GCC: Chicken-Filled Enchiladas with Tangy Crema Tomatillo Sauce

September 18, 2011 by Monica in Chicken, Cooking Club, Gutsy Cooks Club

And after a very hot summer, the Gutsy Cooks are back in action. With a new format, new cooks and new visions we are ready to rock on in our kitches the rest of the year.

This time around we are using tons of different creative outlets to set our monthly menus. Inspirations now can come from a cookbook, or a particular chef, or a theme, maybe a particular technique or even our own cookbooks/recipes – because after cooking with this group of gutsy home cooks, there is huge amount of talent there and I’m really excited to see what they come up with.

For the month of September I decided to go the Mexican route

Madeira Cake

September 12, 2011 by Monica in Baking, Cake, Desserts, Family, Family Cookbook

Do you have those moments where a craving strikes you out of the blue. And you need to have it now or the end of the world will happen.

Ok, well, *cough, cough* NOT the END of the world. But, it does come close.

It happened to me on Saturday. I was sitting pretty, reading this book (which by the way, if you have not read it yet – you best get cracking, because its AWESOME) when suddenly I wanted needed something sweet.

But, I did not want ice cream, or a piece of Baci, or a spoonful of nutella.

My usual go-to “kill the craving” options.

At first I thought I was sick.

But then I closed my eyes to visualize what I really wanted and an image appeared out of nowhere.

I wanted cake.

Mediterranean Chicken [on the fly]

September 11, 2011 by Monica in Chicken, Dinner, Family, Family Cookbook, Main Courses, Savory

That is what I’m calling this last minute, “lets-see-what I have in the refrigerator to cook the chicken with”.

As I mentioned before, I’m supper gutsy when it comes to cooking savory recipes. I tend to go a bit off the beaten path and cook with my heart and with no set of rules.

Sort of like how my mother cooks - By the seat of our pants.

I cannot help myself from deviating as soon as I start any given recipe that I’m trying out. I blame the fact that I read tons of recipes – I have over 100 cookbooks, 5 different subscriptions to major food magazines and over 50 feeds to food blogs that I read daily in my reader. When I want to make a recipe with one single ingredient, I tap all of these motivation sources by pulling bits and pieces of every single thing that I read, saw or even tasted.