Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Yeah, the white stuff is sour cream.  Sorry for its lack of beauty (sour cream in the oven never makes for a pretty presentation- see my Deep-Dish Taco Squares) but it sure rubs ya right when you take a bite!  

Okay i KNOW this recipe is not the most thigh-friendly (I'm still working on finding a a guilt-free enchilada recipe), but I did have an excuse to make it.

A) It was Fast Sunday.

B) My family was coming over for dinner!  Forrest and I were in charge of making dinner and dessert. (I made the cheesecake for dessert that I posted about earlier this week)

C) It is my mother-in-law's recipe who is a FABULOUS cook.  She gave me a cookbook with Pratt family recipes in it for my bridal shower and I am so excited about it.

Therefore, I was completely justified in making a delicious, cheesy, fatty, delectable Mexican dish!

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

from Terry Pratt

12 corn or flour tortillas

3 cups chopped chicken breasts (cooked)

1/4 c. minced onion

1 pt. sour cream

4 cups green chili sauce*** (see below)

1 lb. jack cheese, grated

salt to taste

Heat tortillas on griddle with a little oil.  Blot.

Mix 1 cup chili sauce with chicken.  Put 1/4 cup chicken mixture on tortilla and roll up.

Place on oblong baking dish (sprayed with Pam) and cover with grated cheese.

Add remaining chili sauce on top.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remove from oven and smother sour cream over top and return to oven for 10 minutes.  

Serves 6.

**Green Chili Sauce

1/4 cup salad oil or olive oil

1/2 cup minced onion

1 cup water

salt to taste

clove of garlic or powder

1Tbsp. flour

1 cup diced green chilies

Saute garlic and onion in heavy saucepan.  

Blend in flour with wooden spoon.

Add water, oil and green chilies.  Bring to a boil.  

Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

YUM!

Lemon Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

So guess what.  I love dessert.  A lot.
Sometimes that's a bad thing.
Most of the times it's good though.

 

Because sometimes I end up making things like this.

Probably one of the best desserts I've had.

 

Last night we had my family over for Sunday dinner in our small little house.  I made some bomb enchiladas (recipe to come soon!), a black bean side dish, and this fabulous CHEESECAKE!

 

I had ever made a cheesecake before, and even though it wasn't hard at all to mix the ingredients, it was VERY time consuming! It needed longer to bake than the recipe called for and since it was hard to tell when it was done (center is still supposed to be "slightly" jiggly- what defines "slightly?!"), I just kept it in the oven until I was confident that it was done.

THEN it was time for refrigeration... for at least 4 hours! 

Meanwhile I whipped up some raspberry sauce that I thought would go well with it...

 

And then it was time to serve- out of the fridge!

 

It was BEAUTIFUL and better yet, it tasted fabulous! My whole family loved it and Forrest and I ended up going back for seconds after everyone left... shhh :)

Lemon Cheesecake
from Betty Crocker

 

Crust

1	box yellow cake mix
1/3	cup vegetable oil
1	egg
1	teaspoon grated lemon peel

Filling

2

packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

3/4

cup sugar

3

containers (3.5 oz each) lemon pudding (from 4-pack container)

1/2

cup sour cream

3

eggs

2

cups frozen (thawed) whipped topping

  

Heat oven to 300°F. Spray bottom and side of 10-inch springform pan with baking spray with flour. Wrap foil around outside of pan to catch drips. Reserve 1/4 cup of the cake mix; set aside. In large bowl, beat remaining cake mix, oil, 1 egg and lemon peel with electric mixer on low speed until crumbly. Press in bottom and 1 1/2 inches up side of pan.

In same large bowl, beat reserved cake mix, the cream cheese, sugar, pudding and sour cream on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until mixed. Pour over crust.
Bake 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes or until edges are set but center of cheesecake jiggles slightly when moved. Turn oven off; open oven door at least 4 inches. Leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes longer.

Remove cheesecake from oven; place on cooling rack. Without releasing side of pan, run knife around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake. Cool in pan on cooling rack 30 minutes. Cover loosely; refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Remove side of pan before serving. Pipe or spoon whipped topping around outside edge of cheesecake. Store in refrigerator. 


Raspberry Sauce
1 10-oz bag frozen raspberries
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup

Combine ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Then remove from heat, cool, cover, and refrigerate.  

Serve on ice cream, toast, yogurt, or lemon cheesecake!  

Cranberry Chicken

You know you've made a good dinner when your husband mentions how it was so good that he talked to a co-worker about it.  HA! I love it!

I don't think I'll ever be at a shortage for new recipes for dinners that I'll be eager to try.  But some recipes just gotta go on the repeat.  I think this is one of them.

 

Although it reminded me of Thanksgiving with the cranberry sauce and the meat, this is an excellent dish! The ingredients may seem like a strange combination, but trust me- the resulting flavor is fantastic!  It is loaded with wholesome goodness that Forrest (my hubby) and I devoured!

 

 Cranberry Chicken

from Favorite Family Recipes

3-4 chicken breasts
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 pkg. chopped pecans
1 bottle Catalina dressing
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

Place chicken in baking pan. Generously spread cranberry sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle pecans and onion soup mix over chicken. Pour catalina dressing over top. Bake lightly covered with foil at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 more minutes.

Mini Caramel Monkey Bread

Okay so I'll admit it.  I am on a bread/carb craze right now.  I made banana bread last week.  Made these monkey breads on Saturday.  Then on Sunday I devoured orange rolls made by my mom and amazing cinnamon rolls made by my mother-in-law.


And these monkey bread rolls..... they were AMAZING.

 

The "caramel" sauce of brown sugar and butter that you put at the bottom of the muffin pan (then is inverted onto the top of the roll- mine dried a little bit because I didn't take them out soon enough) is SO good!  These will definitely become a tradition in our new home for Saturday breakfasts.  My husband and I ate all of them throughout the day.  

Okay, so it actually only took a few hours.... I'll just blame it on my recent carb craze...

Mini Caramel Monkey Bread

from Pillsbury

 1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

2 7.5 cans Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits

Grease or spray 12 regular-size muffin cups.  Mix melted butter and brown sugar; spoon 1 tablespoon into each muffin cup.

Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon in a 1-gallon bag.  Separate dough into 20 biscuits; cut each into 6 pieces.  Shake pieces in bag to coat.  Place 10 pieces in each muffin cup.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.  Cool 1 minute; turn upside down.  Serve warm.

Not-Yo-Average Banana Bread

ALAS- my first recipe post in a while!  And to be continuously repeated.
To start, there are a few things I grew up eating that I don't think I could ever part with.  These recipes were courtesy of my lovely mother who can cook well and has her share of prized recipes that our family loves and requests.

1. My mom's apple crisp.  Seriously, NOTHING else compares.  It has the most amazing crumb topping that is to die for.  In fact, you can find that very crumb topping here- my blackberry-peach crisp is almost equally amazing.
2. Christmas morning breakfast casserole. 
3. Mom's delicious spaghetti- sooo meaty and good! I should post the recipe sometime...
4. Chocolate chip cookies. 'Nuff said.
5. My mom's BANANA bread!

I had forgotten how incredible this bread smells while baking in the oven.  It seemed just surreal that I was baking in my own, very kitchen in my own, very house!  And, with only my husband and I living here.... to eat two whole giant loaves of banana bread?!?

Luckily I visited my family that evening so I brought them a loaf... it was a huge hit, like always!

And my husband loved it too.  But then again, he loves anything that's put in front of him.

Banana Bread

Makes 3 large loaves

Combine in order:

6 ripe bananas mashed (the riper the better- I like them black), 4 eggs, 1 1/3 cup oil, 3 cups sugar, 2/3 cup sour cream.

Add:  4 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 1/2 tsp. soda, 2 tsp. vanilla, 2 cups chopped nuts (optional- I leave them out).

Pour into 3 greased and floured loaf pans.  Bake at 325 for 45 minutes- 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.  

 

EXPLANATION. A GOOD ONE.

NO; I did not fall off the face of the earth.  NO; I did not quit blogging.  NO; I did not stop cooking or baking.

Then what WAS I doing the past 4 months? Holy smokes... 4 months.. that's longer that I thought it was.  Well, you see:

 

I was a bride!!! 

Shortly after my last post, my now husband proposed to me when I was visiting him and my family in Mesa, AZ for Thanksgiving.  Immediately following, wedding plans were in full force.  In order for our March wedding date to happen, we needed to act quickly- in my mind, it seems like there were a million things to decide.

 I moved back to Mesa, my hometown, for good just before Christmas.  Since then, it has been a whirlwind of appointments, photo shoots, invitation addressing, living arrangement searching, and just about every other decision to be made for a wedding.

 The most amazing wedding at that.  Our date was March 10th and it could not have been more blissful.  I am married to the most wonderful, amazing man- he is perfect for me. 

 I do not regret our short engagement one bit... we are now happily married and living in Mesa, AZ (both of our hometowns), just 15 minutes from both of our families.  We love our new home and our new life.

SO.  That is the explanation for my absence of blogging.  I know, I know. The DRASTIC effects that have occurred on so many of you.... it makes my heart break.

HA.  I am well aware that although I may have few readers, I am re-starting this blog simply as a way to post my adventures in the kitchen- now I really have a motivation to cook and bake- I have a cute little husband who depends on my cooking!!  So, why not blog about it as well?? :)  That way I can have an online resource, if just for me, of all my recipes and experiences. 

My lovely new kitchen!!!!! Well, at least a part of it.  The most important part, though.  Duh.  I have already taken my new kitchen by storm and I'm so excited to share these fun recipes with you lucky ducks!

Food, cooking, and nutrition will always be a major part of my life.  Just so you know.

I will see you soon with an amazing recipe for..... BANANA BREAD.  Coming soon...

A Cyber Thanksgiving Round-Up

 I cannot believe Thanksgiving is next week!  Honestly... where does the time go?  It is almost 2011.. which means I will be 20 a couple days later!  :) 

I am SO excited for Thanksgiving.  After Christmas, it is probably my favorite holiday.  (So, basically it's my second favorite)  This will be my first Thanksgiving where I am bringing a rather-serious boyfriend to the family get-together (not to mention I get to go to his as well!) which is making me even more anxious for next week to get here so I can fly home to see them all!

Anyway...I've been seeing a LOT of pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, stuffing and other Turkey day recipes on the blog world/Internet ever since it was socially acceptable (that would be the day after Halloween...)  Since all of the foods have already been divvied out to all of my family members, I don't have to worry about new recipes or anything, but I still love looking at the mouth-watering pictures and getting ideas for future holidays... so here is a round-up of some of the yummiest-looking Thanksgiving recipes I've seen.. I think they all sound and look amazing!

 

1.  Very Pumpkin Pie by the Blue-Eyed Bakers

2. Artichoke Parmesan Sourdough Stuffing by Our Best Bites

 

3. Green Bean Casserole by Brown-Eyed Baker

 

4. Deep-Dish Caramel Apple Pie by Sugar Plum

5.  Pecan Pie Squares at MyRecipes.com

 

6. Creamy Spinach Gratin by Mel's Kitchen Cafe

 

7.  Pumpkin Streusel Muffins by The Peppered Pantry 

8.  Cranberry-Lime Galette by My Baking Heart

 

9.  Traditional Sweet Potato Casserole at MyRecipes.com

10.  Cranberry Cinnamon Chip Bars by Our Best Bites

YUM.  Can't wait for Turkey Day!