I apparently have a bit more Martha in me than I’ve previously appreciated because when I stumbled upon some habanero lime flour tortillas at Trader Joe’s the other night, my eyes got wide with excitement and I squealed, “they’re orange, they have bright orange tortillas!!” Before Apolinaras could ask why I was causing a commotion over tortillas, I had already dashed away in search of black beans and canned pumpkin. You see, I’d been mulling over savory Halloween treat ideas and when I saw the tortillas I was immediately inspired to make Halloween pumpkin quesadillas!!

On the ride home I brainstormed a bit and decided that I’d use a cookie cutter to cut little pumpkins out of the tortillas and then carve jack-o-lantern faces into them using a sharp knife. I already knew I wanted to stuff them with the pumpkin and black beans I had picked up, along with some shredded chicken, lime juice, and adobo sauce. But what really make me grin was when I came up with the idea to top the filling with cheese so that the cheese would cause the eye, nose, and mouth holes to “glow”! I got home and immediately went to work “carving” my pumpkins. I had so much fun making these and they’re super cute, if I do say so myself! They are the perfect treat to serve at a Halloween party and I’m already thinking it will be a fun Halloween tradition to make these every year with our (future!) kids too! Oh, and they taste great! Enjoy!

Halloween Pumpkin Quesadillas
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 package Trader Joe’s Habarnero Lime Flour Bright Orange Tortillas
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cooked boneless chicken breasts (I poached mine), shredded
Juice of one lime
1 teaspoon adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers (or to taste)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Use a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter to cut tortillas into small pumpkin shapes (I got 3 pumpkins per tortilla). Carve faces into half the pumpkins.

Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add onion and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender; add garlic and cook one additional minute. Add pumpkin, black beans, shredded chicken, lime juice, adobo sauce, and salt to the pan and stir until smooth and heated through.

Preheat broiler. Place non-carved pumpkin shaped tortillas on a large greased cookie sheet. Spread filling evenly on top of the pumpkins, and top evenly with cheese. Place carved pumpkin tortillas on top and broil for 2 to 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and quesadillas are heated through. Makes 5 servings (of 3 pumpkin quesadillas each).

Nutrition: 667 calories, 24.7g fat, 6.7, 10.7g fiber, 46.4g protein per serving
Cost: $1.87 per serving

Dear disappointing Boston restaurant,

My hubby and I can rarely resist ordering crab cakes when we eat out, and I was really looking forward to trying your twist on our favorite appetizer during our recent visit to your restaurant. So, you can imagine our disappointment when we couldn’t see or taste the crab in the 4 bites of our $15 appetizer. Perhaps you should rename this dish to something more appropriate, like tasteless fried breadcrumbs?

Although we won’t be frequenting your establishment again (the meal did not get any better as it progressed), I do have to thank you for inspiring me to make my own crab cakes at home for the first time. Crab cakes are something I’ve been hesitant to try putting together myself, because I was nervous about ruining the expensive lump crabmeat. But after our horrible experience at your restaurant, I realized that I couldn’t do any worse than your chef, so I went ahead and splurged on the one pound $15 tub of fresh lump crabmeat from Costco. I used avocado in place of mayo and crushed plantain chips instead of breadcrumbs, and served the cakes over black beans, mango, and red peppers – yum! They were just as good as any restaurant version I’ve had and I made 3 huge dinner-sized portions for the fraction of the price they would cost at a restaurant! So thank you for pushing me to step outside my comfort zone in the kitchen!

Sincerely,
A Boston food blogger

Avocado Crab Cakes with Crushed Plantain Chips
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 green onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound lump crabmeat
1/4 cup mashed avocado
1/2 cup crushed plantain chips
1 egg, beaten
1 lime
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 15.5-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 mango, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped

Directions:
Heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat and sauté onions for 2 minutes, or until soft. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute.

In medium bowl, mix together the lump crabmeat, onions, avocado, plantain chips, egg, juice of half the lime, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Shape mixture into 6 crab cakes.

Meanwhile, mix black beans, mango, red pepper, juice of the remaining half of the lime, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat in a nonstick skillet. Add 3 crab cakes and cook until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and 3 crab cakes. Serve crab cakes over the black bean, mango, and red pepper mix. Makes 3 large servings.

Nutrition: 514 calories, 22.1g fat, 14.6g fiber, 24.4g protein per serving
Cost: $6.17 per serving

Apolinaras kept popping his head in the kitchen last night while I was prepping dinner because he was so excited we were having salmon. Apparently he thought a little cheering from the sidelines would hurry things along because he kept doing little dances to amuse me. But his plan backfired because I couldn’t stop giggling, which just slowed things down! I didn’t have time to cook this weekend, so I was multitasking and things took a bit longer than usual to come together. I first made a baked pasta dish to enjoy for lunches this week and then went back and chopped a bunch of fresh summer veggies to make a sauce for the salmon. It was close to 11pm before the salmon made it on the table, but it was well worth the wait. I know Apolinaras was a huge fan because I got a text after he ate the leftovers today letting me know again how much he enjoyed it!

Cumin is a spice I frequently reach for since it’s so tasty and versatile. I rubbed the filets with a mixture of cumin, salt, and chili powder and then topped it with a sauce starring fresh corn and red peppers.  We had a bit of the sauce left over and have been enjoying it on chicken breasts!

Cumin Rubbed Salmon with a Fresh Corn and Red Pepper Sauce
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
Kernels from 2 fresh ears of corn
2 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of half a lime
11/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon hot chili powder
4 salmon filets (ours were 7 ounces each)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat and sauté red onion, jalapeno pepper, and red pepper for 5 to 7 minutes. Add corn and sauté 2 to 3 minutes or until all veggies are soft. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute. Place veggies, lime juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor and pulse until a smooth sauce forms.

Meanwhile, mix remaining 1 teaspoon salt, cumin, and chili powder in a small dish. Sprinkle spice rub evenly over salmon filets and lightly rub it into the filets. Heat remaining tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick skillet and sear the salmon filets on both sides. Bake salmon for 10 to 12 minutes at 350˚F or until cooked through. Spoon sauce over the salmon. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 413 calories, 20.1g fat, 3.1g fiber, 41.8g protein per serving
Cost: $3.00 per serving

Our apartment balcony is filled with foliage. My plant tending days ended after the demise of Petey, a plant my good friend Britt and I attempted to care for in college, so I’m lucky that Apolinaras has a green thumb! He’s already dreaming of the day we have a real yard, but for now is happy tending his mini-vegetable garden. He has six different herbs growing that I frequently use, along with jalapeno and banana peppers and cherry tomatoes. He also planted an avocado pit that has sprouted, so we’ll see how that goes. Anyway, our cherry tomatoes are finally beginning to ripen and we’ve just been popping them straight into our mouths off the tree every day. But this weekend our little plant was particularly bountiful and he managed to harvest a whole handful of cherry tomatoes! When he brought them in on Saturday and proudly announced that we had enough to use in a recipe, I immediately knew I wanted to make a pasta dish packed with summer veggies.

This pasta is mixed with fresh zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and chicken, but my favorite part is the rich and creamy sauce, which I made by blending roasted eggplant, red onion, garlic, herbs, and ricotta together. This is one of those dishes that is even better the next day!

I also wanted to share the other foodie project I worked on this weekend. I went crazy with different icing colors and decorated sugar cookies for a surprise baby shower for my labmate Sima. Big thanks to Michelle and Julie for posting such easy to follow decorating directions! This was my first time working with royal icing and I was pretty proud about how cute the cookies turned out!

Summer Veggie Pasta with an Eggplant and Ricotta Sauce
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound whole wheat penne pasta
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 eggplant, cut into small chunks (mine was a little over a pound)
1 red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 zucchinis, cut into small chunks
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta in a colander, return it to the pot, and keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet and sauté eggplant for 5 minutes. Add red onion and cook 5 to 7 minutes, or until veggies are soft, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute. Place eggplant mixture, ricotta cheese, vinegar, salt, oregano, and basil in a food processor. Pulse until a smooth sauce forms.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in the same skillet over medium heat and sauté zuchinni for 5 minutes or until tender. Remove zucchini and add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the skillet. Add chicken and sauté 5 to 7 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked and no longer pink in the center.

Mix pasta, sauce, chicken, zucchini, and tomatoes until the sauce evenly coats all ingredients. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 449 calories, 11.5g fat, 10.7g fiber, 34.4g protein per serving
Cost: $1.43 per serving