Spicy Mixed Nuts

I was trying to think of something to make to take to both our (mine and Jeremy's) parent's houses for Christmas and Christmas Eve....this is what I decided on. And aside from trying to kill my brother in law (who knew he was allergic to the small amount of sunflower seeds I added in there)....they were a huge hit!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups mixed nuts
• 4 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted.
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp. chili powder
• zest of 1 lime
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground red pepper

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350
• In a large bowl, add 4 cups warm water and 1 cup sugar - stir until sugar dissolves

• Put 4 cups mixed nuts in bowl of water/sugar, and let sit for about 10 minutes, to soften the nuts

• In the meantime, line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray - set aside.
• In a small bowl, mix melted butter, sugar, honey and spices....stir until combined.

• Drain nuts and pat dry with paper towel, return to bowl.

• Mix spice mixture in with nuts and stir until all the nuts are covered in the mixture

• Pour nuts on to baking sheets in 1 layer....I made the mistake of putting too many on one baking sheet and the nuts ended up sticking together - so don't do this! Divide them between 2 baking sheets!
• Place in oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until they are dark brown and fragrant. 
• Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

• Place in airtight containers and leave them sitting in room temperature - do not store in the fridge - they will not last!!
• We enjoyed them - hope you do too!!

Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes

I got this from Pinterest too....adapted my recipe from Dlyn. Jeremy told me he wasn't so sure about them while I was making them, but raved about them after he ate them....and he ate about 4 or 5 of them the night I made them. He also raved about them to both of our families and told me that I HAD to make them again....so I guess I will.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium or 1 large sweet potato (I had 1 HUGE one....I guess they are growing well this year)
• 1 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 1/8 tsp. garlic
• 2 tbsp. melted butter
• 2 tbsp. oi

Steps:

• Peel and Cut the sweet potato(es) into disks (about 1-1/2 inches thick)

• Preheat oven to 375
• Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil, add in potatoes, and let boil for 10-12 minutes....just until soft, but not soft enough for them to fall apart or be cooked through, they still need some form to them. (let them sit in the pot for 10-12 minutes....don't wait on the water to start boiling again if it stops.....it's easiest to just put them in the water for 10 minutes only)
• Drain potatoes, and let cool for about 10 minutes
• Blend spices and sugar together well in a small bowl.

• Melt butter, and add oil in a separate bowl
• Place some wax paper on your baking sheet, place the potatoes on the wax paper, and squash each potato slightly with a fork - just to flatten them out a little, but don't flatten them out so much that they start falling apart.
• Drizzle the butter/oil mixture on the tops of all of the potatoes, then sprinkle some of the spice mixture on the tops, pressing down into the potato slightly.
• Turn each potato over on your wax paper, and repeat the butter/oil and then the spice mixture.

• Roast potatoes for 15 minutes, remove from oven, turn them all over and roast for an additional 10 minutes.  (they will have a little brown/caramelized appearance to the edges - to give it a little crisp) if they look this way, they are done.....just eyeball it, it won't hurt if they need to stay in for another minute or 2. 

• Serve with main dish of your choice (we had sweet onion steak with caramelized onions)

• DELICIOUS!  and of course....Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas

Sorry I have been MIA lately - I have about 6 updates that I am going to try to get done today. As most of you know, Jeremy is slightly obsessed with ALL things Buffalo. So we decided to mix up our enchiladas (or burritos...since we use flour tortillas). It's easy and all you really have to do is add some wing sauce to your enchilada sauce (to your 'heat' liking of course). But here is my recipe, just incase!

Ingredients:

• 6 large flour tortillas
• About 1 lb (3 breasts) cooked chicken - shredded
• 28 oz red enchilada sauce
• 1/2 cup wing sauce (less if you don't want it too hot)
• 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
• 1/2 - 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup shredded habenero cheese (or you could use crumbled bleu cheese - I just don't like bleu cheese)

Steps:

• cook and shred chicken

• preheat oven to 375
• pour enchilada sauce into a medium bowl and start whisking in wing sauce. Start with a small amount at a time, and taste to make sure it's not too hot for your liking. We used 1/2 cup and ours was pretty hot, but we also used pepper jack and habenero cheese.

• In another bowl, add shredded chicken, onion, and 1/2 cup pepper jack cheese. Mix in 1/2 cup enchilada/wing sauce mixture. Stir until well mixed - cheese will start to melt.

• Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray, then pour a small amount of wing sauce into the bottom of the pan, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

• Take tortilla, fill with a several spoonfuls of chicken mixture, roll up tortilla and place seam side down into the pan.

• Continue this step until all tortillas are filled with chicken mixture and in the pan. (mine only made 5 enchiladas....but I probably overfilled mine. if you can fit 6-8 into your pan, make 6-8....just divide your mixture more evenly)

• Top enchiladas with 1/2 cup - 1 cup of the enchilada sauce/wing sauce mixture. I just poured the sauce on the top until all of the tortillas were covered.

• Top with the remainder of your pepper jack cheese- and we added our habenero cheese at this time. (if you use bleu cheese crumbles, wait to add this after you have baked the enchiladas)

• Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes
• Once removed, add your cilantro and any extra onions you may have (and bleu cheese if you choose)

• If you have left over sauce - store it in the fridge - use it for leftovers or if you plan on making enchiladas again in the next week or 2.  

• Enjoy!

Chicken Stir-Fry w/ Rice Noodles

I have been slacking.....I made this last week.
I adapted this recipe from a Paula Deen Recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
• 1 bunch fresh broccoli cut into florets
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1 8oz can sliced water chestnuts (drained)---I forgot to buy these, I was very disappointed.
• 1 cup chicken broth (I used more b/c I boiled my chicken before hand and shredded it)
• 1/4 cup hoison sauce (found in asian foods section at grocery store)
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. powdered ginger
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 package rice noodles cooked (or rice...whichever you prefer)
• 1 package frozen egg rolls (yeah...I slacked on that one...whatever)

Directions:

• In a small bowl combine chicken broth, hoison sauce, soy sauce, ginger, and cornstarch. Set aside.
• Heat 2 tbsp oil over med-high heat in wok or large skillet
•  Add chicken and cook for 4-5 mints or until lightly browned, I boiled my chicken in 1 cup of chicken broth/1 cup water for about 45 minutes, drained it and shredded it, so when I added it to the oil, I added it with my veggies....
• After chicken cooks for 4-5 minutes, add in broccoli, carrots, pepper, and onion, cooking for an additional 5 minutes 
• Stir in water chestnuts (if you remembered to buy them...unlike me)
• Add sauce mixture to wok/skillet and bring to boil.
• Reduce heat to med or med-low and let simmer for 4-5 minutes, stir occasionally, until the sauce thickens and coats the mixture.
• Serve over hot rice noodles or rice. (when I made my rice noodles, I mixed together another batch of the sauce I used for the stir fry to toss with the rice noodles.
• During cooking, I baked some frozen "Chung's" Chicken egg rolls. 

Enjoy.