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9.18.2007

Southwesty

After about one year of marriage, I discovered a love of cooking. (Before that, we ate a lot of pancakes and pasta for dinner!) I enjoy how a daily necessity can turn into a chance to work with my hands and get a little creative. I try at least one new recipe a month, and if we really like it I add it to a repertoire that I pull from for monthly meal planning. Here are two new additions to our regular dinner rotation, a pair of southwest-style recipes that I adapted from Everyday Food magazine. (If you do not have a subscription to Everyday Food, get one! BEST RECIPES EVER! Easy! Tasty! Really, go subscribe now; I'll wait...) I modified both of these to make them less spicy, because I have the mildest tastebuds ever formed on a human tongue.

Southwestern Corn Chowder (serves 2-4)
1 tbsp butter
1 green onion, thinly sliced, white & green parts separated
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
dash of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt & pepper
1 potato, peeled and diced
10 oz frozen corn
1 can low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup milk
shredded cheese (cheddar, Colby, or Monterey Jack)

In a medium pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add white part of green onion, carrot, cayenne pepper, & oregano; season w/ salt & pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Add potato, corn, broth, & milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high, then reduce to a simmer. Cook 15-20 min., until potato is easily pierced w/ the tip of a knife. Divide into bowls, and top w/ remaining green onion and cheese.

Black-Bean Tostadas w/ Corn Relish (serves 4)
2 limes
2 green onions, thinly sliced
10 oz frozen corn
3 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
8 oz Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated
4 flour tortillas (6-inch)
1 can black beans
1 avocado

In the morning... Squeeze limes into a medium bowl. Add green onions, corn, 1 tbsp oil, salt & pepper; toss to combine. Cover & refrigerate. In the evening... Preheat oven to 475F. Arrange tortillas on a baking sheet (use 2 if needed); brush both sides w/ remaining 2 tbsp oil. Rinse & drain beans; sprinkle over tortillas. Top w/ tomatoes & cheese. Bake until golden & crisp, about 10 min. (If you use 2 baking sheets, rotate them halfway through.) While tostadas are baking, pit, peel & dice avocado; toss w/ corn relish. Top tostadas w/ corn relish.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

these sound yummy. Do you think adding chopped chicken would work for either/both of them? (This is of course the wife of a hypoglycemic talking! :)

In Search of Morning Sickness said...

Both these sound REALLY good!!! I have everything to make the corn chowder, I think I'll try it tonight (ok, not a green onion but a regular one).

Thanks for sharing these! I also LOVE to cook and try a new recipe about once a week, but to make it to a "favorite" or "cook again" requires a lotI love borrowing favorites from my family, my husbands family, & making our "own".

Have a blessed day!

In Search of Morning Sickness said...

Thanks for the comment. Yes! One precious little one made it to blastocyst stage and is now cryopreserved! I only expected 1 or 2 (the remaining 5 cells) to make it, 4 and 3 cells at 3 days already are way behind (atlhough some 4 cells have produced pregnancies!).

glenna marshall said...

Yum. I love southwestern flavored food...sounds good!

andrea_jennine said...

Sarah: yes, I think you could add chopped chicken (as long as it's pre-cooked, since I don't think cooking the chicken w/ the meal would work well for either recipe).

Anonymous said...

oh, yeah, I meant cooked! ewww. :) should have made that clear!

Mama-cita Whitney said...

now i see why you like to shop at michael's fresh market, andrea! and i avocados are on sale this week too!!!

Amanda said...

Just wanted to say that I tried the southwestern corn chowder a few weeks ago -- yummy (as were the black bean tostadas with corn relish, which I'm sure you could see as I had about four helpings at Aaron's birthday party)!

If there's a way to upload pictures of the recipes once they're made (maybe from the "Everyday Food" website?), that would be helpful for those of us who are novice cooks out here, so we can see if we got it somewhat close to what was intended...

andrea_jennine said...

Amanda, I know - these recipes need pictures! I dream of a digital camera for that purpose alone; I'll see what I can do in the meantime!