Baby Announcement

I had an amazing water birth at home on Friday June 3rd with a midwife. A short 6 ½ hour labor and at 4:23AM my husband delivered our son, Quinton. He weighed 7 pounds and was 20 ¾ inches long. He has the most hair out of any of my babies and the darkest too. He has an olive complexion. He was so alert when he came out looking around at everything. Such a cute content baby boy. He has two older brothers and one sister. They love him a little too much. I feel awesome.

Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I got this from "The Girl Who Ate Everything" today. This slow cooker recipe was so easy-only 3 ingredients: pork, root beer, and barbecue sauce. Mmm...mmm...good.

Ingredients:

1 (2-3lb) pork tenderloin (pork shoulder or butt can also be used)

1 (12 oz) can of root beer

1 (18 oz) bottle of barbecue sauce

8 hamburger buns

Directions:

PLACE the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker and pour the can of root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or until pork shreds easily with a fork.

REMOVE the pork when finished cooking, place in bowl, and shred.

DRAIN and discard the root beer then place shredded pork back into slow cooker.

POUR the barbecue sauce over the pork and stir to combine. Serve immediately or keep warm in slow cooker until ready to serve. Serve on hamburger buns.

Gina's Tips:

I used a 3 pound pork butt roast and simply removed the fat after it was done cooking. You could use a leaner pork tenderloin; it makes shredding easier because there's no need to separate the meat from the fat. The root beer acts as a tenderizer and after soaking in it all day, the pork practically melts in your mouth. I also added 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and sprinkled salt and pepper on it in the slow cooker. We served it with fresh cantaloupe, salt and cracked pepper chips, and root beer. Then for dessert—ice cream cones.

Star Swiss Enchiladas

These are known as Enchilada Suizas or Green Chile Enchiladas. It has a green (white) sauce instead of a red sauce. I think Swiss cheese is used in some recipes. I didn't take a picture, instead I looked for a similar one on the internet. This is my mom's recipe and she makes them casserole style in an 8x8 pan.

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked shredded chicken

1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles

1 tsp salt

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese

1 (10 oz ) can green chile enchilada sauce

1 (5 oz ) can evaporated milk or heavy cream

12 corn tortillas

Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Green onions, chopped

Cilantro

Directions:

MIX chicken, chiles, salt, and cream cheese.

COMBINE enchilada sauce and evaporated milk/heavy cream.

SPREAD chicken mixture in each tortilla and place in 9x13 pan. (It makes 8 enchiladas.)

POUR enchilada sauce mixture on top.

SPRINKLE cheese and green onions on top.

BAKE at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, refried beans, chips and salsa.

Gina's Tips:

I thought this might be too spicy for my kids but I think because I added the cream cheese to my mom's recipe it made it creamy and less spicy. They didn't even notice the green chiles in it either. I used heavy cream instead of evaporated milk. I had a 16 oz can of green chile enchilada sauce and 1 cup of heavy cream. I used flour tortillas too. You can add cilantro if you wish.

ALTERNATE METHOD:

Soften tortillas, place in microwave with wet paper towel, then place on bottom of 8x8 baking pan.

Spread chicken mixture and sprinkle some cheese on top.

Layer more tortillas, then pour enchilada sauce and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake as usual.

Santa Fe Enchiladas

I have been trying recipes from the new Philadelphia cooking cremes. They have recipes on the website http://cookphilly.com. The four different cooking cremes are: Italian Cheese & Herb, Original, Santa Fe Blend, and Savory Garlic. I have tried several recipes already; I will post them sometime. They are quick recipes which I like but I wish the flavors were bolder.

Prep Time: 15 min

Total Time: 35 min

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp oil

3 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts

1 (14.5 oz) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained

1 (10 oz) tub PHILADELPHIA Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme, divided

1/2 cup Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese

8 flour tortillas (6 inch)

Directions:

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COOK and stir onions in hot oil in large skillet on medium heat 4 to 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Stir in chicken, tomatoes, 3/4 cup cooking creme and shredded cheese.

SPOON about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; top with remaining cooking creme. Cover.

BAKE 15 to 20 min. or until heated through.

Gina's Tips:

I baked the enchiladas uncovered. I spread red enchilada sauce over the top of the enchiladas along with the remaining cooking creme. Then I topped them off with more shredded cheese. I thought it could use more salt-FLAVOR. You might want to use diced tomatoes with salt.

My own chicken enchilada recipe is similar but has a bold flavor. I use an 8 oz package of cream cheese that I mix in with the chicken, along with some red enchilada sauce. I mix in a small can of sliced black olives too. Top with red enchilada sauce and a blend of Mexican cheeses. Omit the onion, cooking creme, and diced tomatoes in the ingredients.

Mexican Food

Mexican food is my FAVORITE! Chimichangas and enchiladas are at the top of my list. I love tortilla chips and fresh salsa, refried beans, guacamole, all the cheeses and sauces. There are so many bold flavors. I judge a Mexican restaurant by the taste of their guacamole first. If that's bland then how can anything else be good on the menu? Lately I have been into cooking enchiladas so I will have several different enchilada recipes posted. I want to learn more chimichanga recipes next.

Spacing

For some reason blogger is spacing out my writing and it's really annoying. I try to fix it and nothing works.

French Toast Bake

Yet another recipe I saw on "The Girl Who Ate Everything." It looked irresistible so I had to try it. This recipe can is made the night before, then in the morning—pop it in the oven. The original recipe is called Overnight French Toast Casserole but it turned me off seeing the word "casserole" with "French Toast" so I changed it to appeal to me. I think this would be a great breakfast tradition for a holiday like Easter coming up, or Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. It was gourmet French Toast. Yum.

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/02/overnight-french-toast-casserole.html

Prep Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 4 hours

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

1/4 cup (4 TBSP) butter, melted

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 loaf Challah, braided bread (French toast can also be sliced 1 1/2 inches thick)

8 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup whole milk

1 TBSP vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 cup pecans, measured then chopped

1/8 tsp salt

(optional) maple syrup and powdered sugar for topping

Directions:

MIX brown sugar and melted butter in small bowl and pour on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.

ARRANGE slices of bread in the baking dish overlapping if necessary.

COMBINE milk, eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a bowl and pour evenly over bread slices.

SPRINKLE chopped pecans over bread slices.

WRAP tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 4-12 hours.

In the morning…

REMOVE the casserole from the fridge for at least 10 minutes while you are preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

BAKE casserole for 30-35 minutes. If top starts browning too quickly place a foil loosely over the top of the casserole for the last 10 minutes or so. You want it to cook long enough to make sure the bottom part is cooked but don't dry it out completely.

REMOVE casserole from oven and let it cool slightly before serving. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup.