Best Thing SHE Ever Made

The view from the side

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were watching TV and we flipped to "The Best Thing I Ever Made" on Food Network. The episode's theme was Family Dinners, so everything the chefs made were big dishes that can be served family style and are pretty comforting to eat. One of the chefs, Marcela Valladolid, host of "Mexican Made Easy", featured her Corn and Poblano Lasagna. It sounded sooooo delicious and relatively simple! Instead of a traditional Italian lasagna, hers is stuffed with poblano chiles and zucchini, and the sauce is a blended corn/cream mixture (which I probably could have eaten on its own as a soup). After we saw this episode, we couldn't stop talking about how much we wanted to make and eat this meal. As fate would have it, what did I find at the farmer's market that week?? POBLANO CHILES! We were destined to make this meal, and it was oh so yummy! The recipe calls for Oaxaca cheese, but she said you can substitute mozzarella, which is all we could find in our local grocery store.

And the view from the top - look at that melty cheese!

The lasagna was really easy and delicious and it will definitely be made again, but this post also comes with a cautionary tale:

Be careful when you slice spicy peppers! Only recently have I started to experiment with peppers, and so I never really knew much about peppers or their oils. A few weeks ago, we made jalapeño poppers, and later that night, I felt as though I had burnt my finger. I just assumed that I accidentally hit the side of the oven or pan while I was taking out the peppers, and although it really hurt, I just brushed it off as nothing. Doesn't every good cook burn themselves once in a while in the kitchen? A few hours after we had finished the lasagna, my hands were in excruciating pain - tingling and burning. At first I thought I might be dying; I had never felt this type of pain before in my life! I quickly typed in my symptoms into Google and I found out that, no, I was not dying, but my hands were burning from the capsaicin in the peppers. A quick search for remedies led me to pour rubbing alcohol over my hands and then coat with a thick lotion. Although the pain didn't go away completely, it was lessened enough so that I could fall asleep. Lesson learned. Next time - GLOVES!

Ole!

There's not a whole lot to write about these next two meals. However, they have 2 main things in common: they include peppers and are both Mexican recipes! I LOVE Mexican food - who doesn't? We're actually going out for Mexican food tonight...and I've already been thinking about what to get! Fajitas? Enchiladas? Quesadillas? I guess I know what I'll be doing all day at work...planning my dinner.

Anyway, here's what came of the green peppers. Did you know that green peppers are just unripened red peppers? They first turn green, then yellow, then orange, and then red. The longer the pepper stays on the vine, the more red they turn. Dish #1 was fajitas - nothing fancy here, though. This came straight from the Old El Paso Fajita spice packet. 

Chicken Fajitas with Onions and Peppers

And Dish #2 - vegan burritos! This recipe is adapted from Oh She Glows, a vegan blog. One of my friends is vegan, and I had her and her boyfriend, along with some other friends, over a few months ago for a dinner party. I made this recipe and it was a huge hit, even for the meat-eaters at dinner.  The recipe calls for butternut squash, but I substituted with sweet potatoes. Every now and then, I crave this meal...yummmm.

Black Bean, Sweet Potato, Green Pepper, and Brown Rice Burritos

Toe Mah Tee Yos

Toe mah tee yos...that's how you pronounce the star of the following dish: tomatillos! When I saw these at the farmer's market, I knew I had to have them. Tomatillos look like mini green tomatoes, but they are wrapped in husks, which make them look like little tomato gifts. Now, let me remind you in case you forgot, I HATE tomatoes! However, there was something about the tomatillos, and their cute little husk, that made them irresistible. So I snatched them up, without any clue on what to do with these tomato relatives. Thankfully, there's this thing called the Internet (maybe you've heard of it?), so it was easy to find some recipes. I settled on salsa verde; after all, there's nothing quite as good as chips, salsa, and a cold margarita on a hot summer day. 

Salsa Verde

Adapted from: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tomatillo_salsa_verde/ 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb tomatillos
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 Jalapeño peppers (seeds and membrane removed, to reduce heat, if desired)
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well.

2. Cut the tomatillos in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin.

3. Place tomatillos, lime juice, onions, cilantro, chili peppers, sugar in a blender or food processor and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator. Serve with chips or as a salsa accompaniment to Mexican dishes.

In the future, I might add ONE jalapeño....and then add another if it needs more heat. The salsa is really good...but a little too spicy!

And here's the finished product: