Crossover: Hostess Appreciation Luncheon, part ONE

Welcome to Wednesday! :D For today and Friday, I'd like to share with you a few recipes I made for my annual Stampin' Up!'s Hostess Appreciation Luncheon; it's a crossover post because I'll be linking you to my Stampin' Up! page and vice versa, so you can see what our projects were, too. :)

We went Mexican Fiesta this year. :) I'll post the main dish and salsa today, and the two sides I'll share on Friday.

These are Simply Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas from Food.com.

Of course I didn't do it quite like the recipe! :D I poached the chicken in water, onion, cumin, salt, and pepper. Then I shredded it, saute'd the onions and added it to my shredded chicken, and proceeded from there.

The sauce was really easy and yummy; my mom "snacked" on the leftovers for a couple days. :D These were simple to make, not overly spicy, baked well, and were pretty impressive. :D

Now, then. On to the salsa!

Honestly? I'm a little leery of salsa recipes. I LOVE pico de gallo, but it's SO labor-intensive!!! I decided to try this, however, and I'm SO glad I did! :D

Everyone LOVED this salsa from Curved Promises on tumblr.


It REALLY doesn't get much simpler than this! However, the longer it sat, the hotter it became - which is unusual, because it didn't have anything hotter than green chilies in it! But it was good on ANYTHING one desired to put it on. :D

OK, that's all for today! If you'd like to see the table setting, invitation, and table favor, please visit me at Lori's Stamping Spot and look for today's post. :)

Have a wonderful day, friends! Be BLESSED!

Chicken & Avocado Enchiladas

Welcome to another Monday. :D Did you have a good weekend? Did you try anything new?

I'll get to today's share quickly; with the open house less than three weeks away, time is PRECIOUS, people!! :D It's for Chicken & Avocado Enchiladas from Gimme Some Oven.

First, let me say that I find the name a little misleading. The avocados are in the SAUCE; even though there's a bit of sauce in the enchiladas, I think these are more chicken and pepper enchiladas with avocado and cilantro sauce.

With that being said, these got a YES, PLEASE! from Kenn and me. My mom despises cilantro, so she didn't like them at all. I was happily surprised at how little HEAT the peppers brought, and how much flavor. If you like heat, keep some of the ribs and seeds from the jalapenos in. Not for US, however. :D

I cooked the chicken the day before; when I poach chicken, I always try to give it extra flavor. I used dried minced onion, a bit of onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. It gave it a nice flavor without being too cumin-y. :D The recipe made a LOT of sauce. I doubled the whole recipe, because I took some to a friend's family who just had a baby. I gave them a jar of sauce AND had two more jars. I've got a full jar in my fridge; what to do with it?!? :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day!!!! Be BLESSED!!!

Chicken Enchiladas

 It's FRIDAY!!!! Got anything huge planned for the weekend? I'm going to tell you right now, this is a YES, PLEASE! recipe - you should take the time to make them this weekend. :D

These come from Pearls, Handcuffs, & Happiness. (Yeah, I know, but her recipes are fantastic!!!!! :D )

My tweaks: I needed more than the can of enchilada sauce listed - like maybe 4 ounces. I used low-carb tortillas that are made by Mission. (They cost an arm and a leg, but they're fantastic for when you NEED a tortilla!) I used brown rice, to increase the complex-carb count. And, finally, I used a Mexican cheese blend - it has the two cheeses in the recipe plus two more. :D And I LOVE cheese. :D

This recipe made TWO PANS of enchiladas. And ohhhh, were they good. They were moist, and steamy, and filling. We ate one pan, and froze the other. I'm SO glad to know they're in there, waiting for a night when we need something that will prep fast. They DO take a bit of time for assembly, but don't let that put you off. You seriously NEED to make these enchiladas. :D

Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Let me know if you DO try something new, or if you put these together. Be blessed!