Chicken Enchilada Pasta

Hi Everyone! Happy post-Thanksgiving! I hope you had a great time celebrating with your family & friends! Are you hungry? No? Oh, you ate too much turkey too! :) 

My recipe tonight is something different, but has some traditional comfort food flavors for you to love! 

Chicken Enchilada Pasta
By Iowa Girl Eats 
 

2 medium-sized chicken breasts, cooked & shredded

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

1/2 zucchini, diced

salt & pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

1 3/4 cups red enchilada sauce

1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1/2-4oz can diced green chilies

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

8oz rotini pasta

Directions:

1. Cook chicken and shred. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté onions until tender, ~5 minutes. Add zucchini and cook until tender, ~5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.

3. Add enchilada sauce, Tabasco sauce, green chilies, salt, chili powder and cumin into the skillet. Stir to combine then simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every so often.

4. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to hot pot.

5. Turn the heat on the skillet down to low and add in the 

cheddar cheese. Stir until it completely melts, then add in the chicken and sour cream. Stir until combined.

6. Pour cooked pasta into the sauce and mix. Serve garnished with avocado, tomatoes, green onions and/or sour cream.

Yum! I loved this! Tasted just like enchiladas, but the pasta was so fun! :)

Just want to spread my holiday cheer!

I got these red lanterns with a light up candle inside at the craft fair today for $7/each! Not bad, and they are so cute!

 Oh my goodness, and this Rudolph! I grew up with a flashing nose Rudolph, and this was so darn close, I had to have it! The nose doesn't blink, but it's red and there's a flashing candle on the bottom! Thanks craft fair!

My camera stinks, so I'm sorry there's no picture of the whole Christmas tree...

Pan Fried Fish Sandwich

Guess what today is!!!! The premiere of Breaking Dawn, from the Twilight saga!!! I cannot wait for midnight and to finally see the long anticipated movie! I never thought I would be interested in the Twilight series, but after reading the books I really do love the story! 

And, this weekend is *THE* weekend!! I am sooo putting up the Christmas tree!! YAY! I can't wait to share pictures with you!

Pan Fried Fish Sandwich
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 lb tilapia fillets, or other white fish
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 egg white
Olive oil
Tartar sauce
Rolls
Lettuce
Tomatoes

Combine cornmeal, Parmesan, thyme, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. In another bowl whisk together the egg white and dijon mustard. 

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-medium high heat. Dip the fish fillets first in the egg white and then into the cornmeal mixture. Place in hot skillet and cook until fish is white and flakes easily. 

Spread tartar sauce on your roll and top with lettuce, tomato and fish! 

Oh this was delicious! Look at that perfectly golden brown crispy crust on the fish! And I made the tartar sauce with some mayo and chopped dill pickle spears. The nice bigger chunks of dill pickle in there were great!! 

Quick & Easy BLT Wraps

Hello Monday! Huh? Oh... you don't like Mondays. Well, I've got a recipe to make your week easier. I like to pack all the stuff up and take it to work as it's really a cinch to make! 

BLT Wraps
Tortillas
Cheddar cheese
Bacon
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Ranch dressing, if desired

First, take your tortilla and melt some cheese on it in the microwave. 

Then cook up some bacon (and I love the microwave stuff. It's just simple and fast... hallelujah)

Ok, now your toppings...

Now, some days this is delicious as ever. Some days I need a little drizzle of ranch dressing to make it wonderful. You decide. 

Aaron & I had a great weekend. We went to Omaha on Friday for a Trans Siberian Orchestra concert. We left early enough so we had time to stop by Ruby Tuesday for supper and drinks. Tasty Sangria, by the way... just FYI. The concert was absolutely awesome! Have you ever seen them? You should definitely check them out. They are like an orchestra on 'roids! Rock orchestra. Very cool! Can't wait to go again next year!!

Blue Cheese Bacon Sliders

It is the week of appetizers! :) I have more to share today from our "football weekend". 

Sliders!!!!!! :) Have you ever had them? They are basically miniature burgers! They are fun!


Blue Cheese Bacon Sliders
1.5 lbs ground beef
2 tsp seasoning salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 oz blue cheese crumbles
2 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup bacon pieces (don't use bacon bits!!)
Cheddar cheese slices
Dinner rolls or mini hamburger buns
Tomatoes, lettuce, onion, ketchup, mustard, buffalo sauce, blue cheese for serving.


Combine ground beef, salt, and pepper. In a separate bowl combine blue cheese, cream cheese, and bacon.

Once those are all combined you want to form patties with the hamburger. Now, you know how when you grill a burger it shrinks? You want to take that into account when you form these patties. I would guess the patties I made were about the size of a done & grilled burger. So, 2.5-3 in diameter? But make them thinner, because we're going to stack them.

On half of your patties that you made you want to put a spoonful of the cheese mixture. Like below-

Then you want to take the plain patties and top the cheese ones to create "stuffed burgers"!! :)

Ta da--

(By the way, you should get more than 4 burgers... this was just when I was taking pictures.)


Then you want to grill them until no longer pink. Melt cheddar cheese on top. Assemble!!

Ooo they are mouth watering!! :) Makes me wish we had more!

Have a great day!!

Jalapeno Popper Crescents

Hello new week! This week looks as though it may fly by! We had some family over this weekend for a football game and I made a few appetizers to enjoy. They were all great, and today I want to share one of them with you. 

Jalapeno Popper Crescents
2 pkg Crescent rolls
8 oz pkg cream cheese
Bacon, cooked and cut into bite size pieces
Diced jalapeno

Unroll the packages of crescent rolls. 

On each roll place a dallop of cream cheese, a little bacon, and a little jalapeno. 

Roll it up, seal the edges, place on a baking sheet. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until crescents are browned. 

Ok, these were deliciously tasty. Anything with crescents is usually great... but these were amazing, and easy to make too. Enjoy!!

 

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

Hello Thursday!!! It's almost the weekend!! I don't have a lot of time today... so I'll get right to the food! 

For Aaron's birthday we had a "taco night", and had chips, queso, tacos, and sopapilla cheesecake bars!!! These were awesome. So simple, easy, and quick to make... and they were soooo good. Aaron's words? "This is like the manna of life. It's manna." Haha. Weirdo. 

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars
2 pkgs Crescent Rolls
2 8 oz pkgs cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon


Unroll 1 package of Crescent rolls and spread on the bottom of a 9x13 in pan. 

Combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla. Spread over the Crescent layer.

Unroll the other pkg of Crescent rolls and place on top of cream cheese layer.


Combine melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon. 

Spread on top of Crescent rolls.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until Cresents are browned. 

Go!!!!! Make yourself some manna!!! :)

Outback Re-made: Alice Springs Chicken

Happy Tuesday! Hope your week is off to a great start! Happy Birthday to Aaron (yesterday)!! We had taco night on Sunday and I gave him tickets to Trans Siberian Orchestra Nov 11!! So can't wait for that! Ever since we've known each other we always talk about going to a Trans Siberian Orchestra concert, but never have... so YAY! Can't wait!

Hmm... the picture doesn't look the most appealing... but this chicken was divine!!! It was sooooooo darn tasty and yummy! It reminded me of Outback's Alice Springs Chicken! And I didn't even try! 

Alice Springs Chicken

2 lbs chicken breasts
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
16 oz package sliced mushrooms
Cheddar cheese
Olive oil

Combine seasonings together in a bowl. Mix well.
 
You want the chicken to be thinly sliced. So remove excess fat and either slice in half or pound until thin (about 1/2 inch thick). Coat all sides with spice mixture.
 
Prepare large skillet (preferably cast iron) with olive oil and heat to medium - medium high heat.
 
When pan is hot add chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes each side, or until chicken is cooked through and outside is black and crispy.
 
Reduce heat to medium low and add more oil to pan. Add mushrooms and cook until heated though.
 
Top chicken with mushrooms and cheddar cheese. Pop in the microwave if needed to melt the cheese.

Now, it's been awhile since I've had this at Outback ... but I think it has bacon on it and honey mustard dressing. Easy to add, but I guess I was looking out for calories. :) Haha. 

Oh man! Look at the juice rolling off! Yum! Hope you enjoy!