Who Loves Mexican Food???

Me!  Me!  Me!


One of my favorite perks living in the Southwest is FABULOUS Mexican food! 
Today starts a mini-series of my favorite south of the border morsels. 
My sweet friend, and former neighbor, Kristi, would bring me these wonderful enchiladas after my son was born.  I knew these were beyond your average enchiladas when I would find myself eating them cold out of the frig after my son's 3am feedings.  To this day, these enchiladas are still one of my favorite meals and better than any restaurant enchilada I've ever tasted.  Thank you Kristi for this awesome recipe.  We sure miss you around the 'hood.  

You will need:


Pick meat from Costco rotisserie chicken and cut into bite size pieces.


Add chopped cilantro, cream of chicken soup, sour cream and diced chilies.


Stir to combine.


Now stir in 2 cups of shredded Monterrey jack cheese.
*I used cheddar jack here because that's what I had on hand.  It was yummy but these are better with shredded Monterey jack!

Add a teaspoon of vegetable oil in a hot skillet.  Quickly fry white corn tortillas on each side for a few seconds to soften.  Keep adding more oil as needed until you've fried all of the tortillas.


Stack your heated tortillas on a plate.


Line up your assembly line.  Filling.  Tortillas.  Pan.
*I'm giving half of these away today (to stay true to the giving spirit of my friend, Kristi.  So I am doing two 8" X 8" pans.  If you are not dividing, you will need one 9" X 13" pan.


Place a scoop of filling on a tortilla.


Roll the tortilla into an enchilada


Place your enchilada seam side down into the baking pan.


Continue this process, tucking the enchiladas tightly together until the pan is full.




Open Las Palmas green enchilada sauce and pour over the top.


Sprinkle with remaining cheese.


Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40  minutes or until bubbling.


Serve!


I am so hungry right now I can hardly stand it!!!

Kristi's Chicken Enchiladas

1 whole Costco rotisserie chicken, remove meat and cut into bite size pieces
1 can cream of chicken soup
8oz sour cream
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 can chopped green chilies
fresh cilantro (I use 1/2 bunch chopped, no stems. You can use as much or little as you desire)
28oz can Las Palmas green enchilada sauce
2 dozen white corn tortillas (the smaller size)
1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese. 

Mix top six ingredients.  Set aside.  Quickly fry each tortilla in oil.  Scoop chicken mixture into tortillas and roll into enchiladas.  Place in a 9" X 13" pan and cover with enchilada sauce.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly. 

Enjoy!

~The Lemonista

Need an idea for Valentine's Day breakfast? Try these Chocolate Croissants from Trader Joes!

I was strolling through Trader Joes http://www.traderjoes.com/  with my daughter Thursday evening, looking for anything easy and new to add to my menu.  While reaching for the blueberries in the freezer section, a box of frozen chocolate croissants caught my eye. 

I must admit that I didn't have high expectations, but figured I'd give these a whirl.  They came out of the box rather lack-luster.  Following the instructions I placed them on a parchment lined cookie sheet before I went to bed and let them rise overnight.  When the sun rose, I crawled out to the kitchen in search of my morning coffee.  Low and behold the croissant had made an amazing transformation!  Impressed, I grabbed the box to check the directions.  A quick brush with egg-wash and 20 min of baking later, these glorious treats came out of the oven. Of course you know I had to dust these with powdered sugar. Grin.

One bite and I felt transported to some quaint cafe on a cobblestone street in Europe.  These croissants are STELLAR!  Better than Oprah's favorite chocolate croissant from William Sonoma!  Serve them up for breakfast on Valentine's Day morning and your family will taste the *Love*.


Enjoy!

The Lemonista

Panda Bento & A Super Moist RUM CAKE!

Today we have some cute pandas!  I love how black and white makes the natural colors in food pop!   The darling little panda food picks and reusable plastic food decoration dividers were found on ebay.  Just try searching "Panda Bento" or "Panda food picks" or "Panda food dividers" to find these items. 

I used the Bento box food container to cut the PB&J sandwich to fit perfectly.  Next I added the panda food picks to the fresh strawberries.  The conversation hearts are held by a pink silicon heart cup (purchased on JBOX) and behind that I have two organic yellow carrots purchased at Safeway grocery store.  Lastly, I decorated with the panda food dividers.  I think this turned out cute and it was quick and easy to make. 

Here's a link to the heart cups:
http://www.jbox.com/product/TAM039


Okay, now for some serious yumminess!
I've wanted to make a Rum Cake for the longest time and finally got around to it!  My recipe search resulted in literally dozens of versions of basically the same recipe.  So it's hard to know who to credit the original recipe to.  I wanted the cake to be family friendly and not have that "blow you away" alcohol flavor, so I made some adjustments to the traditional recipes I found.  The resulting cake has all of the wonderful rum flavor you would expect without the strong alcohol kick.  I have to say that this is one of the moistest cakes I've ever made!  Hope you love it too.



Just look at how moist this cake is!


I served this up with some CoolWhip and fresh strawberries.  YUM!  Wish I could share.  This was fantastic with my morning coffee. Grin. Snort. 


Rum Cake ~ The Lemonista's way.

Ingredients:


Cake
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans (optional)
1 18-1/2 ounce yellow cake mix with pudding in the mix.  (I used Pillsbury brand)
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold skim milk or water will work too
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup Myers's Rum Original Dark


Glaze
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Myers's Rum Original Dark


Preparation:
Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts on bottom of pan. Combine all cake ingredients. Beat for 2 minutes on high with electric mixer. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool in pan.  While cake is cooling in pan, prick the cake with a fork and pour 2/3 of glaze over the cake.  Once cooled, invert on serving plate. Drizzle remaining 1/3 glaze over top of the cake.

Glaze: Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 1 minutes, stirring constantly. Add Rum and boil an additional 4 minutes.  Remove from heat. 
Enjoy!

~The Lemonista

Okay Writers, This Post is for YOU! Brendra Drake’s One Liner Contest

 


My writer buddy, Dustin, brought this contest to my attention today.
http://brenleedrake.blogspot.com/2011/01/blogfest-contest-with-prizes-from-agent.html
The idea:

Share the first line of your finished MS and get feedback. Polish it and enter it into the contest. The winner gets cool stuff, like a critique from Weronika Janczuk. How cool is that?

Here's the first line of my novel.  Please let me know what you think in the comments.


First Line:  Some refer to me as the fallen.

That's it folks!  My big first line.  Ha-ha.  So let me know your 2 cents below and wish me luck. 

~The Lemonista

1976 The Junior League of Grand Rapids *Dillicious* Pot Roast~in the Slow Cooker

I've been eating this pot roast recipe since I was a child!  It's such a flavorful spin on traditional pot roast, that it makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  The recipe was originally written for a Dutch oven, but fitting more convenient modern cooking, I've converted it to the slow cooker.  If you grew up in Western Michigan, chances are that you, or most likely your mother, has a copy of the infamous Grand Rapids Junior League Cookbook that put Dillicious Pot Roast on family dinner tables.  This cookbook has a forward by Betty Ford and contains a treasure of Midwestern recipes.   Despite years of groveling, my mother refuses to give me her copy, so after MANY failed attempts, I finally scored my own on ebay.  Don't ask me what I paid...I got so frustrated one day that I set the sniper for a ridiculous amount, closed my eyes and hit "submit." Grin.

The key to any great pot roast is to buy the right cut of meat.  Get the wrong roast and you'll end up with a tough, chewy meal that will turn your nose to pot roast indefinitely.  I buy a boneless beef chuck pot roast.  It cooks up tender, juicy and falling apart on my fork. ( A great pot roast melts in your mouth, it does not stick to your teeth.)   If you are not sure what cut of meat you'll need, be sure to ask the butcher for help. 


Okay, so here we go...
Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp.  Put on paper towel to drain and then crumble.  Reserve bacon drippings in pan.


To minimize messy grease splatters I use one of these splatter screens. This makes stove top clean up so much easier.


Sprinkle pot roast with Lemon Pepper on both sides.


Brown both sides of roast in the reserved bacon drippings and then lay roast in the bottom of the crock pot.  Drizzle 1or 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings over the top of roast.


Combine Golden mushroom soup, chopped dill pickles and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl.


Spread sauce over browned pot roast in crock pot.  Set your crock pot on low and cook for 8 hours.


Serve over rice, buttered noodles or potatoes.  Crumbled reserved bacon and sprinkle over the top.


Now this is comfort food! 

Dillicious Pot Roast
By Maureen O'Donovan
*Adapted for the slow cooker from the 1976 Junior League of Grand Rapids Cookbook by me.

5 slices bacon
1 tsp. lemon-pepper
3 to 4lbs. beef pot roast
1 can (10.5oz) Golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup chopped dill pickle
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Cook bacon in a skillet till crisp.  Crumble and save for serving time.  Sprinkle both sides of roast with lemon pepper and brown both sides in bacon drippings in skillet.  Place browned roast in slow cooker and drizzle with 1 or 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings.  Combine soup, chopped pickle and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl.  Spread sauce over roast.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  Serve over rice, buttered noodles or potatoes.  Sprinkle reserved crumbled bacon over the top. 

*This has been linked to The Joy of Desserts' Vintage recipe link party.

Enjoy!

~The Lemonista

Be My Valentine ~ Ideas and finds!

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I've been scratching my head trying to think of a cute idea for my daughter's Kindergarten class Valentines.  Trying to be creative and unique (and somewhat healthy), I came up with these popcorn Valentines.

My heart *POPS* for you!



The retro popcorn bags and heart fasteners were found at Hobby Lobby.  They have two sizes in these popcorn bags and you want the larger bag.  You get 8 of these bags for $2.47!!! I'd say that makes these Valentines economical as well.  Grin.


I poked a hole in the center of the popcorn "O"and added a heart fastener, also found at Hobby Lobby on the Valentine isle.  (Looking back at these photos I realize that I poked the hole on the wrong side of the bag, so I had to redo this one--Dyslexic brain strikes again! Insert eye-roll.)






I purchased the individual serving size microwave popcorn at the grocery store


Printed this photo on 3.5 X 5 shipping labels,





and stuck the label on each individual pack of popcorn.




then slipped the cute popcorn Valentine into the retro popcorn bag and voilà--Creative, fun & somewhat healthy (wink) Valentines! 

My son is still in preschool and his school schedule hits two class parties, so I decided to keep things simple and ordered these adorable Race Car Valentines from Paper Source. 
http://www.paper-source.com/

http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Race-Cars-Valentine-Card-Kit/300_618/643356044733.html
Paper Source has many other adorable valentines as well. 
This is one of my fave for grown ups (I'm such a sucker for birds!):
J'Adore Valentine

http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Jadore-Valentine-Card/300_618/41115601.html

And here are a few more that caught my eye:
Fortune Cookie Valentine kit.

http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Fortune-Cookie-Valentine-Kit/300_621/4071295421.html

Scratch & Sniff Cards


http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Scratch-n-Sniff-Chillin-Valentine-Card-Kit/300_618/643356042753.html

Cootie Catcher Cards


http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Cootie-Catcher-Valentine-Card-Kit/300_618/643356041022.html



For Decorations around the house, I purchased this Pottery Barn Kids Valentine Banner.

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/valentines-day-garlands/?pkey=e%7Cvalentine%2Bbanner%7C8%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C3&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH

I also picked up these Valentine themed plates at Safeway (Vons)!  I love that they are kid sized, not toddler sized, so they can hold a good amount of food.  My kids LOVE them!!!




And what does this lemon lady want for her special Valentine?  I think I'll cut out a photo of this Boden Petal Clutch and place it under my pillow.  Could this sweet pea colorway be any more divine!
 
 

~The Lemonista

http://www.bodenusa.com/en-US/Womens-Accessories/Bags/AM138-FSC/Womens-Sweet-Pea-Petal-Clutch.html

I'll have some cute Valentine food finds coming up soon!

~The Lemonista