Tag Archives: edibles

Enchiladas (mostly) from scratch

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I’ve been obsessed with enchiladas lately. They’ve always been a favorite of mine but in a guilty pleasure sort of way because of the way Mexican restaurants tend to pile on the scrumptious melty cheeses.

I’m drooling.

Anyway, I was wasting time meandering on Pinterest when I found this lovely food blog, and specifically this amazing looking recipe.

I had to make it immediately. I had never cooked with tomatillos before but she gives very clear instructions and they turned out not to be so very scary after all. Which is awesome because salsa verde is my faaavorite.

The enchiladas turned out decent (and even better the next day!) but there were a few things I wanted to tweak so I made them again tonight.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can prepare the chicken and salsa beforehand and then just toss everything together and throw it in the oven right before dinner. Or you can be lazy and leave everything to the last minute like moi.

Ingredients:
– A 3/4 – 1 lb chicken breast; more if you want meatier enchiladas, less if you want to add other things into the mix
– 1 small onion, chopped
– 4 oz Greek yogurt (I nearly typed “Geek” there. lol)
– 2 cups salsa verde; I made some from scratch the first time using the recipe linked above but I cheated this time and bought a jar. In my defense my blender is broken and last time I had to mince everything by hand and it took ages :[
– Package of 8 wheat tortillas; the ones I got were 120 calories per tortilla. 
– Cheese, grated; Last time I used a four cheese Mexican pre-grated mix and then grated cheddar on top. This time I only used the pre-grated mix. Guess which one was tons better? Grate your own cheese.

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Start with the chicken. It’ll need to be shredded and according to the interwebs, the best way to do that is to either grill it or boil it. I have no grilling skills so I tossed it in a pot of boiling water for 15 minutes.

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It’s ok if it’s a little undercooked because it’s going right back in the oven for another twenty minutes. Just remember not to snack on it if it’s still pink!

(If you’re making your own salsa verde, now would be the time to do it!)

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Pull the chicken out of the pot and transfer it to a largeish bowl. I’m sure there’s a fancy utensil with a fancy name that was designed for shredding chicken, but I went the poor grad student route and attacked mine with two forks.

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In a pan, drizzle some olive oil and add the chopped onions and a dash of salt.

Let it cook for a few minutes on medium heat and then add the chicken, half of the salsa verde, Greek yogurt, and whatever else you might want to add. I kind of want to try it with spinach. Or broccoli? Hmm, maybe not broccoli.

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Mix it all together and turn the heat off. Grab your tortillas because here’s the fun part!

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Drizzle a few tablespoons of salsa verde onto a 9 x 13″ baking dish. Spoon a few tablespoons of filling onto the tortilla in a straight line. Fold one side of the tortilla over, tuck it under a little, and then roll the whole thing closed.

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Place it on the baking dish with the seam side facing down.

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Rinse and repeat.

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Once all of the enchiladas are filled and tucked, drizzle the rest of the salsa on top of them and spread it evenly.

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Then sprinkle the cheese on top.

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Bake at 375 F for about 15-20min. It’s ready when the cheese on top is golden and bubbling.

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Nom and enjoy! (Make sure you make extra because it’s reeeally good as leftovers!)

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Next I want to try a version with red sauce!

Noms! Bean salad recipe

When the weather gets warm, this is one of my favorite salad recipes. It’s cold, healthy, and super easy to put together!

Unfortunately, this year it is now June and the high today was in the low 50’s. Is this normal for New England? Considering it barely snowed three times all winter, I’m guessing not.

Anyway, I’ve been making sundresses and busting out sunglasses and making summer food in the hopes that the weather will catch on and heat up. So far, no dice.

Maybe you’ll have better luck!

Bean salad

Ingredients:  Note: This is one of those guesstimate amounts type of recipes :]

-1 bell pepper, diced (I’ve tried this with red, orange, and green bell peppers and orange is by far my favorite. Plus it goes the prettiest with the other colors, which is of course  a vital factor.)

-1 roma tomato (I still have no idea which kinds of tomatoes are good for which types of dishes, but romas work great for this.)

-green beans (These are my favorite part of the salad so I use a lot.)

-1 can cannellini beans with the juice (I’ve also used kidney beans and they’ve turned out great!)

-rice wine vinegar or rice vinegar (Is there a difference? You could probably also use apple cider vinegar for an even healthier version although I’ve never tried that.)

-salt to taste

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Prepare the green beans and cut them up into bite sized pieces. I usually put them in a pan with a few tablespoons of water and let them cook just enough to be cooked but still delightfully crunchy.

When they’re done cooking, transfer the green beans to a separate bowl and pour cold water on them. Let it sit until the beans have cooled down so they don’t cause the other vegetables to cook when you mix them together.

Chop up the bell pepper and tomato into bite sized chunks, however big you want them.

Mix all of the veggies together. Pour the cannellini beans on top, including the juice. Add a few tablespoons of rice vinegar. I would start with one or two tablespoons and add more if desired. Add salt to taste.

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It’s best if you stick it in the fridge for at least an hour but I usually can’t wait that long.

Enjoy!

Slightly behind

Sorry for the radio silence over here, Boyfriend and I decided to take a spontaneous trip home for the week before his exams get crazy again.

I have some photos to post but I’m exhausted to a point that is kind of ridiculous considering the time difference is only three hours. Yeesh.

For now, here’s the measly Instagram version of the past few days

We finally went to a Giants game while we were home! 🙂

We lost though 🙁

And here’s an awful picture of the gorgeous view on our way out of the park.

Boyfriend decided to whip up some burgers yesterday. He stuffed them with grated cheddar and chopped onions and we had them with sourdough bread with a fried egg on top.

I sort of accidentally broke the yolks on both eggs. Whoops.

Sneaking a trip home was nice, and coming back was kind of weird.

Having these lovelies waiting for me when I arrived completely made up for it though!

No, seriously. -squee!-

Anyways, I’ve got some lovelies to share in the next few days: a dress or two, a project I’m quite excited about, and another costume post.

Have a nice weekend!

 

PS I sort of just started this whole Instagram thing (the woes of having an android) but follow me here if you like!

 

Garlicky sandwich spread

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When we were living in San Francisco, Boyfriend introduced me to an absolutely nommilicious sandwich shop that quickly became a favorite. Sadly, I haven’t found anything remotely close to it over on the other coast. It’s something about the sandwich spread they use. Very garlicky, very delicious, but definitely not the place for a first date!

Anyway, we were missing home the other night so I decided to attempt to recreate these sandwiches.

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I used a giant clove of garlic (it was seriously huge, probably about the size of 2-3 normal cloves), juice from half a lime, about a tablespoon of chopped fresh cilantro, and enough olive oil to cover it all.

For the other sandwich toppings we did turkey slices, sharp white cheddar, and tomato slices on toasted sourdough bread. It didn’t turn out quite the same as our sandwich shop but it’s definitely something I’m going to make again.

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I highly recommend doing your kissing before consuming this one. Just sayin’.