These are by far the best enchiladas I have ever made. I love them!
Sour Cream Enchiladas
Ingredients
1 bunch of cilantro
1 cup sour cream (health conscious use lowfat!)
1 cup (or to taste) of verde salsa
1 onion
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
About 6 tortillas
2 cups of shredded cheddar (I prefer Pepper Jack blended with Monterey Jack)
Directions
This recipe is very flexible and you can scatter these ingredients around however you choose. This is how I do it:
1. In a food processor, puree the sour cream, verde salsa, and cilantro until smooth (or desired texture). You can also chop up the cilantro with a knife and mix these ingredients together in a bowl.
2. In a frying pan, drizzle a little olive oil into the pan and saute onion for a few minutes. Add the chicken (it's best if it is seasoned with salt and pepper beforehand and sliced up. Alternatively, you can cook the breasts whole and slice it after cooking).
3. Soften the tortillas in the microwave or oven. In a baking pan, spread some of the cilantro mix on the bottom of the pan. Put scoops of the seasoned chicken in the tortillas and wrap up, burrito style. Place the tortilla in the pan and top with remaining cilantro mixture and cheese (you can also put cheese inside the enchilada).
4. Cover the dish in aluminum foil and bake at 350F degrees for about 30 minutes until the cheese is bubbling.
Here is the original Allrecipes link (original)
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Jerk Chicken
This is by far one of my favorite marinades! Another from Allrecipes (link). The only critique I have about this recipe is that it tends to be a little salty. Definitely use low sodium soy sauce. It is great served with rice!
Jerk Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
1/3 c olive oil
3 T vinegar (any kind works)
1 1/2 T lime juice (or lemon)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 T white sugar
1 t dried thyme
3/4 t ground allspice
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cayenne
1/4 cup minced onions
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 chicken breasts
Directions
1. In a large dish, mix all ingredients. Pierce chicken on all sides using a fork.
2. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
3. Cook over grill or in a pan on the stove until juices run clear.
4. I usually boil the remaining marinade until it thickens (and all the bacteria is killed) and then pour it over rice.
Jerk Chicken Marinade
Ingredients
1/3 c olive oil
3 T vinegar (any kind works)
1 1/2 T lime juice (or lemon)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 T white sugar
1 t dried thyme
3/4 t ground allspice
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cayenne
1/4 cup minced onions
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 chicken breasts
Directions
1. In a large dish, mix all ingredients. Pierce chicken on all sides using a fork.
2. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
3. Cook over grill or in a pan on the stove until juices run clear.
4. I usually boil the remaining marinade until it thickens (and all the bacteria is killed) and then pour it over rice.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Roasting Coffee
Now for my spiel on roasting coffee beans. As most of you know, I roast my own beans. There are many methods for doing this, costing around $200 to almost nothing (aside from the bean cost).
Advantages:
-Roasting your own coffee beans ultimately should reduce your cost on coffee. Green coffee beans cost less than roasted coffee beans and they can be stored indefinitely as long as they are packaged correctly.There are many things about roasting coffee that are exciting! Not only can you create your own blends of beans and learn about different regions of coffee beans and how they taste, you can customize how you want to roast your beans exactly to your taste.
- The taste of freshly roasted beans is phenomenal. You will quickly become a snob (advantage or disadvantage?).
Disadvantages:
-Roasting beans doesn't typically take too much time (about 15 minutes) BUT it creates a good deal of smoke and you shouldn't use roasted beans right after the roasting. The taste is best about 24 hours after roasting.
- It can be difficult to find green beans
Luckily, there are sites such as Sweet Marias that ships green beans and offers advice about home-roasting!
For my home roasting, I use a Whirley Pop (Old fashioned stovetop popper) to roast my beans. This method is inexpensive but it does not give you very much control over temperature. I find that it serves my purposes well enough.
For other options check out this page: Roasting instructions
Happy Roasting!
Advantages:
-Roasting your own coffee beans ultimately should reduce your cost on coffee. Green coffee beans cost less than roasted coffee beans and they can be stored indefinitely as long as they are packaged correctly.There are many things about roasting coffee that are exciting! Not only can you create your own blends of beans and learn about different regions of coffee beans and how they taste, you can customize how you want to roast your beans exactly to your taste.
- The taste of freshly roasted beans is phenomenal. You will quickly become a snob (advantage or disadvantage?).
Disadvantages:
-Roasting beans doesn't typically take too much time (about 15 minutes) BUT it creates a good deal of smoke and you shouldn't use roasted beans right after the roasting. The taste is best about 24 hours after roasting.
- It can be difficult to find green beans
Luckily, there are sites such as Sweet Marias that ships green beans and offers advice about home-roasting!
For my home roasting, I use a Whirley Pop (Old fashioned stovetop popper) to roast my beans. This method is inexpensive but it does not give you very much control over temperature. I find that it serves my purposes well enough.
For other options check out this page: Roasting instructions
Happy Roasting!
Sun Dried Tomato and Parmesan Quiche
Sun Dried Tomato and Parmesan Quiche
5 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
2 T flour
pinch of nutmeg
4 oz. parmesan cheese, grated
About 1/2 cup drained sun-dried tomatoes
1 1/2 t basil leaves, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup chopped red onions (or shallots)
1 pie crust
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425F degrees
2. Whisk together eggs, milk, cream, flour, basil, salt/pepper, and nutmeg.
3. Prepare pie crust and line the pie plate. Sprinkle the onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and cheese on top of the pie crust. Pour the egg mixture over the cheese, onions, and tomatoes.
4. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350F degrees and bake another 25 minutes. Cool for about 5-10 minutes. (When you take the quiche out of the oven, it should be somewhat solid- it needs to be cooked longer if it jiggles).
Note: don't be shocked if there is a significant amount of grease on top of the quiche from the sun-dried tomatoes. You can easily soak the grease off the top with a paper towel, if you desire.
5 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
2 T flour
pinch of nutmeg
4 oz. parmesan cheese, grated
About 1/2 cup drained sun-dried tomatoes
1 1/2 t basil leaves, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup chopped red onions (or shallots)
1 pie crust
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425F degrees
2. Whisk together eggs, milk, cream, flour, basil, salt/pepper, and nutmeg.
3. Prepare pie crust and line the pie plate. Sprinkle the onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and cheese on top of the pie crust. Pour the egg mixture over the cheese, onions, and tomatoes.
4. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350F degrees and bake another 25 minutes. Cool for about 5-10 minutes. (When you take the quiche out of the oven, it should be somewhat solid- it needs to be cooked longer if it jiggles).
Note: don't be shocked if there is a significant amount of grease on top of the quiche from the sun-dried tomatoes. You can easily soak the grease off the top with a paper towel, if you desire.
Tea Scones
These scones are the most moist scones that I've been able to find (I found them at www.epicurious.com: link). It's important when following this recipe to use FRESH fruits or berries. Trust me, canned pears will not taste good. I've used apples for this recipe and it turned out wonderfully. Also, it is important to sift the flour for this recipe. You don't need any fancy flour sifter, just use a small sieve. It's worth it. See the bottom of the recipe for more ideas!
Tea Scones
2 cups flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 t cinnamon
6 T butter
1 large egg
1 t vanilla extract
About 7 T of half-n-half
About 1 cup of fruit
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Sprinkle baking sheet lightly with flour.
2. Combine (sifted) dry ingredients, including cinnamon). Add in butter and rub in to the batter with fingers until nice and crumbly (and evenly dispersed).
3. In a small bowl, combine the egg, vanilla,and half-n-half and mix well. Pour over dry ingredients and mix together with a fork until combined.
4. Gather dough into a ball and pat into a circle on the baking sheet (about 3/4 inch thick). Cut 8-10 wedges into the dough.
5. Before baking, brush some half-n-half over the top of the dough and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.
6. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Re-cut scones and serve.
Additional options:
Other fruits to add: fresh pears, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, apricots, peaches.
The cream aspect of this scone makes it a little less healthy, but it adds great texture and flavor.
In addition, a more dense scone can be made by adding 2 cups of rolled oats, reducing the flour to 1 1/2 cups, adding 3 teaspoons of baking powder and increasing the liquids enough to make the batter moist (add cream or milk).
Scones can also be diversified by adding various glazes on the top! For example, maple glazes are delicious on oatmeal scones.
Tea Scones
2 cups flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 t cinnamon
6 T butter
1 large egg
1 t vanilla extract
About 7 T of half-n-half
About 1 cup of fruit
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Sprinkle baking sheet lightly with flour.
2. Combine (sifted) dry ingredients, including cinnamon). Add in butter and rub in to the batter with fingers until nice and crumbly (and evenly dispersed).
3. In a small bowl, combine the egg, vanilla,and half-n-half and mix well. Pour over dry ingredients and mix together with a fork until combined.
4. Gather dough into a ball and pat into a circle on the baking sheet (about 3/4 inch thick). Cut 8-10 wedges into the dough.
5. Before baking, brush some half-n-half over the top of the dough and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.
6. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Re-cut scones and serve.
Additional options:
Other fruits to add: fresh pears, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, apricots, peaches.
The cream aspect of this scone makes it a little less healthy, but it adds great texture and flavor.
In addition, a more dense scone can be made by adding 2 cups of rolled oats, reducing the flour to 1 1/2 cups, adding 3 teaspoons of baking powder and increasing the liquids enough to make the batter moist (add cream or milk).
Scones can also be diversified by adding various glazes on the top! For example, maple glazes are delicious on oatmeal scones.
Blueberry muffins
Dear loved ones,
These blueberry muffins are delicious! Moist and sweet with a beautiful crumble topping. Many of my recipes are adapted from allrecipes.com. I like allrecipes because the recipes are reviewed by those who have tried them out. These reviews can make a standard recipe spectacular! This recipe is from allrecipes.com (original link), it is my favorite blueberry muffin recipe and is easily adaptable to other fruits or berries (such as cranberries, apples, or blackberries).
(TIP: to reduce the spread of blueberry juice throughout the batter, toss the blueberries in a small amount of flour before folding them in)
To Die for Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
Batter
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup fresh (or defrosted) blueberries
-------------------------------------
Topping
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees and prepare muffin tins (greased or with baking cups)
2. Combine dry ingredients of the batter. Crack an egg into a one cup measure, add the vegetable oil. Add enough milk to fill the measuring cup and then combine the dry ingredients along with the vanilla. Fold in the blueberries. Fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full.
3. Combine the ingredients of the topping and crumble over the filled muffin tins.
4. Bake for about 20-25 minutes in the oven. Enjoy!!!
These blueberry muffins are delicious! Moist and sweet with a beautiful crumble topping. Many of my recipes are adapted from allrecipes.com. I like allrecipes because the recipes are reviewed by those who have tried them out. These reviews can make a standard recipe spectacular! This recipe is from allrecipes.com (original link), it is my favorite blueberry muffin recipe and is easily adaptable to other fruits or berries (such as cranberries, apples, or blackberries).
(TIP: to reduce the spread of blueberry juice throughout the batter, toss the blueberries in a small amount of flour before folding them in)
To Die for Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
Batter
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup fresh (or defrosted) blueberries
-------------------------------------
Topping
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees and prepare muffin tins (greased or with baking cups)
2. Combine dry ingredients of the batter. Crack an egg into a one cup measure, add the vegetable oil. Add enough milk to fill the measuring cup and then combine the dry ingredients along with the vanilla. Fold in the blueberries. Fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full.
3. Combine the ingredients of the topping and crumble over the filled muffin tins.
4. Bake for about 20-25 minutes in the oven. Enjoy!!!
Fun!
This blog will contain recipes (and pictures!) of Lacey-approved recipes along with any additions/subtractions. Keep tuned for my favorites! Yummmm
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