Tortilla Pizzas

Obviously I haven't been feeling very adventurous in the kitchen over the past few weeks. Similar to my last post, tortilla pizzas are no-brainers. Except they are really mini geniuses. Look at all of the benefits:

• Great way to use up old tortillas (how else does one eat 150 tortillas before they expire?)
• Super fast (bakes in the oven for 15 minutes or less)
• Customizable and creative (Italian? Mexican? American? It all depends on your toppings)
• Cheap (tortillas + whatever you have in the fridge)

We used corn tortillas, so I instinctively went with Mexican pizzas (bottom pic). But my fiance actually created a very tasty Italian one using corn tortillas too (top pic).

Tortilla Pizza Recipe:

• tortillas (corn, wheat, flour, gluten-free, whatevs)
• toppings (whatever you want, below is for Mexican pizza)
• tomato paste
• refried beans
• minced garlic
• sliced red onion
• sliced mushrooms
• diced tomatoes
• fresh cilantro
• fresh arugula 
• salt, cumin, chili powder, black and cayenne pepper
• shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make tortilla pizzas (derp). Place them on a baking sheet, bake in the oven for 5 minutes and then check on them. Depending on how many toppings you added, they might be done already. I loaded mine up with beans, so it took another 10ish minutes to get a nice crispy tortilla crust. Enjoy!

Chocolate Pudding Sundaes

So this one's a no-brainer...

Step 1: make chocolate pudding
Step 2: add stuff
Step 3: eat chocolate pudding sundae

Easy and delicious.

 This particular sundae is chocolate pudding, whipped cream, sliced strawberries and crushed graham crackers. If you wanted to be fancy, you could make a graham cracker crust, press into pie pan, fill with chocolate pudding, top with whipped cream and strawberries and freeze. But that requires a lot more time and sometimes, one cannot wait to eat chocolate pudding.

Mini Berry Pies

Happy Birthday, Steven!

Every year, my fiancee asks for a German Chocolate Cake for his birthday. This year, however, the first thing out of his mouth when posed with the "which dessert" question was a berry pie. Eager to bake something new, I jumped on it. We were having a party to celebrate so instead of making one big pie that would be a mess to cut, I made mini individual pies in a muffin tin. Super cute, easy and well-received by everyone! 

Mini Berry Pie Recipe:

• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 lb carton strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 lemon, juiced and zested
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Pie crust (cheated and used pre-made)
• milk to brush and sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine everything but the crust, milk and extra sugar in a large bowl and set aside to allow maceration (a.k.a juices to seep out of fruit).

Roll out your pie crust and cut out circles about the size of a standard glass (or use a biscuit cutter). Ideally you want to be able to press the bottom crust down in the muffin tin cup and have extra crust up over the edges to seal tops. To make 12 mini pies with tops, you'll need about 3 9-inch pie crusts. The recipe will actually make a lot more than 12 mini pies so I just used the rest to make one big pie and stored in the freezer.

Grease the muffin tin, place the dough circles down in the cups and fill with berry mixture. Cover the pies with a crust top (be sure to cut slits) or make lattices. Place in freezer until ready to bake - this will ensure that the fruit doesn't boil too quickly before the crust is finished baking.

When ready to bake, brush the tops with milk or cream, sprinkle with sugar and bake in oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Roasted Korean Chicken Sandwich

One day, I had a surplus of chicken thighs, a leftover loaf of french bread, a tub of kimchi and some mushrooms that were looking a little sad. I thought, "Hm, how shall I make use of all of these ingredients."

Usually when I have an extra loaf of crusty bread, I immediately think banh mi. Unfortunately, I could not make a *true* banh mi with my ingredients so instead, we have a random "Korean" chicken sandwich. And it is delicious.

Roasted Korean Chicken Sandwich Recipe:

• 2 cups chopped mushrooms
• 2 cayenne peppers, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 skinless chicken thighs
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp red chili paste
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp dry mustard powder
• Dash of Chinese Five Spice (GASP, I know...not Korean)
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds 
• 2 green onions--white parts

Yogurt Spread:

• 2 tbsp plain yogurt
• 1/2 lime, juiced 
• 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put mushrooms, cayenne peppers, garlic, green onion whites and chicken in a small baking dish. Add soy sauce and chili paste. Season chicken with ground ginger, mustard powder, Chinese Five Spice and sesame seeds. Place in oven, uncovered, and cook for 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 degrees, cover with foil and cook for 20 minutes. Remove foil and cook for additional 5 minutes. Let chicken rest for a couple minutes and then slice in pan with vegetables and juices.

When ready to eat, toast the baguette slightly and spread on yogurt sauce. Top with chicken and mushroom mixture. Garnish with fresh basil, cilantro, green onion and homemade kimchi (recipe at later time). Enjoy!