Be a chef week - enchiladas

Enchiladas don't photograph very well.  All of that cheesy, saucy goodness doesn't make for a pretty photo.  But your belly doesn't care about what photographs well, does it?  

I have always wanted to have a "dish," one that people associate with me.  These enchiladas are my husband's favorite thing that I make, which I secretly take great pride in.  But this year, when we were headed home to my parents house in South Carolina for Christmas, my Mom called to tell me that my Dad said, "I want Jessi to make her enchiladas while she's here," which totally made my day.  

"My" enchiladas.  I guess I do have a dish...so Enjoy!  

Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas 

1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed 

1 (16 oz.) jar medium salsa, divided 

2 (10 oz.) cans enchilada sauce - green 

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese 

2 1/2 cups shredded chicken 

1 small can diced green chilies 

10 - flour tortillas 

1 (8oz.) package shredded Mexican four cheese blend 

avocado for garnish

-Drain spinach well, set aside.  

-Stir together 1/4 c. salsa and enchilada sauce, set aside.  

-Microwave cream cheese for 1 minute until soft.  

-Add spinach, chicken, chilies, remaining salsa and stir.  (sometimes I throw in some extra ingredients here if I'm feeling sassy; drained black beans and diced mushrooms are my most common add-in, but definitely not necessary)  

- Spoon a heaping 1/3 cupful of chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla.  Roll tortilla.  Place seam-side down in a lightly greased baking dish.  

- Pour enchilada sauce mixture evenly over top of tortillas.  Sprinkle with cheese.  

- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.  

- Top with sliced avocado to serve.  

**This dish freezes well, so I usually take a few extra and place them in a separate pan to freeze for a quick and easy mid-week dinner**

Be a chef week - red velvet cake

I am not a good baker.  Which is funny because I'm a very precise person, but for some reason I cannot bake very well.  I envy those that can create amazing sweet treats, I think it's a real talent...one that I lack.

However, I do make a mean red velvet cake.  Now, if you are a real baker then you probably have a legit red velvet cake that you make, so you can just stop reading this now.  But if you are like me and you are baking challenged, then this cake recipe is for you!

Pair this with a traditional cream cheese frosting for ultimate yumminess.

Recipe:
1 box Betty Crocker German Chocolate Cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 c. oil
3 eggs
1 bottle (1 oz) red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
**Simply mix all ingredients and bake according to package.  Cool cake on wire racks for 10 minutes, then invert pan and continue to cool cakes.  Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate to cool completely to make for easier icing.  I like to slice each 9" round cake in half with a serrated knife so that I can make a four layer cake, but you can also use the two layers as they are.**


For the frosting:
1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
3 3/4 c. boxed confectioners sugar (1 box)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
**Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed until smooth.  Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until light and fluffy.  Stir in vanilla.


I saved some crumbles to decorate the top, but you can also use either white chocolate chips or shavings of white chocolate to decorate the cake.

Be a chef week - miso soup

The hardest part of making miso soup is getting in your car and going to the Asian market.  I'm serious, this is criminally easy.

What you'll need:

1) Dashi 

2) Wakame seaweed (dried) 

3) Shiro Miso 

4) Water 

5) Tofu 

When you go to the market, ask for Dashi which is a Japanese soup stock.  It will be easier to just ask rather than trying to find it.  There are different kinds, but you want instant dashi.  I like the fish dashi which is the most traditional, but you can also get a mushroom dashi or a kelp dashi.  You can make miso soup without dashi, but this will make it taste very authentic.  This is what it looks like: 

You'll also want some seaweed for your miso soup.  There is typically an entire section of the market devoted to these types of soup add-ins.  I have no idea what's in the different packages, so I go based off of the picture.  This is technical stuff, I know.  You do want to make sure that it has wakame seaweed in it, which most of them do.  

Shiro Miso.  You will love having this in your fridge.  You can make marinades, sauces and all sorts of yummy dishes with miso.  Miso marinated cod, anyone?  Yes.  

Tofu.  Get whatever kind and firmness you like, this is your miso soup!  

Recipe: 

4 cups water

4 Tbs. miso 

1/2 Tbs. dashi

tofu (I use about a third of a brick) 

1 to 1 1/2 Tbs. dried seaweed mixture (or more if you like a lot to seaweed in your soup) 

Literally all you do is bring the water to a boil.  While it's coming up to a boil, add the miso.  After the water has started boiling, reduce heat to medium and stir to break up the miso.  Add the dashi, stir a few times to dissolve.  Then add the tofu and seaweed, let it simmer for just a few minutes and you're ready to eat!  

And remember that in Japanese culture, the louder you slurp your soup and noodles, the more you are enjoying it.  It is a sign to the chef that you think it's delicious or "O-ee-she".  So slurp away!  

BE a chef week

Who doesn't like to pretend they are a real chef?  Who doesn't set up all of their ingredients on the counter and talk to a pretend camera like they are on a cooking show?  Oh come on, you know you've all done it!

While I am no chef, I am a pretty darn good cook and love being in the kitchen.  I love to cook, I find it soothing and therapeutic after a long day.  I am pretty much a recipe girl, I love finding and trying new ones while some fail miserably, some make it into my recipe box forever.  The best recipes are the ones that you can go back to time and time again and never tire of them.

I thought it will be fun if everyday this week I share with you one of those tried and true recipes that even the worst cook could make.  I love all of these because they are easy and also because they are really delicious!

Let's BE chef's this week.  I hope it inspires you to get in the kitchen and make something that's out of your usual routine.

introducing

Isn't it fun when new things get introduced into your life?  And then you become a little bit obsessed with them...oh wait, is that just me?  

Here are a few things that are new to me in the past few weeks.  And yes, I'm mildly obsessed with them all.  

Shailene Woodley.  Um, did you see The Descendants?  If that wasn't enough to make me love her, then she went and killed it on the red carpet at the Globes.  Amazing.  She rocks.  

A friend recently made me a delicious cocktail and when she told me that it was just vodka and Peach Fresca I couldn't believe it!  Peach Fresca.  New obsession.  Not sure how it tastes on it's own, but damn delicious as a mixer!  

There are no words for how much I love it.  No words.    

This is my new favorite mascara.  It stays on so well, won't give you black under eye from all that smiling you do and makes your lashes look fabulous.  

I adore instagram.  I am not sure how I lived before I had it.  I feel like I see the world through an instagram filter now, which is not a bad thing.  

What are you into lately?  DO some discovering of something new this weekend and then tell me about it, so I can add it to my newly obsessed about things!  

Have a special weekend y'all! 

XO, 

Jessi 

reminder

Because we all need to hear it more often than we do.  

Print available HERE.  

blog awards

Did you know they give away blog awards?  Yea, I recently got one.  It was the "you abandoned your blog" award.  I gave a pretty good speech but you better believe that I killed it on the red carpet.

I've been away from here and I say it every time, but I've missed it.  I think I got too wrapped up, worried and intimidated about not having as many followers as I wanted to have.  But guess what?  I don't care about that anymore.  I want to write again because writing helps keep me inspired.  And connected.  

I also think I lost site of the blog's focus.  GO.  BE.  DO.  Simple.  Write about it.  Starting now.

I can do this.  I can blog here, blog and tweet for my company, pin enough to keep people inspired, be a great friend/wife/daughter and do what I love.  I can do it all.  I can at least do a better job of trying.

....and....I'm back.