Mexican Food Night!!

As I have mentioned before, I LOVE Mexican food!! I could live off it! One of my goals for this new year is to expand my cooking menu and try recipes from all sorts of places around the world. So why not start with my favorite?

Chili Lime Enchiladas

1 to 1 1/2 lbs cooked chicken, shredded

4 Tbls. honey

5 Tbls. fresh lime juice

1 1/4 Tbls. chili powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 onion diced

1/2 small can diced green chilies

1 Tbls. sambal oelek

(This is a spicy garlic chili paste, I always have it on hand cause I love it. It can be found in the oriental section)

8 to 10 flour tortillas

16oz. enchilada sauce (red or green)

1 lbs. montery jack cheese

(I use the one with jalapenos in the cheese)

1/2 c. heavy cream

Combine honey, lime juice, chili powder, salt, garlic, onion, green chilies, and sambal oelek in a large ziploc, and mix well. Add shredded chicken and marinate in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes. Pour half of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a greased 9 x13" pan. Reserve 1 cup of shredded cheese for topping. Fill tortillas with chicken mixture and cheese, roll and place in pan. Combine heavy cream and remaining enchilada sauce, pour over rolled tortillas, and top with reserved cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Spanish rice

3 Tbls. olive oil

1 cup uncooked white rice

1/2 tsp. chili powder

3/4 tsp. ground cumin

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 onion diced

1/2 small can diced green chilies

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 cups chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil over medium high heat, add rice and cook till it just starts to brown, add onion and green chilies, cook another minute. Add chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper, and tomato sauce, mix till rice is well coated. Slowly add chicken broth and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 30 minutes or until rice is done. Fluff rice with a fork

Chocolate Cookies

I have to start off with saying sorry for my very llooong absence!! This pregnancy has not exactly been a walk in the park, so a lot of the things I enjoy doing, have been put on the back burner. But now that I am in the last stretch of my pregnancy, and besides feeling rather large, am doing pretty good, and am back in the kitchen! At least until our sweet little boy arrives. :)

So here is one of my favorite cookie recipes, its simple, can be mixed up however you choose, and most important yummy!!

2 sticks softened butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2/3 cup cocoa powder

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups white chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars till fluffy. Add vanilla, then eggs one at a time, mix till well blended then add your dry ingredients. Fold in the white chocolate chips, and spoon by the tablespoon onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 13 to 14 min, I like mine a little underdone that way they set up and stay soft a gooey in the center. I have done this recipe a million times, white chocolate is my fave, but I have also done it with walnuts, dark, milk and mint chocolate chips. The possibilities are endless :)