Healthier Enchiladas

So my dad makes amazing enchiladas. I always ask for them for my birthday dinner meal. Gary's mom makes great enchiladas as well and he always asked for them on his birthday too. So seeing as how we both love enchiladas I couldn't wait to try and make them myself. Especially because the recipe I was using was from "Cook Your Self Thin" so it would be quick and healthy. This recipe says it is 456 calories per serving for 4 servings. Gary and I can usually squeeze out 6 or so servings. 2 initial and about 3-4 lunch size leftover servings.

Bruschetta

I made this Bruschetta Recipe for our family as an appetizer for our New Years day party. I forgot to take pictures but I still wanted to share my recipe so it can be repeated.

Italian Runza's

My husband Gary is from the  midwest and they have a restaurant there called Runza. They have this hot pocket type of thing there that he absolutely loves. His mom has made Runza's at home before and I wanted to make the italian version at home. I also wanted to make it as healthy as I could. Make this Challah Bread recipe using better for bread flour. I then originally used this Runza Recipe and have adapted it to match what we think would be a good remake of a seasonal italian Runza.

Family Christmas (3/3) - Blueberry Crumble

This year I was trying to be really adventurous with the different things I spent time baking/making. My family told me that they were tired of pumpkin pie because they had it every year and if I could come up with something else that would be great. My sister suggested a fruit tart but Nina had made one a few years ago and I really didn't want to compete. It was amazing. I saw in the Sprouts advertisement that blueberries were on sale and I really wanted to use them. So I scoured and found this recipe and I am so glad I did because it turned out great. I am really upset though because it turns out we forgot to take pictures. At the next chance I get I will make another and be sure to update with pictures.

Family Christmas (2/3) - Traditional Apple Pie

For the last several Christmas' I have spent in CA with my family I have been in charge of making the dessert. I usually make an Apple pie and a pumpkin pie and I have been known to swap out the apple for a pecan some years. One Christmas my cousin Laura just raved at how much she loved the cross hatch design on the top of the apple pie so I really try hard to make enough time to cross hatch it up. This year Gary helped me muster up the courage to use the Pampered Chef apple peeler corer slicer that my mom had bought me back in 2005. I had always been a little afraid of it because from the outside it seems like a lot of work to set up. I AM SO SO glad Gary convinced me and I am never going back. I think it would be a little too much work to peel, core and slice 1 apple using it but whenever I am going to need more then 1 I am for sure going to use the PCAPCS!! It peeled, cored and sliced 6 large granny smith apples in 10 min, with about 5 min set up time. It was wonderful. This is the recipe that was my inspiration this year.

Family Christmas (1/3) - Vodka Pie Dough

I didn't remember to buy dough for the apple pie I wanted to make for our family Christmas so I found this recipe. It worked out great! It says that it does enough dough for 1 double crusted pie but I am positive that I could have made 2 double crusted pies.

Holiday Cookies (8/8) -- Snowflake Butter Mints

I'm not sure why I originally picked out this recipe. Maybe because it was so different. Maybe because its pure sugar. On my first attempt I tried to use cookie cutters to shape the mints. This was very unsuccessful. When I could pry them off of the cutter they came out looking like stretched out blobs. I then put the mixture in the fridge for a few days until I could get over to Michaels or Jo-Anns to get a candy mold. When I brought it back out to use it was much easier. Also before you decide to take this on keep in mind it's very time consuming if you choose a small candy mold like I did.

Holiday Cookies (7/8) -- Candy Cane Cookies

When I found this recipe I thought it would be a fun kiddy (aka easy) type of cookie to make.  It was not easy. All of my candy canes looked lumpy and the green portion of the dough was the consistency of slime. I made about half of the dough into cookies and then put the rest in the fridge and have yet to complete the batch. I didn't feel comfortable giving them to friends so I took the whole lot of them to my parents house for Christmas. My sister ate a few and said they tasted good even though they looked like a kid made them.  Maybe if I had refrigerated the dough before I rolled out my canes it would have come out more even.

Holiday Cookies (6/8) -- Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

When I saw this recipe all I could think of was how much I didn't like white chocolate and didn't want to try them at first. Then I read an article about William Sonoma having a seasonal product that was very similar to this recipe. I then saw this as a challenge and I am SO glad that I ended up making them. The inside cookie tastes like a Girl Scout Thin mint cookie. The white chocolate dipped part goes really well with the inner mint chocolate cookie. My officemate thinks that they are the best of all the cookies I made. Also just in case you are wondering the white specks are from the whole wheat flour I used when rolling them out.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 5 tbsp butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 tsp pure peppermint extract
• 8 large candy canes, crushed
• 2 pounds white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. 
3. Beat in whole egg until well combined, then mix in egg yolk. 
4. Add peppermint extract and mix until well incorporated. 
5. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.
6. Evenly divide dough in half, then shape each into disks - wrap each in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
7. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 disk of dough 1/8" thick.
8. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
9. Cut out shapes and place cookies onto parchment-lined baking sheets. 
10. Re-roll scraps once, then cut out as many cookies as you can. 
11. Place cookies into the oven and bake until they are dry to the touch, about 11 to 14 minutes. 
12. Remove from the oven and slide cookies, onto wire racks to cool completely.
13. Place chopped chocolate into a large, heat-safe bowl - microwave for 30 second intervals stirring at the end of each time until the chocolate is soft.
14. Gently place a cookie or two into the melted chocolate, then use a fork to turn each cookie to coat. 
15. Lift cookies out with a fork, letting any excess chocolate drip off, and gently scrape the bottom against the edge of the bowl. 
16. Set onto parchment-lined baking sheets and immediately sprinkle with the crushed candy pieces. 
17. Let cookies rest at a cool room temperature or in the refrigerator to set the chocolate before serving.

Holiday Cookies (5/8) -- German Chocolate Cake Cookies

I love german chocolate cake so when I saw this recipe I knew it had to go on my must bake list. I only made 1 batch of the cookie base the first round of baking but I had plenty of the topping left so I plan on making a second batch to finish it off.

Holiday Cookies (4/8) -- Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies

When I first saw this recipe I thought it would be great to try because I love lemon cookies. My husband not so much so I was hoping they would have just a hint of lemon to make us both happy. Turned out that the cookie wasn't very lemon flavored but the filling was. We had a great time picking the colored sugar to roll the dough in. As you can see we didn't decide on just 1 color.  Also when I made the filling it was pretty gooey and the sandwiches sort of slipped off. I suggest that you place the filling in the fridge to harden for 10-15 min before you start making your sandwiches and then placing the sandwich cookies in the fridge to harden the filling while they are together.

Ingredients:

For cookies:

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cornstarch
• 2 sticks (1/2 pound) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp vanilla
• colored sanding sugars

For filling:

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
• 2 tbsp light corn syrup
• 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter, softened

Directions:

1. Combine flour, cornstarch, and salt. Wisk until well distributed.
2. With stand mixer, beat together butter and confectioners' sugar until fluffy. 
3. Add zest and vanilla, then gradually add flour mixture. 
4. Mix at low speed just until dough forms.
5. Put sanding sugars in different bowls. 
6. Roll a teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll through sugar, turning to coat. 
7. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet, spacing the balls 3/4 inch apart. 
8. Chill dough balls on baking sheets about 30 minutes to help them retain shape during baking.
9. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
10. Bake until tops are slightly cracked and bottoms are pale golden, 12 to 15 minutes. 
11. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely.
12. To make filling, beat together all filling ingredients in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed. 
13. Use a butter knife to spread a little of the filling onto a cookie then sandwich it with another cookie, repeat for all the remaining cookies.