Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

2 small cans cream of chicken soup

1/2 -1 cup sour cream (depending on how creamy you like it)
cooked chicken (amount to preference, chopped or shredded)

1 onion (chopped and sauteed)

1/2 can corn

1 small can red enchilada sauce
1 small can green chiles (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

shredded cheddar cheese

flour tortillas

In a bowl mix the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, chicken, sauteed onion, green chiles, corn, salt and pepper, and about 1/3 of the can enchilada sauce.  Fill tortillas with the mixture and roll them up.  Place a small amount of either enchilada sauce or some extra cream of chicken soup (mixed with a little milk) in the bottom of the pan before putting the enchiladas in.  Place enchiladas in 9x13 in pan snugly next to each other.  Top with remaining enchilada sauce (sometimes I mix sour cream in with the sauce) or top with more cream of chicken soup (slightly diluted with milk).  Bake in oven at 350 for 20 minutes, then sprinkle shredded cheddar on top and bake for another 10 minutes.

Ukrainian Borscht

This soup is amazing!  If you like beets, you will adore this soup!  It is so healthy and so delicious!  Lot's of work, but well worth it!!!  My mother got this recipe from a Ukrainian friend of hers when I was in high school.  It has been one of our favorites ever since.

Note:  The recipe says to cook a whole chicken and use the meat and broth from that.  But I prefer to just cook some chicken breasts, or even use a rotiseree chicken and then add chicken stock or water mixed with 'better than bullion'.  There isn't a measurement for water/chicken broth in the recipe, so the best way is to make sure all the veggies and meat are fully covered with the liquid and it turns out great.  (Some of the water will dissolve while boiling so be generous with the amount you put in).  Put in the beet juice before adding water so you don't have too much liquid.

Also you'll need to use a very large pot, unless you want to do half the recipe.

1 chicken whole

4 cans of beets - juice only!  (make sure you don't use pickled beets, I made that mistake once without realizing it and it ruined the whole pot of soup!)

3 bunches fresh beets (aprrox. 12 small to medium size)

  *sometimes we put in half fresh and half canned beets, they are both good in it, but at least do some fresh ones for sure*

1 pkg baby carrots

6 med. potatoes

1 large onion

2 c celery

1/2 cabbage

2 large bell peppers (red or green are best)

1 pkg fresh dill

1/2 c fresh parsley

2 dashes garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

salt to taste

1 small can tomato sauce

1 small can tomato paste

sour cream to put on top (optional)

Cook chicken in boiling water.  Strain the broth and save it.  Remove from bones and cut up meat.  Put in fridge while preparing soup.  Chop up all vegetables (remove skin from both potatoes and beets) and put into the broth.  Add beet juice from the 4 cans to the broth.  Chop up fresh seasonings and add to the soup.  Add tomato sauce and paste.  Then add the salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Boil vegetables in the broth for about 20-30 min. until slightly tender. Turn off the heat.  Once the vegetables are fully cooked then add the chicken (otherwise the meat will be tough). If the tomato flavor is dominant you need more beet juice, the sweet beet flavor is what you want.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top of the soup.  

All ingredients are approximate, you may want to vary amounts according to your preference.

My Favorite Buttermilk Pancakes

Buttermilk Pancakes (Jayme Burkhart's)

2 eggs

2 c buttermilk

1/4 c oil

2 T sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 c flour

1 c blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed, drained  (optional)
these are also excellent with fresh raspberries in them!

Beat eggs, buttermilk and oil.  Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour.  Stir until lumps disappear,.  Add blueberries if desired.  Lightly grease griddle (heat to 375) or pan, .  Pour out pancake batter 1/4 cup at a time.

I like to top it with agave rather than syrup, but homemade maple syrup is great too.

(This recipe makes a lot of pancakes.  If you are only feeding 2-3 people you can half the recipe.)