Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Recipe From: My Kitchen Cafe Blog
Enchiladas are a staple for me...not so much for Blake. I've got a lot of favorite recipes now, this one was also great. I didn't put very many white beans in, we like to eat black beans and rice on the side.

Filling:
1-2 chicken breasts (boiled and shredded)
2 (4 oz.) cans of green chilies (lightly drained)
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese (softened and cubed)
1 can white or black beans (rinsed and drained)

Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 yellow onion (chopped)
2 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup chicken broth
¼ cup milk
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 can (10 ounce) green chile enchilada sauce
½ cup sour cream

8 ounces Monterrey jack cheese (shredded)
8-10 medium flour tortillas
Handful of chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and green chiles. Mix well. Add the chicken and black beans. Mix to combine. Set aside.

In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and starts to turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir well. Cook for 1 minute, stirring. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk. As you whisk and the mixture cooks, the flour will get less lumpy around the onions and the mixture will become smooth. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is bubbling and has thickened, about 4-5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the enchilada sauce and sour cream.

Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish. Spread about 1/4 cup of the sauce on the bottom of the dish. Fill each tortilla with about ½ cup of the chicken/cream cheese filling. Top with a small handful of shredded cheese, a couple tablespoonfuls for each enchilada. Save at least 1/2 cup cheese for the top of the enchiladas. Roll the tortillas up and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. Continue filling enchiladas until the dish is full (I can easily fit 8 enchiladas in one pan).

Pour the white sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Top with remaining cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the enchiladas are bubbling, hot and lightly browned. Sprinkle fresh cilantro over the top and serve.

Cashew Chicken

Recipe From: The Sister's Cafe Blog
Easy and great...just the flavors we likeIngredients:

2-4 chicken breasts cut into pieces)
1 tsp sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch (divided)
½ tsp salt
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp oil
2 cups hot chicken broth
2 tsp lemon juice
½ cup cashews

Combine sugar, 2 Tb cornstarch, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Dredge chicken pieces in this mixture. Drain and save dredge; then stir fry chicken in hot oil in frying pan or wok until chicken is lightly brown and tender, about 10 minutes. Remove chicken from oil and drain excess oil from the pan. Add remaining cornstarch and the dredge drained from the chicken. Blend well, then add chicken stock to the pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened. Add lemon juice; add chicken pieces and reheat. Do not boil. Taste to correct seasonings. Add cashews. Serve over hot rice. Makes 4-5 servings. You can stir fry some vegetables and add them to the mixture at the end.

Marsala Chicken & Mushroom Casserole

Recipe From: On My Menu Blog via Rachel Ray
This was really good! Can't remember the last time I made a casserole. I used grape juice as the wine substitute.Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter
10 oz mushrooms (sliced)
1 tsp garlic (minced)
1/2 onion (chopped)
1 1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup Marsala wine or white wine (I used grape juice)
1/2 cup heavy cream (I used half and half)
2 tbsp parsley (chopped)
Salt and pepper
1 cup long-grain rice
2 cups rotisserie chicken*
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese (shredded)

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium-high heat until just melted. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour on top and stir in for 1 minute. Stir in the grape juice and cream and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in 2 cups water*, the parsley, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

In a greased 9-inch-by-13-inch casserole, spread the rice in an even layer; top with the chicken. Pour the mushroom gravy on top. Cover snugly with foil and bake until bubbly, about 35 minutes. Discard the foil, sprinkle the Parmesan on top and bake for 5 minutes more.

*Instead of buying a rotisserie chicken, I boiled and shredded 1-2 chicken breasts. After shredding, I added the following spices: Lawry's seasoning salt, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper and poultry seasoning.

Bacon-Wrapped Apple BBQ Chicken

Recipe From: On My Menu Blog
Easy and tasty. Blake loved it!Ingredients:

1/2 c barbecue sauce
2 Granny Smith Apples (peeled, cored and grated)
juice 1 lemon
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
8 slices bacon
salt and pepper

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine bbq sauce, grated apple and lemon juice. Wrap 2 pieces of bacon around each chicken breast half. Place wrapped chicken in slow cooker and top with bbq-sauce mixture. Set slow cooker to low and cook for 4-8 hours.

Hostess Cupcakes

Recipe From: Taste Buds
These were tasty and easy...just like Hostess!

1 devil's food cake mix

filling:
8 Tbsp butter (room temp)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
granulated sugar (to taste)

icing:
2 big Hershey bars (or 8 reg size)
1 12oz pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 bar of wax (melt in a rinsed out soup can inside a pan with 1-2 in water)

Make cupcakes according to pkg directions (adding 1/4 tsp vanilla; if desired) and bake in well greased, unlined pans. Let cool completely. For filling mix butter and marshmallow cream until fluffy. Add vanilla and a little sugar to desired taste. With a piping bag squirt a small amount of filling up into the bottom of each cupcake.
Melt chocolate together. Melt wax separately. Gradually add wax to melted chocolate, stirring constantly. Dip tops of cupcakes into the chocolate and set aside until firm. With a small piping tip decorate tops of cupcakes with remaining filling.

Strawberry Cream Puff Cake

Recipe From: My Kitchen Cafe

Cream Puff Base:
5 tbsp butter
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp sugar
2/3 cup flour
3 eggs

Cream Cheese Mixture:
4 ounces cream cheese (softened)
1 tsp fresh orange zest
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2/3 cup powdered sugar

2 cups strawberries (sliced)

For the cream puff layer, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bring the butter, water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the flour all at once and stir quickly until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the mixture until smooth. Let cool for 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until the mixture is shiny with a satiny sheen. Don’t overbeat. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan (or in a pinch, you could use a 9-inch circle cake pan). Using an offset spatula, spread the mixture on the bottom and one inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and prick pastry with a toothpick 10-12 times. Return to the oven and bake 5 minutes more until golden brown but not overbaked (you can insert a toothpick into the center and if it comes out with sticky dough, it still needs longer in the oven). Cool completely.

For the cream cheese mixture, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar (if you want to ensure there are no lumps, sift the powdered sugar into the cream cheese) and beat with the cream cheese until mixture is smooth and light. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until stiff peaks form. Spread onto the cooled cream puff shell.

Top with fresh sliced strawberries (I mixed 2 cups of strawberries with 1 teaspoon sugar and let them hang out in the fridge while I was prepping the cake) or you can use a 16-ounce bag of frozen strawberries that have been thawed. Mix the thawed strawberries and juice with 1-2 teaspoons sugar and bring to a simmer in a saucepan. Cook until slightly thickened. Cool completely and use as topping for the cake.

Lemon Cream Chicken & Mushrooms

Recipe From: The Kitchen CafeIngredients:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt and pepper
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup whipping cream (divided)
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms (sliced)

In a large skillet, cook chicken in butter for 8-9 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Remove chicken and keep warm.

Add broth to the drippings. Bring to a boil over medium heat; stir to loosen browned bits from the pan. Simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes or until broth is reduced approximately 1/3 cup. Sir in 3/4 cup cream, lemon juice and mushrooms. Cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.

Combine remaining flour and cream until smooth; stir into skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and sir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Return chicken to skillet and heat through.