Hot Dog Quesadillas

HOT DOG QUESADILLAS 

Guest Blogger Sandra Leesmith          

Do you want something quick and easy?

Hot Dog Quesadillas are one of my favorite quick meals.

I always keep packages of Hebrew National Fat Free hot dogs in the refrigerator. I always have corn tortillas in the freezer. So this is a stand-by for a quick snack or a meal when I’ve forgotten to take meat out of the freezer.

Today I used a package of blended shredded cheese called Mexican Blend. But you can use any shredded cheese.  Golly,  the cheese doesn’t even have to be shredded. You can place a slice on each tortilla also. And I always have on hand my favorite salsa.

First lay out the tortillas on a microwavable plate. You can use flour tortillas also.

Spread your favorite salsa on the tortillas.

Sprinkle shredded cheese on the tortillas.

Plop a hot dog on each tortilla. (I use Hebrew National Fat Free because I love them. You can use any brand of hot dog. It doesn’t matter. But if they aren’t pre-cooked, you will need to cook them first)

Pop the plate in the microwave oven. I allow 30 seconds for each corn tortilla quesadilla. (Adjust time if you are using flour tortillas).

Roll up and enjoy.

For those of you on the DUKAN plan (or any protein plan), I slice the hot dog down the middle and plop a fat free cheese stick on it. Then I spread my favorite salsa. I heat those for 30 seconds each also. You don’t really need the tortilla.

Makes a delicious snack or meal. And only takes minutes to fix.

March Madness, Pantry Style

March Madness. You may think it's all about this:

And it is. We are die hard NC State fans and we made it in. So did Duke, Carolina, and Davidson. Here in North Carolina, with a bunch of teams in March Madness, folks are watching at work and creating office pools, heading to sports bars and watching their phones A LOT.

But there's another kind of March Madness going on in our house. Spring fever! I am in a clean out mode.

I tend to use all fresh veggies from this point on. Local produce is more plentiful at our grocery stores. Our farmer's market friends have been busy in their greenhouses.

My friend Clay who I knew in another work life. Now he's an organic farmer and I buy the best veggies from him!

 So, it's time to revisit my canned and dried goods. There are things on the shelves that were bought in a winter storm induced moment. Things that mean winter weight gain and now I'm looking at a warm weather diet. Ingredients that will be great in summer dishes but others great for donation to the food pantry. I take like items off the shelves and determine what will work best for spring and summer dishes and what heads off to our local ministry's food pantry. 

For instance, rice and bean noodles face off:

  
Rice was great in soups and casseroles this winter. But that meant weight gain. Who's better? Pretty much a no-brainer for this time of year.  Black bean noodles have protein, fiber and hardly any carbs.

Peanut butter versus almonds?

Okay, I'm out of natural peanut butter. BUT almonds led all winter long and they are perfect for hiking. Almonds for the win.

Then there's tuna up against beans.

Whew. This game, I mean comparison, was tougher than I thought. Tuna is a power packed traditional diet food but it does have issues. Mercury levels, sodium in some brands, price. Canned beans are the underdog since they are considered a survival of the cheapest food. But beans of all kinds have a great blend of fiber, carbs and protein and the price is right. They go great as a side dish or cold marinated salad ingredient. Beans pulls ahead.

Lastly, we're moving out of hot cereal season. 

 
One team from the North and one new addition from  South America made this an interesting bracket face off. Oatmeal and quinoa are so close in protein, iron and carbs, flip-flopping on percentages and even gluten-free. Quinoa can be used in salads and sides while oatmeal is great for granola bars and cookies for hiking. I had to call this one a tie.

So, do you spring clean your pantry? Are there staples you consider fall/winter or spring/summer musts? What are winners on your ingredient list? And lastly, are you paying attention to that other March Madness that involves a ball?      

Scary Food

This time of year, people seem set on scaring each other or themselves. Me? Not a horror fan ever since ManO and I went to see Halloween with a friend in college. The movie was bad enough. What we didn't know was there were other students hiding in the bushes across campus, ready to leap out and scare the dickens out of folks who were walking back from the theatre. Poor ManO was already deaf from the stereo screams during the movie. I think I about ripped his arm off on the way back to our dorms. Or maybe that was a bit intentional for other reasons. He's still my hero.

Now I have to admit, there are foods that scare me. Raw fish of any kind. Lamb chops (I'm afraid Lamb Chop the puppet will haunt my dreams.) Beets when I was a kid. ManO says brussel sprouts scare him.

This is how I look when I see calamari or ahi tuna - or rather I fear what I'll turn into if I eat it:

But there's something about scary food that also intrigues me. Not talking the veggie plate skeletons or the gummy worms coming out of Oreo dirt. I'm talking food that literally sends a shiver up my spine or is not what I'm used to or looks so different from what it tastes like that I have to think before plunging my fork in!

Take for instance, the new black burger from Burger King in Japan. You can read the article here. Too scary to post pictures.   I thought it was pretty. The burger and cheese may be black but not charred. Other folks said it scared them silly.

And then there is the black spaghetti noodles I found at my local Fresh Market. The amazing thing about these wheat-free noodles is they are the OPPOSITE of pasta. They have twenty-one, yep 2-0, grams of protein and barely any carbs. So you can feel free to create a meatless sauce and still have the protein you need.

You have to admit they are a little scary looking, like I cooked hair or something.  

But it is also the perfect base for an autumn veggie based sauce. I roasted some butternut squash but kept it stringy to fake ManO into thinking there was some meaty heft in his sauce.

Let's pause for this true confession: Love our farmer's market squash but had to go with organic due to a pinched nerve in my shoulder. No heavy duty chopping for me. And TAH DAH, I discovered roasting radically improves sometimes disappointing frozen veggie flavor and texture. That knowledge is gold!

A cup and a half of my favorite sauce, add in the roasted squash or pumpkin and let simmer til warm. If you prefer a slightly more savory version, just add parmesan on top! And it is delish!

ManO was pretty game and I was pretty game at creating stories to go with it. Kinda wished I had boys who would eat anything in the house so I could tell them it was worms or snakes or something.

Have you ever had a food scare you but ended up being delicious? How brave are you at trying new food?

Bait and Switch

 Hi everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have something tasty on the menu.

 But first, I'll show you what I was going to do...

 

 Someone told me about raspberry white chocolate ganache. Now, I'd heard of ganache and it's usually glossy or piped or whipped... Like so.

 

 So, I started by mixing of the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla in a sauce pan. Getting it to a nice boil. I'll leave out the details, since that's not really where we're going with this. ("Why? WHY???", you ask.) But this is where I got the glazed version...

We tried covering a few cupcakes like this, but it just wasn't firm enough. So then I started adding powdered sugar...

Until I had a giant bowl of frosting that was basically fudge. You know the stuff you add walnuts to and cut into small squares at Christmastime? Huh. So as I'm contemplating this huge bowl of 'frosting', Edna is uncharacteristically quiet.

  "Edna, dearest, do you feel well?"

 And her beaters whirred a bit and went quiet. What on earth could be the matter? We'd made lemon meringue pie, lemon cake with baked topping (another post), butternut squash mini cakes with maple whipped topping (another post) and cookies in just the last few days. I was enjoying the creative process. Apparently Edna was feeling... off.

 

(Here are some office people feeling lousy.)

  I took a good look around the kitchen. Lots of sugar. We all love sugar! (Yes, yes we do!) But maybe there was such a thing as too much sugary goodness.

After a quick trip to my local store I came back and showed Edna what I'd found.

She beamed. Which is how a Sunshine Mixmaster should look.

Crimini mushrooms. FRESH. Someone told me that even if I didn't really like mushrooms, I would love these. I thought they'd be expensive, but they were actually the same price as the old button white mushrooms.

100 calorie, 8 grams of whole grains, Italian herb pita pockets with fiber and low carbs. She was starting to see where I was going with this.

Turkey bacon. I know, what a wimp. But I just can't do real bacon without feeling guilty. Wish that carried over to cupcakes, but it doesn't.  1.5 g of fat, 6 grams of protein and 1 carb.

So, I threw the turkey bacon in a pan, started scrambling eggs with the crimini mushrooms, and pretty much the entire family crammed into our little kitchen. Something smelled good and they wanted to EAT IT NOW.

A taste tester testing turkey tibdits. Say that five times fast.

(Check out the expression. Bacon love.)

Finished product, with some fresh veggies to the side and some low fat cheddar and mozzarella in the pita with the bacon, eggs, and mushrooms.  As for the crimini mushrooms, they were VERY tasty. I think I'll buy some more. Nice flavor that didn't even have that weird fungi aftertaste. Bonus.

 So, I asked Edna how she was feeling now that she'd smelled some wonderful new and fresh smells.

 

That was about what she said, right there.

 AS for the frosting, it stayed in the fridge for a while, got a lot of little finger marks, went on a few graham crackers, and the rest got a little crusty and dry so I threw it out. Hate to waste the chocolate, the heavy cream, and the sugar. But on the other hand... I let it go.

 As for the title, you thought this was going to be all about CUPCAKES, and then we threw some bacon and pita bread and crimini mushrooms in there.

 

  But sometimes, change is good. not good enough to make me give up all my sugar, but definitely time to hit the protein and cut the carbs. Especially going into winter, when all I want to do is eat, eat, eat.

 

  Which is great on a food blog but not so good for getting your pants to zip.

  So, until next time, my sweets! Wait... we're cutting back on the sugar.

Until, next time mons petits chous? (French endearment, means 'little cabbage'... not! It really means my sweet. So, that didn't help us any.)

 Uhhh, how about Polish 'mushki'? That's 'little flies'.  Ew. No.

 

  Edna suggested 'le mie passerottas', which is Italian for 'my little sparrows'. (Assuming everyone reading this is a girl, or we'd change the form.)  I love it! Light, bright, full of energy, zip and verve!

 Especially the way she said it, just like a native. Hmmm. There's a story there. I wonder if she'll ever tell me...