Cooking Spree

I do a very good job keeping myself busy at home with cooking.  I love it, it soothes me, the time flies by unnoticed, I can listen to music, and it allows me to test my creativity.  This weekend while Bryan worked I spent some time in the kitchen.  The main task was to find uses for a lot of things I had on hand and the other task was to just have fun.

On Saturday I:

• Made apureed creamy Moroccan carrot and red lentil soup.  This was very easy with minimal ingredients and enhanced with cumin and coconut milk.  Thought:  Something healthful and warm for lunches.

  

• Made a hatch green chile sauce with about 3/4 lb of the 10 lb package we had shipped from Trish.  To make the sauce I simply cooked garlic, onions, and the chilies in a bit of oil, added cumin, flour, and then 3 cups of chicken stock and let that simmer for 20 minutes.  I then pureed this sauce until super smooth.  The sauce packs some heat!
• Made aratatoulle.  I copied a recipe I made earlier in the week for this dish but added an eggplant.  I roasted an eggplant, red pepper, green pepper, tomato, garlic, and onion on a sheet pan until the vegetables were nice and soft.  I then chopped them all up and mixed them with a bit of vinegar and then drizzled with olive oil until they started to meld together.  I am excited to use this dish later in the week.

  

• Slow roasted a pint of cherry tomatoes.  I lovesun dried tomatoes and learned you can make your own by cutting the tomatoes in half, drizzling with EVOO, salt and pepper.  I cooked them on a sheet pan, cut side up in a 250 degree oven for about 3 hours.  They were nice and dried and once they were cool I stored them in a glass canning jar with a good dose of EVOO.

  

On Sunday I:

• Made a great dinner of green chile chicken enchiladas for Bryan and I.  After walking to the store in the morning I added two large bone in chicken breasts to mycrockpot with enough of the green chile sauce to nearly cover them.  I set it to low and let it get good.  About four hours in I took out the bone and skin and shredded the chicken.  Then I left it again for another hour.  I then added about 1/3 block of cream cheese before filling the tortillas with a good amount of the filling.  I topped the whole pan with more of the green chile sauce and a mix of cheddar andmonterey jack cheese.  Popped in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes covered and then 10 minutes uncovered.  This was so good and Bryan said I could make this for him anytime.  From just the one bag of chilies I still have about half of the sauce that I made.  Yummy!!

  

Chelsea