Shrimp Enchiladas

Ingredients:
1 pound cooked bay shrimp
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
2 cups shredded green cabbage or cole slaw mix
1 carrot, peeled and grated
~3 cups baby spinach (I used a whole container of baby spinach which was probably 4ish cups)
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 tortillas
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese

1/4c butter
1/4c flour
1 - 15oz can of chicken broth
1c sour cream
1 - 4oz can diced green chilis

1/4c chopped cilantro

Heat oven  to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9×13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, high sided skillet. Cook onion , stirring occasionally, until the onions become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant about 1 minute. Add cabbage, carrot, spinach, oregano and cayenne. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the spinach just begins to wilt, about 1-2 minutes. Add shrimp and gently toss to combine.

To make the sauce, melt butter in a large saucepan. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1-2 minutes. Gradually whisk in chicken stock and cook, whisking constantly, until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Add green chilis and simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

To assemble the enchiladas, lay tortilla on a flat surface and spoon 1/3 - 1/2 cup of the shrimp mixture in the center; sprinkle with cheese. Roll the tortilla and place seam side down onto prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas and shrimp mixture.
Pour the cream sauce evenly over the top. Place into oven and bake, covered, until lightly golden and bubbly, about 20 minutes.

Adapted from Damn Delicious

Butterscotch Sauce

This sauce is for drizzling on ice cream, pound cake, poached pears or what have you. The longer you cook it the thicker it will be. Following these recipes on a light boil I got a pretty loose sauce when cool.

Yield: About 2/3 to 3/4 cup sauce

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons, 2 ounces or 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (about 109 grams) packed dark or light brown sugar (I used dark)
1/2 cup (118 ml) heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) flaky sea salt (or 1/4 teaspoon regular salt), plus more to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 ml) vanilla extract, plus more to taste

Melt butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar, cream and salt and whisk until well blended. Bring to a very gentle boil and cook for about five minutes, whisking occasionally.

Remove from heat and add one teaspoon of the vanilla extract, stirring to combine. Dip a spoon in the sauce and carefully taste the sauce to see if you want to add additional pinches or salt or splashes of vanilla. Tweak it to your taste, whisking well after each addition. I ended up using a full teaspoon of flaky salt and the listed amount of vanilla to get a butterscotch sauce with a very loud, impressive butterscotch flavor but the strength of your vanilla and intensity of your salt may vary.

From Smitten Kitchen

Brown Butter Layer Cake

This cake is made with a vanilla bean frosting and is meant to be topped with a drizzle of salted caramel sauce. The recipe is also from an Australian blog, hence the measures in grams.

Makes a 4-layer 6" or a 3-layer 7", 2-layer 8" cake

For the brown butter cake:
300g (2 & 2/3 sticks) butter (I used salted, add 1/4 tsp salt if using unsalted)
360g (approx 2 & 1/2 cups) plain/all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
240ml (about 1 cup) milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
330g (approx 1 & 1/2 cups) granulated sugar (I used caster/superfine)
4 large eggs

Prepare the brown butter ahead of time as you will need to chill it:
Place butter in a small saucepan on low-medium heat and stir until it melts completely.
Continue cooking, stirring frequently until the milk solids turn brown and the butter smells nutty, about 5 minutes longer (or as long as it takes to turn golden brown). Take care not to burn (it will continue to brown even after you remove it from the heat, so take it off early).
Scrape the melted butter and browned bits into small bowl and chill until solidified (about half an hour in the freezer, an hour or so in the fridge). When ready to make cake, remove from the fridge long enough that the butter is soft enough to be beaten with an electric mixer.

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease four 15cm (6 inch) or three 18cm (7 inch)  or two 8 inch round cake tins. Line the base of the tins with baking paper.
Combine flour and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix milk and vanilla together in a measuring jug.
Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat sugar and brown butter in a large bowl until blended. Increase speed to high and beat well until very pale and creamy, at least 5 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium low, add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
Alternately add flour mix and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture (I did it by adding 1/4 of of the dry mixture followed by 1/3 of the wet mixture at a time). Beat until smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with a spatula.
Pour equal amounts of mixture into prepared tins and bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the outside is golden, about 30-35 minutes (will vary depending on your cake tin size). Take cake not to overbake or cake will be dry.
Cool in tins for 15 minutes, then carefully turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely. Can be stored in an airtight container overnight if you want to prep the cakes a day ahead.

For the icing:
400g salted butter (add 1/4 tsp salt if using unsalted), softened
600g icing sugar (confectioner's sugar), sifted
1/3 cup milk
2 vanilla bean pods, seeds scraped (or 2 tsp vanilla bean paste)

Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high.
With the mixer on low, gradually add icing sugar and mix until incorporated.
Add vanilla bean seeds and milk and beat on high until very pale and fluffy.
Place first layer of cake on your cake stand or plate. Spread a layer of icing over the top of the cake, using an offset spatula. Sandwich with another layer of cake and then repeat with remaining cake layers.
Crumb coat cake and then chill cake for about 30 mins.
Cover cake with the remaining icing and chill again for another hour before pouring salted caramel over the top of the cake.
Keep cake chilled in the fridge, remove 30 mins before serving to allow it to come back to room temperature.

Broccoli Salad

A great recipe from Smitten Kitchen. A delicious alternative to cole slaw, in my opinion.

Ingredients
2 heads of broccoli
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds, toasted
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot (or, you could just use a little extra red onion to simplify it)

Trim broccoli and cut it into large chunks. From here, you can either feed it through your food processor’s slicing blade, use a mandoline to cut it into thin slices, or simply had chop it into smaller pieces. 

Toss the sliced broccoli with the almonds, cranberries and red onion in a large bowl. Meanwhile, whisk the dressing ingredients in a smaller one, with a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Pour the dressing over the broccoli (if you’ve skipped using the stems, you might not want it all; I otherwise found this to be the perfect amount) and toss it well. Season well with salt and pepper to taste.

Spicy (or not) Peanut Sauce

As a sauce for noodles or chicken or what have you.

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons peanut butter
5 tablespoons water
5 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
diced jalapeño pepper to taste, or omit completely
½ cup peanuts

Mix all the ingredients with an immersion blender, leaving the desired level of peanut chunkiness.

Adapted from http://pinchofyum.com/spicy-peanut-chicken-soba-noodle-salad 

Cheeseburger Casserole

I was entirely skeptical of this, but the hubby really likes burgers. We did use ground beef, but I'm confident we could sub ground turkey.

Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat elbow macaroni, uncooked
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
½ onion, diced
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 lb lean ground beef
½ tsp burger seasoning
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 - 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 cups reduced-fat, shredded cheddar cheese
non-stick cooking spray
Optional: ¼ cup hamburger dill chips, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spray a 9x13 inch casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large stock pot, cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.
In a medium skillet, add olive oil and cook onions and garlic for 1-2 minutes.
Add ground beef and cook until browned. Add salt, pepper and burger seasoning to ground beef while cooking.
Add in tomatoes, tomato paste and mustard.
Allow the mixture to cook and thicken until bubbly.
Add the pasta to sauce and mix to cover evenly.
Transfer mixture to casserole dish.
Top with cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with chopped dill pickles before serving (optional).

1cup = 6WWP+

Lasagna Rolls

This recipe definitely exceeded my expectations. Simple, delicious, filling and healthy.

Ingredients
8 whole-wheat lasagna noodles (cook 1-2 extra in case you get one that breaks while cooking)
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed
15 oz part-skim ricotta cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
¼ tsp Italian seasoning
⅛ tsp salt
⅛ tsp black pepper
~24 oz jar Marinara sauce
½ cup low moisture, part-skim, shredded mozzarella cheese


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour half of the pasta sauce in a 10x7 baking dish.

Begin boiling water for your lasagna noodles and defrosting the spinach in the microwave. After the spinach is thawed, press and drain out the extra water. (I like to use my potato ricer for this.)

Place spinach in a medium size bowl with ricotta, parmesan, egg, and seasonings. Stir until combined.

Cook your lasagna noodles until al dente. Strain and pat dry. Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Spread about ¼ cup of the spinach mixture evenly over each noodle. Roll noodles carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish.

Pour the remaining sauce over the rolls. Spoon sauce over any uncovered noodle areas. The sauce will keep the noodles hydrated and soft while baking. Top each one with mozzarella cheese.
Loosely cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

From Skinny Mom
5 WWP+ per roll

Dr. Burnett's Chicken

This is one of those silly viral recipes on Pintrest that I finally tried. Deemed a success, it has been renamed for Becky Burnett, who loved the recipe but not the name. The original recipe calls for chicken thighs, but I prefer this with chicken breast.

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs Chicken breast
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup Maple syrup
1 Tbs Rice wine vinegar
Fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450*

Line 13x9 pan with tin foil. Mix together mustard, syrup and vinegar. Place chicken in pan, salt and pepper liberally. Pour sauce over chicken and turn chicken to coat. Place in oven. Baste chicken 15 minutes in. Cook until internal temp is 165. Approximately 30-40 minutes.

Frosting Recipe

Although my default preference is generally cream cheese frosting, I needed a mint frosting for a mint chocolate chip cake for my sister's birthday celebration. This was light, fluffy and not cloyingly sweet. I'll definitely use it again. I also used this site's recipes for frosting tints. Turns out, 10 drops of blue and 10 drops of green makes a convincing mint chip color.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
24 tablespoons (3 sticks) butter, cut into 24 pieces and softened at room temperature

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. Slowly whisk in the milk until the mixture is smooth. Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture boils and is thick enough that it starts to become difficult to easily whisk. This could take anywhere between 5-10 minutes, depending on your stove, heat, etc. It should bubble quite a bit at the end (be careful of the splatters) and thicken considerably.

Transfer the mixture to a clean bowl and cool to room temperature – this is extremely important! If it is even slightly warm, the frosting won’t beat up properly. I put mine in the bowl of my Kitchenaid stand mixer with the paddle attachment and let it run on low speed for a while to assist in the cooling. I did drop it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes, but make sure you have it at room temp before you start. If you try to proceed with the rest of the recipe and the mixture is too cold, the butter won’t absorb into the frosting like it should.

Once the frosting is completely cooled to room temperature (it should have no hint of warmth at all!), beat the mixture with the vanilla on low speed until it is well combined, about 30 seconds (a stand mixer will work best for this). Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat the frosting until all the butter has been incorporated fully, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and let the mixer work it’s magic. Beat the frosting for five minutes, until it is light and fluffy.

 

Variations:

Mint Chip: Rather than vanilla, add 2.5tsp mint extract instead. Then add finely chopped dark chocolate before frosting the cake.

Chocolate Version: Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder to the sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt mixture in the first step. Once the frosting has been mixed for five minutes and is light and fluffy, mix in 3 ounces of semisweet chocolate that has been melted and completely cooled to room temperature