Neither Adam or I are sure how it happened but we ended up with 2 containers of cottage cheese in our fridge, I had needed to get one for a recipe, but not two. Someone suggested this recipe and since I love Mexican food I decided to go with it.

I love Mexican, but enchiladas are my least favorite, they have always been too spicy for me. Adam really loved these, I thought they were “mushy” compared to how I remember my mom making them.

Cottage Cheese Chicken Enchiladas (From: Allrecipes)

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – boiled and shredded
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 (7 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 cups cottage cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 12 (6 inch) corn tortillas
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 (10 ounce) can red enchilada sauce

To Make Meat Mixture: Heat oil in medium skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, onion and green chile peppers and saute until browned, then add taco seasoning and prepare meat mixture according to package directions.

To Make Cheese Mixture: In a medium bowl mix sour cream with cottage cheese and season with salt and pepper; stir until well blended.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

To Assemble Enchiladas: Heat tortillas until soft. In each tortilla place a spoonful of meat mixture, a spoonful of cheese mixture and a bit of shredded cheese. Roll tortillas and place in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking dish. Top with any remaining meat and cheese mixture, enchilada sauce and remaining shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

I was super excited to try this recipe. The WC Ingredient Challenge this week was Parmesan, once it was picked I went to food network and typed Parmesan, I wanted to do something different.

This was an awesome meal, I served it over some angel hair and made homemade marinara. We will try this again and again, I like to have a no meat option in our rotation.

****I’m sorry for the horrible picture, my tummy was rumbling and I didn’t have the patients to get a good photo.

Mushroom Parmesan (From: Food Network)

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing the grill pan
• 4 to 6 portobello mushrooms
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup marinara sauce (recipe I use below)
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil over both sides of the mushrooms. Sprinkle the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil on the grill to prevent the mushrooms from sticking. Grill until the mushrooms are heated through and tender, about 5 minutes per side.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Spread 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Place the grilled mushrooms on top of the marinara sauce and top with the remaining marinara sauce. Sprinkle with the cheeses and top with the butter pieces. Bake until the cheese melts and the top is golden, about 15 minutes. Serve

Garlic and Basil Marinara (From: Myself)

• 1 lg. can chopped tomatoes
• 1 lg. can crushed tomatoes
• 4 cloves crushed garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• fresh basil
• 1 t. sugar
• salt and pepper

Warm dutch oven on stove, with a little olive oil. Saute onion and garlic until tender.

Add tomotoes and spices, simmer on low for hour to hour and half.

As soon as I saw these in my google reader I knew I wanted to try them, I love red potatoes and then to make a little mini twice baked potato it couldn’t be better.

There were wonderful, and perfect to make for the two of us, next time I will freeze a bunch as I keep thinking how good it would be to have one.

Fluffy New Potatoes (From: Pioneer Woman)

• 9 or 10 medium to large new potatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup sour cream
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1½ cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.

Rinse and dry the potatoes, then place them on a baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the potatoes and massage to coat. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Place the sour cream, cream cheese, Monterey Jack, chives, garlic, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl.

Cut each potato in half lengthwise. With a spoon or melon baller, scoop out inside of the potatoes, leaving a very thin rim of potato inside the skin. Add the potato pulp to the mixing bowl with the other ingredients. Using a potato masher or fork, gently mash the ingredients together until fluffy and smooth. Spoon the mixture back into the potato shells.

Bake the potatoes in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until heated through.

If you read my blog you know that Adam and I love pasta, I have had this starred in my google reader forever, but we rarely have gorgonzola in our house so we never got around to making it. I bought gorgonzola for some steaks we made a while back and had lots left so we went ahead and made this pasta.

It was WONDERFUL, sooo creamy and soo yummy. And with spinach it is healthy right?!

Tortiglioni Florentine in a Gorgonzola Cream Sauce with Frizzled Prosciutto (From: Picky Palate)

• 1 lb Tortiglioni pasta or other pasta of choice (we used fettucini instead)
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 6 slices prosciutto diced
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ½ Cup finely diced onion
• ½ Cup thinly sliced fennel
• 4 Cups Spinach, coarsely chopped
• 16 oz 2% milk or half and half if you are feeling crazy
• ½ lb crumbled gorgonzola cheese or about 2 Cups
• ¼ Cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
• Pinch of kosher salt and pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Heat olive oil into a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook prosciutto until browned and crisped, stirring often. Usually takes between 5-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate.

Heat olive oil into a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Saute onion and fennel until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in spinach and cook until wilted down, about 5 more minutes.

Pour in milk and heat for 5 minutes on medium high heat or until piping hot. Stir in gorgonzola, prosciutto and parmesan cheese. Stir until cheeses are melted. Reduce heat and stir in cooked pasta, season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and serve quickly, sauce thickens over time. Add additional milk to loosen sauce up if necessary, especially if you are re-heating the next day.

Enjoy!

I love soup! I love everything about soup. Here in Minnesota we are going on 80 hours of below zero. It was my turn to bring lunch for all the girls at work today so I decided to make some broccoli cheese soup.

I have had this starred in my google reader for a long time. It was well worth the wait. It was SOOO creamy and the flavor was just amazing not overly cheesy. Just the right amount.

Sorry for the bad photo, it was taken on my camera phone at work. Because I need to take this into work. I made it in the morning put it in the slow cooker and then about an hour before we would be eating I turned it on to warm up. Also because I am a cheese lover I used 2 cups of cheese instead of the 1 1/4 it called for.

Broccoli Cheese Soup (From: Bliss~Felicite Orginally From: Emeril Lagasse)

• 3 tbls of unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup of yellow onions or sliced leeks (use only the bottom white part)
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp of ground pepper
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp of chopped garlic
• 1/2 tsp of chopped fresh thyme or 1/8 tsp of dried
• 3 tbls of flour
• 3 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (16-ounce) package frozen broccoli, thawed & separated or 2 to 3 cups of fresh
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 1 1/4 cups of shredded medium Cheddar

In a medium pot, melt 3 tbls of butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook until soft about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme. Stir frequently for 20 seconds while it cooks. Add the flour and stir until throughly mixed for about 3 minutes. Slowly add chicken broth while whisking constantly. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened for about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook for 10 minutes until tender.

Add the cream and barely bring to a simmer. Then add the cheese and lower heat till the cheese is melted. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons cold butter. Stir until it is mixed throughly.

As soon as this recipe in my google reader I said yum out loud. Adam asked what I showed him the picture and he said that does look awesome. I had some buffalo sauce in the fridge that needs a use so I used most of it up on this dish.

This was some of the BEST chicken I have had in a long time, it was SOOO flavorful and the blue cheese really gave it a pop. I cannot wait to make this again!

Adam and I are NOT spicy people so we brought the heat down of this recipe.

Stuffed Buffalo Chicken (Inspired From: Love Deliciousness)

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1/2 c. Blue Cheese crumbles
• 3/4 c. Ranch Dressing
• 1/2 c. Franks Red Hot (I used Buffalo Sauce one)
• 1/2 c. Panko Bread Crumbs
• 1/3 c. shredded colby jack cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Spray baking dish with Pam.

Mix ranch dressing and franks red hot, marinate chicken for desired amount of time, we did about 25 minutes.

Cut slit in the side of chicken breast and stuff with blue cheese crumbles.

Dip into franks/dressing mixture then dip in bread crumbs.

Bake in prepared pan for 35 minutes. Turn oven up to 400 and top with shredded cheese.

Bake until done through.

Enjoy!!

We had a halloween pot luck at work, and I wanted to bring something halloweeny, I found these and thought they would be fun. I made them a little simpler though to suit my tastes.

I doubled this recipe for the group of 6 of us girls, these were VERY yummy fresh out of the oven when the cheesy was still hot. They were also good the next day, I will be making these many more times, but trying different flavor of cheese with them.

Crabby Snake Coils (From: Pillsbury)

• 1/3  cup garlic-and-herbs spreadable cheese (I used garlic as I could find herb)
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions (I omitted and added onion powder)
• 1 can (6 oz) crabmeat, drained (I used chicken)
• 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• Pimiento-stuffed green olives and roasted red bell pepper, if desired

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. In small bowl, mix cheese, onions and crabmeat.

Unroll dough and separate into 2 long rectangles; press each into 12×4-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.

Spread crabmeat mixture over rectangles to within 1/4 inch of edges. Starting with 1 short side, roll up each rectangle; press edge to seal. With serrated knife, cut each roll into 8 slices; place cut side down on cookie sheet. Add green olives to each for head and bell pepper for tongue.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

After decided on the BBQ pork chops for dinner, I could not decide between rice or potatoes. After deciding potatoes I wanted something different, and yummy. This dish definatly fit those. These are VERY yummy, and I cannot wait to eat the leftovers!

Cheesy Potatoes (Inspiration From: Ashley’s Attempts in the Kitchen)

• 5 baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cups shredded colby jack cheese
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 T. seasoning salt
• 1 T. white pepper
• 1/4 c. panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350. Spray baking dish with non stick spray.

Season potatoes with seasoning salt and white pepper.

In mixing bowl mix soup, sour cream, and 1 cup cheese.

Add in potatoes and stir until mixed.

Pour potatoes into prepared dish.

Cover with remaining cheese.

Top with panko.

Baked for 45-60 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

I have been wanting to try a cheeseball for a long time, but never had a reason. I figured this party was the PERFECT reason! I am kinda a picky person and no recipe really pulled me, til I found this one for cheese shread, but I REALLY wanted a ball, so I adapted the orgional recipe to make it into ball format

This was super yummy, and was a hit of the party.

Cheese Ball (From: Myself Inspired By: Amber’s Delectable Delights)

• 8 oz. block sharp cheddar cheese
• 4 oz. block white cheddar
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor fitted with the shredding disk, shred cheddar and pepper jack cheese. Empty the cheese from the workbowl and place the metal blade into the bottom of the bowl.

Add the cream cheese, garlic and remaining seasonings into the workbowl and process for one minute. Add in the shredded cheese and process for 1-2 minutes or until everything is well mixed and creamy.

Roll into a ball, with the bottom flat then roll some shredded cheese around the edges refrigerate until ready to serve, serve with crackers, trsicuits, or pretzels.

Today while I was browsing the nest board Kevinslady posted about an awesome side dish she made last night, it reminded me that I stay had some orzo and it would be a perfect side dish with our chicken tonight. I took her recipe as my inspiration.

These was super simple, went perfect with the chicken and was tasty, we love cheese so it was perfect for us

Cheesy Orzo (From: Myself)

• 2 cups orzo
• 3 wedges laughing cow cheese
• 1/2 c. half and half
• 1/2 c. cheese (I used 6 blend Italian)

Bring water to boil, add orzo and boil until cooked.

Drain melt in laughing cow, half and half, and cheese.

Add more half and half to get desired creaminess.