Chicken Enchiladas

I was at my best friends house for dinner a couple weeks back and she made some chicken enchiladas that were to die for!! I hadn't had an enchilada in so long and I had forgotten how much I loved them.

She gave me her recipe for them, so I used that - plus (I did as we all do) I added a little bit of my own flavor to it and winged it a bit, and they turned out awesome! I think this will probably end up being a regular meal for us for a while. So a big thank you to my bestie Cassandra for giving me her recipe and the inspiration and guidelines for this great dish!

This recipe makes 8 servings

2 chicken breasts (boiled and shredded)
8 medium sized whole wheat tortillas
1/2 a sweet onion (diced)
1 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper for seasoning
1/2 pkg of old el paso taco seasoning
1 cup rice
2/3 cup of light cream cheese
1/2 cup refried black beans
1 can of corn niblets
2 cups shredded tex mex cheese
3 sliced green onion (cut off majority of green part)
2 cans enchilada sauce

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Start by boiling your chicken on high for about 20 minutes. When it is cooked through, take it out and shred it using 2 forks. While you're shredded the chicken, heat a bit of oil in a large skillet and add the onion. Once chicken is shredded, add it in with the onion.

Start your rice on it's own and also begin heating your enchilada sauce over medium-low heat (add a tsp of the taco seasoning into the enchilada sauce).

Add in the garlic, salt & pepper and taco seasoning into the chicken/onion mixture. Cook for a couple minutes on its own. Add in the cream cheese and refried black beans then mix well into the chicken mixture until the cheese is melted and gooey.

Drain your canned corn niblets and then add them and your rice into the chicken mixture and again mix well.

One at a time add about a tbsp of enchilada sauce to each tortilla and then fill each tortilla with a generous amount of the chicken mixture and about a tbsp of shredded cheese and roll it up (be prepared to get your hands messy) taking care to make sure all the fillings are tucked in well. Then lay the filled tortillas in your casseroll dish side by side nice and tight.

Pour the remaining enchilada sauce overtop of the tortillas in your casseroll dish and then add the remaning shredded cheese overtop. Bake in the oven uncovered for about 15 minutes, and once it reaches 15 minutes, put it on broil for about 2 minutes (watching to make sure it only reaches the point where the cheese bubbles a bit).

Top with sliced green onion and serve with your favorite toppings (We like guacamole and sour cream).

Enjoy!!

Super Moist Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Icing

I always forget how much I love autum. There's always that sadness at the end of summer, but as the fall creeps in I always look forward to the beautiful colors, the cool days when you need to wrap up in a cozy sweater, curling up on the couch with my honey and of course the delicious smells of fall foods... like pumpkin... mmmmm. Glorious pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin scones, pumpkin pies.. and my new guilty pleasure.. pumpkin spice cake!!

This cake was incredible! It tasted like pumpkin pie, but a cake! So delicious and moist and addicting. I made it Friday night and it was polished off by Sunday night (sad thing is, it was just me and the hubby who enjoyed that whoooole cake ourselves!).

I hope ya'll like it and that it puts you in the mood for autum just as much as it did for me!

For Cake
3/4 cup unsalted, softened butter (plus extra for greasing the pan)
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin pie filling (not pure pumpkin, I think the pumpkin pie filling is a bit sweeter)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tbsp icing sugar (to dust greased pan)

For Icing
2 8 oz. pkgs cream cheese (at room temp.)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. maple extract (more if you want a stronger taste)
3 cups icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease your bundt pan and dust with icing sugar and set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In another bowl mix together pumpkin pie filling, buttermilk and vanilla.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl at medium-high speed until fluffy (about 4 mins). Add eggs and beat for 1 more minute. Reduce the speed to low and add flour and pumpkin mixtures alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Pour the batter into your bundt pan and smooth it across the top. Bake for about an hour (check after 50 mins) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool the cake on a rack for about a half hour, then place serving plate on top of pan opening and flip again, let it cool for a little while longer until you're able to remove the pan.

While the cake is cooling you can make your icing by creaming together the cream cheese and butter, add the maple extract and then icing sugar. Mix on medium-high until nice and smooth, pour over your cake and serve!

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Balls

Sooo turns out I've still been a very bad blogger.. even after my last post/promise. But what can I say? It's been an insanely busy summer and I've barely had time to bake let alone do any posts! With fall and winter approaching I'll be housebound and a little busier in the kitchen.

My hubby's birthday was last weekend and I made a lot of delish treats (chocolate peanut butter cake balls, butterfinger cheesecake tarts and chocolate chip cookie cups filled with macadamia nuts and white chocolate ganache) that I intended to make it onto the blog.. but in the excitement of the weekend (and of actually eating the treats) I completely spaced out on taking any pictures of them!!! :(

These cake balls were amazing.. super moist and delicious and since the outside is just chocolate, I have used a picture of a previous set of cake balls that I made that were also chocolate on the outside. Even though these aren't the exact same cakeballs, they look the same on the outside (except the pic is of semi-sweet chocolate and this post has milk chocolate). Next time I make these I PROMISE to take pictures!

1 box of chocolate cake mix (I used swiss chocolate) or your fave choc. cake recipe.
2 cups peanut butter
2 cups icing sugar
6 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
Approx. 1/4 cup of milk
About 2 - 3 cups of chocolate chips

Bake the cake as directed on box and let cool completely.

While the cake is cooling make your chocolate icing by mixing the peanut butter and butter together. Once mixed, slowly add the icing sugar in, then the vanilla. The icing will be kind of crumbly, not smooth, this is when you add the milk... slowly add the milk until you reach a really smooth creamy consistency (you may need a bit more than a 1/4 cup).

Once the cake is cooled completely, crumble it into a bowl and add the peanut butter icing to it. You'll have to get in there with your bare hands and mix it together until the cake is completely moist and saturated with icing.

Put the mixture into the fridge for a couple hours to chill and harden up a bit so it's easier to roll into balls. When ready, line 2 baking sheets with wax paper and roll the cake into 1.5 inch balls and place it on the wax paper. Once they're all laid out, put them in the freezer for about a half hour to harden.

Melt the chocolate chips (1 cup at a time as needed) in a microwaveable bowl for about two minutes- checking on them after 1 minute and stirring to make sure it doesn't burn.

Drop the cake balls into the chocolate mixture one at a time with a spoon and coat completely,  then put them back onto the wax lined baking sheet to cool again.

Once they're all coated, pop them back into the fridge for about an hour to harden the chocolate. Keep stored in the fridge afterwards as well.

Enjoy!!

Sea Salted Caramels

Hey Everyone!

I know I've been a very bad blogger, and it's been like 3 weeks since my last post, but this summer has been super hectic and it seems I have less time to blog. But trust me, this winter I'll be stuffing my face every weekend and there will be more to post! Summer is just so busy since we're always on the go and tend to go away on the weekends.

But I promise this post is a good one, these are super delish and are very addicting! Who knew salt and caramel could go together so well!

This recipe was adapted from Annie's Eats.

3 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp salted butter (cut into pieces)
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp coarse sea salt

Line the bottom of a 9 x 9 baking pan with wax paper, and grease with cooking spray or butter. Set aside.

In a saucepan, combine the cream, butter, vanilla extract, and just a teensy-tiny pinch of sea salt and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large saucepan combine the sugar, corn syrup and water over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil without actually stirring, just gently swirling the pan occasionally until it reaches a light golden caramel color.

Strap your candy thermometer onto the side of your saucepan, then slowly stir the cream mixture into the caramel mixture - be careful because it will begin to bubble up, so you need to pour this slowly while stirring.

Continue simmering the mixture, stirring occasionally until your candy thermometer reaches 248 F.

Immediately remove it from the heat and pour into your prepared pan. After about 15 minutes, sprinkle the sea salt overtop. Then let it cool for about 30 minutes until it's completely set and cooled.

Cut into small pieces (a greased up pizza cutter works great). You can wrap these in wax paper or put them into mini cupcake papers.

I would store these babies in the fridge the next time I make them because they flattened out a bit when I left them out on the counter overnight. Keeping them in the fridge, should help them keep their thickness and prevent them from flattening out.

Enjoy!!!

Macaroni Salad

A couple weeks ago I threw this salad together for our friends daughters bday BBQ. I kinda used my mom's mac salad as a guideline, but did my own style dressing. It turned out great!

This is a great macaroni salad for BBQs or for a nice simple side dish in the summer time.

The trick with preventing the sauce from soaking into the noodles is to run cold water over the noodles and then coat them in oil.

1 1/2 to 2 cups of elbow macaroni noodles
3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup light mayo
1/3 cup light sour cream
handfull of fresh dill (diced)
2 green onions (diced)
2 cloves garlic (grated)
1/2 tsp horseradish (optional)
pinch of salt
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (cut into small squares)
1/2 cup honey ham (cut into small squares)
1/3 cup cherry tomatoes (cut into halves)

Start by boiling your macaroni until it's cooked. Once it's done, run it under cold water in your strainer for a couple minutes. Pour into a large stainless steel bowl and add the 3 tbsp of olive oil. Mix the macaroni well until all the noodles are coated in oil. Set aside while you make your sauce.

Mix together the mayo and sour cream, add in the dill and green onion, grate the garlic into it with a fine grater (you don't want to bite down on chunks of garlic!). Add in the pinch of salt and the horseradish and mix all of these ingredients well.

Add the dressing to the noodles and mix together until all the noodles are coated. Once they are well coated, add in the cheese, ham and tomatoes and mix those in as well.

Store in the fridge until you're ready to serve.

Enjoy!!

Lemon Meringue Pie

I really like lemon meringue pie and have always wanted to make it, so I thought I'd take a crack at making it at home recently and it was really good!

To prevent the meringue from "weeping" you add cornstarch into the egg whites along with the sugar while you're making your meringue and be sure to add the meringue onto the top of the pie as soon as the filling is done so it's still super hot! It will cook the bottom of the meringue a little bit and that also helps prevent weeping.

Do not store this in the fridge before serving unless you absolutely have to.

Pie Filling
1 cup white sugar
2 tbsp all purpose flour
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 to 1/3 cup lemon juice + the zest (approx. 2 large lemon's zested and squeezed)
2 tbsp butter
4 egg yolks (beaten)
1 9" pie crust (either your fave homemade receipe or store bought)

Meringue
5 egg whites
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tbsp corn starch

Make and bake your pie crust and let cool completely.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Make your meringue first so it's ready to go lonto the pie as soon as the lemon filling is poured into the crust.

In a large bowl, whip your egg whites on high until foamy, add in the sugar and the cornstarch gradually and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Set aside until the filling is ready.

Start by making your lemon filling. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. Stir in the water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook this over medium-high heat stirring frequently until it comes to a boil. Then stir in the butter. Place the egg yolks in a small bowl and beat, then slowly add in a 1/2 cup of the hot lemon mixture from the saucepan and mix well. Once that's done, whisk the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan as well. Continue to cook stirring constantly until thick. When it's done, immediately pour it into the cooled pie crust.

Top with the meringue immediately after your pour your pie filling. This will cook the bottom of the meringue a little bit and will help prevent weeping. Make sure you spread the meringue out completely and make a seal between the pie crust and meringue.

Bake in the oven for about 10 - 12 minutes until the tips of the meringue are golden brown and toasty.

Enjoy!!!

Baklava

I love baklava a lot.. my Mom used to buy big trays of it from Byblos Bakery here in Calgary when I was younger and I've always really enjoyed it. I decided to try and make it myself this past weekend for our girls game night and it turned out awesome!! I was told they looked very authentic and that they were just as good as my friends Mother's who happens to be lebanese, so that was a great compliment!

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, it was just time consuming. Especially since I couldn't find shelled pistachios so I had to do that myself.. so word to the wise, if you can find them shelled do that instead!

I did both a square baklava and a rolled Baklava so I'll post recipes for both below.

Square Baklava

1 package of phyllo pastry
1/2 stick of butter (melted)
1 to 1 1/2 cups pistachios (crushed in blender or food processor)
1/2 cup walnuts (crushed in blender or food processor)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 F, butter a 9 x 13 inch baking pan and set aside.

Cut the sheets in half to fit the pan, then set 6 sheets of pastry aside (be sure when you're handling the phyllo pastries you keep them covered with a damp cloth (damp - not wet) so they don't dry out.

Start by layering 2 sheets of phyllo pastry on the bottom of the baking pan brushing butter over them until you've reached 8 sheets.

Sprinkle 3 tbsps of pistachio and 1 tbsp pistachio over the first layer and then top with 2 more sheets of pastry, butter those 2 sheets and top again with nuts, continue doing this 2 sheets at a time until you're done.

Layer the remaining 6 sheets that you set aside earlier on top, brushing them with butter every 2 sheets until you're done (make sure you butter the top layer as well).

Cut these into squares before putting it into the oven to bake.

Once they're cut into squares, put them in the oven and bake for about 55 to 60 minutes, until golden brown.

While the baklava is baking, when it's about 30 mins away from being done make the syrup by combining the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium high heat. Once it reaches a boil, add in the 1/2 a cup of honey and tsp of vanilla and simmer for 20 minutes.

When the baklava is ready, pull it out of the oven and immediately spoon the syrup mixture over the baklava evenly. Top each square with a little bit of pistachio if desired.

Set the baklava aside and let it cool (and soak up the syrup) for about a 1/2 an hour to an hour. Remove from pan and serve in cupcake liners.

Now time for the rolled baklava!!

Rolled Baklava

3/4 package of phyllo pastry
1/2 stick of butter (melted)
1 to 1 1/2 cups pistachios (crushed in blender or food processor)
1/2 cup walnuts (crushed in blender or food processor)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F., grease a rectangular baking sheet and set aside.

Take 2 sheets of phyllo pastry and lay flat, brush with butter and top with 3 tbsp pistachios and 1 tbsp of walnuts. Take chopsticks (or whatever long instrument you have - sheesh-kabob sticks would work too - I used chopsticks and found they worked great) and lay them at the edge of the pastry where you're going to begin rolling them and fold the dough over the chopsticks.

Use them to roll the dough over and over tightly until done. Then scrunch the dough pushing from each end until it looks like an accordian and slide the chopsticks out. Place in the baking sheet.

Continue doing this until baking sheet is full. Then brush a layer of butter overtop of the completed baklava before putting it in the oven (this will help it brown up nicely). Cut them in half to double up the amount of rolls.

Bake in the oven at 350 F. for about 25 to 30 minutes.

While the baklava is baking make your syrup by combining the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium high heat. Once it reaches a boil, add in the 1/2 a cup of honey and tsp of vanilla and simmer for 20 minutes.

When the baklava is ready, pull it out of the oven and immediately spoon the syrup mixture over the baklava evenly.

Set the baklava aside and let it cool (and soak up the syrup) for about a 1/2 an hour to an hour. Remove from pan and serve in cupcake liners.

Enjoy!!!!