Mint Limeade and Homemade Enchilada Sauce

I went to Cafe Rio a few weeks back and fell in love with the entire restaurant. Handmade tortillas. Handmade horchata and lemonades. But in the heat, the mint limeade was by far the most refreshing. So I came home and immediately hit up google for a copy cat recipe . . . and came out empty handed. Boo. But, with some luck and a super helpful taste tester (thanks, Alex :), we figured it out.

Mint Limeade

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
5-6 cups of water (start with five and add more if it is too strong)

2/3 cup lime juice (about 6 med limes)
10-12 mint leaves, finely chopped

Directions:
In a small sauce pan, combine 1 cup water and sugar. Stir on medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
In a pitcher, combine sugar water, water, lime juice, and mint leaves. Refrigerate overnight.

I attempted some homemade enchiladas with a homemade sauce. It wasn't the best, but it's what I made. I'll update the recipe as I tweak it to our liking.

Enchilada Sauce
http://www.food.com/recipe/texas-red-enchilada-sauce-42094

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons flour
5 teaspoons red chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons garlic powder
6 ounces tomato paste
2 1/4 cups water
salt and pepper

Instructions:
Melt butter/margarine in a sauce pan.
Make a roux by browning flour in melted butter/margarine.
Add spices and tomato paste; stir until well blended into roux.
Add water gradually, stirring constantly.
Heat until boiling.
Continue simmering and stirring until desired thickness is achieved.
Taste every so often and adjust spices as needed.
Once desired consistency and taste is reached, coat the bottom of a pan with the sauce, add freshly rolled enchiladas, then pour the remainder of the red sauce over enchiladas.
Place pan in oven and cook until enchiladas are done.

Noodle Bowl

In my dating days, I dated a guy from Thailand. And he started my love affair with Pad Thai. But once you've had it homemade, the restaurant stuff just doesn't cut it. And I could never figure out his recipe.
This recipe isn't "real" pad Thai. But it's still delicious. At first bite, I was a little disappointed, but then I realized, it's really good (as long as you're not expecting authentic Pad Thai). So I call it a noodle bowl.

Easy Pad Thai
http://browniesfordinner.com/2010/05/11/easy-pad-thai/
(adapted from Everyday Food)

Serves 2

4 ounces dried, wide and flat rice noodles
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 squirt (about 1/8 teaspoon) Sriracha
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 scallions (green onions), white and green parts, separated and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 large eggs, light beaten (optional)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped roasted, salted peanuts

Soak noodles according to package instructions. Drain.
In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, lime juice, soy sauce, and Sriracha.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.
Add scallion whites and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add eggs and cook, scraping skillet with spatula until eggs are almost set (about 30 seconds). Transfer eggs to a plate.
Add noodles, scallion greens, and sauce to skillet. Cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are soft (about 1 minute). Add egg mixture and toss to coat, breaking eggs up gently.
Serve with wedge of lime, chopped peanuts, and cilantro

Homemade Chicken Taquitos

 

will post recipe shortly

Baked Zucchini

 

 

I took some zucchini , sliced thin, brushed them with some olive oil.  Then added some dried basil, parmesan cheese, and diced tomatoes. Baked in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Quinoa with veggies

I was bored and have been wanting some quinoa.  Decided to experiment again. 
Here is what I came up with.

2 Cups cooked Quinoa

½ bag shelled edamame (I put some salt and pepper on them)

1 ½ cups cooked broccoli

1 zucchini.

Saute some garlic and a diced jalapeno in a little olive oil.  Throw in quinoa and vegetables.  Add ½ cup mozzarella cheese and ½ cup parmesan (or more or less depending on your liking of cheese).  I then used heavy cream to thin it out…but next time am going to try chicken stock.

 

I also had an avocado that I peeled and ate with it as garnish...it was SUPER YUMMY!!!

 

Jalapeno Poppers

Once again... I took a recipe and modified it.

and...sorry there is no picture...we ate them to fast.

Here is the recipe:

2 - 8oz blocks softened cream cheese
1 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Cup grated cheddar cheese
2/3 cup grated mozzerella cheese
1/4 cup diced green onions

 8 jalapenos cut in half and cleaned out
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Combine the first 5 ingredients together.  Mix well.  Stuff jalapenos with mixture and sprinkle with parmesan.

cook at 350 for about 20 mins.

with the left over filling I added a cut up jalapeno and put in a dish topped with parmesan and baked with the poppers.  Then served with tortilla chips.

It was delicious either way.  The poppers were a tad spicy but the dip was not.



below is the link to the original recipe.

http://www.simply-gourmet.com/2012/08/183-jalapeno-popper-dip.html

Almond Brittle

This took WAY longer than I wanted it to but it was totally worth it.

2 Cups Almonds
1/2 Cup Cashews
3/4 Cup Dried Cranberries
1/2 - 2/3 cup Pumpkin seeds
1/2 - 2/3 cup coconut (I had a real coconut that I used but shredded from a bag would be ok)

2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup honey (I used Agave Nectar)
1 Cup water
1/2 tsp Salt
1 TBSP Butter

Combine Sugar, Honey, water and salt into a saucepan.  Slowly bring to 310 degrees (using candy thermometer).  If you do it to quickly it will burn the sugar so use a medium heat.  It took me a little over an hour to get it that hot.  Once it is 310 let it cool to about 300 and add the butter and the rest of the ingredients.  Put on greased parchment paper in a cake pan and spread out as thin as you would like.  Mine was probably about an inch (it was way to hard to try and get it thinner).

I would probably change the nut mixture to sugar syrup ratio.  I would use more nut mixture as there were some spots that had WAY to much of the sugar.

Here is the link that I got the idea from.  I modified it (as I almost always do) :)
http://adventurescooking.blogspot.com/2010/03/autumn-brittle.html