What's For Dinner? Red Chili Chicken Enchiladas!

Last night's dinner...

I usually make Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas but my hubs has been begging me for red ones for some time now.  I stopped making them years ago because my sons didn't like them... but, after last night , I'd say they were a hit and I'll be adding these back to my menu plan!

I'll share this super easy recipe with you! This is just my version... I'm sure there are many other ways but this is just the way I make them and my family loved it :)

(Here's the not so great and healthy part)

Run each (white) corn tortilla through oil first until they are soft.

You can spray with olive oil instead of dipping them in the oil,

it's just a bit more time consuming and the tortillas don't get as soft.

If you'd like you'd like to skip the oil all together,

you can use small flour tortillas instead!

They are just as yummy!

As I run each tortilla through the oil, I pat off the excess oil

with a paper towel.

I'm rolling these, not stacking them, so I'm

only making two enchiladas each = 8 total

I cooked up some chicken earlier and shredded it.

(I always save the broth!!)

I used about two and a half small chicken breasts for

8 enchiladas.

I love colby jack cheese and tend to use it for almost all my recipes!

I diced up about 1/3 of a small (yellow) onion

In a baking dish, I have poured a little bit of red

enchilada sauce on the bottom and started to fill

each tortilla with a bit of chicken, cheese,

a sprinkle of onion and a little drizzle of sauce...

 roll and tuck!

(I know how to make my own homemade red sauce but I started dinner too late and had to use canned red chili enchilada sauce instead.  I have used Las Palmas or Macayo's brand.  I think the canned sauce is too runny so I used a little chicken broth from the chicken I made earlier and added a little flour to thicken it.)

After you roll all the enchiladas, pour as much sauce

as you'd like all over them and sprinkle some

extra cheese on top.  You can sprinkle more onions

and even some black olives at this point if you'd like.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes

(cheese melts and sauce is bubbly hot)

I served them with some homemade Spanish rice, shredded lettuce,

and some diced tomatoes

Top off with a little dab of sour cream if the sauce comes out too spicy.  Also serve with beans... I just don't love them, so I didn't make any last night!

ENJOY! :)

What's For Dinner? Lasagna Rolls!

I can't say it enough... Meal planning is a life saver!  Today's menu called for Lasagna Rolls!  I had everything I needed except garlic bread, which I purposely wait until the "day of" to buy so it doesn't go bad.

I really don't mind cooking... cleaning the kitchen afterwards is a whole different story... but the cooking part, I don't mind.  Sadly, I'm not the kind of person that can just throw a bunch of ingredients together and create some amazing, new dish.  I search recipes, I pick a few that have ingredients that I like, then I combine them and make it my own.  So this recipe I'm sharing will be similar to others you might see with a few different ingredients and really bad measurements (I hate measuring! LOL :)  I know there's many other recipes out there.  I'm sure I probably do all kinds of things wrong and every Italian cook out there is probably cringing at the thought of store bought noodles and sauce... but my family likes it and amazingly I've gotten many compliments from others as well, so it can't be that bad!

So here's my version of a simple Lasagna recipe.

Get your pasta ready!

While the pasta and meat are cooking,

I start getting the cheese blend ready.

(I really only needed to cook about 1lb of meat but I cooked

extra so it'd be ready when I make tostadas in a couple of days. :)

A tub of Ricotta 

I used about a cup of the Parmesan blend

About a cup of Mozzarella

Add an egg and some spinach if you'd like

Mix

Add meat or sausage to your desired sauce (or not)

I like to work with dry pasta so I lay them one

at a time on a towel... spread the cheese mixture

on each strip

Roll, pour some (meat) sauce over the top, sprinkle

some Mozzarella on tops, bake at 375 for about 30 mins.

or until bubbly and cheese is melted!

These are really filling! I made six rolls and had one left over.  My teen was the only one with enough room in his belly to serve himself seconds!  I served it with a salad and garlic bread.

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by! :)

Meal Planning

I usually have a menu planned out for the month.  I like to search for new recipes and throw in a new meal at least once or twice a week.  I write out my grocery list and go shopping.  This allows me to know exactly what I'm making, when I'm making it and I already know that I have everything for it!  Makes life sooooo much easier!

Well, usually it does....

Sometimes, my hubs and my boys have special requests (me: eyebrow raised... whadda ya mean you want pizza? I'm making green chicken enchiladas!!)  Okay, sometimes they save me from the kitchen  so I can't complain too much about it...  When this happens, I either omit a meal or scootchy them on down a day... or twooooooooo.....  okay, sometimes we are bad!   :o)

Anyway, one of the things that I like to do to make sure that we are successful at following the menu is that I take special requests from my hubs and my sons.  It gives them something to look forward to so that they aren't craving something else!

A few of my family's favs are:

Tacos

Chimis

Baked Salmon with veggies and rice

Chicken Penne Pasta with Spinach

Creamy Chicken Soup with Biscuits

Lasagna

Chili Rellenos

Enchiladas

Wiener Schnitzel

Tostadas

and Tuna Casserole which is what I made last night, which is....

Always, always, always a hit!

I'm happy to share this super easy recipe.  Sorry for the crappy measurements but I usually just throw it all together! 

 Chop up celery and green onions

Put the chopped celery and green onions in large bowl and add:

2 or 3 cans Tuna - depends on how meaty you want it.

About 4 tbls of mayo - depends on how creamy you like it (light is fine)

2 to 3 tbls of sour cream (light is fine)

1 tbl of mustard

I would have added some thawed out peas and grated

carrots but I didn't have any... booooo :(

Mix in cooked egg noodles.

Add salt, pepper and thyme to desired taste.

Transfer the mixture to a 13x9 glass baking dish

Slice up a couple of zucchinis

Grate cheese, I used colby jack, sorta kinda a lot... 

Sprinkle about half (your desired) cheese over the

noodle mixture,

Lay out the zucchinis and sprinkle a little

salt and pepper on them,

Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on the zucchinis

I then bake it for about 15 minutes (just heating it and melting

cheese at this point)

Then, I change it to broil for about 5-ish minutes (just until

the cheese is golden brown)

YUM.  It's a hit.  If your kiddos like veggies, they'll love this!

Cheers my friends! :O)

Happy 14th Austin!

Yesterday was my son's 14th birthday.  I quickly grew sad as I was looking for a baby photo of him to post on Facebook.  I just wonder where the heck did time go? Where's that little hunk of chunk that I used to cuddle with constantly and nibble on his chubby cheeks? In place of that little ball of happiness is this tall, slender, quiet, loud, shy, outgoing, musically talented, video game addict of a young man!

Here we are with our little Austin at 1week old.

Here's Austin on his 4 month bday :)

Talking it up on the phone! Austin at 9 months.

Here's Austin a couple of months ago with his little

brother, Ethan... best buds <3

It was funny, yesterday, we decided to treat him to lunch. He wanted Micky D's for lunch so I took it into the office and waited for him to come get it.  I also had his cell phone that he forgot at home even after telling him about 5 times not to forget it!  But anyhow,  there must've been about six other parents in the office... not sure why. Don't care.  But yeah, so anyway, Austin comes into the office:

Me: "hi!" (as I gave him the Micky D's bag and his phone) "How's your day son?"

Him: "um, good"

Me: "so you're enjoying today?"

Him: "yeah"

Me: "getting a lot of Happy Birthday wishes?"

Him: "some"

Me: "okay well enjoy your lunch baby, remember we'll be here to pick you up after school so we can head straight to your birthday dinner okay?"

Him: "okay, thanks"

Okay, then awkward moment.......... I know he's super shy and gets embarrassed if I try to hug or kiss him in front of people/kids at school and I totally respect that.  I know eventually he'll grow out of it so it doesn't hurt my feelings at all.  So I take a step back and he takes a step back and then forth and then we're like all weird and awkward cause I don't know if he's wanting a hug er not... so I start to walk away and he says to me, (in front of all the people!)

"I LOVE YOU MOM"...  Melt my heart away moment. :)

I just have to say that he is a pretty amazing dude!  Although I hate that he's getting older (because the means I'm getting older), I absolutely love that we can hang together and watch movies, talk about music and shop together.  Each year he changes just a little bit more... more mature, more thoughtful, more loving.  It's exciting to watch him grow into such a great young man.  I'm truly blessed to have him <3

So off to dinner we went as soon as we picked him and his brother up from school.  His choice was The Yard House.  It's a great restaurant in Scottsdale by the Fashion Square Mall.  For us it's a haul as we live about 45 minutes away but he's so worth it.

Below you will see a Polyvore outfit that I put together inspired by the outfit I wore to dinner last night.  I'm really digging cardigans and blazers this year!!  I'm dying to get my hands on a brownish-taupe colored one.  I find myself LIVING in boots this winter as well.  LOVE them! 

What's your favorite style of boots? Do you like the ankle boots that are in style this season?

Cognac, blue and white by aznat73 featuring a quilted blazer

River Island striped tee
$13 - riverisland.com

Vero Moda quilted blazer
$65 - oliverbonas.com

Sacha leather bag
$52 - debenhams.com