Chicken Enchiladas

Home made salsa verde: broil tomatillos, garlic, serrano peppers

Remove seeds from serano peppers, throw all in kitchen blender

Dilute sauce with chicken stock

Alternative to home-made sauce - canned/bottled verde sauce

Take apart 1 rotisserie chicken, mix with lightly fried peppers/onions, 1-2tbsp cream of chicken soup, spices to taste (we used paprika, pepper, oregano, salt)

In a glass pyrex pan add verde sauce first, then fill each tortilla with chicken mix, wrap, stack

For a better taste, use corn tortillas (microwave-heat them for 30-40 seconds before using)

Can add beans and rice in addition to the chicken filling

Top with grated cheese (we used a mix of sharp cheddar and jalapeno jack)

Stick in oven at 350F for 30min (until cheese is golden brown)

Enjoy with rice and beans and a dollop of sour cream

Breakfast Burritos

Flour tortilla with following ingredients:

Yellow peppers, scrambled eggs, bacon, tomatoes, chicken, cilantro, sour cream, hot sauce and home made salsa verde

Bruffins

"Bruffins" = brownies in a muffin pan

Ghirardelli brownie mix 

Crushed walnuts 

1/4 cut apple sauce AND 1/4 cup grapeseed oil (for extra moisture)

Pad Thai

Followed THIS recipe (minus sprouts, plus broccoli)

Remove extra fat from ribeye steak

Brown firm tofu (pat dry with paper towel prior to cubing to decrease browning time)

Pre-soak flat rice noodles in lukewarm water for 1hr (drain, even though noodles don't seem fully soft)

Chop scallions and broccoli

There are a couple of additional steps outlined in the recipe link (eggs, sauce, combining all, etc)

Final plating looks like this:

Strawberry Shortcake

Followed THIS recipe (watch video for a visual example of every step)
For dough, used 1/2 cup butter instead of shortening, 1/4 cup sugar, 1.5tsp of vanilla
For cream, start whipping it right away because it takes time.

Used KitchenAid mixer and followed THIS recipe to make the cream.

Mixed batter by hand or with fork, gently, to not overmix

Assemble by cutting biscuit in half and topping with cream and strawberries

This version is topped with goji berry and nut chocolates 

Russian Apple Cake

Ingredients: >1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1/4 tsp baking powder, cinnamon, 3 eggs, 2-3 granny smith apples (tart), butter, vanilla

Peel apples, slice and layer bottom of lightly buttered springform pan
Sprinkle with cinnamon

Beat eggs until homogeneous, add sugar and flour and ~1tsp vanilla extract

Pour this mixture (liquidy) over apples into springform pan

Bake at ~350F for ~30-40min (test with wooden toothpick for readiness)

Crust should be lightly browning and hard

Enjoy by itself or with preserves or sweetened and condensed milk

For a denser and slightly more complicated version of the same thing try THIS recipe

Kale and Quinoa Salad with Chicken

Altered THIS recipe:

Cook quinoa separately, let cool

Add chopped fresh red onion, red pepper, garlic, lightly toasted pine nuts

Blanch kale and broccoli and add to bowl with quinoa, etc 

Season to taste (we added spices and vinegar instead of lemon juice)

Marinate chicken however you like, pan fry 

Final plating