Wednesday, April 18, 2007

another recipe roundup

Asparagus Parmesan from allrecipes.com.

Cranberry Orange Cookies from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.

Croque Monsieur Ham and Cheese Sandwich (or a "Mister Crunchy") from simply recipes.

Cream Cheese Mints from Sunshine Creations.

And if you are feeling very adventurous, my sister is submitting an original recipe to a magazine, and needs people to test it. I'm going to do it this week, I just haven't been in the mood for it. You are more than welcome to try it and give feedback if you'd like. I'm going to be using chicken in place of the turkey, I think.

GREEN CHILE TURKEY ENCHILADAS
Ingredients
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1- 4 ounce can Ortega fire roasted, diced green chiles
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 cups diced, cooked turkey
1- 8 ounce package Kraft 1/3 less fat cream cheese (room temperature)
1- 28 ounce can Las Palmas Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
24 corn tortillas
1 cup grated pepper jack cheese
1 ½ cups Kraft 2% milk shredded cheese (cheddar)

Makes 2- 9x13 pans, 12 enchiladas in each pan
Serves 12 – 2 enchiladas per person

In a large skillet, on medium/high heat, sauté chopped onions in the 2 Tbsp. olive oil. When onions are soft and begin to brown, add the can of green chiles, and the tsp. of cumin. Stir together and reduce heat to low. Add diced turkey, and stir. Continue to heat, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, ⅓ cup of the enchilada sauce, and the onion/meat mixture. Mix well.

Prepare 9x13 pans by coating each pan with ⅓ cup of the enchilada sauce.

Heat tortillas in a skillet on medium heat, turning often, until warm and softened. Fill each tortilla with 2 even Tbsp. filling, roll and place seam down in pan, 12 enchiladas to a pan. Top each pan of enchiladas with 1 ¼ cup sauce, spreading to cover the tops of all the enchiladas. Top each pan with ½ cup pepper jack and ¾ cup Kraft cheese.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream and green salad.

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Monday, April 9, 2007

meat, Easter, See's, and orange rolls

My parents showed up most unexpectedly on Easter and brought with them a 10 pound pork roast. They expected me to know what to do with it. I didn't know what to do with it. And I didn't want anything to do with it. I have an aversion to meat, maybe you remember my Thanksgiving turkey experience, so the sight of it (raw) pretty much makes me weak in the knees or queasy in the tummy. I think it mostly started when I was pregnant with Luke. I was outside of a teacher resource store on State Street. Just as I was parking, a dirty pickup truck pulled up in front of me, the driver got out and opened up his tail gate and the shell of the back of his truck. Inside were the bodies and dismembered heads of pigs. They were dirty and there were lots of flies swarming about. I hobbled unevenly to the store I was going in, trying to forget what I had just seen. I also assumed, since they were most likely delivering them to the little restaurant/market next door, that the truck would be unloaded and gone by the time I left the store which was about an hour later. Nope. The truck was still there along with the contents.

Anyway, back to Easter. We tried multiple pots, finally borrowing a giant crockpot from the neighbors to cook our meat. Daisy was hopped up on jelly beans, I found an Easter craft about the resurrection for DaisyI like from a homeschool website lovetolearn.net and we had a nice, semi-chaotic dinner a few hours later. (Thanks for all the comments/ideas on the Easter traditions by the way. Lots to think about) My mom got me one of those giant See's Easter eggs I was talking about filled with See's marshmallow and walnuts. I have to say, I ate the whole thing today, and I'm feeling a bit foggy now as the sugar high is letting down. But I'd do it again. So coming up, we've got our anniversary, Mother's Day, what else. These are days I can use as an excuse to get more See's chocolates. I love that stuff. And I love that only old ladies work there and they wear vintage retail outfits. It's kind of a weird place. It's like hospital meets old-time malt/candy shoppe.

Here's an easy and tasty recipe for orange rolls we made on Sunday. It's from the Essential Mormon Celebrations cookbook by Julie Badger Jensen. That's right, you heard me correctly. Essential Mormon Celebrations cookbook.

ORANGE ROLLS
½ cup butter, melted
½ cup sugar
1 orange peel, grated
18 Rhodes frozen dinner rolls
1 recipe Orange Glaze

Combine melted butter, sugar, and grated orange peel in a bowl. Dip rolls in mixture and place in greased muffin tins. Allow to rise for 4 hours. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Frost with Orange Glaze while still warm. Makes 18 rolls.

ORANGE GLAZE
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons orange juice

Thursday, April 5, 2007

coconut cravings

I feel like we have to bake things with coconut in them at Easter time.

We made chewy coconut cookies from allrecipes.com. They were really good I thought, but would be even better if we had dipped them halfway in some melted chocolate. So after trying these, I thought they weren't coconutty enough for my current craving, so I think we will try these next from epicurious.com.

Other coconutty options:

bills coconut bread from the baking sheet

coconut cheesecake from my husband cooks. This looks awesome! And they used girl scout cookie crust.

Also from my husband cooks, just because they look so good, blueberry and meyer lemon cupcakes

Anyone have any good recipes using coconut? I'm going to need them.