I found this recipe last winter when I was searching for kid friendly quinoa recipes. I can’t remember if it was passed on to me or if I found it on-line, but I can’t seem to find the original source…my apologies. I have modified it slightly from the original. This Mexican recipe is tasty and can easily be whipped up in under 30 minutes. My kids request it often and it is relatively healthy which scores big points in our house!
Enchilada Quinoa Casserole
Ingredients:
1 finely chopped onion
olive oil
1 cup of cooked quinoa
1 can of refried beans
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 Tablespoons quinoa flour (or flour of choice)
1 cup vegetable broth
1 Tablespoon taco seasoning
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 to 1 1/2 cups of chopped tomatoes
4 tortillas
1/2 to 1 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese
Sour cream, optional
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Sauté onion in olive oil until tender. Add cooked quinoa and cook for another few minutes.
Melt butter in a separate sauce pan and add garlic. Cook for about a minute or until fragrant. Stir in flour until a paste is formed. Continue to whisk and add broth, taco seasoning, spices and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for about 2 minutes.
Reserve 1/2 cup of the tomato mixture and add the remainder to the quinoa and onions.
Spray the bottom of a quiche plate with cooking spray. Lay down one tortilla. Cover it with about 1/4 of a can of refried beans. Top with about 1/2 or a bit more of quinoa mixture and a small amount of cheese. Repeat the layers until all 4 tortillas have been added. Add the reserved 1/2 cup of the tomato mixture to the top of the casserole just before the final layer of cheese.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the cheese melts and it appears to be heated through.
Cut into wedges and serve with a dollop of sour cream.
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You can see in this picture that I didn’t have avocado on hand and didn’t add greens either…still delicious though!
This Chicken Fajita recipe is one of our family favourites and makes the menu at least twice a month. This recipe was taken from a collection of Mini Canadian Living Cookbooks that I got “free with a fill” at a local gas station when I was in university. When I look back now, I realize how lucky I was to have managed to collect the whole set ~ LOL! I tried to search for it on the Canadian Living archives, but couldn’t find it.
Chicken Fajitas
Serves 4.
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 Tablespoons lime juice (preferably freshly squeezed)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 – 8 flour tortillas (depending on how much you stuff each)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 small sweet red pepper, cut in thin strips
1 hot banana pepper, cut in thin strips
salt
Slice chicken crosswise into strips. In a bowl, combine the stock, lime juice, garlic, cumin, coriander and pepper. Add chicken and stir to coat; set aside. (The recipe doesn’t really indicate how long to marinate, but I like to let mine sit a minimum of 10 minutes, but up to an hour).
The recipe suggests warming the tortillas by wrapping them in foil and placing them in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until heated through. (I always skip this step.)
Heat 1 Tablespoon of the oil in a skillet over high heat. Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade. Pat the chicken dry (I often skip this as well) and add it to the hot skillet. Stir-fry for 4 to 5 minutes or until it is no longer pink inside. Remove the chicken and set it aside.
Add the remaining oil to skillet. Stir-fry onion, red peppers and banana peppers for 1 minute. Pour in reserved marinade; cook, stirring for about 30 seconds or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Return the chicken to skillet and heat through. Season with salt to taste.
Garnish: Spoon salsa and tomatoes over the tortilla. Top with the chicken mixture, sliced avocado and a dollop of sour cream. Fold and serve.
This recipe has great flavour and is a pretty healthy meal. It is often included in our weekly menu plan because it is easy to make and liked by the whole family. Enjoy!
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I think it might be a stretch to say that fondue is our family’s Valentine’s Day tradition, but we will often have fondue to celebrate the occasion. I must admit that for me having a fondue has never really been about trying a new recipe or experimenting with new dishes. More often than not, the food is simply prepared and the dips are often not even homemade. For us, having a family fondue is not about preparing a fabulous meal, but all about the process and more than anything an evening devoted to great conversation and quality family time. I love that we are all totally committed to the experience and no one is on their “device” or checking the scores in the hockey game. Everyone is totally engaged, communication barriers are stripped down, frustrations from the week gone and our spirits are fed with good (not great) food and a generous dose of family love and relationship building.
Traditionally, our family fondue evenings consist of:
Cheese and bread fondue
Potatoes (baked, roasted, stuffed or mashed)
Vegetables (sometimes I make a side dish and other times we will cook veggies in the fondue pot as well)
Meat (selection of pork, chicken, steak and shrimp)
Dips for the meat (and veggies, if applicable)
Chocolate fondue dessert
Again, I am not hung-up on the menu at all. It is really all about uninterrupted family time. Here is what we had for our 2014 Valentine’s Day fondue.
Family fondue night!
Potatoes Romanoff
Broken bread for the cheese fondue.
Marinated chicken.
Marinated beef and pork.
Valentine’s Day Fondue Menu:
1. Store bought Swiss Cheese Fondue with French Bread (No I am not kidding, I didn’t even make it from scratch. Sometimes I do, but not this time!)
2. Potatoes Romanoff ~ These potatoes are super easy to make and so yummy. I somewhat followed the recipe from About.com. I added a bit of minced garlic and butter to mine. I used extra old white cheddar and some Velveeta cheese I had leftover from another recipe. I thought it was a great way to use it up.
3. Salad – Just a basic “clean your fridge out” type salad. I tossed in whatever I had on hand and put out a choice of dressings.
4. Meat – I cut up the chicken, steak and beef into bit sized chunks. I generally don’t prepare it in any way, but I did decide to marinate the meat for a few hours before dinner. I think it really added to the flavour and tenderness of the meat. Both the pork/beef marinade and chicken marinade were super easy to make and contained ingredients I had on hand. I also wanted to make sure that the flavours weren’t so powerful that you couldn’t enjoy your favourite dips. These recipes worked out great and the flavours worked well with all of the dips I had out. We also had raw shrimp which required no preparation.
5. Dips – When preparing a fondue for company, the dips become a more important part of the meal. I found some great dip recipes on Multitasking Mom and will definitely give some a try in the future. However, my kids are not really that in to the dips and at this point it is really not worth the extra effort. I did make one homemade dip using a recipe I found on Martha Stewart. I chose her Horseradish-Mustard Sauce as I knew Tim and I would both enjoy it with our steak. It turned out well and the left over dip will be great served with the pot roast I am planning for later this week.
Horseradish-Mustard Sauce
This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups, so I scaled the recipe down to about 1/3 and it filled my little dipping cup and we still have lots left over for the roast. Combine the following ingredients in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
1 cup sour cream
6 Tablespoons horseradish
1 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Other dips that we serve have included: Seafood Sauce, Warm Butter and Garlic, BBQ Sauce, Honey Dill Sauce, Honey Mustard Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, Sweet Chili Sauce as well as many others. I generally do a combination of store bought and homemade, depending on whether we are entertaining or not.
6. Chocolate Fondue – Clearly this is the best part. The kids love chocolate fondue and will often request it at various times throughout the year. Eden often asks for it at her birthday parties. It is super easy to make and always a crowd pleaser. I have used the same Canadian Living Chocolate Fondue Recipe for years.
Chocolate Fondue:
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Place the chocolate chips in your fondue pot/bowl. (I use a ceramic bowl that sits on top of a candle for my chocolate fondue). Heat the whipping cream until hot and steaming, but not yet boiling. (You can do this on your stove top or in the microwave. I use the microwave.) Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and let it sit for about 2 minutes. Stir until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Set over low flame to maintain the smooth consistency.
Chocolate Fondue Dippers:
The possibilities are really endless, but here are a few of our favourites:
Fruit ~ strawberries, banana, pineapple and pears (kiwi, melon and apple are good as well)
Cookies ~ left over cookies are great to use. We have used left over shortbread, sugar cookies and last night we used Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies and they tasted awesome dipped in chocolate. If we don’t have any in the house, I have bought wafer cookies, lady fingers and/or shortbread in lieu of homemade.
Cake/Brownies ~ Pound cake and brownies both work well. Those little round brownies that can be purchased in the bakery section of the grocery store in brown bags are very good. With both cookies and cake, I cut them into smaller chunks. I have sometimes bought those tiny frozen cream puffs for dipping as well.
Marshmallows ~ Jumbo marshmallows cut in half are simple to prepare and tasty to dip.
Pretzels ~ I will sometime put pretzel sticks out as well. I love that salty/sweet combo.
Well, I must say that we had an incredible evening. I was a bit disappointed when the kids said they wanted to go to youth group, but it actually worked out perfectly. We enjoyed a lengthy early dinner and then Tim dropped them off at 7 pm. While they were gone, I cleaned up dinner and prepared the dessert fondue and had some time to relax as well. When they came home, they were excited to get back to the table and pick-up our conversations right where we left off.
Life is so crazy busy and I find that sticking to a regular family sit down meal time is not always easy with Tim’s shift work and the kid’s activities. Time is so sacred and it just seems to get away from us. On an evening like this, one of our favourite things to do is sit around the table and answer questions from our “Family Dinner Box of Questions“. This like a game, but there really isn’t a winner (at least not how we play). It is simply a box of cards with questions that are conversation starters. We all love this. Some of the questions are quick and don’t provoke much talk, but others seem to dig a little deeper and are the spring-board for great conversation. Last night, I even learned something new about my husband ~ never even knew that he always wanted to learn to play guitar. Go figure! It forces you to open up discussion on topics you might not have thought of discussing, helps you to learn more about how the members of your family think and feel about certain topics and is just a great way to connect. Our issue is more one of not being able to stop once we get started. The great thing is that you can do the same questions again on a different occasion and the answers might be totally different. This makes a great gift idea as well!
My mom passed away 15 years ago on February 13th. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. I had kept a journal for a brief period around the time my mom passed away. I came across it the other day and read the entries on the days surrounding her passing. Last night, I shared a bit with my kids. One of the things that she said several times on her very last day with us was to “Never forget that it is the small things in life that count“. As we connected through of “box of questions” and conversation last night, her words of wisdom were so evident. The most memorable experiences weren’t of glitz and glamour, but of family road trips and camp fires. The thing my son would like most is not a new toy or device, but for my husband to get a job in which he doesn’t work the night shift, so he could be home at bedtime. Sometimes, we try so hard to give our kids the world, when all they really want is quality time! My mom was a wise woman and is still missed so much!
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My dad is Ukrainian, but my mom was not. Despite their different backgrounds, my mom embraced the Ukrainian traditions of my dad’s family and we began to celebrate Christmas Eve ~ Ukrainian style. As a child, I can vividly remember (okay more like vaguely ~ I don’t have the best memory) spending every Christmas Eve with my dad’s family. We would eat a very traditional Ukranian meal with the 12 meatless dishes. This consisted of an appetizer of “wheat” (Yuck ~ I tried it every year, but never did acquire a taste for it!) followed by borscht. The main meal included perogies (potato, cottage cheese and prune), cabbage rolls (sour and tomato), beet rolls, fish, creamed mushrooms, and some buns. I am not sure if the 12th dish varied from year to year or not as I am having trouble remembering it. I know we always had headcheese (not meatless), but can’t remember if it was part of the meal or served later in the evening after midnight mass. I know we also ate pyrizhky (tiny little buns stuffed with sauerkraut). It was always an awesome evening filled with great food, family and plenty of card games. I will always cherish those family gatherings at my Aunty Dora’s. I don’t remember gifts ever being a big part of our celebration. I am not saying there weren’t any, but it was certainly not the focus. It was about family and celebrating the birth of Jesus.
Roy Family Traditions:
When Tim and I were married, we agreed that we would spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with his. This has always worked out well for both of us and we are blessed that both of our families are close enough that we never have to choose between the two. We have always attended a Christmas Eve service, but no longer go to midnight mass. Springs Church usually offers multiple service times, so we opt for an early service and then head home for a later dinner. Church is only an hour, but the service is always fantastic and you never quite know what to expect. Our church is far from traditional and the contemporary nature always makes the evening quite spectacular and really sets the tone for the entire Christmas experience. We leave filled with the spirit of Christmas and ready for an awesome evening of fun and festivities.
For many years, my mom and dad would host Christmas Eve dinner, but my mom and I would share the preparations and do much of it together. When she passed away in 1999, we carried on in much the same way, but I took over the roll of hosting. Over the years, we have scaled back on our menu and have stuck to the dishes we like the most. We have made some additions and removed a few items from our meal plan, but much of what we serve has remained the same. My dad was 63 when my mom passed away and he immediately took over the role of helping prepare Christmas Eve dinner. He even made mom’s Christmas cake for the first few years after her passing ~ what a trooper! Now almost 77, dad still prepares a good portion of the meal. He makes beet rolls (like cabbage rolls but made with beet leaves), sour cabbage rolls, cabbage rolls with tomato sauce, and he even made the perogies this year!
I make my Mom’s Borscht (so delicious!), fresh buns, fish, nalysnyky(Ukrainian Crepes), and creamed mushrooms. If I have beet leaves, I also make beetniks. These delicious little morsels are made by wrapping a beet leaf around bread dough. You bake it as you would a bun and then warm them in a whipping cream and onion sauce. To die for, seriously. I found a link to a recipe that looks pretty similar to what I do. I don’t actually have a recipe, but this gal’s post seems to be pretty much bang on. The only extra tip I have is that I always pop my leaves in the freezer. When you take them out and thaw them they are nicely wilted and much easier to wrap.
So, you can see we are down to about 9 or 10 dishes, depending on the year. Of course the meal is super delicious, but very rich and high in calories. Everything is either made with or served with butter and/or whipping cream sauce. In fact, if you count the cream sauce and the butter and onions we set on the table to smother our food with, I am sure you could make it up to the “12 dish” count! It is for this reason, that this meal is restricted to once a year. We indulge, until we bulge, and then restrain ourselves for another year.
We no longer have a traditional Christmas Eve dessert. Sometimes I make a fancy dessert and other times, we just eat Christmas baking. I do miss my mom’s incredible mince meat tarts with ice cream that were our traditional dessert when my mom was alive. I might give them a whirl one year, but I don’t know if I can find her recipe and they just wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t her recipe.
After dinner, the kids are allowed to open one gift from us (usually new PJ’s) and any gifts from my side of the family. I only have one brother and his family is not always able to join us, so sometimes it is just my dad and the four of us. My mom always had her heart and door open to those who didn’t have family to spend the holidays with and I too try to include anyone that is without family or a place to go. We are thrilled to extend the invitation to others, as no one should be alone at Christmas time.
Of course, it would not be a Wasslen Christmas with games. The evening usually ends very late after a few board games with the kids and a round or two of Canasta with the adults.
This is our traditional Ukrainian Christmas meal which we always have on Christmas Eve.
Nalysnyky Recipe:
Crepes:
6 eggs
2 teaspoon sugar
2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
flour (enough to make a thin batter)
Using a non-stick pan, spoon a small amount of batter in the pan to form a thin crepe. (I tend to make my crepes about 3 to 4″ wide and about 6 to 7″ long ~ more rectangular in shape. I just find this works better for rolling and holding the filling). Cook until just beginning to brown. If your crepe is thin enough you will not need to fiddle with trying to flip it over as it will cook right through. I transfer the cooked crepes to wax paper and then stack them in layers. You can fill them as soon as they are cool enough to handle. You can also wrap the stacked crepes in cellophane and store them in the fridge until you are ready to fill them.
Filling:
2 cups of dry cottage cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup of cream
pinch of cinnamon
pepper
pinch of sugar
Mix the filling ingredients in a bowl. Fill the crepes and roll them up. Place them in the bottom of a greased baking dish. Cover with cream sauce and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until bubbling.
Cream Sauce:
Dice a large onion (or more – you can never have too much onion) and sauté in a generous amount of butter (about 1/2 cup?). Add about 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour and stir it in to soak up some of the butter. Add 2 cups of whipping cream and about 1/4 cup of fresh dill. Simmer until the sauce thickens. Sauce should be a yellow colour. This sauce is excellent served on beetniks, beet rolls, nalysnky or on perogies in lieu of sour cream.
This recipe is one of our favourites and is always a hit at potluck dinners. If you are bringing a dish to a family gathering this season, it is a guaranteed hit. I also love that you can make the crepes ahead of time and store them in the fridge until they need to be baked. Enjoy!
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We got this recipe from a brochure put out by the Manitoba Hog Producers many years ago. It is very good and the paprika adds a bit of zip to the recipe. The mushroom gravy is great on both rice and potatoes.
Pork Mushroom Casserole
Ingredients:
4-6 loin chops (3/4″ thick)
Salt, Pepper and Paprika to taste
2 T. butter
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 T. parsley flakes
1 can of mushroom soup
1 can of mushroom stems and pieces (we use fresh)
1/3 cup milk
Season chops with pepper and paprika. Sauté chops at low temperature in butter until brown. Season with salt. Transfer chops to baking dish. Combine celery, onions, parsley, soup, mushrooms and milk. Pour the mixture over the chops. Cook covered in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Turn the chops and cook for another 30 minutes or until the chops are done and the meat is no longer pink. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
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I originally found this recipe when I was doing the P90x exercise program a few years ago. The recipe comes in the eating plan that accompanies the program. We love pork tenderloin at our house and this is “hands-down” the best recipe we’ve ever used. The meat is super juicy and tender and the sweet/spicy combination is absolutely delicious. One of the best things about this recipe is that we always have all of the ingredients in the house, so it’s a bit of a “no brainer” and we all need a few of those in our arsenal. We follow the pork tenderloin recipe exactly as is, but often substitute the fresh garlic with minced garlic in a jar. This recipe can be prepped in less than 10 minutes and cooks in 20 to 25. Mmmm good!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder, and cinnamon, then coat pork with the spice rub.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch skillet over moderately high heat and brown pork, turning, about 4 minutes.
Stir together brown sugar, garlic, and Tabasco and pat onto the top of tenderloin.
Place pork in a roasting pan and cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
Serving Suggestions:
We often serve the pork over a bed of lettuce and use the juices from the bottom of the pan as a dressing. It is also great with roasted vegetables or served with the original Island Pork Tenderloin Salad, from the P90x Recipe Book.
Island Pork Tenderloin served on a bed of lettuce with juices from the meat and some red onion.
Island Pork Tenderloin Salad Recipe
Cumin Vinaigrette
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 T fresh orange juice
1 T Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 T olive oil
(I found another variation of this recipe on epicurious. It is very similar, but calls for curry instead of cumin and ups the oil to 1/2 cup.)
Whisk together juices, mustard, curry powder, salt, and pepper, then add oil in a stream, whisking until emulsified.
For salad
2-3 navel oranges
5 ounces baby spinach, trimmed (6 cups leaves)
4 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage (from 1 medium head)
1 red bell pepper, cut lengthwise into thin strips
1/4 to 1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)
1-2 avocados
Prepare salad ingredients while pork stands:
Peel and cut oranges crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Toss spinach, cabbage, bell pepper, and raisins in a large bowl with vinaigrette. Halve, pit, and peel avocados, then cut diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
Serving:
Cut pork at a 45-degree angle into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Line a large platter with dressed salad and arrange sliced pork, oranges, and avocados in rows on top. Drizzle some vinaigrette over avocados and oranges. Pour any juices from skillet over pork.
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This is one of our favourite recipes to use when we are not in the mood to BBQ our steaks. We originally got it from the 2005 Milk Calendar. The steak is tender and yummy and easy to prepare. Enjoy!
Prep Time: 10 min
Total Time: 35 min
Pan-Seared Steak with Caramelized Onions
Makes 4 servings
INGREDIENTS:
salt and pepper
1 lb (454 g) beef sirloin or other grilling steak (about 3/4-inch thick)
2 tbsp (30 mL) Butter, divided
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp (2 mL) dried rosemary, crumbled
2 tbsp (30 mL) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) Milk
2 tbsp (30 mL) soy sauce
1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard
chopped fresh parsley
DIRECTIONS:
1. Rub 1/4 tsp (1 mL) each salt and pepper over both sides of steak. In large skillet, melt half of butter over high heat; brown steak on both sides, about 2 min per side. Transfer to plate.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low; add remaining butter to skillet. Stir in onions, garlic and rosemary; cover and cook, stirring often, for 10 min or until onions are very soft and caramelized. Sprinkle with flour; cook, stirring, for 1 min. Gradually stir in milk, then add the soy sauce and mustard.
3. Increase heat to medium; simmer, stirring, for 5 min or until sauce is thickened. Return steak and accumulated juices to pan; spoon sauce over top. Simmer, turning steak once and stirring sauce, for about 5 min or until steak is desired doneness. Remove from heat. Transfer steak to cutting board; let rest for 5 min. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Slice steak thinly across the grain and serve with sauce. Sprinkle with parsley.
It is has just been one of those days. I finally got a moment to sit down and post and it’s already 9pm. Actually, anyone who knows me well will be totally surprised that I am even attempting to string any words together on a page at this time of night. Most evenings, this is my bedtime. Occasionally I make until 10, but generally speaking I am completely out and dead to the world by 9 or shortly after. Really you say? Oh, yeah, after teaching between 40 and 50 kindergarteners all day, making the commute home across the city, cooking dinner, tidying, running the kids’ to their activities, refereeing the sibling rivalry matches and dodging my hormonal daughter’s “bullets”, I am done by about 7, but somehow manage to hang in there until 9. I try to blog ahead and post date if I can, but not this week. I was recovering from parent teacher interviews over the weekend and just didn’t have the energy to spend hours at the computer. So, this week, I am trying to fit my blogging into my already crazy schedule. Note to self….this doesn’t work well.
Anyways, the good news is that today was my day off and I managed to try two new recipes. I had “pinned” this recipe months ago, and finally decided to try it out. Of course, we were all going in different directions at supper time, so I don’t even know if my husband enjoyed the meal as much as Shay and I did or not. We both loved it! Eden refused to eat it because it was “green”. Eventually, she did eat half of an enchilada, but that was only because I told her she would get nothing else to eat unless she ate some supper. She said it wasn’t bad and apologized for not giving it a chance. She certainly didn’t rave about it, but I think they’d have to be smothered in chocolate sauce to get her stamp of approval these days. All of a sudden, she is very picky – ugh!!
This recipe was posted by The Holzmanns, but she offers credit to Give Me Some Oven as the original poster. These enchiladas are different from any I have tasted before. I was totally intrigued when I first found the recipe ~ I couldn’t wait to see how so many of my favourites were all brought together in such a unique way. Mmmm….cilantro, lime, avocado, chicken….what could be better. These almost have a “fresh” springy flavour – very different. Creamy, yet light and oh so yummy. I wouldn’t change a thing. I used the rotisserie chicken like Hannah recommended and from start to finish it took me about an hour and a half to have them ready to serve. Prep took almost an hour. Next time, I will follow Hannah’s lead and make a double batch, so I can freeze on pan for a future meal. I didn’t want to do this on the first go around in case they didn’t pass the family test.
Chicken Enchiladas with Avocado Cream Sauce
Enchilada Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced (I diced mine)
2 poblano peppers, stemmed and thinly sliced (I used one large jalapeno and omitted the poblano because I couldn’t find them)
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
8-10 flour tortillas (I used 8 large tortillas)
4 cups chopped cooked chicken(rotisserie works best)
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the flour, whisking until golden and bubbly, about 2-3 minutes.
Slowly whisk the broth into the flour mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir in the sour cream, cumin, salt, garlic powder and pepper, whisking if necessary to remove any lumps.
Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a blender or food processor. Add avocados, cilantro and lime juice, and pulse until smooth and well-blended. (Be very careful blending hot liquids — the heat will expand! So be sure to remove the lid occasionally so that the heat can escape.)
Season with additional salt or pepper if needed.
Enchilada Filling:
In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, poblano and jalapeno, and saute for 5-6 minutes until the onions are cooked and translucent.
Remove from heat.
To assemble the enchiladas, place a tortilla on a flat surface.
Spread a tablespoon or two of the avocado sauce down the middle of the tortilla. Then layer on some of the vegetable mixture, shredded chicken and cheese.
Carefully roll the tortilla and place it seam side down in the baking dish.
Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
Drizzle the top with about half of the remaining avocado cream sauce, then cover the dish with foil and bake for about 20 minutes, or until tortillas are heated through and begin to harden.
Remove from the oven, then serve individual enchiladas drizzled with the remainder of the avocado cream sauce. You can also garnish with additional cilantro, cheese, and/or sour cream.
I literally popped these out of the oven 4 minutes before we had to leave for hockey practise. No time to take photos, here is a quick snap shot of the half I managed to scarf down before racing out the door! Delicious.
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I pre-made my casserole for dinner later this week. You can see the cheese has not been melted.
Turkey Stroganoff
Ingredients:
1 small onion, chopped 1/3 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cup mushrooms
2 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup milk
4 cups of cooked broad noodles
2 Tablespoons finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups cooked cubed turkey
1 can cream of mushroom soup
grated cheddar cheese (optional)
Method:
Sautè onion, peppers and mushrooms in butter. Combine soup, milk, sour cream, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the soup mixture to the veggies. You can add the noodles and turkey to the pan and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes (do not boil) or transfer the mixture to a casserole dish, top with grated cheddar and then bake for about 20 to 30 minutes at 375 (until heated through and cheese has melted). Serve with some parsley sprinkled on top.
By the time this got out of the oven last night, the vultures were already circling. This is a family favourite and I didn’t get my camera quick enough to snap a shot before they went in for the kill. Here is a picture of the cooked casserole or should I say, what is left of it!
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Here is another one of our favourite recipes to experience the leftovers in a different a way. This delicious meat pie recipe was given to me by a family friend several years ago. Yummy!
Margaret’s Turkey Pie
Ingredients:
2 – 9″ pie shells (bottom plus top crust)
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 Tablespoon green pepper
1 can of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
2 cups of chopped turkey
3/4 cup cooked veggies (I generally use peas, carrots, beans and/or corn)
1/2 tsp salt
pepper
Method:
Sautè green pepper and onions in butter or olive oil. Add the balance of the filling ingredients. Pour into shell and top with second pastry for top crust. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes and then at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes. (Place foil or a cookie sheet below the pie plate in case it runs over.) If you want to freeze the pie, don’t bake it prior to freezing. Thaw before baking. I made my pie last night, but the picture is hardly worth posting, as I decided to freeze it and have it in a week or two. I used frozen shells, so the top crust looks a bit funny, but it will be fine once it’s cooked. Mmmm….something to look forward ~ an easy and delicious meal that is ready to go in the oven. Gotta love that!
