flour

Beyond Easy Chicken Mole Enchiladas

This super easy, no-cook, homemade mole sauce is made from scratch, and gives regular chicken enchiladas a delicious twist for a super fast Mexican dinner to meal prep or even throw together for a quick and easy weeknight meal.

I recently heard about a study that reported that no matter how many recipes they have on their Pinterest wish list or the dog eared in their favorite cookbooks, the home cook generally makes the same 15-20 recipes over and over and over again.

Now, on one hand, this limited recipe strategy can be a bonus, because:

They’re recipes you know you and your family will eat.
They’re proven recipes that work.
Since you’re familiar with them, there’s no time wasted leaning into a recipe learning curve.

But on the other hand, those recipes can get you totally get stuck in a rut. And who wants to be the boring cook in the kitchen anyway??!!

Today’s recipe is a hybrid of one of my go-to recipes to cook (enchiladas) with a twist (mole sauce!), because:

It’s totally familiar = enchiladas. Approachable = chicken. But with the addition of just two ingredients to regular enchilada sauce, this recipe gets serious brownie points for uniqueness.
When they’re as easy to make as these, enchiladas are pretty much impossible to screw up.
All you need to know about these babies is how to use a blender, an oven, and how to roll with the best of them.

How to Make Mole Enchiladas

Because mole sauce isn’t found at most ordinary Mexican American restaurants, many people aren’t familiar with it which leads to the most popular questions about mole sauce: what is mole made of and what does mole taste like?continue to the recipe… about Beyond Easy Chicken Mole Enchiladas

Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Stuffed Bell Peppers

Fresh green bell peppers become their own all-in-one serving vessel when stuffed with chicken, rice, mushrooms, and a creamy mushroom-infused sauce to create a weeknight dinner that puts the all the essential nutrients in one easy-to-make and totally delicious dinner.

You know how you have staples in your culinary repertoire? Those dishes that no matter how gourmet you try to fool your family and friends into thinking you are—and more often trying to convince yourself? The recipes that are the staple for Sunday night comfort food cravings and oh so easy to make on a weeknight, too?

This here recipe is one of them. Crave-a-licious.

I first shared this stuffed bell pepper recipe nearly 5-years-to-the-day-ago and after referring back to it so many times over the years, I felt it needed an update. Five years ago it was one of our go-to, favorite dinners then, and it absolutely still is today.

My mom used to make stuffed peppers with hamburger and tomato sauce, but as I kid I was so. not. into. peppers. Ew. But true to form, I began to like them the more I had them. I keep telling myself my little girl AliSmudge would be making the turn too. And she has. Oh yes, she’s a fan too.

My man and and I came up with this stuffed bell peppers recipe that will forever be in our top 5 favorite meals to make at home: Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Stuffed Bell Peppers for the all-in-one-dinner-for-the-stuffed-bell-pepper-win.

continue to the recipe… about Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Stuffed Bell Peppers

5-Ingredient Chipotle Chicken Taquitos

Crispy, crunchy, and oh-so-incredibly easy, these chipotle pepper flavored chicken taquito roll-ups call for just 5 ingredients and can be baked or fried for a super fast appetizer, dinner or snack.

When I was a teenager in high school, my friends and I would sprint from 4th period class and load into my friend Brenda’s car (lucky for us she had a very early 16th birthday and a mom who gave her free use of the car), roll down the windows, and crank up Madonna’s “Borderline” as we high-tailed it to one of our two favorite spots for lunch.

The first spot was Rax Roast Beef where I always ordered the Fried Chicken Sandwich. The second spot was Taco Time, where the crispy bean burritos with extra packets of mild salsa would always leave me with blisters in my mouth because they were hot out of the fryer and it was torture to wait until they cooled to eat them. I can STILL smell their crispy aroma lingering in my memory bank.

Taco Time was usually first on our list because in the newspaper each week they would include a promotional brown paper sack that when you took to Taco Time, you could get 5 tacos, crispy bean burritos, or soft beef burritos for $1.00. Or was it $2.00? Either way, as a high schooler with no money, it was a total steal.

Back then I didn’t know that my crispy bean burritos loved by cheap teenagers are known in more authentically-inclined parts of the country as taquitos, or even more authentically known world wide as flautas.

Either which way, they’re simple to make and deliciously good and this time around, made with chile-spiced shredded chicken.continue to the recipe… about 5-Ingredient Chipotle Chicken Taquitos

Currant Cookies and a Cookie Cravings eCookbook Flash Sale

Friendship is a funny thing.

You can be the best of friends. Totally inseparable for weeks, months, even years. Then life changes. New friends come into your life, old friends drift away. Often it’s not even a conscious decision, thought or action. It just happens.

I was first introduced to these Currant Cookies thanks to a friendship I’ve known all of my life, a friendship of my mother’s that has been passed down to the next generation. Life comes full circle and somehow these cookies have become a part of it.

Back a few more years than I’d care to have on my calendar, my mom was set to deliver my little sister when she met her best friend Pam. My mom and Pam were both in the same hospital about to give birth to daughters. For years they had run in similar circles, in the same city, but hadn’t met one another. Yet people would always mistake them for one another. Similar mannerisms, style, beauty and height. It was a wonder they hadn’t met before. I guess bringing their daughters into the world at the same time made it their time.

They both named their daughters Holly. Well, my mom didn’t initially. I did that. My mom and dad named her Heather, but I refused to call her anything but Holly. My mom said she never did look like a Heather. She said Heather’s are wispy. Holly was a tub. So at 4 months old, Holly had a name change.

I’ve always been a bossy older sister. I blame it on this first act of self righteousness.

continue to the recipe… about Currant Cookies and a Cookie Cravings eCookbook Flash Sale

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Growing up there was pretty much just a handful of cookies that we (as in the royal ‘we’ that would pretty much just be ‘me’) would make at home to satisfy the old sweet tooth. No Bake Cookies, Sugar Cookies and Snickerdoodles were all part of the arsenal. But none got as much action as this recipe did in my teenage cookie craving days.

I’m pretty surprised it’s taken me this long to pull this recipe out of the proverbial hat and post on the blog. But in reality, I’ve been giving this recipe the cold shoulder while I’ve been on the search for the ‘perfect’ chocolate chip cookie. You know, the one that makes me weak in the knees, the one that has me reaching for a glass of the coldest mug of dunkable milk.

After making these babies again for the first time in several years, I’m convinced I was looking in all the wrong places, and that like so many things in life, I had the ‘perfect’ formula in front of me all along.

This recipe came from my mom’s friend Annette and was the only chocolate chip cookie I made until the age of about 26 since it was the only chocolate chip cookie recipe I could fathom to exist. Until the afore-mentioned quest led me astray. Until I FINALLY experienced for myself that the grass is not always greener.

continue to the recipe… about Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lemon and Cherry Mini Bundt Cakes

My fetish with lemons has yet to recede or fade to the background. But it is sadly digressing fast. And I’m blaming my supplier. My supplier who has created a habit that will be hard to break, and who is breaking it for me, against my will.

Think of me as the Lindsay Lohan of the lemon world. Rehab, here I come.

I’m so sad to see my Meyer lemon train making it’s final stop at my beloved Costco. Costco has been the key ingredient in keeping my overwhelming love and sense of tartness in the front seat of my recipe list that has included both savory —Meyer Lemon Fettuccine—and sweet—Meyer Lemon Tart.

Lemons are making way for sweet strawberries and skinny asparagus, which will soon enough pass the favorite ingredient hat to home-grown tomatoes, jalapeños and the plethora of zucchini.continue to the recipe… about Lemon and Cherry Mini Bundt Cakes

Chocolate Pancakes and Friday Faves

During the week we’re the quick breakfast kind of family. Usually eggs or oatmeal and toast. Smudge always has toast because she’s a dunker. I don’t get it, the girl dunks her toast in everything from cereal to orange juice. Ew.

But when we have time, mostly on the weekends, I like to cook something tasty, and a little more sweet for my little lover girl. And when chocolate is involved, pony up and order seconds.

The killer part of this recipe is making the master recipe of dry ingredients, doubling it, then storing the rest away for a later breakfast, or two. The result is a pancake breakfast I can whip up even on the weekdays.continue to the recipe… about Chocolate Pancakes and Friday Faves

Fried Avocado Tacos Recipe

Creamy Avocados from Mexico might just be one of my favorite fruits.

I eat them for breakfast in my egg white omelets with a little feta cheese. I love them on turkey sandwiches with a little cranberry sauce and a thin slather of mayo on fluffy white bread. And I absolutely crave them as a base for tostadas topped with a ton of lettuce and spicy hot sauce.

I really don’t need much else.

continue to the recipe… about Fried Avocado Tacos Recipe

Snickerdoodles with White Chocolate Chips

I don’t mean to brag, but eh-hem, I’m an award winner.

Yep, it’s true. A winner of a blue ribbon. Utah State Fair. 4th grade. Yes, I said a STATE FAIR BLUE RIBBON. For my Snickerdoodle recipe. Award winning baker I am.

Smudge and I were going through some old boxes over Christmas and she discovered the coveted contest winning ribbon. In her eyes my status jumped immediately into the stratosphere ie: the realms of iCarly and her beloved Big Time Rush. Yep, rock star status.

She’s been obsessing over why I was awarded the blue ribbon, my coveted Snickerdoodle recipe, and thus obsessing over us baking Snickerdoodles.

I have no idea where the recipe came from, maybe an easy-to-bake cookbook from 4-H, but it is seriously one of the best cookie recipes I’ve ever had. Light but moist, chewy and how easy is it to dump all of the ingredients into one bowl, mix and bake. It’s easier than buying store bought, pre-made, sausage-style cookie rolls.

Easy enough for a 4th grader (me), and now a 2nd grader (Smudge), to make.continue to the recipe… about Snickerdoodles with White Chocolate Chips

Red Velvet Cupcakes Plus 10 Red Velvet Recipes With a Twist

And another one bites the dust. As in years. As in last week was my birthday.

It was a whirlwind week, filled with workin’ the day job, my once-a-week teaching gig and hitting SLC’s Grand America hotel for my second foray attending the Altitude Design Summit, or more fondly know as “Alt”. I met some incredible bloggers, soaked in generously-shared knowledge, worked my Twitter and Instagram accounts to the bone and gawked admirably at the uber-fashionable fashionistas attending. Stay tuned for some Alt highlights and what I learned in my next post.

And then Saturday arrived, my BIG day. It was my birthday.

This wasn’t an ordinary birthday, it was one of those “milestones” that we all dread, and no I’m not talking the big 30. Sneaking into the crevices of my well-worn brain was a phrase I’d heard the day before from Alt’s keynote speaker Gretchen Rubin, author of the NY Times Bestseller The Happiness Project, “The days are long, the years are short.” Yep, that’s pretty much life in a nutshell.

Birthdays are a good life-check. As in, it’s time to live your life. And so that’s what I’m going to do. Live my life, la vida loca. Bring it old man time, I’ll show you!

My Smudge and my man hatched a plan to surprise me on my bday morning, and that they did.

continue to the recipe… about Red Velvet Cupcakes Plus 10 Red Velvet Recipes With a Twist

Lobster Etouffee and 5 Cajun Crustacean Recipes

Baby its cold outside and I’m ready for some heat. So this big mama is pointing my cookin’ compass to ‘Nawlins baby!

My first intro to real New Orleans cooking was years ago thanks to my little sister and bro-in-law, both oil execs who were working just outside New Orleans, who had invited us for a visit and our first Jazz Festival excursion—which if you haven’t experienced is a bucket list must do if only to try Crawfish bread. That’s all it took to become big fans of the little suckers.

A couple of years later, and after a transfer to Houston, bro-in-law treated us to another crawfish tastey, his recipe for Crawfish Etouffee. To some cooks, this dish seems out-of-your-league-fancy just by looking at the spelling of its name, what with it’s double ff’s and ee’s and sounding all French and haute.

But here’s the secret: it isn’t fancy, or hard. It’s just good. Spicy and good.

photo > FoodieCrush

So when G and I were recently perusing the lovely aisles of Au Costco, we jumped at the seafood bait when we discovered langostinos in the seafood case.

No they weren’t fresh crawdads like you’d find on the coast, but any quality frozen nugget of the sweet crustacean style is all this recipe needs. So use what you can find: crawfish, shrimp or like us, little lobster longostinos. continue to the recipe… about Lobster Etouffee and 5 Cajun Crustacean Recipes

Pumpkin Gnocchi with Hazelnut Browned Butter and a Magazine Sneak Peek

So happy for the weekend, and wow. Just wow. This fall has been a gorgeous one. There’s almost nothing I love more than fall light–how does it actually warm you to the bones? It always inspires me to get my nesting on/in/done.

But fall is nearly in my rear view mirror, with the forecast of a winter storm set for Saturday. And while I watch those snowflakes fly, I’ll be working at my computer getting my little dream of launching Foodie Crush magazine all stitched together.

sneak peek photo > Britt Chudleigh

We’re in the midst of editing, layouts and photo editing for the debut issue of Foodie Crush magazine, an idea that’s been percolating in my brain for 2 years, that I finally threw myself into just a few short months ago.

I kind of can’t believe its actually happening.

continue to the recipe… about Pumpkin Gnocchi with Hazelnut Browned Butter and a Magazine Sneak Peek

Short Rib Fettuccine and a Fantasy Virtual Dinner Party

Right now I’m cozying up to fall. And I’m relishing it every step of the way.

I’m clearing the garden in anticipation of an imminent frost, hanging the Halloween ghosts from the oak trees in the front yard and craving simple, earthy flavors for dinner.

When it comes to simple and fall, I like to put a chunk of beef in the oven and let it braise, perfuming the house with its glorious smell. The smell that signals the change in season almost as much as the sound of bantering commentators and supercharged ‘manly music’ from Sunday’s NFL football games that drift from the man cave to where I’m safely hiding in the kitchen.continue to the recipe… about Short Rib Fettuccine and a Fantasy Virtual Dinner Party

Craving > Family Food Flashback and Some Der Wienerschnitzel

There are precious few things that can take one right back to my childhood like food can. And when looking back on some of our childhood faves, you either crave it like its no tomorrow or laugh in hysterics at what was considered haute cuisine.

Ambrosia anyone?

So when a group of us food bloggers got together regaling stories of what mom used to make, a few of us got a little misty eyed, a few laughed with disdain, but all of us cherished the memories of our childhood faves.

photo >foodiecrush

My mom was given this recipe from my dad’s mother, Grandma Frieda, in an attempt to help this young bride satisfy my dad’s love of his German mother’s cooking. I mean the guy likes head cheese. Really dad?

continue to the recipe… about Craving > Family Food Flashback and Some Der Wienerschnitzel

Dutch Baby for Breakfast

Growing up my family didn’t do many baked breakfasts. We weren’t the pancake or waffle crowd, it was more bacon and eggs for us.

So when we head for our friend’s mountain cabin, it’s all about what we’re going to eat. Dutch Babies is a traditional breakfast that my friend Sherrie has made for her kids for years, and once I got a taste of it’s sweet but custardy goodness, it was like a whole new world appeared.

The puffed pancake with crispy edges rounding out the eggey-custard-gooey-ness, with a light sweetness from a sifting of powdered sugar and a tart note from fresh squeezed oranges (or lemons if you like it tart) is a must-have whenever we head to the hills.

photo > foodiecrush

Sherrie combines her egg mixture in a blender, and depending on how many she’s cooking for, will use a cast-iron skillet, a 9 X 12 casserole dish or sometimes a Corning baking dish. It doesn’t matter so much what you bake it in, just make sure that you pre-heat the baking dish and butter in the hot oven before adding the batter—so that when you add the batter it sizzles a bit and has a head-start in crisping up.

When right out of the oven, the Dutch Baby looks like a giant popover but will deflate after it sits for a couple of minutes. Don’t worry, you didn’t mess up, it’s supposed to come back down to earth.

photo > foodiecrush

A couple of Dutch Baby tricks I learned from an old issue of Cook’s Illustrated:

Use skim or non-fat milk to make the batter crisp and light (they also sub 1/4 cup of flour for cornstarch for added crisp)
Using an ordinary skillet with sloping sides gives an even rise
Brush the inside of the cooking vessel with veggie oil to prevent sticking, then add in the butter for flavor.

And now for a few variations:

photo > The Moonlight Baker

On a smaller scale than the tradtional Dutch Baby, The Moonlight Baker‘s Lemon Scented German Pancakes topped with blueberries and blackberries are similiar in texture and flavor, but portioned for one. The secret to Kim’s recipe? Fresh ingredients so the simplicity shines through.

photo > Karmic Ktichen

A self-professed bacon lover, Karmic Kitchen‘s takes the traditional recipe for dutch babies and adds a super spin with self-contained eggs and bacon strips in Mini Dutch Babies with Bacon and Eggs. Genius individual servings.
photo > Cooking With My Kid

Cooking With My Kid’s German Apple Pancake is the perfect example of Rebecca’s knack for creating tasty food kids are begging to try thanks, to the custard-egg-flavor topped with sweet apples and powdered sugar. And maple syrup of course.

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Market Street Grill Fried Calamari and Plate to Pixel Food Photography Workshop

What do you get when you take Utah’s gorgeous summer light, a room of aspiring food photographers itching to master their cameras plus an even more enlightening photography and food styling instructor?

For 13 lucky students it all added up to Tartelette’s Helene Dujardin‘s SLC Food Photography Workshop at the base of Utah’s Big Cottonwood Canyon—Market Street Grill Cottonwood.

FoodieCrush Magazine presents the SLC Plate to Pixel Food Photography Workshop

Jim of Fab Frugal Food, Sandra of Everyday Southwest and Radhika of Just Homemade wonder which one was shot with natural light and which with strobe? Only the photographer knows.

Market Street Grill Cottonwood

Helene lines up her shot—and scores

from left > Becky of Vintage Mixer, Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod, Annalise of Completely Delicious, Kelley of Mountain Mama Cooks

Looks like Dara of Cookin’ Canuck ‘s food photo bible has been put to the test

The click-clack of computer keyboards and scribbling in notepads was swift and constant as attendees copiously took notes—getting hands-on answers from Helene herself to the questions every aspiring food photographer wants to know:

what ISO & F-stop do you shoot in? (she shoots mostly on Aperature priority but also manual in her studio since she knows the lighting conditions intimately. Do what feels right and you do best, nobody will be the wiser when they look at the shot so long as its exposed correctly)
how do you use fill cards and what the heck are they? (white foam core to reflect and bounce light into your subject, black to absorb light and take it away)
how do you style your pics to make them look so yummy? (hold back a few items/ingredients from the recipe to use as props in the shot, like a squeezed lemon or a couple of berries and sugar to tell a story through your propping and storyboards)
do you shoot with lights and if so what studio lighting kit do you use? (not much but when she does, it’s this one).

Reviewing shots while shooting tethered with Lightroom

Sasha of SashaTenorio and Radhika of Just Homemade soaking it all in

from left > Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod, Deborah of Taste and Tell, Misty of Sticks in the Mud , Lindsey of Cafe Johnsonia, Annelise of Completely Delicious and Shirley of Munchkins Are Us

Lightroom tips and tricks

Shooting from above? Shoot straight down. On the ground. Kinda like a rock…rock…rock…rock lobster.

Through a thoughtful presentation showcasing step by step examples of her own photo work plus the photo tips and styling tricks that have taken her from amateur foodie photog blogger to a sought after commercial entity, Helene brought her book Plate to Pixel to life for the studious crew.

When working with long tendrils of pasta, do the twist

The essentials: good lenses, clamps, reflectors, Plate to Pixel bible and pretty food

from left > Deborah of Taste and Tell, Becky of Vintage Mixer, Winter of The Redd Party, Annalise of Completely Delicious, Kelley of Mountain Mama Cooks , and Misty of Sticks In the Mud

Market Street Grill’s Fresh Atlantic Salmon and creamy caesar dressed salad

After a tasty lunch it was time to roll up the sleeves and get to work—to get to the guts of the day, where the real teaching went into full metal jacket action.

As the photographers maneuvered their way through sets of 4-Layer Decadent Chocolate Cake to Fried Calamari to Cajun Fettucini, Helene shadowed each photographer and assisted in creating their own photos. She answered questions about composition, exposure and anything that came to the minds of these insatiable picture takers.

Radihka shoots Cajun Fettucine

Dara of Cookin’ Canuck and Aggie of Aggie’s Kitchen get coaching from Helene

Deborah of Taste and Tell takes on the 4 Layer Chocolate Cake

There was a bun in the oven, but whose was it?

Helene coaches lighting techniques—bounce and reflect

In addition to a gift certificate donated by Koo de Ker Boutique, some of the the su-weet swag in our goodie bags included Chocolat Artisnal Chocolates, Sweet Tooth Fairy Cake Bites, Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals makeup and a custom print and notebook to keep track of all those tips.

Sandra, Deborah and Misty work the reflectors; goodies from the goodie bags

Radhika of Just Homemade, was FoodieCrush’s contest winner and flew in from Houston TX to attend the conference. For just one day. Yes, she wanted it THAT bad!

and that bun in the oven is Maria’s soon to be pea

Wow. It was a seriously big day for everyone that attended, inspiring so many ideas, images and notebooks full of tips. Thank you Helene for letting FoodieCrush be a part of it, we loooove photography and influencing aspiring photographers in hopes to see more of it in the pages of our upcoming magazine and the blog.

To see more pics from the day, check out our facebook workshop album.

Huge thanks to Market Street Grill for hosting the event. And to give you a taste of the deliciousness we experienced, enjoy their recipe for Market Street Fried Calamari.

5 from 1 vote

All photos > foodiecrush

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