An Explosive Meal!

I had great intentions of a twist on our usual 'taco tuesday' night meal. Pretty simple really... baked Chimichanga's, yummy!! Well I prepared the the meat, took great pains to fill and wrap them, then it was 13 mins at 425 degrees and presto dinner, right? Wrong!!! With 30 seconds left on the timer I hear this strange noise...Jake hears it too and we both run to the kitchen, there doesn't appear to be anything out of place. Shane had just compacted the garbage so I think maybe a bottle (wine or otherwise) broke. So I check it...no nothing in there. I think, maybe I was hearing things...Jake says 'No, something broke'! Timer goes off and I think well we'll figure it out later....
Well, later was a second later when I open the oven and see this mess!! What!! I'm not sure what happened, but now realize that dinner is ruined and it was going to be soooo good!!
So be forewarned...Chimichanga's baked in Pyrex may cause an explosion and ruin the night!!
A last picture of our dinner in the garbage...fortunately for the boys I had enough taco meat left to throw together a couple of soft tacos to get them off to their basketball practice...probably what I should have done in the first place...oh well, it made for a great blog entry!!

Couple of Recipes and a cool website!!

Yesterday I made some lasagna for some friends that had a rough day...I asked her if she thought it was blog worthy and she said yes...so the first recipe is for a Chicken Lasagna. The second one was a base recipe a friend gave me and she told me to play with it to see what I could come up with...well I'm gonna call this one Rockin' Black bean salsa soup!!

Chicken Lasagna
Lasagna Noodles (9 cooked)
4C. Cooked chicken (Roasted chicken from costco...works wonders $4.99)
1 can cream of chix soup
1 can cream of mush soup
1 C. Parmesan Cheese
8oz Sour Cream
1/4C Chopped onion
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
16oz. Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Mix all ingredients together well. In a 9x13 pan, layer chicken mixture, noodles, cheese, noodles, chicken mixture, cheese, noodles, and chicken mixture. Bake, covered at 350 for 30 to 40 min. Sprinkle with a bit more cheese and bake, uncovered, 10 minutes more.

Rockin' Black Bean Salsa Soup!
2 cans of Chicken Broth
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can refried black beans
1 sm can green chile's (choose your temp)
1/2 C. Pace Chunky salsa (choose your temp)
1 C. Pico de gallo (Lynden readers use El Ranchito's...YUM!)
1 1/2 C. Roasted shredded chicken (are you seeing the pattern here?)

Combined all ingredients except the chicken and pico. Mix well and bring to a boil. Boil for a few minutes and then reduce the heat to simmer. Add the chicken and pico. Let simmer for about 20 mins. I tell ya...serve this one with a few tortilla strips and a little avocado and...YUM!!! You can make this as hot or not as you want. I added a little Fiesta Party mix from tastefully simple and that really kicked mine up a notch!!

Ok and last but not least...I was told about a really cool website that has great holiday recipes and a ton of them. So for all you cooks and holiday bakers...check this one out!!
Mrs. Claus' Cookbook

Manicotti- Amy Style!

Manicotti Shells (uncooked)
1 C. ricotta cheese (more or less)
1 C. cottage cheese (more or less)
1 C. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 egg
1/4 C. Parmesan cheese
3/4 C. Chopped fresh spinach
1/2 C. Chopped fresh mushrooms
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 jars Prego- Italian Sausage & garlic
1/2 jar Water



Mix all ingredients, except shells, sauce and water, until well blended. Stuff uncooked shells with mixture. (I use a pastry bag) Put 2 cups of the prego sauce in a 9x13 pan. Arrange noodles over sauce. Add 1/2 jar of water to remaining sauce and pour over the manicotti. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 400 for 40-50 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with more Parmesan and bake for 10 more minutes.

This is one of those meals that I started with a basic recipe and added and subtracted stuff! You really can do what ever you want...if you have a homemade sauce use that. I found that the Italian sauage-Prego- really adds a fun meaty kick...if you don't like mushrooms leave them out...I made this exact recipe the other day and my kids who don't care or mushrooms or spinach ate it up, never realizing what was in it!! So modify, play with it, and enjoy!!

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

6-8 Flour Tortillas
2 C. cooked, chopped chicken
1/2 C. chopped green chiles
1 env. Taco Seasoning
1/2 pt. sour cream

Sauce:
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of half and half
1/2lb grated Cheddar
1/2lb grated Monterey Jack

Mix first five ingredients together for filling for tortillas. Fill each tortilla. Roll and place in a greased 9x13" dish. Mix soup and half and half together. Pour over rolled tortilla's. Top with cheese and bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes.

(couple of options. For the chicken I get a roasted chicken from the deli or Costco and strip it and chop it and then bag it in 2 cup portions and put it in the freezer. Another thing if you are cooking for two (em) you can buy aluminum pans that are 8x8" and you make both but before cooking, cover one and freeze it for later. I also like to experiment with the chile's option, using tomatillos or pico de gallo.)

New Idea!

I love cooking and new recipes. So I thought it might be fun to post a new recipe a week. I would love it if you fellow bloggers would do the same and then we could liven up our weekly menus with some tried and true good eats!! I will do it even if you don't...but it could be fun!! I challenge you!!

Amy's marinade

1/4 cup Soy Sauce

1/4 cup White Wine Vinegar

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1/4 cup Ketchup

4 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

3 Tbls Brown Sugar

3 Cloves Minced Garlic

This recipe is great for Chicken breasts- Grilled, Chicken tenders (marinate then skewer and grill for chicken on a stick. My boys love this.) White fish like Mahi-Mahi, pork chops or party wings. For the party wings let the chicken marinate for 3-4 hours then bake at 325 for 1 1/2 hours turning every 30 minutes...this one's great for watching a little football!!