Mexi-repa!

I'm currently addicted to arepas.  They are a corn cake like a thick tortilla pancake.  Many of them are gluten free and they contain almost no fat and low calories.  They are just corn, water, salt and lime.  I decided to make a veggie topping to put on the arepas.

I took a large pan, put on the medium-high burner and filled it with...

• 2 tbs of olive oil
• 2 tbs of chipotle sauce 
• 1 can of chopped fire roasted tomatoes (or normal tomatoes) with juice (do not drain)
• 1 can of corn
• 1/2 a yellow onion, diced
• 1 large red pepper, diced
• 4 medium tomatillos, diced
• cilantro to taste
• 1 container of extra firm tofu, diced
• 1 can of black beans
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup of water

Let all of the above hang out in the pan for 30-45 minutes until it the peppers are soft and everything is happily stewed.  Pre-heat the oven to 400degrees.  

Pull a cookie sheet that can fit 4-6 arepas on it.  I like using a crisper pan that has holes in it that helps keep the arepas, well, crisp.  

On each arepa, smear some refried beans, heap on some of the mixture from then, top with some cotijo cheese, pepper jack cheese, and then pop into the oven for about 10-15 minutes.   When they are a little toasted brown, take them out.  Sprinkle on some cilantro and some avocado slices.   If you want, maybe even some sour cream.  

It is a light and delicious meal that can be great with chicken or anything else you want to toss on the arepa!  Bueno!  

Yellow Stew

Okay...so it doesn't have the best name but I can't think of anything better.  It started out being a white meatless chili but then I did not have enough peppers and the slow cooker was too full for enough beans to be considered chili.  So it is Yellow Stew and despite its Sesame Street-esque name, it is delicous!

I opted for the slow cooker for this one on high the entire time.  From the moment I started tossing things in until I served it, it took a total of about 4 hours of stewing.

Step 1:  Turn on Slow Cooker on High and add 3 tbs of olive oil.
Step 2: Nuke 3 cups of Potato Leek Soup.  Why nuke it?  Because then it will be hot when it goes in the crock pot.  Getting the slow cooker hot is 1/2 the battle and if you are putting in a lot of ingredients from the fridge, it will take forever.
Step 3:  Add all of the following in whatever order your heart desires:

• 1 whole yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 russet potatoes, chopped small with the skin on
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 cup of vegetable stock
• 2 yellow bell peppers, chopped
• 3 parsnips, chopped
• 1 bunch of scallion tops (I had them leftover from a salad that used the white parts)
• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped (no stalks)
• 1/2 pound of mushrooms, chopped small
• 2 tbs of salt 
• 2 tbs of peppers
• 1 tbs of garlic powder
• 2 tbs of each rosemary, thyme, sage
• 3 cups of boiling hot water
• 6 dashes of tabasco sauce for some heat
• 1/2 tbs of red pepper flakes

My New Favorite Chicken Technique

We have been trying to cut down on meat and are down to only 2 times a week.  When I do make meat, I try to do something lean and not too time consuming.  I'm tired of dry grilled chicken or baked chicken and I wanted a quicker technique.   Though I believe in buying the bigger chicken breasts and butchering them as you need to (and save money while you are at it), those packages of thinly sliced chicken or pork have always been tempting.

I have twice now bought the thin chicken and lightly coated it in seasoned flour mix.  It is delicious, cooks quickly, reasonably healthy and adaptable.   The mix I used most recently was (roughly):

• 1/4 cup of all purpose gluten-free flour
• 1/3 cup of chick pea flour
• salt
• paprika
• garlic powder
• sage
• black pepper
• turmeric