Tortilla Pie?

Tonight's dinner was supposed to be no frills.  We were trying to relax and prepare for the week ahead and I had just cleaned the kitchen.  I picked a pin from my husband's Pinterest account and decided that is what we were having for dinner.  You can probably see a pattern here with these last minute dinner choices.  Rest assured this is not always the case.  I actually have a cute menu board to plan out our meals for the week (another Pinterest idea) but I just unpacked it yesterday and the new pens are in the garage so it has not been put to use.  I will however write a blog about preparing a weekly menu and I will include a photo of it.  Maybe that will encourage me to upgrade too!

So here is dinner straight out of the oven.  Tortilla pie.  Pinterest failed to actually send me to the direct link to the recipe but after a little digging I found it- and found some issues with it.  It is a Martha Stewart recipe from her website and you can find the original here.  I will post my version down the page a little.  The first issue I had was it calls for beer and well, we don't keep alcohol in our house so it is never something I have on hand.  Come on, Martha!  The second issue I ran in to was my lack of black beans which was a total shock!  I forgot to restock!  I do however have dried black beans so that means this week I need to start preparing my own beans for the freezer so they are easily on hand for times like this.  I substituted with Reduced Sodium Pintos.  

Now this looks a lot more appetizing than the original photo.  I know the photography could use some work but with two little ones around my feet and growling bellies all around getting food to the table was a little more important than setting up a good shot.  Sorry.  Plus- no frills dinner tonight remember?

On with the recipe.

Tortilla Pie

Prep Time:  Less than 30 mins
Cook Time: 10 Mins for filling; 20 Mins in the oven
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

4 Flour tortillas 

2 Tbs Oil

1/2 Lg Onion

1 Sm can Diced Chiles or 1 jalapeno pepper diced (optional)

2 Cloves Garlic minced

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning (Optional)

2 (15 oz) cans beans rinsed and drained (I used pinto original recipe calls for black)
1/2 c Water

1 can reduced sodium corn

8 oz Shredded cheese

Salt & Pepper
Your choice of garnishes.  I used Pace Picante sauce, lettuce, cherry tomatoes and avocado and cilantro cream sauce which I will include the recipe for.

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Trim tortillas to fit inside of a springform pan.  If you grab the tortillas from the fridge and they are smaller than your pan no biggie.  Just continue on.  If they are 6" sized you may want to make 2 pies.
• Heat oil in a medium skillet and add onion, garlic, cumin, Southwest Chipotle Seasoning and salt and pepper over medium heat.  Cook until soft, stirring often.
• Add beans, corn, and water to the skillet.  Simmer the mixture until most of the liquid has evaporated. (About 10  mins.)  Remove it from heat and taste it and adjust the seasoning as needed.
• Lay a tortilla in the bottom of the springform pan and put a layer of the bean mixture on top.  If your tortillas are not as big as the pan keep your filing about 1/2 an inch away from the edge of the tortilla so it doesn't all scatter out.  Add a layer of cheese.  Repeat these steps until you have 1 tortilla left.  Lay the last tortilla on the top of the stack and cover liberally with cheese. (You can include beans in your top layer as well.  I chose not to.)
• Bake in the oven for 15-25 minutes until the cheese has fully melted.  

To serve cut pie in to slices.  Top with your choice of garnishes.

Avocado Cream Sauce1/2 Avocado
1/4 c Plain Greek Yogurt
1/4 bunch cilantro
1 pkg True Lemon or 1 tsp lemon juice

• Combine ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

• Adjust the amount of avocado or yogurt to suit your taste. 

• Add more lemon for more tang.  

Teriyaki Salmon with Siracha Cream Sauce

I thought I would start off with a recipe from our dinner last night that got a lot of interest on my Facebook page.  It is healthy, delicious and surprisingly easy and quick to make.  I am typically very last minute so for all those other people out there that can relate my recipes will be user friendly!  Just a heads up also- most of the time I reserve a portion of what I cook for my kids because they don't eat spicy foods.  My son is also very picky and is not a fan of anything squishy or possibly slimy.  If anyone is ever interested with how I tailor their meals just let me know.  (This was my husband's plate hence the abundance of the cream sauce.  He is a huge fan of sriracha so I gave him extra without dousing the salmon in it.)

So to the meal plan!
Teriyaki salmon with sriracha cream sauce served over rice
Green Salad
(Steamed veggies for the kids)

Remember I said I am usually pulling stuff together last minute?  Last night was no different.  I tried to finish unpacking our kitchen and looked up and it was already four in the afternoon.  I pulled a frozen salmon top loin filet out of the freezer and tossed it in a sink of COLD water.  You can thaw meat really fast that way but remember always COLD never warm.  If you use warm water it can make you incredibly sick.  Don't risk it.  The salmon was thawed in 30 minutes- by the time the marinade was made and cooled.  For those that actually think ahead- you can prep this the night before and marinate the salmon overnight and it will be oven ready and cut your before dinner prep.

2 Servings
Total Prep Time: 45 Mins
Total Cook Time: 25 Mins
(I marinated for 30 mins)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 clove of garlic finely minced
• 2 salmon steaks or 1 salmon top loin filet (the really long piece) *BONELESS SKINLESS 
FOR THE SRIRACHA CREAM SAUCE
• 1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
• 2-3 tablespoons Sriracha

INSTRUCTIONS

• To make the Sriracha cream sauce, whisk together plain Greek yogurt and Sriracha in a small bowl; set aside.
• In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1/4 cup water; set aside.
• In a small saucepan over medium heat, add soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and 1 cup water; bring to a simmer. Stir in cornstarch mixture until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes; let cool to room temperature.
• In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine teriyaki marinade and salmon filets; marinate for at least 30 minutes to overnight, turning the bag occasionally.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8×8 baking dish with nonstick spray.
• Place salmon filets along with the marinade onto prepared baking dish and bake until the fish flakes easily with a fork, about 20 minutes.
• Serve salmon with Sriracha cream sauce.
  
  NOTES
• To quickly cool marinade: fill a large bowl half way with water and ice.  Fill a smaller bowl that will fit inside the large bowl without tipping easily with the marinade.  Sit the smaller bowl in the ice bath.  Stir the bowl regularly while you are prepping everything else for dinner or stir it continuously to cool the mixture quicker.
• Use a baking dish lined with Reynolds Non-Stick Pan Lining Paper for a quick and easy mess free clean up.  
• I let my salmon rest for five minutes after removing it from the oven so that the sauce doesn't just melt everywhere.  I prefer to let any meat I cook rest as I believe it improves the flavor.

For the rice I have a small rice cooker and I use 1 cup of Jasmine rice and 2 cups of water.  It is set to cook itself and shut off when it is done.  You can use any variety of rice you would like or change it up and use quinoa.

I try and include green salad with every dinner we have.  Typically it is romaine lettuce, cucumber, bell pepper, carrots, and tomatoes diced and tossed together.

For the kids:
Dinner tonight was a little different.  They had tilapia instead of salmon with veggies.  I have a three year old and an eleven month old so dinner options for both are usually a challenge.  As I said before my son is very picky.  Last night my son had cucumber and carrot sticks and rice with his fish.  The baby had steamed broccoli, carrots, and zucchini cubes with her fish.  You will notice a lot of these sides for both kids- these are their favorites.


* Adapted from Damn Delicious