Thai Enchiladas

This version of a recipe for Thai Enchiladas was so good, I had to write down the recipe.  I memorized a recipe by reading it over a bunch of times and bought all of the ingredients. I altered it quite a bit, so.. I won't leak my original recipe (hint: on my Pinterest foodie page). But this is now one of my favorite recipes. I'm definitely, definitely going to be making this again! YUMMY!

Ingredients:

-tortillas
-4 chicken breasts
-carrots, 1-2 shredded
-1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen)
-green enchilada sauce
-coconut milk
-garnish: chopped jalapeños, crushed peanuts, and cilantro

Get your chicken boiling, turn down to low and simmer for about 19-20 min.

When cool, shred the chicken, using your hands, or a fork and knife, to tear it apart.

Meanwhile, make your sauce. Stir 1 tbsp. coconut milk into a can of green enchilada sauce, add shredded carrots and corn. Stir in the shredded chicken. Heat until all throughly warm. Add chopped cilantro if desired.

Put the filling into restaurant style/size tortillas.  Or any kind of tortillas, but we like them big.

Cover enchiladas with about 1/2 of a can of lite coconut milk.

Cook in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes or until piping hot.

Serve with sour cream and spicy salsa and garnish with peanuts, cilantro, and jalepeno.

To make them more spicy: add red sauce to coconut milk, or use medium-hot enchilada sauce.

Irish Soda Bread

4 c. Flour

4 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 tbsp butter, softened

1 1/2 c. milk

1 egg

1/4 c. whipping cream

1 c. raisins (or currants)

optional: 1 tbsp. melted butter + brown sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 375. 

Add softened butter to flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Incorporate through the dough.

Mix milk and egg, and slowly add to the batter.

Fold in whipping cream.

Add raisins (or currants) and incorporate slowly throughout.

Mix dough. It will be wet.  Knead on a floured surface until the dough holds together nicely.  Make an X or a snowflake with a serrated knife. Using a plastic baggie, pipe the butter and brown sugar mixture into the X or snowflake shape on top of the bread.

Bake for 40 min.

Enjoy!

Turkey, Bean, & Carrot Soup

If you're tired of chili, or haven't made it in a while, this can serve as a nice substitute. The ground turkey is yummy and tasty!


ingredients
1/4 c. chopped onion
1 lb ground turkey
1 small can of tomato paste
1 tbsp. minced roasted garlic
white navy beans- about 1 1/2 cups
5-6 carrots, chopped
1 32 oz. box broth- vegetable, beef, or chicken (I used chicken, made by Progresso, and it was yummy)
seasoning to taste (I used pinch of oregano, cumin, onion powder, salt, and pepper)


The night before, I put a pound of ground turkey in the crock pot with tomato paste, about a cup or cup and a half of water, 1 tbsp. roasted minced garlic, 1/4 c. chopped onion, salt, and pepper.   Set some dried beans in a soup pot to soak overnight (after rinsing and sorting). The turkey cooked in about 3 hours in my slow cooker, and I then put it in the refrigerator to chill.

The next day, I chopped some carrots into chunks, and added those to the drained beans. I covered all with broth and let simmer on the stove for an hour or two, stirring until carrots are soft and beans are fully cooked.  The carrots may not take as long as the beans; in this case, remove the carrots carefully with a slotted spoon, and add to the turkey mixture, which should be chilling in the refrigerator. When the beans are finished, chill.

Finally, add the turkey and tomato-paste mixture to the beans and broth, stirring on low simmer until heated through, about 10-15 minutes.

Add salt, pepper, and other seasonings of your choice- or hot sauce- to taste!

Serve piping hot with fresh buttermilk biscuits or good bread! We are really into marmalade right now if you can't tell! :-)

Aunt Marnie's Fruit Tea

Aunt Marnie’s Fruit Tea

1. Brew Orange Spice Tea (decaf)

2. equal parts Limeade,

3. Lemonade,

4. Orange Juice

For beer tea, simply mix 1/2 c. of fruit tea with 1/2 c. beer. It’s delicious!

Put in an old milk jug

Freeze leftovers

Potato & Vegetable Soup

1 Zucchini, diced
1 Squash, diced
2 baking potatoes, diced
3 cups beef broth
onion
garlic
salt
oregano
2 tbsp. butter

Put everything into a slow cooker, on low.

At the end, add butter. This was so yummy!

Pork Roast with Raisins and Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

Dale seasoning sauce
Pork tenderloin (about 2lb)
Roasted Garlic (from a jar)
Raisins
Pine Nuts

~Place Pork tenderloin in a shallow pan.
~Pour about 2/3 c. Dale's seasoning sauce all over Pork tenderloin.
~Add about 2-3 c. of water to the bottom of the pan.
~Top Pork roast with 1 tsp. roasted garlic, salt, pepper, and pine nuts.
~Add sliced carrots to the Broth
~Add raisins in the last 15 minutes

Bake uncovered for 1 hour on 425°

Ours' turned out perfectly! The carrots were perfectly soft and flavorful, and the roast was very flavorful.

Serve with loaded mashed potatoes, and a side salad with pear, raisins, pine nuts, and creamy balsamic vinaigrette.

SIMPLE creamy asparagus and penne pasta

1/2- 3/4 box small penne pasta
1 bunch asparagus
3 chicken breasts
1 1/2 tbsp. butter
2 tbs. flour
1/4 c. cream
garlic salt, to taste
3 tbsp. parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, steam the asparagus (chop off the ends, then cut into thirds.)

Add chicken breasts to 1 tsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter. Cook 7-8 minutes, rotating as you go. Add garlic salt and dried onion (as it cooks, or at the end).

You might want to cut the chicken into pieces— especially if it is thick.

After transferring chicken, pasta, and asparagus to a baking dish, make your cream sauce. Start with a roux.  Melt the butter, and add flour as it melts.  Slowly add 1/4 c. cream, may need more butter and/or cream to reach desired thickness.  At the end, add 2 tbsp. of parmesan cheese and stir until the cheese is melted through.

Add sauce to the pasta, chicken, and asparagus, and add the rest of your parmesan to the top. Put in a 350 oven for 15 minutes. Turn to broil and cook for 5-10 more minutes, watching so it doesn’t burn!

I had to quick stop and write this down the other night after I made it. I adapted it loosely from a recipe I found on Cooking Classy (correction: Nell found it and linked to it on her blog). In the interest of honesty rather than full disclosure, I tried that exact recipe with the bacon and it took me no less than 2 AND A HALF hours to make.  So I recreated it as SIMPLE creamy asparagus and penne pasta and wa-la. Here it is. SO GOOD. This is at most a 30 minute meal- promise.