::Thai Meatballs::

The ingredients sound like an odd mix, and the sauce takes on this unsettling grey colour as it comes together, but it all works. Promise. It's just a different kind of meatball. Note: I double up the sauce to meatball ration, but I'll leave the quantities as they were written.

Meatballs:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 unseasoned bread crumbs
3 tbsp minced green onions
1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
1 egg
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced gingerroot
1 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper

Sauce:
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp peanut butter {I add way more.}
2 tbsp minced cilantro or basil
1 tbsp minced gingerroot
1 tsp lemon zest
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray a rimmed baking sheet with non stick spray.
Combine all meatball ingredients in large bowl and mix well. Form mixture into 40 small (1 inch) meatballs and place on sprayed pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until cooked through.
While meatballs are cooking, prepare sauce. Whisk all sauce ingredients together in skillet or pan and heat over medium-high, stirring, until mixture boils. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes until thickened. Add meatballs to sauce and serve hot.

Chicken Enchiladas with an Avocado Cream Sauce

Chicken & Avocado Enchiladas

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

• Enchilada Ingredients:
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium white or yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 poblano peppers, stemmed and thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced (remove seeds for less heat)
• 8-10 (6-inch) flour tortillas
• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 2-3 cups Monterrey Jack cheese
• optional garnish: fresh cilantro, sour cream, and/or shredded cheese

• Avocado Cream Sauce Ingredients:
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 California avocados, peeled and pitted
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• juice of one lime

Method

To Make The Enchiladas:

Prepare the "Avocado Cream Sauce" as listed below. Preheat the oven to 375? F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, poblano and jalapeno, and saute for 5-6 minutes until the onions are cooked and translucent. Remove from heat.

To assemble the enchiladas, place a tortilla on a flat surface. Spread a tablespoon or two of the avocado sauce down the middle of the tortilla. Then layer on some of the vegetable mixture, shredded chicken and cheese. Carefully roll the tortilla and place it seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas. Drizzle the top with about half of the remaining avocado cream sauce, then cover the dish with foil and bake for about 20 minutes, or until tortillas are heated through and begin to harden.

Remove from the oven, then serve individual enchiladas drizzled with the remainder of the avocado cream sauce. You can also garnish with additional cilantro, cheese, and/or sour cream.

To Make Avocado Cream Sauce:

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the flour, whisking until golden and bubbly, about 2-3 minutes. Slowly whisk the broth into the flour mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the sour cream, cumin, salt, garlic powder and pepper, whisking if necessary to remove any lumps. Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a blender or food processor. Add avocados, cilantro and lime juice, and pulse until smooth and well-blended. (Be very careful blending hot liquids -- the heat will expand! So be sure to remove the lid occasionally so that the heat can escape.) Season with additional salt or pepper if needed.

Recipe comes from here: Chicken Avocado Enchiladas

::Thai Salad::

A refreshing, tart salad that pairs well with any Thai dish.

Thinly sliced:
Pear
Green apple
Tart mango
Red pepper
Red onion

Fresh cilantro

Dressed with:
2 parts rice vinegar
1 part real maple syrup

::Yellow Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream::

I'm a white cupcake kinda gal. But the very best white cupcake is a yellow one, if you know what I mean. More butter and egg is a good, good thing. Then, top it off with fresh berries whipped into icing and, well, YUM!

Yellow Cupcakes
1 3/4 cup flour
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 t vanilla
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 cup butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat butter, eggs, milk, vanilla.
Add dry mixture of flour, baking powder and salt until smooth.
Line 12 muffins cups and divide batter.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden and dry in the middle.

Strawberry Buttercream {This recipe is doubled}
1 cup fresh strawberries
1 cup butter
3-4 cups icing sugar
1 T vanilla
3 to 4 T milk

Boil down 1 cup fresh strawberries until reduced to half or more. Cool.
Whip together butter and icing sugar in food processor.
Add vanilla and milk.
Add reduced berries.

::Sunnyside Up Cupcakes::

Lemon cupcakes filled with lemon curd and topped with lemon cream cheese icing. . .

Cupcakes:

1/2 melted butter

4 t lemon zest

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 T lemon juice

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/4 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

3/4 cup milk OR 1 cup whipping cream

1/2 t vanilla

pinch salt

Bake at 350 for 16-18 

Lemon Curd: Over the heat, whisk for 6-8 mins:

1 yolk

1 egg

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 T sugar {or less}

pinch salt

zest 

Strain and chill for 25 mins.

Lemon Icing:

1/2 cup cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

1/2 t vanilla

3 cups icing sugar

lemon zest

Assembly: Scoop out middle of each cupcake and fill with a scoop of lemon curd. Then ice each cupcake.

::Strawberry Napoleons::

Strawberries
Slice and toss with a little Grand Marnier and sugar. Set aside.

Custard
3 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
3 T sugar

Whisk all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat for ten minutes, until thickened. Pour into a glass jar and store in the fridge.

Puff Pastry
Roll out puff pastry into a square. Cut into 1" to 2" squares and bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Napoleons
Split the puff pastry into two or three and layer with berries and custard. Sprinkle with icing sugar and eat before they grow soggy.

::Lime Poppy Seed Cake::

This was one of the first cakes I learned how to make. It is a tea-sipping kind of cake, I think.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (75 mL) poppy seeds (optional)
• 2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
• 1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
• 2 limes
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp (5 mL) almond or vanilla extract
• 1 cup (250 mL) Balkan-style plain yogurt (not low-fat)
• Fresh berries

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Lightly butter or spray a 9-inch (23-cm) springform pan. In a small bowl, using a fork, stir flour with poppy seeds, if using, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Finely grate peels from limes. Squeeze out juice. You should have about 2 tsp (10 mL) peel and 1/4 cup (50 mL) juice (do not use more than this).

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Gradually beat in sugar, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl with a spatula. Beat in eggs and almond extract until well blended. Beat in yogurt, lime peel and juice. Using a large wooden spoon or spatula, gently stir in flour mixture until blended. Batter will be quite thick. Scrape into pan, then smooth top.

Bake in centre of 350F (180C) oven until a cake tester inserted into centre comes out clean and centre of cake springs back when pressed, from 45 to 50 minutes. If top becomes golden before cake is baked, loosely cover with foil for remaining baking time. Let cake cool on a rack 5 minutees before removing springform sides. Slice into wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature with berries. Cake is best eaten the day it's made.

Source:

::Chatelaine Magazine::