Chicken Enchilada Pinwheels

Ok so I don't know about you but we are all getting ready for Christmas here, and our work Christmas party is next weekend. It's is a potluck, and I was stuck thinking of what to bring, and I was having a hard time because I live about 45 minutes away and I didn't want to have to lug my crockpot around since it is a large, 3 pot buffet style crockpot (I just got a new one though that's just a single 7qt). Anyways there isn't a lot of plugs ins around so I figured something that was cold would be best. So I was scrolling Pinterest trying to find something. Then I thought what about pinwheels, so I was searching for those when I found something similar to the one that I'm going to show below. I changed it up a bit to fit my tastes, so I'm going to share it with you and tell you that they are pretty easy to make and they don't take a whole lot of prep work, or time to make. I hope you enjoy!

Chicken Enchilada Pinwheels

Serves about 20 rolls

Ingredients

1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup of shredded Mexican cheese

1 tbsp taco seasoning

1 1/4 cup cooked shredded chicken (I did about 2 chicken breasts)

3/4 cup of diced tomatoes with green pepper, onion and celery (or with green chilies), well drained

1 clove of minced garlic

2 green onions sliced

3 tortillas (I used regular ones, but the jalapeno ones would be pretty good for this

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large bowl mix everything together (except the tortillas) until well blended. Spread an even layer of the mixture on the entire surface of the tortillas. Roll the tortilla up tightly. Refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes), this is an important step, which I missed which is why mine aren't completely round. Slice into about 8 slices per tortilla (depending on the size). Eat the end two (haha) and put the rest on a platter.

Slow Cooker Pork and Beans

My boyfriend really liked this recipe so I'm going to share it with all of you. My mom used to make pork and beans back when I was little.

Slow Cooker Pork and Beans

Prep: 30 mins    Cook Time: 6.5 hours  

2 lbs of your favorite dried beans (I used white because that's what I had)

1 tbsp of salt

3 cups of water

1 pkg of bacon or cut up pork chops (whichever you prefer, I used bacon, but make sure it's really crispy)

1 cup of onion, diced

1 cup of ketchup

1/2 cup of brown sugar

3 tbsp of maple syrup

4 tbsp of molasses

4 tbsp of honey

2 tsp dry mustard (I've heard that some people use Dijon mustard instead)

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Soak your beans overnight, at least 8 hours, I soaked mine probably close to 12 or 13 hours. 

Drain your beans and put them in your crockpot, add salt and water (I did a little more than this recipe so I put enough in just to cover them). Cook on high for 6 hours. Strain off foam.

In the last 1/2 hour of your beans cooking, get the rest ready to go. Cook up your bacon and brown your onions.  Add the remaining ingredients together in a medium sized bowl, stir until well mixed. Once the 6 hours is up, add the bacon, onion and sauce and cook on high for another 30 mins. 

Foraging J - L

So I'm going to continue here as much as I can, but life is picking up speed here. Been super busy at work and at home. Finally got most of our hearth for our fireplace ready to go, only about two rows left which is exciting. Here is a photo of it, we are about one more row done than in this.

Also we go most of our porch roof insulated, except one area which continues to leak even after we put down Blueskin and new shingles (ARGG!!), so we are going to try to section that part off so that it doesn't destroy all the new stuff we just put up.

Anyways same as before please be careful when foraging. Many plants look similar and if incorrect ones are ingested it can cause illness or death. Use at your own risk.

Jerusalem artichoke

Jerusalem Artichokes have small tubers on the roots that are delicious. It is a native plant, with a very misleading name. It is not at all related to artichokes, nor does it grow in Jerusalem. Tuber is edible raw. Tuber is best when cooked, and similar to a potato. Tuber has high nutritional value. Grows in moist soil and thickets.

 

Johnny-Jump-Ups

Johnny-Jump-Ups have a mild wintergreen flavor and a variety of uses.  They’re added to salads, desserts, and soups, served with cheese and used to decorate confections. Incidentally they are the ancestor of the common pansy.

Knotweed

Seeds are edible. Seeds can be eaten whole or pounded into meal. Plants can be cooked and eaten. Varieties in Manitoba are Common knotgrass, Common knotweed and Mountain knotweed. Grows as a weed in a wide range, including dry areas, plains, and subalpine regions. Raw plants eaten in quantity may cause stomach upset and/or diarrhea.

Kudzo

Pretty much the entire plant is edible and is also known for medicinal values. The leaves can be eaten raw, steam or boiled. The root can be eaten as well. (Like all herbs, pregnant women and breast-feeding woman should consult a physician first before use)

Lamb’s Quarters

Also known as pit seed, goosefoot, pig weed, wild spinach. Also spelt lambsquarters or lamb’s quarter. Was cultivated as a grain-like plant, like quinoa. Can be found along roadsides, in fields and in cultivated ground. It is annual, and will readily self-sow if allowed to set seed. All green, other than a bit of silver dusting, primarily on the underside of the leaves, which is more noticeable on younger plants. Grows up to 7 feet tall, although 3-5 feet is more typical. Leaves alternate up the stalk and are up to 4 inches long. They are lobed father down on the plant and more lance-like towards the tip. Some varieties resemble maple leaves (these are supposed to be some of the best for eating). Flowers are small and green and cluster at the growing tip of the plant the seeds are small and round, either black or brown and are produced by the thousands. Tastes like spinach.

Young shoots or top leaves of older plants are the tenderest and can be harvested until the plant flowers. Can be eaten raw or cooked. Some people may have a mild tongue irritation because of the silvery powder that covers the leaves, so eat gingerly until you know if you are one of them.

The leaves can be steamed or stir-fried, sautéed and used in omelets. May be preserved by canning, drying or blanching and freezing. Possible remedy for nettle sting

Use the leaves raw in salads, or cooked in soups, in mixed cooked greens, or in any dish that calls for cooking greens.  Lamb’s Quarters are susceptible to leaf miners; be careful to harvest plants that are not infested.  Although Lamb’s Quarters are best before the flowers appear, if the fresh young tips are continuously harvested, lamb’s quarters can be eaten all summer.  Lamb’s Quarters are also called Pigweed, Fat Hen, and Goosefoot.

Lavender

Lavender is an old stand-by found in many home gardens including mine. Its flavor is flowery, sweet and citrusy. Lavender has been used to flavor bread, cookies, jelly, beef, wine, sauces, stews, and custards. The blossoms are an attractive addition to champagne. The blossoms are also used around the house to impart a nice aroma from bedding to baths. They are also slightly diuretic.

Lemon Verbena

Leaves are eaten as spinach. they are also used to flavor fruit cups, jellies, cold drinks, salads, omelets, salad dressings, and vegetable dishes. The leaves or, tiny, citrus-scented, are brewed into a refreshing tea. Tea from just the flowers is sweeter.

Lilacs

Lilac blossoms are pungent and on the lemony side.

Lovage

Highly aromatic it is similar looking to flat-leaf parsley only much larger. The flavor is like parsley and celery combined with a note of anise and curry. Leaf stalks and stem are blanched and eaten like celery, or peeled and eaten. They can also be candied. Young leaves are chopped and added to salad, soups, stews, seafood, and omelets. The seeds are used for flavoring, often in breads and confections. An aromatic tea can be made from dried leaves or grated roots. And the flowers are edible.

Foraging G - I

Good morning everyone, hope you all had a good weekend, I know I did. My boyfriend's cousin and her baby came to visit, they live in the US and it was the first time I've meet her, so we had a good visit. On Saturday my boyfriend and I spent the day reconnecting, as we've been super busy lately and stressed out. And on Sunday we mainly had a lazy day at his parents house, went into the hottub, and did chores around the house, oh and we took the carbs off of our skidoos to clean. But back to the article, please read carefully and use the information below at your own risk. Please comment and let me know your thoughts, it means a lot to me!

Gardenia

They are so common they are called the Common Gardenia They look like the Jasmine and indeed Gardenia blossoms are also used to make jasmine tea. It seems a little like bait and switch but since the pallet doesn’t know the difference your Jasmine tea may be flavored with Jasmine or Gardenia. As for the Gardenia flowers they are eaten raw, pickled or preserved in honey. The fruits are also edible and used as yellow coloring for other fruits.

Garden Orache

Leaves are edible raw. Leaves are suitable as a potherb. Leaves can be boiled or steamed and treated like spinach. Leaves have a bland to salty taste. Seeds are edible. Seeds contain vitamin A. Seeds can be ground into a powder for use as a flour. Grows in open areas. deserts, and ground with high salt content, including the seaside.

Warning: seeds contain saponins and should not be consumed in extreme quantities. Warning: plant tends to concentrate harmful nitrates in their leaves, avoid harvesting plants which grow in artificial fertilizer.

Garden Sorrel

It’s a Rumex and many of the wild sorrels are too bitter to eat, as are their blossoms and seeds. While there are exceptions — I know of only one locally that is pleasant — you can have a steady supply of sorrel leaves and blossoms if you include this old-world flavor in your kitchen garden. Rumex acetosa is used in nearly every ethnic cuisine in Europe, from being mixed into mash potatoes to flavoring reindeer milk. The blossoms are tart like the rest of the plan, lemony. Use as you would a lemon.

Garlic Grass

Garlic grass (Allium vineale or wild garlic) is an herbal treat often found lurking in fields, pastures, forests and disturbed soil. It resembles cultivated garlic or spring onions, but the shoots are often very thin. Use it in sandwiches, salads, and pesto or chopped on main courses like scallions.

Garlic Mustard

Edible parts: Flowers, leaves, roots and seeds. Leaves can be eaten in any season, when the weather gets hot; the leaves will have a taste bitter. Flowers can be chopped and tossed into salads. The roots can be collected in early spring and again in late fall, when no flower stalks are present. Garlic mustard roots taste very spicy somewhat like horseradish…. yummy! In the fall the seed can be collected and eaten.

Geranium

Scented Geraniums have different scents, among them almond, apple, coconut, lemon, nutmeg, old spice, peppermint, rose, and strawberry. The flowers tend to agree with the plant’s name. They are used in salads, desserts, and drinks.

Gladiola

Glads (Gladiolus) blossoms are bland, lettuce like, and you must remove the anthers… take the middle out.  Basically, eat the petals. They can also be cooked. Like squash glad blossoms are often used to hold tasty tidbits.

Goldenrod

Canada goldenrod is a weedy native in the US Midwest and Canada but considered quite invasive in

Europe and Asia.  You’ll help slow the invasion with this recipe by removing flowers (the plant’s reproductive organs) from their stems.  To prepare flowers for cooking, begin by rinsing the flowers off under cool tap water.  Lay the flowers flat on a cutting board and scrape from the base of the flower to the flower tips with a paring knife to remove them. Plants can be cooked, flowers are edible raw, seeds are edible raw. Varieties in Manitoba are Canada goldenrod, Giant goldenrod, Missouri goldenrod, and Northern goldenrod. Grows in open plains, foothills, and montane regions.

Cornbread Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup Jiffy corn muffin mix

1/2 cup Jiffy yellow cake mix

1/2 cup Canada goldenrod flowers

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375°

2.  Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and mix thoroughly; batter may be chunky

3.  Bake in an 8″ x 8″ pan for 25 minutes or until cornbread is golden brown

Gooseberries

These are also common in the woods in northern Missouri, the branches are grey and have long red thorns, and the leaves are bright green and have 5 points, they have rounded edges and look like the shape of a maple leaf. The flowers in the spring are very odd looking, they are bright red and hang down, and the berries ripen around late May early June. Berries have modest taste, tart if picked too early. Berries can be collected and left to ripen. Berries can be dried for storage. Berries can be cooked and then spread to dry into cakes. Berries contain high levels of pectin, which benefits making jams. Varieties in Manitoba are White-stemmed gooseberry and Northern gooseberry. Warning: eating gooseberries in quantity may cause stomach upset.

Goose Tongue

Use the young leaves raw in salads, or cooked in soups, in mixed cooked greens, or in any dish that calls for cooking greens.  Goose tongue is best in spring and early summer, before the flowers appear.  Goose tongue can be confused with poisonous Arrowgrass, so careful identification is essential. Goose tongue is also called Seashore Plantain.

Ground Elder

To many people this is one of the most pernicious garden weeds. It has an herbaceous perennial nature, with creeping roots that enable it to spread and colonize land. Growing to 1 m (3 1/2 ft.) or less, it has hollow stems that bear the leaves, and from early to late summer, white flowers in umbrella-like heads.

You’ll find it: on waste areas, especially near old buildings and gardens. Also look at the base of hedges and alongside roads.

Leaves: are 10-20 cm (4-8 in) long, medium to dark green and usually formed of three finely tooth-edged leaflets

Harvesting the leaves: young leaves are the best and tastiest, picked in spring and early summer. However, pinching out flower shoots helps to protract the season when young leaves appear.

Collect leaves before the plants flower, as after that time they have a strongly laxative nature.

Using the leaves: wash the leaves thoroughly under running water, then allow to dry in the air. Ground elder leaves can be used in a wide range of dishes and preparations, including soups, quiches, fritters and omelettes. These can also be steamed and used much like spinach. Add young leaves to salads, where they impart an aromatic and rather tangy flavour.

Hawthorn

Berries are called 'haws'. Haws are tasteless, with a texture that is mealy and seedy. Haws can b

e dried for storage. Haws can be mashed into a pulp, cooked and then spread to dry into cakes once the seeds have been strained out. Haws contain high levels of pectin, which benefits making jams. Plant is a shrub or small tree, 6-11 meters tall with long sturdy thorns. Grows in open woodland, forest edges and road-sides in lowland and montane regions. Varieties in the Pacific Northwest include Black hawthorn. Warning: thorn scratches to the eyes usually results in blindness. Blood pressure and heart rate may be affected by consuming berries.

Herb Robert

Edible parts: The entire plant. Fresh leaves can be used in salads or to make tea. The flower, leaves and root can be dried and stored using it later as a tea or herbs as a nutrient booster. Rubbing fresh leaves on the skin is known to repel mosquitoes, and the entire plant repels rabbits and deer which would complement and protect your garden. (Like all herbs, pregnant women and breast-feeding woman should consult a physician first before use)

Hickory

These common tree nuts are the highest calorie payout of the fall season, giving you 193 calories per ounce of nutmeat. Most hickory nuts taste like their famous relative: the pecan.

Hickory nut trees can grow about 50-60 ft. tall, their green leaves are spear like and can grow very large, they have pointed edges. The hickory nut is round and ten to ripen in September or October.

High Mallow

Leaves are edible raw. Young leaves are tenderer and less bitter than older leaves. Young shoots are edible raw. Leaves are suitable as a soup thickener. Seeds are edible raw. Seeds have a palatable, nut-like flavour. Flower buds and flowers are edible. Fruits are edible. Grows in meadows, roadsides, disturbed sites and gardens.

Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks look great on a plate, and their taste is bland for those who want strong colors rather than flavors. They have also been used to color wine in the distant past when such things were not regulated. The leaves are also edible raw and it’s still a cultivated vegetable in Egypt (the root has starch.)  Besides plating and salads, you can also make a refreshing tea from the Hollyhock.

Horseradish

Most everyone knows that horseradish is a hot root. In fact, the root is rather clever. The two chemicals that make horseradish hot must be mixed to be hot, but the plant keeps them in separate cells, so they don’t bother the plant. Only when the cells are crushed together is a hot chemical created. Young leaves can be added to salads, pickled or cooked as a potherb. Sprouts can be added to salads, or the roots can be cooked as eaten that way. The flowers are edible, quite mild compared to the root. Sprinkle them on salads, throw them in when pickling or cooking string beans and the like.

Hyssop

Leaves are edible raw.

Tips of young shoots are edible raw.

Leaves and shoots are suitable as a potherb and seasoning agent.

Grows in ditches and by roadways.

Italian Bugloss

Also known as Wild Bugloss, Alkanet and Anchusa. Originally from Europe it’s cultivated around the world, is intensely blue, and is used among other things as a dye. The bright blue blossoms are an excellent salad addition and are quite attractive when mixed with rose petals. Locals eat the tender stems boiled.