Cheese and Scallion Enchiladas with Salsa Verde #sponsored

I didn't grow up eating Mexican food. I was on a date when I first tried it. And I fell in love.

With the food. Not so much the date.

Tacos have become my go-to food when I have leftovers. I pretty much always have tortillas here, and I have cilantro growing in my herb garden. There's always some kind of salsa, too.

So it's easy to turn leftover steak or chicken or pretty much anything into a quick taco dinner.

But enchiladas are still one of my all-time favorites. They're a tiny bit more work than simply tossing food bits into a tortilla. On the other hand, they're great for times when I want to make enough food to have leftovers for a meal or three. The best thing is that enchiladas reheat really well.

This recipe makes 12 enchiladas, with some extra green sauce. You can serve the extra sauce at the table, use it as a salsa or dipping sauce, or make a few extra enchiladas later.

This post is sponsored by my good buddies at OXO who sent me a really sweet 14 Piece Glass Bake, Serve & Store Set that I used for both baking my enchiladas and for storing and serving all the extras. The round containers are sturdy and they look nice enough to use for serving, which is a huuuuge bonus. Fewer dishes to wash!

The lids for the SNAP containers are interchangeable between the OXO glass and plastic containers, so I don't need to worry about which ones I'm grabbing - I already have some of the plastic ones that I use all the time, and the lids fit really tightly. I haven't had one that has leaked yet. The containers nest when they're empty for storage and they stack well in the fridge when they're full. And they're microwavable for reheating. Even the lids can be used in the microwave, if you want to leave them on to contain splatter (but loosen them, first!)

The glass is a thermal shock-resistant borosilicate, so the bakeware can go from freezer right into your oven or microwave. That's not something I do often, but it's nice to know that it can withstand up to 250 degrees of temperature change without cracking, so I don't have to worry about taking something from fridge to microwave. The lids on the bakeware are handy for keeping foods neatly contained for travel or storage, and the handles are big enough to be able to grab while wearing oven mitts. Which you really do need.

One thing I really like is how clear the glass is, so I can see how things are cooking. As far as cleaning, I just rinsed the baking dish and put it in the dishwasher and it came out perfectly clean.

Cheese and Scallion Enchiladas with Salsa Verde
Makes 12 enchiladas, plus extra sauce

Salsa Verde
Salsa verde simply means green sauce. This one is tart from the tomatillos and a little spicy from the jalapenos. 

2 pounds tomatillos
4 jalapenos
1 onion
1 yellow bell pepper
1/4 cup cilantro
2 tablespoons adobo seasoning
Salt, as needed

Remove the papery skin from the tomatillos and rinse well. There's a sticky coating on the outside of the tomatillos that can be bitter, and you don't want that in your sauce.

Quarter the tomatillos and place them in a blender or food processor. Remove the stem and seeds from the jalapenos and add them to the blender. Peel the onion, cut into quarters, and add to the blender. Remove the core and seeds from the bell pepper, cut into chunks, and add to the blender. Add the cilantro and adobo seasoning.

Blend until smooth.

Add the sauce to a saucepan and cook on medium heat until it simmers. Continue cooking until the sauce loses the raw onion flavor. Taste for seasoning and add salt, as needed. If your adobo seasoning was salty, you might not need additional salt.

Set aside until needed.

Cheese and Scallion Enchiladas
The first enchiladas I ever had were cheese and onion, and it's still one of my favorites. This time, I used scallions. They're a little milder, and the green adds some extra color.

8 scallions
4 cups shredded mild or medium cheddar (plus more for garnish)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
Salsa verde, as needed
Cilantro, as garnish

Remove the roots and any wilted or damaged green parts. Slice the scallions thinly. Combine the cheese and scallions in a medium bowl and set aside.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan on medium heat. One at a time, dip the tortillas into the hot oil, cooking just a few seconds on one side before flipping over to cook another few seconds. This softens the tortillas and makes them easier to roll without breaking. You don't want to cook them so long that they start to become crisp.

Let the tortillas drain on paper towels and pat off any excess oil on top.

Put about 1 1/2 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish. A little more or less is fine - you just want to make sure the bottom is covered.

One at a time, add about 1/3 cup of the cheese and scallion mixture to a tortilla and roll up. Place it in the baking pan, seam-side down. Continue rolling the cheese in the tortillas and adding them to the pan until all the tortillas are used up.

Pour another cup or more of the sauce on top of the enchiladas, as desired. If there is any cheese and scallion mixture left, sprinkle that on top of the enchiladas. Add extra cheese on top, if desired.

Bake the enchiladas in a 350-degree oven until the cheese is melted and the sauce around the edges is bubbling, 25-35 minutes. Sprinkle cilantro on top, as a garnish, if desired.

Serve the enchiladas with your favorite sides and toppings. I served mine with black beans and seasoned rice as sides. Guacamole, and sour cream were the extra toppings for the enchiladas.

Thanks to OXO for sponsoring this post!

Bourbon-Lime Fajitas - and a cocktail to match!

The Kentucky Derby is approaching, which means bourbon is the liquor of choice for those who like tradition. Of course, there are also foods that are typical, but I decided to something ... less traditional.

I suppose I could have made a Kentucky Hot Brown ... but I was in the mood for fajitas. And bourbon marinated beef sounded awfully good. I used Four Roses Bourbon, which was provided by this post's sponsor.

The longer you marinate, the more flavor the meat will soak up.

Meanwhile, the cocktail has the same flavors, which makes them the perfect pair. Or, you know, make one or the other.

Ginger beer is getting easier to find these days, so use it if you can find it. It's similar to ginger ale, but with a sharper, more ginger-forward flavor. A more adult soda, perhaps. If you can't find ginger beer, of course you can use your favorite ginger ale.

Bourbon-Lime Fajitas

1 pound skirt steak
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon Four Roses Bourbon
1 tablespoon lime juice
Salt, to taste
2 cups mixed sliced bell peppers and onions
Flour tortillas
Sour cream, yogurt, or crema
Sliced avocado

Combine the steak, olive oil, bourbon, lime juice, and salt in a zip-top bag. Massage the bag a bit to get the meat evenly coated. Let the meat sit at room temperature for an hour, or refrigerate up to 24 hours before cooking.

When you're ready to cook, heat a grill pan or cast iron pan on medium-high heat. Cook the skirt steak until done to your liking. Set aside to rest before slicing.

Meanwhile, cook the peppers and onions - you can cook in the same pan - until done to your liking - they're fine cooked crisp-tender, or until they're cooked through.

Serve the fajita ingredients separately, so people can assemble their own. Or serve the fajitas assembled on flour tortillas with meat, peppers and onions, sliced avocado, and a small dollop of sour cream.

Bourbon, Lime and Ginger Cocktail

1 ounce Four Roses Bourbon
1/2 ounce lime juice
Ginger beer, as needed
Mint sprig, to garnish

Fill a glass or mug with ice. Add the bourbon and lime juice. Fill the glass with ginger beer and garnish with a spring of fresh mint.

Thanks to Four Roses Bourbon for sponsoring this post.

Enchiladas Suisas and a #giveaway

I love enchiladas, so the fact that there's an entire book about them makes me just a little giddy. I was invited to participate in a book tour for the book and I got the chance to make some amazing enchiladas.

Enchiladas suizas were one of my favorites, dating way back to when Bob and I were dating. Suizas, I was told, meant that the enchiladas were Swiss-style, which refers to the dairy products used. These enchiladas have a creamy green sauce and are topped with cheese.

Mmmm. Cheese.

The instructions are long, but that's because they're detailed. These are actually very easy to make, and you can make some of it ahead of time, like the sauce that can be made and refrigerated until you need it, and the chicken that can be cooked, shredded, and refrigerated until you're ready to assemble.

I had more sauce than I thought I needed, but when I reheated, I added more sauce, because it's really good. I've also used some on tacos. Next time I make these, I might mix some sauce into the shredded chicken. It's a really good sauce. I can see using it for a LOT of things.

Here's what you can WIN in the Giveaway (see the entry at the end of the post):

Enchiladas Suizas
Reprinted from Enchiladas: Aztec to Tex-Mex Copyright © 2015 by Cappy Lawton and Chris Waters Dunn. published by Trinity University Press.
Makes 12 enchiladas

Ingredients:
For the sauce:
1 pound (454 grams) tomatillos, husks removed, cored
1–2 serrano chiles, destemmed
1⁄2 medium white onion, peeled, coarsely chopped, and root end removed
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3⁄4 bunch cilantro
Chicken broth as needed for thinning sauce
1 tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil
1 cup (237 ml) crema Mexicana
Kosher salt to taste

For the filling:
2 cups (260 grams) poached and shredded chicken

For the assembly:
12 white corn tortillas
Vegetable oil as needed for softening tortillas
2 cups (240 grams) queso asadero, queso Chihuahua, or Emmentaler Swiss, grated

For the garnish:
1 cup (237 ml) crema Mexicana, or to taste
1 medium white onion, peeled and thinly sliced
Cilantro leaves to taste

Directions:
Start with the sauce:
Place the tomatillos, chiles, onion, and garlic in a saucepan, cover with water, and
bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer and gently cook until the tomatillos change color but
do not burst.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to a blender.

Blend the vegetables until smooth, adding chicken broth as needed to achieve a
medium sauce consistency.

Add cilantro and process for a few seconds more.

In a saucepan over medium heat, place 1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil.

When it is hot, add the sauce and cook for a few minutes until warmed through
and slightly thickened.

Reduce to a bare simmer and stir in crema Mexicana. Heat the sauce through,
but do not let it boil.

Remove from heat and season with salt to taste. Cover, set aside, and keep warm.

Assemble the enchiladas:

The authors.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).

Pour oil to a depth of 1⁄2 inch (12 mm) in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
Heat to low frying temperature, about 300°F (150°C).

Place each tortilla in the oil and fry for a few seconds, just long enough to soften.
Drain on paper towels.

Fill the lower third of a tortilla with 2 tablespoons shredded chicken, roll, and
place seam side down in an ovenproof baking dish large enough to accommodate
the enchiladas in a single layer.

Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

Generously cover with the sauce, making sure the edges of the enchiladas are
well covered.

Sprinkle queso asadero or queso Chihuahua on top.

Bake in a preheated oven until the enchiladas are heated through and the cheese
is melted and brown in spots, about 15 minutes.

Garnish with crema Mexicana, onion slices, and cilantro leaves.

Note: These enchiladas are intended to be flavorful but not spicy hot, so use chiles accordingly.

I used purchased tortillas (we have some good ones out here) but there's a recipe for homemade tortillas in the book, and the authors created an awesome video as well. Check it out!

For more information, check out the book's website, Pinterest, and Facebook.

Giveaway has ended.

Fajitas! And a really sharp #Giveaway

A while back, I read a quote from a chef who commented that cooking is fun because you get to play with knives and fire.

I can't disagree. There's something incredibly satisfying about cutting meats and vegetables and fruits with good knives. It's a pleasure rather than a chore. So when my buddies at Virtual Potluck teamed up with WÜSTHOF, I was pretty excited about the new kitchen weapons.

We each received the CLASSIC 5-inch Serrated Slicing Knife and the CLASSIC 2-Piece Extra Wide Chef Set that includes a 4-inch paring knife and a 6-inch cook’s knife. AND I have the same knives that I'll be giving to one of my readers.

The first time I used the serrated knife to slice a tomato, I nearly swooned. I like using serrated knives to cut tomatoes, but this one is so much better than other knives I have. So much. Much like the serrated bread knife that I received as a gift to celebrate my book contract, this was a knife I didn't know I needed until I used it. Now I'm in love with it.

Wowza.

And the other two knives are pretty darned nice, too. The wide cook's knife is great for slicing, and the width makes it wonderful for smashing garlic or scooping up what's been cut.

The paring knife is sweet, too. It make peeling things much more fun, and it's also great for cutting small things, like when I'm slicing limes for cocktails.

The first thing I thought of cooking that would show of the knives was fajitas. First, I love Mexican food. And Mexican-inspired food.  And second, fajitas require a lot of slicing. And different kinds of slicing.

I opted for steak fajitas. But what kind of steak? The usual suspects for fajitas are skirt steak, flank steak, or flap meat. But the secret is that you can pretty much use any kind of steak you like, as long as you slice the meat into small, thin pieces. I decided to use a boneless ribeye.

I also decided to use a LOT of vegetables. Because I like them.

The one thing I didn't do (that I usually do) is that I didn't go crazy with toppings. I usually end up with way too many toppings whenever I serve something in a tortilla. This time, I limited it to an avocado crema, fresh tomatoes, and cilantro.

Steak Fajitas
with Avocado Crema

For the fajita filling:
1 steak (your choice)
Salsa (home made or store-bought) for marinating
Olive oil
1 zucchini
1 red bell pepper
1 poblano (or similar) pepper
1 onion
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the crema:
2 avocados
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

For assembly:
Corn tortillas
Tomatoes
Cilantro

Marinate the meat:
A few hours before cooking, place the steak in a plastic zip-top bag and add just enough salsa to coat the meat. Seal the bag and let the steak rest at room temperature while you prep everything else. You can also marinate the steak overnight and remove it from the refrigerator an hour before cooking.

Prepare the vegetables:
Slice the zucchini into matchsticks about 2 or 3 inches long. Core and seed the red pepper and poblano pepper and slice into similar-sized pieces. Peel the onion, cut it in half from root to stem, and slice into half-moons so the strips are about the same size as the zucchini and peppers. Set aside.

Make the crema:
Put the avocado flesh, sour cream, lime juice, and salt into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Prep the garnishes:
Slice the tomatoes into thin wedges and chop the cilantro roughly.

Cook the steak:
Heat a skillet on high heat. Remove the steak from the marinade and pat dry. Rub the steak with the olive oil and place in the hot pan. Cook until nicely browned on one side, flip, and cook on the second side. Continue cooking until the steak is done to your liking. Remove it from the pan and let it rest while you cook the vegetables.

Cook the vegetables and tortillas:
Add the vegetables to the pan where you cooked the steak. You can wipe out the pan, if you like, or just let the meat flavor season the vegetables. Add a little olive oil, if necessary and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook the vegetables to you liking - crisp-tender is fine, and fully cooked and caramelized is just as good. It's your dinner, so make it the way you like it.

Meanwhile, warm the tortillas in a dry pan, flipping them over as the heat up, until they're soft and have a few brown spots.

Slice the steak and assemble:
By the time the vegetables are cooked, the steak should be rested well enough to slice into small, thin pieces. If you're using skirt or flank steak or flap meat, make sure you're cutting against the grain of the meat.

Assemble the fajitas with vegetables, steak, and garnishes as desired - or serve the individual components in bowls and let people make their own.

Serve hot.

If you're looking for a knife for a holiday present, check these out! And they're easy to wrap, since they come in boxes. Or, enter below and see if you might win!

Thanks to WÜSTHOF for sponsoring this post and providing knives for the giveaway (US residents only). If you want to know more, check out their website, like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

Half-Moon Taco Burgers

Ground meat isn't unusual in a taco, but I decided to change things up by making half-moon shaped burgers that would fit neatly inside a tortilla.

I flavored them with peppers and chili powder, melted cheese on top, and served them in warm tortillas with guacamole and pepper.

The result was a really really really tasty burger that looked unique, nestled it its tortilla home.

The meat I used was a combination of beef and chicken from a company called Cluck 'n Moo that provided product for the blog group 37 Cooks that I belong to.

Because the meat includes chicken, it needs to be cooked to a safe temperature - no rare burgers with this stuff.

You can make these less spicy by using mild pepper and mild chile powder, or make it more spicy by using hotter peppers and chile powder. And of course, you can add extra spice with your choice of condiments, like peppers or salsa.

Half-Moon Taco Burgers

1 pound Cluck 'n Moo ground chicken and beef
1 4-ounce can diced Hatch chiles (hot or mild, your choice)
2 teaspoons chili powder (hot or mild, your choice)
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a mix of cheeses, but any good-melting cheese will work)

In a medium bowl, combine the ground meat, chiles, and chili powder.

Divide the meat into four portions. Shape each portion into a half-mood shape that will fit into your tortilla. I used 6-inch tortillas and made the burgers slightly smaller that the tortillas - keep in mind that the tortillas need to wrap the meat.

Heat your grill. Sprinkle the burgers with salt as desired, and cook, flipping as needed, until just about done. Divide the cheese onto the tops of the four burgers, close the grill, and let them cook until the cheese is almost melted.

When the cheese is almost melted, place the tortillas on the grill (on a cooler part of the grill, if possible). Place the burgers on the tortillas and close the grill again. Cook until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are warmed.

Serve with your favorite taco toppings. I used guacamole and pickled jalapenos. Other options are shredded lettuce, salsa, cilantro, crema, or chopped fresh tomatoes.

Picadillo Tacos

A while back, I made a recipe from the cookbook Melissa's DYPs. At that time, I didn't happen to have any actual Dutch Yellow Potatoes (that's the DYPs in the book title), so I used regular potatoes. The recipe worked out well, so the cookbook is useful even if you can't find exactly those potatoes.

But after hearing about the Dutch Yellows, I wanted to try them, just because I was curious.

Wouldn't you know it - recently the folks at Melissa's sent me a little care package that included some Dutch Yellow Potatoes, among other things. So I started browsing through the cookbook again, and found a recipe for Picadillo that sounded good. It's a Mexican dish that's typically used to fill burritos or tacos or empanadas. Of you could serve it as is, if you like.

It's sort of like the mutant child of chili and Sloppy Joes. It's definitely comfort food.

Right about the time I decided I wanted to make picadillo, I realized that I didn't have the exact ingredients the recipe called for, so I made my own version.

Did I mention that care package from Melissa's? Well, along with edibles, they sent me another copy of the book. So, since I'm so nice, I'm giving it away to one of my lucky readers.

Picadillo Tacos

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 4-ounce can diced Hatch chiles (hot or mild, your choice)
1 clove garlic, crushed or diced
1 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 pound Dutch Yellow Potatoes, diced
2 teaspoons adobo seasoning
Salt, to taste

For serving:
Tortillas
Sliced pickled jalapenos, for garnish
Guacamole, for garnish

Heat a saucepan or skillet on medium heat. Add the beef. Cook, stirring once in a while - and breaking it up as you do so - until it's mostly cooked through. Add the onion, peppers, and garlic. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes, potatoes, and adobo seasoning. If your adobo is salt-free, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt now.

Cover the pan and cook until the potatoes are cooked thorough - about 20 minutes. The mixture shouldn't be very saucy since this will be a taco filling, so if there's still a lot of juice from the tomatoes, continue cooking with the lid off until most of the moisture is gone. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

Serve on warm tortillas. Garnish as desired. I served it with pickled sliced jalapenos and guacamole.

Melissa's sent me a copy of the Melissa's DYPs cookbook for my use; since I already had a copy, I'm giving one away and will ship to the winner. They also sent me a selection of produce.

Chicken Taco Meatballs

There was a time when I preferred my cookbooks to be all-encompassing. I wanted to have one book - or maybe two or three, for variety's sake - that would have appetizers, breakfasts, main dishes, desserts, and side dishes all in one neat little package.

And while you're at it, give me a smattering of Italian, Tex-Mex, Chinese, barbecue, and pickling, too.

Those books are great for a beginning cook or for someone who doesn't have much storage space for books. But the more I cook, the more I want details. Don't just give me one recipe for enchiladas, give me a variety of styles and sauces. Don't just give me Northern Italian - let's talk about that boot, too.

So when Global Meatballs landed on my doorstep, I did a little dance. I like meatballs. I like the idea of meatballs. But to be honest, most of the time my meatballs are either Italian or they're similar to my meatloaf recipe - an all-purpose, inoffensive ball of meaty goodness in search of a sauce.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that these may be globally-inspired meatballs rather than meatballs made in each country.

But I'm fine with that. I'm also fine with the fact that not all of the meatballs are meat. There are vegetarian balls, as well. I've got beet balls bookmarked. Maybe because I love beets, but also because it's so quirky to take a round vegetable and shred it, just to turn it back into a ball.

I've made a few recipes from this book and I have a whole bunch more bookmarked, like potato balls with a ricotta cheese filling, buckwheat balls with a mushroom gravy, and a bahn mi meatball sandwich.

As you can see, the book isn't just about making a bunch of meatballs, but it's also about how to dress them up for serving.

So far, my favorite recipe is the Taco Chicken Meatballs, probably because it's not something I ever would have thought of. The meatballs are served with a tomato-salsa-spiked rice, but they're also pretty good all by themselves or stuffed into a tortilla. Think about that. Taco Chicken Meatball Tacos. It's mind-bending.

When I made these, the meat mixture was way too soft to hold together when I first mixed it, so I added more bread - not soaked this time - to get it to the right consistency. The recipe did note that you could add more bread if the milk didn't all get soaked up, so obviously there' some wiggle room in the recipe.

Extra bread or not, it was a tasty recipe. I think next time, I'll try it with turkey.

Taco Chicken Meatballs
with Red Salsa Rice
Adapted from Global Meatballs by Adelines Myers

For the Red Salsa Rice:
1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
1 cup salsa
1 cup water or chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Meatballs:
1 to 2 slices crustless white bread
1/4 cup milk
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound ground chicken or turkey
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin

To make the rice:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Add the oil and rice to a 30-quart ovenproof saucepan or Dutch oven on medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until the grains of rice turn milky white, about 5 minutes. If a little of the rice gets toasted, that's fine.

Add the salsa, water, and salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, take it off the heat, and place it in the oven. Cook for 25 minute at 350 degrees, then remove it from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes with the cover on. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

To make the meatballs:
While the rice is cooking, soak the bread and milk in a large bowl for 10 minutes, until the milk has been absorbed and the bread is mushy. If there's a puddle of milk, add more bread.

Meanwhile, saute the onion in the oil in a medium saute pan until tender.

Have a baking sheet standing by. If you like, line it with aluminum foil for easy cleanup and spray with a little oil to keep the meatballs from sticking.

Add the onions and all of the remaining meatball ingredients to the bowl with the bread. Mix well with your hands.

Form the meat mixture into approximately 2-inch balls and arrange them on the baking sheet.

When all the balls are prepared, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. When they're done, they should reach 170 degrees on a meat thermometer.

Serve the meatballs with the rice. Garnish as desired - anything you'd use for tacos would be appropriate, like lime wedges, sour cream, or guacamole.

I received the book from the publisher at no cost to me.

Chicken Enchiladas

A long, long time ago, before I knew what I know now, I was pretty confident that I could recreate any recipe I'd ever tasted.

I'll admit that I was pretty good at deciphering flavors and identifying herbs and spices. That worked pretty well when I was making soup or a stew or a salad or an herb-crusted steak. It didn't work so well when I tried to make enchiladas.

It wasn't completely my fault. I was actually doing fairly well until I put the pan of enchiladas in the oven to melt the cheese. And then I dozed off on the couch. When I took the enchiladas out of the oven, the melted cheese looked good ... but the tortillas had turned to mush. It was pretty awful.

Those enchiladas were my first complete failure, and I learned a lot, but the most important lesson was that it's a good thing to use a reliable recipe the first time I'm making a new dish with ingredients I'm not familiar with.

These days, I know how to make my own tortillas. Back then, they were still very new to me.

Fast-forward to today, and I have in my hands The Great Pepper Cookbook from Melissa's, who sent me both the cookbook and a small container of habanero peppers.

When I got the book, I browsed through the recipes to see what I could make and when I arrived at the page for Chicken Enchiladas, I knew I had to make them.

And, lucky for me, the recipe called for a habanero pepper. Well, it called for a red habanero, and I had orange ones, but I figured it was close enough.

Since I removed the seeds and ribs from the pepper I used, the resulting sauce wasn't super-hot. If you want a hotter sauce, you can add more pepper, or include some of the seeds and ribs.

About the book:

Not only is this a book for cooking with pepper, but there's also a short section in front that describes various types of peppers and how hot they are. This is particularly handy if you want to substitute one pepper for another - you'll know which ones have a similar heat level, so you can make wise substitutions.

There's also a handy page that explains how to prepare dried peppers.

Although peppers can be hot, this isn't a book that's all about heat. There are plenty of recipes that use milder peppers. And remember that part about making substitutions - yep, you can certainly use these recipes and swap out milder peppers if you aren't a fan of heat.

The book has everything from appetizers to drinks to main dishes ... and even desserts. Something for everyone.

I'm looking forward to summer, when I can try one of the corn chowder recipes and some of the crunchy salads, but the next on my list might be the beer, cheese, and pepper soup. Perfect for a chilly day.

As much as I like peppers, I have to say there are recipes here where I might never have thought of adding peppers. I'm gonna have some fun!

Chicken Enchiladas
Adapated from The Great Pepper Cookbook

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, thinly sliced
6 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano (Mexican, if you can find it)
1 teaspoon salt
2 14.5-ounce cans stewed tomatoes
1 fresh habanero pepper
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts*
12 6-inch tortillas
3 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (about 14 ounces) or a Mexican blend, divided

When you're prepping the vegetables, you don't need to be very precise - you'll be blending the sauce later. You don't want giant chunks of onion, but this isn't a time when anyone's going to notice your knife skills.

In a straight-sided saute pan, melt the butter, then add the onion and cook over medium-high heat until the onions are soft. Stir in the broth, cumin, oregano, salt, tomatoes, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

Blend the sauce using an immersion blender until it's smooth,

Add the chicken to the sauce and bring the mixture to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees - about 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan and let it cool slightly, then shred it.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and ladle a thin layer of the sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan.

Dip each tortilla briefly into the sauce in the pan - this will soften it so they can bend without breaking.

Fill each tortilla evenly with chicken and cheese - plan on using about half of the cheese in the tortillas and reserve the other half to top the enchiladas.

Roll each tortilla as you fill it, and arrange them seam-side down in the pan.

When you're done rolling, top the tortillas with the reserved cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted and the enchiladas are warmed - just about 15 minutes.

Serve with your favorite garnishes - I used guacamole and sour cream. In season, tomatoes would be nice - or whatever you like.

*I had leftover roast chicken, so I used that instead - I didn't cook it in the sauce, but I did need to continue simmering the sauce until it was thick enough If I did that again, I'd use less chicken stock so I wouldn't need to simmer quite as long.

And, here, I pickled the leftover peppers. Check it out!

Melissa's provided me with the peppers and the cookbook at no cost to me.

Leftover Makeover: Jamaican Jerk Pork Stew

As a blogger, when a company named Buncha Jerks sends you an email, your ears perk up. No matter what the product is, the name lends itself to a whole buncha jokes when it comes to writing a post. And then the package arrives.

Buncha Jerks!
I mean, seriously... there must be a buncha them there. And then ...

They sent me their Jerk Seasoning Sampler, the hot version. They have three different jerk seasonings, Jamaican, Mexican, and Indian, in mild, medium, and hot versions.

Weird, right? When you think jerk, right after you think about that guy who stole your parking space, you probably think about Jamaican food. Not Mexican or Indian.

Since Jamaican jerk is traditional, I dove into that first, using the seasoning to reinvent a pork roast. I love making roasts, but since there are only two of us, a roast can last a little too long. So I'm always thinking ahead. Sandwiches? Tacos?

In this case, I decided to make a pork stew. Like this:

Jamaican Jerk Flavored Pork Stew

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, cut in medium dice
1 small zucchini, cut in medium dice
Left over pork roast (about 1/2 of a 4-pound roast), cut in bite-size cubes
1/2 teaspoon Bunch Jerks Jamaican Jerk seasoning
1 bottle beer (I used Corona)

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan or in a slow cooker that has a sear/bottom heat setting. I use a Ninja.

Add the onions and zucchini and cook, stirring as needed, until the onions soften a bit. Add the pork roast cubes, seasoning, and beer.

Cook on low until the vegetables are cooked through.

Taste for seasoning and add salt, if desired, or more Buncha Jerks seasoning.

I served these with cubed potatoes, but it would also be great over rice.

And now for a second opinion...

I had a few thinner slices of the pork that weren't suitable for the stew, so I cut them into thin strips and cooked them with a pinch of the Buncha Jerks Mexican seasoning.

I wasn't trying to create a recipe, I just wanted to try the seasoning. And the pork was perfect for tacos, so that's what I made.

The flavor was interesting. It wasn't completely Mexican, like an adobo or a taco seasoning or a salsa or a mole. It had definite Mexican flavors, but also hints of Jerk flavoring. It was really interesting. And tasty.

And just like the hot Jamaica Jerk Spice, it was pretty hot.

One great thing about these spices is that since the flavors are so strong, you really don't need a lot. And I don't just mean the heat - the spices are very flavorful.

Since I wrote this, I tried the Indian Jerk Spice on a pork tenderloin, and I really liked it. So that's three winners out of the three.

Have you tried these? Do you think you'd like them? What would you use them on.

Chipotle-Pumpkin Sauce #PumpkinCan

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LIBBY’S Pumpkin. All opinions are 100% mine.

I make a lot of sauces and salsas and marinades and dressings. Usually, they're for a specific purpose. But when I made this sauce, I started using it on everything.

What couldn't I use it for?

Huh? Huh?

Okay, maybe not ice cream.

But ... hmmm ... given the bizarre ice cream flavors there are, maybe this could work. I'm not going to try it, but feel free to experiment on yourself.

For starters, I used this as a marinade for steak. Then I slathered it on a pork roast before it went into the oven.

I think my favorite use - and the one where it really showed off - was as a salsa substitute on tacos.

If pumpkin seems odd paired with a Mexican dish, think about this. The earliest pumpkin-related seeds were found in Mexico, and they dated back to between 7000 and 5500 B.C.

But this isn't just for use as-is. It makes a great base ingredient that you can build on.

Mixed with an equal portion of sour cream or Greek yogurt, it makes a great creamy-smoky-spicy dip for chips or vegetables. Add some mayonnaise, if you like.

Blend this sauce with cream cheese to make a cracker spread. Or add a spoon full to your favorite cheese ball recipe.

Mix it with more ketchup (or tomato sauce or paste) then add some allspice to make a smoky barbecue sauce for ribs.

Stir a spoon of this into soup or stew to kick up the flavor. Add a small dollop to your deviled egg, potato salad, or macaroni salad recipe.

Add a tiny bit to a salad dressing recipe, or toss some with hot pasta.

Add it to guacamole or salsa. Mix it with cooked vegetables.

Seriously, you're going to keep making this over and over and over, because it has so many uses.

And it's so simple.

Chipotle-Pumpkin Sauce

1 15-ounce can LIBBY's 100% Pure Pumpkin
1/4 cup canned chipotle in adobo
1/4 cup ketchup
Salt, to taste

Put the pumpkin, chipotles (and the sauce that goes with them), and the ketchup into your blender or food processor and blend until it's as smooth as it can get.

If you want a completely smooth sauce, without the pepper seeds and skin, strain it though a fine strainer. Taste and add salt as desired.

Refrigerate until needed.

For more ideas on what #PumpkinCan be used for (get it, pumkin can ... canned pumpkin?) check out the website or LIBBY’S Pumpkin on Facebook or LIBBY’S Pumpkin on Twitter or LIBBY’S Pumpkin on Pinterest ... or check out the pasta I made, or the peanut butter and pumpkin cookies or the pumpkin and vegetable pancakes.

Excuse me now, while I go contemplate pi. Or maybe pie.