Bermuda Triangle Spinach Salad

Obviously I have been on a cooking craze. At the beginning of this week I determined to plan out the meals and try new things. And I did it! One whole week of planned meals and lots of food in the house and no "it's five o'clock and I have no idea what to make for dinner AGAIN" moments. Yay. :-)

Well this salad is fantastic. I found the original recipe here, and below is my rendition of it. They had a brilliant idea for how to boil eggs (put the eggs in BEFORE you put the water in----practically GENIOUS!). And this dressing is divine. So lovely. Makes way more than you'll need for the amount of salad, great leftover!

SALAD: Boil the eggs. Cook the bacon, then crumble/chop. Chop the mushrooms. Wash the spinach.

Assemble everything in large bowl. Serve with dressing (below).

6 eggs

1/3 lb of turkey bacon

1-2 pounds of spinach

sliced fresh mushrooms

DRESSING: Blend the following ingredients

1 chopped onion

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp celery seed

1 Tbsp mustard (preferably Dijon)

Enchiladas

Made these tonight for dinner....yummy

Saute some onions, then add in a can of spaghetti sauce (24 oz). Add in some chili powder and oregano. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Take a pan (I used a 9x13 "), fill the bottom with half the sauce. Take flour tortillas, fill with refried beans (1/3 cup per torilla) and cheese. Roll, place in pan flap side down. fill up the pan in this manner (I used 6 tortillas total). Cover with the remaining sauce and 2 cups of cheese. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes (or until hot through).

So good!!

Vegetarian Chili

This is one of my new faves. Especially if you have a lot of RANDOM vegetables in your fridge that are on the edge of going bad....(maybe you're not one of those people, but I sure am).

Ok, here's the basic recipe (although this one is really fun because I totally improvise it whenever I make it):

-beans (this last time I used the refried beans I made the day before)

-other types of beans (garbanzo, kidney, black, whatever you have/want)

-cooked corn

-tomatoes (this one is important)

-green/red bell pepper

-chopped onion

-chopped garlic

-zucchini/squash

-green onions

-chili powder

-cumin

-salt & pepper

Serve with fresh bread or tortillas. Top with cheese.

Refried Beans

Apologies for the delay in posts.... :-) I've been doing other things besides cooking it seems. But this week I pulled myself together and decided to plan out a full week of meals. Man does it ever feel good to have leftovers in the fridge and food on the shelves and not have to scrounge and wonder what to make for dinner....spaghetti again? Ah, c'est magnifique.

I shall begin with:

REFRIED BEANS

(from scratch)

These were actually surprisingly easy (when planned in advance). Last time I tried to make them, I didn't plan it ahead and it took FOREVER and was way way way more work. So, note to self (and to you, reader), plan this one ahead.

(Day Before): Soak pinto beans overnight (2.5 cups water to every 1 cup beans)

(Day of) : Simmer beans (in water from night before) for 2- 3 hours (yes, hours). Once soft, add in 1/2 cup of lard/hot bacon grease/butter (or a combo of the aforementioned). Add in salt if desired. Simmer for a while longer (until it seems adequately mixed) and most of the liquid is absorbed, then mash beans with a potato masher (or a fork/spoon if you don't have a masher). If it's still runny, let it sit for a while. Yay! Makes a LOT of beans.