The Best Enchilada Recipe

I have used this recipe for various get-togethers and have always been asked for the recipe. It is a family recipe, but why hide such a good thing? It is surprisingly easy, and doesn't take too much work to put together.
 

Recipe after the jump...

GFDF Week 1

For a number of years I have battled stomach issues. Last year at this time it started ramping up and I was vomiting on a weekly basis. My gallbladder was eventually removed, which helped me keep food down, but I was continuing to have stomach and digestive issues. After a ton of guessing, my doctor helped me to narrow it down. She suggested going gluten-free and dairy-free to see if that helped.  Apparently gluten and lactose sensitivities are common these days, but I might be a bit more sensitive than average.

This has been my first GFDF week. I feel SO MUCH BETTER! I can't even tell you the difference my diet has made. I have energy. My stomach isn't upset. My body is digesting food properly. It is amazing.

I am going to go another two or three weeks of GFDF in order to get it out of my system and then I will attempt to reintroduce dairy in small increments. I want to do it slowly in order to see what my tolerance level is.

Some things I have learned this week:

• Not all GFDF granola bars are good
• I can still dine at Chipotle
• Coconut milk is a little too thick to be a drink, but works well in a smoothie
• GF diets are expensive

Do any of you live a GF or DF life? Any tried and true recipes or tips for me?  Please leave a comment and share. This journey is going to be a long one for me and I would love encouragement along the way.

Applesauce Pancakes

We belong to a CSA (community supported agriculture) and as part of it we get organic apples every other week. Since we have so many apples, last night I made a big batch of homemade applesauce in the crockpot. It was so easy!  I will have to do it again, take pictures, and share the recipe. It was delicious, really.

This morning I decided to try my hand at making applesauce pancakes. I found a few recipes online and made a few modifications (like I always do).  They turned out AMAZING!

Applesauce Pancakes

(makes about 16 pancakes, serves 4 adults)

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 c milk
• 1 c applesauce
• 1/4 c oil
• 2 c flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 TB sugar
• 2 TB baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Beat the eggs until frothy.  Add the milk, applesauce, and oil. Mix well.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients. DO NOT OVERMIX. There will be lumps and that is okay. If you overmix your pancakes will be rubbery and not good eats.
4. Cook pancakes on a griddle. I use heaping 1/4 c measuring cup to measure each pancake. It makes a good size pancake.
5. Eat and enjoy!

 I will be following up with a recipe for a Cinnamon Syrup that will be fantastic on these pancakes!

My favorite Cupcakes

It is no lie that I love cupcakes.  Over a number of years I have looked for the perfect recipe. I found one that works so well because it is versatile. It is called a White Almond Sour Cream cake, but I don't often use almond flavoring. It could be any flavor you want! I have made lemon ginger cake, chocolate, and plain vanilla. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 box cake mix (whatever flavor you want)
• 1 cup flour 
•  1 cup granulated sugar 
•  generous dash of salt 
• 1 cup sour cream (I have used Greek yogurt as well) 
• 1 cup water (or soda, milk, frozen juice concentrate, etc. You can use any flavor here. I never use plain water) 
• 3 whole eggs
• 1 tablespoon flavoring (I use 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 teaspoon "other" like mint, lemon, or some other flavor that goes with the cake mix you choose. You can also use 1 TB of vanilla)

Instructions 
In a mixer, add the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix for 2 minutes. Pour into prepared pans and bake as usual. This makes the amount of batter as if you used 1 1/2 mixes and is perfect for a 10″ sq OR 9×13 OR one 8″ and two 6″ round; OR two 8″rounds OR a 12″ round; and other combinations of pan or 36 cupcakes.  I usually bake at 350 and it takes a lot longer to bake. I start testing the cakes at 20 minutes.

Buttercream Dream Icing
This icing crusts nicely. It works wonderfully to pipe on cupcakes. This tastes just like a bakery buttercream used on their cakes.

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter (one salted, one unsalted OR 2 unsalted and add about 3/4 teaspoon salt)
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 lbs powdered sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5-6 tablespoons cold milk

Instructions:
Cream the butters and shortening together. Add the sugar and vanilla and allow the mixture to blend well before adding the milk. Add the milk 1 TB at a time until it is the desired consistency. If you want thinner icing, add more than 6 TB milk.

Memorial Day Cookie Dessert

I am probably not the first person to come up with this idea, but come on...  Isn't it pretty?

 

See how it looks like a flag?

 Ingredients:

• Your favorite cookie recipe (or store bought dough)
• cream cheese
• powdered sugar
• vanilla extract
• berries (I used blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries)

Procedure:

•  Put cookie dough on the bottom of a pan. Bake.
• After the cookie is cooled, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla to make a cream cheese icing.  Spread over the cookie.
• Decorate with berries.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve!

Sebastian was carrying Kaelyn around and she loved it!

Pentecost Party

Pentecost is my favorite day of the liturgical year. It marks the birthday of the church and reminds us all of our confirmation. It is the day the Holy Spirit came down on to the apostles and they went forth, with a fire in their bellies proclaiming the good news of the Lord.

This year I started a new tradition: a Pentecost party! We celebrated it by eating red foods and drinking red drinks. Our menu included garlic pork chops with a wine pan sauce, pickled radishes, and some dainty pasta. To drink we had cherry 7-up, and our dessert were red velvet whoopie pies.

Perhaps the meal wasn't the healthiest, but we had fun with it!

My favorite Holy Spirit Song:

Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit
Come with your fire

Holy Spirit come with your fire

Come Holy Spirit, let your fire fall, 

Let your fire fall 

Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit
Purify my heart

Holy Spirit purify my heart
Come Holy Spirit, let your fire fall
Let your fire fall

Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit
Set my life on fire
Holy Spirit set my life on fire
Come Holy Spirit, let your fire fall
Let your fire fall

I linked up at Catholic Cuisine, so check them out for more Pentecost Parties that happened!

Deviled Eggs for 2

Sebastian asked for pickled eggs, and I hard boiled just a few too many eggs.  I decided to do a quick deviled egg for my boys.  They turned out DELICIOUS!  I am going to have to figure out a larger version for this recipe (maybe with a few minor changes).

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture.  We'll just pretend they looked like this (they looked very similar, so let's just go with it.)

Ingredients:
2 hard boiled eggs
1 TB plain Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon  relish
1 teaspoon mustard
cracked pepper and salt (to taste)
paprika (for sprinkling on top)

Directions:

1. Cut eggs in half, scoop out yolk into bowl.
2. Add yogurt, relish, mustard, salt and pepper (to taste).
3. Crack some pepper and salt over the empty white eggs.  Add the yoke mixture into yolk cavity.  
4. Add some paprika on top (and some more cracked pepper if you desire)
5. Hoover it down.

I never have mayo on hand, but I always have Greek yogurt.  It gave it a bit of a tangy flavor.  Here are the nutritional stats per egg (NOT per half.)

Nutrition Facts Deviled Egg (for 2)
2 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		81.5
Total Fat		5.4 g
	Saturated Fat	1.6 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.7 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	2.1 g
Cholesterol		212.0 mg
Sodium		115.1 mg
Potassium		86.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate		2.2 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.1 g
	Sugars	0.6 g
Protein		7.7 g

Vitamin A	5.8 %
Vitamin B-12	10.6 %
Vitamin B-6	3.3 %
Vitamin C	0.2 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	2.8 %
Calcium	4.4 %
Copper	0.6 %
Folate	5.6 %
Iron	3.7 %
Magnesium	1.9 %
Manganese	1.1 %
Niacin	0.3 %
Pantothenic Acid	7.8 %
Phosphorus	10.5 %
Riboflavin	16.8 %
Selenium	23.3 %
Thiamin	2.8 %
Zinc	3.6 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Seared Scallops and Shrimp with Cilantro-Herb Dressing

Sorry I don't have a better name for this recipe. Maybe I should call it Matthew Two-Way.  I developed this recipe by merging two recipes and then putting my own spin on it. This was made with love for Valentine's Day for my hubby, Matthew.  I love you, sweetie!

Disclaimer: I eyeball ingredients. I always taste as I go to make it tasty for us. Do the same for you.

Ingredients:
sea scallops (2-3 per person would be fine)
shrimp (I used HUGE JUMBO shrimp so we each only had 2.  You could use smaller shrimp, but you would want to have more per person)
lemon pepper
lettuce
cilantro-herb vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Dressing Ingredients:
cilantro (I used the entire bunch)
parsley (a handful)
chives (a handful)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3-4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
grated ginger
juice of one lemon
2-3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
olive oil (about 1/4 c.)

Directions:
In food processor add all dressing ingredients (except oil) and blend.  While the food processor is on, slowly stream in the olive oil until the dressing comes together. Set aside.

Peel shrimp. Season shrimp and scallops with lemon-pepper seasoning and salt. On medium-high heat cook the shrimp and scallops.  It took me about 90 seconds per side to cook the shrimp, 3 minutes per side to cook the scallop. 

To assembly put lettuce on a plate, add seafood, drizzle on dressing.  Eat and enjoy.  I would have licked the plate if I could have.

My Stuffed French Toast

We had a very intense and stressful week, so I decided we needed something to pick us up.  What do I go to?  The kitchen.  I love to cook, and we love to eat, so it's natural for me to cook up something special when we are in a rut.

This morning I decided to make some stuffed French toast.  Last time I made it I wasn't the happiest with how it came out, so I took some notes and redid my recipe.

Just a note: I eyeballed the amounts, so you may want to adjust according to your taste

All of us enjoyed it!

Stuffed French Toast with Strawberry-Orange Syrup

12 ounces strawberry preserves

1/2 cup orange juice

1 loaf Italian bread

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 TB brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp nutmeg

bacon

• Heat the strawberry preserves and orange juice until boiling, then reduce to simmer until the syrup is the consistency you prefer.  I let mine cook while I worked on the rest of the meal, and it turned out to be just right when everything was finished.
• Cut the Italian loaf into wide pieces, about 2 inches thick.  Cut a slit in the top that goes 3/4 of the way through the bread.
• Mix together cream cheese, sugars, and vanilla.  Stuff into the bread.  I had some left over.
• Mix together eggs, whipping cream, vanilla, and nutmeg.
• At this point I cooked some bacon, poured out the fat, and get ready to cook the French toast
• Dip the bread into the egg mixture and cook- about 2 minutes on each side.
• To serve I spooned a little extra filling on the top and poured the syrup over it.  You could add a little powdered sugar on the top if you like, but we were hungry!

It was Matthew's favorite food. Ever.  I will agree, it was pretty good.  He told me if I lost this recipe he would divorce me, lol.  I wrote it down immediately. I think this may become our new Christmas morning breakfast. Enjoy!

I forgot to take a picture before we started eating.  Delicious!

Peach Pie

I have been wanting to make peach pie for months. It is my new favorite pie (formerly apple crumb was my favorite). I finally went to the farmer's market this week and bought peaches for the experiment.

It. was. delicious.

I made a simple peach pie and I developed my own recipe based on a few recipes I read online.  I also made my own crust because I was too lazy to go to the store to buy frozen pie dough.

Sebastian helped me make the pie by cutting out some animal shapes from the top dough crust and sprinkling the animals with sugar before placing on top of the pie.

A couple notes for the next time I make it (probably next week).

1. Don't put so much water in the crust.  My crust was just a bit too wet.


2. Use two more peaches.  I only had five because Sebastian had eaten a few peaches before I was able to make the pie.  I think seven would be just the right amount.


3. Don't add the butter to the filling.  I don't think it needs it, especially since peaches are so beautifully in season right now.

My recipe I tweaked:

Ingredients:

• 7 peaches, peeled and sliced


• 1/3 c flour


• 1/2 c white sugar


• 1/2 c brown sugar


• 1 heaping tbsp cornstarch


• 1 tsp cinnamon


• pinch salt

1. Mix flour, sugars, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. 


2. Add to peaches and mix well.


3. Pour peach mixture into a pie crust.


4. (at this point I had dotted the top of the pie with butter.  I don't think this is a necessary step, so I am omitting it now, however if you want to, go ahead.)


5. Top with crust and add slits.


6. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then 350 for 30 minutes.  Turn off oven and let sit in oven for a few hours until cooled.

 I used Alton Brown's pie crust recipe by doubling it to make crust for the bottom and the top.  I also added tin foil around the edge of the pie so that the crust wouldn't get over-brown. (Note: I did not precook my pie crust)

Everyone loved the pie.  Well, except Kaelyn.  She hates peaches.  She liked the crust, but spit out any peach I tried to give her. What a silly baby.

Sebastian's 4th Birthday Cake

I can't believe I forgot to post this one!  In June, we celebrating Sebastian's 4th birthday.  I asked him what he wanted for his cake and he said he wanted a lollipop cake.  Easy!

I made a vanilla cake with buttercream icing and I stuck a ton of lollipops in it, all over the place.  I was feeling stressed out and didn't feel like investing a whole lot of time in decorating his cake, so this is what was made.  It tasted great, and I am sticking with this cake recipe. The cake was delicious and super moist.  It stayed moist for a week too!  It is versatile and can be adapted to a number of different flavors. 

I am still searching for a good icing recipe.  This one was a bit too sweet.  I am still working on it. I like the MM fondant, but it is a lot of work to do all the decorations for a cake that way.  It takes time, and that is something I do not have a whole lot of with two small children in the house.