Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Who doesn't love shouting that phrase?  I certainly enjoy shouting it out on random occasions.  So, after a hard day of yard work on Saturday (see the before and after shots of the rosebush), I needed to make dinner.  Knowing that I was going to be in Texas this entire week, I was hesitant to bake anything.  However, I made a commitment, so cooking I must do.

I decided Sunday was the night to branch off from the all the sweet baking I'd been doing.  "Time to get serious," I said to myself.  As I headed off to the store, I called Mr. K (my brother) and asked him over for dinner with the promise of a chicken enchilada casserole.  Now mind you, this is my first ever casserole.  Who knows how this would turn out.

After the brief visit to the local Raley's (PS - they do NOT have wheat germ which is an ingredient I need for some dog biscuits - yes unrelated recipe), I started my prep at the time my brother showed up.  Score one for Remi - I remembered to pat dry my chicken prior to cooking!  And have I mentioned how in love I am with my little skillet?!

I love my cast iron skillet!

 So, while the chicken cooked, I cut the tortillas and grated the cheese (Baker's note:  Buy a better cheese grater!) and chopped the onion.  I did cut the onion in half, as it called for one whole onion.  After cutting the first half, I decided that a whole onion was just waaaay too much.

So, in goes the first layer of soups (cream of chicken and cream of mushroom) followed by the onions, green chilis, chicken, tortilla and cheese.  After a moment of self-doubt, I forged ahead and put in the second layer of ingredients (see above).

Voila!  I have the start of a chicken enchilada casserole:

Yes, I did have to smoosh it down to fit.

And into the oven for some baking (half covered, then uncover for the remainder of cooking time).  And out comes cheesy casserole goodness!

Lost some of the cheese to the foil :(

And in case you were wondering, "Is that thing edible?"  Mr. K gives his opinion:

That's his SECOND helping!

So, I now know how to make a basic casserole.  Future iterations of these dish will be spicier (good as is for those with a sensitive stomach).  So, my first entree from Grandma's recipes = success!

And, in case you were wondering about that rose bush mentioned earlier:

Rose bush pre-trim...

Rose bush post trim!

Yes, it's supposed to be trimmed back that far!  Hopefully this will help it get rid of the aphids and the majority of the disease.  This poor bush hasn't been pruned in years, let alone received any other care.

Battle of the Honey Cookies Part 2

The long awaited finale to the Honey Cookie Battle is upon us!

I wasn't sure how this recipe would turn out.  I mean, the first honey cookie was pretty sweet, and I wasn't a fan of the batter.  If 1 cup of honey was too sweet for me, wouldn't I just go into a diabetic shock with an entire PINT of honey, and a freakin' POUND of powdered sugar?!  Seriously, I used this entire jar:

Thank you bees!

And this entire box of powdered sugar:

Yes, that's an entire pound
of sugary sweetness.

And I discovered that while the eggs were no match for the hand mixer (still my favorite mixer attachment) and honey...

The flour mixture with cloves, cinnamon, allspice and other dry ingredients almost caused the poor trooper to burn its motor out!

Mmm, cinnamon!

Cookie dough anyone?

There was a slight internal panic that my bowl wouldn't be large enough for all of the batter, but I just barely made it.

I must admit, this was much better batter than the first honey cookie recipe; the cooking judge was almost swayed to vote for the contender on this fact alone.

I admit, I'm a messing baker!

(Baker's lesson:  Don't attempt to take the beaters out while the mixer is still plugged in.  Pushing in the "on" button sometimes makes it actually turn on!)

And, then, the first batch came out!  Yummy!  These were much more "cookie" like than the first recipe.  Just maybe I could learn to love honey cookies.

Don't forget the nuts!

That's AFTER 48 cookies!

And then, I had to keep on baking...

Four dozen (that's 48 for you numerical people) cookies later, and I was still putting more dough on the cookie sheet.  To help speed the process along, I employed the use of my toaster over (yes, it toasts and it bakes!).

The ringer...

So hopefully, the cookies go over well.  And since I have so many cookies out of this one recipe, I get to share the wealth with my friends, and not just co-workers!