Wet Wednesday

Red berries in the rain

Cottage Life

It's been a pretty good day albeit a little rainy. I should've had this posted a long while ago. I was going along quite smoothly and the next thing I knew I was chasing rabbits down a variety of trails. My mission today was to come up with a great tasting low carb chicken enchilada. It took most of my morning but I think I came up with a winner and you'll find the results in the low-carb section below. I know I've been busy all day I just don't know where the time has gone. It seems that the closer it gets for me to go back to work the faster time seems to be flying. So much I want to get done before my little vacation ends. Well I see I am rambling and it's now past midnight so wednesday's post will be posted on Thursday. Sigh.

Before and After

Yet another great Arizona shot by Robin. What a great time I've been having with these.

Before

A neat old wagon dropped where it stopped. Love the parking brake, which is more evident in the cropped version.

After

I chose to crop this and focus on the right hand side so that I could play up all the details and textures. A little boost, and sharpening. Punched up the saturation a bit, added a sketch layer,  a simplify filter, and a canvas texture on top.

Thanks again Robin for the photos.

LowCarb livin'

Success! Last night I was having a hankering for some chicken enchiladas. I wanted to use my almond meal but wasn't sure how it would work for "tortillas". I came up with a fairly low carb compromise which turned out surprisingly well. I wanted the taste of a corn tortilla, but not all of the carbs. I was able to make my faux tortillas by mixing just two tablespoons of masa flour with 1/2 cup of almond meal, one egg (to help hold it together), a pinch of salt and enough water to make a fairly runny batter, which I poured onto a silicon mat lined baking sheet. This made 4 good sized tortillas. I cooked them one at a time in my "ovenette" (toaster oven) only because it is very small. You could cook them all at once on a regular cookie sheet.

 

They don't take very long to cook. Using the silicone liner really helps. you can just peel them off. My first one came out a little thick. Added a little more water to the batter and it worked fine. Now for my enchiladas I like a good mole' sauce but any enchilada sauce would work. You can find lots of recipes on line but here's what I threw in mine. A little olive oil in the pan, some chopped onions, garlic, oregano, cumin, cinnamon, chilli powder, saute that together. Add a tablespoon of Cocoa or dark chocolate if you have some then stir in a chicken bouillon cube and some water and simmer. I had some leftover cooked chicken that I cubed. I mixed in half of my mole' sauce, some chopped olives,  jalapenos and some grated cheese. I rolled up the mixture in my tortillas, covered them with the remaining sauce, sprinkled some more chedder and baked until hot and bubbly.

Sauteing my onions, garlic and spices for my mole' sauce.

My faux tortillas

The chicken, olives and jalapenos... oh and cheese with some of the sauce

 

My naked chicken enchiladas

The finished wonder of wonders

I have to say they were amazing. That small bit of masa flour did the trick. The taste and texture was that of a corn tortilla. and for a lot less carbs and gluten free. A dollop of sour cream and I was a happy camper.

Hmmm... Pause for Thought

I was looking for a little "mexican" music to accompany my enchiladas when I ran across this amazing talent.

 

Until next time...