https://delightfullydoable.com

Lime Chicken Avocado Enchiladas

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 18 March, 2013 1 comment

I normally make turkey or beef enchiladas as I love the way they turn out. 100% of the time I use a green sauce because I do not like red sauce. It’s too much for me.

I decided to make a chicken enchilada and saw a recipe for lime avocado sauce (I can’t find the original recipe I adapted this from, my apologies) but definitely tweaked the recipe as usual. Husband loved them and asked me to make them on another night with guests and do a Mexican theme with homemade chips.

I used 1 chicken breast and also the Costco canned chicken to quickly add more meat without thawing another breast. If I wasn’t so rushed this particular night, I would have either used a rotisserie chicken or two regular chicken breasts. :)

Recipe:

2 chicken breast
1-2 jalapeño’s diced
1 medium onion
Garlic
EVOO
Flour tortillas 6-8
2 cups Cubed pepper jack cheese
2 cups shredded Monterey cheese
Fresh cilantro (garnish, optional)

Lime Avocado Sauce:

1 lime, half for the sauce and other half for the chicken
2 avocados
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 cup chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
1 tsp garlic salt
¼ tsp black pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375

Cook chicken in a sauce pan with EVOO, onion, diced jalapeños (omit seeds for less spice) and garlic cloves. Flavor chicken if desired. Once cooked add the canned chicken and ½ lime juice.

Turn off burner and add chunks of pepper jack cheese (about 2 cups) to the chicken mixture. Lightly stir, this will allow yummy bites of cheesy goodness.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl add avocados, ½ lime juice, and sour cream and mash well (may be chunky). Add chicken broth and remaining seasonings and mix well.

In a separate sauce pan melt butter and add cornstarch and let bubble to thicken. Once thickened add the avocado mixture and turn off the heat.

Assemble in a greased 9×13 pan. Scoop chicken mixture into tortillas and add a little avocado sauce. Not too much. Once all tortillas are rolled up in the pan, spread the avocado sauce on top and sprinkle 1 cup Monterrey Cheese.

Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on the cheese melting. Once cheese is melted sprinkle remaining Monterrey cheese on top and turn oven to broil. 3-5 minutes until cheese is a bubbling brown color. Remove from oven and garnish with cilantro if desired.

Serves really well with homemade chips or freshly chopped salad. Be prepared to be Wowed!

Love Letters

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 11 March, 2013 No comment

Have you ever felt lonely, depressed, outcast, burdened, unnoticeable, or even worthless? I’m sure we can all relate to one of these on some level. I saw a video this week while at my woman’s bible study about this 20 or so year old college student who lived in NY, we shall call her Mandy. She explained how her depression and worthlessness escalated through her move to NY for college. Pulling back from the social life and feeling lonely was just another day in this gals shoes.

One dreary day she was on the subway and this lady walked on and caught her attention. Something about this lady brought such an ache to Mandy’s heart that she felt this lady needed a pick me up, so Mandy began to write her a letter. While on the train, she began writing not knowing how long this lady would be sitting across from her but took a chance. She wrote about a deep love and a place in this world she had; even though she didn’t know this woman she knew everyone had a place and love that needed to be found. For a moment, Mandy forgot about herself and the pain she regularly experienced and realized the sweet fragrance of kindness. Her words brought to life exactly what she needed to believe about herself.

This began to trickle on from one “love” letter to the next. It wasn’t that hard for her to run into strangers that looked down and out and she would encourage them with a sweet fragrant letter. It caught on so much so that she started her own foundation and began to realize her own place in this world. Mandy has a different perspective on life, and has been very successful with bringing a simple smile to someone’s face, while expressing their worth and love in this world.

This caught my attention and made me stop and think how it would feel if I displaced my feelings for a moment and looked upon those around me; complete strangers and sought to see for a second what their world looked like. I haven’t been able to find the video since I’ve seen it, but decided since it moved me so much I would share the storyline.

Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 11 March, 2013 No comment

I really try and stick to delicious food but my health radar has gone off quite a bit now that we have a little one, and cancer has been running rampant in both of our families lately. It seems like a never ending cycle. My motto is delicious food; if it tastes healthy than it may taste like cardboard. I am not interested in that, and we all know my husband will not eat something that isn’t tasty.

My husband works two jobs right now being that it’s tax season. I honestly hate this time of year, we never really see one another and for most of the week he barely spends time with our son. It is hard on me, but I know he is doing it for a good cause and to help support us. I must say I am very grateful I am able to stay at home. I know it is really hard on him not being able to spend time with me and especially our son as he is quickly growing like a bean sprout.

In the midst of cooking, cleaning, trying to sell the house, raise little man, take care of my husband and somewhere in there manage to pull myself together; I try and have snacks around the house that are tasty, not store bought but easy to keep around. My husband is a runner; he gets up early in the morning and runs five miles while I remain in a deep, cozy sleep. When I say early, I mean 5:30 early. He needs a boost to get him going in the morning and after he runs, we have a ravenous on our hands. He needs to eat all day long. And believe me, you want him to, otherwise you get a cranky man on your hands. He has low blood sugar so we need to keep this man fed. In the morning before he runs he drinks our spinach shake that is actually very yummy. I am very big on texture and the simple game my mind plays on me. Spinach? Come on, this sounds terrible, I don’t like spinach unless it’s in a salad. I can hear the noise rumbling in your head right this very second. But wait a minute, this truly is delicious. It tastes like Odwalla super food. Get the recipe and test it out yourself. I blend it very well to make it smooth. It tastes like whatever fruit I use at the time. The whole family actually loves it. I had to withhold from my husband what I actually put in it to get him to try it, once he said he liked it, I let him know what all I had threw into this concoction and he was shocked.

Anyway, you can get the recipe for my spinach shake but in the mean time he also loves to grab-n-go with these peanut butter breakfast cookies. He took them to work and he is such a sweet man, yes he is, he raves about my cooking to coworkers and they always ask him what he has in his lunch that day. Well these breakfast cookies became such a hit that not only was he sharing them with everyone at work they all asked for more. I do like to spoil them now and again and send some baked goodies to brighten their day. The best part was that he had told them all how healthy they were and some even said that they taste better than normal peanut butter cookies that are not healthy for you. So trust me, relax, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a breakfast cookie or two.

Ingredients

1 cup butter (coconut oil or applesauce)
1 cup Honey (sugar)
3 eggs
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ cup of peanut butter, preferably all natural or almond butter
2 cups brown rice flour (all purpose flour works as well; make sure it’s unbleached)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 cups rolled oats
Chopped pecans or mixed nuts
Sunflower seeds
Flax seed
1 cup coconut (optional)
Chocolate chips (optional) I don’t add these as it takes away from “healthy” and I simply don’t prefer them

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment, silicone baking mats or nonstick spray.
In mixer beat together butter (applesauce or coconut oil), honey and peanut butter for 2-3 minutes or until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in vanilla.

Whisk in the flour, baking soda, salt and beat well. Add rolled oats. Stir in the nuts, raisins, coconut, and chocolate chips.

Drop the batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. They don’t spread out much so you can keep them pretty close.
Bake the cookies for 8-12 minutes (I prefer 9 minutes). The longer you bake the cookies the more crisp they will be.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. (They freeze well too, not that they will last long enough to freeze but you can try)

I must say I made these on Monday and by Thursday they were completely gone. Now normally I make them once a week on Sunday and they last the whole week. This time however while I was painting our bathroom on Wednesday with a girlfriend, I didn’t have time to make lunch and heated up leftover Lentil Soup. By the time 4pm rolled around, I realized we had been munching all morning and early afternoon on these breakfast cookies that they had quickly disappeared.

**I make these often and I make them all different ways using the options above; applesauce, coconut oil, different nuts, chocolate chips, almond butter, etc. but prefer the original list above the most.

The Joys of House Hunting…..?

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 8 March, 2013 No comment

Yes, house hunting has been amazing. I have enjoyed seeing so many potential houses that fit our criteria. I really do mean “potential” houses. We cannot place an offer on any of these amazing houses while ours is still resting on the market. How long of a rest will we be taking? That is undecided and I wish I could answer that but had I answered it, this rest would be almost complete, so to speak.

We have discussed as of lately, that we may not sell the house (or maybe the house is choosing this option for us), but that we may rent it after possibly staying here a couple more years. The job of talking with a lender has been added to my “To Do” list. To be honest we have no clue what we will end up doing, but whatever we do I know will be the right thing. God has a way of slowing our plans down or speeding them up without us really having a say in the matter.

Just as the house is “resting” on the market, so do my husband and I need to rest in being comfortable with the motto “whatever happens will happen.” We had a great conversation this morning entailing how we are a proactive couple, but realizing you can only be as proactive as life happens around you. We can’t force our house to sell; we can think this is the best option since sliced bread. But if this were true, wouldn’t our house have possibly sold by now? Is it not selling because Spring hasn’t fully hit? Are we with the right realtors? Is it the market? These questions are endless. So instead of dumping our frustration into gaining answers, we have got to step back and decide what options we have, and how they would benefit us or hinder us.

The other day we realized that we would be okay staying in the house for a couple more years if we really need to. Is my kitchen utterly small, why of course it is? But this is something I’ve already been dealing with and have managed to be more creative as I have a casserole cooking in the oven, rolls rising atop the oven, dishes being washed in the sink, while I prepare the everyday goodies that are to fill our hungry tummies. It is manageable, even when it can be a complete disturbance and I really envy many kitchens that I frequent with friends and family. I tell myself; one day you will have a kitchen that has more counter space, a pantry, cupboards and a full size dishwasher. I long for that day, but when push comes to shove I do realize it is not the end all be all. I have much to be thankful for and while I do cook and bake on a daily basis, I am proving to myself and the potential buyers that it is possible in the kitchen.

I took the little man on a walk today and our neighbor down the way has the same house as us. She was out in the yard doing some weeding and I introduced myself since we haven’t officially met. She was a very nice lady, and invited me in to see their layout since she knows our house is on the market. I appreciated her hospitality because it really gave me an idea of how to redo the kitchen if we ever decided to in the future. We have talked and talked and talked about redoing the kitchen, but to see the vision played out was pretty exciting.

After talking with my husband AGAIN about our house we are leaning more towards staying for another year or two and using this as our first rental. Maybe this is God’s way of telling us we aren’t supposed to sell the house. We have so many things happening right now in life, that one less thing to worry about would be great.

We have officially quit looking for other houses right now until we make our decision final. We will decide hopefully this weekend if we will be taking the house off the market. We have already done a little reorganizing and began painting the bathroom, so maybe that’s us getting back into the nesting mode; helping prepare us for staying awhile longer. We shall see….

Cilantro Spread

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 8 March, 2013 No comment

This delicious spread was created tonight specifically for a warm salami sandwich and realizing I wasn’t in the mood for a sandwich while making the spread. I decided I would make some chicken nuggets as an easy go to dinner, along with some grilled fish. A pretty random meal actually, but wanted a little of both just because it sounded good. I must say it was delicious so much so that I decided I need to share this yummy spread.

Ingredients:

1 cup Mayo
½ cup chopped Cilantro
¼ cup Taboulie

You can make your taboulie or buy it. If you make it you will have plenty for salads, crackers, or this cilantro spread. Taboulie is a wonderful, healthy snack and very versatile.

It was actually pretty incredible I almost had more cilantro spread than actual chicken nuggets. J You could pretty much use this on anything; fish, burgers, crackers, sandwiches and much more. Hope you enjoy.

Easy Macaroons

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 2 March, 2013 No comment

I absolutely love coconut. After doing a dinner party and my girlfriend made macaroons I was asking for the recipe because I could eat a whole batch in one sitting. Yummy!

Super simple! Quick evening sweet snack when you have nothing left in the house. Also healthier than store bought and they don’t have high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

1 1/3 cup sweetened Coconut
1/3 cup sugar
2 egg whites
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
Chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven 375

Mix all ingredients together and drop small bites on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, until lightly browned on top.

If you enjoy a little chocolate on your macaroons you can top with a chocolate chip prior to baking, or melt some chocolate chips and drizzle over the top after baking.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 28 February, 2013 No comment

The hunt for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe has been ongoing for years, although I think I may have already captured it years ago. I have tried so many recipes for chocolate chip cookies. Every time I try a new one I am annoyed I even thought to attempt another recipe. I have a great recipe and yet I am always looking for something “better.”

Tonight I tried a recipe that is a Paradise Bakery copycat. Although they do have good cookies, I was actually not thoroughly impressed. It made roughly about 18 cookies; they were alright, nothing special about them. I must say no matter what recipes I try I am still stuck with my Betty Crocker Recipe that I have made for years and adapted to make it my own. They always gets compliments and asked to be made multiple times. The only thing that has come close would be my Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie recipe, that is a delicious recipe but I have never attempted this recipe without the Oreos in fear that I will not be as impressed once again. The trick to Betty Crocker’s recipe is that you beat the mixture until fluffy before adding the flour. This trick literally makes the difference every time. I tried it tonight with the Paradise Bakery recipe and was left with no success.

Ingredients

¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened (I almost melt the butter entirely but leave a couple chunks)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I omit this)
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (I usually only use about 1 cup or half the bag due to the fact I think less is better, my husband would disagree and go for 2 cups)

Preheat oven to 375

Combine the first three ingredients and beat very well. Add vanilla and egg and beat until fluffy. This is the trick; you must beat until fluffy 1-2 minutes. Mixture should turn whiter. Once fluffy and white, add the flour and beat another 1-2 minutes. Now you may add the remaining ingredients and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes. I bake exactly 8 minutes. My oven does not overcook at 8 minutes and they may look as if they need another minute or two, but as soon as you pull them out of the oven they will cook another minute or two on the cookie sheet so be sure not to overcook.

Let them cool just enough so that you can transfer to a wire rack or cookie platter. In the mean time you may sneak a couple bites and see if they make your taste buds happy. :)

I must say these are the best, yet most simple recipe. I am not sure as to why I keep making different recipes but after tonight I was very unhappy with them and won’t be making them again. This is the exact reason I had to come and write about Betty Crocker because they just do not compare.

S-E-X

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 19 February, 2013 No comment

Oh how I love my husband. He is such a great, strong handsome man. I mean truly, the love I have for him is incredible as each day passes. I’ve learned to embrace each day with him and be thankful even for his little quirks; even the ones I may not adore. I have been involved with a woman’s bible study at our church and the session I choose this time around was “marriage.” I mean how good could a study on marriage truly be? I wasn’t quite sure. But being that we are new parents and trying to hold tightly to our marriage in the midst of learning the ins and outs of parenthood, I wasn’t about to let our marriage fall to the wayside or become second best. So, why not give it a whirl. Boy has it been a whirlwind alright. I had never thought “Christian” marriages could be so full of delight, laughter, honesty, and accountability.

Let me say a couple things. The honesty in the gal who leads the study is pretty outstanding. She is very honest and flat out tells you to pursue your husband even when you don’t want to, don’t feel it, and know he doesn’t deserve it. The one step a wife can take is to do ‘the next right thing.” We talk about the difference in our personalities and the role of us as a wife. It’s huge, we think our men take for granted all the work we do or we don’t do quite enough. But reality is, we can make our marriage thrive, we hold a lot of power in this. It’s quite amazing how you take tiny little steps but to our men it is huge.

We talked about sex last week. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a “church” bible study but the honesty again blew my mind away. God created sex and created it for the purpose of pleasure between a husband and a wife. He saw it as good. When you think about God creating this for His purpose it kind of threw my mind for a loop. The gal said every time we “reject” our husbands of sex we are allowing them to feel that rejection and take it personally. We want our husbands to feel wanted and admired; sex helps accomplish this for men. I think we have all heard this before, but the way it can help grow, rekindle and harness a marriage is how we need to think about it. This is the closest bonding you can have with your spouse. Communication is huge and definitely needed, but when it comes to sex it goes a step further, that words cannot grasp.

I wasn’t quite sure I was going to talk about “sex” but why hold back now. It seems to be the elephant in the room that is embarrassing to talk about. How dare we talk about it, but let’s face it, we have little kids so something got figured out. I enjoyed the fact that at a bible study, reality was actually addressed, not sugar coated, downplayed, or an embarrassment. All of our men filled out three questions that were straight to the point of what our men need from their wives. Out of a group of 60 or so women, the answers all lined up to be the same point. Pursue your husbands. Make them feel confident, have sex with them and more. And in this group of “Christian” women there are many marriages that are struggling, women sleeping in different rooms than their husband, some haven’t had sex in over 6 months, communication is gone, etc. Whatever the case, the reality is that even “Christian” marriages go through ups and downs. We all think you have to put a smile on your face because if you are a Christian your marriage should be perfect. This is absolutely false. We are on the battlefield and will have struggles and issues and it’s how we choose to handle them. Pursuing our men is the beginning step to bonding and harnessing the marriages we are currently in.

I’m trying to gain perspective and when I get annoyed by something little my husband does or says, I am trying to remember that life happens. We get cranky, have bad days, and say the wrong thing. This is ok, it’s how I choose to respond and handle it. Although I haven’t even been married a year I am trying to learn the basis of a strong, healthy marriage and apply any knowledge I can gain from women who have been through this years longer than I.

Our first year of marriage hasn’t been the easiest. It is not your typical honeymoon phase some couples go through, we got pregnant out of wedlock and you can imagine this would change the dynamics a bit. I love my husband more than life itself and will always be willing to grow, change and adapt with him.

Moment of Truth:

Do the next right thing!

Spicy Sausage Stew with Eggs

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 18 February, 2013 No comment

This recipe may be more like 30 minutes rather then 15, but definitely a quick meal.

I saw this recipe today and it looked very good. A perfect meal for a cloudy day. I always like making soup and stews but my husband gets sick of them come fall; this is a great twist on stew.

Ingredients:

½ lb Italian sausage
Onion, chopped
Minced garlic
Serrano pepper, chopped
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups chicken broth
Cumin
Coriander
Chili powder
Salt
Egg

Cook meat in a saucepan and add onion, garlic, peppers, 1 can black beans and seasonings.

Puree remaining can of black beans and chicken broth; this will make the base for the stew. Add to sauce pan and heat through.

Toppings: (you can add anything you like or have on hand)

Tortilla chips
Cheese (any kind you like)
Green onions
Fresh cilantro
Avocado
Pickled Jalapeño Peppers
Fresh Lime

(Adapted from Rachael Ray)

Fill soup bowl with tortilla chips, add stew, and top with cheese, avocado, green onions, cilantro, tomato, fresh lime juice and top with fried or poached egg.

Super simple yet super delicious. You can make is more spicy or less depending on the likes of the family.

Homemade Chips

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 23 January, 2013 No comment

My husband absolutely loves homemade chips. He begs for them often, although I don’t prefer to make them because it takes time and splatters oil all over my tea kettle. Couldn’t I move the kettle you ask, of course but the reality is it makes a mess that I don’t like. Truth be told, if I tell him I hate making them, most the time I can get him to do it. What a good man! :)

These are super easy but you have to be patient and let them crisp up which takes a little time. It also takes longer if you are like us, and have no portion control and can eat a whole batch in one sitting. These chips do not last in our house for more than one meal unless we literally make a whole bag full of corn tortillas.

Ingredients:

Corn Tortillas
1 cup Oil (which ever type you prefer, I use vegetable or coconut)

In a saucepan add a thick layer of oil and heat on med-low heat. Don’t turn the heat on too high because this will add to the splatter and over cook the chips very quickly. Cut the tortilla circles the same as you would cut a pie. Once the oil is heated through add tortillas to the skillet and flip when golden brown.