into three pieces ( discard the bottom third and use the top 2 pieces )

Tomato- 1 box cherry tomatoes- since I didn’t have these I used half a large tomato and cut it into cubes 

Olives - small 1.2 oz cup sliced into halves 

Olive oil- 1/4-1/3 cup 

Garlic cloves - 2 chopped into small pieces 

Fresh basil (or dried italian seasoning)- a bunch 

Salt

Pepper 

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box. Drain it and save 1 cup of the pasta water ( to use later) 

2. Preheat oven to 400 F

3. Take a large oven safe dish and drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil.Place the asparagus, olives, tomatoes, garlic cloves in the periphery of the dish and drizzle olive oil on top and heat it in the oven for 15 min.

4. Place the cheese in the middle of the dish. 

5. Cook the cheese and the vegetables in the oven for 20 more minutes until the cheese is bubbly.

6. Take the dish out of the oven. Add the pasta little by little into the dish and mix the vegetables, cheese and pasta together. Add a little pasta water to make the pasta creamy. 

7. Add salt, pepper and herbs. 

8. Pasta is ready to serve !!

Cheese quesadilla

Ingredients

Flour tortilla - 2 

Shredded Mexican cheese - 1/2 cup

Taco seasoning - 1 tbsp

Cream cheese softened  - 2 tbsp 

Green onion/cilantro - 2 tbsp chopped  

Oil- 1 tbsp

Instructions:

Spritz some oil on a griddle on medium heat and toast the tortilla slightly 

1. Place the shredded Mexican cheese on one tortilla and sprinkle the taco seasoning on it 
2. On the other tortilla spread the cream cheese and now add the chopped green onions/cilantro and place the tortillas together with these cheese on the inside
3. On a griddle on medium heat spritz some oil and place the quesadilla and toast it until it is golden brown on both sides and the cheese is melted on the inside 
4. Serve with salsa, sour cream, guacamole and lettuce / tomato /onions or a side salad
   
   

5 cheese enchilada

I love cheese enchiladas and usually get it whenever I go to the Mexican restaurants . So I decided to make some at home from scratch. Everything including the sauce was made from scratch. I used this recipe for the enchilada and this one for the sauce  as a starting off point and modified it to make it my own. The end result was the tastiest enchilada I’ve ever had !! The few people who  ate it loved it. 

Ingredients 

Enchiladas 

Cheese filling: 

Cottage cheese - 1 cup 

Shredded Sharp cheddar cheese - 1.5 cups 

Shredded Pepper Jack/ Monterey Jack cheese - 1.5 cups 

Shredded Mexican cheese blend -1.5 cups 

Softened Cream cheese - 0.5 cups 

Sour cream - 0.5 cups 

To sauté :

Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp 

Onion -1 large chopped 

Green onion - 3 or four bunches chopped green portion 

Jalapeño ( optional ) tamed - 1/8-1/4 cup chopped 

Taco seasoning - 3 to 4 tbsp 

Salt to taste 

Black pepper to taste 

Optional - fajita veggies , mushrooms ( if you love mushroom), tofu or morning star meat substitute crumbles 

Oil - for toasting the tortilla

Corn tortillas - 1 large package

Topping :

Cilantro - chopped 1/2 cup 

Separate 8oz package of shredded Mexican blend cheese for topping the enchiladas 

Sauce : 

Tomato paste - 6 oz 

Vegetable stock - 2.5-3 cups 

Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp 

All purpose flour - 1.5 tbsp 

Brown sugar - 1-2 tbsp ( or enough to make sauce less sour) 

Dried oregano - 2 tsp 

Cumin powder - 1 tsp 

Chili powder - pinch 

Garlic powder - 1 tsp

Onion powder - 1 tsp 

Taco seasoning - 2 tbsp 

Salt- 1/2 tsp 

Black pepper - 1/2 tsp 

Instructions ( make sauce ahead of time )

Sauce : 

1. In a heavy bottomed pot on medium heat add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and heat it up 
2. Once oil is hot add the all purpose flour to it and mix it in for at least a minute to make a thick mixture and bring to a boil. Keep whisking it so it doesn’t burn or stick to the pot. Add a pinch of chili powder to it and keep mixing until the chili powder is roasted ( 1 min)
3. Now add the tomato paste, vegetable stock, and all the rest of the sauce ingredients and mix them in well and let it come to a boil 
4. You can taste it and adjust the salt , sugar , seasoning to taste . I added more sugar since the sauce was too sour for me . I also added more broth to thin the sauce a little. Turn down the stove to low heat and let the sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes 
5. Take it off the stove and let it cool 

Cheese enchilada :

1. In a large bowl mix all the cheese mixture ingredients together and make a cheese mixture 
   
   
   
2. Now place a pan on medium heat, add the vegetable oil and sauté the onions, spices listed above in with the onions until translucent and then sauté the jalapeños. ( you can sauté optional ingredients in here and if using those please  double or triple the spices to ensure these are seasoned ) add the green onions at the end and sauté them in.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Add this sautéed seasoned onions to the cheese mixture and mix in. If you are using fajita vegetable or tofu or meat alternatives do NOT mix them in with the cheese , keep them aside separately to use as filling ( to be layered on top of the cheese mixture)
4. Now place a skillet on medium heat and spritz a little oil each time and toast the corn tortillas one at a time on both sides until warm and set aside in a stack 
5. Preheat oven to 350 F
6. Take a large  baking pan 11x14 inches and spoon in at least 1/2 cup of  the enchilada sauce to the bottom and spread it evenly and set aside 
7. Now you can assemble the enchiladas. Spoon the cheese mixture on to the middle of the tortilla and roll it and place seam side down in the baking dish on top of the sauce.
8. Assemble them the same way each time and place in the pan side by side until the pan is filled with one layer of cheese enchiladas 
9. Now spoon sauce on top generously to coat and cover the enchiladas
   
10. Place the rest of the cheese mixture on top evenly spreads out across and then cover the enchilada with the shredded Mexican cheese mixture ( 8 oz)
    
11. Bake in the oven on the middle rack for 25-35 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Before taking the enchiladas out of the oven add chopped cilantro on top and let it cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly wilted 
12. Now cut off a portion of enchilada and serve with a side of guacamole , sour cream , lettuce , onion , tomatoes. 

Stuffed mushroom caps

I love cheese and mushroom so this is the perfect meal for me! I have used baby Bella mushrooms in this recipe but if you want this as an entree you can buy a larger portabella mushroom and that will serve as an entree. This recipe is easy to make and can serve as a vegetarian entree.

Ingredients 

1 package baby bella /white mushrooms 

Garlic minced - 4 to 5

Onion -1/2 chopped into small pieces 

Parmesan cheese shredded - 1/2 cup

Boursin cheese / cream cheese- 6 oz 

Salt 

Pepper 

Paprika - 1 tbsp

Bread crumbs ( I use panko)- 1 cup

butter- 2 tbsp

mozzarella cheese- cut into small cubes

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Wash the mushrooms well until it is clean. Then blot off the water and dry them.
   
   
3. Next remove the stems from the mushrooms and place them in a separate bowl.
   
   
   
   
4. The mushrooms without the stems are set aside for now ( they will be stuffed later)
5. Cut up the mushroom stems into small pieces
6. Place a pan on medium heat and add butter and let it melt.
7. Now add the chopped onions and sauté until translucent, then add garlic and sauté it as well, finally add the chopped mushroom stems and sauté for a few minutes.
   
   
8. Add salt, pepper and paprika to the mixture and mix well.
9. Take this mixture off the stove and place in a bowl and let it cool down for at least 15 minutes.
   
   
10. Now add the shredded parmesan cheese, boursin cheese, breadcrumbs to the mixture in the bowl and mix it in really well. This makes the filling for the mushroom caps.
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. Now take a baking sheet and place aluminum foil on it and spray with cooking spray so the mushrooms don't stick to it.
12. Stuff the mushrooms with a small spoonful of the filling.
    
    
13. Arrange the stuffed mushrooms on the baking sheet and place a small cube of mozzarella on top.
    
    
14. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
15. Mushroom caps are now ready to serve ( let it cool down before eating since the hot filling can burn your tongue!)