Pantry Enchiladas

I don't know what to call this. Basically, I throw together something similar to this once a month or so. It can be made with mostly ingredients you have on hand. During a time when we're pretty reliant on whatever we have in the pantry, you can use whatever ingredients you want! Every time, it's a little different. On this day, I didn't have any enchilada sauce, so I made a sauce using this recipe from Budget Bytes and now I will never waste money on cans of pre-made enchilada sauce again. If you get nothing else from this post, use that sauce recipe the next time you make enchiladas.

• Tortillas 
• Enchilada sauce
• Shredded cheese

For the filling, I used:

• 2ish cups shredded chicken we had leftover from grilling the night before
• 1 1/2 cups prepared brown rice
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 2 T. diced green chiles (from a can)
• Other ingredients I would/could normally use: ground beef,  queso, black beans, cooked peppers and onions, and Rotel

(it's worth mentioning that I had lime and cilantro but forget to use them, so include those if you have them)

And then I had this Hatch Chile Cream Cheese Spread. I bought it at a farmers' market last year. We had had a hatch chile dip in Colorado that was good enough to eat with a spoon. I've been looking for something similar ever since and such things, in Pennsylvania, don't exist. 

So I paid $10 for that jar of chile spread and have been putting it on my burritos and quesadillas and enchiladas for months. 

...it's gone now. 

I would recommend spreading your tortillas with sour cream or something similar? It gives a great flavor once everything is baked together.

350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, covered with foil. Then broil the top for a few minutes. 

I made this with the intention of leftovers and there were none. It'd be a great meal to freeze for a later date though.

What are you cooking this week?

Pinned/Did/Done 6/28

Balsamic Roasted Potatoes. The recipe also calls for asparagus but I didn't have any. These were good. Since there were leftovers, I heated them up the next day and they had lost the balsamic taste completely. You might need to add more if that's the case. But it's a good alternative to just olive oil or garlic, if you're looking for a new flavor for potatoes.

Vegan Banana Bread. I made this in muffin tins and froze them. It makes about 18 muffins and bakes at the same temperature for about 15 minutes. THEY WERE FANTASTIC. This will be a go-to recipe for me.

Lactation cookies. I made the dough, scooped it onto trays, froze it, and then put them into ziploc bags for later. I'll bake them when I need them. It seems promising. I also made a double batch of my favorite oatmeal cookies, froze the dough, and will bake them at some point. I plan to keep Scott away from the lactation cookies by telling him they have twice as many calories as regular cookies (which, they likely do).

Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Gnocchi. I like quick gnocchi dinners that I can just make on the stove in the summer, so roasting the vegetables kind of ruined that part. This was good, though. I prefer my eggplant breaded, in a parmesan-style, but it did the job and didn't take long to make.

Steel Cut Oats in the Instant Pot. Confession: we have a knock-off Instant Pot. Scott bought it to cook different meats and whatnot for himself while he was in charge of his own meal-planning this past winter in Wyoming. So the instructions on a lot of Instant Pot recipes don't always correspond to ours (It's a Farberware one). For this one, I followed the ingredient directions and just put it on for 30 minutes. It worked beautifully and I didn't seal in the steam to release it at the end. The oats just absorbed all the water, a lot like how a rice cooker would. My favorite part was that steel cut oats also take about 30 minutes on the stove, but they ALWAYS stick to the pan and make a mess. These came right out with no clean-up time.

Chicken Fried Rice in the Instant Pot. This came together really easily and I liked that you didn't have to use leftover rice. I will say that it needed more seasoning/soy sauce, so if you have go-to cocktail of seasoning for Asian food, use it. The method works really well if you like chicken fried rice. I left out the egg because I always pick it out anyway.

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal Muffin Cups.
These were really good as well.  I have a thing for oatmeal, I know. Reheating with some maple syrup makes a great snack or breakfast. I froze a few ziploc bags of these so we'll see how they hold up.

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Speaking of things you see on Pinterest, but would hopefully never try yourself...this is the most awful thing I've seen in awhile.

I was actually kind of horrified by it. 

What have you pinned and tried out lately? 

I'm trying to make good use of meal-planning again, so hopefully I'll have more to report on in the second half of 2018.

Chicken Crockpot Meatballs.

I started making these last summer. I prefer chicken meatballs to beef ones, but it's worth noting that Scott is not a fan. I usually make them, freeze them, and keep them on hand in case we need a quick  dinner. And then I'll *usually* eat them when he's away or working late.

Ingredients:

I use 1 T. each of the dried herbs. And I would not recommend the Kraft brand of parmesan. It just happened to be on sale and I'd never had it before. I would go with Sargento. 

This is how I put it together. I don't measure, but it's about half a cup of cheese, and half a cup of each type of breadcrumbs.

Mix it up and form them into meatballs. Put them on a plate and stick them in fridge for about an hour (at least) to firm up. This keeps them together when they cook. 

I used a cast iron pan to brown the meatballs. Medium heat, 2-3 minutes on each side.

Then you pile them into a crockpot, pour a jar of sauce over the top (Newman's was on sale), and cook on low for about 8 hours. 

After they're cool, divide them up into freezer bags. You should label yours. I can never be bothered to do that and it never works out well. 

Store them in the freezer and pull out as needed to defrost in the fridge. I usually just heat them up in a saucepan and eat them with a mixture of spaghetti noodles and zoodles with mozzarella on top. 

Fall Food

This is a post I began, let fall by the wayside, and now I'm finishing it thanks to the Back to Blogging Challenge. 

Hey, it's fall.

I mean, kind of. Still warm here but whatever. This God-forsaken summer can't hold on forever. That's where my hope lies at this point. Nature is nature.

Here's some food I'd recommend for the season...

I make all of the main dishes to freeze. Sometimes we eat one batch immediately and I put the second in the freezer. Sometimes, when I really have it all together, I just freeze it all for future dinners.

Meatballs. I really need to get this meatball recipe on the blog. I started using one that I found online years ago, but now the link doesn't go anywhere. So I've tweaked it based on what I remember and what I don't remember. However, you really can't go wrong by freezing any meatball recipe.

Chicken Tortilla Soup. This is an absolute staple and we eat it once a month. It's really easy to freeze in batches so I almost always have some in the deep-freeze.

Tomato Soup. I love thick and flavorful tomato soups. I've been making this for 4 years now. It freezes well. 

Chili.

White Chicken Chili.

Pizza Lasagna.

Desserts...

Apple Crisp.

Pumpkin Spice Brownies.

Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting.

And for breakfast and snacking options...

 Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal.

Maple Scones.

Maple Donut Muffins.

And for the pups...Pumpkin Pupcakes.

What's your favorite fall recipe?

Beef Vegetable Soup

NOTE: Today is a snow day.  I started this last night but apparently have no follow-through.

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I swear I want to blog.  I have dozens of half-written posts.  Ideas for more than that. Lots I could share. But something happens on the weekend...I've been treating my weekends like to-do lists and I've really been stressing myself out (that's one of those half-written posts you may never see). If I don't have blog posts written and ready by noon on Sunday...there will be no blog posts.  So, as I type, it's 6:51pm on Monday, and I'm contemplating a shower, 15 minutes of Pilates, and bed by 7:45.  Though...it IS Monday, which means Jane the Virgin. And I do still have to watch OUAT from Sunday.  And I do have tests to grade.  But I'm hoping for a snow day tomorrow. 

Jane will be on the DVR for tomorrow evening (or, better yet, during my snow day).  I introduced my teammate at school to the show.  After we discussed for awhile (while we were supposed to be planning or something), I asked: Team Michael or Team Rafael? She said Team Michael.  I'm Team Rafael.  I don't think she and I can be friends anymore. 

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Recipe challenge, week forty-three (but really there's going to be more than one recipe per week sometimes because I'm counting recipes more than I'm counting weeks at this point because I'm running out of time).

(Who am I kidding...there will be a solid week of just recipes at the end of December just so I can get them done with and posted.)

(Carry on.)

Believe it or not, I started this recipe months ago and thought that I wrote it down and then I realized I didn't and then I realized I lost the recipe my mom gave me years ago and then I needed to start over again so I've been putting it off.

Crockpot Beef Stew
use a 6 quart crockpot

Beef stew meat, 1 pound (It can be frozen, but should be cut into 1 inch chunks if you haven't bought it that way. Trimming the fat is also a good idea.)
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
4 cups cold water

Put all of those ingredients in the crockpot for about 2 hours on high.

Then add:

2 cans beef broth or stock
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
1 can corn, or 1 cup frozen corn
1 can green beans, or 1 cup frozen green beans
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
2 T. tomato paste
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery

Turn the crockpot to low and let it slow-cook all day, 6-8 hours. You could let it go for much longer too if you need to. This batch cooked for about 10 hours total.

If you are freezing this soup, let it cool first, skim any fat off the top, and then divide into Ziploc freezer bags and lay flat to freeze.  I got 3 bagfuls of this, so that's 3 separate meals.

(A link to) Mexican Stuffed Shells

Recipe challenge, week thirty-four. Kind of.

I can't lie. I haven't cooked in awhile.  In fact, grocery shopping isn't even fun anymore. In fact-in fact, I stopped at Chick-fila for dinner the other day when I knew Scott wouldn't be home until late.  I really just wanted a giant unsweetened tea, but I figured a chicken wrap would hold me over as I hunkered down to two hours of paperwork on a Thursday night.  How boring, right? The dogs weren't happy about it, but someone has to work to buy all those treats....

In fact, I've taken a step back from social media in general because I like to be intentional with things and right now I'm busy being intentional with things other than blogging.  Mostly school stuff.  But I've been insisting on half an hour of Pilates (at least) every day. It takes an extreme amount of forethought to put a workout into a busy day, and I'm the first one to admit that I've been going to bed too late.  However, dinner has barely been getting made because by the time I leave school, drive 30 minutes home, and I feed/walk/play with the dogs, it's almost 6pm and I have stuff to do and I end up putting something together for Scott and I just eat whatever.  It's not a practice I recommend.  If I'm lucky, I keep up with the laundry and dishes as the week goes on. Which means not often.

However, I made these stuffed shells weeks ago and took them to my friend who'd just had a baby.  I made a double batch so we had dinner for two nights too.  I do love freezer cooking and this is a great example of something you can make, wrap up tightly, stick in the freezer, and pull out on a busy day.

 It's not my recipe;  I googled "healthy Mexican stuffed shells" and this is what came up.  So I don't know if this counts because I didn't invent it. But it IS new and I DID make it and it's not like I'm writing a cookbook or plagiarizing, right?

I'll just post the link.  Just in case.

How to stock your freezer with ready-to-eat dinners

Black beans.  I hate buying canned goods.  They're heavy and they take up space.  Sure, they're not really expensive.  But I also hate opening cans.  So by making my own black beans, I'm eliminating a bulky grocery item.  You buy a bag of dried beans, you follow that recipe I'm linking to there, and you get 4 quart-size freezer bags of beans.  In each one, I put a little more than you'd get in a can.  Don't fill the bags the whole way.  Lay flat to freeze.

Pinto beans. See above.  Scott brought home a giant bag of pinto beans from a farmers' market last fall.  I finally got around to making some of them, and I ended up with about 8 bags to add to vegetable soups and chili.

Salsa Chicken.  I don't do these in lettuce wraps because lettuce wraps don't have carbs and I like tortillas and tortilla chips and stuff made with lots of carbs.  You could do just about anything with this chicken though.  Salads, quesadillas, nachos...it's my go-to recipe.

Marinara.  My friend's recipe is the one I use. Not going to lie: I use this mostly as pizza sauce because we don't do a lot of pasta.  This just means I don't have to buy the bulky glass jars of Barilla Tomato Basil.  I appreciate that.

Chicken stock. Another recipe for those of you who hate putting cans in your shopping cart, putting cans on the conveyor belt, putting bags of cans in your car, carrying bags of cans into your house, and then putting them in the cupboard.  This, I'm pretty sure, is why I make my own stock.

Fajita meat.  I posted this recipe a few weeks ago with some quinoa.  You can put it in tortillas with fajita fixings, grill it up in quesadillas, or put it over some quinoa or rice Chipotle-style. Very versatile.

Tortilla Soup. We love this soup.  I make it when I want something really good to eat on the weekends and I freeze bags of it for later.  It might be one of the best recipes I've ever found online.

Mongolian Beef. This is also a go-to recipe of mine.  It's a people-pleaser. Perfect for potlucks (I've taken it to work before) or for freezing.

White Chicken Chili.  I really liked this.  I don't make it nearly often enough.  I'm not a fan of ground beef, so this is the chili I would opt to make.  I have the hardest time finding ground chicken for some reason.  They never have it at the commissary and sometimes I can't even find it at Safeway.

Vegetable Soup. I haven't posted a recipe for this yet.  Truthfully, I make it a bit differently every time, but I'm working on a batch this week.  It's perfect for when your husband wants something for dinner and you don't want to cook. Will share soon.

Do you have a favorite freezer meal?  Make anything in advance?