Jerk Chicken Nachos

6 Cups Tortilla Chips
3 Cups Chicken
2 Cups Cheddar & Monterey Jack Cheese
2 Tablespoons Jamaican Jerk Rub
1 Small Yellow or Red Bell Pepper
1 Lime
2 Tablespoons Snipped Fresh Cilantro

425 Degrees

1. Arrange tortilla chips
2. Combine Chicken, cheese, 1 Tablespoon Jerk Rub
3. Sprinkle chicken mixture over chips
4. Bake 5-7 minutes
5. Dice bell pepper
6. Cut Lime
7. Juice half lime and remaining jerk rub and bell peppers
8. Snip cilantro
9. Spoon pepper mixture over nachos
10. Sprinkle evenly with cilantro
11. Garnish lime slices

Josh's Salsa

Just so everyone is clear...this is NOT an exact recipe! You just have to play with it and add things until you like how it tastes.

What you need:
4 to 5 tomatoes
1 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 yellow onion
green onions
1-2 jalapeno or serrano peppers
2 Anaheim peppers (or Poblano or Pasilla)
salt

Optional:
limes
corn
black beans
avocado
olive oil
whatever you want!


How you make it:

First you will want to wash all the ingredients off (make sure to get all the stickers off of the tomatoes!)

Next you will want to cook the tomatoes, yellow onion, and the peppers. Sometimes I lay them all out on a pan and broil them in the oven, sometimes I lay them out on the grill, and sometimes I put them all in a big pan on the stove and cook them. What you want to do is cook them all the way through. Don't worry if they outside started to burn, it adds to the flavor. While those things are cooking you can chop the cilantro and green onion that will be added later.

Once the tomatoes, peppers, and yellow onion are looking pretty done you will want to dump them all into a blender and puree them. If you are want to make a salsa that is less hot you can take the seeds out of the peppers before you blend them. You may need to add a little bit of water to get things moving in the blender.

Once things are nicely blended you will want to add salt to taste. This is where you will want to taste the salsa to check for hotness, flavor, etc. If I am going to add lime juice or olive oil (to make it smoother) I usually put it in now.

Now you will want to pour all the blended goodness into a large bowl and stir in the chopped cilantro and green onions. I like a LOT of cilantro in mine, but add whatever you like. Sometimes I will stir in some black beans, corn, or avocado too.

Grab a bag of chips and go to town!

P. F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Recipe Summary
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 2-3 servings

Ingredients
3 tablespoons oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnuts
2/3 cup mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce

Special Sauce Ingredients
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot mustard
2 teaspoons water
1-2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste

Stir Fry Sauce Ingredients
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Instructions

1. Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl.
2. Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.
3. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.
4. Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.
5. Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.
6. Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.
7. Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done.
8. Remove chicken from the pan and cool.
9. Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.
10. As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.
11. Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.
12. When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.
13. With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil.
14. Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan.
15. Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce"cups".
16. Top with"Special Sauce".

Source: http://www.recipezaar.com/15865

Pork Barbacoa

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 1 minute
Cook Time: 6-8 hours
Yield: a lot...

Ingredients
2 pork loins
2 lbs brown sugar
Jug of Salsa

Instructions
Combine sugar and salsa (to taste) in a crock pot, mix well. Add pork loins to mixture. Simmer in crock pot 6-8 hours (high temp 6 hours; low temp 8 hours).

Remove meat from pot to a large bowl; shred meat with two large forks and return to the pot.

Serve as burritos, tacos, as part of a salad or tostada, with rice, beans, etc.

Cook’s Note: Mom's recipe uses one liter of Coca Cola and 10 oz ketchup instead of salsa.

Grilled Asparagus Spears

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and peeled, see Cook’s Note
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions
Preheat a grill.

Place asparagus on a plate. Drizzle oil over the asparagus and turn spears until they are coated. Sprinkle with salt and turn again.

Grill asparagus for 5 minutes over a hot grill. Each minute or so, roll each spear 1/4 turn. Asparagus should begin to brown in spots (indicating that the natural sugars are caramelizing) but should it not be allowed to char. Dripping oil may cause flare-ups. Keep a glass, or spray bottle of water handy to spritz on coals, if necessary.

Remove from grill and serve immediately (eating spears with your fingers enhances the experience).

Cook’s Note: Look for firm asparagus stalks with firm deep green or purplish tips. Also check the bottom of the spears. If they are dried up, chances are they have been sitting around for too long. Trim off the tough bottom of the spear by grasping each end and bending it gently until it snaps at its natural point of tenderness, usually 2/3 of the way down the spear. If the spear is less than 6 inches long, chances are it has already been trimmed for you. Then take a vegetable peeler and peel off the outer skin of the lower half of the remaining stalk.

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_19396,00.html?rsrc=search