First let me say...

....that you so much to everyone who left sweet comments for me yesterday!  I am soooo glad that you liked the template.  It was fun to do :)  I am sorry to those who missed it, but I will do more in the future.  No set time frame, but pop in from time to time and you might just see something fun!

*******

Second: RECIPES!  Yesterday I mentioned cooking some of our favorite yummy stuff and I thought I would share the recipes with you here today.  First up: chicken enchiladas in a white sauce.  Now I WILL mention that the recipe I give you will be MY version of the recipe. The original recipe, from Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook has things a tad bit different.  But since this is what I do, I thought I'd share it that way.

CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

1/4 to 1/2 cup finely chopped onion (depending on preference)
2 Tbsp butter
2-4 fresh diced chilis (depending on preference) -- if you use canned the recipe calls for 1 4oz can of diced green chili peppers but I don't like the canned stuff.
3oz cream cheese, softened
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp ground cumin, divided (actually, the recipe calls for much less, only 1/4 tsp total, but the flavor doesn't come out well)
2 cups chopped chicken
1 10 3/4 oz can condensed cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
1 8oz carton dairy sour cream (I will often substitute plain yogurt for a lower fat version)
1 cup milk
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (I would say that this is optional since I never use it.  The recipe has lost of flavor already and I just see the cheese as extra calories.  But if you like cheese, go for it!)
8-10 medium size flour tortillas

_____
In a skillet cook the onion in butter over medium heat till onion is tender.  Remove skillet from heat.  Stir in half the diced chili peppers.

In a medium mixing bowl combine the softened cream cheese, the 1 Tbsp milk, and 1/2 tsp cumin.  Add chicken mixture. Stir till combined.

In another medium mixing bowl combine soup, sour cream, the 1 cup milk, remaining chili peppers, and the other 1/2 tsp cumin. Still till combined.  Pour some of this mixture into the chicken mixture (enough to make the chicken mixture pretty wet but not soupy).

Scoop about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture onto a tortilla and roll up.  Place filled tortilla, seam side down, in a greased baking dish. Repeat for remaining chicken mixture.

Pour the sauce over the filled tortillas and spread.  Cover the pan with foil and cook in a 350F over for 30 minutes. If using cheese, pull pan out after 30 minutes, uncover, sprinkle cheese on top, and put back in over UNcovered for about 5 minutes. 

Serve and enjoy!

We really love this recipe!  I am a super picky eater and so naturally, a food with this much "stuff" in it was not my idea of a food I wanted to try.  But I found myself in one of those "must be polite and eat what I am served" situations and so I ate it.  And I LOVED it!  Now it is one of our very favorites!  When we were living in India I had to substitute almost EVERY ingredient from the original recipe!  I had to make tortillas from scratch, had to make my own mushroom soup (fortunately they had dry soup mix and I just made it with 1/2 the water so it would be "condensed"-like), had to use yogurt instead of sour cream (and up until the last year we were there I had to MAKE MY OWN YOGURT! because it was not readily available!  I skipped the cream cheese because we couldn't get it, there was chicken but not the luxury of boneless chicken breasts so getting 2 cups of chicken meant going to the market, buying a fresh (*read pick out a happy healthy live chicken and come back 1/2 an hour later and it would be ready to cook!*) chicken, boil it, then rip off all the meat.  This recipe meant planning days in advance (especially when I had to make my own yogurt because you have to do that overnight).  I must of really like them to go to all this trouble!  Fortunately, when we moved to Malaysia, I could get EVERY ingredient, even the boneless chicken breasts, so I was good to go.  But then again, it was so stinkin' hot there that I didn't cook much.

_________

Now this next recipe is from MORE TOP SECRET RECIPES by Todd Wilbur.  I have a bunch of his books and they are so fun!  Now I see no reason to make my own Almond Joy candy bar or my own Nutter Butter cookies since, well, I can just go to the store and buy them.  And when I lived in Asia, although I couldn't go buy them, I couldn't buy the ingredients either!  However, there are lots and lots of fun yummy recipes out of these books that I LOVE to make. And they are always a total hit.  My recipe for CINNABON CINNAMON ROLLS was one of my dorm kids absolute favorite.  And who can blame them?  Yummy, big, gooey, sweet, warm cinnamon rolls dripping with icing.  Mmmmm....

CINNABON CINNAMON ROLLS

ROLLS:
1/4 oz pkg of active dry yeast
1 cup warm milk (105-110 F)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup margarine, melted
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 cups flour

FILLING:
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/3 cup margarine, softened

ICING:
8 Tbsp (1 stick) margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup (2 oz) cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

**NOTE** If you have a bread maker skip this next step and instead put all of the ingredients for the roll part into your bread maker according to break maker instructions (mine recommends putting all liquids in first, then the dry ingredients, without letting the salt and the yeast "touch".  Set your maker to the DOUGH cycle and start.  Mine takes 1 1/2 hours and it is much easier than doing it all myself!

FOR THE ROLLS: dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Mix together the sugar, margarine, salt, and eggs. Add flour and mix well.  Kneed the dough into a large bowl, using your hands dusted lightly with flour.  Put in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

**BREAD MAKER PEOPLE START HERE ONCE YOUR DOUGH IS DONE **

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface.  Roll the dough flat until it is about 21 inches long and 16 inches wide.  It should be about 1/4 inch thick.

Preheat oven to 400F

For the filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Spread the softened margarine evenly over the surface of the dough, and then sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar evenly over the surface.

Working carefully from the top (a 21 inch side), roll the dough down to the bottom edge.

Cut the rolled dough into 1 3/4 inch slices and place, six at a time, evenly space, in a lightly greased baking pan.  Let the rolls rise again until double in size (about 30 minutes).  Bake for 10 -12 minutes, or until light brown on top.

While the rolls bake, combine the icing ingredients.  Beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy.

When the rolls come out of the oven, coat each generously with icing.  Makes 12 rolls. These rolls can be frozen.  Just pop one into the microwave 20-30 seconds to reheat.

These are super big and super gooey and super good! 

****

In other news, did you see THIS! Yep, that's right!  Ashley Olson is taking over the ownership of the DIGI SHOPPE effective February 1st.  It came as a surprise to all of this but I am super excited to see all the things that Ash has planned come into fruition.  She has already made some fun changes and has lots of ideas up her sleeve.  So stay tuned for more information about Re-Opening weekend ~ events, new products, and sales OH MY!

****

Okay, that's it for my today.  No new LO's to share (so sad!)  I would show you more pictures of the continue saga between Caleb and Levi but I have uploaded them from my camera yet.  They really love each other at any time other than when Caleb's wheeled toys are involved. Caleb has even started giving Levi "horsey" rides and Levi squeals with delight!  I would show you a picture of that but in order to have taken one I would have had to risk bodily harm to Levi since I have to hold him and move just as fast as Caleb does around the house to ensure that Levi stays on.  So fun!

Have a great day!

Comments

[Kori]

I have that book and I've made the Cinnabon rolls, ~ my family said they were BETTER than the franchise, I think because they were fresh. Have your tried his Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip cookie recipe ~ awesome! If you don't have it, let me know!

[Melissa]

I have that same enchilada recipe, and it is GOOD! I can't believe you went to all that trouble to make it, though!

[Heather Heinzer]

Great recipes! I can't wait to try the chicken enchilada one!!!

[Stephanie O.]

Wow, you have lived everywhere! I'm so impressed by all the things you can make yourself! Wow, I couldn't even make it a day in any of those places I bet. Thanks for the recipes!

[Margie]

I think I will have to try the cinnamon roll recipe this weekend! Sounds so yummy!