Pantry Collective

Ever on the lookout for dinner-salads my husband will eat, I was inspired by Mexican Style Smart Ground at the grocery store. This salad approximates all the flavors of a typical family restaurant-style taco salad, but is low in fat and calories, vegetarian, and high in protein and fiber. Sorry about the crappy picture. Still working on the camera situation :).

The base salad is green leaf lettuce, green peppers, cucumber, roma tomato. This is tossed with dressing and Smart Grounds and topped with 2oz of crumbled tortillas. Garnish each serving with a dollop of fresh plain yogurt and cilantro.

Dressing: You can use any variety of yogurty, cheesy dressings and just add some chili powder. I went with 5tbs Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch Reduced Fat Dressing and added 2 1/2tbs of homemade chili powder.

Nutrition Estimate (per dinner-sized serving, with dressing):

575 calories, 10g fat, 13g fiber, 24g protein

Someday soon I plan to host a make-your-own-Taco/Burrito/Nacho plate party. It’s been brewing for a while, and I’ve been testing recipes for all the different ingredients. Slow roasted chipotle-brown sugar pulled pork, spicy shredded beef, pico de gallo, guacamole, and this black bean and corn salsa. Maybe more… mojitos, some kind of coconut/lime dessert… I have a lot of ideas left to try. But for now, this salsa.

It’s amazing.

You can omit things you don’t like, add things you think are missing, whatever. I would say it’s pretty close to perfect as it is, but it’s not particularly spicy. You can leave the seeds in the jalepeno when you dice it up to add a bit more heat, or add some hot sauce or red pepper flakes. The corn, black beans, fresh cilantro, and red onion really make this salsa. It’s fresh and delicious on tacos or quesadillas or by the spoonful, whatever works for you. (Yeah, it might be ridiculous to eat it by the spoonful but I’m not gonna lie, I went there. SO GOOD.)

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John’s new job is giving me a lot of opportunities to bake things I wouldn’t normally make for just the two of us. Last night we attended the first BBQ of the season with a bunch of his coworkers. It’s been gorgeous in Chicago - over 80 degrees some days - so of course on the day of the first BBQ of the season it was freezing. Beautifully sunny but COLD. Thanks, Mother Nature! Oh well, at least there was a bonfire (in the city! Yes!).

Anyway, I was tasked with bringing dessert since my baked goods have been quite popular at the office. I made Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan cookies for his first day, Nanaimo Bars for an Oscar Party, Coconut Banana Bread that I brought to the weekly happy hour… I’ve been busy cooking, but not posting, apparently. Anyway, I was actually asked for a repeat of the Nanaimo Bars but I decided to make these amazing little oatmeal cream pie cookies instead. I found the cream part of the Nanaimo bars to be too sweet, but now that I’ve made this recipe, I think I might try them again with this buttercream instead of the filling the recipe originally called for. LOTS of butter but hey, that’s what desserts are all about! Right? Right!

The cookies are uncomplicated. Oats, a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg, and a touch of salt. The buttercream is amazing. Not too sweet, amazingly silky and buttery and delicious. I’ve never made buttercream frosting before, and have long considered it to be something I didn’t really love, but this - this isn’t the overly sweet, slightly gritty stuff of supermarket sheet cakes. This is heavenly. It’s thick and glossy and, well, full of butter. But you don’t need much to sandwich the cookies together, and hey, if you make them for a party, you’ll probably only eat one anyway. And you will be revered for making decadent, crowd-pleasing desserts. Which is always nice.

:)

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I have to be honest. I made this cake in December. I apparently came and wrote up the recipe right away, saved the draft, and waited for the photos. Four months later, here they are - lost to the archives and rediscovered this morning when I had a free moment and a touch of motivation to post something, anything.

The cake itself I remember as being delightfully firm and moist, a simple tower of chocolate with a light powdered sugar dusting on top. I used dark chocolate cocoa powder and the cake was so dark it was almost black. It wasn’t overly sweet or overpowered by too many competing flavors - if you like chocolate cake, this is CHOCOLATE CAKE. And nothing more. The coffee doesn’t add a coffee flavor so much as a deepening of the chocolate flavor. It’s a nice anytime cake, which, let’s face it, are the best kind. Cake anytime? Yes please.

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Before I begin: Check your schedule for next Sunday. Are you free? Yes? Good! Plan a brunch and invite 7 of your favorite people. And then put this on the menu. Or maybe you should just skip the invites, have a brunch for yourself, and eat this all on your own. I won’t tell.

This is quite possible the most perfect brunch food I have ever eaten. Savory, cheesy, with eggs and potatoes and crunchy bits on the edges… Oh man, I wish it wasn’t all gone. I could go for another slice right now.

What’s that? You think you don’t like turnips? Well, you have two choices: don’t worry about it, because you’d never know they were there, or don’t worry about it, and don’t add them. Whatevs. Gruyère too expensive? (It is for me, too!) Get some Gouda (that’s what I used) or some white cheddar and go to town. Do not forget the fresh chives. Do not substitute the yogurt. If you can’t find plain greek yogurt, at least strain your watery Dannon overnight so it’s nice and thick by morning.

Do not halve the recipe. You will regret it. I know this from experience.

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