Chicken and Veggie Enchiladas

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I made enchiladas for my neighbor's Thanksgiving party. She is a vegetarian, so some of them only had zucchini and mushrooms in them.

These I sauteed, with a little taco seasoning sprinkled on the zucchini, which I left pretty firm, so the veggie ones would have some texture inside.

Of course, I had to respect the meat-eaters at the party (and have something for myself to eat), so I made some with chicken too.

The secret to good chicken enchiladas is pulling the chicken apart with two forks while it's frying. You just keep flipping it over and pulling off as much as you can of the cooked meat.

This technique gives you a pile of stringy chicken that really accepts flavor well - in this case, I used taco spice mix.

The strands of chicken are also a lot easier to work with when it comes time to roll them.

All of the ingredients, ready to be made into enchiladas.

Chicken enchilada in the process of being rolled.

Inside the veggie version.

All rolled and ready to go in the oven.

Lookin' golden brown!

Look at those beauties! Almost a shame I covered 'em in sauce and cheese.

Chicken Stir-Fry

A plate of deliciousness!

I love to start a meal with fresh ingredients! For this stir-fry, I used peppers, onion, garlic, mushrooms, carrot, and bean sprouts. All of these things are readily available in Korea, and don't cost very much.

Veggies look beautiful when they're chopped up and mixed together. They say that the more colorful your food is, the better it is for your body (this doesn't apply to cotton candy).

I left the garlic cloves whole, and sauteed them for about a minute before adding the chicken to the olive oil in the bottom of my wok-like frying pan.

Stirring...

And frying...

All the way to the table!

German Style Pork Schnitzels

They're always best with a little spritz of lemon!

Gotta have sides...tonight I chose to make baked potatoes...

...carrots...

...and broccoli!

 Beautiful pork chops getting ready to be schnitzeled (sp?).

Bread crumbs and a beaten egg; standard fare for turning a simple piece of pork (or any other meat, for that matter) into a breaded chunk of heaven.

 My little beauties, ready for the pan.

Halfway done, and they're smelling fantastic. I fried them in a mixture of butter and garlic-infused bacon fat that I had leftover from my meatballs with bacon-wrapped garlic centers.

Browned to perfection - now it's time to plate these babies, and enjoy a delicious feast!

The finished product - a meal fit for a king!

Roasted Jalapeño Salsa

Sizzlin' Salsa!

Jalapeño peppers, after roasting in my trusty toaster oven fro 30 minutes.

A nice big bunch of fresh cilantro - it took me hours of searching to find it, but when I did, it was surprisingly cheap!

Garlic and onions...do you see a pattern in my recipes?

This mix looked so beautiful on the stove, I didn't want to put it in the blender.


But I did...

Nice big pan o' salsa - the perfect balance of heat and flavor!

Delicious Butternut Squash Soup

Beautiful chunks of squash - I just love the color!

Squash all diced up.

In the pan with a generous amount of garlic, onions, and olive oil.

For spices, I kept it simple; a little cumin and turmeric, and some salt.

I don't even like soup that much, but this stuff was amazing!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

A thing of beauty - smothered in cheddar and Jalapeño sauce

Making pulled pork sandwiches is easy - the only thing is, you need pulled pork!

I found this gorgeous pork butt for $3 at the supermarket, and I just couldn't resist. It was almost 4 pounds of meat!

Pork next to the spice mix (which was an amalgam of things I found in the cupboard...paprika, chili powder, garlic, salt, pepper, basil, cumin, and turmeric - I think)

Gently massaging the rub into the meat.

Once the pork was coated, I wrapped it up tight and put it in the fridge. I think it was in there for about 5 hours...supposed to be longer, but hey, I was hungry.

(toaster) oven roasted pork in all its glory. I used a metal measuring cup full of water on the tray with it to maintain moisture while cooking (for about 4 hours).

Pulling the pork. Despite cooking for less than a recommended duration, it fell apart very easily.

All pulled - time to make some sandwiches!

But first, let's see a close-up of that delicious pork!

My lovely wife made some homemade buns for us to use.

Into the toaster oven they go, one last time, to make sure they're nice and toasty.

On the plate, with a generous topping of homemade Jalapeño sauce