Everyone Loves Quesadillas

niclark submitted the following:

Ingredients:

• flour tortillas (one per quesadilla)
• avocados (1/2 to 1 per quesadilla)
• cheese, grated or cut into small cubes (we used sharp cheddar cheese because that's what we had on hand, but many cheeses would work just as well)
• a wee bit of butter (optional)
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• cinnamon
• balsamic vinegar
• lemon juice (optional)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mash up the avocado. Mix in equal parts garlic powder, onion powder, and cinnamon (a pretty heavy dash of each), a splash or two of balsamic vinegar (a little goes a very long way), and a small splash of lemon juice.
   
2. Melt a little bit of butter in a medium or large skillet (large enough to fit your tortilla), or just bring the skillet up to medium-low heat without the butter if you want.
   
3. Put the tortilla in the skillet and let it start to brown a little bit. Flip the tortilla and sprinkle on the cheese.
   
4. When the cheese just starts to melt, add the avocado mixture. Fold the tortilla in half, then cook for about a minute on each side.

Optional delicious additions: diced tomatoes, diced red onion

Baked Avocado

Avocados are delicious. So's cheese. So are walnuts.

Here's a suggestion for baking avocados. Instead of just eating them raw with balsamic dressing, sometimes a hot baked avocado is just all that amazing. It's easy too!

Ingredients:

• An avocado
• Cheese (blue cheese, feta, anything you think would be good with it), grated
  
• Optional: 1 tbsp of sour cream
• Optional: chopped walnuts
• Salt, pepper
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Halve the avocado, take out the giant seed.
   
3. Mix sour cream, cheese and walnuts. Salt and pepper to taste.
   
4. Put the mix in the avocado. Bake until cheese or avocado is brown.
   

Bacon would probably be lovely in this as well!

Submitted by vefehrm

Cheesy Potato Soup

Cheesy Potato Soup from CT Class of 2011

Ingredients:

• 6 Golden Potatoes, washed, scrubbed, peeled, and chopped to half-dollar-sized pieces
• 1 cup of baby carrots, medium chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup half-and-half
• 1 can of chicken broth
• 1/4 cup onions, finely chopped
• 2-3 teaspoons of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon celery seed
• 4 tablespoons salt
• 4 tablespoons pepper
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

1. In a small pot, boil water with chopped carrots until soft. At the same time in a large sauce pot, boil water with chopped potatoes. In each case, when boiling point is reached, lower to medium high heat. When carrots are soft, strain and put on the side. Add the water from cooking carrots to boiling potatoes.
2. In a saucepan, sauté onions and garlic in oil on low heat until golden brown. Add 1/8 of can of chicken broth to onions and garlic, still on low heat. Let sit for 5 minutes then add half-and-half. Stir. Add celery seed, salt, and pepper to onion broth mixture. Stir.
3. When potatoes are soft and break easily when punctured with a fork, strain them. Save the remaining potato broth! Remove some smaller potato slices and join them with the set-aside carrots. Mash the majority of the potato slices until mostly smooth.
4. Combine onion broth mixture with mashed potatoes. Alternate adding potato broth and chicken broth to the potato-onion mixture as needed until creamy. Stir after each addition.
5. Mix in the carrots and potato slices to the potato soup. Add cheddar and mozzarella cheese. Stir.
6. Add extra salt, pepper, celery seed, and cheese to taste.

Note: Best served when freshly made. You can refrigerate leftover soup in a corning dish and reheat it in a pot for the new few days. If you have excess potato broth or soup broth, add 1/2 a cup or so when reheating.

Submitted by CT Class of 2011

Parmesan Chicken

Submitted by Ayse:
I wanted to send in this recipe because it's pretty darn easy to make, and is so delicious. It's not that healthy (what with a stick of butter), and obviously not vegetarian, but it's an awesome comfort food. Also, it makes more than what one person can eat in a sitting so you can use it for a small gathering, or if you make it for just yourself, it lasts a while, and you can just reheat it and have delicious chicken for a while.

This recipe was adapted from this site.

Ingredients:

• 1 clove garlic, minced ( or a bit of garlic powder, or if you don't like garlic, you don't have to put in any)
• 1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup or 1/4 pound), melted
• 1 cup dried bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I like more cheese than bread crumbs, so I put in more like 1 1/4 cup cheese, and a little bit of bread crumbs)
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (it still tastes good if you don't add this)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• A large pinch of Italian seasoning (don't put in too much or the flavor can be overwhelming)
• 2 lbs of skinless, boneless, chicken meat, cut into pieces no larger than 2x2 inches

Materials Needed:

• bowl for melted butter to dip chicken in
• bowl for dredging the chicken in bread crumbs, cheese, etc...
• a pyrex pan or shallow baking pan for baking the chicken ( the recipe recommends a 9x13 dish)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. In a bowl, combine the minced garlic (if using fresh garlic) with the melted butter. In another bowl mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, salt, garlic powder (if you're not using fresh garlic), Italian seasoning, and pepper. Dip chicken pieces into garlic butter, then into crumb mixture to coat.
3. Place coated chicken pieces on to a 9x13 baking dish. Try to leave a little room between each piece. Drizzle with remaining garlic butter and bake uncovered 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Note that the chicken will get much more browned on the bottom side than on the top.

Serves 4-6.