Chili & Cornbread

I renamed this to be called Marvelous Beef Chili.  I'm a chili lover and am absolutely saving this recipe forever.  That's all.

This cornbread was very moist.  Surprisingly.  It was the first recipe I cooked out of the A Taste of Oregon cookbook we I received for our wedding and, in Mike's words, "didn't taste like any cornbread we'd ever had before."  It's sweeter than most but the most refreshing part of it was that it didn't taste like you were putting a spoonful of dry bread crumbs into your mouth.  Yes, I'm saving this one, too.  Taste of Oregon, you are 1 and 0!

Print the Chili recipe here.
Print the Cornbread recipe here.

Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

It's been well over 2 years since we ate this particular form of enchiladas but I still remember it clearly.  Our friends had us over for dinner and after we ate I knew I couldn't leave before obtaining a copy of Glenda's recipe.  Turns out it was from the Cooking Light magazine which is great - makes me feel healthier, right?  :)

After moving a few times since then, both domestically and internationally, turns out I hadn't lost the copy after all this time.  You might be surprised by that, but people who know me well probably wouldn't be!

I don't own a blender yet, so the sauce looks a little "chunkier" than the recipe calls for.  But it tastes the same!  I did utilize my awesome food chopper to practically mutilate the onion, so that was fun.

The sauce doesn't drench the enchiladas like some recipes call for, so if you like it SAUCY then definitely double the sauce portion.

I'd highly recommend serving this with some form of Mexican rice, black beans, tortilla chips, and lime.  And don't forget the salsa!

Oh, and definitely don't accidentally miss the "cooking spray" part of the recipe...or when you try to dish them up, they will look like this:

Print recipe here.

Taco-Spiced Chicken

Since I was working from home today, I figured I could actually cook a little dinner for Mike and me.  It’s difficult to do when I work at the office all day so I took advantage of the opportunity.  It was simple, really.  I just took a bunch of spices (see picture), mixed them all together.

  I took the boneless chicken breast pieces (I always rejoice when I find these at the store, because they don’t always have them and they are SO much easier to use J) and brushed vegetable oil on each side.  Then I spread the mixed spices all over each piece.  I cooked them in a little olive oil in a skillet for a few minutes and then let the oven do the rest of the cooking.  Meanwhile, I heated up this awesome can of beans. 

Not so exciting for most of you, but we almost never can find canned veggies so I scooped this up and it was an easy side dish.   And really yummy, too!  I also served green grapes, which of course were bathed in Kilol…I’m not sure how long they’ll actually carry the green ones so we’re eating them often.  The only grapes they usually have year-round are the giant purple ones with seeds.

For the proportions of the spices, it’s difficult to say because I usually just “judge” in whatever I’m cooking.  But here’s something close:

2 Tablespoons taco seasoning

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika

It gave the chicken a ton of great flavor and of course the hubby liked it, so it was a successful night!