Chicken Enchiladas

 This dish is great with rice and corn. My kids love these enchiladas and eat everything on their plate when I make this dish for dinner.


1 ½ cups sour cream
2 green onions chopped
1/3 cup cilantro chopped
1 small garlic clove minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 bag spinach leaves
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into strips and cooked thoroughly
2 cups shredded cheddar/jack cheese (or more, I really don't measure this out)
10 flour tortillas or 14 corn tortillas
1 jar salsa

• Prep chicken first. I like to have it already prepped and frozen then you just have to thaw it in the microwave.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Grease a 9x13 baking dish with a bit of oil or cooking spray.
• In a small bowl, mix together the sour cream, green onions, cilantro, cumin and if you want you can add Ortega chiles or a jalapeno chopped if you want.
• Set up an assembly line to assemble the tortillas. If you are using corn tortillas, you will want to warm them up first so that they will not break when you are rolling everything up.
• Assembly line: tortilla -sour cream mixture-spinach-chicken-cheese
• Take your tortilla and spread a semi thin layer of the sour cream mixture on the whole thing.
• Add a layer of spinach down the middle.
• Add a layer of chicken strips down the middle.
• Sprinkle the tortilla with cheese.
• Roll it up loosely and place seam down in the pan.
• Repeat with the rest of the tortillas. I can get ten enchiladas out of this.
• Cover the pan with foil and cook for about 30 minutes.
• Remove the foil and sprinkle with the rest of the shredded cheese.
• Cook for about 10 more minutes. (I just turn off the oven and leave it in for 10 minutes.)
• Serve with salsa and cilantro or chopped tomatoes or whatever you like.

I adapted this recipe from 101 Wraps and More's Chicken Enchilada recipe.

Potato Rolls

These rolls are so light a fluffy they practically melt in your mouth.
Total prep time from start to finish is about 2 1/2 hours.

Potato Rolls

1 small russet potato peeled and cubed
¾ cup water
¾ cup milk
1 TBS lemon juice
1 pkg active dry yeast (2 ½ tsp)
3 cups all purpose flour plus extra for kneading and dusting the rolls
2 TBS sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
¼ cup butter

Boil the potato and water in a small saucepan until it is soft and fork tender (about 10 minutes).

While the potato is cooking combine the milk and lemon juice and let sit so it can clabber.

Pour the cooked potato and water into a large bowl and mash the potato.

Stir in the sour milk and let it cool for a few minutes. It needs to be about 110° to keep the yeast from being killed.

Dissolve the yeast in the potato and let it stand for about 10 minutes.

Add the flour, sugar, salt and butter and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough starts to hold itself together.

Scrape the dough onto a floured work surface.

Cover and let it rest for five minutes. (I just put the bowl upside down over the top for this as the dough is fairly sticky.)

Uncover and knead the dough for about 5 minutes or more until it is smooth and elastic using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking.

Form the dough into a ball and put it in a lightly butter bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place.

Let it rise for about 1 hour, until it is double in size.

Punch down the dough and put it out onto a very lightly floured surface.

Shape it with your hands into a rectangular log. Cut it into 16 even pieces.

Cover with a towel and let them rest for about 5 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly butter it.

Roll each piece into a ball and place on the baking sheet.

Cover the rolls with a towel and let them rest in a warm spot for about 20 minutes or until they are double in size.

Dust the rolls with a bit of flour.

Cook in a preheated 375° oven for about 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and puffy.

Mommy's Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Here is my recipe for Pumpkin Pie. As this is pumpkin season I felt it appropriate to post. And it goes well with a pumpkin unit study.

3 unbaked 8 or 9 inch pie shells

1 ½ - cups sugar
1 TBS - ground cinnamon
1 tsp - ground ginger
¾ tsp - ground cloves
1 tsp - ground nutmeg
4 - large eggs
1 - 29 oz can pumpkin or 3 ½ cups pumpkin puree
2 - 12oz cans evaporated milk
1 - 8oz block softened cream cheese

In a small bowl, combine spices and sugar.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until well combined and very smooth. Add the eggs and beat until combined, then add the sugar mixture and mix thoroughly.

Carefully add the evaporated milk and continue beating until combined.

Carefully pour into the unbaked pie shells dividing mixture equally into the 3 shells.

Bake in a 425 preheated oven for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350 and finish cooking for about 45 minutes. Center will be set but may still jiggle like a cheese cake, or quiche. You do not want to wait until the center is completely firm as it will keep cooking after you take it out of the oven then be over done. A knife inserted into the middle will come out clean.

If making pie ahead, freeze the pumpkin and the shell separately and then thaw when ready. Make sure to mix the pumpkin mixture before pouring it into the shell.

Quick & Easy Rolls

I love baking, it is a great stress reliever for me. Here is another baking recipe of mine that I thought I would share. These are quick and easy even though they look and taste like you spent all day on them. They need less than an hour of rising time and cook in about 15 minutes. So, you only need about an hour and a half total including clean up. So nice.

Quick & Easy Rolls

2 ½ -3 cups All-Purpose Flour

3 TBS Sugar

1 envelope Rapid Rise Yeast (2 ¼ tsp)

¾ tsp Salt

¾ cup Warm Water (105-115 degrees)

3 TBS Melted Butter

1 egg

In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast together with a fork.

Add water, melted butter, and egg.

Stir with a wooden spoon until it is a well-blended sticky mass.

Stir in more flour if needed to form soft dough.

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic on a floured surface. Add more flour if necessary to keep it from being too sticky (being careful not to add too much or it will become dry).

Shape dough into a ball and place it in a large oiled (or buttered) bowl. Turn the ball of dough around so that it is coated on all sides.

Cover the bowl with a damp towel (I like to use a tea towel for this) and place in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lightly grease a muffin tin and a half - this makes 18 clover rolls.

Punch dough down and divide it into 18 balls. I cut it in thirds (3), then third the thirds (9), then half each of those thirds (18).

Divide each ball of dough into 3 or 4 parts and place them in the muffin cup.

Repeat with the rest of the balls.

Cover with a damp towel again and put it in a warm area. (I usually put it on a cooling rack on top of my stove while the oven is preheating.) Let it rise for about 20 minutes.

Bake rolls for 10 to 15 minutes. The tops will be golden brown and they will sound hollow when tapped.

Brush the tops with melted butter.

Cool for 10 minutes before serving.