Chicken enchiladas

This week I became very familiar with my oven. I've always stayed clear of recipes that required baking, but I prepared a casserole, hot dish, baked dessert (apple crisp) and now enchiladas. Each one of them were "experimental," meaning I didn't use a recipe at all, and I freely chose the oven I for every one of them. I must admit, I did very well.

One of the most memorable meals that I ever prepared was for my female athletes. In fact, one of the ladies frequently tells me how much she liked the chicken enchiladas from that night. Tonight I blew the old enchiladas "out of the water." These chicken enchiladas were the best I've ever had.

In one tablespoon of olive oil, I cooked the chicken breasts. I added garlic pepper seasoning. While the chicken was cooking on the stove, I sauteed an onion and four cloves of garlic (in olive oil). When the onions were translucent, I added a small can of diced chiles.

I put the vegetables in a large mixing bowl, chopped the chicken and added it to the bowl. For the enchilada stuffing, I mixed the vegetables and chicken with sour cream and cheese. I also added a little Mexican rice. I rolled the stuffing inside large flour tortillas.

I sprayed a baking dish with Pam, set the enchiladas side-by-side and poured a bottle of Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce over the top and sprinkled with cheese. I baked them for 15 minutes at 350-degrees. The stuffing was already cooked, so when the cheese was melted and the tortillas were slightly crisp, I took them out of the oven. I served them with Mexican rice.

I wish our ladies would have been here for this meal because they would've been speechless (which is nearly impossible for these girls). Actually, the more I think about it, speechless is an adjective that doesn't go well with this food. I'm sure they would have showered me with praise and talked about these enchiladas for years. That's how good they were.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small can diced chiles
6 flour tortilla shells
1 bottle Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce
6 ounces cheddar cheese
4 ounces mozzarella cheese
2 ounces light sour cream

Music: Haricharan & Harris Jeyaraj - Oyaayiye Yaayiye
Weather: 35-degrees

Pad Thai with chicken

I was 20 years old when I experienced Thai food for the first time. I lived a fairly sheltered life in a small Midwestern town, so was not exposed to many ethnic flavors. When I left River Falls for Madison in the fall of 1998, I was excited to try food at many different restaurants. Sa Bai-Thong was the most popular establishment for Thai food in Madison and I was instantly became hooked on Pad Thai. In fact, I wouldn't go as far to say that I've eaten Thai food, only Pad Thai, but I've had it numerous times.

Last year, I stumbled across a jar of Peanut Satay Sauce at Trader Joe's. Next to the shelf of sauces is pasta. A homemade sign was attached to a package of rice noodles that indicated that they were noodle needed for "real" pad Thai. I was sold on their marketing campaign and bought the noodles and sauce and had my first experience making my own pad Thai. It was as easy as the meals I made in college - spaghetti with Ragu, etc. It was very good, too.

As I have progressed in my culinary creativity, I have been able to put more thought and effort into my pad Thai. I make it almost once a month. Tonight, my brother and his "guest" joined us for dinner, so I wanted to impress.

I was planning on making my own peanut sauce, but for time's sake, I went with the Peanut Satay Sauce from TJ's. It never misses. I had to use two jars, though.

First thing first, I boiled the rice noodles. They're tricky because the get very, very sticky. After I drained the water, I put a little olive oil on them to keep them from sticking together too badly. I also chopped a yellow onion, red pepper and baby corn along with garlic. In a large wok, I sauteed the vegetables in olive oil and Asian seasoning that included salt, cummin, chiles, ginger and red bell pepper. I was careful to not over-cook them because I was going to saute them again later.

In the same wok, I cooked the chicken. I chopped three breasts and cooked them in olive oil, garlic and red bell pepper seasoning. The chicken was extremely tasty by itself.

Finally, I put the chicken, vegetables, rice noodles and peanut sauce in the large wok and worked the sauce in. I added bean sprouts, pea pods and crushed peanuts and stirred everything together and served.

The portions were very large and full of flavor. This was the first time I used the extra seasonings and they gave it a little kick. I was very happy with how it turned out. The others raved about how good it was.

Ingredients:
1 package rice noodles (16 ounces)
3 chicken breasts
2 jars Peanut Satay Sauce from Trader Joe's
1 red pepper
1 yellow onion
3 gloves of garlic
1 cup baby corn
1 small bunch green onions
1 cup pea pods
1 cup bean sprouts
olive oil
Asian seasoning

Weather: 64-degrees