Spice Pumpkin Cake

I love this time of year when pumpkin recipes start popping up all over! - Love baking with pumpkin!  I wanted to make a cake for Tyler's birthday on Sunday but we had had the more traditional birthday cake the day before so I wanted to make something a little different.  I had a spice cake mix (don't remember what I ever bought that for) and so I thought I'd google recipes using the cake mix.  I went to Duncan Hines' website and came across this super easy and delicious cake which called for pumpkin - yeah!  I iced it with cream cheese frosting, which really makes anything taste good.

Spice Pumpkin Cake

• 1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Spice Cake Mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I omitted.)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 10-inch Bundt pan.
2. Combine cake mix, eggs, water and pumpkin in large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in nuts. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 25 minutes. Invert onto serving plate. Cool completely.

 At this point I frosted mine with cream cheese frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 stick of butter, softened
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 bar (or 4 oz.) cream cheese

**You can also make this cake look like a pumpkin by coloring most of the frosting orange and reserving a small amount to be colored green.  Frost the whole cake with the orange frosting and then add an upside down cake cone to the top center of the cake and paint the cake cone with the green frosting.  For a cute picture see the Duncan Hines website.

Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

 

These would have looked so much prettier had I remembered to sprinkle the fresh chopped cilantro on top!  Oh well, they were still very tasty and I will definitely be making them again...a great option when you crave a white sauce enchilada.  

Filling:

3 cups cooked, chopped chicken
2 (4 oz.) cans of green chiles, lightly drained
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, cubed
1 can white or black beans, rinsed and drained

Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
2 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup chicken broth
¼ cup milk
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 can (7 ounce) green chile enchilada sauce
½ cup sour cream

8 ounces (about 2 cups) Monterey jack cheese, shredded
8 medium (soft taco size) flour tortillas
Handful of chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and green chiles. Mix well. Add the chicken and black beans. Mix to combine. Set aside.

In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and starts to turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir well. Cook for 1 minute, stirring. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk. As you whisk and the mixture cooks, the flour will get less lumpy around the onions and the mixture will become smooth. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is bubbling and has thickened, about 4-5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the enchilada sauce and sour cream.

Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish. Spread about 1/4 cup of the sauce on the bottom of the dish. Fill each tortilla with about ½ cup of the chicken/cream cheese filling. Top with a small handful of shredded cheese, a couple tablespoonfuls for each enchilada. Save at least 1/2 cup cheese for the top of the enchiladas. Roll the tortillas up and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. Continue filling enchiladas until the dish is full.

Pour the white sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Top with remaining cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the enchiladas are bubbling, hot and lightly browned. Sprinkle fresh cilantro over the top and serve.

Buttermilk Wheat Pancakes

Do you like my new plates?  Our cheap set of dishes that we bought when we were first married had seen better days so I bought this set of Corel dishes when they were on a great sale on Amazon several months ago.  I kept them boxed up until the move.  Now I am thoroughly enjoying them!  They are so light weight and don't scratch or chip.

So these are GREAT pancakes!  I love just about anything that calls for buttermilk so these hit the spot with me.  The wheat isn't overly heavy either.  Just loved these with homemade buttermilk syrup.

2 eggs, beaten
3 cups buttermilk
4 Tablespoons oil
1 cup white flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Beat the eggs first and then mix in the rest of the ingredients. Do not over mix. Cook on a hot nonstick pan or griddle.