Fresh Garden Pico de Gallo, Homemade Refried Beans, and Beef Nachos

My tomato plants this year created more tomatoes than I could eat so I made them into pico de gallo, my favorite.  I deseeded all 20 tomatoes and chopped them up into 1/4 cubes.  I added half and onion chopped fine, 3 jalapenos chopped fine, lime juice from 2 limes, cilantro from half a bunch minced, fresh garlic, garlic powder, and salt.  It was awesome.  I also made some beef nachos to go with it.  Chips, homemade refried beans, cooked beef, and shredded cheddar cheese.  I made the refried beans by heating a skillet, adding olive oil, heating the olive oil, adding drained pinto beans and garlic.  I let them saute for about 5 minutes, and then just start mashing.  I used a potato masher for this.

Father's Day Crawfish Etoufee Stuffed Chicken, Potato Pancakes, Southern Style Green Beans, and Cheesecake Bites

For Father's Day Dinner, I went to Abe's Cajun Market in Clear Lake, Texas and bought their Crawfish Etoufee Stuffed Chicken.  The directions were super simple, put it in a small roasting pan (I just used my lasagna casserole dish), bake in the oven at 375 degF for 1 hr 15 min.  I followed the directions, and it came out great.  I covered it with aluminum foil for the the first 45 minutes so that it didn't over brown, and the chicken still came out crispy.  I also made some Southern Style Green Beans by sauteing some bacon in a pot, once cooked, added the trimmed green beans for about 2 minutes while stiring so all the green beans were coated, and then added enough chicken stock to completely cover the green beans and let them simmer the whole time the chicken was cooking.  I also made potato pancakes, a family favorite.  It was 2.5 pounds of shredded golden potatoes, half of a sweet yellow onion chopped small, 2 eggs, and about 1/2 cup of flour.  Mix all the ingredients together.  Heat some olive oil in a skillet, and add a large spoonful and press down gently, wait a few minutes for one side to cook, then flip and cook the other side.  Set on paper towels.  I also made Cheesecake Bites, these come out looking so pretty.  It's just an 8 oz block of cream cheese, a 16 oz tub of cool whip, and some sugar to taste.  I beat them all together in my mixer and spoon them into premade cookie cups.  The cookie cups are made using store bough cookie dough, which I rolled out and set in a cupcake pan for tiny cupcakes, and they form perfect cups, let them cool before removing them.  I take them out of the cupcake pan using a toothpick.

Enchiladas and Homemade Sauce

First preheat the oven to 350 deg F.  Next, start the Homemade Enchilada sauce.  First heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a pot, once hot, add 2 Tablespoons of flour and cook one minute to make a roux.  Next add 2 Tablespoons of chili powder (more for spicier), 1 tsp of garlic powder (or a Tablespoon of fresh garlic), 1 tsp of cocoa powder (yes, cocoa powder), 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp cumin, and 1 tsp of oregano.  Mix all spices into the roux until well blended.  Next slowly whisk in 2 cups of chicken broth.  Once the chicken broth is incorporated, add 1-28 ounce can of tomatoes.  Simmer the Sauce for 15 minutes.  While the Sauce is simmering, cook 1 pound of ground beef in a skillet (use ground turkey or chicken for a healthier option).  Add any desired spices to the meat while cooking.  Once the meat is completely cooked, remove the ground meat from the skillet and cook each side of each corn tortilla in the skillet for about 30 seconds each side.  As soon as all the corn tortillas are cooked, dip them in the enchilada sauce, set them on a plate where you can roll them, fill them with the cooked ground meat and shredded cheese, roll them up, and finally put them in an enchilada pan seam side down.  Once your pan is full (I usually have enough corn tortillas, 24 pack, and sauce to make 2 pan fulls and I freeze one) top it with the leftover sauce (you should have a lot), then top with cheese and pop in the preheated oven for about 20 min.