Mom Central Food

Tasteful Thursday - Southwestern Pasta & Cheese

Tasteful Thursday rolls around so quickly.  For those new to Tasteful Thursday, the rules are simple:

1. Post a recipe on your personal blog.
2. Come back here and leave a link to your post in the comments sections.
3. Visit all the recipes and leave some comment love!

Southwestern Pasta & Cheese
From Healthy Cooking magazine, Jan/Feb 2009

Ingredients:

• 3 1/3 cups uncooked bow tie pasta
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
• 8 green onions, chopped
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1tsp. minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 1/4 cups fat-free milk
• 1 cup (4oz) shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 4 center-cut bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
• 2 T minced fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, sauté pepper and onions in oil until tender. 
3. Stir in the flour, chili powder, chipotle pepper, salt and cumin until blended.  Gradually stir in milk. 
4. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in 1/4 cup cheese until melted.
5. Drain pasta; toss with sauce.  Stir in bacon and cilantro. 
6. Transfer to a 2-qt baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly. 

Modifications/Review:

• Be careful not to overdo the chipotle pepper sauce- that's some spicy stuff!
• I made a smaller pan of pasta for my children minus all the veggies and they like it.  Of course, I think taking out all the veggies takes away from the flavor.
• I only had turkey bacon in the house and for this recipe, I wish I had used the real thing.  Real bacon would have totally enhanced the flavors of this pasta.
• Overall, this pasta was a good, solid dish.  It was nice to have a different flavor with the cumin and chipotle sauce.  Everyone ate it and there were no leftovers- a sure sign of goodness!

Lisa Moawad- Growing Up Mo'

Appetizer goodness: Tortilla Roll-ups

It's Tasteful Thursday!  If you care to play along, then here are the rules:

1. Post a recipe on your personal blog.
2. Come back here and leave the link to your post in the comments section.
3. Visit the other recipes post and leave some comment love!

Looking for a delicious appetizer?  Look no more.  You HAVE to try this one.  It is easy, has just a few ingredients, and can be put together fairly quickly. (I'm all about easy, not to be confused to with “I am easy.” I am not!)

Tortilla Roll-ups
(Source:  my childhood friend Danette who got it from who knows where)

Ingredients:

• 20-30 flour tortillas, warmed in microwave
• 2 packages of cream cheese, softened
• 1 package Hidden Valley Ranch dressing (the dry mix)
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 bunch of green onions, chopped
• 1 small can of chopped black olives

Instructions:

1. Stir together cream cheese, ranch mix and green onion.
2. Spread approximately 1 rounded T of cream cheese mixture on each tortilla (use more or less as you deem necessary).
3. Top each tortilla with a small amount of bell pepper and olives.  Roll and cut each tortilla into threes.

Review:

This appetizer is great for social gatherings of any sort.  When I know that children might be eating this, I will sometimes put some of the cream cheese mixture aside omitting the olives, bell pepper and green onions.  Other than that, I make this recipe as is and then serve.  Make sure to refrigerate the roll-ups until you are ready to eat them!

Tasteful Thursday - General Tsao's Chicken

I have an awesome recipe to share with you guys- I am so so so excited.  Little did I know when I chose this recipe how delicious it would turn out.  Plus, it is a Weight Watchers recipe- SCORE!  So, let's just get on with it already, it's time for Tasteful Thursday.

If you want to play along, then here are the rules:

1. Post a recipe on your personal blog.
2. Come back to this post and leave a link to your recipe.
3. Visit everyone's recipe and leave some comment love if you feel so inclined.
4. It's that easy!

General Tsao’s Chicken

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups canned chicken broth, reduced-sodium
• 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tp ground ginger
• 2 tsp peanut oil
• 2 medium scallions, chopped
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or 1 dried chili pepper, minced
• 1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 cups cooked white rice, kept hot

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and ginger; set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions, garlic and pepper and cook 2 minutes. Add chicken and cook until browned all over, about 5 minutes.
3. Add reserved sauce and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.
4. Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Yields about 1 cup of chicken and sauce and 1/2 cup of rice per serving.

Points per serving: 6

Modifications/Tips:

• I doubled the recipe for our family as I was positive that we would like it and want leftovers for the next day (I was right).
• I did not have peanut oil in my kitchen pantry so I substituted olive oil.
• I omitted the scallions as I did not want to hear my children whine about there being "green things" in their food, ha ha.
• I halved the red pepper flakes as I did not want it too spicy for the children- it turned out perfect for us.

Review:

This recipe rocked the house.  It did taste like General Tsao's Chicken, minus all the fatty breading.  My daughter asked for seconds, a sure sign that she enjoyed it.  To be honest, I wanted to pick up my plate and lick it clean- it was that good.  Sweetening the pot- it is a HEALTHY recipe.  We will most definitely be making this one again, and soon!

Tasteful Thursday - Easy Cheese-y Chicken

Tasteful Thursday Round Three!  For those just joining us (which would be you and you and you!), here are the rules for play:

1. Post a recipe on your personal blog.  Let us know where you got the recipe from, what you/your family think of the recipe and if you made any modifications.
2. Come back here and leave a comment with a link to your post.  Let us know in your comment what the name of your recipe is.
3. Go visit everyone that leaves a recipe link and leave them some comment love!

Do you ever have those nights where you wait until late in the day to figure out what's for dinner?  If you are like me, this is more often the case on a daily basis.  This recipe is so simple and delicious that you (and your family) will be begging for more.