Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Ranch Sauce

This is my second try at this one. I've been meaning to redo this one for a long time! Here's the original link. You can tell by my photo, this one went much better. :)

Ingredients
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup refrigerated sour cream ranch dip
2/3 cup chopped green onions
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
¾ cup buffalo wing sauce
12 tortillas
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. In medium bowl, mix soup, dip and 1/3 cup of the onions. In large bowl, mix chicken and buffalo wing sauce until coated. Spoon 2 tbsp soup mixture down center of each tortilla. Reserve ½ cup cheese for garnish. Top each tortilla with about ¼ cup chicken mixture and scant ¼ cup cheese. Fold sides of tortillas over filling; place seam side down in baking dish. Spoon remaining soup mixture over filled tortillas. Cover dish tightly with foil. Bake 40-45 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with reserved ½ cup cheese and remaining 1/3 cup onions. Bake uncovered about 5 minutes long or until cheese is melted.

I still didn't have green onions this time. And I didn't have enough extra soup mixture to put ontop, so I opened a can of cream of chicken and dumped it ontop. (I was out of ranch dip, or I would've mixed them together.) My buffalo sauce was still a little hot, but it was tolerable with the extra sauce on top. I'm assuming if you know your buffalo sauce isn't too hot for you, you'll be in good shape. A tasty enchilada. I ate all the leftovers for lunch the following week. :)

Denny's BBQ Chicken Sandwich

This is a Top Secret Recipe. I actually had this at Denny's and so I wanted to try this recipe. It was pretty darn good.

Sweet Hickory Spread Ingredients
3 tbsp butter
1 cup minced onion
2 tsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp white vinegar
1/8 tsp hickory salt

2 skinless chicken breast fillets
vegetable oil
salt
ground black pepper
2 hamburger buns
2 tbsp melted butter
2 leaves green leaf lettuce
4 tomato slices
2 slices cheddar cheese
French fried onions

Prepare sweet hickory spread by melting 3 tbsp butter over medium/low heat. Add 1 cup minced onion and sautee for 7 to 10 minutes or until the onions start to brown. Add 2 tsp flour and stir until the flour is mixed in. Let this cook for a minute or two, then add molasses, water, vinegar, and hickory salty. Simmer sauce for 3 to 4 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat and cover.

To cook the chicken, preheat a skillet or griddle pan over medium heat. Pound your chicken with a kitchen mallet so that it has a uniform thickness of about 1/2 inch, then trim any excess meat away that would hand off the sandwich. (Pretty sure I didn't trim anything. No wasting here!) Rub each chicken breast with some canola oil, then sprinkle each with salt and pepper. Grill chicken for 4 to 6 minutes per side until done.

As your chicken cooks, spread a little butter on the faces of your two hamburger buns and toast on another skillet or griddle. Build each sandwich by first spreading some of the sweet hickory spread on the face of the bottom bun. Tear a leaf of lettuce to fit on the bottom bun. Arrange two tomato slices on the lettuce. Stack the grilled chicken breast on the tomato slices. Place a slice of cheddar on the chicken breast. Stack a handful of french fried onions then top with the hamburger bun. Serve with bbq sauce on the side.

Yummy. Makes me hungry writing about.

Grape and Quinoa Salad

This recipe comes from a cookbook called "Home Cooking the Costco Way".  It's a yearly publication from the warehouse store Costco.  They gather recipes from the companies that sell food at their store and give it away on Thanksgiving weekend.

I've been wanting to try quinoa for a while.  I have some health-conscious friends who swear by this healthy grain.  When I found this recipe, I thought I'd give it a try.

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
1 1/2 cups red and green seedless grapes, cut into quarters
1/2 cup dry-roasted hazelnuts, coursley chopped
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Mix quinoa, grapes, hazelnuts and green onion in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, whisk canola oil, lemon juice, sugar and salt.  Pour dressing over the quinoa mixture and stir to combine.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Mine's not as pretty as the one in the book, probably because I only had green grapes.  But I'm sure it still tasted just as good.

Now, be forewarned, if you've never used quinoa before, as it's cooking it doesn't have the most pleasant scent.  It kinda smelled like weeds.  But the finished product was scrumptious.

Mexican Meatballs

I am a huge fan of this recipe. If you follow it completely, you get delicious meatballs, but it's also really easy to change and edit to your taste. I went on a meatball making binge after making these. Each batch was different than the last, and we loved them all!

Ingredients
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 gloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. dried or 2 tbsp. fresh oregano
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 lb. lean ground turkey
8 oz. uncooked or cooked smoked chorizo sausage, finely chopped (I made my own chorizo by flavoring plain sausage. Will share that recipe later.)
2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Spray 9x13 with cooking spray. Mix together in large bowl the eggs, bread crumbs, cilantro, garlic, oregano, 1 1/2 tsp. of the chili powder, salt and cumin. Add the ground turkey and chorizo sausage; mix well. With damp hands or a small ice cream scoop (I used my hands) form into 24 to 30 meatballs. Combine oil and remaining 1/2 tsp. chili powder, brush over meatballs. Bake meatballs 22 to 25 minutes or until cooked through (165 degrees). With slotted spoon, remove meatballs to a serving bowl.

We ate with rice. They were awesome. If you make the meatballs as uniform in size as possible, they cook more evenly. I have to say, I love baking meatballs. I have always hated cooking them on the stovetop. Anytime I find a meatball recipe, I make them and cook them to this recipes directions. Love baking meatballs! Then you can even make them earlier in the day and refrigerate til it's time to bake.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

This is another Pillsbury recipe. I really liked it. But anything with french fried onions is usually great in my book.

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
1 pckg (8 oz) sliced fresh baby portabella mushrooms (I bought these and was so excited about them, but they got moldy before I used them. Sad. So I just used canned mushrooms.)
1 can golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard (standard mustard for me)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/4 tsp pepper
3 cups cut-up cooked chicken
1 lb. frozen broccoli cuts, thawed
1 can  (8 oz) sliced water chesnuts, drained (I'm not a fan, so I left these out)
1 cup shredded American-cheddar cheese blend (4 oz)
1 can french fried onions (2.8 oz)

Heat oven to 350. Spray 9x13 with cooking spray. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; cook 4-6 minutes, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are browned. In large bowl, mix soup, milk, mustard, salt, thyme and pepper. Stir in mushrooms, chicken, broccoli and water chesnuts. Pour into baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover dish with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Sprinkle french fried onions over top. Bake uncovered about 15 minutes longer or until mixture is hot and bubbly.

Here's my son's plate. He's always asking me to take a picture of his food when I do this. So this time I did. This meal is pretty child friendly I think. Except that my kid has broccoli issues. And occasional mushroom issues. But I really liked it and thought it was very yummy.

Cajun Seasoning

This is the cajun seasoning Aaron used for our crispy fish.

Ingredients
1 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. ground red pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. black pepper

Applebee's Chicken Fajita Rollup

This is another Top Secret Restaurant recipe. Yummy.

Marinade Ingredients
2 cups water
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp ground chipotle pepper or 1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp hickory smoke flavoring
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground black pepper

4 chicken breast fillets

Mexi-Ranch Dipping Sauce Ingredients
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp minced onion
2 tbsp diced tomato
1 tbsp buttermilk
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp minced fresh cilantro
1 tsp canned chopped mild green chiles
3/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
pinch dried dill weed
pinch ground cumin
pinch cayenne pepper

Pico de Gallo Ingredients
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 tsp lime juice
2 tsp minced fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

4 large tortillas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shreded Monterey Jack cheese
4 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

The chicken needs to marinate for 2 hours, so make the marinade first by combining the ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir well until the sugar has dissolved. Add four chicken breasts to marinade, cover and chill for 2 hours. Don't let the chicken marinate for much more than that or it could get tough.

While the chicken marinates, prepare the dipping sauce by combining the ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir well then cover and chill. This will allow all the flavors to develop nicely while parked in the fridge.

The pico de gallo will also develop nicely in the fridge. Combine all those ingredients, then cover and chill it as well.

When you're ready to make your roll-ups, preheat your grill to medium/high heat. Grill the chicken breasts for 4 to 7 minutes per side or until done.

Build each roll-up by first laying a large flour tortilla in a large skillet over low-heat. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of the combined cheeses over the surface of the tortilla while it heats up in the pan. When the cheese begins to melt, remove the tortilla from the pan. Sprinkle about 1 cup of shredded lettuce in a strip across the center of the tortilla, followed by about 3 tbsp of pico de gallo. Slive one grilled chicken breast into bite size chunks and arrange the chicken on the lettuce. Fold the ends of the tortilla over the filling, then roll the tortilla from the bottom. Make a diagonal cut across the center of the roll-up and serve with a small dish of the dipping sauce on the side.

I just poured dipping sauce right in mine. Super tasty!

Microwave Monkey Bread

My friend Valerie gave me this recipe, and it's been used a number of times in my household.  It makes a perfect dessert for a breakfast for dinner type of evening.

Ingredients:
Topping:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
2 tbsp whipping cream (I rarely have this around the house so I haven't ever used it.)
optional: 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Rolls:
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 can pillsbury Grands! buttermilk biscuits (5 to 8) cut into quarters

In a 9" glass pie plate (or if you can't find it like me, a 9 x 9 square pan), plate 1/4 cup butter.  microwave uncovered on high 40 to 60 seconds or until melted. Stir in remaining topping ingredients except pecans.  Microwave uncovered on high 1 minute.  Stir; sprinkle evenly with nuts.

In a small bowl, mix together 1/3 cup brown sugar and cinnamon.  Dip biscuit quarters into the melted butter, then into cinnamon mixture to coat well.  Arrange biscuits in circle over topping in pie plate, being careful to leave the center open.  Microwave uncovered on high 4 to 6 minutes or until centers of the biscuits are no longer doughy.  Cool in pan 30 seconds.  Invert over serving plate (or in my case, a cookie sheet).  Serve warm.

Rice and Broccoli Timbales

This is a favorite of Ryan, my husband.  I like it too.  I think most normal kids would, but due to just plain stubbornness, mine take their two requisite bits and run away from the table.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice (the original recipe calls for wild rice, but I use plain old white)
1 10-oz package chopped broccoli, cooked until tender-crisp and chopped into small pieces
1 tbsp chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp salt
3 oz cream cheese
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup spaghetti or marinara sauce, heated

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except the marinara sauce in a bowl.  Blend well.
Put a spoonful of marinara sauce on each plate and spread around.  Spray a 10 oz custard cup with nonstick cooking spray.  Press 3/4 cup mixture into cup; invert onto serving plate.  Repeat with remaining mixture.  If desired, pour remaining sauce over timbales.  Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.

The last time we made this, we decided to entice the kids even more by shaping them with cookie cutters.  It didn't work, but they looked good.

 Forming the timbale with a heart cookie cutter.

 I have a new picture editing program and I turned these pictures in the program, but can't get them to show up that way.  Sorry about that.  But here is the heart for my daughter.

And the teddy bear for my son.

Enchiladas v 2.0

So I've been revamping a bunch of old recipes. Just little tweaks here and there really. But I'm super excited about how it's coming out. This is one of the first ones I did and they still taste great! This is such a classic recipe. Here's the original. Now, I did roll these ones. You can check out the pic at the end. So, here's the revamped version.

Ingredients
1 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
½ cup wheat flour
2 tbsp chili powder
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
4 cups hot water
2 beef bouillon
1 pound ground turkey
1 can kidney or black beans
½ pound grated cheddar cheese
10 flour tortillas

Combine first six ingredients. Add water. Stir (use a bouncer or whip). Add bouillon and cook over medium heat until it starts to thicken. Cook the ground beef while you are making the sauce. Drain and put in a bowl. Add the grated cheese to the ground beef, saving some to go on top. Dip tortillas in the sauce to soften, place on a plate and put a spoonful of the cheese/beef mixture near one side, spreading it out. Roll up and place in a 9x13 casserole dish. Pour remaining sauce over the rolled enchiladas. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes and put the saved cheese on top. Return to the oven until the cheese is melted.

The beans add an surprising amount of spice to the enchiladas. They have quite a bit more kick than the normal recipe. And I just thought of another addition I'll do next time. Flaxseed. Look at me getting all healthy and sneaky. :)

Second Annual Gingerbread Houses

These were our gingerbread houses from Christmas 2010. Emery's has a flat roof since she ate half of it while we were decorating. The kids had a blast. We used the royal icing from our other gingerbread house events.

Island Fries

This is another Top Secret Recipe from Island's Restaurant. They were mighty tasty. :)
Ingredients
2 medium russet potatoes
3-5 cups vegetable oil
3-5 cups peanut oil (We only had vegetable oil.)

Garlic/Onion Salt
1 tbsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine garlic salt, onion salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Slice potatoes with a slicer or mandoline set to 1/4-inch thick slices. Hold potato at a slight angle when slicing to produce fries that are about 2 to 3 inches in length. (I have a fry slicer, like one of those apple slicer/corers. It makes them pretty easily, if not a bit thicker.) Drop sliced potatoes into a bowl of water to rinse away starch. Pour out water, then fill bowl again. Pour out that water, then fill bowl again with water and add some ice. Let potatoes sit for 1 hour in the ice water.

Heat oils in fryer to 350 degrees. When the potatoes are done soaking, drain them, then pour them out onto a clean dish towel. Blot fries dry. When fries are dry drop about half into the hot oil and blanch for 2 to 3 minutes (fries should be soft in the center). Remove the fries onto a towel to cool. When all the fries are blanched, let them sit to cool for about 30 minutes. When fries are cool, fry them for a second time for 5 to 7 minutes or until fries are golden and crispy. Pour fries onto a rack or towels to drain. Toss fries with several pinches of the garlic/onion salt and serve hot.

These came out great. I didn't do all of the soaking for the precise times because I made these somewhat last minute. But they were really yummy.

Chili's Chicken Crispers

These are from Top Secrets Restaurant Recipes. I really love this recipe. I think it's just as good as McDonalds, and I made them at home! It does require a deep fryer.

Ingredients

Batter

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup whole milk

3/4 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 cup self-rising flour (I don't have that, so I used all-purpose)

6-10 cups shortening or vegetable oil. (We used oil.)

10 chicken tenderloins (We cut ours up into smaller nuggets)

1/2 cup flour

Heat shortening or oil in fryer to 350 degrees. Combine beaten egg, milk, chicken brother, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk for about 30 seconds to dissolve salt. Whisk in 1 cup flour. Let batter sit for 5 minutes. When you are ready to fry the chicken, coat each piece with dry flour, then dunk the chicken into the batter. Let a little batter drip off the chicken and lower it into the hot oil and fry for 7 to 9 minutes or until it's golden brown. Depending on the size of your fryer, you should be able to fry 3 or 4 tenderloins at the same time. Drain fried chicken strips on a rack or paper towels for a minute or so.

These were great!

Crispy Fish & Peppers

Here's a recipe from Reader's Digest. I couldn't find it for a while, but I'm glad I did. We've recently made it a few times and enjoy it even more than the first time. It's one of our most successful breading recipes. (You know how some breadings will come off on the pan, etc. This one is great!)

Ingredients

1 lb. fresh small fish filets

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 tsp cajun seasoning

1 cup flour

vegetable oil

1-2 miniature sweet peppers

Rinse 1 lb. fish and pat dry. In a shallow dish, combine buttermilk, egg and cajun seasoning. Place 1 cup flour in another dish. Dip fish in buttermilk mixture then flour; repeat. Carefully add fish to hot vegetable oil and cook until golden (3 to 5 minutes per side), working in batches and adding more oil if needed. Drain on paper towels. Pour oil from skillet; wipe clean with paper towel. Add 1 or 2 sliced miniature sweet peppers. Cook 2 minutes. Sprinkle over fish.

The first time we made this, we didn't have cajun seasoning. We have since found this recipe. The breading comes out so great. We also haven't tried it with the mini peppers. But last time we made this, we cut up some bell peppers and fried those. It was a great addition. I'll definitely have to find some of those mini peppers they talk about. One of our new favorites!

Chicken-Vegetable Chowder

This one is a Pillsbury Annual Recipe. I've used a lot of theirs. Mostly they include crescent rolls. But this one doesn't. I made it while in the middle of pregnancy, so I wasn't really digging it. But Aaron said it was good, so I might have to make it again once my gag reflex is in check.

Ingredients

1 lb chicken, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup carrots (chopped or baby carrots sliced in half)

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (I used canned)

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp thyme

1 can (14 oz) chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup milk

3 tbsp flour

1 box (9 oz) frozen broccoli

In slow cooker, mix chicken, carrots, mushrooms, onion, water, garlic powder, thyme and broth. Cover; cook on low heat for 7 to 9 hours. About 35 minutes before serving, skim fat from slow cooker. In small bowl, beat soup, milk, and flour with wire whisk until smooth. Add soup mixture and broccoli to chicken mixture. Cover; cook on low heat setting 30 minutes longer or unti broccoli is tender.

I think you could easily adjust this to stovetop cooking if you didn't have time to start it early.

Taco Chili

We found this one online and really liked it. I think it's a pretty mild chili (a bit more kid friendly) but it's really flavorful!

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey or beef (I think we used beef, but I'd totally use turkey)

1/4 cup chopped onion (I probably used at least half an onion)

2-3 cloves minced garlic (again, you can totally sneak in more if you want)

1 1/2 cups celery, chopped

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 small can green chiles

1 15 oz. can stewed or diced tomatoes (You can use 2 cans)

4-16 oz. cans of beans (mix and match. We used kidney and black. And we might not've used 4, but less. Can't remember. You don't need to drain or rinse most. But I would drain and rinse black beans.)

1 pckg taco seasoning

1 pckg ranch dressing mix

2 tsp cumin

16 oz. bag frozen corn

1/2 cup water optional

Brown turkey (or beef), adding onions, garlic, and celery about halfway through. One by one, add the remaining ingredients. Do not drain anything, just dump. The 1/2 cup water is optional. It makes it more soupy and with the addition of more canned tomaotes or even one more can of beans, it's really not needed. Heat through. Simmer for awhile if you'd like.

This recipe is really open. You can use more beans or less. I think we used less because it was looking a little too beany for me. If it's not soupy enough, you can add the extra diced tomatoes, or just water. It's really versatile, and the flavors are great.

Halloween Candied Popcorn

This is an old family favorite. I had never made it before, so I was a little anxious about it. In the end it wasn't really that hard. We used to make it as a treat for any time of year. But since you can color it, I made it orange for Halloween. However, if you want a traditional popcorn ball, you have to mold it right away. Once the candy hardens, the popcorn doesn't stick to itself anymore. So mine weren't traditional popcorn balls (what I was originally shooting for) but were just baggies filled with yummy candied popcorn.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter

4 tbsp water

1/2 tsp almond extract

Food color optional

Boil sugar, butter and water until it drops off a spoon slow. (After it comes to a boil, it takes about 3 minutes. You just have to experiment to know what "slow" is.) Add almond extract and color. Pour and stir over popcorn.



If you do want to make them into balls, I would possible wear a glove, or be prepared for really gross and sticky hands. It will also be a tad warm. As for the "slow" part, I was totally clueless, but just did my best to see it get a tiny bit thicker so it came off the spoon slower than it did in the beginning. If I didn't ruin it, anyone can make it!

Halloween Ice Cubes

I know the picture isn't very good, but it was hard to take a picture of this.  But it's super easy and the older kids loved finding their worms as their ice melted!

Ingredients

ice cube tray

gummy worms

Fill up your ice cube trays. Drop one gummy worm in each ice cube. You could probably even do 2 in each. Then freeze!

When the ice freezes, you can't see the worms, or I would've taken a picture of just the ice. You can see a dark shape on the bottom of this cup. That's the gummy worm. Joseph loved finding his as he drank his punch. We had tons leftover and he enjoyed ever single one of them for the few weeks after Halloween!

Halloween Mini Pizzas

We had a Halloween party for Joseph and his preschool friends. So I racked my brain to come up with Halloweeny treats for them to eat. This was one which I was very excited about. It's super easy, very yummy, and you don't have to save it for Halloween!

Ingredients

1 can Pillsbury Golden Layers refrigerated flaky biscuits
2/3 cup pizza sauce
1 package sliced pepperoni
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Separate dough into 10 biscuits. On cookie sheets, press or roll each biscuit to 5-inch rounds, forming ¼ inch rim around outside edge. Spread about 1 tbsp pizza sauce just to rim of each biscuit. Sprinkle with oregano. Top each with pepperoni and cheese (or other toppings if preferred). Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

To make the bat pepperonis, I just took the pepperoni slices one at a time and folded them in half. Then I used my kitchen scissors to cut a small half circle out of each end. When you unfold them, you have a bat shape! I used to eat bologna this way when I was a kid. Apparently I'm one of the only ones, but that's okay! You can also use large pepperoni slices if you wanted to make this on a grander scale and not have to cut so many small ones. My mom did that and said it worked great.

These are way easy to adapt to your own topping desires. I love the biscuits as pizza dough. I think they're so addicting! I ate more than the kids did.

Second Annual Haunted Houses

We made these in 2010 too. (I know, it's almost April. Sorry!) I just thought I'd share some of our pictures with everyone. Aaron picked out candy for the houses this year, so except for the requested candy corn and pumpkins, the decorations were pretty random. But the kids still had a blast.

Here's a link to last year's pics and the recipe for the Royal Icing.