Enchiladas

Fall is now here and cooking is more about comfort and warmth.  I really enjoy making personal dishes for my boyfriend and I whenever I can.  It's kind of fun and easy on me when doing the portions.  Tonight was personal chicken enchiladas.

Dinner for two...

1 chicken breast chopped up

1 onion

1 bell pepper

1 avocado

1 lime

1 garlic clove

1 can of green chili's

1 bottle of enchilada sauce

1 cup of gradated cheese

10 corn tortilla's heated up in olive oil

1/2 cup of olive oil

1/2 cup of salsa

sour cream

sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

2 personal backing dishes (oven safe)

With all these there is even enough to make your own quick guacamole.

I started by cooking up the breast of chicken with a bit of olive oil half the onion, chopped up garlic clove, half the bell pepper, half the lime squeezed on top.  Once the meat is cooked all the way threw then add the can of chili's and salt pepper to taste.  Then splash in just a quarter of the enchilada sauce.  Turn down onto a simmer or low heat and let it set until ready to fill the tortillas.  After getting the chicken cooked up then start a pan on medium heat with the olive oil and pan fry them up 30 seconds on each side.  Cooking one at a time then setting them on a towel after cooking then repeating until all ten are cooked!

After finishing up the tortillas your now ready to put a small amount of enchilada sauce on the bottom of each backing dish. This is a good time to set the oven on 325 to preheat.   Taking one tortilla at a time adding the chicken filling into each one rolling them up setting them into the backing dish.

Once you have finished up filling all the corn tortillas now your ready to add the rest of the enchilada sauce to each backing dish evenly.  Then split the cheese up evenly between the two backing dish's as well.  Add as little or as much cheese as you like.  I just gave a ball park idea of a 1 cup.  You can even add olives to the top if you like.  Now put them into the 325* preheated oven for 15 min.  to heat everything evenly and melt the cheese on top.

While the enchiladas are backing now  you can put together your guacamole.  Putting the other half of the chopped onion, bell pepper, and squeezing the other half of the lime into the bowl.  Then chop up all of the avocado and add that.  Sometimes I use a fresh tomato chopped up but tonight I didn't have one.  When I don't have a fresh tomato I use a spoon full or two of salsa.  I add salt and pepper to taste as well.  Mix well and it's ready to be part of the topping!

When the time is up pull the backing dishes out and set to cool for 5/10 min.

Time to top with sour cream, salsa and that yummy fresh guacamole you made!

We were only able to eat about half and that is part of what I love about meals like this.  There are seconds or left overs for each person in one dish no mess and perfect for covering and setting in the frig for later.

Hope that you all enjoy this one.  It's quite simple and yet looks like you spent a lot of time and effort to make dinner.  The only thing we were missing with this dinner tonight was a Patron margarita on the rocks.

Eat, Love, & Live

Quinoa & Chicken

Trying new this is fun.  Don't ever be afraid of something new and different.  This is a really good meal in your dutch oven pot and great for a house full or dinner guest.  

Tonight we tried something new.  Quinoa!  It was really easy, just like cooking rice.  Tasty and very filling, also rather pretty and light.  Perfectly paired with chicken veggies and tomato basil sauce.    Tonight I just wanted to post up a beautiful picture of our dinner and share the new food we tried with all of you!  No recipe this time, I just threw this together and it worked out rather well... Inspired by a recipe I saw, I changed it up to make it more our liking and we loved it... Served up with some left over fresh bakery bread from the other night dinner was a hit!  This meal only took me 40min. to make and that was mostly due to trying to figure out what all I wanted to add to the pot... I so love being about to just cook it all in one dutch oven and call it a meal.  Less mess and work on trying to watch other items in other pans pots etc. and hope nothing buns... Easy and simple whenever you can is a must!

We are still on a quest to eat even more healthy than we do now.  More white meats and sea food, fish, and much more veggies and fruits.  Looking for more flavors and more colors.  Food to fuel us and keep us going for as long as we can live.  To eating for a long healthier life!  If any of you have not tried this Quinoa I highly recommend giving it a go.  It's really quite good!  Get out there and try something new this coming week!  

Try Quinoa!

Eat, Love, & Live

Roman Chicken Saltimbocca

Tonight I just had to make something that would melt in your mouth and leave you wanting to lick the plate and want more.  I found it!  

I have everything I need, except lemon.  It never fails I have lemon and can't seem to use it up fast enough and when I do need it there isn't any to be found.  I ran to the store and grabbed up some lemon and fresh baked bread to go with dinner.

I can't take credit for the high light of this dish I found this recipe and just want to share it with you all because not only did it taste fabulous but looked really pretty too and was quick and easy to make.  Anyone could do this dinner and rock it.  The whole family no matter how big or small would love it to the last bite.

I have to give credit when credit is due.... Thank you goes out to Whole Foods for their amazing website and recipes that they post up.  Here is the link to their site if anyone wants to see where I found this fantastic recipe.  http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/roman-style-chicken-saltimbocca

I love finding things and changing them up most of the time.  This time I didn't want to change what they had done at all.  Only thing I changed was amounts of things due to the fact I only cook for two people.  We only each needed one chicken each so I cut the recipe in half.  However I did add extra sage because I love sage, and less butter.  We don't hardly ever ever use butter.  I remember tonight why I love butter so very much.  This little blog tonight I won't post up the recipe because you can all just use the link to Whole Foods site.  I came up with the sides all on my own and they went really well with the chicken.  The broccoli was olive oil salt pepper and some water, sired then steamed just while I prepped the chicken.  Having potato's was a must tonight we have a ton of them to use and they just sounded good.  They are olive oil, salt, pepper, and sage.  Baked the potato's in the oven like fries, roasted... Perfect sides.  Lets not forget the fresh bread I picked up at the store, it was some seed bread. Really good choice too.

I was proud of myself tonight for taking on a new dish tonight.  Thinking I was going to post step by step tonight I took pictures of it all. Guess I can still share with you all so you see how easy it truly was.  

Yes that sage isn't very big yet but it came from my herb garden.  The prosciutto was so good that I picked up from Trader Joe's two weeks ago.  I love foods that I can get and hold onto and use more than once or twice to make a dressed up dinner.  I bought my bottle of white wine there too!

Like I said just use the link I posted and get the how to on all this, it's simple.  I'm cooking the chicken here and that only took a matter of 8 min. tops.  

This was a first for me tonight.  Making a wine sauce, and thought all these years how scary and hard it would be to get right.  I'm laughing so hard right now because it was so simple and so easy anyone could do it and it totally made the dish.  That and the lemon slices to add to it once all was plated.

The chicken gets set aside on a pretty platter waiting, and covered for it's wine sauce to cover it and make it taste like a bit of Roman heaven in your mouth.

I so think anyone can make this for diner and feel classy having something so melt in your mouth for dinner.  We felt like we had gone out and had a really high end chicken dish.  Don't ever be scared of trying new things, this is how you can find something that you really enjoy and might just fall in love with.  This will be a chicken dish I won't have any problems making again.  Change up the side dishes and have it again soon.  

I even had a small glass of the wine with dinner to help add to the flavors, that is just not something I do often.  The wine was a nice complement with the chicken and the wine sauce.

Now go and cook, take your self out of your comfort zone and enjoy.

Eat, Love, & Live.

Grilled Chicken Corn Chili Salsa

After a busy day sometimes for gets forgot and one or two people become starving people.  This was beyond starving mod.  I knew I had a few veggies that just had to be used up and I needed to fix something that wouldn't take to long before we both fell apart from lake of food.  Tonight I came up with this little number.  

Trying new things can be fun at times.  Note at times! 

Tonight I took a few items I really needed to use up before they went bad and put this together.  It's sweet spicy and crisp and cool at the same time.  If you like corn, sweet corn this corn chili salsa is rather good stuff.  The fresh cilantro adds a nice clean crisp heat to the dish.  I really love cilantro.  The corn chili salsa I fond on my most recent trip to Trader Joe's.  It was a must try. 

Here is how I did this.

So here is what you will need:

(this is a dinner for two, you can add or cut down if needed)

1 jar of corn chili tomato-less salsa

2 organic boneless skinless chicken breast 

4 thin slices of ready to use polenta

1 teaspoon of menudo mix

1/4 cup of red onion

1/4 of fresh chopped brussels sprouts

1/4 of cherry tomato's

half of an avocado (sliced)

mixed shredded cheese 

fresh cilantro (for garnish)

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 

sour cream (we only use light)

salt 

pepper

I always when starting to make a meal set every thing out I'll be needed.  Then with this dish I started by putting 2 table spoons of olive oil into a medium frying pan heated up to a medium heat added the two chicken breast.  Once they are in add the menudo mix onto the chicken with some fresh ground pepper and a small amount of salt for taste.  The menudo mix is rather hot and spicy so easy does it if it's your first time using it.  I really enjoy the heat so I tend to over do it most of the time.  Cooking chicken until cooked threw.  While the chicken is cooking cutting up veggies and prepping the polenta. 

Now once all the veggies and polenta are prepped and ready and the chicken is cooked all the way threw, now you add the corn chili salsa to simmer with the chicken.  This can stay on a low simmer while you finish cooking the polenta and getting your plate ready for plating. 

Now you want the heat up a second pan to fry up the 4 polenta rounds in.  If you have never tried polenta before I really think its a must.  I've never bought it ready to use in a roll before tonight.  I always made it from a instant mix.  This is a must when it comes to short cuts.  Saves a lot of time let me tell you!  All I did for us tonight was grilled up a few rounds I cut off the tube of polenta, four total in a bit of extra virgin olive oil with a bit of fresh ground pepper and salt to taste. Then I put the rest into a zip lock and set into the frig for another night soon to cook up into something else! 

While the polenta is grilling now start getting your plates out and setting up for serving.

Once all of the polenta cakes are heated and grilled nicely on both sides to your liking you can sever all this up, chicken salsa on top of the polenta cakes then adding the fresh veggies to the side with a nice sized soup full of sour cream some cheese and cilantro on top.  I totally forgot while I was enjoying making this to keep track of the time it took to put this all together... I'll just say on the safe side 30 to 40min.   I hope you all give this a go and feel free to change it up and make it your own.  I'd love to hear what you all think so feed back is very welcome on any of my blogs I post.  Now go cook, eat, and enjoy!

Eat, Love, & Live

Chicken Potsticker Soup

Dinner doesn't have to be boring or take over an hour to be amazing!

Soup is a perfect dinner meal all in one.  Simply full of flavor, color, and totally healthy.  

Finding fun and easy quick meals doesn't have to mean you go to a drive threw or pick up pizza on your way home from work.  Fresh veggies and a few healthy short cuts to help whip up something warm filling and tasty is right before your eyes.

I must give credit to Trader Joe's for this idea I took a spin off from them and just ran with it. Giving it my own twist adding and changing a few things along the way.  Hey, that's what great chefs do, get fantastic ideas for others and change it up!  Here is my take on it.

Chicken Potsticker Soup is a perfect meal in one bowl that's full of flavors that pop in your mouth yet delicate with a hint of heat.  Really fresh veggies are the way to go and with your favorite filled potsticker make this meal all yours.  You can use veggie filled, chicken, pork, or shrimp!  I'll totally recommend Trader Joe's frozen potstickers.  Most of the time I tend to shy away from boxed, canned, frozen, anything processed, however with Trader Joe's I have found that I don't have to worried about the frozen products.  They are good and all healthy.  Everything in moderation people.  

I have to cook just for two so most of my meals I create I cook up for two but anyone can double the recipes and a lot of the time we end up with leftover for lunch the next day.  This was perfect for the two of us.  I made just enough for us to both have plenty of soup for dinner.  We both really like trying new fun things when it come to food and I plan on sharing some of our fun with all of you.

In the last year or so I have really started to take a turn to much more healthy food choices than ever before.  Never eating out hardly ever, mostly only when we travel has it's up sides for sure.  I have become very creative and willing to spend the bit of extra time and money to really enjoy what we eat.  I totally believer it's paying off.  Remember key to a long happy healthy life is a healthy you.  Food plays such a large roll in that.  You are what you eat!

Here is how I did this.

What you will need:

1 package of Trader Joe's Chicken Potsticker's 

1 large box of veggie broth (I use organic only low sodium)

1 small yellow onion

2 small carrots

2 stalks of celery

1 cup of fresh spinach 

1 cup of bean sprouts

small hand full of fresh cilantro 

small hand full of chopped up fresh green onion

1 tablespoon soy sauce 

1 tablespoon sesame oil

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

sweet chili sauce to taste after serving

You will need about 30 or 40 min. for this meal.

Here is how you put it all together to make a bowl full of yum.  

The first thing I did was set all my items out. Then getting out a large frying pan putting 2 of the 4 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan, setting it at a medium heat.  Once the oil and pan was warm I put 14 of the potstickers into the pan, yes still frozen.  Just having them over the medium heat to lightly brown them. I would keep a close eye on them so that they do not burn, turning them often is what I found worked for best evenly browning. 

I then chopped up my onion, celery, and carrot really quick to put into a large pot that has the other 2 tablespoons of olive oil in it.  Turning that onto a medium heat as well.  Once that is warmed up put in the mirepoix (onion, celery, carrot) to cook until the onion is translucent.  

Now your potstickers should be almost done and if they are all I did was set them off to the side with a cover on them to keep warm.  Then once the mirepoix is ready add in the veggie broth bring up to a gentle boil and also add in the spinach, bean sprouts,  soy sauce, and sesame oil.  Giving that just a moment to combined after coming to a gentle boil.  Then you add in the chicken potstickers.  Quickly chop up your green onion and grab some cilantro for your garnish and your ready to enjoy this fantastic full of flavors soup.

I loved adding the sweet chili sauce to mine after plating, so did my boyfriend.  I think it gave it a nice added bit of sweat and heat.  I sure hope that all of you try this with an open mind and be ready to fall in love with this soup.  We sure did.  

Eat, Love, & Live