Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Long weekend

The weekend was a bit chaotic with tons of family in town and lots of get togethers, but so much fun! I spent all day Saturday cooking and baking for pot lucks and didn't do a great job documenting, but made sure to snap photos of some of the tastier concoctions. I was left to my own devices taking pictures so forgive the poor quality!

Our office was closed on Friday so after a trip to the gym there was more time than usual to make lunch. I've been craving mango salsa so chopped up and tossed together the following ingredients:

  • 2 mangoes
  • 1/3 red onion

  • 2 tomatoes

  • 1 jalapeno

  • juice from 1 lime

I also smushed up an avocado with a little lime juice, salt and pepper and melted some sharp cheddar and organic black beans between a whole wheat tortilla. It was so delicious and fresh tasting!


black bean quesadillas with mango salsa and gauc


There was more than enough salsa so I dumped some of the leftovers over couscous the next day for lunch and it was equally yummers.


Saturday night I went to a BBQ and offered to bring a side dish so made tabbouleh after some begging from my cousin :) I think I've only made it once before but she happened to be in town and loved it so I figured I'd give it another try. I used Far East brand (I think that's what it's called) tabbouleh to start but only mixed in a little of the flavor packet that comes in the box so that I could add my own. After the grain was ready I added the other ingredients. Even though here were tons of people at the BBQ this recipe made A LOT and we ended up with leftovers:


  • 3 boxes of grain, 1 packet of seasoning

  • 2 cups grape tomatoes

  • 1/2 cup golden raisins

  • 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

  • 1/3 cup Greek dressing

  • 1 1/2 chopped cucumbers

  • 1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper chopped

  • 1 can drained chick peas

It was great that night and even better the next day!


Taboule


Yesterday afternoon I made a quick ricotta cheesecake and berry topping with some fresh blackberries and raspberries. Of course when I was ready to dump the mix into a pan to bake I realized I didn't have a spring form pan so just used a 9 x 13 baking pan. They were a little thinner than they should have been but tasted great.


Ricotta cheesecake w berries


The recipe is from cookinglight.com (of course!): http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=104186

Although the recipe calls for homemade ricotta cheese I bought park-skim ricotta at the store instead. I figured baking a cheesecake was ambitious enough without making my own ingredients!

I also gave this recipe a try:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1891917

I couldn't find sugar snap peas at the grocery store so used green beans, and also added about 1/3 cup lemon and 1 tbsp of capers to the sauce as it was reducing so it had a piccata flavor. No photos since I was starving by the time it was ready! I wasn't a huge fan of the mint flavor in the bean and asparagus salad, but it was nice to have a change from the lemony green bean/asparagus I've been making lately. The chicken was pretty tasty and very tender, but I'm curious about how it would taste if I stuck to the recipe- something to try next time!

This blog is still very much a work in progress so if you have any suggestions, comments or ideas I'd love to hear them. My brother informed me that it's the most boring thing he's ever read, so there's that! I'd also love recipe ideas if you'd like to share your favorites.

Hope everyone is having a great day!



1 comment:

  1. Of course you can link back to my post! I hope you enjoy the recipe. Your quesadilla and salsa looks fit for a restaurant! I have also always wanted to try ricotta cheesecake- yours looks fab. Gotta love cooking light!

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