Showing posts with label cilantro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cilantro. Show all posts

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Adobo Lime Chicken Tacos

Back in December, I won a spice giveaway by Spices Inc. We had the spices shipped to my parents' house to await our journey to Alaska since I learned about winning less than a week before we left.

This is the spice set, dubbed "The World Kitchen Connection." If you want to purchase, you can do so on the Spices Inc. website.

I was really excited to try the Adobo Lime Rub and was very pleased with the results. The rub creates a very flavorful chicken and leaves a delicious little kick, perfect for tacos!

Adobo Lime Chicken Tacos

Chicken
2 chicken breasts
1 tbsp Adobo Lime Rub

Cut chicken breasts in half and cover each side with the adobo lime rub. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes to allow the flavor to soak into the chicken. Grill and cook thoroughly.

Shred the chicken.


The Tacos
lettuce
tomatoes
grated cheese
sour cream
mango salsa, or your favorite salsa
taco sauce (optional)

Build your tacos. We were proud to set up our taco bar on our new patio table and eat our first meal outside - of the year, and at our new house! This was so tasty and amazing. We highly recommend.

Proudly linking this post to:




Saturday, October 30, 2010

Savory Harvest Veggie Stoup - Slow Cooker Recipe

This has just been one of those weeks. Craving soups, pastas, and all those delicious foods that scream comfort and cooler weather. It was cooler, but it's back in the 70s here in Southern Colorado. No matter.
I've been planning to make this soup, which I've dubbed "Nummy Stew," for weeks now, and to share with the Sister Saturday Soup Exchange at Southern in My Heart and Gourmet Meals for Less today.

This is one of my favorite recipes, and I don't make it that often, though now I've learned more about what my slow cooker can do, it may be a more common dish at our house!

Savory Harvest Veggie Stoup

3-4 medium to large potatoes, cubed
1 apple, cubed
3 large carrots, chopped
3 large stalks celery, chopped
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped 
1 cup green beans
1 medium zucchini, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, diced
2 quarts chicken broth
1 can tomato paste 
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried cilantro (ground coriander is okay too)
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic salt 
8 oz pasta (more is fine)
Place all veggies in a 6 quart slow cooker. Pour the broth over the veggies; if the broth doesn't cover the veggies, add more. Stir in tomato paste -- it's okay if it doesn't mix well yet; it will mix in as the soup cooks. Stir in the spices and the pasta. Turn the slow cooker on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 6-8.


Note - if you wish your noodles to be less falling apart, add them about 30-45 minutes prior  to serving.


Ladle into bowls and serve with bread.

Easy Peasy... Enjoy!!

As mentioned, I'm linking this with the Sister Saturday Soup Exchange (see button below).
I'm also pleased to finally have a soup to bring to Deb @ Kahakai Kitchen's Souper Sundays.
And, I'm also linking this up to My Meatless Mondays at My Sweet and Savory


Wednesday, August 25, 2010

cilantro pesto pasta

I love cilantro. Quite frankly, I adore cilantro. If you've been reading for a while, you may remember that when I made chicken tikka masala, I was in love with the smell of diced cilantro on my fingers while I was cooking. This summer I can't seem to stop buying cilantro, whether we're at the Farmers Market, at the grocery store, and I'm sure if there was a roadside cilantro stand, I'd probably stop and buy it there too.






This has resulted in LOTS of salsa and guacamole and other dishes/sauces that use cilantro. Unfortunately, it starts going bad by the bunch in my fridge, and I am so sad when I have to toss it. As another bunch started to fade away into the abyss, and with two more waiting in the wings in the fridge to take it's place as "next cilantro to use," tonight I opted to get creative and try something new and good. What are two of my main loves...food loves that is? Pasta, and ... drumroll please... cilantro.


I did a little searching online for cilantro pesto recipes and found a ton -- which came as a total surprise to me. After a little combining and recombining -- a little of this and a little of that -- and ended up making something that most closely resembled regular pesto. Instead of pine nuts, which I had none of, I opted for walnuts for, well, a nutty flavor and texture. Also considered almonds, but walnuts seemed to go better with pesto. Don't ask why. Call it intuition?


Cilantro Pesto
1 bunch of cilantro
5 heaping teaspoons of pre-diced cloves garlic to taste (I bought garlic-in-a-jar, but this would likely equate to about 8 tsp garlic fresh)
1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
3/4 cup walnuts
1 TBSP vinegar (I used white, but would use apple cider or white wine next time)
3/4 cup olive oil


1 box of pasta, cooked until slightly al dente


Garnish
1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan
crushed walnuts
salt to taste
sliced tomatoes
balsamic vinegar




Load all non-pasta, non-garnish ingredients in a blender and blend.



And blend.


And blend some more. My poor blender was really working hard to earn its keep. Taking pity on the little blender that could, I turned the blender off.


And shook the contents.

And turned the blender upside down.

And stirred the contents with a knife.

Then it all blended nicely.

Mid blend -- cook the pasta. Or post-blend. Or pre-blend. Really, whatever works best for you.

I adore the pinwheel pasta, both for white cheddar mac and for this new recipe. Mostly because all of the pasta gets coated with sauce without having sauce collect and pool awkwardly in the middle of the pasta like it does in shells or penne. Sometime I'll go into how much I love pasta and love to eat it raw, and how I used to smuggle dry pasta into my room as a little girl, by using the convenient gaping hole in my blankie. A blankie that is still with us today. Whoops. Just went there. Now you know. I could contentedly eat pasta every day of the week.

Now to get the pesto out. That took some work. I'd have taken photos, but both hands were a little busy holding the blender container (I'm sure there's a word for it, but it's not coming to mind... pitcher?), and a spatula and pouring/scraping over a pan of cooked pasta. Then the mixture remnants got stuck under the blade. Waste not, want not. I got a fork and dug out... and ended up with cilantro pesto all over my forearms. Worth a photo I'm sure, but I'm not risking my iphone or my camera.

Though it can be hard to get the tail end of anything out. I love my blender. I especially love when lots of potentially messy ingredients can be combined into a single sealed container, whipped together on hi speed, and mashed into wonderfulness. And oh! so easy to clean. Spray down with the sink sprayer, rinse, spray down, rinse, fill half way with soapy water and blend until all "specks" are gone. Wipe down with sponge and dry!

Toss the pesto with the pasta, and dish up.



Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.
Sprinkle with grated parmesan.
Top with crushed walnuts.
Garnish the plate with the tomatoes -- I personally like surrounding the plated pasta with tomatos; but I also like making pinwheels.
Salt to taste.

Enjoy!!

And if you have any great cilantro recipes for me to try, I'm game. I still have two bunches in the fridge, and, will in all likelihood, buy more this weekend. I can't stop myself!
Cilantro
Click here to learn more about cilantro.

Inspired by this? Looking for more inspiration? Check out Southern in My Heart, she showcases some great ideas!

I'm also linking to
 
really fun, creative ideas.

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