Enchiladas of deliciousness: made in Jan, posted in March.

 A few years ago, we went to a gay prom hosted by Stoli downtown.

This happiness? This is sort of what it feels like to eat these enchiladas.

Or maybe what it feels like to be a boy band at the height of their fame. 

Tomato, tomahto.

You know what makes you feel good? 

Making enchilidas - another Kelly Recipe - and nailing it on the first try, according to the ravenous boys who are the reason there is no photo of said enchiladas. 

Which means, I suppose, I will have to make more. Many, many more at the same time. So we can eat and have leftovers, which didn't reeeeeally work out so well this time. 

Talk about simple! Check this out.

The ants go marching one by one: 

- two chicken breasts
- basil
- pepper (or, even better, lemon-pepper!) 
- any other seasoning you like, I used a garlicky one from The Spice House
- one package of fluffy flour tortillas  (mine were a twelve count, I used eleven)
- two jar of green salsa (optional: you may use green enchilada sauce. my store was out.) 
- one package of Mexican cheese blend, shredded (or just go get all the delicious cheeses you want! this was budget night. and easy, I-just-worked-a-shift-from-hell night)
- sliced black olives. one can. 
- avocado, sour cream, whatever you like.



Rub the spices on the chicken breasts, then toss those babies in a steamer. Woosh! Steam until cooked through. Use two forks and shred the chicken, then dump in most of a jar of salsa. Make sure all the chicken is coated. 


Now, what you need to do is get a pan, feel free to pour a little salsa on the bottom. Take a tortilla and put some of the salsa-fied chicken with a sprinkle of cheese in it. Roll up tightly, like a cigar, and then place it in the pan. Continue until you have gone through them all or, you know, you're sick of it. You should tightly pack them in together and pour more salsa on top, then coat with cheese.


This isn't what I'd call "healthy". 


Sprinkle the olives on top and then tent some foil over it. Cook in the oven for about twenty minutes, then remove foil and cook for maybe ten more. The cheese will be all melty and browned. Your kitchen will smell amazing. It will probably smell amazing during the steaming-chicken-phase, but that's to be expected.


Dodge those who are about to shove you out the window by the stove in order to get to this. 

Then, enjoy your share. I hope you got it first.

Peanut Butter Pie with a Pretzel Crust. You know you love me.

 The single serving size, if you ask me. Oh so delicious.

I made this a while ago (oh, hello theme) but, clearly, never got around to posting the recipe. I'm not sure why.

The recipe was delicious! I'd been wanting pie for ages (and, in fact, want pie right now. oh man and I have some reeeeeally awesome pie recipes I'd like to try so I'm relatively certain that when Pie Making Fever hits, nobody is gonna want the cure) and was perusing the world wide web for new ideas. And lo, there it was. Peanut Butter Banana Pie! With a pretzel crust! How delicious sounding!

The original recipe was found on Once A Chef Always A Chef. And to see it, you should click that link.


Now. That pie looked real good and I have no doubt at all that it was, but it wasn't the pie I made exactly. No, I tinkered a little - such as there were no bananas. I like bananas. I don't think anyone here doesn't, but we didn't have any, and that usually ends the discussion at eleven at night when I will be damned if I am going over to Jewel for something like bananas.


That and some other small changes and I still was pretty pleased with my pie. Was it everything I wanted? Well. I've been wanting either a coconut cream pie or, you know, a coconut cream pie (or, lately, for me to discover a way to make a Fiona Apple Pie that totally makes sense for it to be called that and not just an apple pie cleverly named and by golly, I'ma gonna find a way...) so in that respect, no. Because it wasn't a coconut cream pie. But I adored it and it was happily devoured by all. So I'm going to go with Success on this one.

Also, this crust is freakin' amazing.

Crust:

- 2 1/2 cups pretzels, crushed. Like, really really really crushed up. Don't skimp on this. It matters. You don't want chunks.
- 3 TBS brown sugar (that was my intention. it became molasses/white sugar. with a little more molasses. see: previous comment about the damn Jewel)
- a dash of vanilla (optional.)
- 3/4 cup melted butter


Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Delicious, hmm? Save a little for crumbling on the top of the pie if you like. Spread in pie pan, keeping it even and working all up the sides. I had enough for what I imagine is a standard sized pie pan (not deep dish) and two little tartlets. Oh, god, the adorableness...

Anyway. You'll want to chuck those babies (gently) in a 350 F oven for around ten minutes. Let the crust completely cool before you fill it with the delicious filling.

The Delicious Filling:

- 3/4 cups creamy peanut butter
- one package of cream cheese at room temp (three oz)
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- one container of whipped topping (twelve oz), thawed (okay, here I used spray whipped topping. because I am allergic to CoolWhip. I'm sorry. No, I really am, I really want to eat some of that right now.)


Combine the peanut butter and the cream cheese. Add about a third of the whipped topping and the powdered sugar and beat that mixture like a redheaded step-child. (you do know I'm a redhead, right? so I can say that.) You want a smooth blended peanut butter delight, so do this right. Then sweetly fold in the rest of the whipped topping until they all get along. Put in the crust.

You can top this with whatever you want or add something in the middle like, well, the original recipe said bananas but I imagine loads of things would work. Anything chocolatey would have been a great welcome, but that's just me. This doesn't even need it.

Just like it didn't need the extra whipped topping I ate on top of it. But, oh man, did I ever.

Chill the pie for a few hours before serving. Overnight, if you like. It's totally fine.

Either way, you're gonna really like this. I'm imagining.

Dorie's Brioche, sort of.

You are all about to finally receive the tale of the time I made brioche.

You lucky devils.

Night-owls of the world, hear my cry!

No, just kidding, I've not been in the kitchen for anything longer than a cup of coffee that I didn't even brew myself today, there have been no late night baking. I did have my hair dyed and will of course now pimp out catwalk! and the amazing colorist, one SJ. Chicagoans, you should check it out. And not only do the fine folks of catwalk! (not just a salon, also a gallery and performance space and all of that) not even know that I am saying they are awesome, but I'm certain they have no idea that I even have this blog. So. It's a real shout out.


But I meant to post this recipe for brioche forever ago and I didn't, so, I suck and would like to remedy that and seeing as how I can't sleep (though, weirdly, last night I totally just dreamed that I couldn't fall asleep - the entire dream was me "trying to sleep"), it was the perfect time! But I mean, I'd forgotten where I found the recipe and then kept forgetting and WELL here it is now. No harm.

If I had the mind to, I'd make some these for the morning seeing as how I'm maybe-possibly going to go to an early morning meditation class. A two hour meditation class, I think, offered for free. I should really be more exciting. Which, of course, brings us back to the brioche!

This is insanely delicious. I need to make this all the time, until mine look as awesome as the original picture. Then again, Dorie Greenspan - the bringer of this delicious treat - probably followed her own directions better than I did. But for someone who has been always quite nervous with yeast, I'd say that it was a gentler introduction than I expected.

Between this and the pita? I'm totally ready for bread-baking. I'm not even going to lie about how exciting that is. (see previous: be more exciting note)

LOOK AT THE YEASTY MIXTURE GETTING ALL YEASTY
OH IT IS SO IMPRESSIVE

Look. We were broke then and had Canadian Club. 

You have all seen enough snaps here to know that we generally drink Segram's 7. Or something Irish. Or. Well, clearly or this.

Here is a link to Dorie's helpful Brioche Made Easy tips, as published in Bon Appetit. And, um, I will admit to not really following about half of those. Overnight? I wanted brioche right then! It is entirely my fault that I did not achieve the heights of the recipe I am about to give you.

But, seriously, it was unbelievably delicious. I can not even tell you. Oh, my goodness. Not as airy because I didn't listen properly (a mistake I shan't repeat again) but insanely tasty and we devoured it so quickly I was glad I'd gotten any photos at all. I made mine a little extra vanilla-y. Naturally.

Without further ado: Dorie Greenspan's as-published-in Bon Appetit October 2009 - Bubble-Top Brioches

Delicious Ingredients:  

- 1/4 cup warm water (110°F to 115°F)
- 1/4 cup warm whole milk (110°F to 115°F)
- 3 teaspoons active dry yeast (measured from two 1/4-ounce envelopes)
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 large egg beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze)

Preparation 

 Combine 1/4 cup warm water and warm milk in bowl of heavy-duty mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Sprinkle yeast over and stir to moisten evenly. Let stand until yeast dissolves, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.

Add flour and salt to yeast mixture. Blend at medium-low speed until shaggy lumps form, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, 1 to 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in sugar. Increase mixer speed to medium; beat until dough is smooth, about 3 minutes.

Reduce speed to low. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until blended after each addition, about 4 minutes (dough will be soft and silky). Increase speed to medium-high and beat until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and climbs paddle, 8 to 9 minutes.

Lightly butter large bowl. Scrape dough into bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.

Gently deflate dough by lifting around edges, then letting dough fall back into bowl, turning bowl and repeating as needed. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill, deflating dough in same way every 30 minutes until dough stops rising, about 2 hours. Chill overnight. (At this point, use the dough to make 12 brioches, or 6 brioches and 1 tart, or 2 tarts.)

Butter 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces; cut each piece into thirds. Roll each small piece between palms into ball. Place 3 balls in each prepared cup (dough will fill cup).
Place muffin pan in warm draft-free area; lay sheet of waxed paper over. Let dough rise until light and almost doubled (dough will rise 1/2 inch to 1 inch above top rim of muffin cups), 50 to 60 minutes.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F. Place muffin pan on rimmed baking sheet. Gently brush egg glaze over risen dough, being careful that glaze does not drip between dough and pan (which can prevent full expansion in oven).

Bake brioches until golden brown, covering with foil if browning too quickly, about 20 minutes. Transfer pan to rack. Cool 10 minutes. Remove brioches from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Kitchenry's Note: I suggest serving with delicious butter melting on it. Just saying. I mean. Look at that? 

I woke up my roommate with a plate like this. Let me tell you, I never wake this boy up if possible to avoid. It's, well, it's scary - he gets very cranky. But not this time. No time to be cranky when eating fresh from the oven buttered brioche. (or, arguably, anything fresh from the oven) 

I hope you guys enjoy them!

Spring is coming! Lemony Creamy Chickeny Pasta. Y.

M

The delicious Amish noodles, all nice and spinached.

You probably don't know this or, you know, maybe you do - who am I to say what you do or don't know - but I have a soft spot for Amish things. I mean, who doesn't, but I did exist in a world where Amish things weren't exactly an unknown as a smaller version of myself. So it was no wonder when I came across Amish Homestyle Noodles the other day at the store that I leapt at it. Especially since I had just been a little let down by the Chicago French Market.

Sorry, CFM. You were pretty cool, I had fun, but you lied to me. I'll forgive you, but only begrudgingly. And maybe only if you get that freakin' pasta stand in there that I was so excited for. I had some pretty big dreams for that pasta I hadn't seen yet and, well, I didn't let those dreams die. Oh no. I just snapped up those Amish noodles and trekked on home to see what I could do with my dreams and noodles.

As it turned out, I could make a pretty insanely delicious Lemony Chicken Pasta with Cream Sauce.

Seriously, I was really pleased with myself and may or may not have advertised the left overs.
As in, I did not say "oh, there is pasta in the fridge" because I wanted it for lunch the next day.

This was another of my standard "let's see what happens" things where, I mean, clearly I kind of knew what would happen but there was certainly room for error and improvement so I'm only going to give really rough measurements because, honestly, that's how I was doing it.

I plan on making more, though, and then will pay more attention. See, gentle readers, what I do for you?

Oh man I just want to eat this so badly. 

Aaaaaah the deliciousness! 

The Items:
- two chicken breasts (or whatever, it's your chicken), cut into bite sized chunks
- handful of mushrooms, sliced (or quartered, if you like bigger bits)
- cherry tomato, as many as you please! (mine were sliced in half)
- one courgette, sliced
- spinach, rinsed and torn up
- half an onion, chopped
- a lemon, halved
- two-three cloves of garlic, diced nice'n'small
- about half a cup of white wine (I used much of a single-serving bottle)
- 3/4 cup (maybe? I'm really just guessing) heavy cream (or half and half, we just happened to have the cream)
- butter, pepper, salt, basil, etc, olive oil

- pasta. Amish! Or any other kind at all!  I'd wanted a basil pasta for this, I'll be honest.

The Instructions:

Boil the water for the pasta, follow directions. When the pasta is finished, drain and add spinach and stir with a touch of butter. It'll wilt the spinach a bit.

Put a bit of olive oil and butter in a pan and let heat up, then add the onion and garlic, cook for a minute. Add in the chicken and season with pepper, a little salt, and plenty of basil. If you'd like to use another seasoning, then you ought to do so. Squeeze in half of a lemon - watch out for seeds! When the chicken is just cooked through (five minutes, probs), then chuck in the veg (save the tomato) and cook up. Add some of the wine, stir, let cook. Add tomato, the rest of your wine, the cream, and the rest of the lemon (still watching out for seeds).

Check flavors, let reduce, add to pasta. All in all this can be done in I'd say under an hour. It's super easy and super delicious and seriously I love it. I wish I'd had fresh basil or some bell peppers, but did not have those things. I ate mine with some french bread because, damn it, I love me some sauced-up bread. This tastes like spring, I'm not even kidding.

Sláinte! Irish Stew from Chi-reland!

 Soupier than yours should look.

Unless you want it to be soupier. Then have at.

Didn't I just say something about not eating a lot of red meat? I'm fairly certain I did and, in all honesty, that was true. In fact, if this were last year I wouldn't be eating it at all as I'd called it quits on cows and such for somewhere around two years.And yet, here we are, with yet another red-meat-recipe.

At least I was better at being a pollotarian that I was a vegetarian. Yikes. "No, no, I'm not eating meat right now...oh, this is a chicken salad bagel with bacon on it? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!" (oh, the things we do in relationships...that we will never, ever do again...)

At any rate. It is St Patrick's Day and that meant I ought to do something Irish for y'all. (must. stop. with. the. y'all-ing.) I don't know what I was planning on (lies, I totally know) but I do know it was awesome (not lies) and totally would have slaaaayed. I'll just have to go through my delicious Irish cookbook another time though because I did this instead.

And how did Irish Stew come into the world here? Well. Jamison is on sale at the grocery store if you get a beef product and, as happens, they don't check to make sure you HAVE said beef product if you do self-checkout. Unless you get the over-zealous self-checkout woman who wants to be sure you know how to scan a coupon and she reminds you to get your beef product. I then hunted for the absolute cheapest thing I could find.

Then I got home and remembered that as a ginger-haired, celtic-inked, whiskey-lovin' Irish lass, I totally have potatoes in my kitchen. And that, yes, Irish Stew practically requires it to be wicked cheap meat.

Also, it tends to ask that said meat be lamb or mutton (grown up lamb!) but I didn't have that and, well, I don't really like to cook lamb. The raw lamb feel? Blargh.

Okay, well, anyway, I decided to try my hand at an Irish stew with a few memories of Irish people I know who made this or talked about this. Sadly, I had no parsnips to include or cabbage or stout or whatever. But I threw it together!

- the packet of cheap stew-level beef (it was less than a pound)
- one cup veg broth
- half cup red wine
- olive oil
- butter
- handful of chopped mushrooms
- one small-medium onion, sliced in half-moon style
- two cloves garlic, diced
- three bay leaves
- three carrots, sliced up into soup sized bits
- three potatoes, chopped up into soup sized chops
- basil, pepper, salt, hint of lemon, a little thyme
- some of that butter-flour roux that you do without cooking it. you know. (a tablespoon of softened butter mixed with two tablespoons of flour to get a sort of crumbly pasty mix.)

Now. I marinated the beef overnight in some oil, with some basil and some garlicky-lemony seasoning. How's that for planning!

Now. Heat up some oil and butter in the bottom of your pot. Add onion and garlic and let soften a bit, then chuck in beef to brown up and cook a bit. About, oh, seven to ten minutes later add a splash of the wine and stir some more. Chuck in the veg, let cook up to a largely softened space. Season with the pepper, basil, etc etc (whichever you like!). Then add the stock and the red wine - if you have an Irish stout that you like or, you know, tolerate, I suggest adding some of that with the wine and stock - just lessen the amount of stock or wine. (may I suggest lessening the stock?)

Chuck in bay leaves, add a little pepper, stir, slap a lid on there, and cook a while. About twenty minutes in, maybe, crumble in the raw-roux and stir swiftly to avoid any gross clumps. Unless, of course, you like them. Then I apologize for mocking.

Lid back on! Cook longer! You want this to reduce down to a delicious stew. Once it does this to your liking, fish out the bay leaves and serve with bread. Soda bread, even, if you've that.

A NOTE.

Irish Soda Bread? Doesn't have rasins. I'm really sorry to tell you this. Traditionally speaking, that is a railway cake. I mean, call if what you want and enjoy it, but facts are facts, yo.

Also. I, um, maybe didn't wait for my stew to reduce. But I was hungry, it was midnight (I work late, I get home late, I eat late...) and by god, I don't even care.

It was pretty tasty, I'll say that. Not like the best thing I've ever done but I did eat two bowls (too much! slept so well!).

Happy St. Patrick's Day, guys!

Rest assured, I'll be celebrating after work. Sláinte!

Shepard's Pie or What I Did On Monday.

 Eat me! 

Because I'm ever so tasty! 

Then, go out and get some sheep and live on a farm where geese serenely watch me frolic in the daffodils.

HOW IDYLLIC.

I don't actually eat a lot of red meat, but I was wanting it pretty hardcore earlier this week and did what any self-respecting ginger does in the month of March. Or any time. Ever.

I covered it with mashed potato.

Yes, that's right, I made myself a delicious Shepard's Pie. First of all, I hadn't had one in ages (except a seafood one from Goddess & Grocer and holy quailman, was that delicious). Secondly, I've raved about my green Le Creuset baking dish and, well, any excuse to use that makes for a really fantastic day. Third, I'd had a really whatever weekend topped with being sick and cooking is super helpful for that sort of mood.

Not to mention, lately my cat has been freaking out any time I do anything involving chopping. She doesn't want an onion or even the chicken (people-food my cat eats: tuna, peppered thin-sliced deli chicken for a sammich, that's about it) - she just wants to be offered the people-food. She believes in manners and graciousness. Lyra is, after all, a lady.

If you wanted to know, said lady is currently curled up on my lap between me and my laptop. Also, I am listening to Patton Oswalt. I'm wearing a yellow Hello Kitty t-shirt with Japanese on it (which I hope says something like "I have no idea what this says!"). I figured as long as I was giving you lot useless information....

On to what you came here for!

I made a Shepard's Pie. It's not exactly traditional, but it was pretty delicious. Allow me to explain it for you! This made enough for my baking dish. I probably could have done this a little differently. BUT I DID NOT. (next time, less potato, so, keep that in mind?)

Ingredients:

Mashed Taters (use your favorite recipe!)

- ground beef (traditionally lamb, I would like to try ground turkey or chicken or maybe a seitain! mmm. vegetarian.)
- five mushrooms, sliced
- half a can of diced tomato
- a small chopped onion
- two carrots, sliced
- several cloves of garlic, sliced and chopped
- pepper, salt, basil, spices (for some reason, I wanted tarragon. I don't even know. I've never said that before.)
- one cup of broth (beef or veg - I maybe used chicken because I had it.)
- a bay leaf
- may I suggest some peas? I did not use them as my roommate dislikes them (!!) but next time I will anyway 'cause WHATEVER I enjoy them.

Now.

The garlic and onion and carrots go in first, in a little oil. Season a little. Cook until the carrot is nearing tender. Then chuck in the meat, cook up a bit. Add tomato, mushrooms, peas. Then the broth! Naturally, season a little more and the bay leaf and let it cook down. I may or may not have gotten hungry and given up near the end - you should be a little more patient than I am.

Pour into your baking dish. Cover in delicious mashed potato. My mashed potato was simply some boiled potato, some milk, enough butter, some Vulcan Fire Salt, some Shallot-Pepper, and some cheese.

I love cheese!

Pop it into your 350 F degree oven.

Let the potato get a little toasty and then let it cool a little and CHOW DOWN. I found this really delicious. I want to perfect it.

You'll all be so thrilled! Still. I really liked it. I even ate it cold today and it was so tasty. I bet wine would be a good addition. (duh.)

PLEASE READ WHAT I WROTE UNDER THIS

THIS IS NOT A THOUSAND MILLION JILLION CALORIES
Also - my cell phone pictures are getting better!

Also. If you leave stock in your meat when you put it in your dish (note to self: this recipe could be written to sound so dirty - I suspect. I don't know. Um. Moving on.) - you get the pools of broth that make it look like oil. This didn't have that much oil! Not really!

Not that this is, you know, healthy per say.

Enjoy!

This is not a cupcake recipe. (no, really, it isn't.)

 

I'm delicious!

Find me! I'm in the blog!

Not this post though. This is a trick. Damn, Beth, damn her tricksy ways. 

Well, I haven't been posting anything, but there are multiple reasons!

A) I work a lot.
B) I went to Memphis! I ate po'boys and biscuits pretty much every day. Blackened chicken! BBQ Shrimp! So happy!
C) I've been recycling recipes the past week. I've done a stir-fry (not tipsy chicken, but still delicious) and Lock It Down Curry, this style of cooking, and I tried my hand at another chicken tender tonight (not a fail, in fact delicious, but also not really something to post home about in the sense of amazing chicken tenders SO, that's that there), and sometimes - when I'm being particularly sassy - I just make, say, a biscuit. From a can. And then I eat it. With butter. Maybe honey.

Though since Memphis, everything is usually brimming with veggies. Delicious! I love veggies.

Those are good reasons!

Still. I'm trying to post, you know, more frequently. But I'm working on it! You guys aren't sending me hate letters based on my cell phone pics of food, so, onward and upward as they say!

'Cause, oh my! The ideas I have!