Chicken Cheese Enchiladas

The reason it looks a little green is because I also poured some green enchilada sauce on the top also. It makes it really saucy if you like it that way. 

I have been making this recipe for a few years now because it is so yummy and it is really easy. I have actually had a lot of people ask me for this recipe. I originally got this one from my sister-in-law Joylyn. (Thanks for my cook book!) I have improvised on it a little bit over the years and I am pretty happy with the results. I made it last night for dinner and it is definitely a  recipe that I will continue to keep in our family.

Chicken Cheese Enchiladas

Makes 6 enchiladas

1 cup cooked chicken (I season it with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper)
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
2 cans cream of chicken soup (you can also substitute cream of mushroom for one of the cans)
6 tortillas
Sour cream (to put on top)

Ingredients we also included:
1 small can sliced mushrooms, chopped into little pieces
1 small can fire roasted green chilies
1/4 cup chopped olives
2 tablespoons scallions


Preheat oven to 350. Cook chicken in a skillet and season as desired. Then chop up the chicken into small pieces or you can even shred it if you would like. Add all of the ingredients besides the tortillas and the sour cream into a large bowl and mix it with a spoon until its well blended. Spray a cake pan with cooking spray. Fill the tortillas with about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of filling then roll and place in greased pan. Take the remaining filling and spread across the top of the other enchiladas. Lightly cover with foil then bake for about 40 - 45 minutes. Serve and put sour cream on top and enjoy!

Easy Angel Hair and Artichoke Pasta

Don't pay attention to the sloppiness of my picture taking, but I just wanted to show all the incredible flavors that you get out of this dish. (Olives,artichoke, tomatoes, capers, garlic... you can see it all!) 

I had this pasta at Johnny Carino's Intalian Restaurant two weeks ago and it was so amazing that I have not been able to stop thinking about it. Adam and I studied the dish that I was eating at Johnny Carino's and figured out that it shouldn't be that difficult to recreate. (And there was a leaf next to this dish on their menu meaning it's a low calorie dish which is always a plus!) My gift to myself for my birthday yesterday and my treat for being alone on my birthday was to try and make this dish. It took me around 10 minutes to cook it up and it probably would have taken less time if I wasn't watching Minute to Win it at the same time and was distracted. Hence the sloppiness looking of the dish and there was no one to impress so I just slapped in on a plate. But that's what I love about pasta dishes too- they don't have to be pretty because their taste makes up for it and they are supposed to get everywhere. Oh, and I have discovered that my new favorite flavor comes from a little thing called capers. Sooooo good!!

Angel Hair and Artichoke Pasta

Servings: 3-4

4 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves fresh garlic, finely diced

1 cup diced tomatoes

1/2 cup finely chopped black olives

1/4 cup capers (or more if you love them as much as I do)

1 small jar of Artichoke hearts

Angel hair pasta 

Start boiling water to cook the pasta in. The sauteing part of everything else is really quick so you need to make sure your noodles don't put you behind.

Saute garlic in olive oil until done.

Add tomatoes, olives, capers, and artichoke hearts. Saute

Place cooked pasta in the pan with your sauce and mix it around. (I hear that's how the professionals do it)

Your done! Place on a plate and enjoy!!

The sauce. I cooked mine a little longer than I would have liked and the tomatoes began to get a little soggy, so beware of over sauteing.

Place pasta in the sauce and mix it around till it looks like......

......this! I'm sure yours will turn out prettier than mine. But it still looks yummy!!

Olive Garden's Salad and Dressing

Olive Garden's Salad and Dressing

Salad

1 bag American Blend Dole Salad

4-5 slices Red Onion

4-6 Black Olives

2-4 Pepperochini if you like a sweet pepper you could use a Banana Pepper

1/2 C. Croutons

1 small Tomato Quartered

Parmesan Cheese

Chill one salad bowl in freezer for at least 30 minutes. Place bag of salad in bowl. Place on top of lettuce but red onion, black olives, banana peppers, tomatoes, and croutons. Add some freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you like, and add plenty of Olive Garden Salad Dressing on top.

Dressing

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons Miracle Whip

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

Put everything in a blender with 1-2 tablespoons of water and blend together. 

Eat with:

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana Soup

Olive Garden's Bread Sticks

Makes a great soup and salad mix with bread sticks!