Author: Nicole

Hi thank you for stopping by. I am very excited to have you here. Pull up a chair and have a seat, this is the view from my side of the table.
Recipes

Corn and Cheese Enchiladas

Nicole


We loved this recipe! The corn in the enchiladas adds such a nice change to your “typical” enchilada recipe. One thing I will say is you are not expecting the corn yet the sweetness from the corn paired with the spiciness from the enchilada sauce is a nice combination.

I have been dying to try this recipe for a long time, but for some reason I kept forgetting to make it. I am so happy I did and I can’t wait to make it again. It’s probably my new favorite enchilada recipe. It’s going to be hard for any other recipe to top this one. Delicious!

Directions:

  • (8) 6-inch corn tortillas
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 5 scallions, white and light green parts, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (from 2 medium ears) $
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • Salt (Just a few dashes or leave it out)
  • 2 cups grated pepper Jack or cheddar (I used cheddar)
  • 1 10-oz. can enchilada sauce (I used Homemade Enchilada Sauce)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Stack tortillas, wrap in foil and bake until softened, 8 to 10 minutes.
  2. While tortillas are baking, oil a 7-by-11-inch glass baking dish. Warm 1 Tbsp. oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions and garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in corn and milk and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 7 to 10 minutes. Season with salt.
  3. Remove tortillas from foil. Set aside 1/2 cup cheese. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of corn mixture in center of a tortilla. Sprinkle with a heaping tablespoon of cheese. Roll up tortilla and set in dish, seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas, overlapping them slightly. Pour enchilada sauce over tortillas and sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup cheese. Bake until bubbling, about 20 minutes.

Original Recipe Source

Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

Recipes

Christmas Gift Card Savings Plan

Nicole



A year or so ago my friend Krista gave me a great idea that she lives by. I thought it was such a great idea that I am going to give it a try this year. She calls it her Christmas Gift Card Savings Plan.

Every payday she buys a gift card that does not have an expiration date like for instance a Wal-Mart Gift Card. She stores her gift cards in one place and then stores a sheet of the gift card numbers in a different place just in case something happens to them.

She knows her daughter Casey loves Macy’s so she will go buy a $25 gift card there one pay day, and the next pay day she might get one at Sephora. Nope none of them expire.
Krista buys a lot of stuff at Wal-Mart during the holidays, in truth I think she does the majority of her shopping there, so she always make sure she purchases the majority of her gift cards from Wal-Mart.

She also knows that her Dad always wants a gift card for a sporting goods store, her mom a hobby store, her sister and brother in law love to eat out, that’s another gift card, her kids love iTunes, and Amazon, and her Mom loves anything from Bath and Body works.

When Krista walks into Bath and Body Works right before Christmas she can pick her Mom up some sweet deals and pay for it all on the gift cards she may have bought in June! The great thing is she stays within her budget, and the money has already been set aside for her Mom’s gift.

By the time Christmas Rolls Around in 2013 Krista will have 25 Gift Card because she doesn’t buy any in December. At $25 each that’s a grand total of $625 dollars.
WOW that’s a lot of money you don’t have to worry about at the last minute. She is so smart that she even buys two gift cards from Home Depot throughout the year because she knows they are going to buy their Christmas tree there. No cash needed she just whips out her Home Depot Gift Card! 


Okay so you know the critics are going to have something to say about this…

“Why not just put the money in the bank and draw interest on it?”  

Although I would agree with you … you could put it in the bank, but how many people are so disciplined? If you are GREAT! That is wonderful, but if you know yourself better than that you could always try the Christmas Gift Card Savings Plan. You are not going to be losing much in interest anyway!

Just remember to do your homework and only buy Gift Cards that don’t expire. Do you think this is something you could do? I think the biggest problem I would have would be remembering to buy the gift cards each payday!

Thoughts?

Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

Recipes

Molasses Cookies

Nicole




My husband loves molasses cookies so this year for Christmas we decided instead of making both molasses cookies and gingerbread men we would make molasses men. We didn’t want to have all the extra cookies around the house. They actually turned out really cute and killed two birds with one stone. I really like this recipe because it has (to me) just the right amount of spices and they stay soft for a long time which I love.

I live in a very humid climate so it normally doesn’t take long for cookies to get hard. These cookies are still fantastic two weeks later. We really enjoyed this recipe!

Ingredients:
  • 1-1/2 cups butter, softened
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans
  • 3/4 cup coarse sugar

Directions:
  1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
  2. Beat in eggs and molasses. 
  3. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. 
  4. Fold in pecans.
  5. Shape into 2-in. balls and roll in coarse sugar. 
  6. Place 2-1/2-in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 13-15 minutes or until tops are cracked. Remove to wire racks to cool. 

Yield: 2 dozen.
Original Recipe Source 

Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

Recipes

Swedish Rosettes

Nicole
My husband grew up with a Scandinavian mother who always made rosettes for Christmas. He loves rosettes because of the wonderful memories that go with them. This is a really wonderful cookie that is light and delicate, and to be honest with you a real pain in the rear to make.
These cookies are so delicate that any wrong move while removing them from the rosette irons will cause them to break. If the batter is too thick the cookies don’t turn out, if you fry them too hot they don’t turn out, and if you live in a humid climate like I do they take forever to dry out enough to stay crispy and half the time they don’t stay crisp.
If you have the time and patience to make these I highly recommend doing so. They may even become a tradition in your home like they are in ours.

Ingredients:
  • 2 eggs
  •  1 tablespoon white sugar
  •  1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
  •  1 cup milk
  •  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  •  1/4 teaspoon salt
  •  Vegetable oil for frying
  •  Sifted confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

  1. Combine eggs, sugar and salt; beat well. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth.
  2. Heat a rosette iron in deep, hot oil (375 degrees) for 2 minutes.
  3. Drain excess oil from iron. Dip in batter to 1/4 inch from the top of the iron, then dip iron immediately into hot oil (375 degrees).
  4. Fry rosette until golden, about 30 seconds. Lift out; tip upside down to drain. With fork, push rosette off iron onto a rack placed over paper towels.
  5. Reheat iron 1 minute; make next rosette.
  6. Sprinkle rosettes with confectioners’ sugar.

Original Recipe Source

Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

Recipes

Beef Asian Meatballs

Nicole



I have made these meatballs before …the recipe was called Tangy Asian Meatballs. I got a ton of emails asking me if I have ever made them with ground beef, it seems many people don’t care for ground pork. Other than it being inexpensive I have to agree with them. I am not a fan of pork for the most part. Bacon is pretty much it for me.
I decided to reinvent this recipe using ground beef in place of pork and I made this recipe on the stove top in place of the crock pot. Sometime I forget to put them in the crock pot.
The recipe actually turned out fantastic much better than the original recipe. I like the beef in place of the pork by far. It had a much better flavor, and I really liked making it on the stove top because it was quick … super quick! Best of all it was not as greasy because I used the ground beef this time.
I highly recommend giving this recipe a try… quick… easy and inexpensive! If you want to try the crock pot or pork version you can find the Tangy Asian Meatball recipe here.
Ingredients:
  • 1  pound  ground beef
  • 1/3  cup bread crumbs (use any flavor)
  • 3  scallions, white and light-green parts, chopped
  • 1  large egg
  • 1  tablespoon  soy sauce
  • 1  tsp.  ginger powder
  • 2  cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1/2  cup  barbecue sauce
  • 1/4  cup  jarred Chinese plum sauce 
  • 2  tablespoons  hoisin sauce
Preparation:
  1. Combine ground beef, bread crumbs, scallions, egg, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a large bowl; mix gently but thoroughly with your fingers. 
  2. Roll into 1-inch balls.  Add meatballs to a large pot placed on medium.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together barbecue sauce, plum sauce and hoisin sauce; pour over meatballs. Gently stir to coat.
  4. Once the meatballs are in the pot covered in sauce do not stir again for 30 minutes this will prevent the meatballs from breaking. After 30 minutes turn the meatballs. 
  5.  Cover and cook on medium until meatballs are cooked through around another 15 minutes. 

Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com