Mo's Chicken and Cheese Empanadas - Cinco de Mayo Recipe

If you want to try something else with queso fresco and the sauce you've made with my previous recipe, try these tasty empanadas. 

Ingredients:

1. Sauce from this recipe (plum tomatoes, yellow onion, jalapenos, garlic, cilantro, salt, and pepper)

2. Corn Mesa - you can buy this in most super markets in the same aisle with the flour. 

3. Rotisserie Chicken - I get one already made at the super market 

4. Queso Fresco 

5. Oil

Recipe:

1. Make the sauce using the first part of this recipe. 

2. Shred the chicken and place into a bowl. You just pull it apart into small half inch pieces. 

3. Add the sauce to the shredded chicken and stir. You don't want it to be too watery from the sauce, but enough so that the flavor is there. 

3. Make the tortillas by following the instructions on the bag. Usually it's a few cups of the flour and some water and you fold it together until you have a ball of dough. You want it to feel soft but not too watery. 

4. Crumble your queso fresco and place in a small bowl.

5. To make the tortillas, you will need either a tortilla press or a flat surface (like the bottom of a pot) and some wax paper. Create a small ball with the dough and flatten it between two pieces of wax paper and the tortilla press or pot and table. Leave the flat circle on the wax paper and put in some shredded chicken and queso fresco. Fold the tortilla in half using the wax paper to help you. Press every part of the edge so that the tortilla closes completely. If your tortilla is falling apart or won't stick together completely, then there is too much filling. Just take it out and try again. Take the empanada off the wax paper and set aside. Make as many of these as you'd like. 

6. Fry the empanadas in the oil until they are a crispy, golden brown. You want to make sure you leave them in long enough for all of the tortilla to cook, otherwise you will have a bit of a mushy inside. Use tongs when handling the empanadas but be sure not to flip them until you can grab the empanada without puncturing it. 

7. Serve with some extra sauce for dipping and enjoy. 

Mo's Cheese Enchiladas- Recipe for Cinco de Mayo

. It's time to get ready for Cinco de Mayo! I learned this recipe from my son's grandfather who lives in Mexico. Learning how to cook from a man who spoke Spanish only while I didn't understand any of it was quite interesting! The end result is delicious regardless of the language barrier, I promise. 

Warning: I make this salsa very spicy! Ingredients you will need are below:

1. Corn Tortillas (I buy a bag of them soft from the food store, you can also buy the hard ones or use tortilla chips) 

2. 4-6 Plum Tomatoes (depending on size)

3. 1 yellow onion - I prefer a smaller onion but if you love onions, by all means get a big one.

4. 4-5 fresh jalapenos (depending on size)

5. 1 clove of garlic

6. Cilantro (I actually prefer the McCormick Cilantro over fresh for this recipe) 

7. Salt & Pepper 

8. Queso Fresco - This is a soft cheese that you can crumble. You can find it in a lot of Walmart's, some super markets in their dairy section (depending on the area you live), and International & Hispanic grocery stores. I suggest Walmart because it is the cheapest- around $3.00 for the whole round. 

7. Oil if you plan to fry your tortillas. 

Recipe:

1. Boil water in a large pot. Cut tomatoes and onion in half. Cut jalapeno stems off and cut the whole pepper in half, keeping some seeds for spice. If you do not like a lot of spiciness, I suggest getting the seeds out. Avoid touching your eyes and children when handling the jalapenos! Put tomatoes, onion, jalapenos, and garlic in the water and cover with a lid. I keep the veggies in there for about ten minutes. 

2. The best way to know they are done are to check the tomatoes. I put a fork or knife through them and if it slides right off, I know it's done. You'll also notice the skin of the tomatoes is coming off. Peel the skins off of the tomatoes completely. (Be careful! They're hot and you will want to let them cool before peeling.) Put all of your vegetables into a food processor. You can add just a bit of the water from the pot, too, to make it blend easier. Blend the vegetables until you have a smooth sauce. I like to blend for a minute so it is more liquid than chunky. 

3. Pour sauce into a bowl and sprinkle the cilantro, salt, and pepper in to taste. This part really will depend on how spicy you like things. I usually do five shakes of the cilantro and pepper and three shakes of salt. Stir. 

4. If you bought the soft corn tortillas, you can fry them in oil until they are hard. This part is time consuming but tasty and more authentic! Whenever I'm feeling pressed for time I just use chips.

5. Spread a spoonful of sauce on each tortilla or several spoonfuls over your plate of chips. Sprinkle some of the crumbled queso fresco on top. 

6. Enjoy! 

Rainbow Cupcakes - Your Child Will Be Too Excited!!

For Easter dinner, I made this delightful dessert for my family last year and I am thinking about bringing them back for an encore this year too-- they were such a hit!

Rainbow Cupcakes! I wanted to share the recipe with everyone because though it was really easy to do-- I had never heard of it before!. I basically used the recipe at Family Fun, but with a few minor edits.

First, you need a box of cake mix. I went with white cake mix because it is easiest to get the colors you want. You will also need Red Blue and Yellow liquid food coloring and cupcake papers. I added icing to mine, but you don't have to really.

Mix up the cake mix as directed and divide your batter into 6 different bowls with 6 different spoons. Add in food coloring until you get the tint desired. I had to use different combinations of the colors to get my rainbow than the recipe calls for-- I like mine vibrant!

Next, add the colors mix to the cupcake papers. I did this in ROYGBV order for authenticity, but you don't have to. One thing to note, it was really hard to figure out "how much" I needed of each color in each cup. The lesson learned-- it could be a thin layer in the middle as long as the color reached out to the sides. It will all work out, trust me. Also, I made 18 cupcakes-- the recipe says to make 16. I think you could even make 20-24, depending on how much you fill the cups. I had some minor overflows on half my cakes so it is totally possible to make more.= without scrimping.

Next, bake as directed. That's it! Again, I made icing to top them off but you do not have to. If you do and you are planing to travel, I suggest icing them when you get there. The directions say to remove the cupcake papers for presentation-- I didn't. Personal choice.

These were a big hit and very fun to make. Just be sure to give yourself an extra 15-20 minutes prep-time for batter distribution.

Enjoy!

Homemade Peppermint Patties

YUM!

I found this recipe for Homemade Peppermint Patties and I have to say-- they are amazing! They melt in your mouth, which is delightful. I made them with milk chocolate, not the traditional dark chocolate... mainly because I didn't have any dark in the house and was too lazy to go out and get the right stuff.

I brought them into work for our St. Patty's day celebration last year and got rave reviews. Since I didn't have the recipe with me for my co-workers, I wrote up a variation to the steps. I have posted them here below... and who knows, if you make them, my explanations may be helpful. For the complete recipe, please see In Between Laundry. I did not want to re-print her work without permission!

Directions: Makes @ 100 patties, dependent on size

In a bowl, combine the potatoes, butter, peppermint, and powdered sugar and mix well (I used an electric beater). Add more sugar if your mixture is loose--it should feel like a tacky cookie dough. (I ended up using almost exactly 3 pounds.)

Lay wax paper down over a few cookie sheets (for easy cleanup later). Scoop teaspoonfuls of the dough and shape into patties. (The easiest way to do this is to scoop with an ice cream scoop or two spoons since it will be a little sticky. Once you have the whole cookie sheet covered, go back and pat them flat with your hands. The balls will lose their tackiness as you are scooping out the rest of the tray, making them easier to shape.) Refrigerate for a few hours so you can handle them to add the chocolate.

Melt the chocolates with the oil and dip the chilled patties, covering completely. This step takes some practice since the dough balls can melt with the hot chocolate. The best method I found was chocolate-ing the bottoms of each patty with a knife and going back once the sheet is done to cover the tops with chocolate. There are probably better methods out there, but I am a novice at baking. Chill until set.

Yum! Give it a try-- they are tooooo tasty!

Caitlin Potatoes

When I moved into my home with my son and was all alone to cook for the both of us, I must admit, the options were slim.  He wasn't a picky eater.  It was really important to me to make some healthy choices for Dylan and myself.  I had some potatoes in and didn't know what to do with them.  I am someone who loves seasoning and bold flavors.  I have a palette and I like to excite it as often as possible.  What was there to do with potatoes?  I wanted something new.  Here is what I came up with and I actually never strayed from it since!  Everyone who has tried these potatoes agrees that they are truly delicious.  ENJOY!

Ingredients:

• Yukon gold potatoes (cut into quarters or chunks)
• vegetable oil ( I know other oils are so much more healthy but I really feel like the vegetable oil in this case tastes the best)
• Paprika
• garlic and pepper seasoning

Directions:

I turn the oven all the way up to about 450 degrees.  I drizzle the vegetable oil all over the potatoes and shake the garlic and pepper seasoning and paprika all over them.  I mix them with my hands to make sure they are evenly coated.  Then I just let the potatoes roast until they are golden brown.  It only takes about 20 minutes.  These potatoes do not need salt in my opinion.  That was my reasoning.  I didn't want my toddler eating a lot of salt but I didn't want to sacrifice flavor.

Let me know what you think!

The Boss Applesauce!

Linvilla Orchards is a beloved orchard in our county.  I absolutely love it there.  They have fresh fruits and veggies that you can even pick your own.  They also have hayrides, the cutest little park, face painting, caramel apples, animals, and a little train on a track you can ride.  I have always enjoyed the time I have spent there and now that I am a mother, I enjoy it even more.

They are celebrating their 100th Anniversary this month.  Last weekend, they posted on Facebook that they were selling their apples for 5 cents a lb while supplies last!  I had to jump on that deal immediately!!  I got around 45 apples for one dollar!!!  You better believe it!  After getting home, I had to decide what to do with it all.  I decided to make homemade applesauce for the first time.

Recipe:

      4 Large Red Delicious Apples (skinned, cored and cut into chunks)

      3/4 cup of water

      1/4 cup of granulated sugar

      1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon

You just need to mix your ingredients all up in a pot and cover with a lid.  Put the oven top on medium heat for 20 minutes.  The apples should be soft when done.  Let it cool and then mash it all up with a fork...you could even blend depending on what texture you prefer. 

My son now calls this my "famous" applesauce.   ENJOY!  Yummy!!!