PW's Enchiladas

Long time no post! I sure have done a lot of cooking these past four months since I last posted, and I hope to start posting more regularly.

Back in October I came across my new favorite must-read-everyday blog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. She has a cooking site, a home & garden site, a photography site, and a homeschooling site. Not only that, but she is frigging hilarious.

I frequently browse through her recipes, because she has an awesome way of showing you the details of how to cook something. She shows pictures for every step.

So far, my favorite and Dean's favorite are these enchiladas! Here is a link to the recipe:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/09/simple-perfect-enchiladas/

The only thing I do different is layer the ingredients like a casserole instead of rolling the enchiladas. So for us, it's really enchilada casserole. First I put a little sauce and spread it over the bottom of the pan, then 6 tortillas, then more sauce, then meat mixture, green onions, black olives, cheese, and start over again, this time dipping each tortilla into the sauce. After the 2nd layer I put a ton of cheese, the rest of the sauce, and the cilantro.

It's heaven!

Double Chocolate Cookies

I made these last night. They are wonderful!
The recipe says use an "ungreased" cookie sheet, but I have learned to NEVER do this. They always stick, unless you have a really top-of-the-line non-stick cookie sheet. I always use non-stick spray.

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup softened butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 (12 oz) package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream sugar and butter; beat in egg and vanilla.
Beat in flour, cocoa, and baking soda on low speed.
Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfulls onto cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 for 8-11 minutes. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet.
Yields 3 dozen cookies.

Poppyseed Chicken

Submitted by: Karen, aka Nana K, aka my mom. She is the queen of comfort food cooking. Thanks Mom!
This is a favorite of everyone in our family. It is the only "casserole" that Dean will admit to liking. I like it served over rice.

Ingredients
8 large Chicken Breasts (Boneless)
1 - 8 oz. carton sour Cream
1 can Cream of Mushroom or Chicken Soup
1 tube Ritz crackers
2 Bouillon cubes, chicken flavored
3 Tablespoons Poppy seeds
¼ stick Butter

Boil the chicken in a large stock pot, add the bouillon and cook slowly. Once chicken is done and cooled, cut into bite sized pieces.
In a large mixing blow, add 1 can of soup and 1 carton of sour cream and mix.
Add 2 cups of broth from the stock pot to the creamed mixture and stir well.
Place the cubed chicken into a 9 x 13 casserole dish and pour the creamed mixture over the chicken, mix well.
Crumble one tube of Ritz crackers and pour over the creamed mixture.
Sprinkle poppy seeds evenly over the top of the crackers.
Top with melted butter.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350° until the cracker top is brown and bubbly (usually about 20 minutes).

Mexican Stuffed Shells

Submitted by: Summer, one of my best friends. We went through high school, college, and beyond together. Love ya Scrod!

12 ounce jar picante sauce
1 pound ground beef or turkey, browned and drained
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar, grated (or whatever you prefer)
15 ounce can tomato sauce
½ cup water
4 ounce can chopped green chilies
chopped onion
Large pasta shells, cooked and drained

In a small bowl, mix picante sauce, tomato sauce and water

Stir half of the sauce into the ground meat. Then add chilies, one cup of cheese and half of the onions; mix well

Spread some of the remaining sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Stuff cooked shells with meat mixture.

Arrange shells in the pan and top with sauce.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Remove from oven and top with remaining onions and cheese.

Bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.

EnjoyJ

Puff Pastry Omelettes

This is soething I came up with last night, so amounts of ingredients are not exact and can be modified to your liking.

1 puff pastry sheet

1 tomato, chopped

1 green onion stalk, chopped

several mushrooms, chopped

2 eggs

4 slices bacon

shredded cheese

Grease pan or cookie sheet

Cut puff pastry sheet into 4 squares

Cook bacon until crispy, set aside to cool.

Saute tomato, onion, and mushrooms in small amt. of remaining bacon grease for a couple of minutes.

Add eggs, cook mixture until eggs are cooked.

Add bacon and shredded cheese.

Spoon mixture onto pastry squares.

Bring pastry up around the mixture making a "shell"

Bake 15 minutes at 375

(I like the pastry sort of doughy, you could do it at 400 or for a few more minutes.)

Also, I had leftover filling. You could probably use another sheet of pastry and make 8.

"Whatever Floats Your Boat" Brownies

These brownies are awesome - they are very soft and have a fudgy texture. The best part is, you can add in nothing, or whatever "floats your boat." I used butterscotch chips, but you can use marshmallows, coconut, white chocolate, peanut butter chips, really anything you want! Dean is not big on chocolate at all, and he asked me to make more for him to take to work.

1/2 c. melted butter
1/2 c. cocoa
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1-2 c. of "whatever floats your boat"

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking pan. For double batch, use a 9x13 pan.

Combine melted butter & cocoa, mix until cocoa is dissolved. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla, flour, and salt. Mix until you see no more white from the flour. Do not overmix. Fold in "whatever floats your boat." Bake approximately 25 minutes, do not overbake. A toothpick or fork should come out with moist crumbs, not clean.
(I baked mine for 20 minutes and they were nice and soft.)

Enjoy!

This is a blog dedicated to things that I love to do. I have a hard time finding time for myself....................to think, read, shower, etc... I have always liked doing various crafts and cooking. Even though I don't have time for many crafts, one thing I have to do everyday is feed my family. I may as well try out new recipes and turn a task into something I like!!!! So, I will post mostly recipes and sometimes various craft ideas when I have time to do them.
I would like to involve as many others as possible and make this site a great resource. So, if you have a favorite recipe, you make one up, or you come across a new one that is worth sharing, email it to me and I will post it here.
I KNOW I am related to many great cooks, by blood and by marriage, so don't be shy. Send me your recipes and craft ideas!

jrhmyatt@xanadoo.com