Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Got a Juicer? Make 50/50 Vibrant Juice

I saw this juice on Pinterest and thought, oh man I have all of that! Yay!!!!!!  I just made it this morning and the recipe is right, it is bright and refreshing.  It's, well, vibrant in flavor and in color.

I'm going to save the pulp from this one to make into carrot cake at a later date!


3 carrots
1 large tangelo or 2 medium oranges, peeled
1 small apple, cored
1 1/2 cup green or red seedless grapes
3-4 stalks of celery

Juice it all together and serve over ice. You could totally add leafy greens like spinach or kale, but it will turn a funky color. 

Monday, February 6, 2012

Tex-Mex Lasanga

I love Mexican casserole dishes...My husband hates them, which is weird since he loves Mexican food. I keep making soggy layered tortilla dinners, hoping I'll find one he'll like. I finally found a recipe that he loved! It ditches the tortillas and uses lasagna noodles for the layers. We were out of sour cream, but had avocados so we mashed them up, called them guacamole and slathered it on top as "garnish." Dice up some jalapenos and sprinkle them in or use spicy salsa to jazz it up. As you can see from the picture, we were too excited to let it cool for 10-15 minutes and it kind of fell apart....



1 pound ground beef
1 cup jarred salsa
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 oz) can tomato sauce
1 package lasagna noodles
1 cup corn (canned or frozen, heck even fresh)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 green onions, chopped
Cooking spray

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the lasagna noodles, cook until al dente.
3. While the noodles boil, brown the beef in a pan and drain off excess fat. Set beef aside.
4. Combine salsa, tomatoes, tomato sauce, cumin, salt & pepper.
5. In another bowl combine corn, beans and cilantro.
6. Spray a lasagna pan with cooking spray and spread 1/2 sauce on the bottom of pan.
7. Layer noodles, beef, beans and cheese. Cover with a scoop of sauce.
8. Repeat until noodles are gone, finishing the top layer with the remaining sauce and cheese.
9. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes (ahem see above pic if you don't)
10. Sprinkle onions green onions and serve with a bit of guacamole or sour cream (or both...)

Roasted Garlic and Sun Dried Tomato Dip

I made this for a Super Bowl party yesterday and it was gone before the end of the first half. It was GOOD!!!!!!!!! It's kind of like hummus....What made it even better was the fact that it didn't need to be chilled or heated (although it would be great either way,) just served at room temperature. I served it with Wheat Thins but you could use bagel chips, sliced baguette or pita chips/bread. You're gonna need to use your fingers to get the roasted garlic out so it's a good thing roasted garlic is less pungent than raw!

1 whole garlic head
1 cup water
1 package (3.5 oz) of sun dried tomatoes, the dry ones not the pack in oil ones. (if you can only find the ones packed in oil, just skip the additional olive oil in the recipe)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 can White Beans or Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Remove outer papery cover of the garlic. Do not separate the cloves.
3. Wrap garlic in tinfoil and bake for 40 minutes.
4. Remove garlic from oven and let cool completely (seriously, you really have to manhandle it so make sure it's not hot)
5. While garlic cools, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Add tomatoes, cover and remove pan from heat. Let the tomatoes soak up the water.
6. While tomatoes are re-hydrating, cut the end off of the garlic and squeeze the mushy pulp into a food processor. Get as much of it out as you can.
7. Add tomatoes and about 1/4 cup of the soaking water to the food processor. Pulse a few times to break up the tomatoes.
8. Add remaining ingredients and puree until smooth, like hummus.
9. Transfer dip to a serving bowl and add a few fresh rosemary sprigs for decoration, serve with crackers.