Cooking Frenzy

Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chili Sauce

I have spent the past week (finally 100% and no longer sick) cooking and baking up a storm.  My favorite recipes have come out of America's Test Kitchen.  I found a recipe for Chicken Enchiladas from Cook's Illustrated Fall Entertaining 2007,  a special issue publication I bought back in college.  They were very good... so good, in fact, that 10 enchiladas were barely enough for 3 people!  I cut the spices called for in the recipe by half...  Let me know if you want "my version" of the recipe.

The corn tortillas, stuffed with the poached chicken thighs, cheese, jalapenos & seasonings atop some chili sauce.

The enchiladas, evenly covered with the red chili sauce

Just before going in the oven - my enchiladas in all their glory - waiting to be heated and served.

Other recipes I fell for this week (even though I forgot to take pictures of them) and the books they came from (which are also excellent):

• From the Freezer Stuffed Peppers, The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2008
• Best-Ever Hot Cocoa Mix, The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2008
• Boeuf Bourguignon (Beef Stew in Red Wine with Bacon, Onions & Mushrooms), Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Finally.... a scrapbook page.. this is a simple one of me & Mark before heading over to Sami's

I think that CREATE truly is the perfect word for me in 2010!

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009 - I still don't know why we started laughing so hard and it doesn't really matter.  The series of photos someone (don't know who) captured below illustrates the relationship Sara & I have had since kindergarten.  The quote I put on the little scalloped circles reads, "Laugh a lot and when you're older, all your wrinkles will be in the right places."

I "scraplifted" the idea for this layout from the cover of Creating Keepsakes' November 2009 issue.  It was designed by Ali Edwards.  I used a 2.5" scallop circle punch by Marvy Uchida to do my journaling accents at the bottom.

Word of the Year

It took some thought, but I finally decided on my "Word of the Year."  I hope to accomplish the small goals I set, all of which revolve around "create."  I think 2010 will be a good year.

I used some Mind's Eye Paper (Jen Wilson's 29th Street Market Mellow "Happy"), Bazzill cardstock (Mango & green), DCWV (Posies Glitter Print), BasicGrey designer half pearls, a Prima flower (Alabaster Flowers Alissa), some white embossing powder, VersaMarker Watermark Pen, my little Sakura Micron 05 black pen, my favorite white"Thickers" and some ColorBox chalks.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  My last acts of 2009 included:

• making BBQ Chicken Pizza (best yet)
• making Chicken Broth from scratch (who would have known it's so easy?)
• making a bread starter (from the book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day)
• creating a scrapbook page of my best girl friends

                                      

                                      

Making this page was a lot of fun and very simple.  I scanned a page from the book, The Cat in the Hat, used my Cricut  to cut out the title on "BlingBlackTie" Bazzill Cardstock, used thick adhesive to make our Halloween Picture "pop" on the page, and used Black ColorBox Pigment Ink to shade my little text lines.  The red, blue & white cardstock were from "the summer cardstock stack" I bought on clearance last summer.

Disclaimer:  This scrapbook page is for my personal use only - I do not intend to sell, publish or advertise with the Dr. Seuss content.


Chicken Broth
I looked at recipes from Julia Child's The Way to Cook and Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough's The Ultimate Cook Book (and the ingredients I had available) before making chicken stock with the following ingredients:

• 2 chicken carcasses (1 from a cooked rotisserie chicken & 1 from an uncooked, organic, free-range chicken), including necks, backs, wings, etc. with a little meat clinging to the bones
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped, leafy green tops included
• 5 sprigs parsley
• 5 dried mushrooms
• 1 bay leaf
• 10 black peppercorns
• 1 tsp. Kosher salt
• Water 

1. Toss all ingredients in a big, sturdy stockpot.  
2. Fill pot with water to cover ingredients by about 1".  
3. Bring to a boil.  Skim scum off top as needed.
4. Reduce heat to a very gentle, barely bubbling simmer.  Cover with lid, leaving a tiny air space.
5. Simmer ~2 hours.
6. Scoop out big pieces of vegetables & bone.  Very carefully (stock will be hot!), pour stock through colander lined with cheesecloth.  Repeat as necessary until remaining stock is perfectly clear.  
7. Cool.  (Fill an empty plastic bottle with water & freeze.  Then stir cooling stock with it.  Simple tip from The Best Soups & Stews).  You could also place the bowl of stock in an ice-filled sink or larger ice-filled bowl to cool.
8. Pour into storage containers and refrigerate.  Remove fat that hardens at top.  Use immediately or freeze.  (Fat can also be removed right after cooling with a fat separator, which is one gadget I do not own).

This recipe gave me 11.5 cups of chicken broth.  The final amount of chicken broth may vary, but I think 10 cups is a safe estimate.

* Next time, I'll try to take photos as I go.

December Daily album snapshots

Merry Christmas!  It came and went so quickly - and I was sick for it, too!  Fever, body aches, the works.  Below are a few more pages from my December Daily Album.

Day 11:  Mark and I light our first (teeny-tiny) Christmas Tree

Day 12: Dinner at The Capital Grill

Day 13:  Girl's Night, Risotto & Cookie Decorating

Day 22:  Our "Real" Family Photo/Christmas Card

December 24:  Christmas Eve

I love this photo.  For one of my Christmas Presents, Mana & Papa gave me Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0. We took a family photo of everyone on my mom's side of the family.  I uploaded the photo to photoshop and had fun with it.

Days 9 & 10

Day 9....Coming home to the Shiba...Simba always jumps up and down when I get home from work and wants to play.  Her version of playing is running really fast around the entire house and then wrestling for the "squeaking beaver."

Day 10... The most interesting "Totem Pole" in the world

Another Day 8

Another Day 8... The boys are having a lot of fun with the Advent Calendar.  This day's "gift" was "Flarp," a gak-play dough-like goop that makes - you guessed it- farting noises when you play with it.  Go figure.  Brens is 11 and Kevin is 16...and they fought with Mike (14) over who got to play with the flarp!