Cheese Enchiladas

I used to love to make enchiladas when I was in Mexico.  We would buy fresh tortillas from the local merchant and freshly cooked chicken.  Enchiladas are easy and delicious.  My husband prefers all cheese enchiladas, so I used the Mexican queso blanco as well as the new Kraft shredded cheddar with a touch of Philadelphia cream cheese.  These did turn out amazing.  I made 6 of them and all 6 of them were gone at one sitting!   I bought taco sauce in the jar because I couldn't find enchilada sauce and it worked great.  Served it with brown rice that I mixed with Rotel spicy tomatoes and added corn to it.   It's so much fun to invent things, especially when they turn out delicious!  Enjoy....

A Fond Memory of my Mother

My mother used to love to bake and cook.  She especially liked baking.  She would make all kinds of desserts that we all loved.  One thing she made was an Italian cookie called Taralli.  These little cookies resembled a pretzel and got very hard.  It was a great thing to snack on and it would last a long time.  She used to give my nieces these cookies when they were kids and they loved them.  The process is interesting.  First you make the dough, cut and roll the dough into pencil like logs and twist them on themselves.  Now here is the interesting part,  you put them in a pan of boiling water for about 15 seconds.  They float to the top and are done.  Take them out and lay them on a kitchen towel to dry.  Then put them on a cookie sheet and bake them for 20 minutes at 375.  I tried to make these cookies for the first time and mine really don't resemble my mothers,  but,  she had a lot of experience making them.... I will try them again to get them a bit thinner and more uniform.  They really aren't like a hard pretzel , but more like a soft pretzel.  I suppose if I had added course salt to them before baking,  I could have a delicious soft pretzel. 

Well, mom,  I am not giving up!  I will bake them again and do better!  I remember you having these in the cookie jar in your kitchen and enjoying them with a cup of tea.  Fond memories!

Rich, delicious Turtle Candies

Saw these made on television and decided to try them using what I had on hand.  WoooHooo!  They are delicious.  Mini muffin pan sprayed with non stick spray,  Kraft caramels melted,  whole pecans, and melted milk chocolate chips.   Melt the caramels with a few tsp water,  then put a spoon or so on the bottom of the muffin tins.  Put the pecans on top and put another spoon of chocolate on top to fill the cup.  Now put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes.  Take them out and serve.  They become more tasty as they get more towards room temperature - if they last that long!  Enjoy....

Halloween's a Comin'

It's getting colder, it's getting darker earlier and this weekend the trick or treaters will be out gathering all the loot they can.  I was fooling around in the kitchen again and made some caramel apples and some cupcakes to resemble caramel apples.  I drizzled the cupcakes with chocolate and they are pretty good.  Used spice cake for the cake part!  It's fun to make different things for the holidays.  These cupcakes and apples will definitely be done again!  Happy Halloween.....BOOOO!

Halloween Party

Last night I had my annual Halloween Party and it was a blast.  I think my guests ate and drank until they could bust!  We had a lot of good food and desserts.  Great costumes and a lot of friendship and fun!  I love Halloween I think even better than Christmas!

Why is it when it rains, it pours?

I guess all of us are having problems in this economy, but did you ever notice how when one thing goes wrong, it tends to snowball and alot of things go wrong?  Wonder why that is.  I guess the Lord won't lead you to it, unless He gets you through it!

Zebra, zebra, zebra!

I made the most unusual cake for my great niece over the weekend.  She wanted a zebra theme.  Hmm,  what could I do?  So, I checked the Wilton cake decorating site and found some interesting ideas.  I then went to my local Wal-Mart and discovered a whole section of Wilton decorating items.  Low and behold, there it was.    A zebra pattern to put on cakes.  Edible sugar that is in the pattern of zebras.  It was sent to me!  The cake turned out really cute,  thanks to Wal-Mart and Wilton!