Open-Faced Chicken Enchiladas

This SUPER easy recipe is also super yum! It's almost like a little MEXICAN pizza, but it tastes more like an enchilada. The BEST part is that I'm sure you can mix and match your favorite TOPPINGS for endless tasty combinations.

Open-Faced Chicken Enchiladas
Shredded or chopped cooked chicken
Enchilada sauce (I prefer the homemade kind!)
Small wheat or flour tortillas
Black beans, rinsed and drained
Corn
Shredded Mexican-blend cheese
Avocado, cilantro, sour cream, salsa, etc.

Toss the chicken with some enchilada sauce just to coat. Spread chicken over tortillas along with the beans, corn, and cheese. Place on a baking sheet and broil until edges of tortilla is crispy and the cheese is melted and bubbling. Top with your favorite enchilada or taco condiments!

TIP: Any leftover meat you might have like roast, shredded beef, pork roast, etc. would be delicious tossed in enchilada sauce and used as a substitute here.

Chicken and Mushroom Alfredo

Wow! I'm so far behind in my posting, I apologize! We moved last month into a temporary home while we build a NEW house, so I'm still just a bit scattered these days. Hopefully this YUMMY recipe will make up for my lack of posting. Without going into too much detail, my husband said this is the BEST pasta dish he's ever had—restaurant or homemade. Hopefully you LIKE it just as much!

Chicken and Mushroom Alfredo
12 to 16 ounces whole wheat penne pasta (regular pasta would be fine too)
8 tablespoons butter, divided
1 package sliced baby bella mushrooms
Garlic salt and black pepper
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup cream
1 to 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese

In a pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking, feel free to start the sauce. When pasta is done, drain and reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water for later use.

In a large frying pan, melt about 2 tablespoons butter and then add the mushrooms. Saute until golden brown, season with a little garlic salt and pepper, and then remove from pan and set aside. Add another tablespoon or 2 of butter and let melt in the pan. Stir in the onions and garlic and let cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining butter to the pan along with the cream and cook down to thicken, about 5 minutes more. Add Parmesan to sauce and stir until completely melted. Add more black pepper if desired. Stir in cooked pasta and toss to coat. (Add reserved pasta water to thin out sauce to desired consistency.) Stir in the mushrooms and chicken and warm through. Serve with more cheese on top if desired. Makes around 6 servings.

Noodlemania! TV Spot

Hi all! Just wanted to share this TV spot I did here in Utah on ABC 4. It was a fun interview, and I'm so excited because Noodlemania! hit shelves yesterday. Hope you all run out and buy a copy! :)

http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story/Local-author-has-new-book-Noodlemania/R9CgIGCExUS9HL2xyMydxQ.cspx

Lemon Garlic Spaghetti

If you want pasta that tastes LIGHT and REFRESHING and is just like SPRINGTIME, this is it! Such a simple recipe shouldn't taste this good, but it really, really does.  It is also PERFECT for those nights that you just need something QUICK.

Lemon Garlic Spaghetti
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3 cloves garlic

8 ounces thin spaghetti or angel hair pasta

1 lemon
Basil and thyme (I used dried because that's all I had, but fresh would be AMAZING!)
1/3 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Fresh black pepper

Bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Make sure to salt it when you add the pasta!

In a large frying pan, heat the olive and then add the garlic. Cook the garlic until it just starts to brown and then remove from the heat.

Cook the pasta in the boiling water and then drain. Toss pasta in the warm garlic oil in the frying pan. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over top and sprinkle with the herbs, cheese, and pepper. Toss until everything is coated. (If it seems dry, just add a little more olive oil to moisten.) Garnish with more cheese to serve.

TIP: Tarragon would also be great on it's own as the main herb of the dish. Some grilled fish or chicken would also be yummy if you wanted something a little more hearty.

White Grilled Cheese with Avocado

Grilled cheese sandwiches are YUMMY. I like to explore all sorts of flavor combinations. This one is fairly MILD, but flavorful. To make it extra easy, I just buy the pre-sliced packages of whatever CHEESE I'm going to use. The kiddos LOVED it, possibly because it is seriously LOADED with cheese. Or maybe it was just that DELICIOUS!

White Grilled Cheese with Avocado
Sliced bread
Ranch dressing (or a flavored mayo would work too)
Provolone cheese slices
Swiss cheese slices
Havarti cheese slices
1 ripe avocado, sliced
Salt and pepper
Butter or butter spread

Lay all of bread slices on the counter and spread a little ranch dressing on top of each. On half of the bread slices, place a layer of each cheese over top. Butter the bottom side of the bread topped with cheese slices and place in a preheated frying pan over medium-low heat, butter side down. Watch carefully, and when the cheese starts to melt, lay the avocado slices over top, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and top with another slice of bread, dressing side down. Butter the top piece of bread and flip to brown and finish melting the cheese completely.

TIP: Explore different bread and cheese options! There are so many good combinations out there. A good nutty bread would be fabulous, and so would a smoked or regular gouda. Mmmmm! I just thought of a few more combinations!