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 :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Being pregnant has made it extremely hard for me to be in the kitchen, the smells and some sights will send me running to the toilet. So I have been trying to make the things that I crave which is not always easy, cause when you have a pregnancy craving for a McDonald's hamburger, you gotta have a MACDONALD'S HAMBURGER no other hamburger will do!!! :) Mexican, Thai, and anything salt and vinegar are on my craving list ALL the time, unfortunately for my baking blog, sweets are not something I love right now :( So for now, I will post anything outta of the ordinary that I cook!

2 Tbls. flour

3 Tbls. oil

3 corn cobs

1 red pepper

1 lbs. chicken breast or tenders, diced, or cubed

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp. ground cumin

salt & pepper

1 small zucchini, diced

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 to 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced

(you can find these in the mexican food aisle)

1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes

1/2 (8oz) can tomato sauce

1 small can diced green chilies

3 cups chicken stock

3/4 cup heavy cream

Char corn and red pepper in broiler, or over a gas stove. Remove skin from pepper, and dice. Cut kernels off corn cobs, set both aside. In a soup pot, over medium/high heat add oil, and brown chicken for two minutes, then add poultry seasoning, cumin, salt, and pepper. Cook chicken another two minutes, then add zucchini, onion, garlic and chipotle peppers. Cook another 2-3 minutes, then add in flour cook another 4-5 min. Add diced tomatoes with juice, 1/2 can of tomato sauce, chicken stock, and cream. Stir well and bring to a boil. Then add green chilies, red pepper, and corn. Bring to a boil again, reduce heat to low cover and let simmer for 20-30 minutes. Serve with sour cream, avocado, Frito's, tortilla chips, ect...

*I forgot in the original post that I added about 3 Tbls of white sugar, you can leave this out. I just thought it needed a little sweet balance :)

Septembers Theme

I have to apologize for my absence lately. I have not been in the kitchen as much as I would like, with me being pregnant and sick, cooking is not exactly soothing on my stomach :) But the baking group is still going strong!! This months theme APPLES!! If you would like to join please let me know at ajkeala@yahoo.com

August's Theme

If you can't tell by the pictures, August's Theme is ICE CREAM DESSERTS!!! I know a lot of you are thinking there is no way!! But its desserts, not just ice cream. I am not expecting everyone to bring a big bucket of hand churned ice cream (although if you want to that is amazing!) There are a lot of creative things you can do with store bought ice cream. I think it is a great way to end our summer! We will be meeting the last wednesday of August, which I believe is the 26th. If you are interested in joining in on the fun please email me at ajkeala@yahoo.com

July Baking Group

July's baking theme was APPETIZERS! It was a lot easier to stuff ourselves sick with real food rather than sweets. We had a great turn out this time and everybody made amazing food! Thank you ladies (and Joey) for your yummy food and helping out!!

My son Kaluna enjoying a fruit kabob from our 5yr old chef Lucky :) After all the food was gone we could not move :)

Kelly playing babysitter! And this is not even half the kids that come!!

This months list:

Myself: Chili chicken lettuce wraps

Bre: Spicy stuffed mushrooms

Flo: Spinach roll ups

Lacie: Water chestnuts wrapped in bacon

Cassie: Easy marinade meatballs &

Guri Guri (maui style ice cream)

Kelly: Avocado mango cream dip

Lori: Watermelon slushies

Lucky: Fruit Kabobs

Dream...

This was my first 'official job.' I had so much fun making these, even though this was the largest amount of decorated cupcakes I've ever made (50!!). These cute little cupcakes were for a 'dream' themed baby shower. Thank you Melissa for giving me this opportunity :)