Creamy chicken enchilada -- just slightly spicy and comfort food filling. Easy to make is a bonus! This dish is always a winner and has become the go-to way for making chicken enchiladas at our house! We -- no, it's really me -- prefer mildly spicy so a little extra cumin to a mild enchilada sauce is just right. If your family likes more kick, by all means adjust and add spices if you want. Use the hot and spicy enchilada sauce! The creamy chicken base is still there and will support what you want. You can use frozen chicken that is already sliced or diced. Or canned chicken will also work. Either one will save some preparation time. You can also grill or poach chicken breast to use. Mexican blends of shredded cheese are available, some with added spices. Use ... [Read More]
Main Dish
Apple and Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash
Wheels loves acorn squash but I only knew one way of preparing it. Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and bake about an hour until tender, with or without butter in the middle. It was hard to cut before cooking – a feat of strength and sharp knife and messy to scoop out the seeds. But, with enough butter, acorn squash was a nice addition to a meal a couple of times in the fall. Finally I got brave and kicked it up a notch with this really good recipe for apple sausage stuffed acorn squash. And then I found a tip that rocked my acorn squash fixin’ world. . . Wash the squash (shades of Dr. Suess!). Find a sharp fork, preferably a two or three pronged cooking fork. Pierce the squash all the way around along the line you will use to cut the squash in half. Place the ... [Read More]
BLT Ranch Burger
First time I made Ranch Burgers, I used ranch dressing out of the bottle. They were moist – just like I thought they would be. That was a good thing. But they were so moist they came apart and slid down into the barbecue flames. Not a good thing. And they were so soft that it was impossible to slide a spatula under them to lift anything off the grill. Really not a good thing! Good idea -- bad execution!! This recipe using dry ranch dressing mix gives the taste and tenderness without the falling apart mess. Save the bottled ranch dressing to replace or supplement your ketchup allotment. Works much better! Adding the BLT takes a good sandwich up a notch. Or maybe it’s the other way around – adding a burger to your BLT takes a good sandwich up a notch! Either way marrying ... [Read More]
Smoked Salmon Quiche
Deep Dish Smoked Salmon Quiche with Dill. I could almost smell the smoked salmon when I found this recipe in a Quick and Easy Paula Deen’s magazine. So when I saw smoked salmon on sale the deal was sealed. I picked up the salmon and carton of half and half and planned to make it for dinner the next night. Life got in the way. Like two weeks worth. Tonight was the night I could make this quiche that has been on my mind. Except – well, I’ll tell you what I did and what Paula said I shoulda done. She wanted me to roll two pie crusts from a package of refrigerated pie crusts together. We are on carb watch. One pie crust is enough. I prebaked it, but pricked it with a fork instead of using her pie weight or dried beans, neither of which I had. I didn’t have the Fontina cheese she ... [Read More]
Scottsdale Potatoes – Hashbrown potato casserole
My mother discovered these creamy, cheesy potatoes while visiting family in Arizona. Apparently that’s why they are called Scottsdale Potatoes! Here in Ohio, they are known as Cheesy Potatoes or Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole. Recently I’ve seen points further south that labeled them Funeral Potatoes – a name which belies their yumminess but apparently takes into account the fact that the recipe can be boosted to satisfy large numbers. ... [Read More]
Pierogies and Sausage
Happy Pierogie Day! I don’t know who decides these things, but when I read that October 8 was the day for pierogies I knew I had to share this recipe. I was introduced to pierogies a few years ago on a Vacation Bible School message board. One woman noted that she had spent so much time preparing for VBS that she would have to pull out her busy day recipe. Someone pressed her and she said they were having pierogies and sausage. It would take her a breezy fifteen minutes to get a meal on the table that everyone loved. Quick, easy and good . . . everyone was all over that! Over the next couple of days there were reports of everyone’s pierogies dinner. The moderators probably wondered if their company boards had been confused with a cooking forum! Since I’d never heard of ... [Read More]
