Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas

In my little room at work, I share this space with two wonderful women, Patsy and Janet. I am consistently prying their minds on how to make authentic Mexican dishes. On one occasion, we discussed cooking Mexican rice and I decided I would go home and make it. Well, lets just say even with their advice it didn't come out very well. I don't do rice, never have and thus the reason I have never blogged about it! The other day, we were discussing enchiladas and they looked me like I was nuts when I said I had never made them. I knew right then that was the next thing I had to try and make. They looked pretty easy and I didn't think I would be able to mess them up. David loves enchiladas especially his moms recipe. I would have asked for her's but she has been up in Oregon helping his grandparents, as they have been sick. So, I resorted to my good ole friend the Internet. I knew he liked his enchiladas creamy and with green chilies and I found this recipe on Cookinglight.com. The recipe was really easy and David loved them. He said they very close to his moms so that made the recipe even better. I made some modifications and they are included in the recipe below.


Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas
Source: Southern Living
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients
1/2 medium onion
1 tbls of olive oil or spray pan with Pam
2 cups of chopped chicken
1 (16-ounce) carton of sour cream
4 cups (16 ounces) of shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
12 (6-inch) flour tortillas
3 (4.5-ounce) cans if diced green chilies
1 1/4 cups of milk
2 tbls of flour


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In medium, pan cook onion and chicken over medium high heat for about 5 minutes.

In medium bowl stir together chicken and onion mixture, 1/2 cup sour cream, and 1 1/2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese. Spoon the chicken mixture evenly on one end of each tortilla, and roll up. Place tortillas seam down in a lightly greased 13 by 9 baking dish.

Whisk together 2 of the canned green chilies, milk, and flour in a saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add remaining 2 1/2 cups cheese and stir constantly, until cheese is melted. Pour sauce over the top of enchiladas. Spread remaining sour cream over sauce.

Bake enchiladas at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly. Drain remaining can of green chilies, and spread evenly on top of enchiladas.

Achoo!

I can't believe I am sick again! In the last 6 months this is third time I have gotten sick. I have heard from several people that the first year you are married, you will get sick more often than normal. I told this to David but he then said it wasn't true because he hasn't been sick at all the entire time we have been married. Whatever!

I was feeling stuffy on Thursday and David said I needed to stay home from work the next day. I never stay home from work unless I am dying or throwing up. Well, that entire night I was coughing up a storm and didn't sleep. Friday morning came around and I felt like I was dying. I like to be stubborn and I really wanted to go to work to prove him wrong but I felt too sick. So, I slept almost all day. I was hoping that by sleeping all day, I would kick this cold in the butt. Well, I feel basically the same so Zicam has become my best friend. I just hate having to spend such a wonderful weekend inside. Hopefully, tomorrow I will feel somewhat better and can enjoy part of the weekend. Until then, I can catch up on my reading!

Halloween at Disneyland

David and I have had passes to Disneyland off and on the last couple of years. While planning the wedding we did not have them and we missed going so much. Thankfully our good friends the A's bought us passes as a wedding present. This was the best present we received! I had never been though to Disneyland when it was decorated for Halloween. I can't believe I had never been considering how much I love fall. It is my favorite season, well I love fall in the midwest. Not the fall we get here in Ca! That's another whole topic. We went to Disneyland on two different occasions in Oct with friends from church. Basically we had a blast. The first time we had a scavenger hunt which was so much fun! The second time we just hung out and tried to hit as many rides as we could, which we don't normally do. Any pass holder knows you can always come back and ride the rides when there is no one at the park. It was great to change it up a bit. So here are some photos of our two adventures.



Our list of questions we had to complete for the scavenger hunt


One of the scavenger hunt tasks was to take a picture of our group in each of the cars in toon town.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I love this recipe! I have made it several times for friends and family and everyone has loved it. It is perfect for a cool fall or even cold winter evening. It takes a little while to make but oh so worth it. I have caught a cold and I thought soup would be perfect for dinner. When I heard that Melissa was sick as well, we invited her and Troy over to join us for dinner. Anyways, I don't make any variations on the recipe, except I do not blend the mixture as I like the broccoli to be chunky.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Source: Emeril Lagasse on the Foodnetwork.com
Serves: 4
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Weight Watchers: 10 points per serving

Ingredients:
3 tbls of unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup of yellow onions or sliced leeks (use only the bottom white part)
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of ground pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of chopped garlic
1/2 tsp of chopped fresh thyme or 1/8 tsp of dried
3 tbls of flour
3 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
1 (16-ounce) package frozen broccoli, thawed & separated or 2 to 3 cups of fresh
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1 1/4 cups of shredded medium Cheddar

In a medium pot, melt 3 tbls of butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook until soft about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme. Stir frequently for 20 seconds while it cooks. Add the flour and stir until throughly mixed for about 3 minutes. Slowly add chicken broth while whisking constantly. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened for about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook for 10 minutes until tender.

This next step I do not follow as I want the soup to be chunky. If you like yours more smoother follow this next step.

Remove the pot from heat and puree with a hand-held immersion blender or blend in blender.

Add the cream and barely bring to a simmer. Then add the cheese and lower heat till the cheese is melted. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons cold butter. Stir until it is mixed throughly.

I forgot to add that I use leeks instead of onion. I find it has a milder flavor then the onion and goes better in cream soups. Just my opinion though. Try it yourself.

Cat Wake Up Call

I received this the other day from my friend Brandy and I had to share it! I laughed so hard and watched it another two times as this is so true in our house! Well except for the very end!




Ella and Cali,
If you ever take that resort we will know it was one of you two that did it and you won't get any treats for a month!

No, They Aren't Pancakes: Sweet Corn Fritters

Growing up my mom used to make sweet corn fritters all the time, along with potato pancakes. I always loved both of them. I realized the other day that I have never made either of them for David. I didn't have any potatoes so I decided I would make the sweet corn fritters. They are very quick and easy. You can also easily modify them to suit your craving or preference. You can add either cayenne pepper, onion or cheese. I like them with just salt on them.

Sweet Corn Fritters
Source: Mom
Yield: dozen and half

Ingredients
1 egg
6-8 tbls of milk
3/4 cup of flour
2 cups of corn
1/4 tsp of salt
2 tsp of baking powder

In medium bowl, beat eggs and milk. Add flour, corn and salt. Add any modifications here. Only add baking powder right before frying. In pan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Drop mixture to frying pan and cook till golden.

6 Months! Wohoo!!

As of yesterday, October 21st, David and I have been married for 6 months now! It has gone by so quickly! It is amazing how each day goes by quicker than the day before. I can't even imagine how quickly time will pass once we have kids and get older. We were engaged for a year and it never seemed like the day would come and now we are half way through our first year!

Life is proving to be busier and busier every day. This past weekend was busy. On Saturday, us girls celebrated Jenni's birthday at Color Me Mine. I unfortunately don't have any pictures because my camera decided to not work on me. We had a lot of fun. I painted a bowl with oranges and blossoms on it for my kitchen. Hopefully it will turn out well once it is fired. Afterwards, Jenni's husband threw a surprise party for her. He grilled carne asada and it was good!


(This is of everyone at Color Me Mine. I stole this from Jenni's myspace! :))

David spent the day with some guys from church at the UCLA vs. CAL game. They call their annual outing to a UCLA game, "Meat Fest". I made brownies for him to take the night before and I guess everyone loved them. I cheated as they were from a box. Sssh, don't tell anyone! David said the game was great and he had a good time.

Sunday afternoon, I cleaned after church and David took a nap. I have been seriously slacking on the cleaning list but I did get a lot done and the apartment looks pretty good except the office! But we can just close that door if any guests come by! :) For dinner we celebrated our friend Scott's birthday. It was a birthday packed weekend for sure. All of us met at Yard house for dinner and drinks. David and I ordered this good dish called, Garlic Chicken Noodles. It had asparagus(yummm), edamame beans, noodles, chicken, smoked tofu, and mushrooms in it. I really wanted a martini but I couldn't convince myself to spend $10.00 on a drink! Oh well! Overall, the weekend was fun and definitely not long enough!