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Baked Plantains

June 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I think I figured out what my (blogging) problem is: I’ve been making really simple things and I haven’t felt like I should put them up. Sometimes I get caught up in the idea that ‘good’ cooking is and I focus on things with a lot of ingredients or steps or that sounds impressive. That doesn’t always end up in good food though. I can’t count the number of times that my husband has complimented a dinner that I’ve thrown together in 20 minutes more than a dinner I’ve spent on preparing? [Note to husband: this is not your fault, I blame the internet. Hi, internet!]

This is a conclusion I reached while eating the plantains I made on Monday night. They were just so good: slightly sweet, slightly spicy, with a bit of salt to balance it out. As you can, I’m still obsessed with cumin and cinnamon. Either way, this dish is great, it’s quick and easy, perfect for a weeknight dinner. We had this with jerk shrimp and broccoli.

Baked Plantains

2 yellow plantains, with a large amount of black spots and just starting to soften
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
scant 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon butter, melted
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Slice plantains about 1/3″ thick. Combine the butter with the spices, and then toss with the sliced plantains. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan and bake the plantains for 30 – 35 minutes, slipping once. The plantains should be caramelized on both sides. Serve immediately.

baked plantains

Filed Under: side dishes, vegetables Tagged With: , , , ,

Mashed Honey Cumin Carrots

January 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment

My husband and I have to get in our anime fix for the evening, so this’ll have to be quick. We’ve recently begun obsessively watching anime series and the most recent one is XXXHolic, which is pretty good. We’re about 15 episodes into the series (24 episodes, then a movie!) and he is impatiently waiting for me to be done here so we can split an eclair and watch our program. It’s like we’re 70 years old.

This recipe isn’t terribly difficult, but it’s a tasty and quick way to make carrots. This was a great side to make along with the baked ham I picked up from Trader Joe’s. The carrots had an earthy, sweet taste to them that really complemented the salty ham.

Mashed Honey Cumin Carrots

1 lb carrots, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon cumin
1.5 tablespoons honey
salt and pepper to taste

Fill a medium sized pot with about an inch of water and bring to a boil. Place steamer basket in the pot, add carrots, cover and cook about 8 – 10 minutes or until the carrots are fork tender. Remove carrots from the steamer basket and drain the pot. Add the carrots back into the pot along with the butter and mash them with a potato masher (for a smoother consistency, a stick blender would work; the carrots would have to be softer for a stand mixer to work with them). Add in the honey and cumin, then salt and pepper to taste.

See? Easy. But these are a really nice change from steamed or roasted carrots and the seasoning possibilities are endless. Dill would obviously work really well in this or honey, lime and maybe cayenne pepper. Someone at work suggested cheese, but I’m fairly certain that I am anti-cheesy carrots.

Filed Under: vegetables Tagged With: , , , ,

Chimichangas: Tex-Mex? Mexican? Delicious!

March 19, 2010 by 1 Comment

For real: I cook a lot of food that is quasi-Mexican, but I feel as if I’m insulting a whole nation by calling my recipes “Mexican.” So.. I guess Tex-Mex? Although I don’t like the sound of that either. Why is life so hard?

I have today off from work today, and my immediate plans were: go through my books and figure out what I want to bring with me on the move to the new Casa Shenanigans and go to El Pelon for some delicious fish tacos. Sadly, El Pelon is still not yet open and we had to go to another local place that wasn’t as good. So I figured I’d post about some other delicious taco-esque food I made last week.

Okay, maybe it’s a bit ignorant to say that a chimichanga [really, spell check? chimpanzee?] is taco-esque. But… it kind of is. Meat, cheese, beans, chilies, tortillas…. yup. Sounds like a taco. The big difference here is that it’s all wrapped up in a little rectangular package and then cooked. It’s typically fried, but we all know I can’t fry something that large and dense without hurting myself, so I baked mine.

The possibilities of what you can put in chimichangas is basically endless. You can opt for a vegetarian version with zucchini, cheese and beans and that would be amazing. All you’d really need to do is swap out diced zucchini [or mushrooms or any other firm vegetable] for the ground beef I used in the recipe below. I think the spices and the cooking method would work well with quite a few different options. You can also add in any vegetables of your choice; I had meant to add in roasted corn but of course forgot to do so. It’s amazing I supervise a whole department at work, no?


Baked Chimichangas

1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1/2 can of diced green chilies with sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon of chili powder, or more to taste
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 or 1 cup fat free refried beans
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 – 8 large tortillas, 10-inch diameter

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add in the diced onions and cook until translucent, then add the garlic and cook just until fragrant. The ground beef can then be added to the pan and browned. Once the meat is cooked through, add in the chilies, tomatoes, cumin, chili powder and cinnamon. Stir to combine, and let that cook over low heat for several minutes for the flavors to mingle. [Oh god, now I'm the type of person that says things that douchey Food Network chefs say. I'm sorry.]

Remove the pan from the heat. Take a tortilla and spread two tablespoons of refried beans down the center. Top with the meat mixture (roughly 1/3 cup) and then shredded cheese. Fold the tortilla envelope style and place in a baking pan seam side down. Very lightly coat with oil. Continue with the rest of the tortillas; depending on what else you add in here, this can serve up to 8. Cook for about 20 minutes in the oven, until the tortilla is golden brown and everything is heated through. Serve garnished with fresh salsa, sour cream, guacamole or any other toppings of your choice.

What can I say? These are so simple and so good. The cumin and cinnamon add a warm, earthy-spicy note to the meat, and the tomatoes and diced chilies give it just enough sauciness. These are perfect for a quick week night dinner, or would be great served at a party if using smaller tortillas.

Filed Under: Tex-Mex Tagged With: , , , , , ,