Potato Leek Soup....my way

Ingredients

1/4 C butter
3 Leeks-sliced finely-and cleaned well
2 tablespoons snipped chives/onions
1/2 C minced mushrooms
1/2 C finely sliced carrots
1/2 C cooked crumbled bacon
3-4 larger red potatoes, diced
1/2 cup dry white wine(totally optional)
5 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup creme fraiche or heavy cream

Once all your veges are sliced/chopped/diced/minced...put the butter in the stock pot to melt. Add in the order listed in the ingredients. STOP after the potatoes add1/2 C stock or the optional liquid. Let simmer until the fluid is about gone. Add seasonings and fluid after about 10 minutes. LOWER THE Heat. Don't let it burn stir quite often. Let simmer till the carrots and potatoes are tender.

Perfect dinner for a chilly night.

Flat enchilas Over the top!

Flat enchiladas kicked up a notch or two.

I wanted flat enchiladas tonight. Didn't have eggs to fry and put on top.

Sooo...

The sauce was Hatch Green enchilada sauce,
added 2 TBLs of Sour Cream
1/2 c of Artichoke Pesto(HEB)
sauteed shrimp(peeled and deveined)
sharp cheddar/mexican blend cheese

Heat up the corn tortillas as normal. Dip in the Green Sour Cream Artichoke sauce-generously
put a 5 or 6 cooked shrimp on top, add the cheese generously.

Continue the layers till happy with the levels you want. After the last cheese layer add a couple of Spoonfuls of the green sauce over the top.

Heat in the Microwave to get the cheese to melting...and eat enchiladas that are absolutely over the top!

Portuguese Seafood Stewp

It was cold. I wanted something warm. We had huge scallops that needed to be used. Last night we had Scallops wrapped in bacon and baked. Tonight we wanted something different.

6 huge scallops
2 link sausage
2 frozen cod filets
1 lb of brown wild gulf shrimp(frozen, peeled and deveined)
1 lb green mussels
1 lb clams
Couple of dashes of Tobasco
Couple of dashes cajun seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 (3 cups) frozen okra
1 c chopped onion
1 c chopped celery
1 c chopped bell pepper
3/4 c chopped carrot
1/4 c butter
1 qt chicken stock.
1 can Red kidney beans

Start with melting the butter and then add the holy trinity of cajun food(onion, celery, bell pepper-I also added the carrots) saute.

everything starts getting crazy and mixed in fast here. You want the broth to have the seafood flavors so adding all of these at the right time is most important. the fish, the shrimp, sausage, broth, tomatoes, okra should be combined pretty much one at a time, making sure the stew pot keeps hot for cooking the different ingredients cook quickly and thoroughly. Add the seasonings and tobasco to taste. Add the mussels and clams and drained red kidney beans at the last.

Great over rice or as a stoup. Perfect on a cold night.