Black Bean Burrito Bake

I am sorry for not to posting yesterday, for my week has been busy. Wednesdays seem to be the busiest for me, so I'm going to start posting on Thursdays. Anyway, this meal is very easy to make and takes about an hour or less to prepare. The flavor is spicy, smokey, and with just a hint of sourness. The texture is creamy but chunky. You could add some chopped cilantro on top and fresh lime juice to make this even better.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobe sauce
1/2 Cup sour cream, full fat or reduced.
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed, drained, and divided
1 Cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
1 Cup bottled salsa
1/2 Cup shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Remove 1 chile from can; finely chop the chile. (Reserve the remaining adobe sauce and chiles in an airtight container stored in the refrigerator for another use.) Combine sour cream and chopped chile in a medium bowl; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Place half of the beans in a food processor; process until finely chopped. You can also mash them with a fork or a pastry blender.  Add the chopped beans, remaining beans, and corn to the sour cream mixture and stir to combine.
4. Spoon 1/2 Cup bean mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas; place, seam sides down, in an 11 x7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread salsa over tortillas; sprinkle with cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

From Cooking Light

Asian Garlic Pasta

This is one of my favorite pasta recipes. The flavor is a balanced combination of sweet, salty, buttery, and garlicky.  It's a great twist on pasta that you should try.  I would pair this with Asian fish or chicken, and a salad with ginger dressing. If you're like me, you can skip the meat and eat this by itself. Serves 4

Ingredients:
7 ounces (200 g) dry egg noodles. I used bow-tie pasta but you can use almost any other kind of pasta instead of egg noodles. Avoid tubular pastas like, macaroni, penne, sea shell, etc.
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 Cup (30 g) chopped green onions (scallion)
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon Maggi sauce or soy sauce
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce, or soy sauce

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook noodles according to the package instructions. Drain the noodles and coat them lightly with olive or vegetable oil.  Wipe out the pot and heat it to medium-high heat and add the butter.  When the butter is sizzling and bubbling add the green onions and garlic. Fry for 1 minute until very fragrant, be careful not to let the garlic burn.
2. Add the brown sugar, Maggi sauce, and oyster sauce and stir well to mix everything evenly.  Add the noddles and toss vigorously to coat evenly.  Serve immediately.

From The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook by Jaden Hair

Chocolate Tofu Pudding

I know tofu pudding may sound gross to some people, but this one is great tasting and easy to make. The texture almost has more of a chocolate mousse texture than a pudding texture. The flavor is chocolaty with just a hint of the coffee flavor. Just so you know, the alcohol doesn't cook off completely. Serves about 8 people.
Alton Brown's original recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/moo-less-chocolate-pie-recipe.html
Ingredients:
13 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, or dark chocolate chips if you like.
1/3 Cup coffee liqueur
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound silken tofu, you can't use any other kind of tofu texture. I used the lite silken tofu and that works too.
1 Tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon table salt

1. Melt the chocolate, coffee liqueur, and vanilla extract in a medium sized heavy duty sauce pan over low heat stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted. Be careful that the chocolate doesn't burn! Check out Alton Brown's method of melting the chocolate if you don't like mine. Once everything is melted, set aside the chocolate mixture in a small bowl.
2. Combine the tofu and honey in either a blender or food processor, and spin until smooth, about 1 minute. Add in the chocolate mixture and spin until combined. Pour mixture into your container(s) and refrigerate for about 2 hours.

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

These decadent bars are full of pleasing textures and flavors. The crust tastes similar to a buttery caramel and the topping is buttery tasting with a slightly nutty flavor. The topping is chewy while the filling has a smooth under-baked brownie consistency. The filling is unbelievably rich and chocolaty, which will make you want more. Makes 16 bars.
Crust and Topping:
1 Cup (3 ounces) quick-cooking oats
1 Cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar
3/4 Cup (3 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon table salt, about a pinch
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Filling:
1/4 Cup (1 1 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 Cup packed brown sugar (1 3/4 ounces) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons instant espresso or instant coffee
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 Cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Large egg

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat to 325 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square metal baking pan with two layers of aluminum foil, overlapping each other; lightly spray with nonstick vegetable oil.
2. For crust and topping: Whisk the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in melted butter until combined. Reserve 3/4 Cup of the oat mixture for the topping.
3. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture into the prepared pan and press into an even layer, using your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake the crust until light golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour.
4. For the filling: Whisk the flour, sugar, instant espresso, and salt together in a medium bowl. Melt the the chocolate chips and butter for1-3 minutes on 50% power, stopping occasionally to stir the mixture. Transfer the chocolate mixture to a large bowl and let cool slightly. Whisk in the egg, until combined; then stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
5. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat to 325 degrees F. Spread the filling evenly over the cooled crust. Sprinkle the reserved oat topping. Bake the bars until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached and the filling begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

 

From The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book