Sweet Potato And Black Bean Enchiladas

I'll just apologize now for not getting a better photo and will offer up a promise of a better one the next time these grace my kitchen. They were just to good to really wait and make a "pretty plate" for the camera. We good? Okay, yes... I say we're good.

Enchiladas are something of a staple around here. Both the, slightly labor intensive, rolled variety and the, far easier, "casserole" variety. What can I say? We sort of really dig Mexican food. The only issue I, personally, have with enchiladas is that I tend to get bored. 90% of the time I make chicken enchiladas. Always yummy, but boring, after 11ty billion times. We almost never have beef around the house, when enchiladas occur to me, so sometimes... When I'm just to bored with chicken to be bothered, I get a little creative and sometimes, that creativity results in sheer awesomeness. Enter: Sweet potato and black beans, if you please. And even if you don't please, so there!

There really is nothing to not like here. The sweetness of the sweet potato makes sweet, sweet music with chili powder, garlic, and cumin. Chipotle would play nice, too, but he wasn't invited last night, to keep the heat down. The end result is a hearty and filling dish rich with spices and just the right amount of kick that I think you'll really enjoy.

So, enough talk! Here's the recipe:

2 large sweet potatoes (yams, if you really want to be technical. Go for orange!)
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs olive oil
1.5 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 cup shredded colby jack cheese
1 can of green enchilada sauce
corn tortillas

Preheat the oven to 350 and cook those sweet potatoes however you want. I boiled mine, but roasting them is nice, too. While they're cooking, saute the onions and garlic until they're translucent and the onions have taken on a pretty color. When the sweet potatoes are done, mash them up, add everything except the cheese and tortillas and mix it up. Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed.

Now, here's the good part. pour some enchilada sauce in the bottom of your baking dish. Sprinkle a bit of cheese in each tortilla, add a healthy scoop of filling and roll and place it in the pan. Repeat until done. Cover with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese and bake about 25 minutes.

If you're going casserole style, line the bottom with corn tortillas, then spread the mixture over the top, sprinkle about half the cheese over the top and cover with another layer of tortillas. Cover with enchilada sauce and the remaining cheese and bake for the same amount of time.

I serve these with a bit of sour cream.

Orange Cranberry Bread

Don't hate me... This isn't really "bread". This is straight up cake, complete with a mouthwatering glaze. Why do I call it bread? Good question and there are 2 answers; 1) Because I can and 2) because I made this delight in a bread pan.

This recipe came about as an accident. It's based on a lemon poppy seed bread that would make a church lady swoon at a potluck. I went to make it and realized I had neither lemons, nor did I have poppy seeds. I did, however, have a bag of cranberries in the freezer and a bowl full of oranges and, thus, the bread was born! It's a favorite, here, especially during the holidays. You can, pretty much, chuck everything in a bowl and get perfect results, every.single.time.

So, here's my method:

For the bread:

3 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup coconut oil, melted
1 TBS melted unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped cranberries
Zest of 1 orange

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour 2 bread pans. Mix the baking soda and salt with the flour and then mix in everything else, except the zest and the cranberries until it's fairly smooth and well incorporated. Gently fold in the zest and the cranberries and divide the batter between the pans. Bake for about 50-55 minutes, or until set in the middle. Remove from pans and remove to a cooling rack,

For the glaze:

1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbs butter, salted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract

Chuck all but the vanilla and almond extracts into a sauce pan and stir, over medium-low heat and the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add extracts and then spoon over the warms loaves of bread and spread it until it covers the top of each loaf.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Someone once said, "Chicken soup is good for the soul.", and I have to say, that I agree. Chicken soup is warm, comforting, and full of "Make you feel better about anything" goodness. It's one of the very first things I think about when fall arrives and the weather cools and noses start to get stuffed up. I'm pretty sure chicken soup is sort of magical.

We needed some magic last night, for sure. We had a rough start that morning and it really just set a bad tone for the day. I had, thankfully, made some chicken stock overnight in our crock pot and had some leftover chicken from the previous night's dinner. It was as if the universe had perfectly aligned... I knew what I had to do! It was definitely a "Chicken Soup" night! And not just any chicken soup, oh no! It was a "Chicken Pot Pie Soup" sort of night.

Here is my method:

2-3 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite sized chunks
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 carrots, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2-3 ribs of celery, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 cup peas
5 cups of chicken stock
1 cup whole milk
1 cup cream
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp black pepper

Over med-high heat, melt your butter and toss in the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery and saute until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add in the flour and continue to stir and cook for 1-2 minutes. It's going to seize up and that is okay. Just don't let it burn! Add in the chicken stock and stir until it starts to thicken and bubble. Toss in the peas, bay leaf and thyme, reduce the heat to med-low and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Stir in the milk and cream and add the salt and pepper. Allow it to heat through and serve with hot out of the oven biscuits.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Fall is most definitely on it's way to North Texas. I have finally managed to turn the air off and open a window, which is HUGE, because this summer was more than a little warm. But, it is finally fall and that means loads of pumpkin-ish goodies fly out of my kitchen!

These muffins are the result of an informal challenge from a friend. She posted a status about a certain coffee chain's pumpkin muffins with the tag line of, "I bet Shannon can make these.". Challenge accepted. Unfortunately, I have never actually eaten this chain's version, so I had to trek out to go get one. It was yummy... A little sweet, but good. Dense, spicy notes of cinnamon and cloves and a delectable cream cheese core.

I felt up to the challenge after 1 bite and the resulting muffins were close, but infinitely better, in my opinion. I usually reach for the brown sugar, when making anything with pumpkin. I just think it offers a deeper flavor profile. But, these muffins needed more depth, so I opted for white sugar with a boost of molasses, which is all brown sugar really is... No, really, it is. I amped up the spices and added ginger, which I felt was missing from the chain's version. What I produced was a very moist, spiced pumpkin muffin with a slightly sweet cream cheese core. Not a thing wrong it that! Only thing missing were the scattering of pumpkin seeds on top.

Here is my method:

Makes 24Cream Cheese Filling:

1 8oz brick of cream cheese

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Muffins:3 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

1 15oz can pumpkin puree

1.5 cups sugar

1 cup oil

1 tbs molasses 

With a handheld mixer, blend the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla together. Scoop into a piping bag with a round tip and chuck in the fridge to firm up. 

Mix all your dry ingredients together and set aside. In a mixer, beat together pumpkin, eggs, sugar, mollasses, and oil and then mix in the dry ingredients until just combined. Divy the batter between 24 lined muffin cups. Now, here's the fun part! Go get the cream cheese mixture and pipe some into the center of each muffin. Put the tip a little lower than half way down the middle and squeezw until it just a wee bit peeks out. It expands like crazy during baking. 

Bake at 350 for about 18-20 minutes. Allow to rest a few minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. 

Fluffy Sugar Cookies

Don't lie to me, now, who here hasn't devoured those sugary-soft fluffy cookies they sell at the grocery store? I know I have and my kids love them and ask for them every time I have to take them into the store. And, though I'll admit to totally eating my weight in them, I knew there had to be some way to make these at home with ingredients I could pronounce and make enough that I didn't feel as though I was losing money, or my fair share of cookies, every time they disappeared the same day I brought them home from the store. Having a large family often means cage matches to see who reigns supreme and gets the last cookie!

So, I set about trying 11ty billion "soft sugar cookie" recipes and, in some way or another, they all seemed to fall short of the mark, at least in my opinion. In all that research, one thing became very clear... A "sugar cookie" can be many things, but it is not consistently defined around this country. A lot of the recipes I found used shortening. I have a large issue cooking with that stuff, I really much prefer using butter and other fats.

So, in efforts to make a lightly textured cookie with an irresistible flavor, I put my smarts to work and came up with a recipe that beats out any pre-packaged cookie, hands down! And the best part? The recipe makes a LOT of cookies, so cage matches aren't required and I always have enough to share with anyone who drops by to visit.

Here is my method:

For the cookies:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt
1 cup canola oil
2 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour


In your mixer, beat the butter on high until it's lightened in color and fluffy. Add in the powdered and granulated sugars, baking soda, cream of tartar and the salt and beat again until it's lightened in color and fluffy. Stream in the canola oil as the mixer is going. Then add in the eggs and the almond extract. Take a moment to scrape down the sides to make sure it's all one cohesive batter. Then gradually add in the flour a cup at a time until it's all combined. The dough will be pretty stiff. Cover and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

When it's chilled, preheat your oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment, scoop out dough balls in 2 tbs portions and roll them to make smooth. Press them flat with your fingers or a glass. I aim for about 1/3 inch thick and bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow them to sit on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before transferring them to a rack to cool. Keep the unused dough in the fridge in between baking.

For the frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt

Beat the butter and extracts together and gradually beat in the powdered sugar until it's light and fluffy. Spread on cooled cookies and decorate however you wish.

Note: When making these for a bake sale, I double the frosting recipe.

Mexican Chicken

This is a huge family favorite and I make it nearly every week. It's beyond simple, extremely versatile, and pleases every person in this house. So, in other words, this dish is full of win! We use it for all sorts of Mexican dishes, filling for enchiladas, quesadillas, tacos, but also as the base for chicken enchilada soup or white chicken chili. Talk about versatility! And, the added bonus is that we can get 3-4 meals out of one batch, so it's extremely economical.

The best part, though, about making this dish is that I don't have to babysit it while it cooks. Oh no, this beauty of a recipe cooks up in my crock pot. I chuck the ingredients, set it to low and off we go. By the time we make it back in the house, the air smells SO ridiculously divine. I take a quick minute to chuck the cooked chicken in my Kitchen Aide mixer with the paddle attachment and viola, perfectly cooked and shredded chicken for the masses!

This is my method:

4 chicken breasts, frozen
2 cans of tomato and chilis
2-3 Tbs of taco seasoning (about 1 packet, but I make my own and so should you!)
1 lime, juiced

Chuck it all, except the lime, into your crock pot, set it to low and walk away. In 6 hours, you'll have the best chicken EVER! You can shred it with two forks or chuck it in your mixer. Toss in the lime juice and mix to incorporate and use as you'd like.

Broccoli Sausage Pasta

We have a large family rife with big personalities and varying tastes. It can be very challenging to please them all, at times. Of our 4 children, one doesn't like rice, except plain sticky rice, one doesn't really like any veg except for carrots and broccoli, one refuses to eat any ground meat of any kind, and one is just a baby and likes to chuck his food to the floor. Usually, I try to make a conscious effort to include one component of each meal that I know everyone will like, which can be challenging. But, sometimes, it brings inspiration and I manage to sneak a 1 pot dish in front of my kids that they'll all eat to some degree... And that, in my book is a huge win!

Broccoli Sausage Pasta is something I came up with spur of the moment after we'd gotten home late from the store. The ground meat hater in the family hadn't been born just yet, so the 2 picky eaters we had at the time surprised the heck out of me by devouring the entire meal with out a single complaint and shocked me even more by asking me to make it again the following week. And thus, a family favorite was born! Even now, when my 5 year old tells me she hates ground meat, she will gladly eat the pasta and broccoli in this dish, which is good enough for me.

The dish is ridiculously simple. Bite size pieces of Italian sausage, broccoli, some garlic, olive oil all tossed together with adorably kid friendly bow tie pasta and topped with fresh parmesan cheese. You can NOT get this wrong, people! It's just not possible.

This is my method:

1 package sweet/mild/hot Italian sausage (if you use the kind in the casing, cut that off and rip into chunks)
1 box farfalle pasta
1 pound broccoli, cut into bite size spears
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Get a pot of water off to a rolling boil and cook your pasta to package directions. 1-2 minutes before you think the pasta is done, add the broccoli to the pot.

While the pasta is cooking, in a large pan, brown the sausage up until it's cooked through. Turn off the heat and add the garlic and the olive oil to the pan and let the residual heat saute the garlic while you go drain your pasta and broccoli.

Toss the cooked pasta and broccoli into your pan and toss it all together until it's well coated. Sprinkle with the Parm and serve hot.