Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

Josh came home for the weekend and so per his request we made my mom's famous enchiladas. As soon as we get to Denver and all my kitchen tools are unpacked, I'm making a HUGE batch for Frank and our freezer... Gotta start stockpiling meals for after this baby comes :)

*We are not big measure-ers, we just kind of throw whatever sounds good in, and make a lot. We started with 2 big chicken breasts, and had a lot of filling - so Saturday night's dinner was Stuffed Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas. The great thing about this recipe is that it's really easy to adjust. I'm going to attempt to scale it back, for a normal sized 9x13 pan.

2 small, or 1 medium chicken breast, cooked in water with salt and pepper - and celery tops, if you have some to spare.
Shred chicken, save broth.

1 medium sized onion, diced
about 3 stalks of celery, diced
Cook with oil, garlic and a little salt until soft. The celery takes longer, so give it about a 5 minutes head start.
You could also add fresh jalapenos, or peppers. Whatever sound good.

In a large bowl combine:
1 can cream of chicken (I buy low-sodium, low fat)
1 can cream of celery
a bit more than 8 oz of sour cream
& mexican seasoning... we used (about) 1/2 pkg. taco seasoning, 1 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp black pepper - no salt-

Place 1/2 cup or so of the above mixture into another bowl/measuring cup - add about 3/4 cup of milk, stir well with soup mixture. You want about 1 1/2 cups of sauce for the top.

In the large bowl of soup mixture add... (these are all optional, use what you like)
chopped jalapenos
chopped black olives
cooked onion & celery mixture
shredded chicken
(Next time, I'm adding a can of black beans)
Mix well.
Stir in at least a cup of shredded cheese. We used a mixture of Pepper Jack and Colby Jack.
Add chicken broth, if filling is dry. We added some broth.

Lay out all the tortillas, divide filling up among tortillas. When all the filling is divided up evenly, roll and place in a buttered 9x13. Pour sauce over rolled tortillas. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Remove pan from oven, top with another cup, or so of cheese and black olives (if desired), bake another 10 minutes. Top with green onions (if desired).

Lemon Blueberry Trifle

Lemon Blueberry Trifle
1 frozen prepared pound cake (16 oz) (I can never find this size, the Sara Lee cakes are something around 10 oz, so I get 2, and use everything I don't snack on)
2 lemons
1 & 1/2 cups milk
8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. cool whip
2 pkgs. (3.4 oz each) lemon instant pudding
1 pint fresh blueberries (2 cups), washed
1 square (1 oz) white chocolate for baking (I hardly have white chocolate on hand so I usually omit this)

Cut pound cake into 1-in cubes; place in bowl. (I think it's easier to cut the cake when still frozen)
Make several lengthwise scores in one lemon, top to bottom. Slice into 6 slices; cut each slice in half, set aside for garnish. (I score my lemons, but you really don't have to. It hardly shows up)
Zest remaining lemon using short strokes; set aside.
Juice lemon over pound cake, tossing gently.
In a bowl combine milk, sour cream, half of the cool whip and reserved lemon zest; whisk until smooth.
Add pudding mixes; whisk until mixture begins to thicken.
Set aside 12 blueberries for garnish.

To assemble trifle: Place 1/3 of the cake cubes into bottom of trifle bowl, top with 1/3 of blueberries, grate 1/4 of the chocolate over blueberries, top with 1/3 of pudding mixture, pressing lightly. Repeat layers 2 more times.

Decorate top with cool whip, lemon slices, blueberries and remaining chocolate as desired.

Like most everything I make, I prepare this the night before so all the flavors have a chance to soak in, but you could serve this right away.

Baked Spaghetti

Per request. No pictures, sorry.

I always cook entrees for an army, so you may have to adjust.

1 pound of sausage (Italian, sage, or hot)
1 pound of ground beef
Cook together, until done, drain, set aside.

At least 1 of the following, some times more, depending on what I have to use up.
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
(1 yellow pepper - if I have one to use, or they're on sale)
(Mushrooms - fresh or canned, depending on what I have or what's on sale)
garlic
Use oil, and cook together until soft.

To make my own sauce I then add...
a bunch of diced tomatoes, I like to buy fresh, but sometimes for time or if it's cheaper I buy canned.
So at least...
12 Roma tomatoes, or 2 big cans of diced
1 can of tomato paste
1 can of tomato soup (if I have some in the pantry)
a little water or V8 spicy tomato juice
a bit more olive oil
basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, sugar, other Italian seasonings - whatever I have on hand or sounds good.
Add meat and simmer. For.ever.

If I'm pressed for time, or cash, I will use prepared spaghetti sauce. Of course, I doctor it up. I still cook my onions, and peppers, add at least a can of diced tomatoes, because I like chunks, and add the jar of prepared sauce, meat, and more spices. Simmer.

I boil my spaghetti, I like to use the very thin spaghetti noodles, or angel hair, because that's what I like. For kids it's better to use penne, or rotini (easier to pick up and cut). I cook my noodles al dente, just a bit hard still, they'll finish cooking in the oven. I drain my noodles, add butter, Parmesan cheese and garlic salt. (I learned this from my friend Jessica, it's sooo good!)

Then layer up my spaghetti. Noodles, sauce, cheese and repeat. I use a mixture of Parmesan and mozzarella. I wait to add my last layer of cheese the last 10 minutes of baking. So, spaghetti, sauce, cheese, spaghetti, sauce. I bake covered with foil 45 minutes to 1 hour at 350 until bubbly. If all your ingredients are hot, you bake less time. When it's bubbly and your house smells like an Italian joint, add the last layer of cheese, bake uncovered 5-10 minutes until cheese is melty.

When I take dinner to a family, I typically do not bake this for them. Since I'm living in the boonies now, and it would be cold by the time I delivered it. So I add the last layer of cheese, but stress to cook it covered, otherwise the cheese gets too done.

I always think it tastes better the next day too, so typically I prepare the day before, then bake for dinner the next night.

Raspberry Cake

We met the brothers in Greenville last night for dinner. We accomplished a lot.
First, and most important, I got the final t-shirts for the ECU quilt! I washed last night, and provided I get some time today, I will start cutting my squares out. And I hope to make some good progress over the weekend! :)
2. We met Maggie, Matt's girlfriend. She's super sweet and she can stand my brother, so she's ok in my book.
3. We celebrated Josh's upcoming birthday. Hence the Raspberry Cake. We arrived with said cake, but left with none. Not a happy Mama.
4. We delivered; phones, Matt's suit, cookies, cheese, 40 pounds of potatoes (seriously), and mail.
5. My grandparents got to see the boys before they left this morning.

When my mom asked me to make the cake, I figured she would put it together and decorate it, no such luck. I got 'stuck' doing the whole thing. I actually love practicing my piping so it wasn't a chore by any means.

So here you go....

Unfortunately, I was not able to take a picture of the cut cake, it was demolished before I even thought about it. It's pretty important though that you make a white cake, and follow the directions about using egg whites. Otherwise it doesn't look as pretty.

So you make your white cake. I used Dunkin Hines. I added a little vanilla, mine is clear; I would not add any if your vanilla is dark brown.

I'm a cake mix kinda girl for a few reasons;

1. It's way easy.

2. It saves time.

3. It's really important to have the correct amount of flour/soda/powder, yada yada, and since I'm not a good measure-er, a mix is way better.

4. No one can really tell the difference between a box cake or a cake made from scratch.

5. Did I mention that it's easy and less time consuming?

I don't buy icing for a few reasons.

1. It's not very good.

2. Butter cream is way better.

3. I enjoy making it.

4. You can tell a difference in canned and homemade.

So of course I made my own.

2 sticks of butter, softened

1 huge bag of powdered sugar

vanilla & almond extracts

milk

Cream butter, extracts and sugar. Add a little milk, and more sugar, and more milk, and more sugar... And repeat until you use almost a whole bag of powdered sugar. I pray there are no Amelia Bedila types trying to follow along. Stop when 1. you think you have made enough to ice your cake and 2. when it's the right consistency (not too soft, otherwise your cake will look like it's sagging. And not too stiff that you can't spread it on without tearing up the cake. It's a fine line.)

So your cake is baked, cooled, and trimmed (the rounded portion from the top is cut off). Now, you need to cut your cake into layers. Typically, I cut 1 cake into 3 layers. But if you have never done this, aim for 2 layers from each - so a 4 layer cake. And assemble. Put a dab of icing on your cake plate to keep your cake from sliding around. Press the 1st layer down firmly. Ice cake, only use a little icing. I pipe a barrier at the edge of the cake so the Raspberry jam doesn't come out the side, making your cake look pink. And fill in with a very small amount of jam. The more you use, the less stable your cake will be...

Repeat until your cake is completely layered. Ice sides and top of cake.



The top doesn't have to be perfect since you are going to cover it with jam. Then I put the cake in the fridge to set up before decorating. About 15-30 minutes. I then pipe lattice, and borders. And refrigerate again, especially if you are transporting the cake. It's best to keep this cake cold until serving time, otherwise it kind of shifts around.



Reese's Peanut Buttercup Banana Bread

This is the absolute best banana bread I have ever. ever. eaten. Actually, I do not like banana bread, it's a Frank food. I make it for him and Kay, and am glad when it's gone. I scoured blogs, and recipe sites for hours, literally hours to find a recipe worthy enough for Frank's care package. This one is a keeper, and one I can't keep my fingers off of!

Reese's Peanut Buttercup Banana Bread
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup peanut butter (of course, I didn't measure, but I used about a cup)
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
Mix all those together, batter will be lumpy.
Add...
1 & 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp soda
1 & 1/2 tsp powder
1/2 tsp salt

Stir in 8oz bag, yes the whole thing of Reese's Mini Cups. I did this, and it didn't look like enough peanut butter cups, so I also used the leftover cups I had gotten for the  Peanut-Peanut Buttercup-Cupcakes. So a bag and a half.

Today I used a metal loaf pan, greased well. I split the batter, and used most of it in the loaf pan, then made 10 cupcake sized breads. Obviously I needed to taste test these before I sent them all the way to Texas. I ate 3, as soon as they cooled.
Bake at 325 ish for about an hour. The cupcakes only baked about 20-30 minutes. And they didn't brown up as good as the above picture.

I found the said, best banana bread recipe here.

Baked Potato Soup

Baked Potato Soup

8 slices of bacon

1 cup diced yellow onion

2/3 cup flour

6 cups hot chicken stock

4 cups diced, baked potatoes (I leave the skins on)

1 cup half & half

milk

garlic

1 & 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp. hot sauce

black pepper

cream cheese

1 cup grated cheese (plus some for garnish)

3 green onions, diced (garnish)

additional chopped bacon



Fry bacon until crisp. Chop bacon and reserve drippings. Cook onions & garlic in remaining drippings over medium heat until transparent. Add flour, stirring to prevent lumps. Cook 3-5 minutes until golden. Add chicken stock gradually, whisking to prevent lumps, until liquid thickens. Reduce heat to simmer, add potatoes, cream, chopped bacon, salt, pepper, hot sauce. Add milk, enough for desired consistency, at least 1 cup. Simmer 10 minutes, Do Not Allow to Boil! Add grated cheese and a few slices of cream cheese.
Heat until cheeses are melted. Garnish.

To Die for Cheese Dip

To Die for Cheese Dip
1 cup mayo
1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese
2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese
3 green onions, sliced
5 slices of bacon cooked crisp & chopped (You can also use Real Bacon Pieces in a jar)
8-10 Ritz crackers crushed

Soften cream cheese, add mayo & cheese. Add sliced onions and cooked bacon (duh) to mixture. Sprinkle top with Ritz crackers, cook in microwave for about 5 minutes or until bubbly. I cooked this one in the oven, since it was already hot.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

 

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

4 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 cup bar-be-que sauce

1/4 cup of hot sauce

water

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup ranch dressing

6 stalks of celery finely chopped

Cook chicken, bar-be-que sauce, hot sauce and water on medium heat, I let these simmer for like 30 minutes, but you could serve them after heated through.

Mix mayo, dressing, and celery together.





German Chocolate Cupcakes

German Chocolate Cupcakes

1 pkg. German chocolate cake mix (Yes, I know. But it's way less time consuming)
3 large eggs
1 (8oz) container of sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Bake at 350. 18 minutes for cupcakes.

Coconut-Pecan Filling
1 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 & 1/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 8 to 10 minutes (10). Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, coconut and pecans. Cool completely.

Chocolate Butter cream
I wing it. I don't measure. But I'll guess.
1 cup butter
bit of vanilla
cocoa powder, less than a 1/4 of a cup.
1 cup melted chocolate
Mix well, and right away after adding melted chocolate.
powdered sugar & milk. I add until I have the right consistency. 1/2 big bag of powdered sugar, tablespoon at a time of milk, probably a 1/4 of a cup, or less. (ha.)