Creamy White Chicken Enchiladas And Black Beans

Instead of a weekly get together for cards, it is now monthly but it still includes supper and for this meal I was looking for dishes high in protein and can be cooked in advance or while we are playing cards.  As luck would have it, two of my blogger buddies had recently posted dishes that fit the bill.  Dennis posted a recipe for Creamy White Chicken Enchiladas on his “Ask Chef Dennis” blog which contained chicken and dairy for the protein.  And for a side I went with Pam’s recent post for Spicy Black Beans from her “For The Love Of Cooking” blog where the beans are the protein source.  Cindy made the enchiladas and I made the beans (the easy part by far).

Slow Cooker Mojo Pork, Cuban Black Beans And Rice, And Cindy Flowers

Before I get into the food, Cindy likes to make flower arrangements so she picked the flowers from around our place and made this very pretty one.

Real Deal Carnitas & Delicious Charro Beans

I’ve ordered carnitas in a restaurant a couple of times and was always disappointed with the dry overcooked meat so I’ve not made them at home.  But when daughter, Wende, advised her great success making then, I had to give them a try and used the same recipe that she did.  The recipe for Reverse Carnita’s comes from famous chef Rick Bayless – not sure why they all called Reverse Carnitas but I followed the recipe as written using all of the optional flavorings.

Cheesy Fish Quesadillas And A New Dock Ladder

I had been ordering fish from two different Alaskan seafood stores to see which I preferred and one of them kept sending cubed pollock which I had little use for (I would have liked filets but assume they all went to Long John Silvers and these were the leftovers) so I went with the other supplier, but I still had the pollock in the freezer.  

Easy Pork Pozole Verde And Riley Visits

Visit from Riley

We had a recent long-weekend visit from granddaughter, Riley, who is a student at the College of Charleston in South Carolina where she is majoring in Psychology and Religious Studies.  It’s been about a year since we saw her and it was really nice catching up with her life.  Here she is with her Meme and Aunt Pat engaged in girl talk.

Riley brought her cat and kept it in her bedroom and this is Romeo trying to look under the door the check it out.

Beef Empanadas – First Try

Meat pies can be traced back to 6000 B.C. and I like all forms of them whether they be pasties, dumplings, piroskis, turnovers, pierogis, empanadas, etc. and I've always wanted to make them so today was the day.  I opted for empanadas because they can be made with refrigerator pie dough and I chose the recipe for Beef Empanadas from the “Handle The Heat” blog.  I made the filling by the recipe and ignored the dough part to get the recipe below.

Happy Birthday To Big Dude’s Eclectic Ramblings And A Few Delicious Random Meals – Burrito, Sandwich, Quesadilla

It’s hard to believe that my first blog post was 15 years ago today and my first total post said “Well, I'm new to this blogging thing and this is my first - mostly to just see if I can do it. My next goal will be to learn to post pictures, then I'll worry about making the blog look cool.” 

Most of the folks who have been my blogger buddies through the years are no longer posting and I really appreciate those of you who still do stop by and I love to hear from you via your comments.  I’ve considered quitting a few times until I realize how much I use my blog to research our lives and recipes during those years so I guess I’ll continue until I run out of things to post about.

Using The Smoked Pork And Chicken – Quesadillas And Breakfast Burritos

The grandkids had requested BBQ during their visit so I fired up the smoker and cooked a pork butt, two racks of spare ribs, chicken thighs, and wings.  We ate the ribs and wings for supper then I used the pulled pork and chicken thighs for Hispanic dishes.

Madison (Granddaughter) Comes For A Visit – Post 2

Even though it was cool and rainy during their visit, Madison and boyfriend, Zach, managed to get in some jet ski riding, a couple of walks around the area, and some time with her Meme.

Slow Cooker Mojo Pork And Mississippi Mud Potatoes - Both Delicious

This is a very eclectic meal as the three dishes don’t necessarily go together but I wanted to make the pork and the potatoes, and Bev decided we needed something green so she added slaw.

I love pulled pork, Mojo Sauce is one of my favorite parts of a Cuban sandwich and I love my slow cooker so when Claudia posted the recipe for Slow Cooker Mojo Pork on her “What’s Cooking Italian” blog, I was all in.  Then I decided that with no gluten and having it cook while we do happy hour, it would be perfect for Friday cards.  Bev ended up with an 8¾ lb. pork butt so I doubled the marinade ingredients, I changed some of the ingredients a little, and made it as a pulled vs. sliced pork dish but the original recipe plus Claudia’s pics can be found by clicking on the above link.

Creamy Chicken And Spinach Quesadillas

Cindy had baked a chicken for supper a couple of days previously and we decided quesadillas would be a good use for the leftovers and since we had an open bag of spinach in the fridge that needed to be used, I went in search of a recipe that used them both.  The recipe I chose was Creamy Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas from "Budget Bytes" but I changed it quite a bit to get the one below.  The original can be found by clicking on the above link.

A Few More Delicious Holiday Meals & One For Luck

We had quite a bit of the prime rib left from Christmas dinner and one use was French Dip Sandwiches.  I made them by the recipe that Daughter, Kathy, uses in her café in Nebraska.  I sliced the meat fairly thin and took out the fat.  Then I piled it to the shape of the bread, topped with cheese, and gave it a 60 second nuke to warm it.

Pork Green Chile Stew

When I saw Chef Lea Ann’s recipe for Pork Green Chile Stew on her "Cooking On The Ranch” blog, I thought it would work well for our Hispanic food loving Friday card group.  So, when this chilly, drizzly Friday came along, it became the meal choice.

One her blog, Lea Ann described it as “A hearty stew brimming with Chile Peppers, cubed pork loin roast, potatoes and hominy. Slightly spicy, slightly tangy and mostly mouthwateringly delicious.” I made it sorta by the recipe except I used canned chilies, but the original along with pics can be found by clicking on the above link.

Authentic Mexican Posole

We had pulled pork left from our Loaded BBQ Pork Potato Casserole  and decided to turn it into Posole which we hadn’t made in a long time.  After looking around, I selected the recipe for Authentic Mexican Posole from Food.com because we had most of the ingredients on hand and it used canned chiles.  I changed the instructions quite a bit as I was starting with cooked meat but the original can be found by clicking on the above link.

Bev’s Ride, A Couple Of Dishes, and My Owie

Before we retired, we bought a 1976 red Corvette that was to be Bev’s retirement car but it mostly just sat in the garage until we sold it a few years ago.  Now, she sure looks good in this 2004 Ferrari with 30,000 miles.

Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken - Three Delicious Meals

I am a big fan of salsa verde, an even bigger fan of pork chile verde (Oscar‘s in Durango, CO was my first), and Bev and I both want to lose some weight so when I saw this recipe for Salsa Verde Chicken from Kevin on his “Closet Cooking” blog, it moved to the top of my make-soon list.  For plenty of how-to pics, check out Kevin’s blog by clicking on the above link.

Pollo Asado, Mexican Grilled Chicken Ala Chef Lea Ann

Chef Lea Ann recently posted her recipe for Easy Pollo Asado (Mexican Grilled Chicken) on her “Cooking On The Ranch” blog, and since she is a go-to source for southwestern recipes, I knew it had to be tried.  She describes it as “Citrus juice and Mexican spices join forces to create bright and complex flavors for this easy Pollo Asado recipe. A juicy grilled chicken dinner with sheer pizzaz.”

Since I had 4½ lbs. if thighs, I upped the marinade ingredient amounts as shown below and I subbed green pepper for jalapenos.  While we have a Mexican store about 25 miles away, I just ordered the Naranja Agria and the Achiote paste from Amazon.  Be sure to check out Lea Ann's site, ( link above) for the original recipe and her good pics.

Mexican Casserole with Ground Beef and Corn Tortillas

For out Friday card night, I like to make meals that are quickly cooked or can cook while we play and this one was the latter.  It also met three other criteria – gluten free, Mexican that we all like, and from one of my favorite meal sources.  The recipe for Mexican Casserole with GroundBeef and Corn Tortillas came from Chef Lea Ann on her “Cooking On The Ranch” blog.  I made it per the recipe except as shown in ( ).

Southwestern Pot Roast & Beef Quesadillas

I found a chuck roast in the freezer and decided that beef quesadillas would be an easy meal for our Friday get-together so I went in search of a pot roast recipe.  I found one that sounded good at one of my favorite recipe sources that we could eat a meal from then use the leftovers on Friday.  The recipe for Southwestern Pot Roast comes from Pam on her “For The Love Of Cooking” blog but I changed the cooking method quite a bit to fit my needs.

A Delicious Spinach and Chicken Enchilada Casserole With Our Go-To Green Sauce

When I saw the recipe for “Spinach and Chicken Enchiladas” on Mary’s Vegetable Recipes blog I thought it sounded good for our Friday get together.  I’m pretty sure an enchilada is a corn tortilla wrapped around a filling which hers isn’t so I added the word casserole which I believe is more accurate.  I made the enchilada sauce using the second recipe below and I used about twice as many tortillas for the casserole as shown in the recipe below.  You can tell from my plate that I remembered the pic late into the meal.