The Best Chicken Enchiladas

I needed to make some chicken enchilada's the other day, and there are a bazillion recipes out there to make them.  I didn't want to do my old one of sour cream and soup mixture, I wanted a homemade white sauce.  I found it here on Mel's site, and they are truly the best ever!
You wont be disappointed when you make these!  Enjoy!

Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

YIELD: SERVES 4-6

INGREDIENTS

Filling:
• 3 cups cooked, chopped chicken
• 2 (4 oz.) cans of green chiles, lightly drained
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, cubed
• 1 can white or black beans, rinsed and drained (you can really use any type of bean you prefer here)
Sauce:
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/3 cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 can (7 ounce) green chile enchilada sauce
• ½ cup sour cream
Assembly:
• 8 ounces (about 2 cups) Monterey jack cheese, shredded
• 8 medium (soft taco size) flour tortillas
• Handful of chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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).
5. 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.

NOTES

Make Ahead Instructions: Follow the recipe instructions, letting the sauce cool to warm room temperature before proceeding with filling the enchiladas. Assemble the enchiladas as directed in the recipe with the cooled sauce. Cover the baking pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8-12 hours before baking. Bake according to the recipe, adding an additional 5-10 minutes if needed since the enchiladas were refrigerated. Alternately, after assembling, the baking pan can be covered with a double layer of foil and put in a jumbo-sized resealable bag and frozen for up to two months. Bake from frozen by decreasing the baking temperature to 350 degrees F and baking the enchiladas covered for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour until the dish is hot and bubbly.

Best Chili

Christy made a bowl of chili the other day and used this recipe from the sisters cafe, she said it was yummy, I should make it and post it on my blog. Today I made it and it is yummy and blog worthy, here is the site where she got it from:  it is the second recipe, although the first one looks just as good:

Chili
Submitted by Erin  ~ The Sisters Cafe

2 to 2 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 medium onions, diced
3 cups of dry pinto beans, soaked overnight (or 3 large cans (29 ounces each) pinto beans, drained)
46 oz. (one large can) tomato juice
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1-2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
Cheddar cheese, Fritos, and sour cream, for serving

Measure three cups (which is 1 ½ lbs) of pinto beans out and look through them for small pebbles. Rinse them off, and place them in a large bowl.  Soak the dry pinto beans in about 15 cups of water. Measuring the water is not necessary; just add water until they are covered by a few inches of water on top. In the morning, the beans will have absorbed a lot of the water. Rinse the beans and place in a large pot with plenty of fresh water and simmer for 2 hours with the lid cracked.  *Instead of using dry pinto beans, you may use 3 (29-oz) cans of pinto beans. One 29-oz can is equal to 3 cups of cooked beans, or 1 cup of dry beans. Beans triple in volume after being cooked.*

After beans are cooked, drain liquid reserving about ½ cup of liquid, and set beans aside. In the same pot, brown the hamburger and onion. Drain grease. Add all remaining ingredients, including the cooked beans, and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 1-4 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve topped with shredded cheddar cheese, a handful of Fritos, and a dollop of sour cream.

Yummy Stuff!  we are eating atop baked Idaho potatoes for dinner tonight!  YUM!

Caramel Corn

 This is a quick and easy recipe for caramel corn.  It uses a can of sweetened condensed milk.  My neighbor Jana would make this and share with us, we loved it!

Caramel Corn
1 cup white Karo syrup (Jana would use dark Karo)
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 cube margarine

Bring to boil the brown sugar and Karo syrup.  Add milk and bring to boil.  Add margarine and bring to boil.  Pour over popcorn.  It makes a lot!  I popped 3 microwave popcorn bags and used two of my big Tupperware ThatsaBowl bowls(nothing sticks to them) and stirred it around, Make sure to pick out ALL the popcorn kernels before adding the caramel.  but I probably could have popped 4 bags as I had more caramel than popcorn.
Enjoy!
Great STuff!

Nourishment for the soul:
more quotes from my pinterest board:

The quieter you become, the more you can hear

If you continuously compete with others, you become bitter
But if you continuously compete with yourself, you become better!

Elegance is when the inside is as beautiful as the outside!

Baked Potato Soup

Okay my friends, I made this soup for James' one year birthday party and was told it was good, please share the recipe!  Yay, I like it when something is good!  I got this from our ward homemaking night.  Of course I tweeked it, I will add at the bottom what I did different, but it was very easy to make - so enjoy!

Baked Potato Soup

12 medium potatoes cubed
5 cups of water
4 Knorr chicken bouillon cubes
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
Pepper, onion powder, garlic powder  to taste

Add cubed potatoes and water in crock pot.  Crumble bouillon cubes over potatoes.  Sprinkle seasonings to taste.  Cook on high for four hours or low for six hours.  When potatoes are tender, spoon half of the broth and potatoes into a blender with the cream cheese.  Blend together, add back into the crockpot.  Stir together.

Sandee's variation:
I added one diced onion to the potatoes.
I made this in the morning before I went to work, so I had to cook it longer than recipe said, so I added more liquid, I added one can of Swanson Chicken Broth.  After I had added back in the blended portion of soup and cream cheese,  I did stir in  1 to 1 1/2 cups sour cream.  Also, I grated some cheddar cheese I had in the fridge, so I guess add 1 to 2 cups shredded cheese. and WA LA, yummy potato soup!
Also - I wanted to put in carrots, I love carrots with my potatoes, so next time I am going to cut up about 3 carrots and add that in, I will let you know if that turns out!


Nourishment for the soul:
Here are a few sayings I have pinned from pinterest:

When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate
When life is bitter, say thank you and grow!

A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected!  
(I love this quote, it is so so so true!  As moms and wives, we need to make sure our children and spouse feel appreciated, they will gladly do more for us!)

Quick Lasagna Roll Ups

This recipe is from the lemon poppyseed lady, Ali Eisenach, her website is www.lemonpoppycake.com
This is kid friendly and kid tested and kid approved!  You will like it very much as an adult as well!

Rock and Roll Lasagna

10  dry lasagna noodles
1  24-oz container cottage cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup chopped spinach
1 jar spaghetti sauce (24 oz)

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions.  Drain, rinse and lay flat to dry.  Pour half of the spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.  
In a medium bowl combine cottage cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and spinach.  Spread cheese mixture on lasagna noodles and roll up.  Place pasta rolls in the 9x13 pan.  
Pour remaining spaghetti sauce on top.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 20 min
Uncover and continue baking 10 min until cheese is browned and bubbly.
Try adding italian sausage to the cheese mixture for a heartier dinner.

Quick Dinner Rolls

Today I made these rolls and shared with my RS sisters, and several asked for the recipe, I promised I would post it, so here it is:
I will give you ALL my secrets so yours will be as good as these!
I got this recipe from my friend Diane Worthen

Quick Dinner Rolls

2 Tblsp sugar
2 Tblsp yeast (active dry)
1/2 Cup warm water

1 1/2 Cups lukewarm milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup shortening (or butter)
2 eggs
5 1/2 cups flour

Combine sugar, water and yeast.  Let set until bubbly. 
Pour yeast mixture into mixer bowl 
Blend in milk, sugar and salt with shortening (or butter) and eggs.
Slowly add flour.  Mix well until smooth

  *Note  I actually had to add a few cups of flour with my milk and sugar and yeast part because the liquid was coming out of my boshe bread maker.  But I realized I did not say what to mix it in.  I use either my Kitchenaid stand mixer or my boshe bread maker.  Hopefully you have one of those!!

Pour dough into another bowl that has been lightly oiled.
(I have a big Tupperware bowl called "Thatsabowl" and it is my favorite as nothing sticks to it and it has a lid to put on top)

Let dough set in bowl for 1/2 hour
Punch down dough and shape into 24 rolls
Let rolls set until doubled.  (I am usually in hurry, so I preheat oven to 200 degrees, turn oven off.  Put rolls in oven for 15 min or so then take them out)
Turn oven on to 375 degrees and bake about 13 min (it says 15 min but I always start checking at 11 or 12 min)
Brush tops with melted butter

My secret ingredient: 
I add 2 Tblsp dough enhancer and 2 Tblsp wheat gluten
add it when you start adding the flour

If you dont have dough enhance or wheat gluten, don't worry, the rolls will still turn out and be good, I just heard from other bakers that to get your rolls extra fluffy, you should put in 2 Tblsp wheat gluten.  I just so happen to have dough enhancer as well so I threw that in.

I used canned milk because I have some, and I just warm it in the microwave til it is warm, make sure it is not too hot after warming it up because it will kill the yeast. But you can use any kind of milk.

To shape my rolls, I just grab a blob of dough and "push it through" my thumb and index finger of my left hand and pinch it off so it is just a ball of dough, but let me show you this lady's tutorial on how she makes her rolls perfectly round, I like her web site as well, most of her recipes are really really good!  enjoy!  look here

and now for the nourishing of your souls:
Let me leave you with a quote from our RS lesson today :

quoted from President Joseph Fielding Smith
"It is my duty, it is yours, to be better today than I was yesterday, and for you to be better today than you were yesterday, and better tomorrow than you were today.  why? Because we are on that road to perfection, and that can only come through obedience and the desire in our hearts to overcome the world. . . "
Have a great sabbath day!

Mom's Haystacks (Cookies)

Us kids grew up on Mom's Haystacks.  I am pretty sure we all loved them, I think Linda loves them the most, and me second!  They are only for people who like coconut though!  My mom still mails them to me and Linda for our birthdays, so they seem to last several days and still be yummy!

Mom's Haystacks

1 cup egg whites (about 6)
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups Macaroon Coconut
1 1/2 cups Flake Coconut
(so I asked my mom what the heck is macaroon coconut, I can't find it in stores, she say just use all sweetened flake coconut, so make that 3  1/2 cups Flake Coconut)
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour ( you might need to add 1/2 cup flour)
*Beat egg whites until stiff, beat in sugar a little at a time.  Add vanilla and  coconut, Fold in flour and salt.
Add choc chips and pecans
Bake on foil covered and greased cookies sheet (I just use my silpat and it works AMAZING, get you one I say!)  
Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown (I just made these and forgot to write down the time, it seems they take around 10-11 min, but I can't remember)

Now make sure you beat the egg whites good before adding sugar, I added my sugar too soon and it makes the cookies more flat, otherwise they are like little round mounds (like a haystack!), they are still yummy if you do it wrong, but try to do it right!

I love my mom.  When I miss her, I bake these and remember all the good cookies she would bake for us kids.