Making Tuesday Tasty-Easy Chicken And Cheese Enchiladas

I love enchiladas, and since Cinco De Mayo is coming up I thought I would post a yummy and easy recipe to throw together for the family.

Ingredients

1 small red onion, halved
1 1/2 pounds tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 to 2 serrano chile peppers, stemmed and seeded
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
Kosher salt
Pinch of sugar
8 corn tortillas
3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella and/or Monterey Jack cheese
1/3 cup fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
3/4 cup crumbled queso fresco or feta cheese

Directions

Preheat the broiler. Slice half of the onion into thin rings and set aside. Place the other onion half, tomatillos and serranos on a foil-lined baking sheet and broil until the vegetables are soft and slightly brown, 7 to 10 minutes, turning as needed. Transfer the vegetables and any liquid to a blender, add the broth and puree. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and the sugar.

Meanwhile, stack the tortillas, wrap in a damp paper towel and microwave just until warm and soft, 1 minute; keep covered. Toss the chicken with 2 cups shredded cheese in a bowl. Spoon a portion of the chicken mixture down the middle of each tortilla. Add a few cilantro leaves and roll up. Place the enchiladas side by side in a lightly oiled 9-by-13-inch baking dish and brush with the 2 tablespoons olive oil. Broil until crisp and golden, 3 minutes.

Pour the tomatillo sauce over the enchiladas and top with the remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Return to the oven and broil until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Garnish with the onion rings, queso fresco and any remaining cilantro.

Making Tuesday Tasty-Parmesan Crusted Chicken w/Sides

I love Parmesan chicken! This is a quick and pretty easy recipe. Also, if you don't like or can't eat peppers you can omit them and just use the onions and garlic. This is also one of Rachael Ray's 30-minute meals so it's a quick dinner night!

Ingredients

1 1/2 to 2 pounds fingerling potatoes or red skin baby potatoes

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips

1 Italian mild green pepper, cubanelle, seeded and thinly sliced

1 medium yellow skinned onion, thinly sliced

4 large cloves garlic, cracked away from skin

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Coarse salt and pepper

2 cups shredded Parmesan, available in tubs near deli -- make sure to get shredded cheese, not grated

4 (6 to 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 plum Roma tomatoes or small, vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped

15 to 20 leaves fresh basil, pile leaves, roll then thinly slice -- chiffonade

Directions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Cut fingerling potatoes into halves or quarters, depending on thickness of fingerlings -- thin, small fingerlings may also be left hole, larger potatoes should be quartered to speed cooking process. If you are using small red potatoes, halve or quarter them in the same way.

Cover a large cookie sheet with foil. Place potatoes on cookie sheet. Combine with peppers and onions, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Coat the potatoes, peppers and onions with extra-virgin olive oil just enough to coat vegetables in a thin layer, 2 to 3 tablespoons. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Place potatoes in the oven and roast 20 to 22 minutes, until potatoes are just tender and peppers and onions are crisp at edges. Toss mixture with tongs, turning the potatoes after 15 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked, transfer them to a serving dish and peel the foil off the cookie sheet and discard for super-quick clean up!

While potatoes cook, prepare chicken. Roll out a 2-foot piece of waxed paper or foil near the stove top. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat -- your pan must be very hot when the chicken is added. Pile the shredded cheese on the work surface created with the waxed paper or foil. Season your chicken breasts with black pepper but no salt; the cheese will add enough salt to the taste of the dish. Press the breasts firmly into the cheese. Coat both sides of breasts with as much cheese as possible. Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil to the skillet, 1 turn of the pan. Set breasts into the skillet and cook 7 minutes on each side, until cheese forms an even, golden casing around the tender chicken breasts.

While chicken cooks, combine chopped tomatoes with basil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste.

Drain off any excess oil from chicken as you remove it from the skillet. Top chicken with big spoonfuls of raw sauce and serve with potatoes, peppers and onions.

Making Tuesday Tasty-Beef Stroganoff

This is a pretty yummy recipe and fairly easy to make.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin fillet
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups beef consomme, available on soup aisle
2 teaspoons prepared Dijon style mustard
1/4 cup sour cream, eyeball it
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or vegetable oil, 1 turn of the pan in a slow stream
1/2 small onion, sliced
1/3 cup coarsely chopped cornichons
1 pound extra wide egg noodles, cooked to package directions
Chopped parsley leaves, garnish
Thickly sliced pumpernickel bread, optional

Directions

Slice meat into 1/2-thick by 2 -nch long very thin strips and season with salt and pepper. Set in freezer.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Melt 2 tablespoons butter and cook with flour 1 minute. Whisk in consomme. Thicken 1 minute. Stir in mustard and sour cream, thicken 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and season sauce with salt and pepper.

Heat a second skillet over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter, then add the meat and onion and cook over high heat until brown on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes total. Then add the chopped cornichons and stir to combine.

Arrange meat on a bed of egg noodles and top with Stroganoff sauce and parsley. Serve with thickly sliced pumpernickel bread.

*thanks to Rachel Ray and Food Network for the recipe and photo*

Making Tuesday Tasty-Easy Peasy Apple Pie

Apple season is in full swing! I just got a 30lb box of Honey crisp apples and wanted to make some apple pie filling to put up in the freezer. I may end up making some baked apples or apples and cinnamon as well. YUM!

This is from my Grandma's apple pie which is easy in and of itself but, if you're like me and haven't perfected making crust, you can make it this way and it turns out wonderfully.



Peel and slice enough apples to fill a 9 in pie pan. About 4 large apples. Adjust to the size and type of your apple. I measure using the pan itself.



Put apple slices in a large bowl and add



1 Tbsp of flour or cornstarch to thicken the juices while cooking



Depending on how tart your apples are, 1/2 to 1 C of white sugar(honestly, I do this to taste. The honey crisp have a lovely tartness so I put about 3/4 C of sugar)



Cinnamon to taste. I LOVE it to have a lot of cinnamon so I probably put a couple of tsp. of cinnamon in mine. If you like it less, add a little at a time and taste it.



Pillsbury ready made pie crusts(you can find these in the fridge section. comes with two crusts)



Follow the directions for the crust and unroll a bottom layer of crust into the pan.



Put filling into the pie shell.



Place the second crust over the top. Seal the edges with a fork.

If you're able to pinch the edges together, that works well too!



Cut some diagonal openings into the top crust to allow air and bubbles room for cooking.



Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 Min's, then turn the temp down to 350 degrees and bake for the rest of the time to total and hour. 40 to 45 Min's.



Cool and serve.

Making Tuesday Tasty-Fried Rice

Rice is easy, inexpensive, and fairly quick to make. Even easier if you have prepared it in advance to make a dish like fried rice. I grew up eating it kind of a poor man's way. My mom would make the calrose or pearl rice because she loved sticky rice. She would cook some bacon in the pan and pour off most of the grease, leaving a little to fry in. She would then add the steamed rice, green onion, egg, and soy sauce to complete. We LOVED this and I still love it this way. Below is a recipe I found off Food Network. It has more ingredients but, the beauty of fried rice, as with many dishes, is you can make it your own. You can add tons of different veggies in it, proteins, and even sauces.


Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 cooked pork chops, diced (about 2 cups)
1 cup rice, regular or instant, cooked according to package directions
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves

Directions

Heat 1/2 tablespoon of the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add eggs and tilt pan to coat the surface. Cook eggs in an even layer until cooked through, flipping halfway through cooking (about 2 minutes per side). Remove eggs, dice into small pieces and set aside.

To the same pan, heat remaining peanut oil. Add onion, garlic and ginger and cook 2 minutes. Add diced pork and cook 3 minutes, until golden brown. Add rice, soy sauce and sesame oil and cook 2 minutes to heat through. Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Transfer to a serving plate and top with chopped eggs.