Enchiladas!

After seeing Erin's post on Black Bean Enchiladas, I was inspired to make some of my own. I also followed Annie's Eats Recipe for the most part, however, I also grilled up some leftover chicken breast, about a breast and a half, to add to the mix as well. I really liked what the chicken added to texture and flavor of the enchiladas. I also used about half cheddar cheese and half pepper jack cheese instead of Monterey Jack.




Also, due to my current addiction of making things from scratch, I decided I should whip up some enchilada sauce of my own, rather then grabbing a can from the store. This ended up being cheaper and super delicious! I used this Recipezaar recipe to start but tweaked it just a bit.

My sauce was as follows:

3 tablespoons chili powder
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cocoa powder (I never in a million years would have thought to add cocoa powder to enchiladas, but it works!)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon cumin
2 cups water
3/4 or so cup chicken broth
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

I kind of screwed up the directions on accident, but it still worked out. Basically, mix all the dry ingredients. Slowly add the water while stirring. Add the tomato sauce. (I think you're supposed to add this later, but I didn't, so oh well). Simmer over medium heat stirring as needed until the sauce thickens. Pour over the enchiladas! Enjoy!

This sauce was delicious. It was almost like a mole sauce. It had a rich, smoky, slightly spicy flavor and worked wonderfully on these enchiladas. We served them with a dollop of sour cream. Perfect. Alex said this was one of his favorite dishes yet! (Aside from fake-out take-out, of course.)



(PS. Yes, I know this picture is focused backwards, or really should have been taken the other way around, it annoys me too. Opps. Hunger will do that to you!)

Also, I super promise Guatemala pictures and trip update will be posted soon!

New Bride Chicken Curry

This is another recipe from my Indian cookbook, as Alex had requested something Indian a few weeks ago. This recipe comes with a very cute story about a new young bride who had to make dinner for her new husband and his boss on short notice and had to butcher her very first chicken. She called an aunt in tears and this recipe was dictated to her over the phone. Apparently during the meal she was so upset, she couldn't even eat a bite!

Although I'm not technically still a "new" bride, and I certainly didn't butcher my own chicken, Alex and I both loved this dish! It was spicy and flavorful, and tasted delicious. The leftovers were almost even tastier the next day! I will for sure be making this again.


New Bride Chicken Curry

Adapted from 5 Spices, 50 Dishes, by Ruta Kahate

4 TBS Canola oil
2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
2 tsp finely grated garlic
1 1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cumin
1 C plus 1 TBS hot water
3 medium tomatoes (I had one Roma tomato, plus a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, this worked fine)
3 pounds chicken (We used boneless, skinless breasts)
1 TBS apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat and saute the onions until softened. Mix the garlic, cayenne, turmeric, and cumin with 1 TBS of water to make a thick paste. (I just added this to the pan right away). Add to the onions and saute for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir constantly over medium heat until the tomatoes start to break up, about 2 minutes.



Add the chicken and mix to coat with spice paste. Stir over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the remaining 1 C of water and a bit of salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Add the vinegar and sugar, simmer for 1 minute, and then taste. Adjust the vinegar, sugar, or salt if needed.

My New Addiction

So, this cooking thing started out innocently enough. I have time in the evening. I enjoy it. I have all these cookbooks and recipes. I should make things. However, it's started to become an addiction. Not cooking, but making things from scratch. Though cooking too I suppose. Now I find myself scoffing at boxed cake mix. Why would I do that, when I can make it twice as good and know what's in it on my own??

I see things on cooking blogs and actually make them. Hence, my unexplainable craving to make these chocolate chip muffins I had seen a few days earlier. I used to make muffins form a bag from Betty Crocker. Now, I make them from a bag of flour. It's kind of fun. And, these were awesome. The batter was a bit sticky, I was worried they would be weird. But they were great, heavy and filling for sure, but fantastic!

I am going to have to start bringing boxes of baked goods to work, otherwise Alex and I are going to have to start upping the working out regimen by quite a bit!

Theater!

Our last photography class outing was to a little place called the 14th St Playhouse. We got to sit in on a dress rehearsal of the play "Figaro, Figaro".






















My class is now finished. We had our critique last Wednesday night. All in all I was really pleased with how my work turned out and with the class in general. I learned quite a bit and it was a great excuse to shoot some original stuff at fun places in Manhattan. I would definitely recommend an event class to anyone, it was a great experience. Anyhow, now, at least until my bank account allows me to take another class, my challenge it get out and just shoot in the city. So, hopefully more fun photo posts to come!

Spaghetti Sauce!

Allright. First off, this picture is terrible. My apologies. I had left my SLR at work for some promo stuff I'm shooting for them, and only had my point and shoot. I forgot how hard it was to take nice pictures in low light with a point and shoot. Oh well.

The point of everything is that this spaghetti sauce is fabulous. I decided I wanted to make a fun pasta dinner before our 5K the next morning. Because really, you need to carbo load for a 5K. :-). Anyhow, I've gotten addicted to making things from scratch and wanting to attempt another pasta sauce.

I found Blog Chef's recipe and it was awesome! We used about half spicy sausage and half ground beef. Otherwise, I followed the recipe with an extra clove of garlic or two. We simmered for only one hour because we were hungry! This stuff also freezes nicely.

As a side note for those who don't like their sauce too chunky, I gave this a few spins with the immersion blender and it was nice and smooth!

Mustard Cream Sauce

Another trusty recipe from Martha Stewart Everyday. This sauce was great and SO easy, I've already made it again. We used it over some grilled chicken breasts, but I think it would go wonderfully with fish as well!

Mustard Cream Sauce:

1/4 C dry white wine or chicken broth (I've only made this with the chicken broth as we so rarely have white wine in the house in the winter time. )
1/2 C heavy cream
2 TBS Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried tarragon (I didn't have any tarragon. We used about half dried basil and half dried parsley instead)

Pour the chicken broth into a hot pan, cook; stirring, until reduced by half. About 1 minute. Whisk in the cream, mustard and spices. Cook, whisking, until thickened, about 2 minutes.

Comedy!

Two weeks ago my photo class went to shoot some comedy at an improv place called The Pit. This place was tiny, but very cool. As a bonus, it's super cheap, Wednesdays are free. So, if you're in the NYC area and looking for a fun, cheap night out, head over to The Pit for some good laughs! Minneapolis peeople, think something similar to Comedy Sports. Unfortunately, we only got to shoot one act, so I didn't have too many shots, but still had fun and am learning quite a bit. we Below are some photos from the evening.