Naan roasted veggie pizza

Naan roasted veggie pizza

Roasted broccoli
Roasted tomato
Sliced onion
Crumbled feta
Garlic and chilli oil
Flavored herbs olive oil
Creme balsamic drizzle
Naan

Roast the broccoli in some oil with salt pepper garlic and onion powder 425 about 25 min

Next roast the sliced tomato with oil salt and pepper about 15 min

Take your thin naan or pita we get ours from a Turkish market and they are huge the size of a med pizza and thin.  Drizzle your flavored olive oil on the bread and toast for a couple min in the oven.

Layer your ingredients.  My half just has broccoli, tomato, and feta. Hubby half had the chili and onion added.  Bake maybe 5 min or  less just until it's toasty again. Drizzle the balsamic creme on top. 

Slice serve and enjoy!  Next time I'll add more veggie but all i had at hand were the broccoli and tomato this time.

Mexican black beans

Mexican black beans

INGREDIENTS
1tbsp oil
½ onion, halved then thinly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red chilli, finely diced or toss some crushed red pepper flakes
¼ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp smoked paprika
2 cups cooked black beans
About 1 cup chicken stock.  I started with 2/3 cup but like them not quite so thick so added a bit extra water
Black pepper
To serve: fresh coriander, sour cream

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the oil in a pan, and add the onion, garlic and chilli. Cook for a few minutes over a medium-low heat, until soft and translucent. Add the spices and cook for one more minute, stirring regularly.
Next, add the black beans and stock, and season with plenty of black pepper. Bring to a simmer, and cook for around 15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until the mixture has reduced down to your desired consistency.
Serve topped with some fresh coriander and a dollop of sour cream.

Cilantro lime rice

Cilantro lime rice

2 cups minute brown rice cooked package directions.  Unless you're a rebel like me and use chicken base too.
Zest 1 lime plus juice
1/4 tsp cumin
And chopped fresh parsley 1 small bunch or 1/2 a large bunch

Mix and serve!
We eat this on the side of basically any mexican dish or I'm burritos mmm. Great with a side of Mexican black beans

Skillet Enchiladas

Enchilada sauce

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cans stewed tomatoes pureed in blender
1 to 2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Make a roux with butter and flour. Add rest if ingredients and simmer until thick.

2 chicken breast cooked and cubed
3 cups 1/2-inch-diced, peeled butternut squash (from about a 2-lb. squash)
salt and pepper, to season I oven elated mine but you could skillet cook them.
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 - 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
10 yellow corn tortillas, cut into thick strips
2 cups red enchilada sauce
1 cup reduced-fat colby jack or mexican cheese (or whatever you prefer), divided
cilantro and low-fat sour cream, for serving

INSTRUCTIONS
Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in large oven-proof skillet. Add onions, garlic, and jalapeno and cook 2-3 minutes until onions become translucent and garlic is fragrant. Add everything but 1/2 of the cheese and mix. 
Turn on your oven broiler to high. Sprinkle an additional 1/2 cup of cheese over the top of the enchilada mixture and place in oven under broiler for 3-5 minutes until cheese melts and tortilla edges become a tiny golden brown. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Feel free to add in cilantro. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, or hot sauce!

German pumpkin festival soup

1 kg pumpkin roasted in oven
2 potatoes yukons
1 onion chopped
2 tbsp butter
Salt
Cinnamon stick
1 to 1.5tsp Ground coriander
pepper
1tsp cumin
1 branch thyme
1 liter vegetable broth - plus extra water to thin it out if needed
1 pint heavy cream
pumpkin seed oil or balsamic glaze (optional)
Pumpkin seeds

Cooking Instructions German Pumpkin Soup
-roast pumpkins 350 about an hour
- Peel potatoes, cut in small pieces.
- Sautee onion in butter until soft.
- put everything in pot and simmer on low about an hour.
- Take out cinnamon stick and thyme branch
- blend!
- sprinkle pumpkin seeds and oil

Baby food pancake recipe. Our favorite.

These are my favorite to make my little.  She can't get enough of them. Also a nice thing here is we but our baby cereal on the economy so they have ones designed for ages with flavors. Today's was strawberry.  Yum!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup uncooked commercial baby cereal
1 cup formula (or another liquid such as milk)
1/2 cup apple sauce.  I used an apple banana one that was rather thick. Baby food could also be used here.
1 tbsp melted margarine or butter (unsalted type)
3 egg yolks
apple juice (about 1/2 cup maybe more) or use water if you prefer. Were adding this for pancake batter consistency. I generally just use water because of the extra sugar juice adds.

Add cinnamon, nutmeg, dash of vanilla or other flavorings if you like. These are so customizable!

Step 1: Mix all ingredients together and add enough juice/water to make pancake consistency.

Step 2: Cook on your cook top in a frying pan as you would with “regular” pancakes. Cooking these baby cereal pancakes on a griddle will work better as you will have more control over the temperature and will be better able to keep the temp. at a constant heat.

**Freezes Well**

Big Mac Attack! Better than the real thing...

Living in abroad for a few years gives us lots of opportunities but it also means lots of cultural differences. Now my fam and I rarely went to eat fast food dinner. Seriously few times a year tops. Even when traveling we'd opt for something like subway a lot. But lets face it sometimes you want some fast food. Well. Here they do not have fast food available everywhere like they do in the good ol States. SO last night I made us our own Big Macs. And they were so much better than what you'd get from McD's....

The Sauce is key to the recipe.
1/4c miracle whip
1/4c mayo
1tsp finely (super fine not just chopped) onion
3 tbs French dressing
1/8th tsp salt
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp ketchup
1 tsp sugar
3tbs sweet pickle relish

Stir it all together. Microwave 25 seconds. Stir again and refrigerate at least 1 hr. before serving...

For the burger You know how it goes. Toasted buns. shredded iceberg lettuce. sliced pickles. a little extra finely chopped onion. AND 2 2 oz. super thin patties.

*tip for the burgers. let the lean beef come to room temp and measure out your 2 oz sections. I rolled them into a ball and then used a round glass to just flatten them really thin since they puff up when cooking. and don't forget to salt and pepper!

Assemble and eat your heart out! We had green beans and tots with extra sauce on the side since it was that good. seriously....