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Enchiladas are the best! Easy to prepare, quick and very satisfying. Enchiladas can be a side as a part of a meal or as the main event. Enchiladas The best enchiladas come from the freshest ingredients. If you really want the best enchilada then make your own sauce, buy fresh produce, shred the cheese finely and make them to order.
An enchilada can be nearly anything, rolled inside a corn tortilla and covered with chili sauce. This recipe is for Sweet Potato and Squash Enchiladas and it is a wonderfully delicious and satisfying version of a great Mexican dish. Sometimes I like to add black beans but today I skipped them. The sauce is thick and rich, picoso (spicy) but only gently so. I used a blend of chilies that compliment the fillings and tantalize the taste buds and which would never be found in a canned sauce.
To make the sauce, pick the best chilies you can find. I like to select mine from bins at my local mercado. If you don’t have bulk chilies available then packages will have to do. Choose dried chilies but which are still moist and pliable. If buying in packages then try to find packets without a lot of dust in the bottom of the cello which indicates insects. If you cannot find dried chilies locally the online shops like Penzeys and My Spicer have them available. [...]
Petra Mediterranean Restaurant has amazing pita bread! Really, the food is great but the bread is incredible! Of course, hot, freshly baked bread is always delicious and this is Petra’s calling card. I almost always stop by Petra’s when I’m in San Luis and have a grilled vegetable sandwich on a freshly baked pide. Very often I also buy a stack of bread to take home to scoop up Hummus or Labneh or to make Vegetable and Hummus Pizza on Pita Bread.
This is a seriously delicious, easy to prepare, healthy and delicious light meal or snack. Adjust ingredients or swap vegetables to your liking and enjoy.
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I drove to SLO today and decided to drive the scenic route through the Nipomo Mesa, wind my way along the coast through Arroyo Grande and then through the Edna Valley. The drive is beautiful and peaceful and one always encounters roadside produce vendors.
My tomatoes aren’t quite ripe yet so I purchased a couple of pounds of delicious, vine ripened and sweet tomatoes along Los Berros. I love to visit this little stand in the small, warm valley below the mesa where juicy, ripe, tomatoes are piled in baskets for one to choose and pay on the “honor system”.
Caprese is a remarkably easy to prepare salad and should be made of only the very freshest ingredients! Vine ripened tomatoes, Mozzarella Bufala, fragrant Basil Leaves and copious amounts of the best olive oil are the foundation for one of the tastiest salads available!
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When I was a kid, artichokes were a regular part of our diet. One of the wonderful things about living on the Central Coast is the bounty of fresh produce available to us and artichokes grow well in the valley. I just naturally assumed that these wonderful thistles were a part of every diet.
Years later, soon after I met Mia, the very first meal I cooked for her was pork chops and artichokes stuffed with stove top stuffing. Mia admitted that she had never eaten the heart because her mother told her she wouldn’t like them. It was then that I learned artichokes were considered a “special treat” unlike in my home. [...]
As Summer approaches I get in a salad mood again. Mia and I love salads of all types from the fresh, leafy greens with a light vinaigrette to a heavier potato or pasta salad. Salads are great Summer food and generally easy to prepare.
Mia brought to our recipe box a lovely, and oft requested Sweet and Sour Bean Salad, a gift from her grandmother. This salad heralds from the days of pot luck dinners and church socials and is perfect for such an event as it makes plenty, satisfies and is generally appealing. I always loved her salad however I decided to make a few changes. [...]
On my list of life’s wonderful things is freshly made bread. I have been baking bread since I was a child. I find the process relaxing, the finished product healthier for my family. I figured it out recently that it cost me about 30 cents to make a loaf of bread, wow! When I am at home, I just start some dough and go about my business, a bit later I pan it and we have fresh bread for the next few days.
Fresh bread just feels good. Sterling and I are bread lovers but Mia is not, however when I bake bread she magically becomes a fan of the stuff. [...]
There is an absolutely wonderful sauce served with Schwarma in Lebanese Restaurants. I love it! Lebanese Yogurt Garlic Sauce is not only a must on Shwarma but makes an exceptional dip with vegetables and flat bread. Garlicky and satisfying this dip is based in healthy yogurt and is very easy to make.
I usually use fat free, Greek Style Yogurt because it is creamy, delicious and very good for you. Yogurt Vegetable sticks such as red peppers, celery, carrots and snap peas are each equally at home with this wonderful dip. [...]
The ideal meal, in my opinion, is one that you can pick up with your hands, is full of flavor, satisfies compliment wine and make my guest say “Yum Yum”. Piquillo Rellano Crostoni meet all of my criteria!
Piquillo Peppers “Little Beaks” are grown in Northern Spain and provide a mildly piquant unique taste. These little peppers are roasted over open coals and are both deliciously sweet and savory. Piquillo Peppers have a thin flesh which is perfect for stuffing. I love to make Piquillo Rellano with a variety of different fillings but the little peppers are especially good with Chevre.
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Some friends called and we made plans for lunch in our home. Having just been through Valentine’s Day I was a bit tired and decided to plan ahead a bit to make things easier on myself. This was a winner! [...]
 I love to make hummus, it is easy, very good for you and has a high satiety value. Hummus is an excellent, low fat, high energy food perfect as a light meal or for an appetizer. There are a ton of ways to “customize” hummus depending upon taste and other things being served with it. I like to make a Lemony Hummus and equally love a Garlicky Hummus. It’s just good food! [...]
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