Mmmmmm White Chicken Enchiladas!

Hi all!

The first week of school went fantastically!  (Knocks on wood.)  Pezza likes her class and her teacher.  She even likes SCHOOL FOOD!?!?!  WTF????  Kid throws a fit about everything I serve her here at home and comes back with these glowing reports of cafeteria food - whatever.  It may wear off eventually.  I am not overly thrilled with her eating cafeteria food - not sure I am convinced of it's quality and nutritional value but.....I can't fight EVERY battle.  For now it means less work for me right?  I had an interesting experience at the us stop too.  I am Cuban - my dad was born and raised in Cuba.  My mom is Cajun so I guess really I am half Cuban to be exact. My dad was sent here right about when Castro took over - my grandparents finally made it out sometime after that and they lost everything.  The details are fuzzy as it was not something open for discussion with my dad.  Anyway, I have never met another Cuban other than family members.  We didn't live in Miami and I guess I haven't actively searched them out or anything. So I am hangin' at the bus stop one morning with my coffee - in my fave great big Cuba mug - and a couple comes up and asks me if I am Cuban.  Turns out they came here about 10 years ago so I thought that was really neat!  And their daughter is in 1st grade just like Pezza!

UNfortunately I WILL be spending my freedom tomorrow sitting in urgent care as I have been sick for a month and just can't kick it.  Now I have been running a fever all weekend SO I guess I am not going to get out of it.  I have some hideously bad allergies, especially this time of year.  Couple that with some scented garbage bags I bought on accident and tried to use anyway because I didn't want to waste the money and yea - I am hurtin'

BUT before I head up to the easy chair I have been sleeping in for weeks because I can't lay flat I wanted to throw up another cooking post with some time saving ideas.  Last week I told y'all how I do my seasoning veggie prep and chicken stock.  So let's do some cooking with it!

I made white chicken enchiladas.  NOW if you used a whole chicken in the stock like I did you can then turn around and de-bone it for the enchiladas OR you can grab a rotisserie chicken like I did OR just bake chicken for dinner one night and make extra, then the next night make enchiladas.

 

Here is my stack of ingredients - yes it looks like a lot BUT you will make three meals HOME MADE - so that's less work later, tastes better and it's better for you!  I have:

• Chicken
• Seasoning vegie mix
• 2 cups chicken stock
• Poblano pepper
• Cubanelle Pepper (add in hotter peppers if your family likes it hotter!)
• Spices - Cumin, Chili Powder, Paprika, Nutmeg (yes- nutmeg is fantastic when paired with chicken!)
• Flour
• Butter
• Olive Oil
• Cream Cheese (I use low fat)
• Green Chilis
• Corn
• Cilantro
• Tortillas (I prefer four but you can use corn if you like the traditional style)
• Colby Jack Cheese
• Pepper Jack Cheese
• Green chili sauce/ green enchilada sauce  (some prefer red sauce)
• Avocado
• Tomato
• Lime
• Sour Cream
• Salsa mix (I will tell you how to do that and prep it ahead of time at the end)

 This actually goes together pretty easily since you have done the seasoning vegies all chopped!  Start by putting butter and olive oil in the bottom of a large pot and heating it on medium or so.  Now I should warn y'all I cook like I live - by the seat of my pants!  So that means I don't measure anything but I will try to give you a close estimate.  I would say 1 1/1 - 2 tbl each of butter and oil - enough to saute AND make a roux to thicken your sauce.  While that warms up chop up your peppers.  Once the oil is ready throw in two good handfuls of your frozen chopped seasoning vegie mix and your peppers.  Saute until onions are clear.  Then sprinkle in enough flour to cover the bottom of the pan (about 3-4 Tbl) and cook this mixture, stirring, until it has browned slightly.  Now slowly add the broth while stirring so your mixture thickens.  Shake on your seasonings - go light on the nutmeg and heaviest on the cumin.  If you are unsure if you have added enough of a certain seasoning taste it, add a bit ore and notice how the flavor changes.  This way you start getting a feel for how each one changes the flavor.  Heat for a few minutes and then add 3/4 of the block of cream cheese.  Stir occasionally on medium low until the cream cheese is melted. 

Now add the chicken, corn and green chilis and heat through.  Throw in the Cilantro last and cook a bit longer - 5-10 minutes.  I used half a bunch of cilantro - just leaves - chopped up.

You're ready for assembly!  See how quick that was?  Here is how I set up for assembly.  Tortillas, filling, two cheeses all nice and dhredded in my food processor I just treated myself too :), and a pan.  SHRED YOUR CHEESE YOURSELF.  It tastes SO much better!  Now pans - if you look in the pan section in Target or Walmart you will find foil pans with lids - these are AWESOME for preparing meals ahead!  you may need bigger ones if you are feeding more people - these will hold 5 enchiladas (they are a little over-stuffed in my house!)  lay out a tortilla, a spoon or two of filling, some cheese, roll it and stick it in the pan.  I make a pan for now, a pan for later and still have enough filling for a third round which I freeze too (because I get tired of rolling them up.)  You now have 3 meals - 1 for now, 1 super easy re-heat for later and 1 pretty quick slight-assembly-needed one for later. 

Once they are all in the pan you need sauce - I like green sauce.  I used to buy Old El Paso in a can but at Harris Teeter I discovered this one:

And after reading the ingredients and the nutritional facts I decided it looked MUCH better - and it tastes better too!  So look for it or get the can if you can't find it.  Either works.

Pour on the sauce and top it with more cheeses.  Now Pezza won't eat the sauce or the pepper jack cheese so I make hers with colby jack only and then I leave off the sauce.  Pop it in the oven on 350 - you are really only melting the cheese since the inside is warm.

While they cook make up some salsa.  This is another item I prep ahead.  The container on the right was pulled out of the freezer - I just chop up some tomatoes and throw them in.  So what goes in it?  Jalapeno peppers, green onions, red onions, salt, lime juice, cumin, chili powder and cilantro.

Boom - instant salsa! 

YUMMMMMMMMMMY!!!!!!!

Labor Day challenge at Cut It Up!

Happy Friday!

We have made it through the first week of school here in the Wills house.

I would like to know HOW it is that I spent 6 years and 10 months trying to get this kid to sleep past 4:30 am and now that she has to be up for school by 6:30 I am dragging her out of bed - REALLY????  Luckily things have gone quite smoothly and I am thoroughly enjoying the routine and the peace and quiet during the day.  I get much more done when I am on a schedule!

I am excited about today's post - it is my first post for the Cut It Up challenge blog!  Our challenge this time is Labor Day - make a project celebrating pregnancy or new babies and remember to use a die cut!  I was unsure what I was going to do at first but then it occurred to me that I have LOADS of pictures of new babies - baby kittens!  So here is my layout of the Candy kittens:

This was our second litter of rescue kittens - Mom, Candy, 1 boy, Twizzler and 3 girls, Peppermint, Skittles and Taffy.

I used this cute cut from the Cricut cartridge Kate's ABCs - there are several really cute kitty images on it.  Pezza picked this one out.

The scalloped borders are cut using the Elegant Edges Cricut Cartridge and I did the title in Make the Cut - I love the shadow feature it has now!  Makes things SO easy.  I cut it using my Black Cat Cutter.

I hope all of you who also like using die cuts will join in on our challenge!  

Our prize sponsor is Too Cute by Jessica - she has a great selection of cutting files so go check her out and then enter the challenge for a chance to win!

Now I am off to run some errands and hopefully play a bit in my studio!

What's cooking? A time saver...

School starts tomorrow!  I am a mix of feelings - the part of me that is jumping up and down screaming "Freedom sweet freedom!!!!"  And the other part freaking out that I didn't enjoy every minute of being a SAHM and having her all to myself and OMG she is growing up fast.  It's funny how it didn't feel fast WHILE IT WAS HAPPENING!

I think y'all know I have 2 grown boys in their 20s in addition to Pezza.  I raised them alone.  They went to their dad's house every summer and I swear I couldn't wait for the break - it's HARD doing it ALL all by yourself!  I worked - sometimes close to full time, while putting myself through college full time plus raised them and I was ALWAYS outnumbered - 2 of them and 1 of me.  As summer approached and they were heading to their dad's I imagined the LOADS of things I would be able to do while they were gone.  And then they would go and I would be tremendously busy...for about 4 days.  And the rest of the time I was miserable without them!  I feel like it will be a little bit of that same experience with Pezza off in school full time.  BUT one thing I did learn was to make the most of the time I had while the boys were gone instead of spending it crying (which I did for the first several years.)

Alot of things have fallen by the wayside having a young child around - I hope to be able to get back to keeping up with things a little better and have loads of plans for stuff I will be doing around the house.  I thought I'd share them once a week on my blog with all of you.  I know this is a crafty blog and I considered for a brief moment that perhaps I should start a different blog but that sounded like too much work and HEY y'all all have homes and probably families and all that too SO I am just going to share it here.  I also thought about doing it on a specific day each week but then I thought "Let's not get ahead of ourselves!"  I may OR MAY NOT get back to being organized like I once was!  A friend posted a plea on FB a few days ago about how to get meals on the table with school and school activities under way and it got me thinking about the things I do to help with dinner dilemmas.  So for today here is a post about cooking - time saving cooking to be exact because we're ALL busy!  But pre-packaged or processed foods are horrible for us to eat. 

I am from the South - South Louisiana to be specific.  And down there folks COOK, from SCRATCH.  And that is how I was raised so it is how I have always done it.  But I know it can be tough to take the time out for it.  School is starting which means school activities are also underway - for us it's cheerleading.  Others may have have sports, clubs, extra work for the PTO OR maybe you work full time and you come home tired!  It's easy to grab something pre-made.  Here is one way I make the dinner time crunch a little easier (and healthier).

In Cajun country (and most of the south) every dish starts with 3 things - chopped seasoning vegies, broth and a roux.  Lots of dishes start with the need to chop a bunch of onions, celery, bell peppers, garlic....It may vary by recipe but usually only slightly and really you can use the same mix for all of it - gravies, spaghetti sauces, meatloaf, stews.  So here is what my Momma taught me.

 

 

Gather your vegies, chopping mat and a good chef's knife or whatever you like to chop with (my mom prefers a paring knife but I like this big one from Cutco - the BEST.)  I keep mine pretty basic - A 3lb bag of onions, the whole bunch of celery (technical term???), 2 bell peppers (I use ones OTHER than green - hubby doesn't like the green ones and it makes it more colorful), and a whole thing of garlic.

Chop it all up and throw it in a big bowl and then grab a little helper if you can snag one....

and mix it all up!

I fill a gallon ziplock freezer bag, freeze it and now it's ready for me at a moments notice.  I grab a handful or two and throw it in the pot!

Now the second thing on my list - broth.  For years I have taken the shortcut and used bouillion cubes.  Occasionally I will use the cans - LOW SODIUM.  But it's not hard to make your own and probably WAY better - both taste and health - wise!  When you are doing your chopping DON"T throw away the "trash" parts of the vegies.

I have carrot tops in there (I made something last night with carrots JUST because I knew I was making a huge pot of broth today), onion tops, celery tops and bottom and the smaller cloves of garlic cut in half.

Throw them ALL into a pot on top of a whole chicken and cover with water - I have a HUGE stock pot for this.  It has about 20 cups of water in it.  I threw in some sprigs of thyme and oregano frm my garden and a few bay leaves.  Another way to do this is to have a bag you toss the vegie "trash" into and keep it in your freezer.  When you have enough you can make your broth!  This will simmer all day long and then I will cool it off, skim off the fat, put it into 2 cup tupperware containers and freeze.  As for the 3rd thing - a roux - maybe that will be another post!

There is my tips for ya - let me know what you think!  Does anyone else do this?  Do you have any good tips to share???

I have a big announcement!

BOO for rain!

It's raining today.  I am not necessarily against rain BUT me and one of the other first grade moms put a lot of effort into getting all the first grade moms into a group on FB and planning an outing at the park for all of the rising first graders at Pezza's school today.  Then we were going to head to Sweet Frog as a group and attend the school's Meet the new Asst. Principal event - also to take place OUTSIDE!  I was SO looking forward to this and I think it really helps Pezza to do this kind of thing to since she is a worrier.  She has somehow decided there is the distinct possibility that she will not know ANYONE.  Umm we live in a tiny town with ONE elementary school and know tons of people.  And we have such a wonderful and unique group for her grade.  A lot of the moms are SAHM, active in school stuff as well as outside activities, friendly and a lot of us started getting together last year throughout the year thanks to ONE awesome lady who I have become so thankful to know.  I have really missed everyone myself with our busy summer lives and few get togethers!  I like that we are all getting to know each other since, if we stay put, these will likely be the kids she will be wanting to hang out with on her own when she's older and I like that by then I will know all of these parents!  And they will know us!  Not to mention if someone ever sees her hanging out behind the 7-11 they need to know 1. who she is and 2. who to call!  Just Kidding - my kid better not EVER be hanging out behind the 7-11 - NOTHING good going on back there!

I had a little moment of back to school sadness yesterday.  For the most part I am ALL over the full school day gig and getting some time to myself again after being full time with Pezza for nearly 7 years now - and she brings new meaning to full time - there was no nap time for this kid from infancy, no sleeping in no break.  As many of y'all long time readers might remember I had to get up at 3:30am if I wanted any crafty time or time to myself.  My body finally gave out and I could no longer keep that up so it's been all Pezza all the time.  BUT as we walked in to Target yesterday while running errands and we headed over for our usual treat at at the Starbucks - she gets Iced Lemon pound cake and I get coffee and we sit at a table and just hang out - I realized that this was it.  I would no longer have my little buddy with me all the time (ALL the time!)

SO what's my big announcement?  I am a new design team member for the Cut It Up Challenge blog!  I have REALLY been taking a back seat lately but with Pez going back to school AND for a FULL DAY now - I am itching to get back into the swing of things the way I once was.  So what is the Cut It Up challenge?  You must use a die cut on your challenge entry and they pick a random winner each time for prizes from some great sponsors!  I have been doing a lot more with my Cricut and Black Cat lately and plan to continue that so I was thrilled when I was selected for the team!

In honor of the occasion I am bringing back an oldy but goodie - this is a project I did for my magazine Through the Craft Room Door which is now run by my friend Colleen (and she is AMAZING with it!)  This is a Back to School set for a teacher:

I used 2 different sized clear paint cans from Michaels - the large one is filled with all sorts of goodies the teacher can use as treats for the kids.  

The small one has goodies for the teacher like Expo markers.  The metal tin holds the little memo cards I made for sending notes home to parents.

I used an oldie but goodie on this one - the apple and school bus are cut using my Cricut and the Doodlecharms cartridge.  I ran the top layers of both of them through a Xyron machine to get the front nice and covered with adhesive and then put red microbeads on the apple and yellow flock on the school bus.  I used the Printing 101 cartridge for the lettering - be sure to use your shadows!  It always makes your die cuts look better!

Electronic cutters aren't the only way to make die cuts!  On the lids I have some felt die cuts I made using a large (think old school) Sizzix die and a Spellbinders die and my Cuttlebug.  Incorporating pipe cleaners, pom poms and buttons give them some great dimension and since my set is geared towards an early elementary teacher they seemed like the perfect thing to incorporate!

For the felt I really prefer using a good quality felt  - my go to for good felt has been Felt On the Fly on Etsy.  I have been using her for YEARS. (Be sure to tell her I sent you!)  Pom poms and pipe cleaners are from Micahels.  To make the flowers you need a hot glue gun.  


Pom pom flowers - These look best on a felt foundation but it is not necessary.  You need one for a center and five for the “petals” and a hot glue gun.  I wrapped a layer of hot glue around the center pom pom, put it down on my craft sheet and then quickly smooshed the five petal pom poms into the glue.  There are lots of other things you can make with these too – I actually found a book with ideas!


Pipe Cleaners flowers – These are quite easy too.  Take a pipe cleaner and cut it into five pieces – they should range from 1” – 2” depending on the final size you want.  Now bend them in half into a tear drop shape.  Make a puddle of hot glue on your craft sheet and put the points of all five pipe cleaner tear drops into it to form your flower petals.  Put more hot glue on top and add a center – a button, a pom pom, a spiraled pipe cleaner, etc.

      Notecards: You will want to make these simple so they are easy to use, fit in the tin, and you can make a lot of them easily.  Mine are simply colored cardstock bases, a patterned strip across the top, a white piece to hold the writing and a small stamped image in the corner.  These are from one of the TONS of Studio G $1 stamps I have been collecting over the years.  I stamped them with the Studio G $1 pigment ink pads which are really super quality ink pads and work so well with the little stamps!  As you can see I get a great crisp clear image with these little guys and I am guaranteed to always have a few stamps for EVERY occasion!

     The current challenge over on Cut It Up is a Back to School altered notebook so head on over there, welcome all of the new team members and then join in the challenge!

Mini crochet fun

One. More. Week.

Yep - just one more week before school is back in session here in Loudoun County.  I might be jumping for a joy.  You see that's what happens when it's the third kid and you are 22 years into parenthood!  Not because I don't love her, not because I don't enjoy, not because I don't appreciate her and how lucky I am to have her - I am just realistic.  I need a breather and she needs WAY more to do than I can provide on a daily basis!  I do wish I had gotten more checked off on our summer fun time list than I did but I am happy for the fun things we DID do.  She is super excited to get back to school too.  This will be her first year going full day - I think she'll be fine.  I also think my house might finally get back to normal and I will be glad to get a routine going again.  I have visions of all I will accomplish in those long hours alone!  In silence.....and uninterruptedness........

We have had LOTS to do in our last week that's for sure.  This past weekend Pezza cheered for her little football team for the first time and perhaps got a glimpse of what the hell this whole cheer thing is.  It was only scrimmage games.  Our first real game, with parents and bleachers will be this Saturday.

Pezza is the one on the far left with her daddy's sunglasses on...

And in crazy cat lady news...

No I didn't find this pic on the internet to accentuate my point - that is actually the cat tree in my basement :P  It's got all the cats but our two old orange cats on it!

Anyway, Baguette & Brioche were adopted this weekend!  SO very happy for them to find a loving permanent home.  Their brother, Bun is still with us - his eyes are not getting well enough for him to get fixed but we are going to try on Thursday.  I want to keep him but hubby is worried about long term costs.  Plus he's a wee bit naughty...But oh my LORD is he a sweetie pie!  We also have one named Buddy - another Maine Coon we thought might hit it off with Bubba but we aren't sure it's going to happen :(  And then there's Biscuit - the momma.  Such a mess!  She can't go to adoption events because she is too scared so I have to hope someone will see her on the website for LDCRF and ask to meet her.

I DO have a crafty endeavor to share - not paper but still crafty!

Remember the dollhouse I have been building for a million years?  Ok only two but it sure came to a screeching halt for awhile.  Just waiting on hubby to cut the center walls now and then we will be doing the final work.  In the meantime we have collected furnishings and Pezza picked out a living room set.  I decided I wanted to try my hand at crocheting an afghan for her - I have been crocheting since I was a kid and some of my older readers may remember some of the crocheted embellishments I have shared in the past (the link is to my old blog on Wordpress.)

I told her she could also use it on the kids bed:

I made the kitty blanket and pillows too.  How perfect is that Cat bedroom set for us?!?!  She decided she wanted this one in the living room though so I am nearly done with another one for the bed.  I so admire the intricacy of the really good mini crocheters on etsy - they use even tinier thread and hook than I am here.  I so want to be able to do that eventually.  But I will probably need a magnifying glass to do it.  I am also considering doing some miniature mixed media artwork to hang on the walls....

Have any of you done miniature crochet???  Any advice???

Beach fun digi pages

Hello friends!

BOY coming back from vacation is hard!  We have lots on our to-do list - unpacking, cleaning up the house, Grocery shopping, school clothes shopping, haircut...  I brought along a pair of long pants for Hollyn when we were camping and when I put them on WOW has she grown.  Everything was still a little big at the end of the winter last year but it is NOT going to work at all for this year.  I had thought we would get away with no shopping!

I have 2 more pages done for my digi brag book to share with you.  I worked on them on my way home Monday. 

These are pics from our trip to Myrtle Beach at the start of the summer.  I used a fantastic collection of digi scrap stuff from the Sweet Shoppe called Heatwave.  It is PACKED full of great stuff and a great deal at only $7.99!

Now the great thing about digi scrapping - if you are not familiar with it - is that it can be done completely from scratch with kits like I usually do it OR you can get templates or even ready made quick pages.

Quick pages are already completely done for you - you just drop in your pictures and you're done.  Most are 12 x 12 but alot of places have them in smaller sizes for mini albums too.  Some 12 x 12 Heatwave quick pages are available too!  EIGHT gorgeous pages of summer fun ready for your pictures!

An in between option is to use templates for your pages.  With templates you have all of the layers in place for your papers, pictures and embellishments BUT you can use whatever digi collection you want - you just drop them into place!  The Sweet Shoppe has lots of templates too!  For the pages above I made my own templates since I am doing 5 x 7 pages not 12 x 12. 

I like doing the pages for my own scrapbooks the traditional way but digi is definitely the way to go when making several albums to give away.  I usually just print them out and bind them with my Bind It All machine but I am thinking of looking in to having them printed through something like Shutterfly so they are an actual bound book.

Now I am off to bed with some allergy meds - the ragweed does me in every year but this year it seems especially bad!

More digi scrapbook pages

Hello everyone!

As you read this we will be on our way back home from another long weekend in our camper. Oh how I love our camper trips (though this one had some grumpy rough spots.) We spent the weekend in Lancaster County - of course now I want to move there. I always want to move where ever it is we visit. I just like to move. But Lancaster is truly spectacularly beautiful. AND I am obsessed with farms - and Amish farms are the best. So of course I made everyone take a buggy ride to tour one. As good as I imagined and then some! And those Amish have quite the setups - these farms are HUGE and don't let the lack of electricity fool you. It' is a misconception. They have PLENTY of power just not from power lines - it's all propane, compressed air, solar, gas, diesel but still power. I also think we need some baby goats - oh so cute!  We had some fantastic meals and hubby even indulged me in a stop at a quilt shop - the handmade quilts were GORGEOUS OMG!  and pricey!  But someone bought one while we were there so they must sell some at least occasionally.  Sunday was supposed to be Dutch Wonderland day for Pezza (a kiddie amusement park) but instead it was looking like a rain day BOO!  We hit a true diner for lunch and then decided to give the amusement park a try anyway since it was only sprinkling here and there and not a full down pour.  We lucked out and it was fantastic!  The park was VERY UNcrowded so no lines or crowds.  Pezza tends toward the dramatic (I know you're all shocked right) so she kept saying stuff was too scary - keep in mind this is a park GEARED for small kids so nothing too crazy.  It was like mini versions of regular rides.  BUT we convinced her to conquer her fears and she went on everything but the larger roller coaster and each time she ended up LOVING it!  Now I am a HUGE ride weenie but since she was doing it I figured I better do it too.  She had me on the log ride THREE times - scares me to death with the straight drop at the end UGH!  So basically we ate diner food, funnel cakes, soft pretzzels and rode puke inducing spinny fly in the air butterfly stomach rides all day.  An awesome time was had by all!  The down side - I was sure we would get rained out and end up going back today so I brought no camera with me - not even my cell phone so NO PICS!  UGH!  We finished it off with daddy teaching her how to fish since our camp site was right on the edge of a stream.

While on the road and during down time in the camper I worked on a few more digi pages for my brag book I am making to pass around to the grandparents:

Again I used some digi collection kits I have had for ages.  I have been collecting them for as long as I have been scrapping but if you are interested in getting some I can at least tell you my fave places to shop - Scrapbook Graphics, Sweet Shoppe, Scrap Girls, Scrapbook Elements & Designer Digitals.  I am sure there are more out there I have not even found!

Do you have a fave store for digi scrap goodies?  Leave me a link in the comments!