Chicken Tostadas

It's getting pretty ridiculous in the heat department, isn't it?  It is here in Louisville, anyway.   It's sitting at a nice 97F right now.  And yes, I do still have to play volleyball in this crap tonight.

So when it's hot like this, firing up the stove or the oven is the last thing I want to do.  This is when I have to start getting creative for dinner.  And we all know how fun it is to get creative with leftovers, right?  So if you just roasted a chicken the day before - or possibly made Jonathan Waxman's Chicken Al Forno (which is AMAZING, by the way) the night before for dinner (which, if you haven't gotten the hint - I did) - then you can have dinner the next day ready in no time.  Well, that is if you planned to have leftovers of the al forno!


Ingredients:

Leftover chicken, shredded
Salsa verde, homemade or store-bought
15 oz can seasoned black beans, drained
1 large tomato, chopped
Shredded cheddar cheese (I had a chipotle blend that was THE bomb!)
6 corn tortillas

Now, I know I promised I wouldn't turn on the oven for this one - but it's really only to crisp up your corn tortillas.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Place corn tortillas directly onto the center oven rack (or if you wanted to dirty up a baking sheet - be my guest).  Bake for about 3-5 minutes, or until tortillas are crisp and golden.

Heat your shredded chicken in the microwave (if you want - I left mine cold because we're trying to cool down remember?).

Place 3 tortillas on a plate.  Top with desired amount of black beans, shredded cheese, chicken, tomatoes, and salsa verde.

Easy as pie right?  And totally hits the spot, too!  You could definitely do this with any leftover protein and veggie combo.  I just used what I had on hand and had dinner ready in no time!

Hope you guys stay cool - I'm off to get ready for my volleyball game (and seriously contemplating letting Andy spray me with the hose before I go - he's out watering the grass right now, hehe)

Easter Bark

Happy Monday guys!  How was everyone's Easter weekend? 

I spent the day at work, but it was real slow (Thank goodness!), so I even got to come home early.  It rained practically all weekend, too, so I'm lucky that my garden is still there!  I saw many pictures on Facebook of others who had planted flowers and other things, and they were just flooded out!  My heart goes out to you guys and your plants!

"Bark" won the poll on Friday, so I was pretty excited to get right into it!  I looked up a couple of Easter bark recipes and most of them included Jelly Beans - which I'm not a very big fan of, so I decided to go a different route with this.  I told Andy I would be giving him an excuse to buy Easter candy so he picked out a bag (Reese's eggs - of course!) and I picked out a bag (Nestle Crunch eggs).  And the rest is history!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 lb. unsweetened or dark chocolate, chopped (I used some gourmet 98.5% - but if you can't take it that high, feel free to scale down to whatever suits you)
1 cup almonds, chopped
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, chopped
1 cup Nestle Crunch Eggs, chopped
White chocolate
Food Coloring

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Slowly melt the semi sweet and unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler over the stove, stirring occasionally.  When chocolate is about 3/4 melted, take bowl off of heat and stir to melt the remaining chocolate.

Stir in almonds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds.  Coat the nuts well in the chocolate.

Finally, add the chopped peanut butter eggs and crunch eggs.  Mix well.

Spread the mixture onto the parchment paper in an even layer.  Place baking sheet in the freezer to let chocolate set, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt white chocolate over double boiler (or microwave) until at a "drizzling" consistency.  If using more than one color, separate into 2 or 3 bowls.  Then add a couple drops of each color to it's relative bowl.  Take chocolate out of freezer and drizzle each white chocolate color on top.  Place back in freezer to set for about 5 to 10 more minutes.

Peel parchment paper from chocolate and break into bark pieces. 

At first, I thought the unsweetened chocolate would be a little too strong, but the semi-sweet chocolate and the Reese's & Crunch eggs really balanced it out.  The chocolate had just enough sweetness to it!  I even convinced myself that this was pretty healthy because it's loaded with nuts!  Wouldn't you have liked to have your Easter basket filled with this?!  I know I was glad to!

What's your favorite type of bark?  Have a great rest of your Monday guys!