Creamy Cheesy Enchiladas

This is an enchilada for when what you really want is 80+% nice creamy cheese sauce, 20-% enchilada. You could of course adapt this to have a more hearty filling (that's what Michelle would do - there would probably be more vegetables involved and it would be awesome), but Linda and I wanted something warm and cheesy. 

My mom, her best friend and her friend's daughter, whom we've known for about 20 years, came over for dinner and to check out our apartment, which is still kind of new to us since we moved in mid-July. I got home from work at about 5:15 and they were coming to eat at 6:30, so I wanted to make a dinner without much prep. Butternut squash soup, rice and these enchiladas soup fit the bill.

For more traditional-ish or different enchiladas, try:

Vegetarian Enchiladas with Mole Sauce
Enchiladas with Mango Sauce
Pumpkin Enchiladas with Green Tomato Sauce
Pumpkin Enchiladas

And for normal enchiladas, make your own enchilada sauce.


Creamy Cheesy Enchiladas
Adapted from the Pioneer Woman

2-1/2 cups Cooked, Shredded Chicken

2 cups chicken broth

3 Tablespoons canola oil

12 whole corn tortillas

1 whole onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

3 whole 4 oz cans whole green chilies, diced (I didn't include these this time - apparently canned chilies are a seasonal food at TJ's - have to make way for all the pumpkin..)

1 whole jalapeno, seeded and finely diced (Didn't include this either because my mom is very sensitive to spice - the rest of use just used hot sauce)

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour (I used gluten free flour for Linda and it worked fine)

1 cup sour cream

2-1/2 cups monterey jack cheese, grated

salt and pepper, to taste

hot sauce (optional)
cilantro, chopped

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

My family recently sent my younger sister a care package. It was Nick's idea really. Kelly and my mom contributed goodies from Sephora, my dad added chocolates from Germany, and I baked her cookies. Specifically pumpkin oatmeal chocolate butterscotch chip cookies. That's a mouthful! Anyways, she's living all the way out in sunny California and loved the package. We miss her lots and are so excited to have her back for Thanksgiving.

By the way, I was trying to get Rex out from under the table with the cookie though I didn't give it to him. He gets enough treats. My mom gave him a whole hot dog the other morning :) The recipe is from Taste of Home.

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

I cup pumpkin

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup butterscotch chips

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start with all room temperature ingredients! Cream the butter and sugars together in a large mixing bowl. Then add the egg, pumpkin, and vanilla and combine with a whisk. Combine the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl and stir with a fork. Then stir the dry ingredients into the wet in 3 parts. Then stir in the chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls about 1-2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

As soon as fall hits, I start making all things pumpkin. I like to go a little overboard. I've been seeing all different sorts of pumpkin spiced foods online - pumpkin peanut butter, yogurt, pasta, etc. I figure if you make this syrup you can basically turn anything pumpkin spiced. This is great for making pumpkin spice lattes (iced or hot), drizzled over pancakes or waffles, or even added to hot chocolate for some decadence. I found the recipe on The Messy Baker.

I made this for for my family right before we did an 8 mile corn maze in the dark. We had some little flashlights and the light of the moon to see. There was a food truck at the farm that served pumpkin funnel cake (topped with cinnamon sugar) and other treats. We made it through 2/3 of the maze before calling it a night so we finished up next to the bonfire with some hot chocolate. Rex decided to eat lots of corn during the adventure. We tried letting him lead us but he kept trying to go off the trail.

Pictured is the syrup plus two pumpkin spice steamers!

For the recipe you will need:

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/3 cup pumpkin purée

1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract 

Add the water and sugars to a saucepan over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer. Add the pumpkin and spices and simmer for 8 minutes gently. Don't let the mixture boil.* Then strain the mixture using a thin tea towel. Once cool, add the vanilla extract and store in the fridge. Add about 1-2 tbsp per latte.

*I let the mixture boil and then didn't strain the syrup. It becomes really thick this way and difficult to strain. If you decide to do this, you just have to add the syrup to the milk in a blender since the syrup won't dissolve completely otherwise.

Peach Tart

As it is peach season, I've been making this tart continuously. My family loves it and even if they didn't, I could eat it all on my own. I made this for the first time in the early stages of labor along with some slow roasted tomato sauce.
One month later I'm finally finishing this post. It's been a little hectic here and blogging hasn't really been on my mind. At least, I've been failing at taking pictures when I cook. In the future, there are some posts about apple butter, peach cobbler, and all things apple and pumpkin coming up.
Anyways, back to the recipe and feel free to substitute apples for peaches since it is now apple season. I found this on Sally's Baking Addiction and excluded the strawberries.

Ingredients:

For the filling-

3-4 firm peaches, sliced 

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/3 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the crust-

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter

ice water

1 egg, beaten for egg wash

Turbinado sugar for the crust

To make the crust, blend all the dry ingredients together. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or food processor. You want the mixture to resemble large, coarse crumbs. Add water one tablespoonful at a time and toss with a fork until the dough just comes together. Knead into a ball quickly, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

For the filling, toss peach slices with other ingredients in a medium bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. If the peaches are really ripe, add more cornstarch. Drain the liquid.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out the crust to about 10-12 inches in diameter on a floured surface. Place the peaches on the center in a pretty design leaving 2 inches of dough on the edge free. Fold over the edges. Brush with egg wash, then sprinkle the whole tart generously with the coarse sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool and serve with homemade whipped cream.