Month-of-Few Ingredients: Cheese Crisp, the Un-Quesadilla

Our sons have found that when they left Arizona for other states that they were unable to get a cheese crisp at any Mexican restaurant. People kept telling them they were asking for a quesadilla. No, they insisted, quesadillas are one food, and cheese crisps are another. Quesadillas are enclosed, and cheese crisps are open face. So, when they are visiting we always make a trip to Macayo’s for their “fix”.

The lack of cheese crisps anywhere else they lived (in a variety of states) was enough to make them wonder if they had imagined these delectable bites. Mama to the rescue! I researched cheese crisps and found that they are a food from the Sonora desert! Right. We are in the Sonora desert so Arizona has cheese crisps! Mystery solved. The bigger mystery is why these crunchy, gooey disks haven’t migrated to other regions of the country. Oh, well! Our little secret!

Back in the day, I used to put cheese and chilies on a flour tortilla and microwave it. Good melty cheese, but not even close to the texture. I’ve also put the cheesed and chile-d tortilla under the broiler. Those cheese crisps were okay.

After trying several recipes on the internet, I found this one by Simply Recipes to be easy and tasty. I did make a couple of modifications as I am wont to do. Okay, it’s not Macayo’s, but it’s the closest I’ve come to their cheese crisp.

Cheese Crisp (serves 2)

2 flour tortillas

2 tablespoons butter

1-1 ½ cups Mexican blend cheese

½ can diced green chilies (we use Macayo’s, of course)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread one tablespoon of butter on each tortilla, going all the way to the edge. Put the tortillas on a baking sheet (dark metal is best) and bake for 5-7 minutes until the top is light brown. Times are dependent on individual oven heating.

Remove the tortillas from the oven and put ½ to ¾ cup cheese on each one, depending upon how cheesy you like your crisps.

Divide the half can of chilies between the two tortillas. Bake for 2 minutes or until the cheese is gooey.

Eat immediately. Cheese crisps are not as tasty when they cool down.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up  Him: “We’ve had this before.” Me: “Right. But I wanted to make it again as a recipe for the Month-of-Few Ingredients.” Him: “Okay. Good. You know I like these.”

If you liked this recipe, please share on social media using info below or write your own message!

Twitter: Family favorite #recipe for Cheese Crisp, the Un-Quesadilla by @good2tweat on Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time at http://bit.ly/2kMMOAC

Facebook: Sharon Arthur Moore-Author writes the “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” blog. It's posting its annual February Month-of recipes. This month's recipes have 2-5 ingredients. You’ll love this Cheese Crisp, the Un-Quesadilla at http://bit.ly/2kMMOAC

A reminder:

House rules for what counts as an ingredient:

Salt and pepper are not ingredients.

Oil is not an ingredient when it’s for the cooking pan, not the recipe.

Water is not an ingredient.

Month-of-Few Ingredients: Going Green Chicken Enchiladas

If you read many of these food posts, you know that DH is a huge fan of southwestern cuisine. Huuuge! While I do not claim to be a Mexican cook nor a Hispanic cook of any stripe, I do know the flavors and textures well. I simulate authentic dishes, I don’t replicate, if that makes sense.

When I serve this entrée, we have black beans and Mexicorn for sides. I serve the enchiladas with a variety of toppings. You can use black olives, plain yogurt or sour cream, tomatoes, shredded lettuce or cabbage, avocado slices, and guacamole. 

We begin with a cheese crisp and then move onto dinner. A cheese crisp recipe is tomorrow.

Chicken Enchiladas (serves 4)

2 cups chicken, cooked and shredded

15 ounce can of green chile enchilada sauce (whatever heat you like); divided

1 ½ cup Mexican blend cheese, shredded; divided

8 corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare a 9”x13” baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Ladle one-quarter of enchilada sauce in bottom of dish.

Add a scant cup of green enchilada sauce to the chicken mixture. Blend thoroughly, then add in one

cup of cheese. Mix well.

Warm the tortillas so they’re easier to fold. Spoon chicken mixture down middle of tortilla, then fold up the sides and lay seam-side down on enchilada sauce in the baking dish.

Spoon remaining sauce over the enchiladas covering all exposed tortilla edges. Evenly spread remaining one-half cup cheese over the sauce.

Bake in oven for about 30 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned on top. Serve immediately with your favorite condiments and sides.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up! “This is always good, every time you make it. But it seems better tonight. Did you do something different?” I told him I used Hatch’s green chile enchilada sauce instead of the one he’s used to. He is so pleased when I make something with a Southwest flair. I went right out and bought more cans of Hatch’s green chile enchilada sauce.

If you liked this recipe, please share on social media using info below or write your own message!

Twitter: Game time #recipe for Going Green Chicken Enchiladas by @good2tweat on Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time at http://bit.ly/2kIqnwl

Facebook: Sharon Arthur Moore-Author writes the “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” blog. It's posting its annual February Month-of recipes. This month's recipes have 2-5 ingredients. You’ll love these Going Green Chicken Enchiladas at http://bit.ly/2kIqnwl

A reminder:

House rules for what counts as an ingredient:

Salt and pepper are not ingredients.

Oil is not an ingredient when it’s for the cooking pan, not the recipe.

Water is not an ingredient.

Month-of-Few Ingredients: Super Bowl Sausage Balls

The story behind Bisquick is, for me, a sad one of corporate greed. In 1930 a sales executive for General Mills was late coming to breakfast on the train. His hot biscuits arrived surprisingly quickly, so he asked the chef about them. The chef had created a biscuit mixture (that he kept on ice) so he could add water and have biscuits ready for the oven in no time flat.

Carl Smith, the sales executive, saw the potential for a ready-made biscuit mix for homes and took the idea back to General Mills where it was given the name we know, Bisquick.

Sadly, lost to history is the name of the creative chef on that train. And you can bet there was no compensation for his genius product. Interesting we know the name of the man who stole the recipe.

In any event, the lucky thing for us is this marvelous mixture has made the life of many a home cook easier with recipes for biscuits (of course), shortcake, waffles, pancakes, chicken and dumplings, “impossible” pies, cobblers, and more.

Probably most of us have used Bisquick. And some of us have created copy-cat versions to save money or keep out preservatives or both. If you’d like to try it, make a small amount this way.

One cup of Bisquick can be substituted by a mixture of:

1 cup flour

1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons baking powder,

 ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt

2 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons of oil or melted butter (or  2 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons Crisco or lard).

To make a larger quantity of baking mix you can store (in the refrigerator) to use in several recipes, make this recipe:

Baking Mix

6 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
2 cups powdered buttermilk (in baking section of grocery store)
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup solid vegetable shortening

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, powdered buttermilk and salt four times into a large bowl. (Or whisk together for at least 4 minutes.)

Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or mix in with fingers until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Store up to four months in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Use where the recipe calls for Bisquick. There are tons of baking mix recipes on the Internet. I created my recipe for the baking mix from several others.

Now onto the main dish for today. Super Bowl Sausage Balls!

I adapted this recipe for Super Bowl Sausage Balls from one at the Wicked Noodle by adding some sage to perk it up for our taste buds.

Super Bowl Sausage Balls (makes about 3 dozen)

1 pound ground sausage

8 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature

1 tablespoon sage

2 cups baking mix

1 ½ cups sharp cheddar cheese (or other sharp cheese of your choice)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a jellyroll pan with foil.

In a medium bowl and a mixer, blend sausage, cream cheese, and sage. When just combined, add baking mix.

With your hands mix thoroughly. Add in cheese in three additions and continue mixing with hands until all ingredients are fully incorporated.

Using a cookie dough scoop, put balls on plate. When all the meat mixture is in balls, form the balls into football-like shapes and return to the plate.

Refrigerate the plate of sausage footballs for at least one-half hour. Remove from refrigerator and put Do not crowd. Use another pan if needed.
the footballs on the jelly roll pan.

Bake for 35 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through. Let sit on baking pan for a few minutes for easier removal.

Transfer baked sausage footballs to a tray for serving. If you want, decorate the footballs with catsup or mustard to represent lacing. Serve immediately.

NOTE: The first time I tried to remove a football, it stuck to the foil. I let it sit for a few minutes and the rest came off easily. Next time, I might try baking on parchment paper for easy release. Also, catsup was too thin to make a nice lacing line. The mustard worked better, and I liked the flavor better, too.

DH’s Rating: Four Tongues Up  These are great little munchies for your party or just sitting around playing games because football is boring. DH said, “These have a nice flavor, but they’re different than the meatballs you usually serve. But good, they’re still good. Can I add salsa?”

If you liked this recipe, please share on social media using info below or write your own message!

Twitter: Game time #recipe for Super Bowl Sausage Balls by @good2tweat on Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time at http://bit.ly/2kEvKwr

Facebook: Sharon Arthur Moore-Author writes the “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” blog. It's posting its annual February Month-of recipes. This month's recipes have 2-5 ingredients. There's still time to make these Super Bowl Sausage Balls at http://bit.ly/2kEvKwr

A reminder:

House rules for what counts as an ingredient:

    Salt and pepper are not ingredients.

    Oil is not an ingredient when it’s for the cooking pan, not the recipe.

    Water is not an ingredient.

Month-of-Few Ingredients: Shortwork Shortcakes

You know that DH has a sweet tooth. Big time. But you also know he doesn’t care for big servings or super-sweet desserts. Enter the chocolate shortcake.

The first night I served these shortcakes, I cut the shortcake in half through the middle. I put on a dollop of whipped cream and fresh strawberries and blueberries. The second time, I served the two cut pieces side by side and topped them with vanilla ice cream and hot caramel.

These shortcakes are versatile. Create a chocolate crumble topping for pudding or ice cream. Layer crumbled short cake in a parfait glass with cherry pie filling and pecans to make a faux Black Forest dessert. Use your imagination!

Shortwork Shortcake (makes 8 shortcakes)

3 tablespoon sugar

1 cup self-rising flour (see NOTE below)

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon, vanilla

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Mix sugar, flour, and cocoa powder together with a whisk.

With a spoon, drizzle in the cream and mix to a thick batter. Halfway through the cream, add the vanilla, then finish incorporating the cream without overmixing.

The dough will be thick and lumpy. Line a cookie sheet with silpat or parchment paper.

Using a 2-tablespoon cookie dough scoop, drop 8 balls of dough on the cookie sheet.

Slightly flatten the balls then put in oven for 12 minutes.

Put shortcakes on a cookie rack to cool.

DH’s Rating: Five Tongues Up  “Very tasty. Lots of different textures.” He hadn’t eaten chocolate shortcake before, and it was a hit! I like chocolate. But DH LOVES chocolate. I served this with a blueberry/strawberry mixture and whipped cream (the real thing, not canned), and he almost licked the plate. The cocoa in the batter keeps the shortcake from being too sweet.

NOTE: If you don’t have self-rising flour make your own. To a cup of flour, add 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt. Sift three to five times to get ingredients evenly mixed.

If you liked this recipe, please share on social media using info below or write your own!

Twitter: #recipe for Shortwork Shortcakes (chocolate!) by @good2tweat on Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time at http://bit.ly/2l2V6SK

Facebook: Sharon Arthur Moore-Author writes the “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” blog. It's posting its annual February Month-of recipes. This month's recipes have 2-5 ingredients. Today make these Shortwork Shortcakes at http://bit.ly/2l2V6SK

A reminder:

House rules for what counts as an ingredient:

Salt and pepper are not ingredients.

Oil is not an ingredient when it’s for the cooking pan, not the recipe.

Water is not an ingredient.

Month-of-Few Ingredients: Going Bananas and Nuts Blueberry Muffins

A reminder:

House rules for what counts as an ingredient:

Salt and pepper are not ingredients.

Oil is not an ingredient when it’s for the cooking pan, not the recipe.

Water is not an ingredient.

I must admit to some skepticism when I came across the muffin recipe from The Big Man’s World.

No eggs. No oil. No leavening agent. How would they rise? What would the texture be like?

As you can see from muffin pan, the recipe only delivered eleven of the promised twelve muffins. That’s okay, I thought. My Pecan Cran-Oatmeal cookies sometimes gives me seven dozen and sometimes only six dozen and a few. Since I’m not, ahem, great at measuring, that’s explainable

Also the original recipe said to spray the muffin pan or use muffin liners. I tried half (well, almost) of each to see which gave the better results.

But neither really did rise as traditional muffins do. You can see from this picture below that the ones in the sprayed muffin pan came to about half the height of the ones in the muffin liners. Odd, right? And the texture of the muffins was more like fudgy brownies rather than the traditional, dryer muffin.

So what you get is a two to three bite very soft muffin. But, mmmm, they are tasty!

These muffins can be a great addition to a nutritious breakfast. Or do as we sometimes do and serve muffins as dinner bread for a change. This recipe originally was gluten-free, but I used all-purpose flour instead of coconut flour. Without added oil (of course the nut butter is oily) and maple syrup instead of sugar, these muffins are rather healthful.

They freeze wonderfully, so bake the dozen-ish and then pop leftovers in the freezer and just heat up when you want a fruit and nut muffin.

Go Bananas and Nuts Blueberry Muffins

3 large overripe, bananas

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup chunky nut butter

1/3 cup real maple syrup

½ cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12-hole muffin tin with non-stick spray or use cupcake liners. 

Mix bananas, flour, nut butter, and syrup until well combined and smooth. 

Fold in blueberries.

Pour mixture into muffin tin and bake for 20-22 minutes (check for doneness to see if more time needed). Muffin tin cups will be about 1/3 full.

DH’s Rating: Three Tongues Up  “These are pretty sweet, aren’t they? How much sugar do they have?”  My health-conscious guy was relieved when I told him the sweetness came from bananas and a little maple syrup. But, he said he won’t ask for them again. Too bad. Easy. Quick. Nutritious.

NOTE:

I store overripe  bananas in the freezer just for recipes like this. I used a multi-nut and seed butter from Costco but any chunky nut butter will work.

If you liked this recipe, please share on social media using info below or write your own!

Twitter: #recipe for Go Bananas and Nuts Blueberry Muffins by @good2tweat on Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time athttp://bit.ly/2kXJrHN

Facebook: Sharon Arthur Moore-Author writes the “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” blog. It's posting its annual February Month-of recipes. This month's recipes have 2-5 ingredients. Today make these Go Bananas and Nuts Blueberry Muffins at http://bit.ly/2kXJrHN

A Month-of-Few Ingredients: Applesauce Hand Pies

A reminder:

House rules for what counts as an ingredient:

Salt and pepper are not ingredients.
Oil is not an ingredient when it’s for the cooking pan, not the recipe.
Water is not an ingredient.

As you can tell from yesterday and today’s pictures, I don’t do food porn. Food porn is the term used for years now to describe the luscious photos professional photographers take of food. With the good cameras these days, however, many food bloggers are taking pictures to rival the professionals. Alas, I am not among them. But at least you can see what the food’s supposed to look like.

On to today’s recipe.

We like smallish desserts. DH has to have something sweet after a meal, but he doesn’t want much. To that end, over the years I’ve developed quite a repertoire of small-serving desserts. One of my February recipe binges was a Month-of-Mini-Desserts. Check the blog archive on the bottom right for lots of them.

These hand-held applesauce pies fit the bill! You don’t need a plate or fork, but of course you could serve them that way. I just hand him one on a napkin! Easy peasy.

You can make your own pie crust and/or your own applesauce for even more control over the ingredients.

Applesauce Hand Pies

1 pie crust, homemade or refrigerator like Pillsbury

6 tablespoons chunky applesauce, minced finely (I use unsweetened)

1 tablespoon cinnamon

4 teaspoons pecans, chopped fine

Cinnamon sugar mixture for top

Put applesauce in a coffee filter or very fine sieve to drain for at least an hour to get extra liquid out.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the pie crust into four pieces like slicing a pie.

Mix drained applesauce with cinnamon and stir thoroughly. Put 1 ½ tablespoons of applesauce onto pie crust wedge. Sprinkle on 1 teaspoon of pecans. 

Crimp up the edges all around to seal and poke a few holes in the top for steam.

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove to rack for cooling.

NOTES:

You can make this dessert sweeter by buying/making sweetened applesauce. Any fruit filling can be used, but be sure to mash up the fruit in larger fruit fillings like apple or cherry pie filling. Try mince filling. And it’s already minced! Yummy!

DH’s Rating: Five Tongues Way Up! “Really good!” He doesn’t like super sweet desserts so this is just right! He liked the crunchy outside and then the soft filling under it. He feels as if he’s having pie, but a smaller-than-usual portion.

Twitter: #recipe for Applesauce Hand Pies from @good2tweat on Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time at http://bit.ly/2jWITR5

Facebook: Sharon Arthur Moore-Author writes the “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” blog. It's posting its annual February Month-of recipes. This month's recipes have 2-5 ingredients. Today make these Applesauce Hand Pies at http://bit.ly/2jWITR5

A Month-of-Few Ingredients: Tender Chicken

Hi Ho, here we go! Back for another Month-of-Recipes? Well, while you’re here, don’t forget to check out the blog archive for Month-Of recipes from past years. Each February, I pick a category and post one or more recipes each day for the whole month. I’ve done soup, chicken, appetizers, eggs, and mini-desserts. Look in the column to the far right and click on different years to find each February's recipes.

When I polled readers last February, they told me that they wanted recipes with few ingredients. Ever one to try to please, I agreed to post recipes with two to five ingredients. This should be a fun month, right?

Now, house rules for what counts as an ingredient:

Salt and pepper are not ingredients.

Oil is not an ingredient when it’s for the cooking pan, not the recipe.

Water is not an ingredient.

That’s it. Not so hard, eh?

This month I will share few-ingredient appetizers, entrées, bread, soup, and desserts. Hopefully the cooking life will be simpler for you without so much preparation time.

As we are more mindful of our eating these days, we use small plates to aid in portion control. This dinner, with its small amount of chicken per person, is another part of that plan. If you like to eat more meat at dinner, you should increase the recipe accordingly.

Tender Chicken (serves two)

4 chicken tenders (or take a breast and slice into four equal strips)

¼ cup ranch dressing

½ cup seasoned panko bread crumbs (or add 1 tablespoon of basil to plain panko)

salt and pepper to taste

½ cup Asiago cheese, shredded (or other shredded cheese of your choice)

Put chicken tenders in zipper bag with ranch dressing. Refrigerate for at least an hour, turning periodically to get chicken equally coated during marination.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking dish with non-stick spray.

Mix together seasoned bread crumbs and shredded cheese. Place strips of chicken in the bread and cheese mixture and coat both sides, patting to get them to stick. Place chicken in prepared pan.

Bake for about 40 minutes. You want a nice browning on the coating to get some crunch.

I served this to DH with pasta tossed with teriyaki sauce with sautéed onions and celery. I added two cups of fresh spinach to the hot pasta and tossed until the spinach wilted. It made for a pretty dish!

DH’s Rating: 3 Tongues Up

Hmm. He said, “It’s too bland.” I think his taste buds are aging along with the rest of his body! I thought it was tasty. I mean, Asiago cheese, ranch dressing, seasoned bread crumbs? However, next time I make this, I’m adding in some pepper and basil to perk it up a bit for him. He probably would have been happy dipping them into salsa! Everything’s better (in his world) with salsa.

If you liked this recipe, please share on social media using info below or write your own!

Twitter: #recipe for Baked Chicken with Asiago Cheese by @good2tweat on Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time http://bit.ly/2knji4q

Facebook: Sharon Arthur Moore-Author writes the "Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time" blog. It's posting its annual February Month-of recipes. This month's recipes have 2-5 ingredients. The first one up is Tender Chicken, baked chicken with a crispy cheese coating.

http://bit.ly/2knji4q

On a publishing note, Prime Rib and Punishment is in final editing stages. I will let you know when to expect the sequel to Mission Impastable!