Surprise Kitty!

I came home last night around 1 am to find a sweet, very scared little kitty tucked up next to my door. Within 5 minutes she was letting me pet her and pick her up. It was pretty obvious she was a house kitty as she was so incredibly trusting and loving. I scooped her up, brought her inside, and we tucked in for the night in my den with kitty food, litter and a some snuggly blankets. My poor kitties were very curious about who was in there with me and why they weren't invited to the party! I sent an email to my apartment complex letting them know about her and by 7:00 am this morning her owner, my downstairs neighbor, was knocking at my door. Apparently her door had blown open in the night and she woke up at 3 am to find the door open and her kitty gone! She said she was up the rest of the night looking for her and making signs! The exact same thing had happened to me last year, but I ended up finding my sweet little Amelia 1 stairwell over within about 30 minutes!

I feel badly that I didn't knock on her door early in the morning but I didn't know where she had come from and didn't think my neighbors would be happy about me waking them up for a kitty that wasn't theirs. Anyways, her poor owner was sick with worry and just so thankful to have Zoey back safe and sound!

Summer Veggie Chicken Enchiladas

My sister always talks about the yummy recipes she finds on Picky Palate. Well, I finally got around to checking out the site and boy am I glad I did! So many yummy recipes! I wanted to do something with seasonal veggies - prime asparagus season is coming to a close and the zucchinis are taking over-so I figured that her Skinny Chicken Vegetable Enchiladas full of asparagus, onions, and zucchini would be perfect! The thing I liked the best about this recipe, with the exception of the fresh veggies, was her homemade enchilada sauce. It. was. so. good. Here we go:

Ingredients for sauce

• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 sweet yellow onion, chopped*
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
• 2 tbsp cornmeal
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

Ingredients for Enchiladas

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 lb or about 3 cups chopped fresh asparagus
• 1 zucchini halved and sliced
• 1 1/2 cups sliced red onion*
• 3 cups cooked shredded chicken breast
• 12 whole wheat tortillas
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
• Heat the olive oil into a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Saute your onions and garlic for 5 minutes. 

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• Add your chicken broth, cornmeal, chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. 

• Transfer this mixture plus crushed tomatoes to blender. Blend until smooth. 

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• Transfer sauce to a large bowl and stir in 1/4 cup greek yogurt. 

• Spoon about 1/2 cup sauce into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Set aside.

• Heat remaining olive oil into a large dutch oven over medium heat. 

• Saute your onions, chopped asparagus and zucchini for about 5 minutes, until soft. 

• Add your cooked chicken pieces. 

• Spoon chicken and vegetables into the center of each warm tortilla (I placed mine in the oven for about 5 minutes to warm them). 

• Roll and place seam side down into your baking dish until pan is filled. 

Pour enchilada sauce over tortillas and sprinkle with shredded cheese.

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• Bake for 25-30 minutes until cheese is melted. 

These were so good right out of the oven! To be honest though, they may have been even better a day or two later!

This made about 8-10 servings. 

**The Picky Palate recipe called for 1 cup of chopped white onion in the sauce but I always like more onion so I used an entire yellow onion...I also am obsessed with sweet yellow onions and have a hard time straying from them. Also, within the enchiladas I used sliced red onions rather than more of the chopped white and I think it was a good decision!

I am definitely going to be making these again - they were fast, easy and sooooo yummy!

Cat Tuesday

I recently began my summer Master's classes. As school kicks into high gear and I continue to work, I am hoping to lean into my baking as a way of relieving stress. A couple things I hope to develop over this summer are some basic decorating techniques and macaroon baking. I had my first macaroon several weeks ago at a friend's wedding. They were incredible, light and texturally complex. Plus, they are incredibly beautiful and diverse. While I was inspired to try my hand at macaroons I was also very intimidated at the prospect. However, I recently read two posts, one by Picky Palate and the other by Brave Tart, aimed at increasing the accessibility of macaroons for novice bakers. After reading these posts I am determined to start practicing the art of macaroon baking - no one ever became proficient without practice!

I am hoping to make my first batch this weekend or upcoming week if I find the time!

And in honor of our first Caturday, I will end this post with some of my favorite Memes and kitty photos :)

First, gifts from the internet...

I like this one because it looks like Amelia...

Poor kitty....

And now my sweet Henry...

And now some pictures of my Amelia as an itty-bitty baby kitty...

See you soon!

Sarah's first guest blog! Chewy Oatmeal M&M Cookies & Oreo Chocolate Chip PB Bars

Much of my early interest in baking and cooking was due to inspiration from my big sister, Sarah. When I was in high school and college she and my mother would tease me relentlessly that I only knew how to cook eggs and pasta. My sister had begun cooking at a fairly young age and was quite the natural. It was from a desire to mimic her, and of course my family's loving prodding that finally pushed me to begin exploring the kitchen. So, it seems only fitting that she write a guest blog here and there! Oh, and I mustn't forget her cat, Mrs. Kitty. Mrs. Kitty lived with me for much of my childhood; in fact, she used to urinate all over my bed while I slept in it! (We think it was stress-related from living with our dogs). Luckily, this...cute...habit stopped once my sister moved out for college and took her kitty with her!

Welome to my first guest blog! A love of both cats and baked goods runs in the family, so lucky for you, my first guest blog will include both of those things! :)

First though, this is me:

 This is my 18 year old cat, Mrs. Kitty:

And this is my husband (who also loves cats!):

Some of my likes include: cats, baked goods, most shows on the Bravo! network, exercise, soft-serve ice cream, happy people, and Essie nail polish. 

Some of my dislikes include: Snakes and spiders.  Oh, and camping.  I am REALLY not into camping...but I do love roasted marshmallows!

Much like my sister, I love to bake.  My earliest memories of baking include my maternal grandmother...these early experiences baking with her are where my love for cakes, cookies, breads, and other yummy treats all started! 

I also love to cook, and learned a great deal about cooking from Rachael Ray.  When I was in college I watched 30 Minute Meals  often, and frequently made recipes from Rachael's cookbooks...

Although I love both cooking and baking, I often find myself in the mood to bake up a storm, as I did this weekend.  I was craving cookies...but I couldn't decide on just one kind of cookie, so I decided to make two, one a traditional cookie, and one a bar.  Thank you to Sally's Baking Addiction and Picky Palate.

First I made Sally's Chewy Oatmeal M&M Cookies:

I started with my ingredients, most of which I had on hand (all but the M&Ms!).  Sally's recipe calls for mini-M&Ms, but I couldn't find them at my grocery store, so I got regular size instead, and they worked just fine!

 First combine the softened butter and two sugars:

 

After beating them together till fluffy, I added an egg and vanilla extract:

In go the oats and flour (oh, I also used quick oats, not rolled oats, as it calls for...I think this worked fine):

Beat those together:

And then add your mix-ins!  I always like variety, so I decided to divide the batch in two, and added M&Ms to one, and chocolate chips and raisins to the other:

Then, I chilled the dough for well over an hour, as Sally suggests.  By the time I took my dough out of the fridge, I was certain it was cold enough to start portioning out into cookies.

Popped them in the over for exactly 10 minutes and they were done!  Here is the finished product:

My cookies turned out rounder in shape than Sally's (which was ok) and a little browner in color (also ok).  They tasted sweeter than other oatmeal cookie recipes I've tried, but they definitely weren't too sweet! 

Next cookie recipe was courtesy of Picky Palate, Oreo Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars:

Here are my ingredients, all of which I had on hand expect the mini oreos (didn't mind making a special trip to the store for those though!):

 First I had to make my base by beating together the sugars and butter. 

Then I added in my peanut butter, and beat to combine.  Picky Palate calls for natural peanut butter, but all I had on hand was the sugary Jiff stuff, and it worked just fine:

After I beat in the peanut butter, I beat in an egg and some vanilla extract, and then added my dry ingredients:

And now the fun part, adding the mix-ins!  The Picky Palate recipe calls for milk chocolate chips, but I used semi-sweet: 

I actually used my electric beater to combine the mini oreos and chocolate chips...it broke up the cookie pieces a bit, and evenly distributed them.  Here's the finished dough:

And here it is pressed into it's bakeware:

Mmmm...the ooey, gooey, finished product!

These bars were delicious!  The peanut butter flavor was subtle, but the oreos and chocolate chips make it a rich bar.  I also think they tasted a little better a day after they'd been baked...it was as if the flavors had some time to settle, so they didn't taste as sweet as they did while they were still warm, and I was better able to pick out the flavor of the peanut butter, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and oreos.

At the end of my baking spree, I had more cookies on my hands than would be possible to eat, so I put some in the freezer to enjoy later, and then shared the rest with family, friends, and co-workers :) 

That's all for now! See you next time!