Chicken Enchiladas

I don't claim this recipe to be an authentic Mexican enchilada recipe,

I just claim this to be delicious.

I'm not quite sure how this recipe came to be. Probably mixing and matching recipes, and incorporating what I liked best when I'd order enchiladas at restaurants.

I don't really know what makes an enchilada "authentic."

But like I said...it's delicious.

I made 14 enchiladas with this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 skinless chicken breasts

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

1 and 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

corn tortillas

1 TBS cumin powder, or 1 tsp toasted cumin seeds

1 28 oz. can each red & green enchilada sauce (I can never decided which to get, so I started making enchiladas with both and I love it! You can choose red or green.)

1 can chopped green chiles

1/2 jalapeno (the more seeds you remove, the less spicy it will become)

1/2 cup chopped green onion (I only had white onions this time and it was still good)

1 cup chopped cilantro PLUS 2 TBS for garnish (I used way more because we LOVE cilantro!)

Sour cream

First:

Put chicken in pot, cover with enough chicken broth, or mixture of broth and water, and cover. Cook on med-high until chicken is no longer pink.

^^This keeps your chicken juicy and gives it a delicious flavor.^^

When chicken is done, remove from pot and let cool. I stick mine in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile...

While chicken is cooking, do your chopping if you haven't yet. In a pan with high sides, sauté your onion, jalapeno, and cilantro in olive oil until tender and fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add cumin and sauté for 1 more minute.

(Trying to get picture to rotate...it's not cooperating.)

Then...

Pour half of each can of enchilada sauce into pan with vegetables. Stir until combined. Heat on low.

Now is a good time to preheat your oven to 350 degrees F...

Shred your chicken. Some people will say use two forks, I say use two hands. It's so much faster. (Just make sure your hands are clean and the chicken is cool enough.)

Add shredded chicken and drained can of green chiles to sauce.

Next...

Spoon the bottom of a 9x13 pan with a few tablespoons of sauce.

Find a flat dish that's deep enough for the rest of the sauce, and wide enough to dip a tortilla.

Fill with remaining enchilada sauce.

Heat in microwave for 2 minutes.

Now it gets messy!

Dip each tortilla in the bowl of warm sauce until completely coated.

Spoon chicken mixture onto middle of tortilla.

(another one that won't rotate...I'll be working on that.)

Sprinkle Mexican blend cheese onto mixture.

Carefully fold tortilla and place folded side down. Don't worry if it tears a bit.

(I say this because my very first one tore a bit.)

Repeat until pan is filled. I fit 9 in this pan, and 5 in a smaller one.

Pour any remaining sauce and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until tortillas are soft and cheese is melted. Garnish with black olives, leftover cilantro, and sour cream if desired.

Serve these with rice and beans, and you're set!

Easier Than Pie Homemade Pie Crust

The thought of making my own pie crust used to intimidate me.

Seriously.

I actually googled "store bought pie crusts that taste homemade" so I could get that delicious taste without all of the work.

It was never even close to the deliciousness of homemade.

Well, it turns out that it's hardly any work at all!

It tastes so much better, is so much healthier than store bought, and you actually know what you're eating. 4 ingredients. That's it. Sound too good to be true? Try it.

This is a recipe that I found online and haven't changed a bit. It's perfect.

Here's the original recipe: www.allrecipes.com. Well, there was one change. I don't have a pie cloth. So I didn't use one.

Here it is again with my pictures.

You'll need a rolling pin, a pastry blender (or two forks), and a sharp knife.

See? Nothing fancy.

Ingredients:

1 and a 1/2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of shortening

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 cup ICE cold water

Using a pastry blender (or two forks) mix flour, shortening, and salt together until very crumbly...like this:

A tablespoon at a time, add as much water as needed to hold mixture together

Ditch the pastry blender (or two forks) for a fork.

Get it to look like this...

Put your disk shaped dough into a Ziploc bag, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

On a floured surface, or between two pieces of waxed paper, roll dough out to your desired thickness. About 1/8 inch.

(For fruit pies, it should be a little thicker so the juices don't leak)

I don't have one of those fancy rolling boards (is that what they're called) with the measurements, so to make sure it'll fit in the pie pan, I place an upside down pie pan on top of the rolled out dough. Make sure you have enough room for the edge.

Take pan off, and place crust in pan making sure to press down on sides.

Now you can either fold edges under if you're going to make a fancy crust.

Or just cut the edges off if you're not. I didn't make this one fancy. Just pressed an angled knife in.

If you've never attempted a homemade pie crust, please do! Let me know how yours turned out.

Spaghetti Squash "Lasagna"

The first time I bought a spaghetti squash, I didn't know what to do with it.

So I googled "spaghetti squash" and I looked at a bunch of different recipes and ways to prepare it.

I saw a few recipes for spaghetti squash "lasagna" and decided it looked yummy and decided to try it.

My version of it.

a.k.a

The easiest version ever.

I happened to be out of homemade pasta sauce, and making another batch of it while making this meal, so I had to use the jarred stuff. I don't mind the jarred stuff if I need it, as long as I add vegetables and spices to it to make it "semi-homemade."

Ingredients:

Makes 2 HUGE servings. More like 4, but if I say 2, everyone gets their own shell.

1 spaghetti squash

1 lb of ground meat (we prefer beef, but I'll try this with ground turkey too)

1/2 onion

2 TBL chopped or minced garlic

1 jar of pasta sauce (I added sauteed onion and garlic, diced green pepper, Italian seasoning, black pepper, & red pepper flakes)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cups shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F

Stab spaghetti squash all over with a knife, and put in oven

Cook for approximately 45 minutes or until semi-soft and fragrant

(Do this while squash is baking)

Chop up half of an onion, and 2 TBL of garlic.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan on medium high heat, sautee onion & garlic in oil 3-5 minutes.

Add ground beef and cook until cooked thoroughly.

Drain meat if necessary.

Add pasta sauce and cook until heated.

Remove squash from oven when it's ready, and with a large knife, cut in half lengthwise.

Let cool before removing pulp and seeds.

When cool enough to touch, remove seeds and pulp with a fork.

Scrape the flesh of the squash that looks like spaghetti with a fork, while keeping skin in tact, and place in a medium bowl.

When you've scooped as much flesh out as you can, place both halves of the squash into a baking dish.

Add a handful of "spaghetti" to a shell, top with a kitchen spoonful of sauce/meat mixture, top with cheese. (I actually took a slice of pepper jack cheese and ripped it in half for the first layer.)

Repeat layering twice, using a handful of shredded mozzarella cheese for the second layer, and a handful of shredded parmesan for the top layer.

Repeat layers on second half.

Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes or until steaming hot and cheese is melted.

Transfer to plate using two forks.

Be careful doing when transferring. I wasn't very careful with the first one, so it dumped on the plate. Still delicious, just not pretty. The pictured one is the pretty one.

Mmm...low carb deliciousness.

Bacon wrapped asparagus

I made this for the first time the other night, and my husband and I loved it!

We're both asparagus lovers, but I think even if you're not, you'll like this. It's covered in bacon. How could you not?

Oh yeah, and it's EASY!

I found the original recipe from Patricia Kitts on allrecipes.com, but I used her recipe as an idea, and changed it to fit our needs. I'm sure it's delicious Pat's way (yep, I just gave a stranger a nickname), but we live in an apartment and I'm too scared to use the grills down in the pool area...I don't know who cleans them! So this is my version of bacon wrapped asparagus, inspired by Pat!

Ingredients:

1 bunch of asparagus

Bacon (the thin stuff works great for this recipe)

Black pepper

Sea salt (not pictured)

Step 1:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash your asparagus and break off the ends.

(To break off, just bend it and it snap the end off where it gives the most)

Step 2:

Wrap your asparagus.

I used one slice of bacon per two spears of asparagus.

Just hold the two spears together so that they are even at either the top or the bottom. Start twisting the bacon starting near the bottom of the longest spear, and keep wrapping around the spear until before you get to the tips.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, or line with NONSTICK aluminum foil (I love the stuff)

(I had an odd number, so one group has three spears)

Step 3

Lightly salt, and heavily pepper the bacon wrapped asparagus.

Place in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until bacon is cooked.

Place under broiler for 3-4 minutes to crisp bacon if it's too soft for you.

You can sprinkle parmesan cheese over them in the last few minutes if you desire.

It was delicious! I know I'll be making it many more times in the future.

Next time, I'm going to try baking the bacon for a few minutes before wrapping, so that the asparagus doesn't get quite so soft. I'll update after I've tried different ways.