Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas with Avocado Cream Sauce

I am in love with these enchiladas, and I have been requested to make these often by family members. Kudos to Chef in Training for making this recipe. They're perfectly delicious!

Just as a heads up, the enchiladas freeze beautifully, but do NOT include the avocado cream sauce before freezing. Grossness will ensue. Also, do yourself a favor and add more lime juice and honey to the marinade. You'll thank me later. :)

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas with Avocado Cream Sauce:

INGREDIENTS

• ⅓ cup honey
• Juice from 2 limes
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2½ cups cooked and shredded chicken (I use a rotisserie)
• 1 cup corn, frozen
• 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, divided
• 10 (8-inch) flour tortillas
• 1 (28 oz) can Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
• AVOCADO CREAM SAUCE
• ¼ cup butter
• ¼ cup flour
• 1½ cups half and half
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ½ tsp. garlic salt
• ½ tsp. onion powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• juice from one lime

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a small bowl, combine honey, lime juice and minced garlic and stir until well combined.
2. Place cooked and shredded chicken in a large zip lock bag and pour sauce over the top. Seal up the bag and toss/shake gently to coat all the chicken. Place sealed bag in fridge and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.
3. After chicken has marinated, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Dump marinated chicken into a large bowl. Add corn, black beans and 1½ cups shredded Monterey Jack Cheese and stir to evenly combine.
5. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and then pour about ¼ cup of green chile enchilada sauce evenly over the bottom of pan. Pour remaining enchilada sauce into a large bowl.
6. Dip tortilla into the enchilada sauce and gently squeegee off the excess sauce with fingers.
7. place 1/10th of chicken mixture into the center of tortilla and spread out evenly length wise. Roll up the tortilla enchilada style and scoot to the edge of the pan. Repeat for remaining tortillas and filling.
8. Make the Avocado cream sauce: In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Once butter has melted, add flour and stir to combine and continue stirring over heat for about 2 minutes. Slowly and gradually add in half and half and chicken broth. Continue stirring over medium heat until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and add garlic salt, onion powder and salt. Stir to combine. Let sauce cool down completely then pour sauce in blender. Add avocado, cilantro and lime juice. Cover and beat/pulse until smooth consistency.
9. Pour sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup of Monterey Jack cheese over the top of sauce.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Chocolate Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you see the little sugar-ized orange zest on the tops? Oh, yeah.
(Pardon the phone camera picture. I'm getting lazy in my old age.)

These look innocent enough. Until you realize you've eaten the entire pan all by your little lonesome.

A holiday tradition from 2000 when Dan and I met the Mizukawa family in our first student ward at the University of Utah. Amazing. Enjoy!

Chocolate Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 Tbsp. orange zest
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. orange zest

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Mix 1 cup sugar, butter, 1 T. orange peel, and egg. Stir in flour, cocoa, salt, powder, and soda. Stir in chocolate chips.

Mix the 1/3 cup sugar and 1 t. orange zest together. Roll dough into 1 1/2" balls. Roll into mixture. Place 3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten to about 1/2 inch thickness with the bottom of a glass. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until set (but still a bit gooey).

Best Ever Chocolate Cupcakes

Not from the box. No sawdust included. I hope that doesn't disappoint anyone.

Chocolate Cupcakes:    Shannon Brems, originally from Suzanne Disbrow

3 C. flour

2 C. sugar

½ C. cocoa

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

Mix the above in Bosch. Then blend in:

2 eggs

1 C. buttermilk

1 C. oil

Then pour in:

1 C. boiling water

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix well. Use ¼ cup measuring cup to distribute the batter evenly amongst the 36 cupcake liners.

Bake at 330 for 20 minutes.

Fast Fudge Frosting:

1/3 C. butter

1/3 C. hot water

Put the above in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until butter melts and water is boiling hot. Add:

Dash of salt

1 tsp. vanilla

½ C. cocoa

4+ C. powdered sugar

Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the frosting and let them “dry.”

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese

1 C. butter

5 C. powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

Beat butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time beating for 1 minute with each addition. Add vanilla in the middle. Pipe onto cupcakes.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

I randomly came across this book a couple of weeks ago and thought, "Pfft, yeah, right." I have been making my own bread for years, and it always takes at least an hour and a half, if not two." However, the more I read the reviews and saw the delicious pictures, I was hooked. I bought both of the authors' bread books from Amazon last week, and I have more than doubled my butter intake in the last 24 hours. BUT! I'm in love. As in, I have devoured three loaves in the last 24 hours type of in love.

(Please, if you're interested in their method and recipes, be respectful of their time and energies and buy their book.)

Here's what I love so far:

* It truly is only five minutes of "work" on the day I want bread. (Take the tub out of the fridge, hack a chunk off, cloak it, and put it on the pizza peel to rest/rise) The rest/rise time is 40 minutes and the baking takes 30 minutes, just FYI. Heck, it's only five minutes of mixing on the day you make the dough.
* The hard, crispy outside and the soft, gluten-y inside is pure perfection.
* No kneading the loaves, so I don't even have to get my beloved Bosch all messy. One big plastic tub (with a lid) and a wooden spoon. Five minutes of mixing.Voila!
* You don't have to wash the tub between batches. In fact, they suggest just the opposite. Even better!

This is my second try. Look at the brown and crispy edges! Mmm . . . 

Here's what I haven't loved so far:
* The initial expense of buying a lidded tub, pizza peel, and cooling rack (because I didn't already have these items), but that was a minor purchase of < $30. If you don't have a pizza stone, that would be another larger expense.
* The (what I'm assuming is an) incorrect indentation of ingredients on the Master Recipe. Pardon the soap box. I'm a printer's daughter with an English degree. See below.

Why the indentation for the flour?  (Come on! It's the Master Recipe!) 

Clearly you can see that the love far outweighs the not-love. SO! Go buy their book and make some goodness for your family today. And tomorrow. And the next day. Like I am doing. Because it's that good. Trust me. GO.

Toni Harris' Easiest Ever White Bread Recipe

Forgive me for not having a picture of this recipe. I'll get to it. I've had so many people ask me for this recipe, I have to just post it here for convenience.

My friend Toni works with me at The Quilting Cottage, and she is just too fun to be around. I love working with her. She's funny and witty and so wise. She shared this recipe with me and it has saved my hide so many nights when I need to make some bread or roll for dinner and just don't have the time for my Homemade Whole Wheat recipe.

Just a helpful note: If you're using a Kitchenaid Mixer, half the recipe so you don't burn your motor! :)

White Bread (or rolls, or pizza crust, or breadsticks, or . . . )

10 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I use unbleached)
3 T. yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 T. salt (I use kosher or Real Salt)
4 cups HOT water
1/4 cup oil (I use canola)
1 egg

Mix all four dry ingredients in your mixer. Add wet ingredients. Cover, and mix for five minutes. Shape into loaves, let rise, then bake. Voila! (To rise and bake, I use the same method as my wheat recipe. I preheat the oven to 180 degrees, then turn it off. Put loaves in, set timer for about 20 minutes. When loaves have doubled in size, begin preheating oven to 350 degrees, and set timer for 20 minutes. Bake until loaves are 180 degrees.)

Surfs Up!

My darling cousin, Amy May, asked me to do a surfer themed car seat blanket for her friend who lives in Kauai. Done. I was so excited to work on this! It was a pleasure from start to finish. Thanks, Amy! Oh, and if anyone wants to do a similar one, order the pattern for the car seat blanket here, then get Quiltsmart interfacing for the Pumpkin Seed. I made the "seeds" skinnier than it guides me to, and sewed a straight line across the bottom before turning it right side out and appliqueing it on. Ta da!

Italian Stuffed Shells

When I cook something that I know is a tried and true recipe, I double it. And freeze the extra. It's a no-brainer.

Stuffed Italian Shells (Nicole Kunze)

8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream
1 c. mozzarella cheese, grated
1 c. cheddar cheese, grated
1 lb. ground Italian sausage
1 (24 oz.) bottle spaghetti sauce (homemade is obviously the best)
1 box large pasta shells

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish by pouring 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce into the bottom. Boil pasta shells for 10 minutes; drain and set aside to cool. Blend cream cheese and sour cream with a mixer until smooth, then stir in mozzarella and cheddar with a spoon (leaving some for sprinkling on the top). Cook sausage thoroughly; drain and add to the cheeses. Spoon a few tablespoons of cheese mixture into each shell and arrange in the prepared dish. Cover the shells with the remaining spaghetti sauce and top with leftover mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

WHEN DOUBLED:
Double everything, except add even more cheese. I use 3-4 cups of each mozzarella and cheddar cheese. The two boxes of pasta shells is more than plenty.

Makes two 11x7 pans and two 8x8 pans full (see pictures)

For my little brood, the 11x7 pans are perfect for a dinner for us all and a lunch for Dan the next day.
The 8x8 pans are perfect for one dinner.

Cheese! Glorious cheese!