![Summer has arrived. This weekends temps are said to be in the mid 90’s (which doesn’t bode well for the Iron Man race winding through the city). In any case, I plan to funny fully (Freudian slip?) enjoy all of it.
here are a few things I’m loving as we start June:
[seriously- is it June already? where has the year gone?!]
ombre iphone case // the cutest damn bottle opener you’ll ever see // an ahi tuna salad I’m dying to try // a printed summer weight scarf (preferably with those dangly tassels at the end)
Cheers to the freaking weekend, y’all!
[recipe and photo via]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/f16dfa81a10db4549f5671463a75af3a/tumblr_mno0h1VE6i1qb2seto1_1280.png)
Summer has arrived. This weekends temps are said to be in the mid 90’s (which doesn’t bode well for the Iron Man race winding through the city). In any case, I plan to funny fully (Freudian slip?) enjoy all of it.
here are a few things I’m loving as we start June:
[seriously- is it June already? where has the year gone?!]
ombre iphone case // the cutest damn bottle opener you’ll ever see // an ahi tuna salad I’m dying to try // a printed summer weight scarf (preferably with those dangly tassels at the end)
Cheers to the freaking weekend, y’all!
[recipe and photo via]
![Apparently this has turned into a food blog. I’d say I’m sorry but given that’s about 85% of the festivities Mr. H and I partook in last week, it seems fairly appropriate. So I’m not sorry— but I am hungry.
Here is a recipe for chicken tortilla pie. Because it looks effing awesome and it’s healthy to boot. Plus it has all the things I love layered upon one another (chicken, Mexican food, cheese, salsa) into a tortilla-y sandwich looking thing.
[you can go ahead an assume I left my wordsmith hat at home this morning]
I’m trying remarkably hard not to lick the computer screen. Bet you can’t guess what we’re having for dinner tonight…](http://25.media.tumblr.com/296425449e80e6290507efdb44d87a90/tumblr_mnkabfBb3g1qb2seto1_400.jpg)
Apparently this has turned into a food blog. I’d say I’m sorry but given that’s about 85% of the festivities Mr. H and I partook in last week, it seems fairly appropriate. So I’m not sorry— but I am hungry.
Here is a recipe for chicken tortilla pie. Because it looks effing awesome and it’s healthy to boot. Plus it has all the things I love layered upon one another (chicken, Mexican food, cheese, salsa) into a tortilla-y sandwich looking thing.
[you can go ahead an assume I left my wordsmith hat at home this morning]
I’m trying remarkably hard not to lick the computer screen. Bet you can’t guess what we’re having for dinner tonight…
![Sometimes I like to pick out really intense recipes that challenge me as a cook. This is not one of them. In fact, I took the lazy way out with this and didn’t even make my own enchilada sauce. Shame on me. Except not because the Trader Joe’s kind is really quite delicious and it spared me at least 3 extra dirty dishes in the sink. So really, I’m the genius in this equation. If you’d like to be a true chef and come up with your own sauce, by all means! In fact, here’s a rather nice sounding recipe. As for me, I’ll stick with my jarred sauce. thankyouverymuch
Most traditional enchiladas also call for corn tortillas. But Blake has a thing against the corn tortilla. The way he turns his nose up at the sheer sight of them is almost entertaining. That man is nothing if not opinionated about his food. Don’t even get him started on turkey bacon. But if I want my family to eat, sometimes we have to make sacrifices (truth be told, I’m not a fan myself) and so flour tortillas it is.
Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas
The players:
1 1/2 lbs organic chicken breast
1 large container of organic chicken stock
1 medium yellow onion
10-12 6” flour tortillas
cooking spray
shredded cheese (I used a 3 cheese blend)
enchilada sauce (I used this kind)
1 jalapeno chopped (we didn’t do this but will next go round)
The play by play:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean and rinse chicken and then place in a large pot (you can quarter the pieces to save time) to poach.
In the meantime, dice the onion. Once chicken is cooked (and cool enough to handle) shred and toss into a large bowl. Add the diced onion, about a cup of cheese, 1/4 to 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce (personal preference- I go with less because I don’t like super saucy enchiladas), and the chopped jalapeno. Stir to combine.
Spray a Pyrex dish with nonstick spray. For each tortilla shell, place about 1/3 cup of chicken mixture evenly into the center of the shell. Tightly wrap the shell around the filling and lay seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat until you’ve used all the filling (we had about 11 enchiladas total). Top the enchiladas with a liberal coating of sauce (I just drizzled what was left in the bottle over top). The pièce de résistance is the cheese. Liberally coat these suckers with a healthy coating of cheese.
If you’re really hungry- do not cover with foil and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes [that’s what I did]. If you can wait for a bit, cover the dish and bake for 15 minutes and then uncover and bake until the cheese is golden and bubbly. Remove from oven and let rest for a minute- though if you’re like me you’ll start peeling the delicious cheese off with your fingers and you’ll wind up with a bunt thumb.
Chef’s Addendum: fancy this up with sliced avocado and a dallop of Greek yogurt. Could also spread refried beans along the tortilla before adding the chicken mixture or could throw a handful of fresh, minced cilantro in with the cheese, chicken, and sauce.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/014509c7324505e42a32ff356ab1719f/tumblr_mnb3a3wB9O1qb2seto1_1280.jpg)
Sometimes I like to pick out really intense recipes that challenge me as a cook. This is not one of them. In fact, I took the lazy way out with this and didn’t even make my own enchilada sauce. Shame on me. Except not because the Trader Joe’s kind is really quite delicious and it spared me at least 3 extra dirty dishes in the sink. So really, I’m the genius in this equation. If you’d like to be a true chef and come up with your own sauce, by all means! In fact, here’s a rather nice sounding recipe. As for me, I’ll stick with my jarred sauce. thankyouverymuch
Most traditional enchiladas also call for corn tortillas. But Blake has a thing against the corn tortilla. The way he turns his nose up at the sheer sight of them is almost entertaining. That man is nothing if not opinionated about his food. Don’t even get him started on turkey bacon. But if I want my family to eat, sometimes we have to make sacrifices (truth be told, I’m not a fan myself) and so flour tortillas it is.
Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas
The players:
- 1 1/2 lbs organic chicken breast
- 1 large container of organic chicken stock
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 10-12 6” flour tortillas
- cooking spray
- shredded cheese (I used a 3 cheese blend)
- enchilada sauce (I used this kind)
- 1 jalapeno chopped (we didn’t do this but will next go round)
The play by play:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean and rinse chicken and then place in a large pot (you can quarter the pieces to save time) to poach.
In the meantime, dice the onion. Once chicken is cooked (and cool enough to handle) shred and toss into a large bowl. Add the diced onion, about a cup of cheese, 1/4 to 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce (personal preference- I go with less because I don’t like super saucy enchiladas), and the chopped jalapeno. Stir to combine.
Spray a Pyrex dish with nonstick spray. For each tortilla shell, place about 1/3 cup of chicken mixture evenly into the center of the shell. Tightly wrap the shell around the filling and lay seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat until you’ve used all the filling (we had about 11 enchiladas total). Top the enchiladas with a liberal coating of sauce (I just drizzled what was left in the bottle over top). The pièce de résistance is the cheese. Liberally coat these suckers with a healthy coating of cheese.
If you’re really hungry- do not cover with foil and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes [that’s what I did]. If you can wait for a bit, cover the dish and bake for 15 minutes and then uncover and bake until the cheese is golden and bubbly. Remove from oven and let rest for a minute- though if you’re like me you’ll start peeling the delicious cheese off with your fingers and you’ll wind up with a bunt thumb.
Chef’s Addendum: fancy this up with sliced avocado and a dallop of Greek yogurt. Could also spread refried beans along the tortilla before adding the chicken mixture or could throw a handful of fresh, minced cilantro in with the cheese, chicken, and sauce.
![I’m fairly sure I posted this recipe way back when I first started my blog. Some things have grown and changed since then— but this remains one of the H house favorites. And when B requested this for dinner in celebration of Cinco de Drinko Mayo, I happily obliged.
Smoky Beef Tacos
The players:
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chilies in adobo
3/4 cup of Simply Heinz ketchup (or other natural/ organic ketchup of choice)
1 to 1 1/3 cup of water (depending on how much sauce you’d like)
8 garlic cloves, pureed with chilies
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 boneless beef chuck roast (about 3-4 pounds), excess fat trimmed
flour tortillas (6-inch), lightly toasted
The play-by-play:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a small food processor, pulse the garlic and the chilies until finely chopped. Then, in a Dutch oven stir together chili mixture, ketchup, 1 cup water, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Cut beef into 4 equal pieces. Add to pot, and turn to coat. Once each side is browned, cover and transfer pot to oven. Bake (covered) until beef is fork-tender about 2 1/2- 3 hours.
Transfer beef to a bowl. With a large spoon skim off and discard fat from cooking liquid. Shred beef with two forks and moisten with cooking liquid as needed. While I’m shredding the beef, I usually have Mr. H heat the tortillas in a dry skillet until warm (no one wants a crispy taco).
Serve with sliced avocado, Cojita cheese, extra sauce (that the meat was braised in), a dollop of Greek yogurt and a tomato/ corn relish on the side.
[original recipe c/o Martha Stewart]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/eab96891ca819cd9291bc81ebdb67b8f/tumblr_mmdqcsJUma1qb2seto1_1280.jpg)
I’m fairly sure I posted this recipe way back when I first started my blog. Some things have grown and changed since then— but this remains one of the H house favorites. And when B requested this for dinner in celebration of Cinco de Drinko Mayo, I happily obliged.
Smoky Beef Tacos
The players:
- 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chilies in adobo
- 3/4 cup of Simply Heinz ketchup (or other natural/ organic ketchup of choice)
- 1 to 1 1/3 cup of water (depending on how much sauce you’d like)
- 8 garlic cloves, pureed with chilies
- coarse salt and ground pepper
- 1 boneless beef chuck roast (about 3-4 pounds), excess fat trimmed
- flour tortillas (6-inch), lightly toasted
The play-by-play:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a small food processor, pulse the garlic and the chilies until finely chopped. Then, in a Dutch oven stir together chili mixture, ketchup, 1 cup water, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
- Cut beef into 4 equal pieces. Add to pot, and turn to coat. Once each side is browned, cover and transfer pot to oven. Bake (covered) until beef is fork-tender about 2 1/2- 3 hours.
- Transfer beef to a bowl. With a large spoon skim off and discard fat from cooking liquid. Shred beef with two forks and moisten with cooking liquid as needed. While I’m shredding the beef, I usually have Mr. H heat the tortillas in a dry skillet until warm (no one wants a crispy taco).
- Serve with sliced avocado, Cojita cheese, extra sauce (that the meat was braised in), a dollop of Greek yogurt and a tomato/ corn relish on the side.
[original recipe c/o Martha Stewart]
![I believe that the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, that white certainly can be worn before Memorial Day, that a good laugh can turn around even the grayest days, and that no proper birthday celebration is complete without a cake. And candles. Obnoxiously large, multi-colored candles.
Also, that cake looks like a doll cake. In reality it was a behemoth double layer, yummy cake that clearly served more than my Barbie collection. Do better working with angles next time, Elizabeth.
[shakes head at self]
Carrot Cake
The players:
(for the cake part)
2 cups sugar
1 cup veggie oil
4 organic brown eggs
2 cups King Arthur unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
a little more than 2 cups of grated carrots
(for the icing part— aka the best part)
stick butter (softened)
1, 8 oz. package cream cheese (softened)
1 pound powdered sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup Pecans (chopped. or if you’re me, pounded with a meat tenderizer)
The play-by-play:
(for the cake)
Preheat the oven to 350. Cream the oil, sugar, and eggs in a stand mixer. In a separate, large bowl, sift together flour, salt (don’t forget the salt. I did. oops), baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. With the mixer on, slowly add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture and mix just until combined. Fold in carrots with a spatula.
Spray 2 round cake pans with Baker’s Joy.
[sidenote: have you ever heard of Baker’s Joy? it’s the shit. go get some. back to the show-]
Pour batter into the two greased bans and bake at 350 until done (about 25-35 minutes). I like to tap my pans on the counter rather aggressively to get out the air bubbles. Plus it’s great for working out any frustration you might have. [Not that I speak from experience or anything.]
To see if the cake’s finished, you can do the fork test or give the pan a swift jiggle. If the cake moves, it’s not finished baking. Once done, remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
(for the icing)
Chef’s Note: if you’re like me, you may actually prefer MORE icing to cake ratio and in that case, you should double the icing recipe. Because you only live once, right?!
In a stand mixer, cream the vanilla extract, butter, and sugar together. Once combined, slowly add in the powdered sugar. Then mix in the nuts (which, if I’m being honest, were way more fun to pound with a meat tenderizer than they were to chop in a refined fashion).
Once cake is cooled, place bottom layer on a platter. Spread icing on and then place second layer on top. Ice the cake completely (top & sides) and don’t worry about being perfect. Because no matter what you do, this cake will taste magnificent.
Recipe only slightly adapted from a Pioneer Woman original.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/5a35bee08032972b99fbeb1364e3745e/tumblr_mlasum1fBy1qb2seto1_1280.jpg)
I believe that the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, that white certainly can be worn before Memorial Day, that a good laugh can turn around even the grayest days, and that no proper birthday celebration is complete without a cake. And candles. Obnoxiously large, multi-colored candles.
Also, that cake looks like a doll cake. In reality it was a behemoth double layer, yummy cake that clearly served more than my Barbie collection. Do better working with angles next time, Elizabeth.
[shakes head at self]
Carrot Cake
The players:
(for the cake part)
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup veggie oil
- 4 organic brown eggs
- 2 cups King Arthur unbleached all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- a little more than 2 cups of grated carrots
(for the icing part— aka the best part)
- stick butter (softened)
- 1, 8 oz. package cream cheese (softened)
- 1 pound powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup Pecans (chopped. or if you’re me, pounded with a meat tenderizer)
The play-by-play:
(for the cake)
Preheat the oven to 350. Cream the oil, sugar, and eggs in a stand mixer. In a separate, large bowl, sift together flour, salt (don’t forget the salt. I did. oops), baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. With the mixer on, slowly add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture and mix just until combined. Fold in carrots with a spatula.
Spray 2 round cake pans with Baker’s Joy.
[sidenote: have you ever heard of Baker’s Joy? it’s the shit. go get some. back to the show-]
Pour batter into the two greased bans and bake at 350 until done (about 25-35 minutes). I like to tap my pans on the counter rather aggressively to get out the air bubbles. Plus it’s great for working out any frustration you might have. [Not that I speak from experience or anything.]
To see if the cake’s finished, you can do the fork test or give the pan a swift jiggle. If the cake moves, it’s not finished baking. Once done, remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
(for the icing)
Chef’s Note: if you’re like me, you may actually prefer MORE icing to cake ratio and in that case, you should double the icing recipe. Because you only live once, right?!
In a stand mixer, cream the vanilla extract, butter, and sugar together. Once combined, slowly add in the powdered sugar. Then mix in the nuts (which, if I’m being honest, were way more fun to pound with a meat tenderizer than they were to chop in a refined fashion).
Once cake is cooled, place bottom layer on a platter. Spread icing on and then place second layer on top. Ice the cake completely (top & sides) and don’t worry about being perfect. Because no matter what you do, this cake will taste magnificent.
Recipe only slightly adapted from a Pioneer Woman original.