Recipe Swap

The weekend is coming up and I'm sick of eating the same old, same old. I am looking to try something different, new, and exciting. So let's have a recipe swap!

Tell me - what are some of your favorite recipes? I'm open to pretty much anything.

Wow!  that's pretty broad, but I'll offer my favorite meal - it's not really a recipe.

I like a vegetarian platter when I need a change of pace.  I do baked potatoes, in the oven, not the microwave, and pass around bowls of all kinds of toppings.  Then I do a platter of roasted vegetables - carrots, baby brussels sprouts, asparagus, fennel, shallots, peppers - pretty much whatever I have that will make a colorful tasty platter.  For the meat lovers in the crowd, offer some sauteed ground turkey and onions to go on the baked potato.  You can get really creative with this kind of meal.  Of course a dessert is nice, so have some strawberries.

Here's my recipe for vegetarian burritos.

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 orange pepper

2 vidalia onions

1 package of fresh mushrooms

1 package of fresh spinach

Mission Brand Carb Control Burrito Wrapper

Sargento's 4 cheese mexican cheese

Chedder Cheese

Old El Paso Salsa (Mild/Medium or Hot to taste)

1 can of black beans

Olive oil

1 cup jasmine rice cooked

Chop all vegetables and saute them in the olive oil. On a cookie sheet lay out the wrappers, put the rice, black beans, vegetables and cheese in the wrapper and roll it closed. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes and then add salsa and eat.

The ingredients above should make 2 big burritos or 4 smaller ones.

Do casseroles count as the same old same old? Well, hopefully not! This is a dish that my mother used to make me when I was little, and now my boyfriend and I make it every couple of weeks or so because we think that it's pretty tasty; it's a mushroom casserole!

Items Needed

- Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup

- 1 lb. Ground Beef/Turkey/Veggie substitute (I have tried all, and depending on my mood I choose which sounds best for that night...each are equally tasty, but if you're going to use ground beef I suggest a 85/15 and no less fat than the 90/10 because the dish needs that fat for flavor!)

- 2 cloves of minced garlic

- 5 or more (depending on if you like mushrooms!) sliced white button mushrooms, brown crimini, or any kind that you like (I Have tried many different kinds in this and they all taste wonderful!)

- 2-3  sliced portabella mushrooms (these will be to cover the top of the casserole)

-1 cup of white or sticky rice (I personally prefer a rice like Arborio rice because it will make the casserole even creamier, which I think is super num nums :) but my mother made this casserole using plain white rice for years and it was still great!)

- Mushroom Soup can worth of milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1.) On the stovetop using a deep round pan or a dutch oven begin to brown your ground meat on a medium high settings and add a couple of pinches of salt, and when the meat is still a tad bit pink add in your minced garlic--give that a stir around the pan, and then you will add in your button mushrooms and cook for about a minute.

2.) Add in your cup of rice and stir around the pan like you would with a rice pilaf, then add in your cream of mushroom soup, fill the can to the brim with milk and empty that milk into your hot pan making sure to get all of the yummy soup bits out of the can.

3.) Bring this mixture up to a simmer, stir frequently and let it simmer for a few minutes -- turn off the stove and then place your chopped portabellas on top of the casserole, sprinkle with salt and pepper and then bake in the oven *covered* for 25 minutes. Remove the cover after 25 minutes and cook for 7-10 more minutes. I always like to serve this along with broccoli, cauliflour or some steamed green beans. Any veggies would be great, i've even mixed sme veggies into the casserole itself, and it was rather tasty. :) I hope that you enjoy this recipe!