Tuesday, December 20, 2011

What's for dinner? Day 20


Tonight we had these chicken enchiladas that I found on Pinterest--here at Pink Parsley

They were claimed to be so good you wouldn't want to order out at a restaurant again.

They were pretty good!
You even make the enchilada sauce from scratch and it did smell delicious while cooking.
We topped them with sour cream and guacamole.

Addison ate her's without complaint!
Peyton gagged and fell on the floor!
 (he has been a little dramatic lately, I gathered he didn't like them)

I'm always adjusting a bit on recipes as I don't always like to measure :)
But I did follow this one pretty close.

Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chile Sauce


adapted from Tide and Thyme, orginally from America's Test Kitchen

• 1 medium onion, chopped fine

• 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped fine (I used one jalapeno and one serrano)

• 1 teaspoon canola oil

• 3 medim cloves garlic, minced

• 3 Tablespoons chili powder

• 2 teaspoons ground cumin

• 3 teaspoons sugar

• 1 15-oz can tomato sauce

• 1 cup water

• 1 large beefsteak tomato, seeded and chopped (I used a tomato on the vine)

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2 large breasts)

• 1 cup extra sharp white cheddar, shredded

• 1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded

• 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro

• 12 (6-inch) soft corn tortillas

• cooking spray

• salt and ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425.
Combine the onion, jalapeno, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and oil in a large saucepan. cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the onions and peppers have softened, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and sugar, and cook until fragrant, less than 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce, water, and chopped tomato. Bring to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 5 minutes.
Nestle the chicken into the sauce. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken is cooked through (thickest part reaches 160 degrees), about 12-20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, and set aside to cool.
Strain the sauce through a strainer into a medium bowl, pressing the onion mixture to extract as much liquid as possible. Transfer the onions to a large bowl and set aside. Season sauce with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add to the onin mixture, and add 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce, 1 cup cheese, and the cilantro. Toss to combine.
Stack the tortillas on a plate and cover with plastic wrap; Microwave on high until warm and pliable, 40-60 seconds. Spread the tortillas on a clean work surface, and spoon 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture evenly down the center of each. Tightly roll each tortilla and lay seam-side down in a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.

Lightly spray the tops of the enchiladas with cooking spray. Place in the oven, uncovered, for about 7 minutes, or until the tortillas start to brown slightly (skip this step if you don't like the crunch).
Reduce heat to 400. Remove enchiladas and pour sauce evenly on top. Top with the remaining cheese. Cover dish with foil, and bake an additional 20 minutes, or until heated through.
Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes, until cheese browns. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, additional cilantro, etc.



After "crisping" in the oven, before sauce

Out of the oven, I should have garnished them with cilantro.
It would have been prettier!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Imagine!

Today we went to the Imagine! Children's museum in Everett!

We met all the Wyman side cousins there and played and had a great time.

The kids were so excited to play in the plane, the Italian restaurant, the vet.

They did some carpet skating, construction, played on the roof.

And then. . .

It is the first day of Christmas break and the energy is high and emotions are running high--we had two meltdowns-one from each of my children-in the parking lot on the way out.

We didn't get to go on the roof
Peyton laughed at me
Addison pulled me coat

I was not a happy mommy!

Here I had just taken them to a FUN place for them-and now I am getting grief from them both.

How do you have an incident free school break?  Is that possible?

How do I keep my patience?

Wow we are not off to a good start--time for a redo tomorrow :)

We often have redos :)


Some of the cousins (The Williams) carpet skating with Peyton and Addison.
 
Addison carpet skating--just before she fell on her head and decided she didn't want to do it anymore :(

Constructing!

Max and Addison playing the giant xylophone on the roof.

Merry Christmas!!
Music being played around the museum.

What's for dinner? Day 19

Tonight we had all intents to go to Red Robin at Bellevue Square with some friends and then go to the Snowflake Lane "production" at 7:00.

We were to meet at 5:30, go have a quick dinner and voila!

Whoa, plans changed.  It was a 60 minute wait for a table at Red Robin for 12.  That would make us miss the Snowflake Lane.

Next option--Pagliacci's pizza--oops 1 1/2 hour wait there.

Well fast food pizza and pasta--pizza by the slice was what we got in the mall.

Then Snowflake Lane at 7:00--with A LOT of people.

We didn't know what we were expecting but it was somewhere between a parade and show that we thought would happen.

What we got was some hight school band members as toy soldiers handing out candy, a drumline, music played overhead-with an announcer, and snow (which really was lovely)

Verdicts in---

We think that maybe we don't need to go back next year :)


If you look close you can see the snow falling! (Bubble snow)


Sunday, December 18, 2011

What's for dinner? Day 18

Tonight we had

Spicy Thai Noodles

Or as Joe called them Spy Thaicy Noodles.

I hadn't read the recipe very closely before making it.

So upon reading while making them I realized they were supposed to served cold--refrigerate overnight.

I did not have time to do that at that point and to be honest I hadn't planned on serving them cold--so we had them hot and served with some Filipino Lumpia that I got from Costco in the frozen section.

It was delicious hot!

Joe and I both liked it a lot.  The kids liked the noodles, they just did not put the green onions, cilantro and peanuts on theirs.

Joe had them for lunch today cold and said he preferred them HOT!

The recipe is below but I found it here where there are lots of other yummy stuff!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

What's for dinner? Day 17

Tonight we went to a birthday dinner for our darling friend-Caprielle who turned 14 today.

We had her favorite Buffalo Wings that her mom Martine makes.  They are also everyone else's favorite (Peyton loves them!)

I didn't make them tonight, but I have before and I do have the recipe :)

Buffalo Wings

Pour into a small coated pan:

1 1/2 cups Heinz ketchup
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. whiskey (I don't use this)
1/8 tsp. chipotle powder

Cook over med/low heat until well heated.

Separate joints of a 2 pound package of chicken wings.  Remove end piece and discard (or save for soup) then, cut between main joints.  Place chicken pieces on a microwave safe plate and cook about 2-3 minutes on high in microwave.

Place chicken pieces in a hot skillet with 1 Tbsp canola oil.  Quickly brown chicken on both sides over medium heat.
. 
Then add 1/2-1 cup sauce to the skillet.  Continue cooking over med/low heat.  The sauce will start to adhere to ther chicken.  Sauce will almost begin to carmelize.  Turn the chicken pieces after the first side is coated with sauce to coat both sides with sauce.

Serve with Caesar salad or celery and ranch.

Yum!

Friday, December 16, 2011

One Starry Night

We attended The Live Nativity for our ward and the Sammamish 2nd ward tonight.

What a lovely production!

I was very touched, especially when the shepherds came to see the baby Jesus.

The youth in our ward did the presentation tonight.  The act out the Nativity story outside with real sheep and music and word.

Our Primary was in charge of putting up the tree and garland and some signs.


What's for dinner?-Day 16

We had some delicious Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps for dinner tonight!

I am actually looking forward to the leftover rice filling for lunch tomorrow-sans tortilla!

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps

from melslkitchencafe.com (check it out here, she has lots of other delicious stuff too)