One Pan Enchilada Pasta

I love easy meals especially if I can make them healthy and I have been craving anything Mexican so this definitely tickled my fancy :) great 30 minute meal for when you don't want a lot of extra work in the kitchen and you don't want all the unknowns in hamburger helper.

Sorry no pictures for this one, I'll have to snap a couple the next time I make it.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 of a small onion, diced
• 1.25 pounds lean ground beef (or ground turkey)
• 1 packet of low-sodium taco seasoning (or homemade seasoning)
• 2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 19 oz can of red enchilada sauce
• 8 oz (about 2 1/2 cups) of dried rotini pasta (We used the pasta that is like 25% veggie)
• 2 cups of freshly shredded Colby Jack cheese
• green onions
• black olives
• Onion, tomato, lettuce, sour cream, hot sauce... All optional of course but I make mine like real enchiladas with all the fun stuff on top. 

Instructions

1. In a large skillet or sauté pan, sauté garlic and onions in olive oil over medium low heat until softened.
2. Add ground beef and cook, breaking meat up with a wooden spoon until browned.
3. Once ground beef is cooked through, add taco seasoning, pasta, chicken broth and enchilada sauce to pan.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover.
5. Cook on low, with pan covered for about 15 minutes.
6. Then remove lid and let simmer for additional 5 minutes until pasta is tender and sauce has reduced.
7. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of cheese.
8. Top pasta with additional cup of cheese and melt under broiler for a minute or two, or place lid back on pan and let heat from the pasta melt the cheese.
9. Garnish with black olives and green onions.
10. Serve with whatever yummy topping you enjoy on your enchiladas.

Jalapeno Cheddar Bagels

Initially I was really hesitant about making this recipe because Brady definitely has his bagel preferences and I didn't want to mess up or have him eating something nasty, but I braved it and guess what... IT WORKED!

So here is the recipe I used along with a couple warnings / suggestions. 

Warning and Suggestions: 

• Make sure you wear gloves to cut the jalapenos or even use a chopper so you aren't touching them... I learned the the extremely hard way! OUCH!
• I was making this in my kitchen aid and it was way too much so I left out some flour... not good! So I suggest mixing it in the kitchen aid till the last 3/4 cup of flour and switch to kneading it by hand so you can get the rest of the flour in there and not kill the mixer. 
• I had to knead in the jalapenos by hand to after trying in the kitchen aid and making a huge mess when they just got pushed out. 

Okay I hope that is all my warnings... and if you don't like jalapenos I bet you could alter the recipe and ass cinnamon and raisins, or just cheddar, or whatever tickles your fancy. 

So here it is! the recipe says this should make 14 but I made 11 that were the size of bagels you can buy in the bakery. 

INGREDIENTS:

Sponge:
1 teaspoon instant yeast
4 cups (18 ounces) high-gluten or bread flour
2½ cups water, at room temperature

Dough:
½ teaspoon instant yeast
3¾ cups (17 ounces) high-gluten or bread flour
2½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons malt powder or 1 Tablespoon dark or light malt syrup, honey or brown sugar
8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups minced jalapeño peppers, seeds and membranes removed (about 12 to 14 peppers, depending on size)

To Finish:
1 Tablespoon baking soda
8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

DIRECTIONS:

1. To make the sponge, stir the yeast into the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the water, whisking or stirring only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter (like pancake batter). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the mixture becomes very foamy and bubbly. It should swell to nearly double in size and collapse when the bowl is tapped on the counter-top.

2. To make the dough, in the same mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer), add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 3 cups of the flour and all of the salt and malt powder. Stir (or mix on low speed with the dough hook) until the ingredients form a ball, slowly working in the remaining ¾ cup flour to stiffen the dough.

3. Transfer the dough to the counter and knead for at least 10 minutes (or for 6 minutes by machine). Add the Cheddar cheese and jalapenos during the last two minutes or so of kneading, and knead until evenly distributed. The dough should be firm, but still pliable and smooth. There should be no raw flour – all the ingredients should be hydrated. If you have an instant-read digital thermometer, the dough should register 77 to 81 degrees F. If the dough seems dry and rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If the dough seems sticky or tacky, add more flour to achiever the stiffness required. The kneaded dough should feel satiny and pliable but not be tacky.

4. Immediately divide the dough into equal pieces (each piece should weigh approximately 4½ ounces). Form the pieces into rolls.

5. Cover the rolls with a damp towel and allow them to rest for 20 minutes.

6. Line 2 sheet pans with baking parchment and mist lightly with spray oil. Proceed with shaping the bagels: Push a hole through the center of the roll with your thumb and stretch out the hole to 2½ inches in diameter, making sure that the resulting ring has a fairly even thickness all the way around.

7. Place each of the shaped pieces 2 inches apart on the pan. Mist the bagels very lightly with the spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let the pans sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.

8. Check to see if the bagels are ready to be retarded in the refrigerator by using the “float test”. Fill a small bowl with cool or room temperature water. The bagels are ready to be retarded when they float within 10 seconds of being dropped into the water. Take one bagel and test it. If it floats, immediately return the tester bagel to the pan, pat it dry, cover the pan, and place it in the refrigerator overnight (it can stay in the refrigerator for up to 2 days). If the bagel does not float, return it to the pan and continue to proof the dough at room temperature, checking back every 10 to 20 minutes or so until a tester floats. The time needed to accomplish the float will vary, depending on the ambient temperature and the stiffness of the dough.

9. The following day (or when you are ready to bake the bagels), preheat the oven to 500 degrees F with the two racks set in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (the wider the better), and add the baking soda. Have a slotted spoon or skimmer nearby.

10. Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many as comfortably fit (they should float within 10 seconds). After 1 minute flip them over and boil another minute then pack onto the parchment covered tray. Sprinkle the bagels with the shredded Cheddar cheese as soon as they come out of the water. (I added jalapeno slices as well)

11. When all the bagels have been boiled and topped, place the pans on the two middle shelves in the oven. Bake for approximately 8 minutes, then rotate the pans, switching shelves and giving the pans a 180-degree rotation. (If you are only baking one pan at a time, keep it on the center shelf but still rotate 180 degrees.) After the rotation, lower the oven temperature to 450 degrees F and continue baking for about 8 minutes, or until the bagels turn golden brown.

12. Remove the pans from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack for 15 minutes or longer before serving.