Dinner last night…

Remember this recipe?  It looked dang delicious and I couldn’t wait to make it.  I was so gonna follow the recipe. Then I got home and realized I had almost none of the ingredients.  Rather than run to the store, I used what I had.  Here is the original ingredient list with my actual ingredients.

3 medium sweet potatoes   I had 2
1.5 cups corn  I had a can of Mexican corn-the kind with red and green peppers in it.
1 tsp. chili powder nope, cayenne is the same right?  I kid.  I did use it though
1 tsp. cumin I didn’t measure of course
1/2 tsp. oregano more like a half hearted dash
1 Tbsp. canola oil  EVOO

 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced 1/2 of a Vidalia onion
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed I actually had this one
cilantro, to taste yeah no
1 oz. cream cheese  2 Laughing Cow wedges “cream cheese” flavor
1/4 cup sour cream nada
1 to 3 chipotles in adobo, finely minced nope, I did use several hearty glugs of Tapatio hot sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheese I don’t remember what kind it was.  I threw the wrapper away long ago, it was orange tho!

I baked as instructed, and used my stoneware for a nice crispy skin. 

Sadly, this is how most of my recipe following goes when I’m cooking.  When I bake I’m much more diligent because baking is a science.  Cooking is an art, and art is all about how you interpret it.  Right?  I can tell you that The Hubs wishes I was more of a scientist and less of an artist when it comes to dinner time.  I say, PSHAW to that.  What I made turned out quite good. 

I think I need to work on my food styling…

 Here is my recipe which is adapted from http://ellysaysopa.com/  This is a great blog I stumbled upon while cruising through foodgawker.com  

2 sweet potatoes
1 small can of Mexican style corn
1/2-1tsp cayenne (i did this to taste) 
1 tsp of cumin 
1/2 tsp of oregano
1/2 of a vidalia onion diced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 can black beans rinsed
2 Laughing Cow “cream cheese” wedges
1 Tbs Tapatio or your favorite hot sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice


Bake the potatoes at 350 until they are fork tender, mine took 50 minutes.  Set them aside to cool.  

Add the olive oil to your skillet and heat over medium high heat.  Throw in the can of corn and diced onions.  Saute until corn is slightly browned and onions are tender crisp.  This took about 7 minutes for me.

Transfer those to a bowl to cool.  Add your spices and black beans. 

When your potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in half and scoop out the flesh and put it in a large bowl.  I left a little bit in each skin to add stability.  There is nothing worse than a flaccid potato skin.  Wow, that was dirty.

To your potato flesh add the cream cheese wedges and Tapatio.  Mash well with a potato masher.  Then add your shredded cheese reserving a little for sprinklage and give it a quick stir.  I didn’t add the cheese before the mash because I wanted it to stand out a little in the mixture.  Next add the corn/bean mix to the potato/cheese mix.  Refill your potato skins with the mixture and sprinkle a little shredded cheese on top.  Pop them under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese.  Enjoy!

 

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Weekend Update

We survived the weekend.  All that hype and the only thing we got was a heckuva lot of rain.  We ended up with three large rounds of rain.  After the first, my poor yard was saturated.  There was standing water in the landscaping rocks and in the holes Max dug shallow parts of the yard.

My newly installed rain barrel is now full.  The hubs and I had some minor disagreements as to where it should be located.  He felt the front of the house with more roof square footage was best.  I had a rain barrel at my old house in Colorado and assured him the back of the house would still provide ample amounts of water.  He may have vocalized rudely that I never listen to him and just do what I want anyways.  Whats wrong with that?  I’ll post a picture of it a little later, I have something special planned for it.  Think Star Wars.

I made a deelicious and horribly fattening side dish this weekend.  I know it’s not a new creation, I’ve seen them all over the web, but it was a hit at our house nonetheless.

You will need:

one tube of refrigerated crescents.

garlic powder

one hunk of mozzarella that’s been hanging out in the 

fridge for way too long OR the cheese of your choice shredded

They are easy peasy to make.  Unroll the dough into the precut triangles.  Sprinkle with garlic powder to suit your preferences.  We used a lot.  Then sprinkle the cheese on the crescent.  Roll ’em up and bake per the instructions on the packaging.

 

 They tasted a lot like cheesey breadsticks from Pizza Hut or Papa Johns.   The Hubs wasn’t high on them, but the kids loved them.  I may or may not have finished the hubs’ roll. 

It was awesome!