Chicken Enchiladas with Red Sauce

  Sorry for the delay in posts this week...I'm working some long hours at work and my free time has become a little consumed with studying for my upcoming GRE test. On to the enchiladas...I grew up eating enchiladas on a regular basis, but we always had green sauce enchiladas. I rarely ever ate red sauce enchiladas at all and I'm not sure why because I love them! A few weeks ago one of my girl friends had me over for dinner and made some traditional red sauce enchiladas, then right after, I saw this recipe in The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, and knew I had to make them. I liked the idea of being able to make the red sauce myself without having to resort to a can but I was skeptical about how easy it would be to make the red sauce. The sauce is actually beyond easy to make and comes together so quickly, can be made ahead of time and frozen, and has great flavor. The original recipe included cilantro, but I already have an enchilada recipe with a lot of cilantro in it and wanted an enchilada recipe that felt as different as I could make it from that recipe, so I omitted the cilantro. Enjoy :)

Cold Soba Noodle Salad

 I love soba noodles! They are so simple and versatile to use that I usually end up grabbing them for dinner at the end of the week when the pantry is looking a little sparse and our selection of produce is limited. The end of the week is the biggest eat out temptation because even if I wanted to cook I usually have a very minimal selection of ingredients and no energy to run out to the store to get any missing ingredients. An asian inspired meal solves this problem for many reasons. Veggies like carrots and broccoli survive the week much better than the rest of the produce I usually pick up, and frozen peas are always in my freezer, all of which compliment an asian inspired dish quite well. To demonstrate this theory that you can make an asian inspired dish with what's left in your pantry at the end of the week, I actually saw this recipe halfway through the week last week, made it on friday, and never had to run out to the store to grab any missing ingredients. I always keep a few bags of soba noodles on hand so I always have them as an option. I really love the soba noodles from world market, they have organic soba noodles with no sodium for only $2.99 each. It may be a little pricier than your regular soba noodles, but soba noodles without sodium makes it totally worth it. Most soba noodles are PACKED with sodium so is best to choose the one with the lowest sodium content. 
  
  I adapted this recipe due to the availability of ingredients I had, taste preferences, and the amount of soba noodles I had. I didn't have any cucumbers but will definitely add them next time I make this. I omitted the nuts because I wasn't really into the idea of nuts in the this dish but feel free to add them if you want. I only had 12 ounces of soba noodles, not 1 lb, so I slightly decreased the honey and soy sauce to account for the lack of soba noodles. This recipe really I think can be altered in so many ways based on what you have on hand or your taste preferences without actually drastically changing the base of the recipe as long as you keep the soba noodles, honey and soy sauce. 


  Anyways enjoy this quick and simple recipe! I apologize for the lack of posts this week. I have had some extra long days at work and what little free time I get has been devoted to sleep or studying for my upcoming GRE test. I promise to get caught up on posts by the end of the weekend though, I have so many great recipes I want to share :)

Cinnamon Rolls

  I've been wanting to make homemade cinnamon rolls for a long time now. Every recipe I've ever found though involves letting the dough rise for hours and it makes it pretty much impossible to make cinnamon rolls and actually eat them for breakfast. Then I saw a cinnamon roll recipe in my new Americas Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook that was quick and easy! The recipe uses baking powder and baking soda in place of yeast so there is no need to let the dough rise. These cinnamon rolls are so tasty, gooey, and they come in at just 290 calories each. I really just wanted a cinnamon roll recipe that didn't take hours to make but the fact that they are also relatively healthy for a cinnamon roll is the icing on the cake for me. I was able to make them this morning in less than an hour and we served them with a big bowl of fresh fruit and scrambled eggs. Enjoy!

Thin Crust Pizza Margherita

  I have been making my own pizza dough for a few years now using the same recipe that I used to make my very first batch of homemade dough. The dough recipe is really great, but yields a softer, thicker crust, but I really love that crispy, thin crust that you get at italian restaurants. I had planned to make pizza earlier this week and had no intention of making a thin crust pizza.  Last minute I decided I wanted to try and make a thin crust pizza and started to search for a good recipe on the internet. Most of the recipes I saw required making the dough 24-48 hours in advance which was not something I wanted to do, especially since I was making the pizza that night. I started to find some recipes that didn't require making the dough so far in advance and they were all so similar to my pizza dough recipe, they just used less yeast and didn't allow the dough to rise. So I decided to modify my pizza dough recipe by cutting the amount of yeast used in half and just allowing the dough to sit for a few minutes while I prepare a few of the toppings instead of rising for 1-2 hours. The dough recipe below can be used to make your favorite pizza, but I also included the steps for making my pizza margherita. This really is a simple recipe and I love how you don't have to let the dough rise! It turns a meal that I normally save for weekends into a weeknight meal because of how quick it can all come together. We will definitely be using this dough recipe from now on :)

Lemon Risotto

  I tried risotto for the first time at Emeril's restaurant Nola while on a trip to New Orleans this past fall. I couldn't believe what I had been missing! I had yet to make it myself until this past weekend. I was hesitant to make risotto because of all the warnings about how time consuming and difficult it is to constantly stir the risotto as you add the liquid. Now my arm was tired after stirring the risotto for 20-30 min, but it was completely worth it. I prefer a mushroom risotto personally, but Trevor does not like mushrooms at all so I decided to give this lemon version a try. We both love lemon but agreed this recipe had a little too much lemon. So next time I make this I will probably cut the lemon juice to about half. I also will omit the white wine because for some reason I felt it left a funny aftertaste, but I am not a fan of alcohols in cooking so maybe it was just me. I would make the recipe as directed the first time and adjust the recipe based on your taste preferences after that. You may love the overly tangy lemon taste or the hint of wine aftertaste. 
  I sauteed some wild caught Oregon bay shrimp in a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic to serve on top of this risotto. They both went really well together. I try and buy seafood using the guidelines from Seafood Watch because it takes into consideration not only the impact your seafood choices have on the environment but also the impact your seafood choices have on your health based on how it was farmed or caught. Just a little side note :) Overall this recipe was exceptionally good and something I will definitely make again...with a few minor tweaks, Enjoy!

Chicken and Vegetable Tostada

  This recipe is very simple, adaptable, and perfect for weeknight cooking.  You can use fresh vegetables when they are in season during the summer, substitute in winter vegetables, or use frozen vegetables. I love making this during the week because it is so simple and you can save any of the left over chicken mixture to make quesadillas or top a salad the next day for lunch. I used jarred green salsa, but you can make your own green salsa too. Ill try and post a recipe for homemade green salsa in the coming weeks. I was busy over the weekend trying out new recipes so I have a lot of great stuff to post this coming week such as homemade cinnamon rolls, lemon risotto, thin crust pizza margherita, artichoke and turkey stuffed pasta shells, and red sauce enchiladas. 

Curried Chicken Flatbread Tacos

  I mentioned in an earlier post that I would be making rosemary garlic chicken kebabs...well I  nixed that idea. I went to go make my flatbread tacos last night and realized that they would be a little bland with just some grilled chicken. So I thought I'd make the rosemary chicken kebabs to go in the flatbread tacos...then I saw a variation on the rosemary garlic marinade...a curry marinade! Flatbread and curry go pretty well together so I decided on curried chicken flatbread tacos. I have only used curry a handful of times, not because I don't like it, but for some reason I never pick recipes using it. I really loved the tanginess of this marinade and the consistency of it. The chicken should be grilled, but I didn't feel like venturing out in the cold to the community Bbq to grill it, so I settled for using the George Foreman, which is pretty similar to an actual grill. I chose to use buttermilk for the base of the marinade, but you could use a plain yogurt as well. I wanted the marinade to have a thinner consistency because any liquids that are too thick tend to pool up on the George Foreman ( if I was using a grill this wouldn't have been a problem because any excess marinade would just drip off). 
  These could easily become vegetarian dishes by skipping the chicken and just making it with the zucchini or any other grilled vegetables. Feel free to vary the toppings for the flatbread tacos as well, I chose those toppings based on what we like and what we had in the fridge. 

Provencal Potato Gratin

  I have had this recipe saved for awhile but each week it just seems to slip through the cracks when planning out our meals. The photo posted with the original recipe reminded me of scalloped potatoes, but I have to say I was slightly disappointed they didn't come out anything like scalloped potatoes. That being said, the recipe itself is actually very good, as long as you aren't expecting something slightly creamy and cheesy like I was. Next time I think I will mix in a few tablespoons of parmesan cheese with the potatoes before baking, so if you like a little more cheese with your potatoes try it out. 

Turkey Chili

  Super Bowl Sunday makes me think of...Chili! Ok so I'm not really a football fan and the super bowl doesn't really make me think of anything. But I know many people get really into the super bowl moment and one of the foods that I think of when I think football or super bowl is chili. I recently came up with this chili recipe on my own about a month ago. It was my first attempt at chili and it was exceptional! So in the spirit of the super bowl this weekend we decided on chili last night for dinner. 
  The recipe can be changed or adapted based on your taste preferences or what you have in your pantry. For example omit the meat and add more veggies if you prefer vegetarian chili, substitute ground beef for the ground turkey (though remember the turkey is the healthier option!), add more chili powder or cayenne pepper if you like spicy, you get the idea. 

Blueberry Crumb Cake...how could you go wrong?

  I recently ordered a new cookbook, The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Coobook, and I am in love with it! I have never bought a cookbook from The America's Test Kitchen series, but after reading rave reviews and seeing recipes from the cookbook posted on Annies Eats I decided to try it out. I am beyond impressed with this cookbook. I've only had the cookbook a week and already made 4 recipes, all which turned out amazing. I think the cookbook also seems to balance real ingredients with healthy meals, as opposed to using all fat free, sugar free, etc ingredients.
  I decided to make this Blueberry Crumb Cake, well because I love blueberries and I love crumb cake! I also was intrigued by a healthy and also tasty crumb cake recipe. I have found that healthy eating can easily be applied to cooking, but baking is often a different story. Normally, healthy baking recipes I try come out tasting ok, but are just missing that decadent taste baked goods have. Well this crumb tastes like something ordered at that bakery that you would need to spend hours in the gym afterwards to negate. Its moist, the crumb topping has the right amount of crisp and sweetness, and the blueberries add little hints of flavor throughout the crumb cake. So without further ado:

Hello Blog!

Recently I began reading blogs...on anything from cooking to decorating...and have finally decided to start my own. I hope to use this blog as a place to document my new explorations into photography, my culinary triumphs and defeats, and share bits of my life as a recent college grad out in the real world. 

Thanks to author Michael Pollan, I like to live with the mantra "if I cant envision it in its natural state, I probably shouldn't eat it."I believe that healthy food is real food with a little moderation applied. I believe in cooking with real ingredients that haven't been processed, that don't contain 10 different corn by products, or that don't contain a bunch of synthetic chemical ingredients. For the most part I have been able to do this very easily by making as much of my meals from scratch as I can and reading labels when I cant. I prefer to use the real, and sometimes fattier versions, of food for the sake of eating food in its most natural and pure state. I also find that the real versions of food are often richer than their fat free or low calorie imitations, so you end up using much less. You also avoid eating the many additives and chemicals that are put into food to give it a lower calorie count, trading a few calories for a bunch of additives your body doesn't know how to digest isn't a good trade off!

Most of the recipes will be inspired from other sources and often adapted to fit my tastes, but I hope to add more original creations as my culinary talents grow. I am not entirely sure what direction this blog will take, but I hope its a place to post recipes, photos, and little bits and thoughts about whats going on in the world for family and friends :)