Tangy Lime Enchiladas

6 TBS honey
5 TBS fresh lime juice (1-2 limes)
1 TBS chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2-3 skinless boneless chicken breasts - cooked and shredded
8-10 flour tortillas
1 lb of a Mexican blend cheese (monterey jack, colby and cheddar) shredded
1 large can of green enchilada sauce

Mix the honey, lime juice, chili powder and garlic powder together with the shredded chicken. Allow to it set for at least 1/2 hour or you could do it hours before and just cover and refrigerate.

Pour 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce into bottom of 9 x 13 pan. Place chicken and cheese into the middle of a tortilla and spoon about 1 TBS of enchilada sauce over it and roll it up. Place seam down in the pan. Reserve about 1-2 cups of the cheese to sprinkle on top of the enchiladas. Pour enchilada sauce over the top of the rolled enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

Kent wasn't wild about these - but I thought they were fantastic. Kent said he just wasn't expecting such a tangy tasty for enchiladas. TRY THEM!!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 cups (12-ounce bag) milk chocolate chips, not semisweet
• Pam
  

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line them with parchment paper.

Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds. Stir in the chips. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks.

I got this recipe from the Food Network - George Duran. They are so wonderful. I made them last fall and just am getting around to posting the recipe.

Chicken Chili

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped leeks or onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 pound ground turkey sausage
3 cups roughly chopped rotisserie chicken
2 (16-ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained
2/3 cup barley
2 teaspoons pickled jalapeno
6 cups homemade chicken broth or canned
reduced-sodium chicken broth
4 to 8 cups chopped kale (optional)
½ cup shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese
Chopped green onions
Sour cream

Instructions 1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add leeks and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Add cumin, cumin seed and turkey sausage. Cook until sausage is browned. Add chopped chicken, barley, beans, jalapeño, broth and kale, if desired.. Bring to a boil and simmer about 20 minutes or until barley is cooked. Serve topped with cheese and green onions. Serves 10.

These last two recipes are a good way to use a rotisserie chicken.

Basic Cream Pie

4 Cups milk
2 Cups half and half
2 TBS butter
1 1/4 Cups sugar, divided
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 Cup cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 baked 9 - inch pie shells
Whip cream for garnish

Reserve up to 1 cup milk to mix with the cornstarch later in the recipe. Place remaining milk in top pan of a double boiler: (I cooked the whole thing in a pan and just watched it.) add half and half, butter and 3/4 cup of the sugar. Heat over medium high heat until butter is melted and milk is scalded. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks well; add remaining 1/2 cup sugar and salt and whisk every well. Slowly add egg mixture to hot milk mixture, stirring constantly for about half a minute; allow mixture to cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stir frequently. (This gives eggs time to cook and start thickening. Undercooking at this point can slow the finishing process by as much as half an hour.)

Mix reserved milk and cornstarch in a small bowl and slowly add to hot mixture, stirring constantly to avoid formation of lumps. Continue to stir for at least 2 minutes, then stir every 5 minutes for 15 to 20 minutes. When pudding is thick, stir in vanilla. Remove double boiler from stove. Pour half of the filling into each pie shell, rounding tops of pies. Cool on wire racks then chill in refrigerator 2 to 3 hours. Top with whipped cream when ready to serve.

I use this recipe mostly for banana cream pie and then I slice 2 bananas and put them in the bottom of the baked shell.

Lion House Pie Crust Recipe

1/4 Cup Butter
1/3 Cup lard
1/4 Cup margarine
1/3 Cup shortening
1 TBS sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 TBS nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 cups pastry flour
1 1/2 cups Bread flour
1/2 cups plus 1 TBS cold water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixer, cream together butter, lard, margarine and shortening. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, baking powder, salt and dry milk powder; add to creamed butter mixture and mix briefly. Add pastry flour and beat until blended. Add bread flour and mix slightly. Pour in water and beat again just until water is blended.

Divide dough into two or three balls. Roll out each ball on a floured board. Line pie pan with dough and cut off excess dough. Flute edges. Bake at 375 for 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown. Otherwise, fill unbaked pie shell and bake according to recipe. Makes 2 to 3 9 inch pie shells. You can substitute 3 cups all purpose flour for the pastry and bread flour called for in the recipe.

My mom bought me the Lion House Bakery cookbook for Christmas. It came with a DVD which Rachel and I watched and we got really excited about the pie crust - especially the fats used in it. This is the most flakey crust I have ever had. It is so easy to work with. I mix the whole thing with my hands and then refrigerate it a little before rolling out and I did use all-purpose flour. A+++++ Pie crust.

Simple Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (32 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups non-fat cottage cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) package part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 egg
• 8 ounces lasagna noodles

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large pot over medium heat saute spinach, onion, oregano, basil and garlic in the olive oil. Pour in spaghetti sauce and water; simmer 20 minutes. In a large bowl mix cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, pepper and egg.
3. Place a small amount of sauce in the bottom of a lasagna pan. Place 4 uncooked noodles on top of sauce and top with layer of sauce. Add 4 more noodles and layer with 1/2 sauce and 1/2 cheese mixture, noodles and repeat until all is layered, finishing with sauce.
4. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven for 55 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

Lazy Gravy

I used this at Thanksgiving and I'll never make gravy another way.

A few TBS of pan drippings (or more if you have them)
4 TBS butter
4 TBS flour
2 to 4 cups of stock (Use if you don't have drippings)
1/3 cup cream
salt and pepper to taste

Remove grease from drippings using a separator. In a small bowl, cut together the butter and the flour. With your fingers mash them together into a smooth paste. Over medium heat, heat the drippings, add the butter-flour mixture, stirring until it melts, then whisk in a bit of stock. Cook, stirring for a few minutes. Gradually add more liquid and cook until thick. When all the liquid has been added and it is thickening - add the cream and salt and pepper to taste.