Kitchen Charts

I follow a blog (A Sweet Pea Chef) and she posted some pretty cool kitchen charts that I wanted to pass them along.  When I cook, I always have questions about measurmement conversions and common replacement ingredients if I'm out of one. These 2 charts will help you and I wanted to pass them along!  Happy cooking :)
 

Thank you!

I get so excited to see so many people in so many different countries around the world following my recipe blog!  When I started this I thought – this would be cool to start for my friends back home in TN because the people closest to me know I love to cook and I hear from others that I’m pretty good at it!  Now, thousands of people are hitting my blog site from 13 countries steadily!  So far people from the US, Australia, Lativa, Canada, Russia, Singapore, United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Malaysia, Switzerland, France and Africa!  Thank you all so much for following and sending me messages about the recipes!  Keep sending people my blog site http://amandasgreatrecipes.blogspot.com

Sauteed Chicken in Mustard Cream Sauce

It has been a couple of weeks since I have posted. Life is so busy! The kids are getting older (although they are still so little) and with my work and my husband's work and extracurricular activities...I have had a hard time sitting down and posting! And the Olympic Trials are on so I'm all over that!!

BUT - it's Saturday and the hubby is folding laundry (YEAH!!) and kiddos are napping! And guess what I’m doing other than posting a new recipe? Yes - I am cooking! Cooking is such a stress reliever for me. So is deep cleaning...LOL! Anyway - I found a fantastic chicken recipe on Martha Stewart's site. We love chicken at our house and there are a lot of ways to make chicken - but I'm always looking for more!! This recipe calls for dairy so if you have a dairy allergy you should stay away. It is gluten free and tasty! Takes a 20-25 minutes to make this one.

Ingredients:

4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup chicken broth (Use gluten free kind if you are going Gluten Free)

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

1 Tsp dried tarragon (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh)

Directions:

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté until cooked through. Once the chicken is no longer pink inside, transfer the chicken breasts to a plate and keep warm.

Then pour the chicken broth into a hot skillet. cook, stirring until reduced by half. Whisk in the cream, Dijon mustard and tarragon. Cook, whisking, until thickened about 2-5 minutes.

Drizzle the cream sauce over the chicken and you are ready to serve.

Fire-It-Up Burgers with Grilled Zucchini

I have been on vacation with my family for the past week in San Diego so I have not posted in about a week!  We went to Legoland and my kids keep calling San Diego San Di-lego!  We all had a great time...even though it was cold there...weird for June. 

Anyway... I haven't cooked in a week so I figured it's time to cook and post a new recipe!  This one is easy...its a burger recipe.  I'm actually going to give you 2 recipes today! I love burgers and I love finding different recipes for burgers! 

This recipe came from my grocer....just LOVE their recipes!  It's easy and tastes amazing.  My friends love this recipe and it has become a favorite when we have cook outs at our house!  This one is Gluten Free!  The 2nd recipe is for grill Zucchini.  These zucchini came out of my parent's garden..they were excellent!

Burgers

Ingredients:

1 lb Lean Ground Beef
1 cups of your favorite medium salsa
1/2 cup crushed corn tortilla chips
1 Tbsp garlic salt
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 cup chopped green onions (optional)

Directions:

Pre-heat grill to medium-high heat.  Combine beef, salsa and tortilla chips.  Mix in seasonings and the onions.  Shape into  4 burgers.  Grill 5 minutes on each side or until temp in the center reaches 160F. in center.  Add your favorite cheese on top and they are ready to serve.

Grilled Zucchini

2 Fresh Zucchini
Fresh grated Parmesan Cheese (I used Kraft Fresh Grated - see picture below)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Take your zucchini and wash them thoroughly.  Cut into long chunks (see photo).  Place the fresh cut zucchini on Reynolds Wrap Non-Stick Foil and turn the edges up slightly.  Spread 1-2 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil on zucchini along with salt and pepper and Parmesan cheese.  Grill about 7-10 minutes - or until your desired texture.

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas

I made a Shredded Chicken Enchilada recipe tonight for dinner and it was great!  I found this recipe at http://www.asweetpeachef.com.  Check out this blog site..she's got some pretty cool recipes!!

The key to this dish was cooking your chicken in the enchilada sauce...makes a HUGE difference!!  Also on this one - use FRESH garlic and not jarred...makes a big difference in taste.  This one is Gluten Free - as long as your enchilada sauce is Gluten Free.  Here are some tricks on making your corn tortillas not fall apart...
slightly fry the corn tortillas first in olive oil then dip them in the warm sauce. This will help them not fall apart when rolling.  Try this one out...my hubby loved it, as well as my kids.  Pretty easy to make too :)

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (1 1/2 cups) enchilada sauce (I use Mild)
kosher salt
ground black pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese, divided
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp. fresh cilantro, roughly chopped, divided
12 6-inch corn tortillas
cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Add the minced garlic to the enchilada sauce in a deep skillet and heat to boiling. Generously sprinkle kosher salt and ground black pepper over the chicken breasts and then nestle the chicken breasts into the sauce. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the sauce, set aside and let both the chicken and the sauce cool.
Using two forks, shred the chicken breasts by holding one fork steady and slowly scraping the other fork, prongs faced backwards, away from the other fork. Transfer the shredded chicken to a large bowl. Add half the enchilada sauce, 1/2 cup each of the Monterrey jack and cheddar cheeses and the 1/2 cup of cilantro to the shredded chicken. Stir to combine.

Wrap the corn tortillas in a damp cloth or paper towel and microwave on high for 20-30 seconds until pliable and warm.  Then dip them in olive oil and fry and then dip them in the enchilada sauce. Using cooking spray (if desired), oil a 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture along the center of the tortilla. Gently, but firmly, roll the tortilla around the filling and place into the baking dish, seam-side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

Lightly spray the tortillas with cooking spray (or brush lightly with olive oil). This will help the tortillas turn golden in the oven and will also help keep them from cracking. Place baking dish in the oven, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes or until the tortillas begin to turn golden.

Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Remove the baking dish from the oven. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle remaining cheese over the sauce. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp. fresh cilantro. Lightly cover baking dish with aluminum foil and place into the oven for 20 minutes.   Carefully remove foil after 20 minutes and bake, uncovered, for an additional 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is golden.

Remove form the oven and let stand 5-10 minutes prior to serving.
Feel free to add a dollop (or two!) of sour cream!  I served these over a bed of lettuce and a side of refried beans!