Tex-Mex Cheese Enchiladas (Recipe 111 of 150)

I have a hard time making enchiladas that aren't my mom's. They are the enchiladas I grew up on and the enchiladas I crave. In an effort to expand myself, I thought this would be a good recipe to make. I had all the ingredients other than tortillas, so it was perfect.

That being said, I did not follow the recipe to make the enchilada sauce. I used Simply Mama Cooks recipe and added a few things to it. I'll post the real recipe at the bottom. 

I guess then, the recipe that I recommend is actually my recipe. 

Tex-Mex Cheese Enchiladas - Jenn's version

Serves 5

Enchilada Sauce

• 6 dried ancho chiles, rinsed, stemmed, seeded
• 1/4 onion, roughly chopped
• 1 large garlic clove
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp Garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt

ENCHILADAS

• 10 (6-inch) corn tortillas
• 1 c vegetable oil
• 6 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 4 ounces pepper jack, shredded
• 1 onion, chopped fine

After you've prepared your chilis, put them in a pan of cold water with about 2 cups of water. Bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling, cover it and turn off the heat. Let it steep for 20 minutes or until the chilis are soft. 

In the mean time, grate your cheeses. DO NOT buy pre - shredded cheese. It just doesn't melt the same. Shred it yourself. You won't be disappointed. You can combine them all in one bowl. Mix them together. Set aside 1/2 cup cheese mixture for topping enchiladas. 

Get your oven preheating to 400F. 

When the chilis are done, put them and the steeped water into a blender. Add the garlic clove, onion, chicken bouillon, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Blend until smooth. With my blender - which is a Ninja - I blended it for a good 4 minutes. If you want a very smooth enchilada sauce, you can strain it. I don't mind chunks in my enchilada sauce so I didn't bother. 

Put the enchilada sauce into a pan with about 1 tsp vegetable oil. Let it cook for 20 minutes until it thickens. If it isn't thick enough for you, do a slurry of cornstarch to thicken it up. It should be the consistency of gravy. 

In a separate skillet, put the cup of vegetable oil and heat it. You're going to dunk each tortilla in the oil briefly to make them pliable. The method they have below might work, though Mom used oil in a pan, so I use oil in a pan.  You are literally putting the tortilla in, flipping it and then bringing it out. I drain them on paper towels. I square between each tortilla. 

Get your baking dish ready. I put it in a dish that's the width of the tortilla wrapped, so maybe a 7x9? I really don't know. You can see the size in the photo. 

Put a couple of spoonfuls of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of the dish, cover the bottom with it. 

Place about 1/4 cup cheese mixture across center of each tortilla, then sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon onion. You can eye ball this. I just make sure there's enough cheese lip to lip. Don't leave it all in the middle. Tightly roll tortillas around filling and lay them seam side down in dish. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, then sprinkle with reserved cheese mixture, and in my case, I had some extra onion too.

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Let enchiladas cool for 10 minutes. Serve.

Tex-Mex Cheese Enchiladas - The Real Recipe

Recipe from Cook's Country

Serves 5

GRAVY

2 dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, and torn into 1/2-inch pieces (1/2 cup)

1 T cumin seeds

1 T garlic powder

2 tsp dried oregano

3 T vegetable oil

3 T all-purpose flour

Salt and pepper

2 c chicken broth

2 tsp distilled white vinegar

ENCHILADAS

12 (6-inch) corn tortillas

1 ½ T vegetable oil

8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (2 cups)

6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (1 1/2 cups)

1 onion, chopped fine

FOR THE GRAVY: Toast chiles and cumin in 12-inch skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to spice grinder and let cool for 5 minutes. Add garlic powder and oregano and grind to fine powder.

Heat oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Whisk in flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and spice mixture and cook until fragrant and slightly deepened in color, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in broth and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, whisking frequently, until gravy has thickened and reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 5 minutes. Whisk in vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat, cover, and keep warm. (Sauce can be made up to 24 hours in advance. To reheat, add 2 tablespoons water and microwave until loose, 1 to 2 minutes, stirring halfway through microwaving.)

FOR THE ENCHILADAS: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Stack tortillas, then wrap in damp dish towel. Place tortillas on plate and microwave until warm and pliable, about 1 minute.

Spread 1/2 cup gravy in bottom of 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Combine cheeses in bowl; set aside 1/2 cup cheese mixture for topping enchiladas. Place 1/4 cup cheese mixture across center of each tortilla, then sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon onion. Tightly roll tortillas around filling and lay them seam side down in dish (2 columns of 6 tortillas will fit neatly across width of dish). Pour remaining 1 cup gravy over enchiladas, then sprinkle with reserved cheese mixture.

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes. Let enchiladas cool for 10 minutes, then sprinkle with remaining onion. Serve.

Tangy Roadside Chicken (Recipe 110 of 150)

This was a good recipe. What's weird is this recipe tasted a lot like those with balsamic vinegar and yet, no balsamic! It was delicious. 

I put the chicken in the marinade in for 4 hours then grilled them. 

Tangy Roadside Chicken

Recipe from Plain Chicken

Serves 4

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 c apple cider vinegar
• ½ c canola oil
• ¼ c orange juice
• ¼ c Worcestershire sauce
• 2 T Montreal Chicken seasoning
• 2 T sugar
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 T garlic powder

Whisk together cider vinegar, oil, orange juice, Worcestershire sauce, Montreal Chicken seasoning, sugar, chili powder, and garlic powder.

Place chicken in a ziplock bag, pound to an even thickness. Pour marinade over chicken and refrigerate a few hours to overnight.

Remove chicken from marinade. Discard marinade.

Prepare grill and cook chicken for 12 to 15 minutes, until no longer pink.

Chocolate Cheesecake Ice Cream (Recipe 109 of 150)

A weird and wonderful thing has been happening this summer. BFF is training for the Breast Cancer 3 day/60 mile walk. Her and one of her teammates walk on Wednesday afternoons. When she's done, she's been swinging by Dairy Queen and buying a Blizzard. Lucky me she buys one for me too. She calls and says she's out front. I come down, we chat a bit, and we both enjoy an ice cream on a hot summer day.

This isn't the best thing for my ever expanding waste line. But it now has me craving ice cream. Drats.

So I bought myself an ice cream maker and I've been experimenting with low carb ice creams. The first one I made was a chocolate and peanut butter. It was good, but made with coconut milk and so had a coconutty flavor - which doesn't go with peanut butter. 

This one has been good. I made it at lunch today and then had a sample of it around 3pm. I made a couple of modifications based on my little sister making it earlier this week and her feedback on it. Those modifications are below. 

Chocolate Cheesecake Ice Cream Recipe

Recipe from Sosimpleideas.com

Makes 8 servings

• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar or sugar substitute for low-carb - I used about 3/4 c. Billie said it needed more sweetness.
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon lemon extract optional - didn't include either optional.
• 1 teaspoon cherry extract optional
• 1 tsp guar gum - I added this ingredient. It's used to keep the ice cream from hardening too much.

Beat cream cheese with sugar or sweetener until well blended. Add in the heavy cream, sour cream, and cocoa. Blend until smooth.

Blend in the flavor extract then cover. Set in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.  [JW Note: I did not do this step. Billie said it really didn't matter, so I scrapped it. It doesn't seem to have mattered at all. ]

Remove from the refrigerator and beat mixture until creamy. [JW Note: I beat it for a good 3 minutes to add a lot of air to the ice cream.] 

Transfer to an ice cream maker and process until desired consistency is reached.

Enjoy immediate as a soft serve or transfer to an airtight freezer container to harden for scoopable ice cream.

Chicken Marinade (Recipe 108 of 150)

Yes another chicken marinade. I have to say I've really enjoyed all the chicken marinades I've tried so far this year. And this one is no different. 

It's all the same basic players. The balsamic and honey together is a nice combo that really gives this marinade flavor. 

I got a little overzealous on the cooking of the chicken. Had the heat too hot and so burnt some of the ends. I'll call it caramelization. Flavor. 

I'd make this again for sure. It's a quick easy marinade. I left it marinading for 4 hours and it was a good amount of time. 

Chicken Marinade

Recipe from Will Cook for Smiles

Serves 4

• 1/2 c canola oil
• 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 c honey
• 1 lime - juice only
• 3 T Worcestershire sauce
• 3 T soy sauce
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 T minced fresh parsley
• 3-4 lbs chicken

Whisk all ingredients for the sauce in a mixing bowl until thoroughly combined.

Place chicken inside a durable zip-top bag and pour the marinade into the bag with chicken. Get air out of the bag and zip it closed.

Lay the bag on its side inside a rimmed baking dish or another container and place it in the refrigerator. Let it marinate for 4-6 hours or overnight.

Grill chicken to 165F internal temp. 

Beef Bulgogi (Recipe 107 of 150)

Yet another attempt to find the perfect Beef Bulgogi recipe. And again Paul's recipe is better. 

This recipe is a good recipe, don't get me wrong. It's just not AS good. I didn't make any adjustments or changes to this recipe either. I did forget the sesame seeds at the end, but otherwise I followed it 100%. 

I marinaded the beef for 6 hours. The really gave a nice infusion of flavor to the beef. I really wouldn't do it for any less. 

Beef Bulgogi

Recipe from Carlsbad Cravings

Serves 6

1 1/2 pounds rib eye, top sirloin or flank steak THINLY sliced across the grain (less than 1/8″)

Vegetable oil

MARINADE

• 1/4 c low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 of an Asian pear, grated (may sub sweet apple like Fuji)
• 3 T brown sugar
• 1 T sweet Japanese rice wine may sub dry sherry (see notes) or mirin
• 1 T sesame oil
• 1 T Gochuchang (see notes)
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 T freshly grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 Scallions chopped

ADD LATER

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds divided

additional scallions for garnish optional

Add all of the marinade ingredients to a shallow bowl or freezer bag (whatever you are going to marinate your steak in) and whisk to combine. Add steak and turn to coat. Cover and marinate 30 minutes at room temperature (only an option if using rib eye or top sirloin) or refrigerate up to overnight.

When ready to cook, let beef sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Heat one tablespoon vegetable oil over medium high heat in a large cast iron skillet, wok or stainless steal pan.

Working in 4 batches, add meat (grabbing meat with tongs so excess marinade drips off) in a single layer and let sear 1-2 minutes. Flip and cook and addition 1-2 minutes or until browned but barely cooked through then add sesame seeds and stir to combine. Transfer to a plate and cover tightly with foil. Repeat.

Garnish with additional sesame seeds and green onions if desired. Serve with additional Gochuchang if you would like it spicier.

Marinating Times. If you choose to use flank steak or skirt steak, I suggest marinating the beef longer because these are tougher meats to start with. I would marinate flanks and skirt steak for at least 2 hours but overnight is best. If you are using rib-eye or top sirloin, you can get away with marinating for as little as a 30-minutes at room temperature, but 1-2 hours in the refrigerator is optimal. The meat is sliced so thinly and these cuts of meat are already so tender you don’t need much more than 3 hours, but you are welcome to marinate longer.

Carne Asada Street Tacos (Recipe 106 of 150)

Y'all...this recipe is unbelievably delicious. I'm searched for years for a decent carne asada recipe that had flavor and so far all of them have fallen short. This recipe is off the charts delicious. It's being added to the 2022 Favorites. 

I used a flank steak and marinated it for 5 hours in the fridge. Flipping it every now and then. Grilled it to medium rare, then sliced it and "chunked" it. Along side I served this with the traditional onion, cilantro and lime salsa. Now I have onion breath, but it was totally worth it. 

It's hard to explain why this recipe was so much better than all the others. The combo of seasonings in the rub really added to it I think. Along with making a paste with the remaining seasoning mix and olive oil. That really took it up a notch. 

Make this recipe! You won't be disappointed. 

Carne Asada Street Tacos

Recipe from Carlsbad Cravings

Serves 6

SPICE MIX

• 1 T ground cumin
• 1 T garlic powder
• 2 tsp EACH smoked paprika, chili powder
• 1 tsp EACH salt, onion powder, ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp EACH pepper, cayenne pepper

MARINADE

• 1 ½ – 2 pounds flank steak pounded to an even thin thickness
• 1/4 c reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 c orange juice
• 2 T lime juice
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1 tsp liquid smoke

Jenn's side pico:

• 1/2 onion (I used a sweet onion)
• 2-3 T of cilantro chopped
• juice of one lime
• Mix this together and let it sit for an hour or so.

Make Spice Mix seasonings by whisking together ingredients. Set aside.

Combine the marinade Ingredients, whisk to combine. Add 3 tablespoons Spice Mix to Marinade and whisk to combine. Add steak and marinade into a zip loc back, squeeze out excess air, seal and turn to evenly coat. Marinate in the refrigerator 4-12 hours (the longer the better).

When ready to grill, mix remaining Spice Mix with 2 tablespoons olive oil to create a wet Spice Rub.

Discard marinade and pat steaks dry with paper towel. Rub steak evenly all over with Spice Rub and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. 

Grease and preheat outdoor grill to high heat. Add steak and turn down to medium-high. Grill steak to your desired doneness.

Remove steak and let rest 10 minutes before chopping into small pieces. This is vitally important so you keep all the yummy juices in the steak and not on your cutting board.

Warm tortillas in the microwave, in a skillet or char on the grill or open gas stovetop flame until warm but still pliable.

Assemble Street Tacos by layering warmed tortillas (Usually small corn tortillas) with carne asada steak and pico. Serve with optional lime wedges and hot sauce.

Beef Ragout (Recipe 105 of 150)

Every now and then I draw a recipe from Mom's Gray Recipe Box. It's full of recipes from Grandma Spaid, Aunt's on the Spaid side, Mom, Dad, etc. Some of the recipes are, well, interesting. Many have ingredients I don't even know. 

Like this recipe, Beef Ragout. It calls for Oxtail soup mix. What the what? I had to Google it and then I couldn't find it in the store so I had to order it on the All Mighty Amazon. Now I have 3 packets of it. Well, 2 since I used one tonight. 

I expected this "soup" to be soupy, but what happened when I put in the soup mix is it became very gravy esk. More like stew consistency. Which threw me since it would be simmering for an hour and a half. 

Bottom line, this was an ok meal. I am sure it was designed to be an inexpensive meal to feed a ton of kids, with leftovers. It's one of the few that doesn't have a date on it. I'm guessing it's from the 70's. 

Beef Ragout 

Recipe from Mom's Gray Recipe Box

Serves 6

Chicken Piccata Pasta (Recipe 104 of 150)

Chicken Piccata is a favorite of mine. I've got several versions of this recipe and all of them include the main components of chicken piccata: chicken, lemon, butter and capers.

Piccata sauce is usually light and thus great for a hot summer evening. This one is no different. The flavors of the capers and lemon go together perfectly. The balance is spot on. It's not too acidic considering the briny capers and the tart lemon juice. I don't know how it works, it just does. 

Careful salting this recipe too. Capers tend to be a little salty, so season once the sauce is together to make sure you don't over salt it. 

Chicken Piccata Pasta

Recipe from Recipe Runner

Serves 4

• 2 T extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
• 3 T flour, all purpose or gluten free
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 T butter
• 1/2 c diced shallot
• 3 cloves of garlic, grated or minced
• 1/2 c dry white wine
• 1 c low sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 c fresh lemon juice
• 2 T capers, drained
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 c chopped flat leaf parsley
• 12 ounces uncooked penne pasta, gluten free if needed

Cook the pasta according to package instructions while you make the chicken.

Toss the cubed chicken in 1 tablespoon of flour until coated. Heat a deep nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the skillet. Add the chicken to the pan and season with salt and pepper.

Brown the chicken until lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Remove it from the skillet and onto a plate. Return the skillet to the heat and reduce the heat to medium. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the tablespoon of butter, shallots and garlic to the skillet. Sauté for 2-3 minutes and then add the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. Cook and stir for 1-2 minutes.

Whisk in the wine and reduce the liquid for approximately 1 minute. Whisk the lemon juice and chicken broth into sauce. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the capers and parsley. When the sauce comes to a bubble, add the chicken back to the skillet along with the pasta and heat through. Taste for seasoning and serve.

Ciao Bella Balsamic Grilled Chicken (Recipe 103 of 150)

This was a good marinade. I'm starting to really like marinades with balsamic vinegar in them. The added bonus of Italian seasoning really made this marinade pop. The other thing I like about this is that it doesn't have any sugar in it. The savory really works. 

I marinaded this for 4 hours and it really infused the flavor. 

Ciao Bella Balsamic Grilled Chicken

Recipe from Just a Pinch

Serves 4

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 lb chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

Whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Italian seasoning, and Dijon mustard.

Pour marinade over chicken in a zip top bag. Refrigerate for 4-24 hours.

Grill over direct heat for about 7 minutes per side.

This marinade can easily be doubled or tripled for family size packages of chicken.

Grilled Chicken Marinade (Recipe 102 of 150)

This was the second marinade for Sunday dinner Kebab themed dinner. This was a delicious marinade. I had the chicken marinading for 4 hours and I think it was just perfect. I overcooked the chicken as usual, but the marinade made it not so dry. 

This is a pretty basic balsamic chicken marinade and it hits all the sweet/savory notes for me. 

I did not grill it the way it suggests. I had meat on the grill at the same time and it wasn't going to work the same way. 

Grilled Chicken Marinade

Recipe from The Food Charlatan

Serves 4

• 2 pounds chicken, any cut (I love thighs)
• 2 tablespoons steak seasoning
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

In a large gallon size ziplock bag, add the chicken. Sprinkle with steak seasoning and use your hands to work it into the chicken a little bit.

Add the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, and lemon juice.

Zip it up and shake it a little to make sure everything is coated.

Marinate in the fridge for 4 hours, or up to 48 hours. (You can even do as little as 30 minutes, but the longer you marinate the tastier it will be!

Grill the chicken by placing the chicken pieces over direct heat. Close the lid and grill for 2-3 minutes, or until the outside is as crisp and brown as you want it.

Use tongs to flip the chicken and place over the low-heat part of the grill. I have a gas grill, so I just turn off one of the burners. (The chicken should cover the half of the grill that is turned off). Reduce the heat on the other half of the grill to medium-low heat, between 250-275 degrees F.

Cover and cook for 30-50 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken. 

If you want, you can quickly sear the other side of the chicken over direct high heat before serving.

Jack's Ultimate Steak Marinade (Recipe 101 of 150)

It feels like if someone is going to title a recipe "Ultimate" it had better be darn-tootin delicious. Am I right? 

Last night was Kebab Sunday Dinner. Meaning everything had to be "on a stick". The group did an excellent job doing just that. I put photos at the bottom of the event. 

This marinade was intriguing because I've never used chili sauce in a marinade. Nor wine really. I marinaded the beef for 4 hours. And I gotta say, this wasn't my favorite marinade. It was good, but not a repeater. Sunday dinner peeps seemed to like it though. 

Jack's Ultimate Steak Marinade

Recipe from Plain Chicken

Serves 4

½ c red wine

½ c chili sauce

2 T vegetable oil

2 T red wine vinegar

1 T dried minced onion flakes

2 T Worcestershire sauce

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp garlic powder

1 bay leaf

4 steaks

Whisk together all ingredients and pour over steaks. Marinate in refrigerator an hour to overnight.

Remove steaks from marinade and cook to desired temperature.

Appetizers of mini cheeseburgers with a yummy dipping sauce

Second appetizer of a antipasta on a stick.

Beef and Chicken Kebabs

Beef, chicken, roasted veggies - off the stick

brownies and chocolate covered strawberries.

Pollo a La Brasa (Peruvian Grilled Chicken) (Recipe 100 of 150)

I've seen a lot of recipes for "Peruvian" chicken lately. I've collected several. This one was one of those I've recently acquired. 

Instead of my normal way of "changing it up" I kept this recipe to it's original guidelines. And friends, I'm here to tell you, this was yummy. 

To be fair, I didn't use 2 jalapenos in the sauce because I only had one jalapeno. But that was enough heat for me. I didn't cut back on any of the other ingredients so the sauce was heavy with cilantro and light with the jalapeno flavor. When I make this again, I'll use two to get that flavor. 

I had the chicken in the marinade for 5 hours. That's starting to be my standard I think. I love working from home so I can start a marinade at noon and have it ready to go by dinner around 6. 

Pollo a La Brasa (Peruvian Grilled Chicken)

Recipe from All Recipes

Serves 4

• 2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• ⅓ c soy sauce
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 T lime juice
• 1 T vegetable oil
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp dried oregano

Sauce:

• 2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
• ½ c firmly packed cilantro
• ¼ c mayonnaise
• 1 T lime juice
• 1 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper

Place chicken thighs into a gallon-sized resealable plastic bag. Blend soy sauce, garlic, lime juice, vegetable oil, cumin, paprika, and oregano in a blender until smooth. Pour mixture over chicken, seal the bag, and refrigerate for 8 hours.

Combine jalapeno peppers, cilantro, mayonnaise, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a blender; pulse until sauce is smooth. Transfer sauce to a covered bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate.

Remove chicken thighs from the bag and place on the grill. Discard bag with excess marinade. Grill thighs for 7 minutes; flip and grill 7 additional minutes.

Transfer thighs to a serving dish and drizzle reserved sauce over the chicken.

Cheesy Smoked Sausage Skillet (Recipe 99 of 150)

Welcome back to another edition of clean out the freezer! Today's focus is andouille sausage and cheese tortellini that have both been in the freezer for a couple of months. 

This recipe was dynamite! What I think I like about it is really the versatility of it. Sure, I could have bought some smoked sausage (I actually considered a trip to DD Double D Meats for their Polish sausage for this) but since I had andouille I thought I might as well use it. Really, any sausage would work here. All the other ingredients are pretty "mellow" in that a lot can be done with them. 

The only other change I made is I didn't use 1 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning. That's a bit much for me, so I used about 2 tsp. 

Cheesy Smoked Sausage Skillet

Recipe from Plain Chicken

Serves 4

1 lb smoked sausage, sliced into 1/4-inch slices

1 T olive oil

3 cloves garlic minced

1 T tomato paste

1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce

1 c chicken broth

1 T Italian seasoning

½ c heavy cream

1 (9-oz) package refrigerated cheese tortellini

¼ c parmesan cheese

In a 12-inch skillet, brown sausage in olive oil.

Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Bring to a boil then cover and simmer on low for 12-15 minutes.

Serve with additional parmesan cheese, if desired.

Frozen Mocha Marbled Loaf (Recipe 98 of 150)

Photo from Taste of Home

Last night was book club and I wanted to bring this dessert. It was a hit. This was a nice, "light" (as in not rich) dessert that had just enough chocolate and coffee to it. The 6 year old who attended book club gave it a very enthusiastic thumbs up. If a 6 year old loves it, you know it's good. 

Frozen Mocha Marbled Loaf

Recipe from Taste of Home

Servings 12

• 2 c finely crushed Oreo cookies (about 20 cookies)
• 3 T butter, melted
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 c heavy whipping cream, whipped
• 2 T instant coffee granules
• 1 T hot water
• 1/2 c chocolate syrup

Line a 9x5-in. loaf pan with foil. In a bowl, combine the cookie crumbs and butter. Press firmly onto the bottom and 1-1/2 in. up the sides of prepared pan.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla and mix well. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon half of the mixture into another bowl and set aside. Dissolve coffee in hot water; fold into remaining cream cheese mixture. Fold in chocolate syrup.

Spoon half of the chocolate mixture over crust. Top with half of the reserved cream cheese mixture. Repeat layers. Cut through layers with a knife to swirl the chocolate (pan will be full). Cover and freeze for 6 hours or overnight.

To serve, lift out of the pan; remove foil. Cut into slices.