Chi-chi-chi-chicken enchiladas!

Now here is an oldie but goodie. I've been making these enchiladas for about 2 years (I guess that's not that long) But they are super delicious! They are Rochelle's favorite, and mine too! Jake adores them as well (But he adores all my cooking :D). But yeah they are fun, easy, and inexpensive.
Ingredients

• Chicken Breasts (About 3-4)
• 2 cans Enchilada Sauce (La Victoria-Traditional Red Enchilada sauce, the big one! And the HOT one :D)
• 2-8 oz bags of Cheese (I use lucerene mexican cheese)-or 16 oz of cheese
• 1-2 Large yellow onions (or red)
• 6-8 cloves of garlic
• 30+ corn tortillas (Whatever your preference)
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• Optional:Sour Cream
• Optional:Black Olives

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees on bake.
2. In a medium pot add your two cans of enchilada sauce, chopped onion, crushed/chopped garlic, garlic powder (2 tablespoons), onion powder (2 tablespoons), and the whole chicken breasts. Cover with a lid and heat at medium heat until meat is cooked through.
3. Remove cooked meat. Place meat on the side (or in fridge) to cool. You can put gloves on and shread the meat if it's not completely cool. However you might burn yourself.
4. Once the meat is cool shred it with your hands.
5. Next it's time to soften your tortillas. There are many ways to do this. Heat them in the microwave, dip them in sauce, heat them over the stove, etc. You can just stuff them regularly but they will crack and rip. I didn't last time and only a couple ripped. Dipping them in sauce is nice. (Make sure the sauce is hot) You need to carefully do this with tongs. (the torilla may rip).
6. Put meat and then sprinkle cheese on top of the tortilla a roll it up. Put enchiladas in a casserole dish/casserole pan. After all the enchiladas are in the pans (usually fits two pans) then you pour the rest of your sauce over the two pans and then spinkle the remainder of cheese on top.
7. Bake enchiladas at 350 degrees for about 15-25 minutes. You just want the cheese to melt/enchiladas to brown a bit. (Everything is cooked already).

And presto! You're done. Yummy enchiladas for your tummy. Enchiladas go great with black beans and spanish rice. Mmmmm! As an added treat you can put half a black olive on each enchilada and then bake it. And then a dallop of cream cheese (after they are out of the oven) on an enchilada for more goodness. (I only add sour cream to my spicy enchiladas.) Bon Appetit! Enjoy!

Mouth Watering Leftover treat

Okay leftovers can become boring. (Even my leftovers!) So when freezing isn't really an option (or you know you're not going to eat the frozen food ever again) do something fun and exciting. Experiment. I had some black beans and spanish rice left over from when I made chicken enchiladas (yes I need to post the recipe) and well the beans were bland and the rice was ok, but who wants to eat rice by itself? (Unless it's Fried Rice, I need to post the recipe for that too. It was sublime). So here is an idea for something you can do at home.
Ingredients

• Rice (Spanish Rice)
• Beans (Black Beans)
• burger patties (Mmmm Monster Burgers)
• can of chili (Hormel)
• cheese (Sharp Cheddar)
• sour cream (Lucrene low fat)
• garlic powder 
• onion powder
• minced onion
• cayenne
• hot sauce (I mixed the Ashanti and texas hot sauce)

1.  Mix rice and beans in a pot and add the spices. Then add the chili and break up the beef patty and add that. Heat. (med/high)
2. Put some in a bowl add grated cheese on top and a heaping spoonful of sour cream and then the hot sauce (As much or little as desired.) 

And voila! There you have it. A yummy meal that you made from just heating up leftovers in the fridge. It's a great way to avoid waste and boring same ol' same ol' food. I do this kind of stuff a lot because I make very large quantities of food. (I am used to cooking for like 7 people.) Plus it's great to freeze meals, and I also like eating good stuff multiple days in a row. So good luck! And have fun in your fridge. :D

Monster Burgers

I call these the monster burgers, not because they are big, not because they are bad (though they are, in a good way), and not because they are kick ass (though they definitely do). I call them monster burgers because they are mean green fighting machines. Yes, I said green. The birth of these bombastic burgers came about because Jake wanted burgers, and we both wanted pesto. So I figured we'd marry our cravings and thus, the monster burger was born. And what a wonderful day that was. Monster burgers are the dawn of a new age of eating. A delicious, tender, mouthwatering, flavorful, magnificent way of eating. And I will lead you on your journey to this excellence.

Ingredients:

• Homemade Pesto (Yes, the recipe is here)
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• minced onion
• Italian Bread Crumbs (I use Progresso)
• cayenne pepper
• one egg
• 1 1/2 of ground meat (about)
• Extra Virgin Olive oil (Something has to be in my house :D)
• pepper
• Optional: Red Onions
• Optional: Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Or another cheese of your choice)

1. In a large bowl add the meat, a bunch of onion powder, garlic powder, minced garlic, cayenne pepper (caution HOT HOT HOT), and pepper, (I use a ton, but based on your preference have fun. I'd say 1 table spoon of the garlic and onion powder, two of the minced onions, about a teaspoon of cayenne and a generous amount of pepper. I of course put perhaps a but more spice), 
2. AND THEN THERE WAS PESTO! Time to add three tablespoons of your homemade pesto. YES YES YES! Mix it all up. You'll get an idea of how much bread crumbs you need. But first add the egg (If desired, the egg isn't really that necessary, it does help the burgers to stay together). 
3. Once the egg is in (Or not) you add the bread crumbs. I use A LOT. (Well enough to make the mixture stick together. Mind you, you don't want a rock. 
4. In a large pan pour a TINY bit of olive oil. The burgers have pesto in them. Pesto has olive oil. (You might not need any oil) But you don't want your burgers to stick. on med/high heat but your thinly formed patties (not too thin but very wide, they shrink) into the heated oil. Immediately cover. After the bottom is lightly browned flip. recover and repeat. This made about 12 burgers or so.)
5. Optional: Caramelize red onions in the oil from the burgers, grate sharp cheddar cheese (Or parmesan would be amazing) on the burgers and add the onions.

Now the burgers go great by themselves or on a bun with a little romaine lettuce, tomatoes (we didn't have any though, so I am guessing) and pesto spread on the bread (We used challah). Now Jake put mustard and ketchup on his burger (I was mortified), and I ate my patties with finely grated sharp cheddar, caramelized red onions, and pesto (with no bun) and a nice romaine lettuce salad. Yummy yummy yummy I've got love in my tummy! Enjoy.

Orgasmic Homemade Pesto

Pesto is one of those simple, and simply amazing things. You can put it in eggs, burgers, pasta, sandwiches, salads, cakes (well not cakes), and pretty much any food for an awesome kick! We made pesto burgers last night (recipe to come) and I made pesto eggs with sharp cheddar for breakfast. YUM! You can too!

Ingredients:

• Fresh Basil (We got 4 oz of organic fresh basil, cause they only had organic)
• Grated Parmesan Cheese (We got a bag of the grated lucerine parmesan cheese, and it was on sale too for only 2.50 at Pavillion)
• 4 cloves of fresh garlic (or more if you're bf/gf isn't watching)
• extra virgin olive oil

1. cut/rip off the basil stems.
2. peel garlic
3. take food processor (we didn't have one) or a blender (score) and put the basil, garlic, parmesan, and about 3 table spoons of olive oil (to start with), take a wooden spoon and push all the ingredients down into the blade. Take spoon out. Turn on. (Make sure cats, children, and animals are away from the kitchen... It is loud, and scary O.o)
4. turn off blender, give it another good stir with the wooden spoon and push the unblended mixture down into the blade. remove spoon. reblend. (repeat depending on how you like your pesto.)
5. Put pesto in a airtight container. You're going to want to keep this fresh and use it as much as possible!

And you're done. So simple, so delicious. And the pesto and parmesan were only 6.50. It made a ton of pesto. You only need a tablespoon or two to kick up any recipe. YUM! Have fun, and remember, DO NOT put a spoon into the blender while it is on. It is very dangerous... And if you put you're wooden spoon in while it is on you'll have added fiber. O.o Oooops!