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!

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.

Applesauce Muffins

These were a hit with our preschool group, as well as at home in general.

Ingredients
Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butternut squash or carrot puree
1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg

Topping
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400. Coat muffin tin with spray or baking cups. To make topping, stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the butter.

To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl or bag and stir or shake to mix. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Do not overmix - it will be lumpy.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. 18-20 minutes.

I would even press the topping into the batter a little bit. A lot of ours fell off. But if you get it stuck to the muffins, less falls off.

These were really yummy. We ate them in no time and the kids were getting some extra veggies without stressing about it!

Calzones

Here's a link to my post with pizza crust. This is just a slight variation on prep methods. But to be honest, my kids like this better than normal pizza. Don't know why, but they do!

So after making the dough, you separate it into small balls. I generally would make up to 8. When you get rolling them out, you'd be amazed at how big they can be. Although, I will sometimes only do 6. Splitting half the dough into 4, the other half into 2. So that way me and the hubs can eat bigger ones.

I try my best to flatten them into circles. Then I put the sauce, cheese, and fillings on one half of the circle. Making sure to leave space around the edge for sealing. About an inch or so. Once it's filled, fold the other half of your circle over, and use a fork to seal the edges. I like to brush the tops with oil and sprinkle with italian seasoning and garlic powder. Then I give it a few slashes with a knife to let steam out while it cooks. I cook it at about 450 for 10-12 minutes. Just keep an eye on them and see how your oven does with them. This pictures shows 2 of my best. They frequently explode. I've tried using oil or water on the edges when I seal them (brushing the edge of the circle dough with water or oil), but can't figure out if one works better than another. I'm notorious for over-filling things like this. My burritos and tacos are a joke. They're always humongous. So as long as you're modest in your fillings, they shouldn't overflow. Another adjustment I've made is instead of using salt for the dough, I'll substitute that with garlic salt, and even add italian seasoning (maybe a tsp or so) to do the dough so you have more flavor in each bite.

 

These are seriously the best. We took them to a football game last fall and it was so great. I might forever associate these with going to football games. It was such a great time!

Mint Chocolate Brownies

I made these by request for our church choir. They ended up being really simple and so delicious. Really. They're so good. I was so glad we had leftovers!

Ingredients

1 box brownie mix

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered)
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract (or mint)
dash green food coloring (or any color of desire)
Chocolate Glaze
1/2 cup butter
6 oz chocolate chips

Bake brownie mix according to directions on box. Cool completely. In a mixing bowl, combine frosting ingredients; beat until creamy. Spread frosting over cooled brownies. For glaze, melt chocolate chips and butter; stir until smooth. Spread over frosting. Refrigerate for 20 min or until filling and glaze are set.

Then enjoy! (Seriously, they're so amazing. Wishing I had a brownie mix right now...)

Peanut Butter Snack Balls

This recipe is courtesy of my mom. I've had it forever, but hadn't ever tried it. It's super easy and fast.

Ingredients

1 cup dry milk powder

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup honey

Mix everything together and roll into balls. You do not have to bake this. I'm not usre how man it makes, but mak ehte balls about the size of a walnut, so they are about 2 bites.

I probably made mine bigger than she recommended. They were more like 2 adult bites. They're really simple and I don't remember having any left over, so they must've been a hit!

Mini Pies

This was a random creation. We had a container of pie filling, but it was partially used, and I'm not one to just eat pie filling. So I decided to try and make little mini pies. These two came out best. My biggest problem was adding too much filling, which made them messy.

Ingredients

Any pie filling of your choice

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup cold water

Sift flour with salt. Combine oil and water in measuring cup. Beat rapidly with fork until thick and creamy. Pour over flour, all at one time. Toss and cut with fork until blended. Form into ball, divide dough in half. Form into balls. Roll between sheets of waxed paper to 1/8 inch thickness. Remove top paper. Cut out desired size shape for pies. Use any bowl as stencil and cut around it. Put a small amount of filling into center, and cover with another circle shaped pie crust piece. Seal edges with fork, pierce top for venting. Bake according to pie filling instructions.

These were really fun to make and pretty darn simple if you're familiar with making pie crust. Of course, you can always substitute a homemade crust with some from the store. And you can cut the pie crust recipe in half if you don't have a lot of the filling, or use a full recipe for most of a can full.

PB&J

I know... there's nothing really exciting about good ol' peanut butter and jam.  But I saw this idea in a magazine and thought I'd share.  I used a cookie cutter to cut out the bear and then did the heart shape with a small knife.  (I've added "small heart cookie cutter" to my list of things I want.)  The kids thought it was fun.

Cheez-it Chicken

This recipe came from a good friend's mom.  I'm not sure if she made it up or got it from somewhere, but we it's really simple and we all liked it.  

Ingredients:

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Cheez-Its

Sour Cream

 Directions:

Put your Cheez-Its in a food processor or blender and run until they're coarse crumbs.   Put sour cream on one plate and the Cheez-Its on another.  Dip each chicken piece in sour cream and then the Cheez-Its, making sure to coat all sides.  Cook at 350 for 1 hour.

The taste of the chicken and Cheez-Its together was unexpectedly fun.  Next time, though, I think I'll use chicken tenders or nuggets instead of the breasts so there's more cheezy goodness in each bite.  If you do use smaller pieces, adjust your cooking time since they'll cook faster.

That Spaghetti Tomato Thingy

I kinda made this up, so I don't have a name for it.  I'm sure there is one; I just don't know what it is.  So when hubby asks what's for dinner, it's "That Spaghetti Tomato Thingy."  It's met with rave reviews every time I make it.

Ingredients:

Spaghetti

Tomatoes (I use whatever's available in the garden.  When tomato season is done, I'll probably buy Romas.)

Basil leaves (Also from the garden; I assume you could use dried stuff, but never have for this dish.)

Butter (or margarine; I use the light stuff to save calories)

evoo (extra virgin olive oil for you non-Rachel Ray fans)

Salt & Pepper

Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Cook spaghetti.  I do about 4 servings for my family.

While pasta is boiling, dice your tomatoes and slice your basil leaves.  For my family I use about 2-3 roma tomato's and 2 or 3 basil leaves, depending on the size.

Put a little evoo in a small frying pan.  After it heats up, add the tomatoes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Sautee until soft but not mushy.  Add the basil for the last minute.

Drain the spaghetti and put it back in the pot.  Add the tomatoes and basil.  Add some butter and evoo for flavor.  I do about 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons evoo to mine. 

Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Fried Potatoes

So this one is pretty self-explanatory and not very complex, but it was a first for me so I had to share.

Ingredients

Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

oil

salt (You could also try other salts, like Lawry's or other multi-purpose seasonings)

At first I thought I would try using my cheese slicer to slice my potatoes, hoping it would make them more uniform in thickness. It didn't work. And they would've been too thick anyhow. So I ended up using a knife, which was far more effective and I was able to make them quite thin.

I heated some oil in my pan (a nice layer) and added a layer of potato slices.  I just had to guess as to when they were done, and eventually you'll figure out what they look like when they're about finished.  After taking them out, I put them on a plate with paper towels on it and sprinkled them with salt.

I was pretty darn amazed that the really nicely sliced ones that were thin tasted exactly like Lays potato chips. No kidding. It took a while. I'm sure it would go much faster with a deep fryer, or something like that. I was just trying to figure out more ways to eat potatoes, since we're not big potato people. It was fun, and we all really enjoyed them.

Hawaiian Haystacks

I first had Hawaiian Haystacks at a luncheon at church put on by a lady who lived in Hawaii most of her life.  I have come across a few recipes since then for the sauce, and this, by far, is most like Sister Watanabe's.  It's really easy to make and is just scrumptious.

If you've never had them before, here's how they work.  You start with a pile of rice, topped with the sauce.  You then add a variety of toppings that suits your taste.  I've also heard them referred to as chinese sundaes.

Ingredients:

2 c. chopped green pepper (or one can Ortega green chilis)
1/2 c. margarine or butter
2 c. chicken broth
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. flour
2 cups milk or evaporated milk (I've never used evaporated)
2 cans chicken chunks or 2 boiled chicken breasts, cut into chunks

Instructions:

Saute green peppers in butter in the bottom of a pot.  Add chicken broth, salt, and pepper.  Whisk flour in slowly.  Add milk.  Bring to a boil.  Add chicken. 

Now, a lesson to be learned here is that whenever you use flour or cornstarch to thicken a sauce, you MUST let it come to a full boil.  It will never reach it's full thickening potential without it. 


As far as toppings, go, there are a few things that are kinda considered essentials for every haystack.

• Grated cheese
• Pinapple
• Something onion-y; chives, green onions, or diced purple onion are good choices
• Something ham-y; bacon bits, diced ham, or crumbled bacon

Let your imagination go from there.  I like raisins.  My husband likes coconut and crispy chinese chow mein noodles.  I've seen corn, water chestnuts, mandarin oranges, slivered almonds, and peanuts.  Just use your imagination and whatever you have lying around the house.

The best thing about this dish is that everyone can personalize it to their own tastes.  It is easy to please even the pickiest eaters with this dish.

Here was my evening's creation with the sauce, cheese, raisins, pineapple, bacon bits, and some chives from my garden that you can't see but are really there.  I usually put corn on mine too but we were out.

Rice Balls

This is a new idea for me, but I love it. This post is done by a guest author, my talented sister Heidi. She wanted to make this recipe and I hadn't yet. So we figured it would be a great opportunity for her to guest-blog! Enjoy her wonderful recipe!

~ Julie

Like many moms of young children (mine are 18 months and *almost* 3) I often struggle with what to make for lunch. I find myself in the same rut: mac & cheese, pb&j, grilled cheese, and quesadillas. I like chicken nuggets (as do my kids) but after watching an episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution where he shows how chicken nuggets are made (ewwww) I can't ever do that to my children again. So I set out on a mission, to find easy but healthy food to feed my kids. Of course, the first thing I turn to is Mrs. Jerry Seinfeld's book, Deceptively Delicious. I thought the Rice Balls looked easy and wondered if I made a double batch, would they freeze well. I called my baby sister Julie and discussed the possibilities. She invited me to try it and then do a guest post on her blog. And here I am.

The recipe is as follows:

1/2 cup short grain brown rice (or 1 cup leftover cooked rice) - I have come a long way in eating whole grains and whatnot, but when it comes to rice, I will never cross over to the dark side. It was long-grain, nutrient-lacking white rice for me, which was leftover from dinner a couple of nights before.
Nonstick cooking spray
3 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 pound chicken cutlets, rinsed and dried - I made boneless skinless chicken breasts for dinner the night before and just cooked up a couple of extra then.
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sweet potato puree
1/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese - Frankly, I think reduced fat cheese is almost as much of an insult to all that is yummy as american cheese is. Yuck.
1/4 low fat buttermilk - I didn't have buttermilk so I used plain whole milk.
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup spinach or broccoli or butternut squash puree - I used butternut squash
1 1/2 cup whole wheat cracker crumbs or breadcrumbs
*Her recipe didn't call for flax seed meal, but most of her breaded recipes do so I threw in a couple of tablespoons just for good measure

Instructions:

1 - Place the rice in a small saucepan with 1 cup of water; cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to very low and cook until the rice is tender, 30 to 40 minutes. You can also use your rice steamer.

2 - Meanwhile, coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add 1 tsp oil. Sprinkle the chicken with 1/4 tsp salt and the pepper, and cook until no longer pink in the center, 4 to 5 minutes per side.

3 - Cut the chicken into chunks and place them in a food processor or blender. Add the sweet potato puree, cheese, 1 tsp salt, and the buttermilk, and blend until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the cooked rice.

Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls and place them on a sheet of waxed paper or aluminum foil.

4 - In a shallow bowl, beat the egg and vegetable puree with a fork. Put the crumbs (and flax seed) in the bowl. One at a time, dip the rice balls in the egg mixture, then roll them in the crumbs to make sure it has an even coating.

**This is where I deviated from the recipe. I stuck them in the freezer on cookie sheets until they were frozen. then I put them in freezer safe bags and waited for a few days to see how they would work as a frozen food.

5 - Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil. Add the rice balls and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, turning occasionally and spraying with cooking spray until browned and crisp all over. Serve warm.

I found that they did very well going straight from freezer to pan. You just need to make sure that when you cook them, the pan isn't so hot that you burn the outside before the inside is warm.

Now, for the purposes of full disclosure, when I put this in front of the kids, my younger one dug right in. She even picked them over the strawberries. My older one, on the other hand, ate a few strawberries then took a bite of the rice balls and immediately declared them "icky". Of course, at that point, the little one heard that big brother had called them icky, so the little monkey-do had to call them icky too and now neither kid will eat them now. But I would comfortably say that your standard kid is really going to like them.

Italian Chicken

This is another "spice up this recipe so dinner's not so boring" recipe. 

Ingredients
Chicken - I cut mine up into tenders
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp Alpine Touch (all-purpose seasoning with salt, pepper, onion, garlic)
2 tsp italian seasoning
sprinkle of paprika

Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what I put in this. I wanted something light, and it was. I recall being pleased so I took a picture. But this is the general idea.

Make your flour and seasoning mixture. Coat chicken in the mixture. Spray a pan with cooking spray and put over medium heat. When hot, add a tbsp of oil and toss in the chicken. Cook until done.

We just had a simple light dinner with some butter noodles, chicken and veggies. It's not really overly flavorful. (Although that would be easy enough to change.) But it was something I just put together, and I'm always pleased when something I make up actually tastes good. This breading was my inspiration.