Chicken Enchilada with Cilantro Lime Rice

I love Pinterest. I don't say it enough, and I definitely don't tell it everyday that I love it, but I think I should start. I love you, Pinterest. If you have no idea what Pinterest is and think I've gone crazy, I suggest you Google it right away. Find someone that is already on the site (at this point, who isn't??), and have them send you an invite. It will change your life and you will become addicted. Yes, ADDICTED!!! I promise you. If you don't get sucked into the vortex that is Pinterest, please be sure to let me know.

Anyways, I love signing onto the website because there are so many amazing recipes all in one place. I know, I know, it's like that anywhere on the internet, but it's really not. It has given me so many great recipes and some great ideas. This is where I got my recipe inspiration for tonight's dinner, chicken enchiladas with cilantro lime rice.

Chicken enchiladas with cilantro lime rice

I don't use any tortillas with this recipe because I was trying not to make it a carb overload, and I wanted to keep it mainly protein. It was really an easy recipe, but I was talking on the phone so it went a lot slower. (Hiiiiii, Lauren!! ;-)) I'm really proud of myself because my intentions were to buy a jar of enchilada sauce. Quick and easy. I actually never got it today, so I decided to look up a recipe and make my own, and it was delicious! I'm so happy I didn't buy it. You can find that recipe here. It's really a quick and flavorful sauce. The chicken and cilantro lime rice are my favorite part of this dish. Chicken, cheese, and a spicy sauce...how can you not love that? Mmmmm cheese. Actually I think the rice is my favorite part. (I have an obsession with rice. I'm not sure if that has been made apparent or not. :-p) My only suggestion with the rice is to make sure you taste it after you add the lime juice. Rice tends to be a blank canvas and needs a lot of flavor. I wanted to drive home the taste of lime, so I made sure to make it really flavorful. I did, however, add less cilantro than needed. Cilantro is a strange herb. Either you like it or you really don't. For some reason I think it tastes like dish soap sometimes. lol. I'm sorry! That's just my opinion. I gave it some cilantro flavor, but that's about it.

Try this dish, and hopefully you'll make your own sauce too. If you don't, I promise I won't tell. Just pretend you made it so you can get lots of compliments. ;-)

BEST Steak Marinade

The best steak marinade you will ever have. Look no further!!!

I don't know if you're like me, but I don't "love" steak. I'll eat it on a salad or among other yummy side dishes, but I will never go to a restaurant and just order a steak. (Unless it's someplace like Peter Luger's restaurant. Don't get me wrong.) When I cook it at home it always needs something...I don't ever know what that something is. A-1 sauce, Gorgonzola, Worcestershire; I've tried it all...until last night. When I tell you searching for recipes online is a hobby of mine, I'm not kidding. When I want to eat something or need to make a recipe better, I head to the internet. Trust me, it's your greatest untapped resource. I found the most delicious, most flavorful, EASY (that's the key...EASY!!!) marinade for my steak. You throw together ingredients in a bowl, they are all things you have on hand in your house, you mix it up and you're done. Without dragging this post on and on, here is the insanely delicious recipe. Depending on how big or small your steak is, it does make a lot of marinade. Just FYI. But honestly, is that ever a bad thing? More flavor!! I love garlic, so I also added some mince garlic My steak marinated last night for about an hour and a half. The recipes says you can marinate it up to 8 hours.

Again, I'm going on and off track here. haha. Please try it, and when you do, post pictures and leave your comments. I'm curious to see if others love it as much as I did. Cheers! 

A nice cut of medium rare steak served with a side of braised kale

Cauliflower Cheezy Garlic Bread

Cheezy cauliflower garlic breadsticks...except there's no bread!!

This was so tasty. Garlic bread, but there's not actually any bread. The crust is made of mashed cauliflower with cheese, and it's a lot tastier than you may think. Don't think so? Try this recipe. I tend to use more garlic and cheese because I really like that flavor, but you can alter the recipe as you would like. It has cheese, and basil, and cheese...have I mentioned the cheese yet? You also won't feel badly if you eat too much of it...or all of it. It's vegetables, for crying out loud! Indulge! ;-)
You can also serve it with tomato sauce on the side for dipping. I haven't tried that yet, so let me know if you do. ;-)

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband!!

No, it's not really his birthday today. That was back in September, but the purpose of this post is dedicated to him. Each year I cook him a birthday cake of his choice...usually right out of the box. Shhhhhhhhhhhh!!! No judgement!!! :-p

Thank heaven I have a wonderful husband who supports me and all my crazy eating habits. I mean, he must love me because on a daily basis he allows me to talk about food ad nauseum, constantly eat food, watch cooking shows like it's my full time job, and read cookbooks in bed. This is clearly the "for better or for worse" part of the marriage, right? ;-) Just kidding. But seriously, he accepts and supports my love of cooking and all things food.

One of my favorite shows is Masterchef with Gordon Ramsey. I love and cheer for my favorites each week, and he will always be listening to it in the background. Whether he watches it in its entirety or not, he knows the premise of the show. Flash back to the week before his birthday. Since I have been really diving into my culinary skills this year, I asked him if he wanted a cake or anything this year. Again, knowing how much I love Masterchef (and if you like the show you'll get this too), he gave me a "Mystery Box Challenge." Long story short, with a mystery box you get certain ingredients, and you have to cook something based on those ingredients. In no particular order he wanted cake pops with the ingredients caramel, maple, and bacon.  ??? What was I supposed to do with that?!?

I tried my hand at cake pops and just couldn't get the hang of them. I tried. I reeeeeeally tried. I had given up the week he asked me for cake pops. Now what? So I made an executive choice and decided he was getting cupcakes...not cake pops! And let me tell ya'...they turned out to be amazing!! Light, fluffy caramel cake covered with vanilla frosting and maple coated bacon pieces. Trust me on this one. If you have ever had this combination before, you'd be a believer.

Caramel Maple Bacon Cupcakes

If you'd like to try something like this, I suggest you go with this cake recipe. It's Martha Stewart's recipe. You can't go wrong with Martha, can you? If you have caramel flavored extract I would suggest adding some. It really drives home the caramel flavor. Yum! The frosting was just a basic cream cheese frosting that I adapted from a Cooking Light recipe book. You can Google and basic cream cheese frosting recipe. To get the bacon crispy and crumble-y, you need to bake it in the oven. I suppose you could cook it in a skillet like you normally would, but it's easier to brush on the maple syrup before you bake it. Cook up about 4-5 slices brushed with maple syrup, and then let them cool completely. Be sure to watch the bacon because the sugar in the syrup can cause it to really burn if you're not watching. When it's completely cooled, crumble it and put it to the side. You can sprinkle the bacon pieces on at the last minute. Enjoy a.s.a.p!!

If you attempt this recipe, or something similar, please, please, PLEASE take pictures!! I would love to see someone else's version of these cupcakes. (Or if you can master this in a cake pop, please tell em how.) ;-)

We finished every last one!!!

Lighten up!!...It's Penne a la Vodka!!

"What's so great about making penne a la vodka?", you ask yourself. What if I told you that this particular dish had no cream or butter in it? What if I told you the calories are cut down to 300? Interested?! I thought so!!! Now that I think about it, I realize there's also no vodka in this dish. haha. Seriously, you'll never miss it. This version is so tasty I don't think I'll make it any other way again. You'll replace all the fattening ingredients with Greek yogurt. Yes, you heard me correctly. I know to some this may sound gross, but think about it. Greek yogurt is healthy for you, and it's really only replacing all the "creaminess" without the fat. See where I'm going with this? Be sure to serve it over whole wheat pasta. I also serve my cauliflower cheesy garlic bread with this meal. That recipe will follow in my next post. ;-) Stay tuned.  Without further delay, I present to you, No Cream, No Cry Penne a la Vodka (ish) ;-)

**Cook's Note: Even though the recipe doesn't call for this, I use 0% Greek yogurt to really lighten up the calories. But that's just me. I only eat 0% Greek yogurt, so that happened to be what I had on hand.
Also, all my herbs were fresh. There's just something I love about fresh herbs vs. dried herbs sometimes. I always use both, but again, I happened to have all fresh herbs this time around. It really hit the flavors out of the park. Just FYI.**  ;-)

To make you smile.

Could this face be any cuter??? :-)  Enjoy your day!

My Culinary Experience

For my birthday, my wonderful husband chose a gift he knew I would absolutely love. What can I say...the man knows me!!! :-) I got an all day cooking course at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Now, my birthday is in July, so I had to wait until September for the class. Not that this was a bad thing, but of course, I honestly couldn't wait for the day.

I was lucky to have a small class that consisted on only 12 people. The class was taught by the amazing Chef Remolina, head chef at the French restaurant over in the Culinary. I haven never been to the French restaurant before, or any of their restaurants for that matter, but now it is a restaurant goal of mine. :-) There were also 3 other chefs working to help us, 2 of which were students.

**Just a little side note here (and I love this!), but there was a student chef that worked with my team. Her name is Pam. She was a really knowledgeable Asian girl, and I was blown away by what she already knew being a 1st year student. I asked about her expertise. She told me that she had gone to a cooking school in her hometown, but really wanted to learn more. She came all the way to Hyde Park from Thailand!! How amazing is that?! Ok, rant over.**

Back to my story :-)...we were all in groups of 3, and each group was responsible for making a certain meal. My group had to make lamb meatballs with spicy tomatoes, zucchini cakes, and a tzatziki sauce. (Sorry to all my Greek friends; I know I'm spelling that wrong!! I think.) I really loved making every single thing from scratch. There was nothing in a box, nothing in a can...great vegetables, meats, and so on. Every grate zucchini by hand and not use a food processor? I found it slightly therapeutic and enjoyed it!! Laugh at me all you will. :-) To make a VERY long story short (just look at these blog posts), it was so much fun to prepare food that I might not have made at home.

During our cooking time, the chef showed us a demonstration on how to make Tiramisu. It was then served to us later as we sampled all the rest of the food. The chef showed us how to plate our dishes, and they were served buffet style. We all ate together in the dining room as we sampled each other's dishes. And I have to say...each and every dish was delicious!!! Did I mention Tiramisu for dessert?? Just checking. ;-)

If you get the chance to take a cooking class, or if you live remotely close to The Culinary (even if you don't), these classes are worth it. There were people in my class from North Carolina, New Jersey, Oneonta...they come from all over. It's one of the greatest experiences. And of course I promptly cooked one of my recipes that night when I got home. Zucchini pancakes. :-)

My zucchini pancakes!!

Coconut Rice

Lamb meatballs with hot tomatoes (I rolled each one!! haha)

The next few dishes were made by the other groups, but they were insanely delicious as well.

I wish I could remember the name of this beef dish. I'll find out!!

French lentil salad

Spicy potato soup (that's a red heat lamp. I swear. ;-)

Thai style chicken

And last but not least...

The best Tiramisu I have ever had!!!!

Following Atticus - A small side note...

I guess this isn't a food related post at all, but it is something I feel so strongly about and I NEED to share it!! haha.

I recently finished an amazing book. It was called Following Atticus by Tom Ryan. I had an idea of what the book was about, but it absolutely exceeded any expectations that I had. No other book has ever moved me in such a way. I am not going to give ANYTHING away about this book. All I can say is, if you are an animal lover, if you are a dog lover...this book is for you. It is a fantastic account of the relationship between dog and man and the amazing bond that is formed.

I read a lot, and I have read a lot of books. I can tell you honestly that in my lifetime, I have cried at 3 books. The first was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson, and now, this book. Actually, I cried my eyes out at this book. I would read it at night in bed, and it got to the point where I would climb in bed with tissues because I never knew if I'd cry or not! My husband actually started to suggest that I just return the book to the library without finishing it! (Gasp!!) I could never!! I couldn't put it down. It is such a touching story about the bond this man has with his dog. And yes, the story is entirely true. If you have a puppy or a dog, you will be kissing and hugging them every chance you get. (I'm sure your dog won't mind!!)

So, without giving anything else away, and without going on and on about this book, my suggestion is for you to read it. You will NOT be disappointed, and you won't be sorry. After you've read it, and ONLY after, you can visit Tom Ryan's blogspot. I have even started following him on Facebook. Little did I know that he does book tours with his dog and talks about his life and Following Atticus...and he was speaking in the town my sister lives in last Saturday! Dammit!! Oh well. Ok, I won't ramble anymore. Read it if you can, and let me know what you think. There is no book that has ever had this effect on me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I really don't like starting another blog post saying, "I haven't posted in a while", so I won't. :-) But really...I'm sorry! I know I've been a slacker about posting. The thing is, I've actually been cooking and baking a lot. I don't know where my head has gone with posting.  Anyways....

Tonight's dinner was Chicken Tortilla Soup. Now, I can't actually take credit for this recipe since I found it on Pinterest, so I'll link you to her site just in case you want to look around. Chicken Tortilla Soup As an aside...how amazing is Pinterest?!? I can't stop looking up recipes and cooking! Not that this is a bad thing as you can see from tonight's meal.
Ok, I'm getting off track here. This is the recipe. So easy, so quick to prepare, and so delicious. It's the perfect Fall meal, and it's also great because you just throw it in the crock pot and walk away. !!! Nice!

Chicken Tortilla Soup
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used a package of boneless, skinless chicken tenders that I had & it worked well)
2 cans Ro-Tel (I used the Mild flavor, but you can add whatever kind you'd like depending on if you like it spicy or not)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn (use fresh corn if you have it)
1 onion, chopped
2 cans low-sodium chicken broth (14 oz. size)
1 1/2 cups of water
1 Tbsp. garlic powder*
1 Tbsp. chile powder*
1 Tbsp. cumin powder*
1 Tbsp. dried cilantro*
*You can also use a packet of chicken taco seasoning instead of the spices if you'd prefer.*
Garnishes (optional): shredded Mexican cheese blend, sour cream, tortilla chips, avocado

Put chicken broth, water, beans, corn, onion, and spices in the crock pot. Stir to combine. Put chicken breasts in the mixture, and make sure they're partly submerged in the liquid. Cook the soup 6-7 hours on  high or 8-9 hours on low. I took the chicken out half way through and shredded it. The actual recipe said to take it out at the end. I liked shredding it and placing it back in the seasoned liquid for a few more hours. I feel it allowed the chicken to soak up more flavor. The process at that point is really up to you. :-)
Once the soup is done, serve yourself a nice hearty bowl and garnish with your favorite toppings. You'll have to let me know if you try this recipe. It blew me away!!!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I made this Spinach and Artichoke dip yesterday during my lazy and relaxing Labor Day.  Something so simple, and let me tell you, so DELICIOUS, sparked many Facebook comments asking for the recipe. I think I sent the recipe out 6 times yesterday. So to save me from sending it yet again, here it is in all of its simplistic glory. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. :-)

Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip

1 can of artichoke hearts (I used the 13oz. Organic size)
1 package of frozen spinach, squeezed and thawed
1/4 cup of shallots
1 clove of garlic
1/2 cup Greek yogurt, plain, non fat
1/2 - 1/4 of mayonnaise ( I know it sounds like a lot, and I used closer to 1/4, but it really DOES add flavor!!!)
2/3 cup Parm (I only used a small sprinkle just to make sure everything binds)
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. I used a circular pie plate, but use whatever baking dish you have. Chop the shallots and garlic and set aside. Drain and chop your artichoke hearts. Make sure the artichokes are slightly fine because remember, this is a dip and you want everything close to the same size...and better for dipping! :-) Put all the ingredients into the pie plate and mix together. Smooth out the top and add a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese to the top. You can leave out this step if you don't want the cheese.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Serve immediately. I served the dip sliced celery, cherry tomatoes, and cut carrots. Leave a comment to let me know when you made it! Bon Appetit!!