Cooking with friends...

We had Ben and Katie over last weekend and they wanted to cook us Indian food... so we let them!

Ben used a lot of this to make the saag paneer. Maybe why my pants won't button...

Katie made us Jalapeno poppers while we waited!

However she missed some veins and seeds and... our mouths were on FIRE!

Cutting up mango and pineapple for the rice. Looky who just got engaaaaged!

Paneer cheese. Tastes a little like mozzarella..

Basmati rice, saag paneer, chicken marinated in Indian spices and curry, and chutney.

We had a GREAT time!

Ground Turkey Enchiladas with 2 cheeses

Last night I made enchiladas to fulfill a craving and to use some some ground turkey. We make Turkey Tacos ALL THE TIME so I figured we would like enchiladas.

First, I was inspired to make my own sauce from this recipe at For the Love of Cooking

I got the sauce started and then I got to work on shredding some cheese.

I recently discovered that if you shred your own cheese, it is 10 times better than what you buy already shredded. I think this is because there is cornstarch in the bag to help the pre-shredded variety not stick together. Seriously, check out a bag of shredded cheddar - it has a white coating on it...

Monterrey jack, yummmmm

After I was done with the cheese I started on the meat.

Turkey can be a challenge. It can be very blah if you don't season it right. I added 3 palmfulls of taco seasoning and a can of rotel to give it some spice.

By this time, the enchilada sauce was ready to go into the food processor.

Yum-friggin-O.

Time to assemble enchiladas!

 Then I popped them in the oven, fed the baby, cleaned the kitchen (which was all a mess after making this!) and they were ready...

Lee LOVED this, said the sauce was "kick ass!" and I suppose that means I need to make it again...

I hope you are inspired to make enchiladas now!

Budget Meals

So far, our budget experiment is going fairly well. We went to Costco 2 weeks ago and we STILL have meat in the freezer. In fact I have a better idea of what to shop for next time we go (this coming weekend) so that I really don't have to hit the regular store at all. The only reason we have gone back to the store at all the last 2 weeks is because we threw a get together or 2. That blows a budget fast....

I also still have some red bellpepper, lettuce, and green beans. I think I will try and convince Lee to let me make my coveted peanut noodles one night so I can use up the peppers and beans. I have some pasta that is left over for the other night.

So this week, a menu is going to be kind of "fly by the seat of my pants" idea.

Tonight I am making enchiladas, using ground turkey. I actually had all the ingredients to make my own enchilada sauce, so we will see how that goes.

Monday: Leftover Enchiladas

Tuesday - peanut noodles with stir fried chicken... PLEASE?

Wednesday will put me down to some ground turkey being in the freezer and that's it. Since it's payday finally, maybe I can hit the store for a few staples. I have potatoes but I don't really know what to do with potatoes and ground turkey.

Having to take stock of my ingredients and make up meals the last 2 weeks has made me become pretty creative!
I will post about the enchiladas tomorrow.
Have a great Sunday evening!

Throw together

What I had on hand:

Pork loin
Homestyle Macncheese
Greenbeans

What it turned out to be:

Very, very bad Pinot in the background.

Add a warm evening and a grill, and what a wonderful meal it turned out to be.

Easy Stir Fry

During the week, there is usually one night that I can't fathom what I will make for dinner... and then there is stir fry...
Basically I find veggies I think will be good, and some chicken breasts:

Onion, too. Not pictured...

 I sautee the chicken until brown, remove from skillet, add veggies. (Meanwhile boil some rice)
Once the veggies are to a softening point, I add the chicken back in.
I make a sauce of soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce, and ginger and pour that into the skillet for the last 5 minutes..

It's always good!

Chicken Enchiladas

I haven't made this in awhile but I am sure craving it... I made this up on the fly so I may tweak it next time.

Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Verde Sauce

1 2 -3 pound rotisserie chicken
2 jars green salsa, medium spice
8 oz sour cream
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup flour
1/2 onion, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced (i have a jar of minced garlic from the store...)
1 small can black beans
Shredded monterrey jack cheese
1 tablespoon chili powder
10 - 12 corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 glass dish. Go ahead and shred the chicken into small bits.

Sautee onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic and chili powder, stirring until mixed. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir. Slowly start whisking broth into skillet until well incorporated and bubbly. Add 1 jar (roughly 8oz) salsa and all of chicken and stir well.

Pop the tortillas in the microwave for about 20 seconds to warm up.

Pour a little salsa in the bottom of the baking dish, maybe 1/4 cup. For each enchilada, add a scoop of the chicken mixture from the skillet into the middle of a tortilla, a spoonful of black beans, and a little cheese. Roll up so that the crease is on the bottom and place into the dish. Repeat until you fill the dish up.
In a small bowl, pour in remaining salsa. Spoon sour cream in a little at a time until you achieve the salsa-to-sour cream ratio that you like. pour over enchiladas and spread out with a spatula. Sprinkle with as much cheese as your heart desires!

Bake for 30 min until bubbly.

You can spice this up with hot sauce or more spices, just make it your own.