Turkey Taquitos

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey!  You won't even know this is the same thing you've eaten for the past 4 days. Trust me.  Oh yah, did I mention this turkey dinner is healthy?  These yummy, healthy taquitos can be served with a salad or some rice made with chicken stock and tomatoes.

Ingredients:
2 cups leftover turkey (or chicken), shredded
1/4 cup of store bought salsa
1 c pepper jack cheese, shredded
8-10 soft taco size flour tortillas
cooking spray

The method:
Pre-Heat oven to 425 degrees
Cover a cookie sheet with non-stick foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
Combine turkey, salsa and cheese in a bowl and mix to combine.  Place approximately 3 tbls of the mixture on one end of the tortilla and roll up tightly.  Place seam side down on the cookie sheet and repeat with remaining tortillas.  Spray the tops of all the taquitos lightly with cooking spray and place in oven.  After about 10 minutes turn the taquitos over and continue baking for 10 minutes or until light golden brown.  Serve with salsa and light sour cream.

Before baking...

After baking. Yum!

Toronto, Pamela & Jason's Wedding and Pizza Rustica

Oh my!  First blog since returning from Toronto for Jason and Pamela's wedding.  What fun we had visiting with all the family!  We arrived in waves from California...first Benjamin, then Mom, next to arrive was Mark, Andrew and me and finally Scott and Ileana.  We descended upon Pizza Rustica on a daily basis to eat up the delicious pizzas, salads and pasta's.  I already miss the rosemary & potato pizza.  I'll need to get that recipe from the cuz! 

The highlight of the trip was attending Jason and Pamela's wedding!  What an amazing, wonderful time!  Everything was perfect and the bride was beautiful!

Even the wedding favors were cool and I knew we'd put them to good use at our house.  One bottle is filled with balsamic vinegar (Andrew's favorite condiment) and the other bottle is filled with a garlic-chili oil that I whipped up.  The garlic-chili oil makes a great topping for pizza and pasta.  I also use it to saute shrimp.

Ingredients:

1 cup of olive oil

1 tsp chili flakes (or more to taste)

2 garlic cloves, smashed

The method:

Add all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until garlic cloves are slightly brown, approximately 10-15 minutes.  Remove garlic cloves before bottling.

Pumpkins and Seeds

A day late and a dollar short...that's me.  I know it's 3 days after Halloween but anyway, here are Andrew and me being Pumpkin Heads before we started cleaning the goop from the pumpkin seeds prior to roasting.


Here is how I roast Pumpkin Seeds:
Seperate the seeds from the pumpkin goop/innards by manual method or rinse in a collander.  Once the seeds are relatively clean, place in a large bowl and add water to cover.   Add about 1 cup of salt.  It should taste like the ocean.  Let sit about 8 hours or overnight, stirring occasionally.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain and rinse the seeds in a collander and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt and cayenne pepper to taste.  Bake for 10 minutes and stir seeds.  Continue baking and stirring every 10 minutes until the seeds are golden, approximately 30 minutes.