Steak Enchiladas

 I make 2 at a time so I have nice leftovers. I make one with flour and one with corn. It makes everyone happy. 

INGREDIENTS

Corn tortillas or Flour tortillas

4 boneless, skinless chicken  🐓 breasts or 3 steaks 🥩 
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of chili powder
1/8 cup of vegetable oil
3 large onions 🧅 
2 cans(15 oz each) green enchilada sauce or red
4 cups fresh graded cheddar/jack cheese 🧀 , more if needed
Sour cream for serving
Diced tomato 🍅 for serving
Chopped cilantro 🌿 for serving

DIRECTIONS

Get all your ingredients together.

Preheat oven to 350° 

Cut up your steak and mix with your chili powder and cumin. Coat all of it.

Cook until done. About 2-3 minutes each side. If doing chicken do the same but make sure the juices run clear. Then shred your chicken.

Slice Onion like so.

Caramelize your onions 🧅 

Put your green enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pan. It will help things not stick. Wrap up your ingredients into your flour or corn tortillas and place them in the pan. Put more sauce on top and then cheese. 

Put in oven at 350° for 30 min. 45 if you put it in the fridge for a day.

Serve with your choice of toppings. 

Meyer Lemon 🍋 Dwarf Tree

Meyer Lemon 🍋  trees 🌳  are popular and for good reason. These trees can grown in hardiness zones 8-11. They are a hybrid between lemon and orange. It is a self pollinator, which means you only need one tree to get fruit!

This tree requires at least six hours of sunlight ☀️ . Soil conditions should be well-drowning;however, the soil must hold enough water to remain moist. Allow soil to dry out only a little a little bit between waterings 💦 .

Fertilize

A high nitrogen one such as one specifically designed for citrus trees, is best fed monthly between April and September. Withhold fertilizing during fall and winter months. Yellowing of the leaves 🍃   means water or fertilizer. 

March 5th

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May 4th

May 31

September 28

October 7th (before the trim with my daughter)

October 15th

October 27th

November 24th

 

Come back for more!

Apple Butter

 I make this EVERY year. I also send them out as gifts to family with my other canned goods. When you are a canner I think its hard to make recipes small for 2 people and such. Because you are always canning in big quantities, lol. So here we go…

Ingredients

4 1/2 pounds of apples (about 14 medium)

3 cups apple cider or apple juice

2 cups of sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1tsp ground allspice

Cooking

In a 8 to 10 quart heavy kettle add your apples 🍏   that are cut, cored and quartered and cider. Bring up to boiling then reduce the heat. Simmer covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Stir in sugar, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Bring to boiling then reduce heat. Cook uncovered on low heat for 1 1/2 hrs or until very thick and mixture mounds on a spoon. Stir often. 

Canning

Ladle hot apple 🍎 butter into sterilized half pint or your choice canning jars. Leaving a 1/4 in headspace. Wipe jar rims. Put lid on and then the band only finger tight (no more). 

Put in Water canner for 5 minutes. Do not start timer until the water returns too a boil. When done remove jars and cool on cooling racks.

 After and hour check the lid to see if it sealed by taking your lid magnet To see if it pops.  During the next few minutes you will here the lids sealing. Do not remove bands until they have cooled. When they have cooled then remove bands for storing. This protects you from not seeing if it did not cann properly. 

Rosemary & Garlic Potatoes

 I probably do this 25% of the time when I do a side potato. It’s easy and its soooooo good. This recipe is for 4 people.

Ingreditents

2 Potatoes

Extra virgin olive oil (drizzle)

1 tbsp of Garlic powder

1 tsp of Seasoning salt

1 tsp of Rosemary

Preheat oven to 350 

First you start with cutting up your potatoes. Any potatoes you have on hand are fine. I just roughly chop them up. Put them in a bowl or strait onto the baking sheet. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, garlic powder and seasoning salt. Mix it all up.

Put in oven for  40-45 minutes. Take out. Enjoy!

BÒN APPETIT 😋 

Thanksgiving Turkey

 Ingredients

Turkey 
Turkey (about a pound for each person) 
4 carrots
Celery
Onion
Parsnip
Turnup 
2-3 tbsp of Butter

Basting
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) Butter
1 750-ml bottle of a nice dry white wine

Cheese cloth

Unstuffed Turkey times

8-10 pounds    325°   2hrs 45 min to 3 hrs

12-14 pounds    325°   3hrs to 3 hrs 45 min

14-18 pounds   325°  3hrs 45 min to 4 hrs 15 min

18-20 pounds   325°  4hrs 15 min to 4 hrs 30 min

20-24 pounds    325°   4hrs 30 min to 5 hrs

Directions

I do 20-24 pounds because I like leftovers. 

Thaw turkey. Take out the pop up thermometer if it comes with one. Rinse with cool water and dry with paper towels. Let stand for 2 hrs at room temperature. 

Place rack on lowest level of the oven with temp of 450°. 

Combine melted butter and white wine in a bowl. Fold a large piece of cheesecloth into quarters. Immerse the cheesecloth in your butter/wine mixture and let it soak uptake liquids. Let it sit. 

I added some Lemon Thyme and Basil 🌿 from my garden as well. 

Prep Turkey
Place turkey breast side up on parchment paper for easy cleanup. Fold the wingtips under the turkey so they brown nicely but not to much. Tie legs and tail together with kitchen string loosely. (Do with a bow to easily untie later.) Fold neck flap under and secure with toothpicks.

Place veggies in the bottom of the pan and place pan rack.  Place turkey in pan/roaster on rack. Rub turkey with butter and rub. I have used this rub here. 

Squeeze the cheesecloth to just damp so you are not dripping then lay across your turkey. Baste with the liquid mixture and place in oven.

Bake Turkey

Bake for 30 minutes. Then baste again and bring the temp down to 350°. Basting every 30 minutes and watching pan juices. If the pan gets too full, spoon out juices, reserving them for gravy. Turn your turkey every hr to let it brown evenly. 

An hr before you turkey is done, carefully remove the cheesecloth. Turn roasting pan so it evenly bakes. Baste turkey with  juices. Be careful with skin as it browns, it gets fragile. Do not forget to baste after 30 min as well. Cover the parts that are getting to dark with foil so not to get burnt.

Insert an instant read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. Do not poke into the bone. The temperature should reach 180°. Your turkey should be golden brown at this point. 

When fully cooked through let it set for 30 minutes. After transfer to your serving platter so that the juices do not run. At this point the juices should have gone back into the turkey. This is why you let the bird set. 

Keep the pan juices for your gravy.

Side Dishes

Green Bean Casserole

Cranberry Sauce

Thank you for reading

Bon Appetit 😋 

This is a Martha Stewart Recipe

Utensils for Canning

 These are the things I use. 

(PRESS IMAGE FOR LINKS)

FUNNEL, TONGS, AND LID MAGNET

This is a funnel and measurer in one. So less buying there. Plus it fits all canning jars for no mess. These tools are a must. Not necessarily these but these type. I have found these are great. I hand wash so they stay better longer. 

LADEL

This ladle is great because it has a lip on the back to stay in your pot and not make a mess on your counter. 

WATER BATH

When it comes to a water bath canner honestly you do not need one. If you have a big stock pot that can be used. If you plan on pressure canning just use that for the water bath without the lid. 

PRESSURE CANNER

I use this one. But that is so I can stack. You can get a shorter one. But that does mean more time if you have more cans. 

RACKS

If you go for the bigger one like me I use these racks to stack in the canner.