Foodie Friday: Baked Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This recipe was my grandmother's. It's a very simple baked casserole that is perfect to make for dinner tonight, or to make and refrigerate for the next day! You can add whatever you like (cilantro, cayenne, corn, maybe even onions if you're not allergic like I am!) but as is this is a festive and delicious dinner. Serve with a side of taco salad and corn!

This recipe make 6 large servings.

You will need:

• 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 cups tortilla chips or tortillas1 16oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 4-oz can chopped green chiles
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup (8 oz) grated cheese
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

1.     Boil chicken breasts, reserving 1 cup broth

2.     In pot, mix broth, diced tomatoes (drained), spices, and green chiles over low heat

3.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

4.     Cover bottom of casserole dish with small amount of spiced mixture, then half of the chips/tortillas

5.     Layer half of the chicken over the chips

6.     Pour half the sauce over the chicken

7.     Sprinkle 4oz grated cheese on top

8.     Repeat steps 4-7 once

9.     Bake for 25-30 minutes and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving

Hint: Cover for the first 10 minutes of baking to prevent burnt cheese

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

These flourless, 3 ingredient cookies (4 if you include the Kiss) were the perfect thing for my cookie craving one day when I was running low on all purpose flour (why I had little flour and a whole bag of Hershey's Kisses I may never fully understand). It's incredibly easy to substitute the sugar with Splenda or another sugar replacement for a lower calorie count–about 50 calories less per cookie. Yup. I did the math.

This recipe makes approximately 18 cookies

You will need:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar (or Splenda)
• 1 egg
• 18 Hershey's Kisses

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Beat sugar, peanut butter, and egg until fully incorporated. Here's a helpful tip for measuring peanut butter. Use a 2 cup measuring cup and fill it with one cup of water. Add peanut butter until the water line moves up to 2 cups. Now you can scoop out your peanut butter without having a sticky measuring cup!
3. Roll your dough into 1" balls and place on ungreased baking sheet
4. Bake for 10 minutes
5. While cookies are baking, unwrap one Hershey Kiss per cookie and place to the side
6. After the cookies are taken out of the oven, promptly and gently press a kiss into each cookie
7. Let cool completely before eating. The kisses may remain melty and gooey (yum!) for several hours, so if you want cooled candy make sure you make the cookies at least 6 hours in advance.

Enjoy this delicious treat and try not to eat them all in one sitting!

Craft Tuesday: Three DIY Cloth Flowers

We're back this Craft Tuesday with a simple craft, well 3 simple crafts really. These cloth flowers can be used to embellish many things. One of them you will recognize from my cloth bookmarks! You can stick these flowers onto headbands, brooch pins, hair clips, book covers, aprons... the list is as long as your imagination is big!

You will need:

• Hot glue gun (or fast-drying fabric glue)
• Various fabrics

Two of these flowers can be made with any cloth scraps you have laying around, so we will start with those.

Flower #1: The Rolled Flower
Start by cutting one long strip of fabric (at least 30", the longer the strip, the bigger your flower), about 1/2" to 1" wide. On one end of the fabric strip tie a double knot. This knot will the center of your flower.

Now, with one hand (not your dominant hand) hold the knot and with the other hand begin twisting the fabric (the way you would twirl a lock of hair, so that is curls onto itself). As you twist the fabric, begin wrapping it around the knot with your other. It takes a bit of  doing and I had to kind of go back and forth using both hands for each task. As you are wrapping, place glue about every 1/2" or so to make sure the flower stays together. When your flower reaches the desired size, take the end of your fabric strip and glue it (unrolled) onto the bottom of the flower.

Finish the flower with a button of your choice in the center (sewn or glued). If you're placing this on a head band or a pin, glue the flower onto a felt circle a little bit smaller than the flower, and then glue the headband/pin onto the felt.

Flower #2: The Flower with Petals
You will need to cut out 8 circles of the same size. My circles were about 2 1/2" wide. However big you want your flower to be, that's how big you should make your circles. After all of your circles are cut out you can do one of two things: 1) You can leave the circles with smooth edges and your flower will look very uniform and smooth. 2) You can fold your flowers in half or in fourths and trim the edges a little to give them some interest (pictured top left). As you are attaching them later, you can refold them so that the edges do not line up and it gives the illusion of more petals.

Now that your petals are cut out, cut out a circle of felt in a similar color to your fabric (or the background it will be going on), making the circle about 1/2" smaller than your flower. Fold one of your petals twice, so it looks like a slice of pie, and glue it so it stays in that shape, and then glue it onto the felt circle, with the point in the center of the circle. Repeat this 3 times so that you have four petals glued onto the circle (pictured top right). Glue down three more petals in the same fashion on top of the bottom four, covering as many "seams" between the petals as you can (pictured bottom left). Next, take one circle and fold it in half. Pull the two corners in towards each other so that the half circle folds up just a little. Glue this petal down and then attach a button on top (sewn or glued). For this flower, I used an upholstery button so that I could cover it with a corresponding fabric. These buttons can be found in the upholstery section of most craft stores in several different sizes.

Flower #3: The Pleated Flower
This flower uses pleated ribbon that you will find at any fabric/craft store in the ribbon by the yard area. It comes in many different colors, but is typically a stiff cotton, although you can find some cotton-sateen ones once in a blue moon at a regular craft store (at least around me it's a rarity). This is probably the simplest of the flowers. Start with one long piece (about 2') and glue down a thin fold of fabric at one end. Now begin make a circle with the pleated ribbon, gluing every 1/2" or so to ensure the ribbon does not unwind. Continue in this manner until your flower is the size you want it to be. When your flower reaches the desired size, take the end of your ribbon and glue it onto the bottom of the flower.

If you are going to attach it to a headband, pin, etc, glue a circle of felt on the bottom. Finish your flower off with a button. I used an upholstery button covered in one of my fabric scraps. I love using upholstery buttons because they are customizable. These buttons can be found in the upholstery section of most craft stores in several different sizes.

Foodie Friday: Fast Potato Soup

 
Potato soup is delicious, warm, and such a great comfort food.  This recipe is fast and simple. There is no need to peel and slice potatoes, because it is made with one packet of Idahoan mashed potato mix! To make it even easier you can use the bacon bits you buy to put on salads. May not taste exactly the same, but it's pretty close!

This recipe makes 2-4 servings. Jason and I split one batch and had lunch. If you are serving it as a side with a sandwich or as an appetizer then this recipe will easily serve 4.

You will need:

• 1 packet Idahoan Buttery mashed potatoes (or regular, and you can add butter)
• 2 strips of bacon
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 + 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 chicken bullion cube
• 1/2 tablespoon parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon sage
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano
• Salt & pepper
• Shredded cheddar cheese

1. Combine 1 cup water and 1/2 bullion cube in a medium saucepan over medium heat. If you don't have any bullion cubes, feel free to skip this step or use chicken broth, though the flavor won't be exactly the same
2. While chicken stock is cooking, begin making bacon in frying pan
3. Once the stock is complete, add milk
4. Next add parsley, sage, and oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste
5. Chop cooked bacon strips into small pieces and add half to the milk mixture
6. Stir well until milk and seasonings are well mixed
7. Bring just to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent scalding
8. Add one packet of mashed potato mix and stir in
9. Add warm water until desired consistency is reached (a little less than 1/2 cup)
10. Whisk until most of the potato clumps are gone
11. Serve immediately and garnish with cheddar cheese, parsley, and the remainder of the chopped bacon 

 Serve with some warm bread for dipping! Enjoy!

Foodie Friday: Simple Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes & Praline Icing

Jason and I were sitting around sewing one night. We had eaten an early dinner, so I wanted to make a cake. I had a Betty Crocker Classic Yellow cake mix, but that just didn't sound great. We wanted more than just yellow cake. So, I improvised and came up with this DELICIOUS, and super easy, apple cinnamon cake. It was perfect for our cozy night in, but I am pretty sure I am going to make it as loaves for gifts next fall.

This recipe makes 2 dozen cupcakes, or 1 dozen cupcakes and two small loaves, or 2 large loaves (I think).

You will need:

• 1 Classic Yellow Cake mix, and the ingredients for which it calls (minus the oil)
• Applesauce (same amount of oil for which the cake recipe calls, probably 1/2 cup)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 peeled & diced apple (Gala)

1. Preheat oven as directed on your cake mix box (most likely 350)
2. Pour your cake mix and water/milk and eggs into large bowl
3. Add applesauce, cinnamon, and nutmeg to cake mix and beat together
4. Peel and dice apple and add to cake mix. Beat until incorporated
5. Pour your batter into your greased container(s) and bake as directed on box. Let cool completely before icing

Fresh out of the oven!

For the icing, you will need:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
• 3 tbs milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a small saucepan, bring brown sugar, butter, and milk to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly
2. Allow to boil for 1 minute, whisking constantly, and then remove from heat
3. Whisk in vanilla
4. Whisk in powdered sugar in 3-4 parts. In order for sugar to fully incorporate, you may have to put your icing back over the lowest heat setting
5. Place cooled cake on serving plate and pour warm icing over. If you are icing multiple loaves, place loaves on wax paper before pouring icing. Serve immediately