Halloween

How did you spend your Halloween? We left home after giving candy to the grandkids.  We went shopping for me a new sweater...all the clothes I have that fit are short sleeved so I wanted a sweater that I could throw on over them for the winter.  After that we went out to eat.  Hubby chose Italian and it was wonderful.  We are celebrating my birthday which isn't for a few days yet but he will be at work that evening.
Do you pass out candy?  Do you stay in and turn out the lights?  Do you take your kids out? I had candy but after we got home no one came to the door...it's been very quiet.

Apple Cider Donuts

This morning because it's Halloween and because it's really cool outside I decided to try my hand at making baked donuts.

You will need a donut pan to make these little jewels. I bought 2 pans, each makes 6 donuts, at Target for $12 each...yes I will have to make a lot of donuts to pay for the pan. At least this way I will know that one they are baked and two I know what is in them.
 Recipe:

 2 cups flour
 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
 1 tsp baking soda
 1 tsp salt
 1/4 tsp nutmeg
 1/4 tsp allspice
 1/2 tsp cinnamon
 1/2 cup apple cider
1/4 cup applesauce
 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla

 Mix all the dry ingredients and then add the wet and mix well. Use a small spoon to put the batter in the well sprayed pans(Pam) Bake in a 325 oven for 8 to 10 min. Remove from the pan and place on a cooling rack. When cool you can use the following glaze to dip the donuts in...I did the top side only.

 Glaze:
 2 Tbsps apple cider
 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
 1/4 tsp allspice

 Enjoy!

Been Gone for a While

I've been gone from the website for a while. I found it very difficult to talk about food all the time when I was trying like crazy to lose weight. I've lost 55 pounds and I have a ways to go but I'm going to try to start working on my blog again. I've decided it won't just be about food but about life and food. Check back soon as I will try to get back into the swing of blogging.

Chicken Enchiladas with Green chili, sour cream sauce

Last night I experimented with a new sauce for Chicken Enchiladas and I must say it is wonderful. I didn't take alot of pictures but I promise to walk you through it. It really is wonderful.

First I cooked the chicken breasts in the crock pot just to attempt to keep the kitchen a little cooler. I placed the chicken breast into the crock pot and added about 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth...I wasn't thinking and used water. I then sliced a sweet onion and placed it on top of the chicken and let it cook for about 6 hours on high. I have to say after doing it this way I will probably always do it this way....it had great flavor.

Once the chicken was cooled I shredded it and took 3 cups of the chicken out for the Enchiladas and put the rest in the fridge for another recipe.

In a saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp of butter. Once this melted at 4 Tbsp of flour and 2 cups chicken stock...whisk this all together.

Add 2 4oz cans of chopped green chili's, 4 oz sour cream, 4 oz of cream cheese, (I used low fat)1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, and 1 tsp Hatch red chili powder, cook till bubbly.

Place the shredded chicken in a bowl and add 1 small diced onion. To this add 1 cup of the cooked sauce. Stir and add about 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture into each flour tortilla and roll them up. Place the enchiladas in a greased baking dish and pour remaining sauce over them. Bake at 350 for about 1/2 hour. Take them out of the oven and place 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese on top and pop back in the oven until melted. You could use pepper Jack cheese instead of cheddar...I just used what I had.

Chicken Enchiladas with green chili sour cream sauce

2 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
2 cups chicken stock
4 oz sour cream
4 oz cream cheese
8 oz chopped green chili's
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp Hatch red chili powder
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 small diced onion
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
flour shells

Fettuccine, chicken and spinach bake

This is a wonderful dish that I saw in a cooking magazine that I have and I changed a few things and we really liked it. I've been working really hard to come up with recipes that are easy to work veggies into, because sometimes it can really be hard to get all our daily servings in. You could leave the chicken out of this meal also, but my hubby doesn't think it's a meal without meat.

You will then need to first boil 1 16 oz pkg of fettuccine noodles.

In the mean time you can melt butter in the skillet and saute the onion till translucent.

Add the garlic and both cans of tomatoes, cook for 5 to 7 minutes to reduce the liquid.

Now while the tomatoes are cooking and noodles are cooking, began removing the stems from the spinach leaves and coarsely chop.

Add the spinach to the tomatoes and allow it to wilt, it will look like a lot of spinach but it will reduce down.

Then add in the cooked, shredded chicken.

This is what it will look like. Next grease a 9 X 13 pan and spread half of the noodles in the bottom of the pan.

Then add a layer of the tomato and spinach mixture and then a layer of mozzarella cheese.

Then another layer of noodles and tomato and spinach in that order. Pour 1 cup of whipping cream over the top of everything and then top with more mozzarella cheese. Bake 20 to 25 minutes till hot and bubbly! Enjoy!

Fettuccine, chicken and spinach bake

1 16 oz pkg fettuccine
2 TBSP butter
1 med onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 can (14.5oz) stewed tomatoes(un-drained)
1 can (14.5oz) Italian style tomatoes (un-drained)
1/2 bag of fresh spinach
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 cup whipping cream
2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded

Pork Chile Verde Sauce

This is a wonderful verde sauce for serving over cheese enchiladas. This recipe makes enough sauce to have 4 meals from it. I served 1/4 of it at one meal and then divided the rest up into 3 quart size freezer ziplock bags and froze them.

I prepared the pork and put a little olive oil in the bottom of my big dutch oven and began to brown it in batches...just brown it on all sides and then remove it with a slotted spoon, set it aside until all the batches are browned.

While the meat is browning you can prepare the chiles and the chilpotle peppers. You will pour the juice off the chiles into the crock pot and chop the chilies and place them in the crock pot. I opened the can of peppers and removed 3 peppers and chopped them fine and placed them in the crock pot.
you can also add the chicken broth, and can of rotel into the crock pot.

Once the meat is brown you can add it to the crock pot.

I then took the chopped onion and garlic and browned it in the pan that I browned the pork in. Once the onion is translucent you should place it in the crock pot along with the garlic.

I cooked it 5 hours on high in the crock pot.

Just about 30 min. before you are ready to serve, remove 1 to 2 cups of broth from the crock pot and mix the flour into it with a whisk. Then pour it back into the crock pot and cook for another 30 min. Serve.

Pork Chile Verde Sauce

3 lbs pork loin trimmed to bite size chunks
(2) 27 oz cans green chiles
1 large onion chopped
1 Tbsp garlic chopped
(2) 14.5 oz cans chicken broth
1 10 oz can rotel tomatoes with green chilies
3 chilpotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper

Garlic French Bread

This is probably one of the best loaves of bread I have ever made...it was so good that the family had it gone in the blink of an eye!

1 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup warm water
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups bread flour (plus 1/4 cup if dough looks wet after the first 10 min of kneading)
1 Tbsp yeast
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten

I place all my ingredients in the bread machine, water first, butter , garlic ( you want this away from the yeast) flour, sugar, salt then the yeast. Set it on dough setting. After all the ingredients are incorporated by the kneading blade, add the beaten egg whites. (remember to check the dough for wetness after 10 min and add additional 1/4 cup flour if needed) You can now walk away till your dough cycle is complete.

Do something fun while you wait!

Once the cycle is complete remove the dough from the pan. Lightly grease a baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.

Shape the dough into a baguette. You could also make several smaller baguette's if you chose. Place it on the the baking sheet, cover with a clean dish towel, and allow it to rise until double in a warm, draft free place.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, place rack in the center of the oven and back for 10 minutes then lower the temp to 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. The bread is done when the top is light brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.

When I removed it I lightly brushed it with butter...cause what is bread with out butter???