Saturday, June 29, 2013

Steph's Chicken Enchiladas

Tonight I made the best chicken enchilada! This is not a new recipe for us, but one I don't often make. I don't make it often because  it involves canned cream of mushroom soup and we try to stay away from prepared or packaged foods whenever possible. But, the kids asked, and I obliged.  Once in awhile will be okay. It's a great dinner especially if you're having company because it is a restaurant worthy meal and guest will love it.

I originally saw this recipe many years ago on  Allrecipes.com, however when I went bank to look for it, it could not be found. Luckily, I still had a copy saved to my hard drive. I need to learn how to make my own condensed cream of mushroom soup...maybe next time...

 
Steph's Chicken Enchiladas

Servings:
6

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken breasts (I used 2 c shredded-I prefer the chicken shredded)1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided (I use more cheese than called for-see notes below)6 (12 inch) flour tortillas (can use whole wheat if you like)1/4 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking dish.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the green onion until tender (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the garlic powder, then stir in the green chilies, cream of mushroom soup and sour cream. Mix well. Reserve 3/4 of this sauce and set aside. (I always double my sauce ingredients because I like to serve it with extra sauce. It also makes a great dip for tortilla chips.)
sauce mixed together
chicken, cheese, and sauce mixture
To the remaining 1/4 of the sauce in the saucepan, add the chicken and 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Stir together.






Fill each flour tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. (note:  I use my small cookie scooper to put the filling down the middle of each tortilla. It works great. Also, after I put my filling in, I sprinkle some more cheese on top and then roll up.)
In a small bowl combine the reserved 3/4 of the sauce with the milk. Spoon this mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cheese  melts. (notes: I put some sauce in the bottom of the pan, then place my filled tortillas on top before spreading sauce on top of them. And I used more than 1/2 c cheese.)


Let sit 5 minutes before serving.



Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

I am allergic to Peppers, but DH loves them...so this one's for him. They smelled great! I made them with 1 green pepper cut in half since I was only making them for 1 person.

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

1 green pepper, cut in half from top to bottom and de-seeded
a little less than 1/3 c cooked Trader Joe's 10 minute faro
2 Tbsp chopped onion
1/2 c or less vegetarian crumbles
leftover homemade spaghetti sauce or jarred sauce of your choice
2 Tbsp Italian Panko bread crumbs (I use Ian's brand)
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
4 Tbsp shredded mozzarella or Italian cheese blend

First cook 10 minute faro according to package directions.

Next, cut a green pepper in half from top to bottom. Remove seeds and membranes from pepper and rinse well. Boil a pot of water. Once water is boiling drop pepper halves in and boil @ 10 minutes till done. Remove from the pan and drain.You can also steam peppers if you wish.

While farro and water are on the stove, chop up 2 Tbsp onion. Place onion and veggie crumbles in a small pan along with a little water. Water saute over md- md/high heat till onion is tender. Reduce heat to low/md for a few minutes.  Add cooked farro and enough spaghetti sauce to combine and pull it all together.

Put a little water and spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a baking dish, put peppers on top and fill each pepper with the farro crumble mixture. Next mix Panko, Parmesan, and mozzarella cheeses. Top each green pepper half and bake till cheese is melty. You can put it under the broiler for a bit too to get a nice crunchy brown topping. To serve I put some extra sauce on the plate and the finished green pepper on top.  Enjoy!




Friday, June 14, 2013

As Seen On Pinterest....Cleaning Dirty Pans and a Stromboli Recipe

My mother has a very cool board on her Pinterest site called " I saw it, I pinned it, I did it." I think it's a great idea (Thanks, Mom!), so I'm starting my own board on my Pinterest account complete with reviews, and this is my first one.



My before and after picture...virtually no difference
When I saw this idea on Facebook last week (via Pinterest), I thought I'd hit the kitchen tips and tricks jackpot;  a cheap, effective way to clean my old well used, well seasoned cookie sheets. Ahh....if only it had worked!  It was cheap and easy , but it didn't clean hardly any of my cookie sheet grime. I even set the paste on the cookie sheet and let it sit for 1 hour thinking that soaking it would help...not so much. I was disappointed.

My second Pinterest try this week was this pin on Pinterest from Lauren's Latest: a Stromboli.  On the left is the picture from Lauren's Latest via Pinterest...my picture of my Stromboli is on the right.
Picture from Pinterest
My picture.


 









I thought the kids would all love it because it was like pizza with a twist. I even used Boar's Head thin slice pepperoni in it. 2 out of 3 kids liked it. My oldest said, "If you really feel like you need to make it or you'll just die, I 'll eat it, but it wouldn't be my first choice." Please son, be a little more honest, will you?  It was his Mighty fine dinner, Miss Betty moment. I will make it again because the bread, which is Lauren's Fail Proof Pizza Dough recipe is terrific. It is so easy to make and so easy to work with. I used a mixture of whole wheat  and white flour and olive oil. I think the problem with the recipe was that even though you rolled the dough tightly, the dough in the middle just melted into the toppings which helped make the insides super gooey and hard to eat. There also was too much cheese involved. I love cheese but I agree with my oldest son that it seemed like he was eating a brick of melted cheese...hard to eat and hard to swallow.  So, I will make the crust again, but I will make it into calzones or smaller pizza pockets rather than the single big Stromboli.
So the  dough gets 4 spoons


The Stromboli itself , only  2 and a half spoons.

Wonder what I'll try next?


Friday, June 7, 2013

National Donut Day and Ballerina Brownies

Today is National Donut Day, so I decided to make my kiddos some donuts.  That was my plan anyway till I came across this recipe for Ballerina Brownies that my sister sent me some time ago. I don't know where  the original recipe came from.  Being a rebel, it was Ballerina Brownies for the win!  I asked my beautiful sister why they were called Ballerina Brownies and she had no clue. I think it's because whenever you eat them, they're so good you just want to get up and dance. That's my story anyway, and I'm sticking to it.
 

 
My "brownienut."
 I stuck the 2 halves together
and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
The Perfect Brownie
Pan by Pampered Chef
So I made the brownies using my new perfect brownie pan from Pampered Chef (Thank you, Leanne Blecha Gleitz). The great thing about this pan is that each brownie comes out with 4 edges (great if you like that sort of thing). I also think the pan itself will be very useful for cornbread which I adore and mini individual cakes. The possibilities are endless.
 
After I made the brownie mix, I still had some leftover so I decided to use my Wilton donut pan and make a couple of "brownienuts."  It was a good idea, I thought, but with the nature of the brownie being to break apart and be fudgy-crumbly, the four that I made broke apart when I got them out of the pan. My boys ate them anyway because they were delicious, but my "brownienuts" concept needs a little more work.
 
All that said, these are great brownies!
 
Delicious Brownies (or Ballerina Brownies)
(from Melissa Framiglio—neighbor on Everett)

1 cup melted butter
¾ cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips (or other chopped candy) (NOTE: I use mini chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix everything together (I mix dry, then add wet, but it's all done in one bowl.) & put in a 13x9 pan coated with cooking spray.
Bake 30-35 min. until it pulls from edges and toothpick comes out with fudgy crumbs.
 
These  brownies get a solid 4 spoons. My boys thought they were delicious. I like them because I put every ingredient in myself so I know there's no added crap like what might be in a regular boxed  brownie mix.