Tac Choy: A Mexithai Fiesta!

For dinner on last night we wanted to make tacos. We're huge fans of tacos and could pretty much eat them everyday. In oder to continue with our movement to not waste vegetables that we get from the farm share and to try out new recipes that involve eating more greens, we decided to cook the bok choy last night as a side dish!

Ingredients:
3 Baby Bok Choy (or more, we used what we had from the farm which was 3)
1/4 Cup Water
2T Soy Sauce
1t Olive Oil
1t Sugar
2-3 Cloves Garlic, to taste, minced
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste


For those of you who aren't sure what bok choy is... this is what it looks like:

Many people refer to it as Chinese cabbage.



Directions:
Step 1. Rinse bok choy thoroughly and cut off about an inch and a half of the stems (where they all come together at the bottom of the plant).

Step 2. Cut the leaves off each stem of the bok choy and place in a separate pile. Dice up the stems and the leaves, again keeping them in separate piles.


Step 3. Place a skillet over medium low heat. Add the oil and minced garlic. Cook for a minute or two, until garlic is slightly browned but not black.

Step 4. Add the stems of the bok choy to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Now add the leaves of the bok choy as well (the stems take longer to cook).

Step 5. Add all other ingredients except for water. Mix contents thoroughly.

Step 6. Add the water and cover the pan. Allow bok choy to simmer for another minute or two, until wilted and appearing bright green color.



The taste was phenomenal and I am really excited to use more bok choy in a stir-fry dish. If we are allotted more in our Saturday pick-up, it will be on the list for next week!!

For the tacos- Andrew fried up some corn tortillas in safflower oil and baked up some flour tortillas in the oven plain. We heated up some refried beans and cooked ground beef we had in the freezer from Wholefoods. We of course added in some grated cheese and finished it off with homemade salsa. I didn't take pictures of the salsa this time- I made it early in the week pretty late at night. It turned out really well- excellent heat factor. I will be sure to take pictures on the next batch and post the recipe!




ENJOY!

Stuffed Poblano Peppers- Sans Meat

Last night, I made stuffed poblano peppers. For those of you who aren't sure, poblano peppers are the larger and longer dark green peppers. They have some kick to their bite, but it's mild. The "stuffing" of these peppers always varies based on what I have around, however the mix I used last night was the best so far! Enjoy :0)

Ingredients:
3 Poblano Peppers, rinsed but NOT cut or seeded
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (I used 1 cup and had a lot of leftover last night)
1/2 cup precooked black beans, rinsed and drained (I used canned)
1 ear of corn (I cooked 3 last night, 2 leftover)
4 Tbs. of Salsa (I used Archer Farms Lime Tequila Salsa)
2 Tbs. Fresh Garlic, minced (to taste)
3 slices Mozzarella Cheese (or any other cheese you would like)
Salt and Pepper, to taste


Step 1: Place the poblano peppers on a baking sheet and into an oven, preheated for 425 degrees F. Roast for 10 minutes then flip over and continue roasting for an additional 10-15mins or until skin is slightly wilted.

Step 2: While peppers are roasting, soak the quinoa in some water and drain (to get rid of impurities). Place the rinsed quinoa in a pot with 1 cup of water (if you use 1 cup of quinoa, add 2 cups water). Bring the quinoa to a boil, cover, and reduce to a simmer. Let quinoa cook for about 15minutes.





Step 3: In another pot, add ears of corn and cover with water. Place a lid on the pot and cook on Medium-High to desired doneness (I cooked the corn for about 15minutes).



One ear of corn will work for this recipe...


Step 4: while peppers, quinoa, and corn are cooking, work on the rest of the "stuffing". In a bowl, combine minced garlic, salsa, 1/4cup black beans, salt, and pepper. You could also add other spices or hot sauce!





Step 5: Remove the peppers from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.

Step 6: Add 1/2 cup of quinoa to the bowl of stuffing.

Step 7: Cut the corn off of the cob and add 1/2 cup to the bowl of stuffing.

Step 8: Cut a strip out of the poblano pepper, creating a pocket that can be stuffed. Also cut out the stem and seeds, rinsing with cold water to assure no seeds are left behind. Dice up the strip of pepper that was removed and add to the bowl of "stuffing".

Step 9: Mix up all the ingredients in the stuffing bowl. At this point, you can dump all the ingredients into a small pan and warm all the way through (takes about a minute or two).

Step 10: Spoon the stuffing into the 3 peppers, keeping distribution as even as possible.

Step 11: Cover each pepper with 1 slice of mozzarella cheese.

Step 12: Return to the oven and roast until cheese is melty and bubbling slightly.





Enjoy!!!



PS- I served the pepper with a Mild Italian Sausage because we had some, although it is not necessary!