Mexican Chicken with Jalapeno popper sauce

This recipe came along just in time for my bumper crop of jalapenos. I found it on On my menu, where I find all kinds of great recipes. I was excited to try this one out and it lived up to all my expectations. Shane told me he wanted me to make it again. The next day I had more sauce and no more chicken but I was craving the sauce. So for breakfast I made myself an open faced scrambled egg sandwich with the sauce on top. It was soo good. I still have some sauce left and I can't wait to have the same breakfast tomorrow.

Ingredients:
3 Chicken Breasts
A Sprinkle of Cumin per Breast
A Sprinkle of Chili Powder per Breast
A Sprinkle of Salt per Breast
2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
3 Jalapenos, Seeded and Chopped
8 Oz. of Cream Cheese
2 Cups of Chicken Broth
3 Slices of Bacon
3/4 Cup of Shredded Cheddar or Colby Jack
1 Tbsp of Fresh Cilantro, chopped + more for garnish

Directions:
Fry bacon until crisp. Remove to paper towel-lined plate.
Sprinkle chicken with seasonings (I mixed 1 tsp of the cumin, chili, and salt together and then sprinkled that on the chicken) while the bacon crisps. Add the chicken to the hot bacon fat in the skillet. Cook chicken, turning every few minutes, until juices run clear and no longer pink. Remove from skillet and keep warm.
Add chopped jalapenos to the skillet and cook for a couple of minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds to a minute more, until fragrant.
Add chicken broth, deglazing pan. Bring to a boil.
Add cream cheese and stir until melted and smooth. Add in shredded cheese and bacon, stirring until the cheese in melted. Turn off heat and stir in cilantro.
Serve chicken on a bed of Mexican or Taco rice (I made cilantro lime rice) and topped with sauce. Garnish with additional cilantro if desired.

Jalapeno Snacks

Ingredients:
1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 (1oz) pkg dry ranch salad dressing mix
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
20 large jalapenos, halved and seeded
1 lb sliced bacon, cut in half

Directions:
Preheat to 400. Stir together the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, ranch dressing mix, and garlic powder in a mixing bowl until evenly blended. Spoon some of the cheese mixture into each jalapeno half, wrap with half a bacon strip, and secure with a toothpick (I didn't need to do this) Arrange the wrapped jalapeno halves onto a broiler pan (I put them on a cooling wrack on a sheet cake pan). Bake in oven until bacon is no longer pink and beginning to brown, about 20 minutes.

Yogurt Sauce on a Falafel Sandwich

I'm mainly posting for the yogurt sauce--it's the white stuff between the flat bread and the lettuce. This is a really yummy sandwich but there really isn't a recipe to it. I just had store bought falafels and flat bread. One day I may try to make them myself but I'm not up for it yet. In fact I barely tried a falafel this summer when I was visiting my sister in law and she made us these sandwiches. She found the recipe for the cucumber yogurt sauce on cooks.com. Which wow, I love this sauce so much. I've dipped veggies in it, put it on my quesadillas, and put it on these sandwiches. It's just kind of a great all around dip or sauce. I think what really wins it over for me is the cumin, I've realized I love the flavor of cumin. I've had this with the cucumbers added and without and it's great both ways.

Ingredients:
1/2 med. cucumber peeled, seeded & chopped fine
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cumin
1/8 tsp. ground pepper

Directions:
Stir all ingredients together and enjoy!

Rice, Spice, and Everything Nice Creme Brulee

My daughter entered into a local rice cooking contest and her dessert won 1st place! She worked for weeks coming up with and perfecting her recipe. After tasting it I thought the judges would be crazy if they didn't give her first place. Of course they weren't crazy and that is exactly what she got! Here is her award winning recipe.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups milk
½ cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ habanero pepper
3 tablespoons cocoa
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ cup cooked minute rice
1 egg, 2 egg yolks, beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter
4 tablespoons Turbinado sugar (Sugar in the raw)

Directions:
Put heavy cream, 1 cup of milk, ½ cup heavy cream, 1/3 cup sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and half a habanero pepper in saucepan. Cook on medium for 25 minutes, stirring often. Take out pepper and pour mixture into a handheld, fine mesh strainer. Pour back into another medium sauce pan, add 3 tablespoons cocoa, ¾ teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 ½ cup cooked minute rice. Cook on medium until thick and creamy. Add beaten eggs and ½ cup milk. Cook 2 minutes longer. Add ½ teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon butter. When butter is melted, put the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour through another handheld strainer to ensure that there isn’t any unblended rice left. Scoop into six 3 inch ramekins, cover in saran wrap and cool for 2 hours. Take off saran wrap, sprinkle 2 teaspoons of turbinado sugar on top of each evenly, and torch to caramelize. Enjoy!

Snickerdoodles

I should probably rename my blog to my favorite recipes from Allrecipes.com. Unless they are old recipes that is usually where they came from. I just really like their rating system and most of the recipes that are 4.5 to 5 stars are really fantastic. I always like to read the comments too because they give you some good ideas on how to tweak the recipe for the better. These are another 5 star rated cookie from that site and they are so yummy.


Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs, and vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls. Mix the 2 Tbsp sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8-10 min, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I got this recipe from my niece, Lia. She's kind of a picky eater so the recipes she post on her blog are usually pretty good. At least I haven't tried a bad one yet. These pancakes were very good and so great as I'm trying so hard to bring on my favorite season, Autumn. Even though it very much feels like summer still, I'm still going eat like it's fall. She had a buttermilk syrup with hers, but I didn't have buttermilk when I made the pancakes. Next time I plan to try it because Lia said it was really good.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup flour
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cup milk
4 eggs separated
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup canned pumpkin

Directions:
Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, salt, and brown sugar. Combine the pumpkin, milk, and egg yolks. Add the flour mixture and melted butter. Stir to blend. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks and fold into the batter to blend. Preheat griddle at 350. Pour batter and cook until richly browned

Sour Cream Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (you could use chicken too)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small can chopped green chiles

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 pint sour cream

shredded cheese

corn tortillas

1 T oil

Directions:

Brown ground beef. I cooked my onions with the beef but I think my mother in law just uses raw onion. Place chicken soup, chopped chiles, and sour cream in a saucepan and heat to boiling point. Meanwhile, place tortilla one at a time in hot oil, let fry just until hot, place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. On tortilla add sauce, cheese, onions, and meat. Roll tortillas and place in 9x13 baking pan. Pour leftover sauce over rolled tortillas, sprinkle with cheese. Place in 350 oven to heat through and cheese to melt.