Chicken Enchiladas

Okay, Robyn. For your viewing pleasure (including photos for added assistance and a bit o' fun):

Kristin's FABULOUSLY CHEESY Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1 - 2 lbs chicken cut into bite-sized pieces

Sliced mushrooms

8 soft tortilla shells

2 cans enchilada sauce

1 small can chopped mild green chilies

1 small can sliced olives

2 cups shredded cheese

1 additional cup shredded cheese

Sour cream

Directions:

Cook chicken and fry mushrooms

Then prepare to get your hands dirty (thanks to Kristin for being willing to get hers a little dirty for the camera :))!

Lay a tortilla shell on a clean surface. Pour some enchilada sauce on the shell.

Spread the sauce around. Turn the tortilla shell over and cover that side with sauce.

Place chicken in the center of the tortilla shell.

Add mushrooms and green chilies.

Place olives.

Add sour cream.

Sprinkle cheese on top.

Fold the tortilla shell until it looks like...

This.

Place in baking dish. Repeat until all shells are filled with yummy goodness.

Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the finished enchiladas.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Add 1 cup of cheese to the top and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

That's it. Simple, fast, yummy. I apologize for the lack of photos of the finished product. By the time it was done I was starving and kind of forgot about taking a final photo of it :)

Boiling Hamburger...Who Knew?

So as I previously mentioned, Ellie has been sick the last several days. She is now on a "bland" diet consisting of hamburger and rice. The vet told us to "boil" the hamburger. I had never heard of such a thing, so I looked it up online.

I thought it would be complicated, but no. Boil water, dump the hamburger in, come back in two minutes. Yes, I said two minutes.

So this morning I get a pot out, get the water boiling, and start to crumble the hamburger into it. The little pieces immediately rose to the top already done. I threw the package away, washed my hands, returned to the pot, and wah la! A half-pound of hamburger browned to perfection. I drained it, rinsed it, and mixed it with the rice. Ellie loved it.

The article I read online said that it's a fast way to cook hamburger, but because you're taking all of the fat out of it, there isn't much taste left (which was true, I tasted it)...but for recipes calling for hamburger that will also have other spices or flavoring in it (tacos, for example), this works great! Also, if you have some frozen hamburger you can just dump the whole frozen piece of hamburger into the water. After a couple of minutes break it apart with a utensil and leave it to cook for a few more minutes. Soooo much faster than thawing it on the counter, in the fridge, or in the microwave and then frying it up.

Obviously boiling hamburger wouldn't work for every recipe, but I'm excited to "discover" this trick that I can use for some recipes or when I'm in a pinch for time!

Veggie Lasagna

By popular demand I present Krisitn's Veggie Lasagna recipe. It's divine. :) The original recipe came from Heather Swann.

VEGGIE LASAGNA

Ingredients:

Lasagna Noodles

1 Package of Frozen Spinach

Mushrooms

Zucchini

Garlic

1 jar of red spaghetti sauce

1 medium tub of ricotta cheese

2 eggs

1-2 cups of Mozzarella cheese

Cook lasagna noodles according to directions on package

Thaw spinach

Chop mushrooms, zucchini, and garlic and sauté

Add red sauce to veggies and heat through

In a bowl, mix spinach, eggs, and ricotta cheese together

Layer ingredients in a 9x13 pan as follows:

Thin layer of sauce

Noodles

Veggies and sauce mixture

Mozzarella cheese (1/2-1 cup)

Noodles

Ricotta and spinach mixture

Noodles

Remaining sauce

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes

Add remaining mozzarella cheese to the top 5 minutes before removing from the oven