Spicy Chicken Avocado Enchiladas

I found this recipe on Pinterest and finally made it for dinner.

Source: thenovicechefblog.com via Ashley on Pinterest

They were delicious.  I love when pins actually work out. 

I had left over chicken, avocado and onions so I think the next time I make these I'll double the sauce so I can make 2 pans of enchiladas.  

And Sometimes Full of Sooooo Good Ideas

After the first epic failure of Pinterest finds I was a bit hesitant to make anything else I found on Pinterest.

Today I decided to make two things. 

First, 7Up Biscuits.  Holy Hannah Montana!  These are so freaking easy and freaking delicious.  They're moist and flaky and everything a biscuit should be.  Did I mention they're way freaking easy to make?

Second, I made Copycat Chuy's Jalapeno Dip.  I have no idea what Chuy's is but this dip was labeled as "...like crack.  You can't stop eating it."  So I thought it must be awesome because we all know how awesome crack is...wait...scratch that...crack is whack.  But anyway, it was as delicious as described.  I'm pretty sure Husband and I ate a whole bag of chips...then we had nothing else to dip.  It was a sad time.

Then inspiration struck...dip the amazing biscuit into the amazing sauce.  It was AMAZING.  Go make one or both of these recipes then follow me on Pinterest.

Most Delicious Pasta Dinner Ever

You think I'm kidding?  Well, maybe I am but for real, folks, this dinner was scrumdiddlyumptious.

Let's get a little back story on why this pasta dinner had to happen.

First, on Saturday, I picked up my very first Bountiful Basket.  It was filled with loads of fruit and veggies.  Today, I realized I still had my giant bag of spinach and it was fading fast.  I had to make something.

Enter Tracey's Culinary Adventures.  Holey loads of delicious recipes, Batman!  I immediately made a giant list of everything I wanted to try.  Fusilli with Spinach and Asiago Cheese was the first to meet my kitchen.

I changed the recipe up a bit to suit our tastes and what we had on hand.  Here's how I did it. (Italicized portions are things I added or changed.)

1 chicken breast
1 lb penne pasta
1/4 cup canola oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (9 oz) bag fresh spinach
1 tomato, cut into bite sized pieces (I remove seeds and the other gross innards because I hate them)
1 cup (about 3 1/2 oz) grated Asiago
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 T. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.  Cook chicken in a skillet.  Season to taste.  (I used pepper, season salt, and onion powder.)  Remove from pan, set aside.

Add the pasta to a large pot of salted boiling water.  Cook until al dente according to the package directions (probably about 8-10 minutes).  Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

While the pasta cooks, use same skillet to warm oil slightly over medium heat. Add the garlic to the pan. Cook just until fragrant (be careful not to burn it or it will be bitter). Add the crushed red pepper, spinach and tomatoes and cook until the spinach wilts.  Turn off the heat under the pan.  Mix in the pasta then add both cheeses, almonds and the pasta cooking liquid. Gently stir to combine then transfer to a large serving bowl.

Serve hot.

You're totally licking your computer screen right now.

love

 Okay, we all know my hatred for cheese. (here & here)  But, seriously, this was delicious.  If my stomach could have held more I would have eaten the whole bowl of pasta.  It made my belly happy.

Look Ma! I'm Domestic

My mom is always astounded when I do anything domestic.  (I think we understand by now that yes, my crafting/sewing skills may be lacking but I'm a pretty decent cook.  At least Husband hasn't complained yet.)

I made a delicious dinner tonight.  We had pot roast with a garlic and sauteed mushroom gravy, roasted carrots, garlic rolls, and smashed "potatoes" (I used this recipe.  With a bit more practice these will probably taste better.  On the bright side, Husband totally thought they were real potatoes).  The meal was really easy to make.
 
Garlic Rolls

  I used this recipe for the dough because it's really simple, I've made it a bunch of times and it's always worked out...except once...dang yeast!  I also did most of the basics of this recipe with slight modifications.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle.  Spread garlic butter all over.

Fold dough in half.

Use a pizza cutter to slice strips of dough.

Roll each piece up.

Add cheese if desired.

Let rise about 20 minutes.

Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Spread more garlic butter on top.

If you used all your garlic butter on the inside and all your butter is frozen, you're in luck.  I have an amazing solution.  Unwrap butter, rub all over hot rolls, sprinkle with garlic topping.  Delicious.

Hurry and eat a hot roll before your husband comes home.  You won't regret it.

Roasted Carrots

Toss carrots with canola oil, garlic salt and pepper to taste.  Place on roasting pan.  Bake at 425 for 10 minutes.  Stir carrots.  Bake another 10 minutes. (This is Court's recipe)

Ahh, so pretty.

Curry Makes My Belly Happy

I make this curry all the time now.  I've made it so often that I almost don't have to look at the recipe.

I decided I should tell y'all how I make it because the recipe tells you to do things way too fancy.

Sauce:
1/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon rice vinegar

Remaining ingredients:
3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 1/2 cups vertically sliced onion
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Madras curry powder
3 small dried hot red chilies, broken in half (Ash H. way: or a couple squeezes of sriracha sauce or you don't have to use it at all if you don't like spicy things.)
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup dry-roasted salted cashews, chopped
3 cups hot cooked short-grain rice

1. To prepare sauce, combine first 5 ingredients, set aside.
2. Cut chicken across grain into 1/4-inch slices; cut slices into 1/2-inch wide strips. Cut strips into 3-inch-long pieces. (Ash H. way: just cut the chicken any which way you want.  Bite size pieces are best.)
3. Heat a 14-inch wok over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to wok, swirling to coat. Add half of chicken to wok; stir-fry 2 minutes. Spoon cooked chicken into bowl. Repeat procedure with 3 teaspoons oil and remaining chicken. (Ash H. way: Cook all the chicken all the way through with oil in the bottom of the wok.  You don't even need a wok if you don't have one but it sure makes it a lot easier.)
4. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to wok, swirling to coat. Add onion, ginger, and garlic; stir-fry 1 minute or until lightly browned. Add curry powder and chilies; stir-fry 30 seconds. Add sauce and chicken, stir-fry 1 minutes. Spoon into a serving dish. Sprinkle with cilantro and cashews. Serve over rice. (Ash H. way: Add everything but chicken and sauce.  Cook til it looks doneish.  Add chicken and sauce.  Keep cooking. You don't have to use cilantro or cashews if you don't want.)

Makes 4 servings.

Easter Yummies

I made this loveliness for Easter. Mmmm
.


Here's the recipe I used.

My sister also made some for St. Patrick's Day. She'll probably be angry with me if I don't say to see her's also. (BTW, Court, I saw this here before you even had a blog. So, no, I didn't copy you.)

Pancake Goodness

I have this hatred for cottage cheese. My hatred probably stems from a combination of the facts that it has the word cheese in it, it tastes like something horrible vomited and tried to pass it off as food, the texture--gag me with a spoon!--and it looks like what I imagine marshmallows would poop.

Somewhere along the line, I heard that it is really good for you. Ugh. That's probably why it tastes so bad. Anyway, with this new knowledge, I decided I'd try to eat it. I tried it alone...again, gag me with a spoon. I think I was dry heaving for a week. Then I tried combining it with pineapple chunks. Better but I could still taste the cottage cheese. Finally, I mixed it with some yogurt. Texture of the cottage cheese is still there but the flavor of the cottage cheese is gone. With this discovery, I occasionally buy cottage cheese in the hope of being healthy and eating it with my yogurt. I don't eat it as often as I should and I always end up throwing away a tub of cottage cheese.

Enter StumbleUpon. I'm obsessed. Lately, StumbleUpon has been showing me lots of recipes. I found this one for pancakes today. You're thinking..."What? She was just talking about cottage cheese and has jumped to pancake recipes. This off-track time is really affecting her brain." That's where you're wrong, lovelies. This pancake recipe has cottage cheese...I'm going to try it...tomorrow...and I'm going to wake up early to do so...no more sleeping until 10:30 (though my 11 hours of sleep did help fight the eye junk...it's gone, and Lelan, it's not pink eye...phew!...my diagnosis is just a combination of stress and lack of sleep.).

Anyway, on to the pancakes...

Blender Pancakes

Combine in a blender:

1 cup small curd cream-style cottage cheese

4 medium or large eggs

1/2 c unbleached white flour

1/4 t salt

1/8 c melted butter

1/8 c canola oil

1/2 c skim or 2% milk

1/2 t vanilla


Whirl at high speed 1 minute. Grease griddle thoroughly before cooking.



Serves 3 as main dish.



Always make the first pancake right in the middle of the griddle at the hottest part. It will get bubbles as any good pancake should but don’t let that be your only guide — you have to keep trying to turn it up at the edge to make sure its cooking right. The key is to flip it as soon as you can. Hopefully this occurs at the point that its golden brown. If it takes more than a minute or so to cook, turn up the heat! If it is too dark when it sets up enough to flip, then turn it down. Temperature variations on the griddle are not your friend.

Recipe and photo from here.

They look fantastic! I love me some pancakes!

MMM...Curry

I made the best dinner ever. So much better than this horrible cheese stuff.

My roommate got the cook book Cooking Light Way to Cook: The Complete Visual Guide to Everyday Cooking for Christmas. It has amazing recipes. She's made Curried Chicken and Cashews many times before and I have eaten it many times but I've never made it myself. Because she wasn't home and I was jonesing for some good curry, I dove in and made it.

**Some people might be saying, "Jeez! That's a ton of cilantro!" It's not. Cilantro is fabulous though there is a fine line between delicious and what I'm sure spicy soap would taste like. When using cilantro proceed with caution because no one wants to eat spicy-soap-flavored curry.

Here's the recipe. It's pretty easy.

Sauce:
1/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon rice vinegar

Remaining ingredients:
3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 1/2 cups vertically sliced onion
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Madras curry powder
3 small dried hot red chilies, broken in half
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup dry-roasted salted cashews, chopped
3 cups hot cooked short-grain rice

1. To prepare sauce, combine first 5 ingredients, set aside.
2. Cut chicken across grain into 1/4-inch slices; cut slices into 1/2-inch wide strips. Cut strips into 3-inch-long pieces.
3. Heat a 14-inch wok over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to wok, swirling to coat. Add half of chicken to wok; stir-fry 2 minutes. Spoon cooked chicken into bowl. Repeat procedure with 3 teaspoons oil and remaining chicken.
4. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to wok, swirling to coat. Add onion, ginger, and garlic; stir-fry 1 minute or until lightly browned. Add curry powder and chilies; stir-fry 30 seconds. Add sauce and chicken, stir-fry 1 minutes. Spoon into a serving dish. Sprinkle with cilantro and cashews. Serve over rice.

Makes 4 servings.

I didn't have the chilies so I used some hot sauce. Also, if you don't like spicy just don't add them or don't break them in half. I also didn't to the wok business. I just cooked everything in a normal pan. Though I like the cashews and I had them I decided not to put them in to save a few calories.

I think next time I make this I'll try it with brown rice.
I could eat this for every meal. Did I mention that it's a diet recipe. Only 439 calories. So stinking good! Go make it!

Only one thumb was injured in the making of this meal.

I Hate Cheese

I really do. Every kind of cheese...American, mascarpone, feta, blue, sappy love-letter from a boyfriend, Parmesan...you name it, I hate it. You're probably asking yourself why I feel that I have to share this little tid-bit with you.

Well, I do have a reason. I'm telling you this because I made a pasta dish. It is loaded with cheese. I wouldn't have made it if I wasn't being the best sister EVER. My little sister is going to a party tonight and needs to bring a pasta dish. Because she has lacrosse practice, she doesn't have time to make one herself. Because I am off-track right now, obviously I have tons of time to spare. I made Rigatoni with Creamy Mushroom Sauce. According to Giada De Laurentiis, it's an easy recipe that takes 22 minutes start to finish. Yeah, it takes that long if you have a sous chef. If you do it all by yourself, it's more like an hour.

Fast forward that hour I had been cooking and I decide I should try it to make sure it tastes decent. Let me remind you...I. Hate. Cheese. This dish tastes like, well, cheese. Barf. Even considering that fact, I was starving and just spent an hour preparing this meal and I wanted something to eat. I had to find something to cover up the cheese flavor. My first thought was chicken but the problem was I didn't want to cook anything else. I substituted with red pepper. That helped a little but it still tasted like cheese. I decided not to finish the meal.