Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas

I made these from a recipe I found on pinterest, and they were great!! My husband loved them which is a major plus. I'm so glad he puts up with my pinterest cooking trials. :) I made a few changes which I noted at the end. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
• 2 cups (8 ounces) preshredded reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese
• 1 2/3 cups plain non-fat yogurt
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of chicken soup
• 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
• 8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) finely shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions

Preparation

1.  Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine first 9 ingredients in a large bowl. Remove 1 cup chicken mixture; set mixture aside.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working with 1 tortilla at a time, brush oil over both sides of tortilla. Add tortilla to pan; cook 5 seconds on each side or until toasted and soft. Remove from pan; arrange 1/2 cup chicken mixture down center of tortilla. Roll jelly-roll style; place filled tortilla, seam side down, in a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining 7 tortillas, remaining oil, and remaining chicken mixture. Spread reserved 1 cup chicken mixture evenly over enchiladas. Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle evenly with cheddar cheese and green onions; bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

***My variation: I did not use oil at all (cooking spray), and sprayed the tortillas with spray butter instead of coating in oil. I also cooked thawed chicken breast in chicken taco seasoning, salt, and pepper before dicing it up and adding to mix to give extra flavor. :)

Cake Makeover

Have you ever tried to make your own buttercream frosting? I have tried many different recipes and they are all epic fails, tasting more like creamy powdered sugar than a yummy bakery replica. So I end up going back to the pre-made canned stuff which honestly just isn't that great either.
But ya'll, I found something yummy this time.
The flavoring is different so some of you may not like it, but I think it's amazing.
You see, this sweet lady we've gotten to know here in Bentonville has made us cakes for special occasions (i.e. Christmas, end of school year, Adelynn's shower), and Jason and I both agreed that we like them better than Rick's...that the icing is just awesome.
I've always hesitated asking her for her secrets cause this is somewhat taboo (right??), but I finally just did it the other day and she was more than gracious to share. She said it was a Wilton's recipe and nothing she invented.
So I thought I'd share with you!
No pictures since it looks just like normal icing, but it tastes super yummy! Give it a try:

In a mixer, mix:
1 cup Crisco
1 tsp. Almond Extract (this is the flavor difference that i LOVE)
2 tsp. water

Sift in separarte bowl:
4 cups powder sugar
1 TBSP mereigne powder (optional)

Mix powder sugar mix in with the crisco mixture, adding a few TBSP of water until it's the creamy texture you want (I think I ended up adding about 4 additional TBSP of water).

YUMMY!

And then have you seen the "improve the box cake" recipe going around Pinterest??? I tried that tonight too and it was great!!! Here it is in case you missed it:

Take you normal cake box recipe, and add 1 Egg, double the oil (but don't actually use any oil at all) and instead use that doubled amount in melted butter, and use milk instead of water.

Happy Baking!!!! Now if I can just learn how to decorate....hmm.

3 Little Things

Some new things I'm enjoying these days:

1. A new recipe!

My mom is a pretty darn good cook. She is great at making up recipes from things she has in her kitchen and just making things work in ways I could probably never do on my own. I have inherited many of her recipes since I've been married. One of her latest make-shifts has become a new, easy favorite. And since we're having it tonight, I thought I'd share:
* Thaw some frozen chicken (I thaw mine for an hour or so in a Ziplock bag set in hot/warm water)
* Cut the chicken breasts in half
* Dip chicken pieces in a beaten egg (to moisten), then coat in fried onion pieces (the kind you make greenbean casseroles with)
* Place pieces on cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 400degrees for 25-30 minutes (until done)

Super yummy!!!!! :)

2. Viber (a cell phone App)

It's an app you can download for your phone and it's amazing. One of my best friend's from college lives in Ukraine working with orphans. She moved there the year after we all went (my last year to go while living in Cali), and has been there ever since. Obviously it's great and such an amazing ministry she is helping provide in so many ways, but it sucks how we never get to talk except through emails and such. But not anymore thanks to this lovely app. We downloaded it on our cell phones and can text/talk on the phone for FREE. Are you kidding me??! So if you have friends that live in a different country, this app is a must and SO MUCH FUN for us. Love this thing. Great part is when I'm up nursing in the middle of the night, it's the afternoon for her and we just chat it up. Fantastic.

3. Swaddle Blankets (Aden & Anais)

They didn't make these bundles of awesomeness when I had my other 2 kids, but some sweet friends bought me a pack when Adelynn was born and I love them and highly recommend them. We don't use them as actual swaddle blankets, b/c, let's face it - nothing works  to actually keep a child swaddled that doesn't include locks and chains velcro. These are huge in dimension (which is great) and so nice for summer because of how thin and light they are. Love them when we're out at the pool or park and she still wants to feel cuddled. :)

So just three little things tonight. Thanks for reading. :)

Get Me Out of the Kitchen

Maybe it's the pregnancy that makes feel as if I need to be in the kitchen? Not sure. But it's almost 10:30 and so far today this is what I have cooked:

1. Veggie Past Mac&Cheese: it's new and I like to make it early for the kids and put it in the fridge for lunch (not as messy). And this new stuff has 1/2 cup vegetables per serving - made with cauliflower.

2. Tender Roast in Crockpot for dinner - complete with potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery. I wish I could post a smell on here because it is one of my favorites!

3. Quesadillas are in the stove cooking for the kids for lunch...

4. Cupakes from Pinterest: Supposedly the best cupcake recipe ever. I will say I just tried one and they truly are pretty amazing. I think I'll have to agree with the claim. Make them if you get a chance! Now I need to find the perfect frosting recipe...

(Doesn't that look amazing! My icing isn't that pretty - it's in fact purple - per Lincoln's request).
Now on to play swords, pirates, and basketball. :)

I Tried the Broccolii Thing...

You know, from Pinterest...this one?
Supposedly the best way to cook broccoli???

And it really was awesome. Now it says anyone/everyone will like it, but my husband is avidly disgusted by broccoli and this still didn't work. I made it for myself for lunch after church. Yes, for lunch. And it was fantastic and filling.

I basically followed the recipe, but made some modifications. Here's what I did in case you want to try:

Broke apart 2 bunches of fresh broccoli and mixed in 4 sliced cloves of garlic (on foil in a square cake pan). Sprayed with cooking spray (instead of using recommended amount of olive oil - too much hurts my stomach).
I did mixed in about 1/2 TBS of olive oil.
Put a very generous amount of salt and pepper :)
Roast in the oven at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. This was the perfect time.
Take out of oven and mix in some pine nuts (I will probably not do this next time).
Recipe says squeeze lemon over it, but all I had was a lime and it worked just as well - a necessary step - loved the zest!
Then it says put Parmesan cheese over it. OF course Walmart was out of Parmesan cheese (really??) so I found this stuff instead for a dollar and some change. I used the middle flavor.

I sprinkled about 1/5 of the package over the top and it was AWESOME! Saving the rest of the package for next time.

This is something I will definitely take as a side when I take next meal to someone. So there you have it. Give it a try - you won't be disappointed. I think I'm going to try to do this with asparagus next time and see if it's good.

My Favorite Chili Recipe (and it's crock-pot!)

3-Bean Chili (adapted from a crock-pot cookbook I own)

Combine the following in crock-pot (big one) and cook on low for 3-4 hours:

2 lbs browned ground beef (I use extra lean)
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 chopped yellow onion
2 can chili beans
2 cans black beans
2 can kidney beans
2 cans chili ready diced tomatoes
1 pkg chili seasoning mix
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Lots of salt and pepper (I tend to go crazy here).

This is by far my favorite chili recipe. It's super chunky and not too tomato-y (we're not tomato saucy fans here).
If you love the tomato sauciness, you can add a can of tomato paste. The recipe actually calls for it. I never cook with it.
Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Baked Spag

Alright. Sorry if this is starting to be boring, but - yes, another recipe for ya. I've made baked spaghetti before but this recipe was fantastic!! Pair it with a spinach salad topped with tomatoes, almonds, peppers and vinaigrette - and you've got yourself some goodness. :)

Here's the phenomenal picture of this tasty little dish (not my pic):

And here's the recipe link:
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/04/baked-parmesan-spaghetti/comment-page-1/#comments

Oh - and the kids:
You decide.

2 Recipes

The first is a Pinterest floater...I have to bring a breakfast item for Bible study in the morning. Perfect time to try out something Pinterest.:)
I chose the Pumpkin Crunch Cake.

Cake for breakfast? Hmmm....not so sure. Pumpkin for breakfast? Definitely. So I go with the latter. I just made this (since Tuesday mornings are crazy enough), and happy to report it is ever so amazing. Yes, I tried it. You can't make something new and not try it out before sharing with 60+ people! But now I'm not so sure how it will fare after being refrigerated...I might have to try it again in the morning. :)

Oh - and this is SUPER easy and quick to make (except it bakes for 45 min).

NEXT UP....

Chicken Dump Soup (Crock-pot style...and what's for dinner)

Ingredients:

1 can rotel

8oz. Velvetta

3 cans Cream of Chicken

1 can chicken broth

3-4 cooked, and shredded chicken breasts

16 oz. frozen corn

1 can creamed corn

pepper (I use lots)

Dab of minced garlic

Combine all ingredients in the crock-pot and cook on low for 4-5 hours...stirring throughout so it doesn't stick to sides/bottom (or PAM spray works too).

This is my mom's recipe and super yummy, super easy, and loaded with sodium (yum).

Poppyseed Chicken...with a Kick

All right ya'll. Here's a comfort dish done a tad differently, and  - in my opinion - makes all the difference. I've always thought the basic recipe to be somewhat bland and slow to impress, but allow me to help you dress up this popular dish.
Actually, this was not my idea, but my sweet neighbor Melanie passed along this secret to me last year and our family LOVES it.

I would link to her blog or something of the sort, but she doesn't have one, so can I link to her Pinterest account???
I'm gonna do it anyway. Thanks Melanie for the spicing up my recipe stack!!! :)

Alright, so on to the good stuff:

Ingredients:
16oz. Low-fat Sour Cream
2 Can Cream of Chicken
Cubed or chunked cooked Chicken (I usually boil about 4 frozen breasts)
Poppyseeds
2 Tubes of Ritz Crackers (crushed)
1 Stick Butter (I use low-fat here, too)
And the Secret Ingredients:

- Now, mix the cream of chickens and sour cream thoroughly in a big bowl.
- Sprinkle in the poppyseeds (I use a TON...about half a smaller-sized bottle).
- Sprinkle in a very generous amount of the above pictured seasonings (again, I go crazy here...I      always taste it and keep sprinkling until it's pretty flavorful).

Then add the cubed/chunked/thick-shredded chicken.

Pour into a casserole dish:

Crush up 2 tubes of Ritz Crackers (I do this in a freezer bag):

Sprinkle the crushed crackers on top of the casserole, then pour stick of melted butter on top:

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes:

I made this for a neighbor tonight who just had surgery. I also sent over some veggies and
 my chocolate chip cookies. So I got some pictures of those, too. :)

Dressed Up Green Beans

My mom told me a new way to spice up green beans and Wa-La!!! My husband loves them! Lincoln and I do, as well, but Noah takes one bite (makes a nasty face) and spits them out his mouth. 3/4 is success in my book though.

So here we go:
These 3 ingredients:

**Pre-heat oven to 350**

Dump frozen whole beans in corning ware (I think whole ones taste so much better)

Generously spray with cooking spray (or you can use butter/olive oil)

Dump one packet of italian salad dressing mix on top and mix all around.

Bake about 25-30 minutes.

**I also sprinkle with salt/pepper before baking

We have these at least once a week as a side dish. Love them!!!

Food For Thought

This morning was amazing. The temps were in the low 70's so we all went out to the Farmer's Market. We snatched up some local honey, salsa, and the boys got them some baked goods for a (I'm sure healthy) breakfast. Then we headed over to the park off the square to let the boys play.
On a side-note, it has been a week now of letting Lincoln go "out" in just undies (no pull-ups) and we have ZERO accidents!!! If he needs to go, he tells us. :) But usually he can hold it the whole trip. This is new for us but I feel since it's been a week now of numerous outings, it's safe to say we've made MASSIVE improvement (if not fully trained!).

Now. I do our grocery budget in terms of every two weeks. I'm also trying to get better at meal planning and thought I'd share what's on the docket for this week. This first week, I'm trying a bunch of new recipes I've collected from Pinterest (I'll let you know how it goes). So here's the first week (all of which I can make gluten-free):

Sunday:
Chicken & Rice

Mon-Tues (we do leftovers):
Chicken Piccata

Wed-Thurs:
Mexican Crock-pot Chicken

Fri-Sat:
Roast.
No pic here, but I have found the best way to make it is in the crockpot with McCormick Roast seasoning. And I use the very lean roast which is super tender.

Then for breakfast tomorrow, I'm going to make this amazing blueberry thing:

Then Sunday is birthday lunch with my family for 2 birthdays so no cooking for me. I hope we have success with these new recipes!! :)

Got Cake?

Pinterest. Had no clue what this was until my neighbor Ashley wrote a post about it. So I went, I browsed, I signed up to pin (whatever that means...I'm still not sure), and I left a little confused.But I did stumble upon this cake...of course leave it to a cake to catch my eye.

Now mine doesn't do justice to the picture I saw, but it did turn out way better than I was expecting and was a massive hit amongst all males in my household.

Behold the cake in pictures:

A certain toddler was CRAZY excited for cake time tonight. It was literally as if a magnetic field was drawing in his hands toward the icing.

(See the hand?)
But the part that won me major cool points was when it was cut open:

4 layers of sheer awesomeness (if you're a 2-year-old).

So back to Pinterest...is it for the not-so-creative (me) to glee amazing ideas from others?????

Gluten-Free Pasta

So tonight I made my first gluten-free pasta dish.
I had made Jason chicken fettuccine last night (gluten-loaded), and since that's what he was also having again tonight (we're a leftover family), I decided to try the gluten-free noodles I bought a few days ago and share a pasta dinner with him.
It ended up being awesome. I seriously loved it. And both the kids ate three helpings of it - seriously. So I thought I'd share how I made it in case you wanted to try it out for yourself!

I kind of threw together things in the kitchen, so I'm sure tweaking could make it better depending on what you have but here it goes:

First, the noodles.

 Now these are the first I've tried, but my gluten-free pal Christine told me they're the best ones (got lucky on that one). The reason I bought them is because they were only $2 - only a dollar more than the others I usually buy. Other GF brands were at least 2x's that price.

The package says cook for 14 minutes, but Christine advised me to cook them longer. I did for 17 min. and they were perfect.

Next I cooked fresh asparagus, broccoli, and mushrooms in a skillet type pan with PAM olive oil spray, salt, pepper, BAM all-purpose seasoning, and an Italian seasoning blend. When the veggies were tender, I added about 1/2 cup of white cooking wine, and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. I let the veggies cook in the sauce for a bit, then dumped it all on the noodles.

That's it. :)

It really was super yummy and will be something I make often.

And it has been one complete week now doing strict GF, and I have experienced ZERO digestive problems. It's been amazing. I think I'm hooked. :)

The Best Cookie Ever...Seriously.

Okay. Here it goes.

I LOVE baking cookies. I mean, L-O-V-E it to the utmost degree. I love baking them more than I do eating them (though eating the dough is very close to a tie). Get the picture? When I was in college, I set out on the "perfect cookie recipe" search. I'm not kidding - I would raid refrigerators and grocery store isles, dumping all kinds of different ingredients trying to "discover the magic" that is in the goeyness of a cookie.

And then one day I found it.

In my opinion - the fluffiest, goeyiest, most delicious chocolate chip cookie. Don't be fooled though - I'll admit there was not a ton of invention here, but a few "extras" added to a good ole original recipe that made ALL the difference. I've been making these for years no and they never cease to be gone within a short time frame and gather gobs of compliments. I've recently been asked for the recipe a handful of times, so I thought I would share and let ya try it out for yourselves.

Again - let me repeat - it won't seem all that magical of a recipe, but I dare you to try it. :)

Here's the 3 main factors that make these things pop:

Now here's how it works:

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the following:
      - 2 sticks of butter that have been softened in microwave for 20 secs (sounds weird, but this is actually a factor I have found - and no other butter has worked better than the cheap ole Blue Bonnet)
      - 2 Eggs
      - 3/4 Cup Sugar
      - 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
      - 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
      - 1 Large Box Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix (DO NOT use Cook & Serve!!!)

Set Aside.

In a separate bowl, sift the following together:
      - 2 1/2 Cups Flour (this is a little extra than most recipes)
      - 1 Tsp Baking Soda
      - 1 Tsp Salt

Slowly mix the dry in with the wet, and then add a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Cook for 9-11 minutes at 375 degrees. (My oven cooks them slightly underdone and perfect at 10 minutes). They will look somewhat underdone. Very important NOT to cook them too long or they don't taste nearly as good.

**Now, something I have found this year, is that if you make the dough and freeze it for later, I think the cookies come out slightly better for some reason! I did this a lot over holidays so I could pull out some dough when I needed cookies in a pinch. I almost always freeze it now...even if for the day.

I promise you'll fall in love with these...ENJOY.