The Daring Cooks May 2010 - Stacked Enchiladas

Hi kids! First the good stuff.. this month's Daring Cooks' challenge! Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh. The only well lit picture taken by my friend Sue :) These were delicious.. and I had no doubt even before I made them. You could put just about any kind of Mexican/Latin food in front of me and I know it'll be delish. This recipe was straight forward and easy. My only problem was finding tomatillos. After a 1/2 a day hunt, I found 3 of them. Yes. 3. So the Green Chile Enchilada sauce happened, but I had to cut down the recipe quite a bit to accommodate my small amount of the main ingredient. That's okay though, it turned out delicious and I had enough for 2 of the 6 stacked enchiladas I made. The other 4 got a red sauce, which was the exact same recipe as the Green Chile Enchilada sauce, except I used 2 cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes in lieu of the tomatillos. It also turned out to be mighty tasty. First batch of Poblanos roasting over an open gas fire :D I made 6 enchiladas as Hubbs and I were entertaining 4 of our most gorgeous and closest friends for a birthday celebration. From the response I received everyone absolutely loved the dish, and asked for the recipe. Very poorly lit and slightly blurry photo of the Green Chile Enchilada Sauce Enchiladas Thank you so much, Barbara & Bunnee! What a great, simple, easy to put together recipe that is very worthy of serving to guests! Very poorly lit and slightly blurry photo of the Red Chile Enchilada Sauce Enchiladas - hee! Please check out the rest of the Daring Cooks' spin on this recipe, I'm sure ya'll will find TONS of ideas on how to make this recipe your own. :) Hugs! xoxoxo

Thanks, Sherry!

Most of the food blogging world already knows, but we lost a dear friend last week. Sherry of What Did You Eat? passed away suddenly. :( As a tribute to Sherry, many of us prepared one of her recipes this past week and are blogging about them today in tribute to such a wonderful woman. I found Sherry's blog a couple years ago and became a fan from the beginning. She made me laugh and her recipes sounded delicious. And then she joined the Daring Bakers and we got to know each other a little better through e-mail. She was a joy to chat with and I really loved getting to know her through her stories on her blog. I've many memories of things she'd said to me, but there is this one comment she made that had me absolutely rolling - tears streaming down my face and an effort to catch my breath.. it was regarding a certain recipe we were making and what a bitch it was. No one was having any luck and we were all frustrated. But she managed to find the exact right words to make it all seem not so bad - I have a feeling she did that often in her life.. helped those she loved and cared about feel better when they weren't in a good place. The world is a sadder place now that she's gone. Fortunately, many of us have memories to keep her close to our hearts and we've got her recipes to keep us thankful she was such a great cook! So in tribute to that beautiful woman, I made one of her many recipes that I've got tucked away in my recipe file.. This is a vegetarian dish that she enjoyed and was written by her favorite chef and cookbook author, Deborah Madison. The book she chose this recipe from is Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and it's called Fideos, Dry Mexican Soup. This is a perfect recipe for a warm day.. it was easy to put together and didn't take much time in a hot kitchen. The changes I made were to use organic chicken stock from Trader Joe's, but adding the same spices to it that Sherry did. Since Hubbs loves noodles and carmelized onions together, I just mixed them into the noodles instead of pureeing them. And finally, thanks to a left over rotisserie chicken, I shredded some breast meat and threw it into the mix for a lil protein. I served it simply with sliced cukes from our garden dressed in balsamic vinegar and a lil olive oil. It really was delicious and will become a regularly made dinner for us. I thought about Sherry the whole time I prepared it and while we were eating it and I couldn't help but feel that she was smiling down upon us in approval. Thank you Sherry, for the laughs, the insight to your life, the friendship and for my knowing I've been blessed to have you in my life, for however brief that time might have been. Ya'll can read about the recipe on Sherry's blog here xoxo

A Favorite Blogger Recipe and I'm the Luckiest Gal in the World...

Well the beautiful weather, a hectic work schedule and a slight back injury (ugh) has kept me away from my PC for way too long.. I am so behind in posting and what's even worse, I'm so behind in reading my favorite blogs. I hate that! I will catch up though.. some how. hehe I have been cooking and grilling.. lots. Mostly grilling - which I am falling in love with again. Thank the baby Jebus for aluminum foil, kids. What a wonderful invention. I tell ya, you just chop up some veggies, give 'em a lil sprinkle of sea salt & cracked black pepper, a lil drizz of EVOO, wrap it up and set it on the top rack of your grill and BOOM in a short time you've got perfectly roasted veggies. Ohhh and potatoes.. dear lord.. roasted to perfection, crispedy and creamy all at the same time.. Reynolds Wrap, I heart you! =) But this post is not about grilling. Actually this is one of those posts O'mine that I enjoy thoroughly (no, not a kitchen disaster - much to my chagrin), it's all about seeing another food blogger's phenomenal recipe and knowing without a doubt that this one isn't going to hit the "MUST MAKE" pile, it's going to be made hours after you read about it. There's a relatively new food bloggin' gal in town, some of you already know her. I've got the distinct pleasure of being her partner in this Salad Stravaganza fun-fest we've got going. Her name is Kelly and she's the author of Sass & Veracity. Kelly's cooking isn't pretentious.. most times it's not fancy at all.. it's the kind of food that assures your need for a huge glass of water after reading it because of all the fluid you'll lose due to the droolage. She's yet to post something that doesn't make me want to move in with her. By the way, Kel? Is that a possibility? I can pack up the pooches and be there in less than a week! :D One of her most recent posts was all about her and her son making tortillas from scratch. A very interesting and informative read, complete with step by step instructions. And although that was all good, it was what she did with those home made tortillas.. she wrapped them around delicious pork Carnitas. One of my most favorite items to order when I hit my favorite Mexican restaurant. I'd never even given thought to making it myself.. until I saw Kelly's post. I read that post early Sunday, and by 10:30 that morning Hubbs and I were on our way to purchase a pork roast that we could throw into the crockpot when we got back. Ya know, crockpots aren't just for Autumn/Winter. Which I'm sure many of you realize. For me though, when I think about using my crockpot it's for a rather heavy meal such as beef roast, chili, stew, etc. I don't think I've ever dragged it out in the summer before and how fakkin silly is that? It doesn't heat up your already inferno-like kitchen, you can spend 5 minutes in the morning, not worry about it all day long and then spend another 10 minutes in the evening and voila! You've got dinner. Perfect for those days when we are all about the garden and flower beds.. the last thing I want to do is slave over a hot oven or even a hot grill.. And so, I plopped my locally, humanely treated and raised, organic pork roast (Non Smithfield, I'll have ya'll know. *bastages*) into my crock pot with a lil chicken stock, a lil wine, some fresh herbies from my herbie gardens - dropped the lid on and forgot about it for 5.5 hours. When I came back in, the second - THE SECOND I touched it with a fork, it fell apart. Heaven. I pulled it with 2 forks, seasoned it a bit more with sea salt & cracked pepper and a big handful of chopped, fresh cilantro and diced green chilies. Another what? 3 minutes? sloppin the fixin's into cute lil bowls just like Kelly did - and we had dinner.. an amazingly tasty and filling dinner that didn't feel like we had just ingested an 80 lb. bag of mortar mix. I urge you to whip out your crockpots! Throw in your protein and some seasonings - and walk away people. Walk. Away. Go and enjoy your day.. don't stress over dinner.. let the pot O'crock do the work for you. hehee =) Huge thanks to Kelly for giving me the awesome idea (and courage to try it on my own).. now I can have Carnitas as good as what my favorite Mexican restaurant serves. Pork Carnitas 2-3 pound pork roast 2-3 c. chicken stock (veggie stock would work well too) 1/2 c. dry white wine - I used a Pino 1 handful each, fresh herbies - I used Thyme, Oregano and a sm. amount of Sage 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced 1 Spanish onion, sliced Sea salt & cracked, black pepper to taste 1 lime, juiced 1 large handful of fresh, chopped cilantro Fixin's Shredded sharp cheddar cheese 1 Avocado, diced Salsa or 1 tomato, diced (I went with Chi-Chi's new Garden Salsa YUM!) Shredded lettuce Diced green chili (I used the canned kind) Light Sour Cream (Daisy's - it's the best) Flour tortillas, home made or store bought Place the stock and wine in the crockpot. Rub the roast with the salt & pepper and garlic. Sprinkle the herbs on the roast and in the stock. Cover the roast in the sliced onion rings. Turn on high, place the lid on and let it go - ours took approximately 5.5 hours. Once the pork is fork tender, remove from crockpot, and shred with 2 forks or your hands, whichever you prefer. Add the fresh cilantro and the lime juice as well as more salt & pepper (if you so desire), mix and serve with warm tortillas and the rest of the fixin's. Ohh and I also made my favorite Banana-Banana Pudding, but this time I added a layer of butterscotch pudding over the banana pudding.. delish! :D And finally, I couldn't resist sharing with you, what a proud, proud woman I am.. Everyone.. meet Hubbs! Yesterday, he was kneeling on a particularly sticky tar & gravel roof, doing his thing.. well the heels of his work boots were covered in tar and when he'd shift back and sit on his heels, well yeah.. the tar got all over the seat of his pants. You'd think he'd come home and just take the tarred pants off and throw his shorts on.. but no, not my hubbs. Bless him. Instead he decided to take a plastic bag and lay it down where ever he was sitting. So each time he'd get up the bag would be stuck to his ass. After reminding him that he had a bag stuck to his ass about 40 times, I decided to keep my mouth shut and snap a picture instead. *evil grin* Step back, ladies!! He's ALL MINE. xoxo Just a reminder - we're a little over the half-way mark until the due date for submissions gets here! Your salad doesn't have to be just leafy - we're accepting any possible variation, as long as you can call it "salad". Potato salad, Seafood salad, Cole slaw, Broccoli-slaw, fruit salad, jello-salad, twigs & berries salad.. you get the idea. ;) Thanks! xoxo

Ruth's Presto Pasta Night No. 6

The very sweet Ruth, of Once Upon a Feast holds a little round up each Friday with the theme of pasta.. one of my favorite subjects! Thanks Ruth! =) I actually made this dish a couple weeks ago with every intention of getting it to Ruth back then.. and somehow I lost track somewhere and so the pictures sat on my Flickr account and the post was never written.. until now. Quite possibly one of the easiest and quickest pasta dishes I've ever made. My tummy was grumblin for mac & cheese that night - but the Mr. whined that he wanted something more substantial. Go figger. And so with a quick check into my many freezers and many pantries *blush* I decided to add some ground round and a lil salsa.. give basic mac & cheese a Mexican kick if you will. Truly this one isn't rocket science in the least. Take your favorite mac & cheese recipe, brown some ground with a lil onion and a lil garlic, toss in your favorite salsa and you've got yourself dinner - in less than 30 minutes! Take THAT Rachael Ray! :P This quick dish was quite tasty - and there are practically a ZILLION ways you could change it up to make it your own. I think the addition of some corn kernels would have been nice, as well as some sliced black olives. He added jalapeno slices to his PLUS a few dashes of his favorite hot sauce. Instead of using cheddar cheese on top, Manchego probably would have been divine. Now that I'm thinking about it.. instead of the ground round, maybe use some Serrano ham, cut into strips - THAT sounds really good! I should probably remember that next time, eh? =) Or hey, keep it vegetarian and use black beans in lieu of the meat? The Italians use beans and pasta together for a variety of tasty dishes (bless their carb loving hearts).. why not in a Mexican type dish? The only thing I regret about this dish is that I had no fresh cilantro in the house that night. The zing cilantro lends would have been just the perfect touch. If you don't have a favorite mac & cheese recipe, here's the one that I used - it's pretty basic and the cheese can be changed out for whichever kind you like, but try to use cheese that melts well - you don't want grainy cheese sauce. 2 TBS. flour 1 1/2 c. milk 1/2 c. grated sharp Cheddar cheese 1/2 c. grated Fontina cheese In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk together the flour and milk until it comes to a boil. Continue cooking a minute longer. Add cheeses and remove from heat, stirring until cheese has melted. After I browned the meat, garlic and onions I added 1/2 a bottle of salsa, and combined it well. Then I poured the cheese sauce over the beef mixture and stirred until it was just combined. I combined this with my pasta which was cooked al dente and threw it all (not literally) into a greased 9" x 13" glass baking dish. Sprinkled a 4 cheese Mexican blend on top and baked for 20 minutes in a 350º F. oven. This dish is complimented perfectly with a garden salad dressed simply in olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

Taco Rolls!

When catching up on my favorite blogs, one of my favorite Italian ladies went Mexican and made up some tacos.. tacos and burritos are pretty common in this household but after seeing those pictures, I was crazy-mad craving them. So the next day I said to myself that this would be a taco night!! And then I realized I had no taco shells. *sigh* No tortillas either. *double sigh* What's a gal to do? Well she spots her package of egg roll wrappers and gets the brilliant idea to do this! Wooo! And so the birth of the Taco Roll (don't mind my messy stove in the background :P). High in calories and fat! Mouthwater parcels of spicy, cheesy goodness! Easy to dip into salsa and sour cream to up the fat and calorie count! WOOO!! 'kay.. seriously, I'm serious. They were delish. No foolin'.. the eggroll wrapper was crispy and chewy. The filling was hot and melty and spicy and yum. But the fat/calorie levels were off the chart. So once again, I'm posting a recipe (or idea) that needs some major tweaking to fit the lifestyle that I'd like to achieve one day when I'm not starving after work therefore causing my brain to only think of food in my bell-aye right now! But rather, food in my bell-aye after careful consideration of proper preparation! And so, I give to you my careful thoughts regarding how to make this sinful dinner a lil more heart healthy and nutritious. Firstly, I'd use ground chicken/turkey instead of the cow I used. I'd use fat free cheese - because fat free cheese is actually pretty tasty when it's melted over something spicy like taco seasoned meat. I wanted to add corn to the filling, like Orchidea did, but we had no damn corn in the house - so next time.. corn. I'd also like to try a veggie version of this, substituing refried beans for the meat (even though I hate refried beans, I'm thinking they'd be tasty in these lil guys). And lastly, but not leastly (hee!) I'd bake these suckers instead of giving them the hot oil treatment. Another cool variation of these, would be to wrap wonton wrappers over a smaller portion of filling and bake (or deep fry if you live dangerously) for a tasty snacker/appetizer. I served mine with light sour cream (Daisy brand.. their light version tastes just like their full fat version) and hot & mild salsa - the chunky kind. I think an enchilada sauce spooned over them would be quite delish as well.. kind of like at home chimichangas only made with eggroll wrappers! Lisa's Taco Rolls - the full fat version. 1 lb. ground round - browned 1 packet of taco seasoning or 1 tablespoon each of cumin and chile powder + a lil salt and pepper to taste 1 c. shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend) 1 sm. can of sliced black olives 3 green onions (plus 1 for sprinkling), sliced thin 12 eggroll wrappers 4-5 cups vegetable or canola oil Brown your ground meat in a skillet and then either follow the taco seasoning packet directions, or mix in the cumin and chile powder. You can then add your olives and green onions, or set them aside to sprinkle on the meat in the eggroll wrapper - whichever you prefer. The best way to prepare these is to have all of your ingredients set out in front of you so you can assemble them easily. Slightly lower than the middle of the eggroll wrapper, place 2 TBS. of the ground meat, spreading it to about 1/2 inch from the sides. Sprinkle over the meat, some grated cheese, olives and green onions (if you haven't already mixed them in with the meat). Taking the bottom of the eggroll wrapper, bring it up and over the filling and then fold in each side of the wrapper. Then roll until you've reached the top of the wrapper, lightly moisten the top of the wrapper and press together so it seals. Set each roll aside, but keep under a damp cloth so that the wrapper doesn't dry out. Continue on until you've used all your fillings. At this point they can be frozen or kept in the fridge for a few hours or over night as long as a damp towel/cloth is kept over them. When ready to eat, heat oil in deep fryer or at least a 6 quart stock pot until it reaches 350º Gently place 2-3 taco rolls into the hot oil and fry until they turn golden brown on one side, then flip them over to fry the other side. Drain well and set on a cookie rack that's placed over a jelly roll sheet that's been lined with newspaper, brown bag paper or paper towels. You probably don't want to place them directly on paper towels as they are still pretty greasy and it'd be icky to have them sit in grease while you are finishing up your batch of delicious taco rolls, wouldn't it? Serve with sour cream and salsa on the side.. or guacamole! or Holy Mother Of All That Is Artery Clogging.. nacho cheese sauce!! Oh my... My Notes: As stated above.. do your arteries a favor and don't follow my instructions.. bake these babies in a 350º oven (if fresh) or 425º (if frozen) for, I'd say maybe 8-10 minutes on one side, then flip for an additional 5-8 minutes? Or until they are goldeny brown and delicious. Also.. I absolutely know if you were to prepare these with the ground chicken/turkey, fat free cheese and the cumin/chile powder/salt & pepper seasonings you'd drastically cut back on fat & calories as well as sodium. Enjoy!

I Went South of the Border for My Lasagna

I made this a couple nights ago, because another slice of turkey was going to make me implode. I found the recipe in one of the Cooking Light magazines, but their recipe was basically vegetarian and although it did sound tasty, we wanted beef. I kept searching for something but the idea of a mexican lasagna sounded really, really good. So I used their "technique" and subbed ingredients I had on hand. Simply put, you substitute corn tortillas for lasagna noodles. Layering the tortillas between ground beef (ground chicken or turkey would work really well too) simmered in taco seasonings, cheese, salsa, black olives and sliced green onions. Bake until the cheese is golden and bubbly and you've got a quick dish that turned out pretty good. It was like a deconstructed taco! The corn tortillas were a lil tough though and the next time I make this I will use flour tortillas, for sure. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention.. my version is no longer of the "light" variety. Imagine that! Although it could easily be taken there again by using ground chicken or turkey breast and reduced fat cheese and sour cream. Which I think would still be delicious. :D Mexican Lasagna Lisa's Way Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine - find original recipe here. 1 lb. ground sirloin 1 tsp. vegetable or canola oil 1 TBS. chili powder 1 1/2 tsp. cumin 2 TBS. Worcestershire sauce 1 pkg. 6" corn tortillas (usually 10 in a package) 2 c. Mexican blend shredded cheese or Monterey Jack cheese 1 jar salsa (I used a chunky garden-style salsa) 1 small can of sliced black olives 5 green onions, sliced thin Cooking spray Sour cream (optional) Preheat oven to 400º F. In a large skillet brown the sirloin with 1 tsp. oil, add the chili powder, cumin and Worcestershire sauce. Spray an 8" x 8" Pyrex baking dish with the cooking spray and layer 4 of the tortillas on the bottom. Sprinkle a handful of cheese on the tortillas and then a layer of beef over the cheese. Next comes the salsa, a few tablespoons will do ya. Then sprinkle olives and green onions, followed by another small handful of cheese. Repeat layer starting with 2 tortillas laid diagonally over cheese. Top this layer with the last 2 tortillas, the remaining cheese and the remaining green onions. Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven or until the cheese is bubbly. Let set for about 5 minutes so it's easier to cut and serve. Top each serving with a dollop of sour cream and more sliced onions, if you so desire.

Taco'd Corncakes

He's FINALLY on his way home! Yay! Hubbs left Arkansas yesterday and by 10:30 last night he was just passing Memphis. So today ends my 3 month bachelorette party. teeee! Well considering bachelorette parties consist of lots of alcohol and male strippers, I guess mine failed miserably. Maybe I should refer to these past 3 months as my Cook Like a Mad Woman party? I'm so glad he's finally going to be home, I really did miss him tremendously. And wow.. his "honey-do" list is like 4 pages long. I look at it as showing him how much he's really appreciated. lol So for my final meal for one I was feeling a lil creative, but not very energetic. I wanted something different but nothing that was going to take me 2 hours to prepare. I was feeling a lil saucy.. a lil south of the border, if you will. I went searching through my pantry to see what I had that was quick to make and discovered a package of Chi Chi's Corncake mix that I had bought a month or so ago. For those of you not familiar, Chi Chi's was a mexican chain restaurant that was hugely popular before they served tainted onions that, I believe, killed someone. They soon went bankrupt and they all closed up. Chi Chi's was popular for their chips and salsa and their corncake, which is basically cornbread but made with creamed corn to create a more moist and dense "cake". They were delicious and served as a side dish to their entrees. After reading the ingredients on the package, I was quite happy to see that it was basically a little bag of cornmeal with some baking soda and baking powder added to the mix. You add water, melted butter and a can of creamed corn. So I'll definitely try to make my own next time, which is good because I have a boatload of cornmeal I bought for a recipe of polenta I tried a few weeks back. As for the Taco'd part.. well I cheated there as well. I'd love to say that I got out my cumin and chili powder, but no. I opened up a lil package of Taco Bell taco seasoning. And there you have it.. my two main components to last night's dinner. It was pretty good. The corncakes turned out just as I remember them, although Chi Chi's served them scooped in two little heaps on the sides of their plates, the mix called for baking it in a loaf pan and it doesn't rise too much so scooping could have been a lil difficult. I opted to cut mine out with a lil star cookie cutter cuz aww isn't that just so cute? Mmm Hmm. The meat was okay. Definitely, next time, I will use my own seasonings. Taco Bell seasoning is fine for well.. tacos. But with the corncake base, I feel the cumin and chili powder probably would have worked better. Toppings were your basic taco toppings.. salsa, cheese, green onions, black olives and a lil sour cream on top. Was very filling, I couldn't come close to finishing. But for a quickie dinner that is practically effortless, this is a keeper. Taco'd Corncakes 1 pkg. Chi-Chi's corncake mix 1/4 c. melted butter 1/4 c. water 1 (15 oz.) can creamed corn 1 1/2 lbs. ground round 1 pgk. Taco Bell taco mix 2/3 c. water Shredded cheese (I used a Mexican four cheese blend) 1 green onion, sliced thin Salsa to taste Sliced black olives Sour cream to taste Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare the corncake mix as directed and bake for 40-45 minutes. Brown the ground round, discarding the grease. Mix in the taco seasoning and water. Plate the corn cake and pile on the taco meat and toppings. Dig in! Not so much as a recipe as a blogger space filler, eh? teeeee!

Mexican Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay well this week's chocolate binge can easily be blamed on Ali because of this month's Cinco de Mayo WCC #5 I couldn't stop thinking about Mexican chocolate.. Mexican cocoa.. Mexican coffee.. Mexican Wedding Cakes.. and finally, these Mexican Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies that I read about a few weeks ago when the announcement of the winner of the COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts, Best Darn Chocolate Chip Cookie Contest. (Wow that's a mouthful) Chaim Potter of Napa invented these intense chocolately and slightly spicy cookies and took the top prize. Sooo.. thanks Ali.. I just hadda make them! :P These cookies are delectible. Simply put. I can see how they won first place. They are crispy on the outside, chewy and gooey on the inside. The chocolate flavor is very intense and the spice is a nice background flavor. My only change to these, if I were to make them again (yeah, as if I wouldn't make them again, hello?) is to add maybe an 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Yes, me.. the spice hater of all time! I just think that a spicey cookie, should be a tad bit spicier. Hey.. I love me my gingersnaps! :D Mexican Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 1 tsp. ground cinnamon (I used Vietnamese cinnamon because it is one of the most potent in flavor) 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. coarse salt 1/8 tsp. finely ground black pepper 1/4 pound coarsley chopped good quality dark chocolate (I used the last of my Valrhona bittersweet chocolate) 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 1 1/2 c. sugar 2 large eggs 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips Preheat oven to 325ºF Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and black pepper. Set aside. In a small heatproof bowl set over a small saucepan of simmering water, melt the coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter. Let cool slightly. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the melted chocolate mixture with the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips. Line a 17-by-12-inch cookie sheet with parchment. Using a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop, drop the cookie dough onto the paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, until they look flat and the surfaces crack (cookies should still be soft in texture). Let the cookies cool on the parchment on wire cooling racks. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days. (As if they'll last that long) Oh and later last night? Yeah well I was thinking.. hmmm.. just how could I kick this cookie up a notch?(was feeling so Emeril) So I slapped some Haagen Dazs Mayan Chocolate ice cream in the middle of two cookies and voila! Oh yeah baby!

WCC #5 - Cinco de Mayo!

I was so excited when Ali announced this month's theme for the Weekend Cookbook Challenge! Next to Italian, Mexican food is my 2nd favorite, hands down. We're lucky, we have an authentic Mexican restaurant nearby.. and when I say it's authentic, it's authentic right down to the home made dishes and mariachi band that walks through the dining room the whole evening. It's a great place to go when you are really feeling like having some fun at dinner time! As soon as I saw the theme, I knew exactly what I was going to make. Chicken Enchiladas - mmmm mmmm good! This is actually one of my signature dishes that I make for a lot of parties I hold or attend. Although there are quite a few ingredients in it, it's a snap to make and it always turns out delish. This time around, for some odd reason, my grocery store didn't have corn tortillas in stock, so I used flour tortillas and really? They worked just as well and I got to save some time by skipping the step of soaking and heating the corn tortillas before filling them, so that was nice. =) I found this recipe many years ago in a cookbook simply called "Mexico" it's a paperback cookbook that holds Mexican delights that are rustic and the recipes are simple to understand, which is why I like this book so much. There isn't a lot of fussing to make the dishes they offer, but I do find some ingredients are hard to find in these parts, so I usually have to improvise. Not their fault.. just the joys of living in the Armpit of the Midwest :D I usually top these with guacamole and sour cream. I got the guacamole recipe from my friend Mindy and the recipe will be included at the bottom of this post. Chicken Enchiladas 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or the meat from 1 medium sized roasted chicken 1 cup. marinade of your choice (I take a shortcut here and simply use Wishbone Italian Robusto salad dressing) If you are using the roasted chicken, you can skip the marinade step. 2 TBS. olive oil 1 large spanish onion, chopped 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies 1 1/2 cups chicken stock 1 can stewed tomatoes 1 bunch green onions, sliced thinly, halved 10 6" corn tortillas (you can also use flour tortillas) 1/2 cup heavy cream 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar or mexican blend cheese, halved Toppings: sour cream, chives, more green onions, guacamole* or salsa. Preheat oven to 350º F. Slice chicken breasts into large strips. Place the cut chicken into your favorite marinade and sit aside for at least 30 minutes, although you can do this step the morning of or the night before. In a large skillet, brown the chicken and spanish onion in the oil. Once browned, add the diced tomato w/chilies, soup, stock and stewed tomatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes. Take chicken out and place in shallow bowl. Continue simmering the sauce until it's reduced by half - about 20 to 30 minutes longer. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, using a fork or your hands, shred the meat. Then cover it loosely with foil to keep warm. After the sauce has reduced, pour it into the bottom of a 9" x 13" x 2" baking dish, reserving approximately 1/2 cup. Combine the reserved 1/2 cup of the sauce and 1/2 of the sliced green onions with the shredded chicken. You don't want a soupy mixture so adjust the amount of sauce to whatever it takes to make the chicken mixture almost paste like. Set aside. In a small skillet, warm the cream, but do not bring it to a boil. Place one corn tortilla in the warm cream and let sit for about 20 seconds. Using tongs, flip it over and let sit for another 20 seconds. What you are doing is softening the tortillas so when you roll them they won't break. Skip this process if you are using flour tortillas, they are pliable enough the way they are out of the package to roll easily without breaking. Allow the excess cream to drip off the tortilla and place on a flat dish or tray. Immediately place about 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture in the middle of the tortilla, top with cheese and wrap tightly. Place it seam down on the sauce in the baking dish. Repeat this process, one by one, until you've used up all the chicken mixture. You should get at least 8 enchiladas. Once your enchiladas are rolled and in the baking dish, top with remaining green onions and cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, uncovered, or until the cheese has melted and is goldeny brown and delicious. Plate your enchiladas and top them with whatever topping that floats your boat :D A note about the guacamole - I'm including this recipe even though I don't know exactly where it came from. I got the recipe from my friend Mindy, who got it from a friend, who got it from a friend and so on and so on.. So I'm probably breaking the rules here? Also, I didn't have the ingredients to make it with the enchiladas so there is no picture, which might not be a bad thing because well.. let's just say this guacamole is not smooth, it has chunks of good stuff in it and uhmm.. if you didn't know what kind of tasty goodness it holds, you could mistake it for something you might find in a diaper. :S Now, do I win the prize for an outstanding description of this dish? Yeah, my guess is the avocado farmers' PR firm won't be looking to hire me any time soon. heeee! Mindy's Guacamole 4 Avocados (peeled) (Make sure they are ripe not hard) 4 TBS. lime juice 4 tsp. fresh cilantro, chopped 3 TBS. red onion, chopped small - not quite a mince. 1 tsp red chili sauce (I use Shirachi sauce found in the Chinese aisle) Few dashes of chipotle Tabasco sauce 4 tsp. tomato Concase (I just use about 10 grape tomatoes chopped fine) 4 tsp. olive oil Salt to taste Fresh ground pepper to taste. If you own a food processor, you don't have to finely chop all the ingredients, just chunk them and throw all ingredients except the avocado in and pulse a couple times. Do not puree. You want a rough chop for a great texture and so that you can identify all the vegetables. Once you have them mixed, in a seperate bowl, smash the avocado with a fork and then combine the mash into the other ingredients. Place in refidgerator for a couple hours to let the flavors meld. This guacamole does not have good "staying" power, so it should be used immediately as the avocado will turn brown after a day or so. This is also a wonderful dip for tortilla chips and Mindy says it's fabulous on turkey wraps as well. =)