Brisket - Take Two

We absolutely LOVED our brisket tacos last night, but there was so so so much meat left over!  I saved enough for a couple more tacos, but decided to turn the rest of this yummy tender meat into enchiladas.  My great grandmother used to make sour-cream chicken enchiladas when I was a little kid & they were my fave!  So, I called up my grandmother and the basics of the recipe.  Here's my take on our family's classic:






Sour Cream Chicken (Brisket tonight) Enchiladas


For the Sauce:
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon cream cheese
- 1/2 tablespoon milk
- 1/2 tablespoon beef stock (because I had some on hand)
- 1/2 teaspoon of cumin


For the Filling:
- About 1 lb of brisket, cooked and shredded (this was classically made with shredded chicken)
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 cup onion, chopped and sauteed
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, torn up
- 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese


- White corn tortillas 
- Extra shredded cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 


I started by sauteing the onions in about 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-low heat until they were soft and brown.  In a large mixing bowl mix together your meat, cream cheese, cilantro, jalapeño, shredded cheese, and the sauteed onions.  Mix all this thoroughly and set aside.


In a small sauce pan over low heat mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, milk, beef stock, and cumin.  Stir continuously until everything is incorporated and fragrant.


Soften the tortillas by wrapping a stack of 5 tortillas in a wet paper towel and microwaving for about 30 seconds.  Grease your baking dish, I recommend a 13 x 9 dish (the spray stuff is sufficient).  Now, to assemble your enchiladas spread about a 1/4 -1/3 cup of your meat filling into each tortilla, roll it up, and place the seam side down in your baking dish.  This doesn't have to be super exact, so just adjust the amount of filling as needed for the size of your tortillas.  


After you get all of your enchiladas assembled, pour the sour cream sauce over all the enchiladas & sprinkle with shredded cheese.


Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.


Hope you enjoy!!!

Our Private Oscar Party

I am not typically one to sit down and watch the Oscars, but this year I decided to use it as an excuse to make some yummy food.  Mark is a bit of a movie buff, and the girly girl in me loves seeing all the gorgeous dresses.  The inspiration for tonight's kitchen adventure came from a recipe I stumbled across for the craziest cupcakes I've ever heard of... Buttered Popcorn Cupcakes!  I mean, how much more Oscar-esque can you get?  This is how my dinner menus typically start... dessert first and entree later.  Desserts are just so much more fun, don't you agree?  So, with the cupcake recipe secured, I allowed my fiance to guide me through the rest of the meal.  We are both Texans, so Tex-Mex was a natural choice.  


Let's kick off this blog with a little Tex-Mex & some appropriately festive cupcakes!

Meet Izzy

On the agenda for today:
- Poma-Ritas     
- Armadillo Eggs 
- Brisket tacos
- Refried black beans
- Mexican Rice


...and finished off with...  


- Buttered popcorn cupcakes






Oh my goodness was this good!!!  
Restaurant quality, according to my future hubby!  




Poma-Ritas  ---  an original recipe concocted by my future hubby himself
Recipe yields 2 cocktails
2 shots of Tequila
1 shot of Orange Juice
3 shots of Pomegranate Juice (we used Pom-Blueberry)
Garnish with a lime wedge

Armadillo Eggs were adapted from The Homesick Texan

The only addition I made was about 1/4 cup of chopped yellow onion.  I used turkey sausage & they were a HUGE hit!

Puppies waiting anxiously

Armadillo Eggs

Mr. Jasper

 Brisket Tacos were also adapted from The Homesick Texan
I used a 1/4 cup of Pinot Noir instead of the red wine vinegar because that is what we had on hand & it was wonderful!  The brisket takes a LONG time to cook, but it was well worth the wait.  We will definitely be making these again!










So I cheated a bit when it came to the side dishes tonight... I used canned refried black beans & Spanish rice from a box.  However, to jazz up the beans a bit, I added some chopped onion and fresh jalapeno to give them a bit of zing.  I also topped the beans with a pinch of shredded cheese, because that's how we do things down here...

The final meal - delish

Buttered Popcorn Cupcakes recipe was found on Little Ivy Cakes blog 
They were by far the most interesting cupcakes I have ever attempted!  So fun & festive!

The BIG finale

And that's all for now folks!  I will probably be turning our left-over brisket into yummy enchiladas, so that may be the next addition to this blog... 

Oliver

My First Blog Post, Ever

Here goes my attempt at blogging... well that isn't entirely true.  I actually made a blog about the Vietnam War in a fiction class during college, but I don't think it counts as blogging if you are doing it for a grade... Anywho

I have decided that now is as good a time as any.  I feel that the first post should set the tone for my blog, a mission statement of sorts.  I want this to be a space where I can bring creativity back into my life.  I have spent far too many years with my head buried in the books, and it is time to bring balance back into my life.  Unfortunately, I don't feel confident enough in my abilities to fill an entire blog with just one avenue, so I will be posting a wide variety of ideas/inspirations/projects here.  I apologize in advance to the foodie-purist or those of you who are only interesting in crafting, but I haven't found that one category that fully fills my cup... yet.  Maybe this will evolve into something more, but my goal is to not put any pressure on myself at this point.  This should be fun, right?  The moment that it stops being fun is the moment I will surely put an end to it.  

As usual, I have not chosen the most optimal of times to start a project like this, but that is par for the coarse for me.  (Example:  I decided that I simply had to be on the college dance team when I was in the big middle of organic chemistry, not my brightest idea)  My point is that this may get off to a slow start.  However, a break from school is on the horizon, so hopefully my creative juices will get the chance to flow very soon.  

Stay tuned!

About the photo:  These are my 2 pride and joys!  My adorable doxies!  Since I don't have any children (yet) these two cuties are my babies.  They will probably be making appearances along the way...