Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:
3 boneless skinless chicken breast
4 cups of chicken stock
2 small or medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 of a bell pepper cut into strips
2 teaspoon of chili powder
2 bird eye chilies chopped (can substitute Jalapenos)
2 tablespoons of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
3 salad tomatoes diced
1 tablespoon of peppercorns (generous shake of ground pepper)
8 small flour tortillas
1 jar or 2 cans of enchilada sauce
handful of chopped cilantro (coriander)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Bring stock to a boil add peppercorns, 1 onion cut into quarters,and 1 teaspoon of chili powder and chicken breast. boil for 15 mins.

While chicken is boiling start on the vegetables In large sauce (fry) pan saute 1 small onion cut in to strips, bell pepper, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 3 diced tomatoes and the bird eye chili peppers. Once the vegetables soften add cumin, paprika, and chili powder. If the mixture gets too dry or sticks to the pan add a splash of the cooking liquid of the chicken.

After 15 mins remove the chicken breast from the pan and place on cutting board. Use 2 forks to shred the breast. Add the Shredded chicken and onion from stock to the vegetable mixture. Add 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce and some cooking liquid. Chicken and vegetable mixture should be moist but not too wet.

Preheat over to 200 C or around 375-400 F warm flour tortillas. Pour 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce into a large square baking dish. Add a scoop of mixture to a tortilla roll it up tightly and add to the baking dish. Repeat till all tortillas and mixture is used and tortillas are stacked horizontally. Pour remaining enchilada sauce to cover the rolled tortillas. Cover sauce with cheese. Bake in oven for 20-30mins till melted and golden.

These enchiladas are excellent with Mexican Rice and Re fried beans.

update/ no date

I have not posted in a very long time. I have been focused on finding a flat and moving closer to work. Since then Nature Boy just fizzled out. I dunno what happened. He just moved on I guess. He then pops up out the blue with a little message asking how I am enjoying LDN life. OK random.

Then there was an old flame,tryst,hook up from 06 shall we call him Backup? We have kept in contact sporadically and made promises to meet up for dinner. Now that I am living closer we did meet for drinks and conversation. We did end up at my place and in the end I am left with some confusion. while he says how much he likes me he does NOT want to ruin our friendship. Maybe he has a point. Maybe I just like having someone who likes me and is there but maybe I don't like him as much as he likes me. I think we would always have this back and fourth thing going on.

Also turns out he is seeing someone. He told me it is not serious but I think he felt guilty we shared a level of intimacy while he is with someone else. Do I want him to leave this girl for me? No, I am sure I would want to date others and see what develops. I guess I am never satisfied or I'm searching for the one or the one with the right visa. haha.

Taking it to his

So Nature Boy was very good after out date last Friday. He text me by Sunday and arranged to hang out with me for Saturday night by Tuesday evening.

This Saturday I met a friend in LDN for lunch and a chin wag. We had a lot to catch up on. After I traveled to his side of town as we met to hang out. Well we went to a fancy pub for dinner. The food was ok but the ambiance was very good. A mixed crowd with a good indie music background. Then we went to a few or bars. I was thinking my last train was at 11:45 but it actually was at 11:34 so i missed the last train home. It kinda mad me feel like i was a burden to him and I wasn't sure what his vibe was. He is so reserved. He even admitted to being very reserved. Arghh...

He but he is starting to open up to me more. He told me how good i smelled, he likes my hair (my natural, twist out hair) as well as how I dress. I then was like i don't dress like the typical British girl I am not comfortable in their going out clothes but he likes me as i am and that's nice. I don't feel like I am the Black, fat, or American girl. I feel like he just seems to like me. This is promising. However, me and my issues I have to find faults and reasons not to like him. I think over time his snoring would make me want to smother him with a pillow! lol we will see where this goes. When we said good bye he did say "see you soon." So stay tuned!

Nature Boy again...

Wow how long has it been? I have landed a job in my field. I now have to put myself on a fast track. There is a minimum about you have to earn in order to qualify for a Tier 1 visa and to stay in the country. There is always something in this hussle.

Well I thought Nature Boy and I had a good first date but I also knew since he just got back from his travels he probably would want to date when he is more settled. Thus I did not hear from him. Out of the blue he contacted me for us to try date two.

The first date was on my side of town at his offer. There might be more to do in Reading but for date two he said he could come to me again. umm ok but what are we going to do? We met at the Pub had a drink then went for dinner. The restaurant was more quiet so we could talk a little. Then we went to another pub to shoot pool. He has been playing snooker for like 14 years I was pretty sure I was about to get my ass kicked. Funny enough I won the first game. He didn't let me win but he did help me with soem of my shots. Second game he won and then at 11pm everyhting closed. Umm what are we supposed to do when the town shuts at 11 on a friday???

We ended up coming back to mine and we watching the longest movie ever...He fel asleep, I was fighting sleep the whole time and my housemate and his friend were watching the movie with us. Not exactly romantic...we shared a blanket but he made absolutely no indicator that we were on a romantic date. When it was time to go he wasted like 20 mins chatting and I'm thinking DUDE, GO FOR IT! Finally when I walked him to the door he made his move. Lordy, Lordy is a really good kisser. There is nothing more disappointing then a man who can not kiss. Jeeze it's like having a disability don't you think?

Anyway the cutest part is that we kissed for a bit and then he went to leave and walked to the front gate in the rain but he ran back to kiss me some more. So sweetest moment of 2009.....Kissing Nature Boy with the rain around us. :)

I hope there is a date 3....you never know what these things....

Chicken and Lentils

Ingredients:
1 cup green lentils
1 small onion bite size dice
1 large carrot bite size dice
1/2 orange, red or yellow bell pepper bite size dice
4 cloves garlic minced
3 salad tomatoes bite size dice
1 medium potato bite size dice 2-4 chicken thighs (skinless optional) generous squeeze of tomato puree concentrate
large handful of fresh (coriander) cilantro chopped
Asian (Indian) Chicken seasoning spice
blend 2-3 tablespoons ground cumin
1 -2 teaspoons of chili powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
3 large bay leaf
1 table spoon flour
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 tablespoons olive oil

season the chicken with spice blend, flour and pepper

On medium high heat brown the chicken thighs on both sides (3 mins each side) with 1 tables spoon of olive oil and remove from pan. Add second tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add bell pepper, onion, garlic, carrot, potato, lentils stirring frequently for 4 mins. Add chili powder and cumin to taste, curry, bay leaf half of the tomatoes and squeeze of tomato puree stir for 2 mins and add stock. Return the chicken to the pan. Cover reduce heat to low medium and simmer for 45 mins.

Just before serving add chopped coriander (cilantro) and remaining tomatoes.

Asparagus Risotto w/ Prosciutto Wrapped Lemon and Herb Chicken

Asparagus Risotto
Ingredients:
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup button mushroom cut in half
1 bunch of Asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups of shredded Gruyere and Medium cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese
1 cup diced onions
3 cloves minced garlic
1 cup white wine
5 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon olive oil

saute asparagus and mushrooms till golden. saute olive oil, onions, garlic and rice in pan till onions are translucent. Add cup of wine still till liquid is absorbed. Add 1 cup chicken stock till liquid is absorbed and repeat till stock is gone. Stir in asparagus and mushroom mixture and cheese blend. Add salt at end as stock tends to be salty.

Prosciutto wrapped Lemon and Herb Chicken Breast Ingredients:
3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (pounded thin) Cut in half length wise
6 slices of Prosciutto
2 minced garlic cloves
Zest of 1 lemon
Tablespoon cumin teaspoon
Tablespoon dried mixed herbs
pinch of poultry seasoning
salt, pepper to taste
Juice of Lemon
drizzle of Olive oil
splash of white wine
6 sprigs of flat leaf parsley

Mix everything except Chicken, parsley and Prosciutto in a bowl.
Coat the chicken and chill for 1-2 hours.

Before sauteing lay a sprig of parsley over chicken and wrap in prosciutto. Add wrapped chicken to hot pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil after 3 mins add a splash of white wine. saute on both sides and remove from pan when prosciutto is crispy.

Chicken pairs well with risotto, pasta, over salad or with vegetables.

Liverpool loses and I win!

I went on a meet for drinks get to know you date with a guy from Reading today. He has a pretty smile and an easy going personality. He was very chill. Downside for me. He was not as chivalrous as I would like. I however, will not hold that against him. He has just moved back to the area after traveling for about 10 months. So he and I are both with new eyes in the south.

We tried to find something to do in the town where I live and we were a bit unsuccessful. Watched Liverpool in Champions league in an Irish pub then went to the "trendy" lounge bar. Then he drove me home and was very sweet. Its nice to look forward to kissing someone. And its great to have someone new. I don't think I like just dating one guy at a time.

We will call the new guy Nature Boy lol. He is a landscaper but over here they say gardener and it sounds s cheesey like a lil ole lady tending to a flower pot. But ultimately he did a course on garden Design and I think with a few months he will be doing that as well since its the ultimate goal.