May 29, 2010

I'm back and Farmers Market finds of the week!

After both my DH and I have been sick for two weeks and traveling to my niece's college graduation, I'm definitely ready to get back to cooking

This week at the Farmers Market I picked up a ton of veggies. I haven't been to the market for three weeks and I have missed the veggies and breakfasts with BW.




This week I picked up the following:

1. Mustard Greens
2. Bok Choy
3. Radishes
4. Beets (new item)
5. Green Garlic
6. Red Onions
7. Sour Cherries (not pictured)
8. Baby White Potatoes (also not pictured)

I forgot to include the bag of sour cherries I purchased. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the cherries. I thought they were sweet and planned to just eat them as a snack.

I've had beets when I was younger, and I hated them. They were the canned kind and I'm hoping that fresh ones will be much better. My husband likes borsch and I thought I would try making some for him.

All the other items will either go on the grill or be used as side dishes for meals throughout the week.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad



My computer has finally bitten the dust.

Four years ago I purchased a Dell XPS M1710 which had a NVidia Geforce Go 7900 GTX graphic card. Turns out this card was faulty and 1 year from the day I ordered the computer and 10 months from when I actually received the computer the card suddenly quit working. I spent nearly $600 for a replacement (a 7950 as the 7900 was now obsolete) only to have it also be a faulty card. It has now quit also and unfortunately the 7950 is now obsolete and there isn't a replacement to fit in my laptop. I now have a giant paperweight until I either purchase a new computer or some computer guru figures out how to fix it for virtually zero dollars as I'm not throwing good money after bad.

All that being said, I'm now using my IPad to update my blog. This means that posting will be sporadic until I figure out how to post a full blog entry using BlogPress or some other app.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

May 16, 2010

The Daring Cooks May, 2010 Challenge: Stacked Green Chili & Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

I haven't posted or been to the farmer's market for the last three weeks.  Between my neice graduating college and therefore traveling for that and getting ready for inventory at work, I just haven't had time to do anything on my blog.

I recently joined The Daring Kitchen and our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on http://www.finecooking.com/ and written by Robb Walsh.

I've been wanting to try making a salsa verde using tomatillas as I've never worked them before and this was the perfect oppurtunity.  I had never made homemade corn tortillas either and decided I would try those also.  I'm glad they worked out as I forgot to buy backups.  LOL

I've looked at several recipes and decided that I'd use my own recipe to make this dish.  I gathered the ingredients that all the different recipes asked for and then just started mixing and working with those that gave the sauce the taste I was looking for.  This was a fairly easy recipe to make and the homemade tortillas tasted wonderful in this.



Stacked Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde
Serves 2
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:
1 lb tomatillos
2 anaheim peppers
2 poblano peppers
6 cloves garlic
1 bunch green onions (white and green parts)
1 small white onion
1 bunch cilantro
1 cup chicken broth
1 large bone-in, skin-on chicken breast
6 oz monterey jack cheese
Salt, pepper and oregano to taste
2 1/2 cups masa harina
1 1/2 cups warm water

Instructions:
1. Place the tomatillos, peppers and garlic on a foil lined pan and place under the broiler until they look burnt.  Remove from the oven and let cool enough to handle.  Remove the seeds and peel from the peppers.  Remove as much of the skin from the tomatillos as possible and peel the garlic.  Place all in a food processor.
2. Dice the onions and the cilantro and add to the food processor.  Pulse all ingredients until the salsa verde is pureed.
3. Place the salsa verde into a sauce pot along with the chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste and cook until the raw onion taste is gone.  Set aside.
4. Turn the oven down to 350⁰.  Add a rack to the foil lined pan and place chicken breast, skin side up, on the rack and season with salt, pepper and oregano.  Roast for 45 minutes or until done.
5. Mix the masa harina and the warm water together and form into a soft dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit until ready to form and cook.
6. Once the chicken is done remove from oven and let cool enough to touch.
7. Heat a cast iron skillet, griddle or comal over medium-high heat.  Form the corn tortillas between two pieces of plastic and press to desired thickness.  Cook on the heated skillet, flipping once until done.  Set aside.
8. Remove bone, skin and fat from the chicken and shred the meat.  Mix the chicken with some of the salsa verde.
9. In a pan able to hold two stacks, place a little of the salsa verde and top with a tortilla, then chicken mixture then cheese.  Top with another tortilla, then chicken mixture then cheese and a final tortilla and more salsa verde then cheese.
10.Bake in the oven (still at 350⁰) until the cheese is melted and browned.
11.Serve with desired condiments.