Weekend Warrior

Okay so I guess warrior may seem a little extreme, but I totally do feel like one since I am so happy to announce that I FINALLY finished my mother's china cabinet!!!!  Yayyy.......okay, well I can't rejoice too much since I haven't actually put the thing back together yet.  BUT, at least the hardest part of painting it is finally over.  Not only did I lock myself in my house to finish this beast this weekend but I also banged out three fabulous dishes that I've been dying to share with everyone.  Before I get to that, here's a little sneak peak of the fully painted, yet unassembled bottom half of the cabinet:

I will do a full post on the final product once I get it put back together (hopefully tomorrow).  On to my fab recipes:


The first thing I made was the easiest Banana Bread recipe ever.  I don't know why, but I have been craving Banana Bread ever since it's gotten a little bit cooler outside.  Feeling overwhelmed by my painting sitch on Friday, I wanted to make the bread but didn't feel like actually going to the store (since I was covered in paint).  So I found this recipe online and I just so happened to have all the ingredients in my pantry already (as I think most other people would as well).  This recipe is so basic and even though I made it as is, I can see myself adding walnuts, or chocolate chips, or whatever I want in the future.  Okay here it is:

Easy Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas  (I used about three large bananas)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Okay so once we got our fix of banana bread, I moved onto my next craving (I'm not preggo, I swear)...a little gem called the Enchilada.  I've searched high and low for the perfect recipe and have pinned several on my Pinterest, but who would have thought that the most delicious Enchiladas would come off the back of a cream cheese container?!  I was at the store Saturday, picking up some necessities when I stumbled across the new Philly Sante Fe Cooking Creme.  The recipe seemed so easy with very little ingredients so I couldn't pass it up.  Let me tell you, the result was absolutely mind-blowing.  

Not the most attractive pic, but wanted to show how MUCH you get from this recipe!

Serve with Spanish Rice and Dollop of Fat Free Sour Cream - What More Could You Want?

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp. oil

3 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts (I took the lazy approach again and used Mojo Rotisserie Chicken)

1 can (14.5 oz.) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained (I actually used the diced tomatoes with added jalapenos)

1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Santa Fe Blend Cooking Crème, divided

1/2 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese

8 flour tortillas (6 inch)

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F.

Cook and stir onions in hot oil in large skillet on medium heat 4 to 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Stir in chicken, tomatoes, 3/4 cup cooking crème and shredded cheese.

Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; top with remaining cooking crème. Cover.

Bake 15 to 20 min. or until heated through.

I Repeat - Mind Blowing.

On to dessert!  Okay, so there is NOTHING fancy or creative about this.  Just one magic ingredient, mascarpone cheese.  The bf wanted cupcakes, specifically yellow cupcakes, so I took the lazy approach yet again and got the magical Yellow Cake mix out of the box:

I may not mind taking the shortcut on the cake part, but I absolutely refuse to take a frosting shortcake.  Yes, I am a frosting snob.  I saw Giada make a chocolate ganache awhile back that I thought looked so amazing. So I made it:

Ganache:

• 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (recommended: Nestle morsels)
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Combine the heavy cream and vanilla extract in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook until small bubbles appear on the outside edge of the cream. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate chips. Using a fork, gently stir until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Yes, it was delish, but the bf turned his nose up at the fact that it was extremely runny and he's accustomed to the super fluffy frosting.  Hmmm...what can I add to this to make it fluffy??  Bingo!  I just happened to have Mascarpone Cheese in the fridge since I had vowed to use it somehow.  

I plopped the entire tub of the cheese into the chocolate and mixed.  Enter the most rich, creamy and delish frosting I've ever had.  No lie.

 So do I even have to explain this...just make the yellow cake mix as directed.  Make the ganache and add the mascarpone.  Dip the cupcakes in the chocolate goodness. ENJOY.

What did ya'll do this weekend?

xoxo, 

Amanda

What We Made This Weekend

Both Katina and I made two very successful yet very different recipes this weekend that we thought fabulous enough to share with everyone.....


Recipe Gurl's Buffalo Chicken Panini's:

So we recently received a panini grill as a gift for our engagement party. I think we’ve used it about 5 times and our party was only a little over a week ago. A Panini is such an easy and satisfying dinner! It’s also a crowd pleaser (esp for picky eaters). So I came across this gem on the fabulous blog over at The Grilled Cheese Social and just had to try it. I am always a little weary of blue cheese, I never like when it’s too strong. I followed this recipe to a T and it came out amazing, the blue cheese was not overwhelming at all, it was the perfect compliment to the chicken. And as always, I used a rotisserie chicken to make the recipe even easier, and lower fat ingredients whenever possible. I strongly advise cooking this on a panini grill or even a George Foreman grill would work if you had one of those, but it also works just fine cooking it in the pan. Enjoy!!

Ingredients

-4 thick slices of french bread **
-2 pads of real salted butter
-1 tbs blue cheese salad dressing
-3 tbs organic cream cheese
-2 tbs crumbled blue cheese
-1 tbs shredded cheddar
-1/2 cup cooked shredded organic chicken breast
-1.5 tbs Frank's hot sauce

Once you've got everything out, combine all the cheeses into a small bowl. Stir together until you get a smooth consistency. Now combine your finely chopped chicken with Frank's hot sauce and stir.

Ok, now you're ready to begin!  Smear on a little over a tablespoon of the mixture onto each slice of bread (or however much you want!).

Then divide half the chicken on top of each piece of the smeared bread.  Now smear the other slices of bread with cheese and put the top on the sammie.  Gently apply 1 pad of butter to the top of the grilled cheese and place it butter side down in your pan (or Panini Grill)!

This cheese mixture will melt really quick, so make sure to check the brownness of each grilled cheese about every thirty seconds or so.  It'll probably take about a minute and a half once the pans hot and you'll want to take it off when it looks like this on both sides.

You'll want to serve these immediately because they're super delicious when they're all gooey and hot.

**I used Whole Wheat French Bread just to make it just a smidgen more healthy**

xoxo,

Katina

Okay - now for my (much lazier dinner approach) One-Pot Thai Chicken and Rice:

So I went to my local grocery store and randomly picked up Taste of Thai's Seasoning Packet for Chicken and Rice.  I made it last night for the boyf and we scarfed it down like it was nobody's business.  Here's the uber simple recipe from Taste of Thai's Website:

INGREDIENTS

Salt and pepperOil for browning4 pieces boneless skinless, chicken breast (about 1 1/4 lbs)1 1/4 cups Jasmine Rice, uncooked2 cups water1-1.75 oz packet Chicken & Rice Seasoning, both inner envelopes1 red bell pepper, diced1 cup peas, fresh or frozen

Salt and pepper chicken. In a large saucepan, heat oil on high and brown chicken. Remove chicken when browned. Set aside.

Add Jasmine Rice to saucepan and stir to coat rice. Add water and Chicken & Rice Seasoning. Stir well to combine.                                                                                                                          

Top Rice with chicken and bell peppers. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on a low heat 10 minutes.                                                                                                           

Uncover and add peas, re-cover and cook 5 minutes more.

I made this recipe to the tee, not changing a single thing and it was absolutely fabulous - as if we got takeout from our fave Thai restaurant.

Hope you enjoy one or both of these recipes!  

xoxo,

Amanda