Chicken Enchiladas

This is my aunt's recipe, and it's one of my favorite dishes. It's usually the first dish I make when I move into a new place. Partly so I can have tasty leftovers while I'm busy unpacking. With the amounts listed below it makes a LOT of enchiladas. They keep really well, so I like to have extras to take to work throughout the week. You can cut the recipe in half and still have enough to feed 4-6 people.

Chicken Enchiladas
Get This:
-6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
-3 bricks of cream cheese
-One yellow onion
-1 large can of Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce (I use Medium)
-1 tsp. Cummin or Garlic (optional)
-1 tsp. Chili Powder (optional)
-Cheese (amount varies depending on how much, if any cheese you want to use)
-2 packages Soft Flour Tortilla Shells

Do This:
- Cook/cube chicken (I usually shred the chicken using a fork, I don't like chicken chunks!)
- Saute in pan once diced onion
- Add 1 tsp. cummin or garlic/1tsp. Chili powder
- Add chicken
- In microwave soften cream cheese
- Add to chicken mixture
- Add 2-3Tbsp enchilada sauce
- Grease Fry pan; Warm both sides of the tortilla in oil (You can skip this step if you like, it doesn't make much of a difference to me)
- Spoon chicken mixture in shells
- Top with cheese
- Roll up (I leave the ends open, or you can roll them burrito style)
- In a pan spread 2-3Tbsp. each sauce in bottom
- Put rolls in, top with sauce
- Top with cheese
- Bake at 350 for 15 minutes

Classic Cheesecake

Get This!

For Crust:

- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus room-temperature butter for pan

- 12 graham crackers (3-by-5 inch)

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

For Filling:

- 2.5 pounds bar cream cheese, room temperature

- 1.5 cups sugar

- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

- 4 large eggs

- 1 cup sour cream

Do This!

1 - Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make Crust: Butter a 9-by-3-inch springform pan. In a food processor, pulse graham crackers until fine crumbs form; add melted butter, sugar, and salt, and pulse to combine. Press crumb mixture into bottom and about 1 inch up side of pan. Bake until set, 12 to 15 minutes; let cool on a wire rack. Reduce over to 325 degrees.

2 - Set a kettle of water to boil. Make filling: Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese on medium until fluffy, scraping down side of bowl. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy. Beat in lemon zest and juice, and salt. Beat in Eggs, one at a time, scraping down side of bowl after each addition. Beat in sour cream.

3 - Wrap bottom half of pan in foil. Pour in filling; place in a roasting pan. Pour in boiling water to come halfway up side of springform. Bake until just set in center, about 1.75 hours. Remove pan from water; let cool 20 minutes. Run a paring knife around edge; let cool completely. Cover; chill overnight before serving.

Fettuccine Alfredo

This meal was SO good! I had a dinner party with a few friends and had them bring desert and beverages. I bought a loaf of pre-prepared garlic bread and a Caesar salad mix from Smith's to make it easier on myself. I made the mistake of forgetting the noodles and sent my brother to pick them up. Because of this the Alfredo sauce was a little thick, but still tasted good!

Get This:
-1 chicken breast per person you are feeding
-fettuccine noodles
-1 pkg. neufchatel cheese
-1/2 cup low fat milk
-3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
-1 tsp. garlic powder
-1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
-salt and pepper
-Italian seasoning
-1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

Do This:
-defrost chicken
-slice chicken against the grain in one inch strips. then season with Italian seasoning.
-in a small skillet on medium heat, heat extra virgin olive oil and drop in your chicken strips.
-boil water and drop in fettuccine noodles.
-in another small saucepan, drop in the package of cream cheese and the stick of margarine. let them melt and mix them until almost smooth. Then add in your milk and garlic powder. mix until smooth. then at the very end add in your Parmesan cheese.
-Layer noodles, chicken and sauce. Serve and enjoy!
**only flip your chicken once when cooking it. It will keep the juices in and be more tender!

Ham and Swiss Egg Roll Up

This is what I'm making tonight... After I make it I will post photos and let you know how it was! I'm excited!

*** UPDATE***
So I made this the other night, and it sure was tasty. An entire bunch of green onions was a little overpowering to my taste, so next time I will probably use half as much. Instead of buying canned mushrooms I bought fresh because why buy canned unless you don't have an option? I would also use a little bit more Dijon Mustard and cut the ham a little chunkier.

Another thing I would recommend is checking the eggs every couple of minutes to make sure that they are cooking evenly. Apparently my oven cooks unevenly so I ended up having to carve some of the egg off before rolling it up.

I HATED the reduced fat Hollandaise Sauce recipe. I'll stick to the fattening stuff.

Overall, this was really fun to make and tasted really good. I will definitely make this again!



Ham and Swiss Egg Roll Up

You Need This:
-8 ounce cream cheese, softened
-1/2 cup 1% milk
-12 eggs
-2 tablespoons flour
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-2 cups cooked lean ham
-1 can (8 ounces) mushrooms, drained
-2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
-2 cups shredded Swiss cheese, divided
-1 bunch green onions, optional
-Hollandaise sauce (Reduced fat recipe below)

Do This:
1 - Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2 -Line the bottom and sides of a 15x10 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
3 -Spray parchment paper with non-stick spray.
4 -Beat cream cheese until smooth, gradually beat in milk.
5 -Add eggs, flour and salt; beat well.
6 -Pour egg mixture into prepared pan.
7 -Bake 20-25 minutes or until eggs are set and browned.
8 -While eggs are baking finely chop ham and mushrooms. Slice green onions (bulbs and tops).
9- When eggs are baked remove from oven and immediately spread eggs with mustard
10 - Sprinkle with 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
11 - Sprinkle with ham, mushrooms and green onions.
12 - Starting on long side, roll eggs up, jelly roll style, removing parchment paper away as you roll.
13 -Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of the egg roll
14 - Return to oven and bake 5 minutes longer to melt cheese.

Slice and serve hot with warm Hollandaise Sauce.

Reduced Fat Hollandaise Sauce

You Need This:
-1 egg, beaten
-1 cup 1% milk
-1/4-1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
-1.5 tablespoons cornstarch
-2 tablespoons butter
-2 tablespoons lemon juice
-1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste


Do This:
1 - Beat egg in a 2-cup microwave safe bowl
2 - Whisk in milk, dry mustard and cornstarch
3 - Microwave 1 minute then stir
4 - Microwave in 20-30 second intervals whisking after 20-30 seconds (about 2 minutes total) until thick
5 - Stir in butter
6 - Stir in lemon juice

Makes 1 1/2 cups sauce

Notes: For variety, experiment with your own favorite omelet ingredients.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

You'll need:

-2 devil's food cake mixes

-1 cup oil

-3 eggs

-1/2 cup flour

DIRECTIONS:

-Mix all ingredients together.

-Place small cookie balls (a tablespoon measuring spoon works great!) on a cookie sheet. This recipe makes tons!

- Cook for 10 minutes at 350 degrees farenheit. They will be a little gooey but they will cook a little on the pan when you take them out. If you want them a little more crunchy then cook them only 1 or 2 minutes longer otherwise you will break your teeth trying to bite into them!

FROSTING:

To cut down on fat alittle use a low fat or no fat cream cheese.

-1 package no fat cream cheese, softened

-1/4 cup low fat milk

-1 bag of powdered sugar

-pinch of salt

-1/2 tsp. vanilla

blend all together until a thick creamy consistency. If it's not thick enough add a little more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, then add a LITTLE more milk until you have reached your desired consistency.~This frosting recipe makes a ton! It will last in the fridge for a long (about a month or more-no kidding) if you don't use it all with the oreos!

Hula Chicken

You'll Need:

-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

-mallot or skillet (one that can be put in the oven)

-italian seasoning (or whatever you like to use)

-ham slices

-cheese

-little flour

-small sweet onion (the purple ones, or whatever you have will work, the purple ones just add a sweeter flavor)

- 1 can of chunked pineapple

-soy sauce (just a little)

-3 tbs. brown sugar

-3 tbs. vinegar (anykind is fine, I use white)

-rice

-scallions (if desired)

-olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

-preheat oven to 400 degrees.

-place chicken breasts in a plastic bag with a tiny bit of water) or on your hard surface with wax paper over the top. (this helps the chicken not splatter everwhere when you're taking all your frustrations out on it!:O)

-butterfly your chicken (cut the chicken breast in half, but not all the way, leave a little bit connecting it to each other)

-now pound out the chicken with a mallot or some skillet pan to make it thin.-sprinkle the italian seasoning (or seasoning of your choice) on the open part of the chicken breast.

-place a ham slice in each chicken breast and top with the cheese.

-roll up the chicken as best you can.

-now roll the chicken in a little flour. Just enough to coat it.

-drop it in a skillet with hot olive oil. You're just browning it.

-after chicken is browned, place it in the hot oven (you can transfer chicken to a pan if you don't have a skillet that can go in the oven) and bake it for another 10-15 min. or until done.

-while the chicken is cooking you can cook your sauce~SAUCE:-saute sliced onion in olive oil.

-Add the pineapple chunks and let it sweat out a little (till they get a little translusent looking)

-Add: the brown sugar, vinegar, tomato sauce and soy sauce (just a few shakes of soy).

**Serve the chicken on top of rice mixed with scallions and then the sauce. I don't always serve mine on top of rice. Instead I just serve the chicken with a nice salad and some other veggie like steamed broccoli or green beans. It's so yummy! Enjoy!!

Malibu Chicken & Mashed Red Potatoes with Garlic and Parmesan

The other weekend I took over my mother's kitchen to make Sunday dinner. I cooked Malibu Chicken from scratch as the main dish and Mashed Red Potatoes with Garlic and Parmesan. It took about an hour to complete the entire meal. It was fun to cook and SO tasty! If you don't want to bread the chicken yourself, you can buy the frozen breaded chicken patties, cook them as directed and then continue on with #7 through #10.
To complete the meal I prepared a prepackaged Caesar Salad and warmed up some corn.

MALIBU CHICKEN
Get This:

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pounded thin)
• 6 slices cooked ham
• 6 slices swiss cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 cup fine dry breadcrumb
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise

Do This:

1. Combine flour, salt and pepper.
2. Stir egg and water together with a fork.
3. Coat each chicken piece with flour, dip into egg mixture and then coat with crumbs.
4. Press crumbs in firmly.
5. Heat oil and butter in large skillet over medium heat.
6. Brown chicken 4 to 5 minutes on each side.
7. Place browned chicken on oven proof platter, top each piece with a slice of ham and slice of cheese.
8. Bake at 350 degrees F, until cheese melts.
9. Combine mustard and mayonnaise.
10. Serve chicken immediately with sauce.

Mashed Red Potatoes with Garlic and Parmesan
Get This:

• 2 1/2 lbs red potatoes, unpeeled,quartered
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Get This:

1. Put potatoes and garlic in lg pan.
2. Cover with water.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
5. Drain well.
6. Mash with the butter, milk, and salt.
7. Stir in the parmesan cheese.

My Recipe Box

I've recently gotten really into cooking. I had started a recipe box, but I don't like it because I don't have cute recipe cards :) So from now on, this is my recipe box. I will post recipes that I have tried or plan on trying. And when possible I will post pictures with it. If you have any recipes you think I should try, let me know!!!