Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas Florentine

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 As much as I love Mexican food, prior to making them myself, I had never had chicken enchiladas. Recently I’d heard of no fewer than three of my friends making these for dinner, so I had to jump on that bandwagon. Generally, I leave the making of Mexican food to the Mexicans, because they do it so well. This was easy enough to do, so I will be making them again at some point, experimenting with the filling. This recipe makes plenty, so I enjoyed a delicious meal many nights in a row, and have a couple of frozen ones for the future. The addition of mushrooms and spinach (both of which you can leave out, if you must) made this a hearty and nutritious meal. I served it with a side of cilantro rice, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas Florentine 

1 T. vegetable oil

1 lb. chicken breast, diced

2 Melissa’s shallots, minced

1 c. sliced mushrooms

½ t. Montreal chicken seasoning

2 handfuls baby spinach

8 (8”) flour tortillas, softened

2 c. Mexican blend cheese, divided

¹⁄₄ c. butter

¹⁄₄ c. flour

1 15-oz. can chicken broth

1 c. sour cream

1 4-oz. can chopped green chilies

 Preheat oven to 400° F. Lightly spray a 9” x 13” baking dish with nonstick vegetable coating, like PAM.

 While oven is preheating, prepare chicken mixture.  In a 10-inch sauté pan heat oil until shimmering. Add chicken, shallots, and mushrooms, and sprinkle seasoning overall. Sauté over medium-high heat until chicken is just done. Add spinach, and stir until wilted.

 Divide cooked chicken evenly between 8 tortillas; top each with 1/4 c. cheese. Roll enchiladas and place seam-side down in prepared baking dish.

 Melt butter in a medium saucepan; stir in flour and cook until bubbly, stirring occasionally. Gradually whisk in chicken broth and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and green chilies.

 Pour sauce evenly over enchiladas.

 Top with remaining cheese and bake at 400° F for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce near edges of baking dish is bubbly.

 

 

Sour Cream Tzatziki

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It’s funny, isn’t it, the things that excite you when your self-quarantining. I noticed today that my cucumber seeds had sprouted, and I was absolutely delirious with joy; I’m not sure how I feel about that. Nonetheless, it got me thinking about all of the ways in which I would like to use those cucumbers, one of which is to make Tzatziki. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait until mid-summer to do so, I cleverly had a cucumber waiting for me in the fridge. I loved the crispness of the cucumber, combined with the peppery garlic, and summer freshness of the dill, all blended together with sour cream. I know this is normally made with yogurt, but the sour cream recipe is just as good, if you don’t have yogurt on hand. Frankly, I prefer it.

Sour Cream Tzatziki

½ cucumber, grated
1 T. dry dill

1 garlic clove, grated
1 T. fresh lemon juice
Pinch of sea salt
¾ c. sour cream

Place cucumber into a sieve, and a sprinkle with table salt. Allow to drain for a half an hour. Press cucumber down into the sieve to extract the remaining water, and place in a medium bowl. Add remaining ingredients, and stir to combine. Refrigerate for at least four hours to meld the flavors. Ideally, it’s best refrigerated overnight before enjoying.

Serve with your favorite dippers.

Sour Cream Snickerdoodles

These are the cookies I made yesterday while involved with the very successful 5-Minute Artisan Bread (that we're still swooning over).  First off, I have to tell you, that I am not a particular fan of Snickerdoodles.  I always found them to be good, but nothing special.  My husband, on the other hand, LOVES them, so I decided to make this recipe for him.  I did so, however, with great trepidation because as a lover of Snickerdoodles, he is a Snickerdoodle purist.  He doesn't like anyone to mess with something he considers the apex in crisp sugar cookie deliciousness.  Knowing this, and knowing what sour cream can do to a cookie I wasn't quite sure he'd be pleased with the results.  As it turned out, we were both pleased!  I sampled them warm from the oven and they were like little cinnamon clouds.  They reminded me somewhat of the teacakes I used to have as a child before my mother lost the recipe and stopped making them.  I'm a big fan of the crisp cookie, but these cinnamon softies won my heart.  Jim likes them as well.  They were not at all what he expected, but still surprisingly good, and sometimes it's nice to be surprised.

I found the recipe (and a wonderful tutorial) on the La Kocinera blog.

Sour Cream Onion Bread

I just finished reading How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal and I really enjoyed it.  Told from three different points of view (and generations), it is a wonderful story of life, love, hardship, discovery, and baking bread.  Interspersed throughout the story are tips on bread baking (including how to make your own sourdough starter), history, trivia, and recipes. I was so inspired by both book and recipes that yesterday I baked, for the first time ever, a French baguette!  It was less than what I'd hoped, but then again, I've decided to try again (and again) until I learn how to make one as perfectly as those I find at the local Boulanger.


This morning I decided to take the easy route and go with a tried and true recipe where the bread machine did most of the work, so I made a loaf of Sour Cream Onion Bread, a finely textured, soft crust bread with lots of flavor.  With the bread machine doing the hard part in making the dough, the rest was easy. I simply shaped it, let it rise, baked it in the oven, brushed the top with butter, let it cool and then sliced and sampled. Yum!

Delicious warm from the oven, and also makes an excellent toast.  This bread is perfect for sandwiches.

Sour Cream Onion Bread 
3 cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup water

Place flour, sugar, salt, yeast, dried soup, sour cream, and water in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select the dough cycle, and press start. Shape dough, and place in a greased loaf pan. Place in a warm spot, and allow to rise until doubled in size. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F (175 degree C) 

oven for 30 minutes. Cool.

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Banana Sour Cream Pancakes

These may look like plain, old, unassuming pancakes to you, but don't let the simple appearance fool you.  These are delicious!  It's another winning recipe from Ina Garten, and she certainly knows her pancakes.  These are easy and flavorful, with just the right amount of banana so as to be tasty but not overwhelming.  Add more or less lemon zest to your taste (I added more), or if lemons aren't available, add orange.  Toss in some blueberries if you happen to have them, they go well with the bananas as do strawberries.  But before you get creative, try these just as they are.  Fluffy and satisfying, they are equally good as "silver dollar" pancakes. The perfect Sunday morning breakfast!

I got one of those Cuisinart Griddlers for Christmas and I LOVE it. It has interchangeable plates for either grilling/paninis or using as a griddle and it works just great. The plates come off and go right into the dishwasher for easy clean up. Here are a couple of banana pancakes awaiting flipping.

Banana Sour Cream Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk

2 extra-large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Unsalted butter

2 ripe bananas, diced, plus extra for serving

Pure maple syrup

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Ladle the pancake batter into the pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Distribute a rounded tablespoon of bananas on each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with sliced bananas, butter and maple syrup.

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