Enchiladas

I have found some of the BEST recipes on the outside of food packages. For instance, I found this enchilada recipe on the back of the Kirtland shredded cheddar cheese bag. These were some tasty enchiladas. I especially loved the flavor of the corn tortilla. I love enchiladas because you can freeze them. Just assemble the enchiladas as directed (except do not cook them) and put into the freezer. Then when you are in a time crunch all you have to do it pull them out, bake them and they are done!

Makes 6 Servings

4 cups chicken roughly chopped (I just use the Rotisserie chicken)
6 cups shredded cheddar cheese divided into 2-3 cup quantities
3- 10oz cans enchilada sauce (you can choose red or green... I loved the green enchilada sauce)
1-7oz can diced green chilies
2 cups black olives divided into 2-1 cup quantities (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
6-10 inch flour or corn tortillas

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven 375
1. Mix chicken, 3 cups cheese, 1 can enchilada sauce, diced green chillies, and 1 cup of sliced black olives in a mixing bowl.
2. Coat 9x13x2 inch baking pan with olive oil.
3. Divide chicken mixture onto 6 tortillas; rill each tortilla "enchilada style: and place seam side down onto pan.
4. Cover enchiladas with remaining enchilada sauce (15 oz total)
5. Bake on middle rack in oven for 60 to 75 minutes or until midfdle of enchiladas register at 165 degrees (it only took about 30 minutes for mine to bake.)

Sloppy Joe's

I found this recipe at Better Home's and Gardens. Another fast and easy dinner idea. These tasted SOOO much better than the canned sloppy joes and were super easy. There are several variations although I just stuck with the original recipe. Also we omitted the cheese. Anywho, if you need an easy dinner, just try this recipe. Plus, Wyatt loved them!

Yield: 6 sandwiches

Start to Finish 25 mins

ingredients

• 1 pound  lean ground beef or ground pork
• 1/2 cup  chopped onion (1 medium)
• 1/2 cup  chopped green sweet pepper (1 small)
• 18  ounce can  tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons  water
• 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons  chili powder
• 1 teaspoon  Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon  garlic salt
•  dash bottled hot pepper sauce
• 6 kaiser rolls or hamburger buns, split and toasted

directions

1.In a large skillet cook meat, onion, and sweet pepper until meat is brown and vegetables are tender. Drain off fat. Stir in tomato sauce, water, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and hot pepper sauce. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Serve on toasted rolls.

from the test kitchenPizza Joes:

• Prepare as directed, except substitute one 14-ounce jar pizza sauce for the tomato sauce and water; omit chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and hot pepper sauce. Add 1/2 cup chopped pepperoni. Serve on toasted rolls with 6 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese.
• Per sandwich: 501 cal., 25 g total fat (10 g sat. fat; 1 g trans fat), 82 mg chol., 983 mg sodium, 38 g carbo., 2 g fiber, 30 g pro.
• Exchanges: 2.5 Starch, 3.5 Medium-Fat Meat, 1 Fat

Tex-Mex Joes:

• Prepare as directed, except add 1/2 cup fresh or frozen whole kernel corn and 1 tablespoon chopped chipotle chile in adobo sauce with tomato sauce. Serve on toasted rolls with 6 ounces sliced cheddar cheese.
• Per sandwich: 476 cal., 23 g total fat (11 g sat. fat; 1 g trans fat), 81 mg chol., 816 mg sodium, 38 g carbo., 3 g fiber, 28 g pro.
• Exchanges: 2.5 Starch, 3 Medium-Fat Meat, 1 Fat

Veggie Joes:

• Prepare as directed, except omit ground beef. Cook onion and sweet pepper in 1 tablespoon hot olive oil over medium heat until tender. Add 2 cups cooked brown rice; one 15- to 16-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained; and 1/2 cup shredded carrot (1 medium) with the tomato sauce.
• Per sandwich: 338 cal., 6 g total fat (1 g sat. fat; 1 g trans fat), 0 mg chol., 705 mg sodium, 62 g carbo., 8 g fiber, 13 g pro.
• Exchanges: 4 Starch, 0.5 Fat

nutrition facts (Sloppy Joes)

• cal. (kcal) 349,
 
• Fat, total (g) 14,
 
• chol. (mg) 51,
 
• sat. fat (g) 5,
 
• carb. (g) 34,
• Monosaturated fat (g) 6,
 
• Polyunsaturated fat (g) 1,
 
• Trans fatty acid (g) 1,
• fiber (g) 2,
 
• sugar (g) 3,
 
• pro. (g) 20,
 
• vit. A (IU) 194,
 
• vit. C (mg) 11,
• Thiamin (mg) 0,
 
• Riboflavin (mg) 0,
 
• Niacin (mg) 6,
 
• Pyridoxine (Vit. B6) (mg) 0,
 
• Folate (µg) 65,
 
• Cobalamin (Vit. B12) (µg) 2,
 
• sodium (mg) 628,
• Potassium (mg) 342,
 
• calcium (mg) 71,
 
• iron (mg) 4,
 
• Starch () 2,
 
• Medium-Fat Meat () 2,
 
• Fat () 1,
 
• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

M&M Peanut Butter Cookies

These are hands down the BEST peanut butter cookies ever! Also they are fool proof. Every single time I have made them they have turned out perfect and everyone always comments on how good they taste. You can dress them up for the holidays by using different colored M&M's. The recipe found at sally's baking addiction.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened to room temperature*

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar 

1 large egg

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 and 1/2 cups M&Ms

Directions:

In a large bowl, using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed. Mix in the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla (in that order). Slowly mix in the baking soda and flour. Do not overmix. Fold in the M&Ms with a wooden spoon. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop chilled dough by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet or silicone baking mat. I pressed a few M&Ms on top of the dough balls. Press the balls down (only slightly) since they won't spread much while baking. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Cookies will be soft and may appear undone. They will firm up as they cool.

Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!

*Sally's Tip: You may use unsalted butter in this recipe.  If so, add 1/4 tsp salt with the flour.

Honey-Lime Enchiladas

Here's a great recipe from 71toes.com

honey-lime enchiladas

This recipe is from our church cookbook and it makes me salivate to think about.

It is super-duper easy too, and that is always a good thing when you’re in a hurry.

Sometimes I make extra chicken and freeze it in a Ziploc bag so I can whip these up again lickety-split when I need/want to.

First you cook three or four large chicken breasts any way you like.  I usually sauté mine in garlic and onions until they shred apart (more on how easy that is in the middle of this post), but you can boil it too if that seems easier.

In a bowl, mix up the marinade:

6 tablespoons of honey
5 tablespoons of lime juice
1 tablespoon of chili powder

Mix in the marinade with the cooked chicken:

Let the chicken soak in that marinade in the fridge for a little while…overnight would be ideal, but I’ve done it before without letting it marinate and it’s still pretty darn good.

(If I made enough chicken mixture to freeze some, I do it with the marinade already on it…so easy to whip it out next time you need it.)

Next you need:

6-8 flour tortillas
2-3 cups shredded cheese (I usually use a mixture of Monterey Jack and cheddar)
1 small can of green enchilada sauce

Fill 6-8 tortillas with shredded cheese and equal portions of the chicken mixture.

Spread a layer of green enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan (sprayed with cooking spray).  

Roll up those tortillas nice and tight and place them open-tortilla-flap down in the pan.

Spread another layer of enchilada sauce over the top:

Then sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top (and don’t let it fall off the counter which it looks like it’s about to in that picture up there…rest assured it made it safely to the oven).

Bake at 350 for a half hour.