Pesto Pasta Salad

This is a great salad to add-in extras--pine nuts, cucumber--whatever you have on hand.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of rotini pasta
• 1/3 cup pesto
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup black or kalamata olives, halved
• 4 ounces of mozzarella cheese, cubed
• extra parmesan

Directions:

• Cook the pasta in salted water. Drain and rinse in cold water.
•  Allow pasta to dry slightly, then toss in a bowl with 4 tablespoons pesto. (Add more if you want the pasta to be more coated.) 
• Add Parmesan and toss. Cover and refrigerate pasta until cold.
• Whisk together the mayo, sour cream, the rest of the pesto and enough milk for the consistency you need to coat the pasta.  
• Add salt and pepper, then taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Set the dressing aside.
• Add tomatoes, olives, and chunks of cheese to pasta. Top with enough dressing to coat the pasta.  
• Sprinkle with extra parmesan before serving. 
• ( You may need to add more dressing if you're going to refrigerate it before serving.  Keep the dressing in a separate container in the refrig--add before serving if necessary.)

Oven Baked Beef Tacos

This recipe has been all over Pinterest.  I modified it a bit to fit our tastes.  There are so many ways to adapt it.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef 
1 small onion, diced
1 small can diced green chilies
1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/8 teaspoon each, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano
1/4 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (4 ounce) can  tomato sauce
 1 (8 ounce) can  refried beans 
1/4 to 1/2 cup water
2 cups shredded  Monterey Jack, or Mexican Cheese blend
12 hard taco shells 

Shredded lettuce
Salsa
Guacamole
Black Olives
Sour Cream

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Brown ground beef and onion. Add chilies, seasonings, tomato sauce and beans.  Cook until thickened.
• Stand taco shells open side up in a 9 x 13 baking dish, or smaller--whatever will allow the shells to stand upright. 
• Sprinkle a bit of the cheese in the bottom of each shell. 
•  Fill shells with meat mixture and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes until cheese is melted. 
• Remove from oven and top with optional condiments, as desired

Pita Bread

This takes a little time, but they're so much better than store-bought.  They'll keep for a couple of days.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour, plus 1/2-3/4 cup more as needed
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar 
1 packet instant yeast
1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups water, at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

• Mix the yeast with the flour, salt, and sugar.  Add the olive oil and 1 ¼ cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon.  All of the ingredients should form a ball.  If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water.
• Once all of the ingredients form a ball, place the ball on a work surface, and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes.
• When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Form a ball out of the dough and place it into the bowl, rolling the dough around so that it has a light coat of oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with  a damp towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.
• When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down and divide it into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes. 
• While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 450°. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while it is preheating. 
• After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between ¼ – 1/8” thick – 6 inches in diameter. 
• Place discs on waxed paper or parchment paper and let rise, uncovered, until barely doubled in thickness, about 30-45 minutes.
• Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This falls somewhere between bread and cake, but still counts as a healthy breakfast food because it's made with zucchini!

Ingredients:

 4 cups grated, drained zucchini
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa 
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

• Grate the zucchini using large holes of a box grater.  Allow to drain in a colander for 30 minutes.  
• Using a cotton tea towel or cheesecloth, squeeze the excess water from the zucchini
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9"x5" loaf pans
• Whisk the flour, cocoa, soda, salt and cinnamon until clumps are gone
• In a large bowl, combine the sugar and eggs stirring with a large wooden spoon until smooth.
• Add the melted butter and extract.  Beat until smooth.
• Add the zucchini
• Add the flour mixture in three additions, stirring after each.
• Stir in chocolate chips, if desired
• Divide equally between loaf pans and bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Check with a toothpick to determine if done
• Remove from oven; cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes.  Remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.
• This bread will freeze well if wrapped in foil and placed in a ziploc bag when completely cooled.

Hummus

I've made this with and without the tahini, depending if I had any on hand.  It's great either way.  Adjust seasonings to taste.

Ingredients:
2 (15 ounce) cans Chick Peas, drained - rinsed (save 4 tablespoons of chick pea "juice")
4 tablespoons chick pea juice
4-6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 
3-5 tablespoons lime juice 
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons Tahini paste (If you don't have it, it's ok to leave it out, this hummus recipe has a lot of flavor without it.)
2 cloves minced garlic (or 1 tsp crushed garlic from jar)
1 1/2  teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons  toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
dash cayenne pepper
2 dashes ground black pepper
salt to taste

Directions:

• Blend in blender or food processor until combined
• Serve with fresh pita bread, pita chips or bagel chips