A Few More Originals...

Here are a few more of my original recipes. Above I made Fried Zucchini with a Sriracha Ranch Dressing. I bought a bunch of zucchini at the store the other day, more than I needed, so for a snack one day I decided homemade fried zucchini would be great, and it was! Here is how you can make it:

• Slice zucchini in thin discs (I used the slicer on my food processor, and it worked great).
• Set up a breading assembly line with 3 bowls. In the first place flour seasoned with a little paprika and any other seasonings you like. In the next bowl, beat 2 eggs, and in the final bowl, place panko breadcrumbs. These are Japanese breadcrumbs you should be able to find at any grocery store.
  
• On the stove, fill a pot with canola oil and heat to medium high. Make sure the oil is nice and hot before frying.
• Take sliced zucchini, dip in flour, shake off excess, dip in egg, making sure all of the zucchini is covered, then dredge in breadcrumbs. Make sure you do this in small batches. Drop zucchini in oil, and let fry for 2-4 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a plate lined with a paper towel to soak up excess oil. Sprinkle salt and paprika over fried zucchini.
• For the Sriracha Ranch, pour Ranch dressing in a bowl (I use Light Ranch, tastes the same and isn't quite as bad for you), then pour Sriracha in the ranch and stir it in. Just add a little at a time, tasting to figure out when you get to the spice level you prefer.

This was really good! I made it again the next day for Josh, and he loved it. Would be fun for a party too.
I had hot dogs for lunch on the 4th of July, and made them a little differently. I thought this technique was good because it made the bun crispy and melted the cheese well. You just boil or grill the hot dog as you normally would. While doing that, butter the buns and place them in a 350 degree oven. Once the hot dogs are ready, take the buns out, place the hot dogs in them, then cover them with diced green chile (very delicious), and cover with a slice of cheddar. Place them back in the oven and keep an eye on them. Once cheese is melted, remove from oven and cover with any other condiments you like.


I made these Red Chile Chicken Enchiladas the other day, and they were pretty tasty too. I poured one jar of Cervantes Red Chile Sauce (made in Albuquerque!) and one can of cream of chicken soup in a pan with 2 chicken breasts cut into cubes. I cooked them on medium heat until chicken cooked through then let it simmer a while. Next I heated up flour tortillas (you could use corn tortillas if you prefer) in the microwave for about 30 seconds then poured a little chicken and sauce mixture into each tortilla, rolled them up, and placed them in a greased baking dish. Make sure you put all of the chicken in the tortillas. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas and cover with shredded Mexican cheese. Bake in oven at 400 degrees until cheese is nice and bubbly (can't remember how long this took, maybe 10 minutes?). I served mine with an egg over easy on top and sour cream. I would have served rice and beans for the sides, but didn't have any, so just used tortilla chips instead!