Butternut Squash Black Bean Enchiladas- A Real Recipe

Now that it's getting cooler, I've been drawn towards warmer foods and keep wanting people to cook for me.  Since we can't go out every day and I'm the cooker around these parts, I settled on making enchiladas this Sunday.

The only problem?  I have never made enchiladas in my entire life, but I was going to do it one way or the other.  I made some simple cilantro rice to go along with the meal, and then got onto the main event.

Ingredients:

• 1 can enchilada sauce
• 5 whole wheat tortillas
• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• olive oil
• salt, pepper, paprika
• 1 can green chiles
• 1 cup mixed shredded cheese
• 1 cup cooked butternut squash 
• 1/2 can black beans
• Lime and avocado to garnish

1. Brown the turkey in a skillet with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika, and set to the side.

2. Mix in the turkey, chiles, shredded cheese, butternut squash, and black beans in a bowl

3. Pour a layer of enchilada sauce at the bottom of your baking dish

4. Stuff each tortilla with 1/3 cup of the stuffing and roll up- repeat until finished

5. Pour remaining enchilada sauce and sprinkle with cheese

6. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until the cheese is melty and everything is warmed through.

7. Enjoy

Friday Night Date Night

Oh, look!  Another post from me.  It's been a week since I came back from my last work trip and my first real, live weekend in two weeks.  We kicked off the weekend with dinner at Lark Creek, a local restaurant that we have walked by hundreds of times but never went into.  The place prides itself on local, mostly organic cuisine and we sat down to some warm bread and ordered our starter, a tamale pancake.  The shredded chicken, avocado, and tortilla strips made this a perfect, unique starter.

 For our entrees, we decided to roll with a lamb special for the husband, who said it was perfectly done.

 I went with the seared scallops accompanied with butternut squash risotto and roasted kale.  It was perfectly prepared, salty, creamy, and full of flavor.

Just to prove that although I don't always blog, I still can't stop the picture habit, hubby caught me taking this one of my food.  Goober :)

We are off to enjoy the rest of our real weekend- we have a hike and movies on the agenda.  I am also going to be spending time with this little buddy.  (Another photo taken by hubby, don't be jealous of my glamorous outfit).

Goofy Gourmet

This past Tuesday we were lucky enough to host our very first guest in the new kitchen.  This guy has made an appearance before and has pretty refined tastes in both his dining preferences and ambience.  I should say that I think we met his needs.

On the menu tonight was grilled cheese (on whole grain bread with Irish sharp cheddar), chicken nuggets (organic), and monkey chips (baked plantain chips).  We tried for a veggie, but it wasn't happening that night.

There were wild discussions over flavors and condiments.

And whether pumpkins could float or not (they totally can).

Auntie came to join to eat her own grilled cheese and apparently couldn't keep her eyes open through a meal, but we still decided to have some fun with our food.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Hope you liked another sneak peak at our new kitchen.  I'm loving it and love our new island/seating area.

I'm off on a jet plane to Jersey City for work.  Please contain your excitement!

Oh Yeah - October

In the words of the pop princess, "Oops I did it again."  A whole month without blogging and now here I come crawling back.  In the last month I've been on a travel spree with almost a week in Atlanta, and just working away. 

Oh, and food- there has been food along with it all, because a young lady has got to eat!  I needed a lot of energy to focus on my trip.

Pumpkin yogurt in the airport

Ceasar salad in the hotel at midnight

Hotel room all to myself

In the last weeks since being back, we have been working away on the kitchen.  It's not quite 100% done yet- but here is a sneak preview.  I am 1000% in love with it and I'll post some good before and after pictures once we are all done.

Another couple of things that I am 100% in love with are my boys.  We went to an enormous dog park today and walked around and let the beast run free.  It was a fabulous day.

What are you loving these days?  If I have any readers left, tell me what's new in your lives.

Foodbuzz Tastemaker: Sargento

Disclaimer:  As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a gift card to buy some Sargento cheese.  The opinions below are my own.

I like cheese- I like cheese a lot.  We buy cheese and since our kitchen is under construction and currently looks like this, the gift card we received was a lifesaver and made up our dinner.

Despite being a (sometimes) food blogger, I am not a huge cheese fan.  I like goat cheese and the stinky kinds, but any sight of mold and I'm out.  I'm talking about you- blue cheese. Bleh!  When I went to select some sargento cheese for my tasting, I chose pepperjack and cheddar.  They sounded like easy choices and cheese that I normally buy.  For the competitor, I chose a store brand swiss cheese because it's really hard to mess up swiss cheese.

I also bought some grapes, pears, cucumbers, stuffed olives, cherry peppers, and added the mixed nuts I had in my pantry.

Here is the Sargento platter:

Here is the competitor:

The verdict: I really liked the pepperjack.  It had a nice zing to it and had a good texture.  I noticed that the sargento cheese was not shiny like the other and just seemed a little more natural.  The cheddar was just a regular cheddar- nothing to write home about.

I did have two other assistants- the hubby and the puppy.  They were torn on which they liked better but the husband noted that he couldn't tell a huge difference in quality and liked the swiss cheese more.

And puppy? The cheddar won him over.

Anniversary Meals

Since we knew that our kitchen would be a war zone, the weekend of our anniversary was spent going out and eating our weight in delicious foods.  What else can a food blogger (am I still allowed to call myself that?) and a man who just loves food do?  We went to two of my favorite restaurants and thoroughly enjoyed our meals:

Sweet potato fries to share from the counter:

Followed by a turkey burger with pineapple, grilled onions, and black bean salsa:

For our fancy anniversary dinner, we cleaned up the remodeling dust from ourselves and went to Havana for the evening.  They have half off mojito Mondays.  Mojitos are the only drinks that I can actually finish.  The evening ended with a drunken trip to Trader Joe's.  But first- our delicious meals:

Scallops and lamb chops small plates:

Halibut ceviche with plantain chips:

My date for the evening:

Mojito inhalation by yours truly:

And now it's back to sandwiches, salads, and wraps- or anything else I can can make with a fridge or a microwave...and a waffle iron, if that counts.

Do your celebrations involve meals?  Mine always seem to- food is part of a great experience!

2 Years: My MRS. Experience

Each Labor Day weekend since 2009, my husband and I celebrate our anniversary.  

On September 6, 2009, we got married and it was easily the happiest day of my life.  We went out to dinner to celebrate and discussed the past year tonight (recap will come later).

We had nothing to overcome in our first year and this last one was a doozy.  My husband's wise words said that we survived and our marriage is stronger.

Each day I have a coach, comedian, personal trainer, and best friend with me on my journey.  I still am the luckiest girl in the world.  Each year gets better and better and I can't wait to see what our future will bring.

Husband- you not only make me happy, you ARE my happy.