Recipe: Chicken Chile Enchiladas (gluten free)

Here is a recipe that I got from my friend Beverly. I have tweaked the recipe slightly from the original and it is a family fav! Pictured above are the ingredients you will need (green chiles not pictured)

INGREDIENTS

3 c. shredded cooked chicken (I shred chicken off one rotisserie chicken from Costco)

1 4 oz can diced green chiles

1 t. salt (optional)

1 10 oz can green chile enchilada sauce

5 oz can evaporated milk

package of 10 corn tortillas (white or yellow)

2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

DIRECTIONS

Shred all the meat off the rotisserie chicken and put into large bowl. Stir in the diced green chiles and salt. Set aside. Take two paper towels, wet and wring out excess water. Take 3 corn tortillas and wrap them up into the damp wet towels. Microwave for 30 seconds. This will soften the tortillas and prevent them from splitting when you roll the meat up inside them. (you may also fry them in oil, my method has much less calories though!)

Take one tortilla at a time and place approx 1/4 cup of the meat mixture in a line in the middle of the tortilla. (as seen above) Fold one side up over the meat and while turning over, roll into a log shape. Place seam side down in a prepared (sprayed with non stick spray) 9x 13 casserole dish. Repeat until all 9-10 enchiladas are prepared and in the dish. (as seen below) Set aside

In a small bowl whisk together the enchilada sauce and the evaporated milk. Pour evenly over the enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

*tip: If you make this in advance, do not pour the enchilada sauce/milk mixture over the top until RIGHT before you bake. Otherwise, the sauce will be mostly absorbed by the tortillas and you will have a dry casserole.

Fall Decor

Welcome Fall! This is by far my favorite time of year, and I'm especially excited about it this year as I anticipate the trees of our community coming alive with bursts of color as their leaves turn bright reds and oranges! After 5 years in the desert where you might see 2 or 3 trees in a weeks time with brightly colored leaves, with the endless sea of tree lined streets of our community it will be a sight to see I know. Although our days are still warm and feel like Summer, our mornings are getting cooler and our evenings coming earlier and cooling off nicely. It won't be long before we can put our shorts and short sleeve shirts a way and bring out our pants and long sleeved shirts!

One thing I've already brought out is my fall decorations! I had a blast decorating the new house. A few of my blog readers have been asking for pics, so here goes!

Recipe: Taco Pie (gluten free)

This is one of Kevin's favorite meals. Lately I've been making with ground turkey instead of ground beef to be healthier. It's great either way. This is also an impressive meal to make for guests. You can double the recipe and put it in a 9x13 casserole dish as an alternative.

CRUST

1/4 cup/plus 1 T cornmeal, divided

3/4 cup all-purpose flour (or rice flour, Bob's Red Mill gluten free baking flour...gfree flour of choice)
if you are gluten free

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1/3 c. milk

1 T. vegetable oil

FILLING

1 lb lean ground beef or turkey

1 cup salsa (I use mild Pace Picante Sauce)

1 cup shredded cheddar

1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce

1/2- 3/4 c. chopped tomato

1/2 cup sliced black olives

Sour cream to garnish

optional (avocado slices)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Using vegy oil spray (like Pam) spray a 9" round pie plate. Sprinkle 1 T cornmeal evenly onto the bottom and sides of the prepared pie plate. Set aside. In mixing bowl, combine the remaining 1/4 c. cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Add milk and oil, stir with milk until mixture forms a ball. Knead gently to combine all ingredients completely. Dough will be sticky at first. Transfer to lightly floured surface. Using lightly floured rolling pin, roll out crust to a 10 inch circle. Place in prepared pie plate and press dough in to fit. Press dough up sides of pan and trim excess. Using fork, crimp the edges (see picture for example) Set aside.

Cook and stir the ground meat in frying pan over medium/high heat for approx 10 minutes of until meat is no longer pink and is cooked through. Drain. Add the salsa and stir to combine. Pour meat/salsa mixture into prepared pie crust. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake 12-15 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese melted. Top pie with shredded lettuce, tomato and olives. Garnish with sour cream and optional avocado slices. Serve with additional salsa if required.

I like to serve this with Spanish rice as a side dish. Enjoy!

Recipe: Mom's Pot Roast

This is one of the best recipes my Mom taught me how to make and was one of my favorite meals growing up and is one of Kevin's and the kids favorites now. The secret ingrediant in this pot roast is pickles. I know it sounds strange, but trust me...you don't taste them and they add a wonderful flavor to the gravy. I've tried this in the oven, but have had the best results in the crock pot.

Mom's Pot Roast

2-3 slices bacon

1 t. lemon pepper

3-4 pound beef rump roast

1 can Campbells GOLDEN mushroom soup

1/2 cup chopped dill pickle
2 t. worcestershire sauce
3 medium sized potatoes (I like red potatoes with skin on)
2-3 carrots
* you will need 1 large crock pot with lid

First step is to prepare your roast. Trim off any fat that may be on the roast. Then lightly sprinkle lemon pepper evenly over the roast, rubbing in. I don't measure it, I just cover the roast lightly in the lemon pepper. Set aside the roast. In a large fry pan, cook bacon until crisp...set aside the bacon for later. With a large meat fork or tongs, set the roast down into the pan with the hot bacon grease. Cook both sides of the roast on medium/high heat until meat is browned (about 3-4 mins each side) Then set the roast down into the crock pot, setting it aside while you make the sauce.


Combine the soup, chopped dill pickle (I use a Pamp Chef food chopper for ease) and worcestershire sauce in a medium bowl.

Pour the sauce over the roast and cover. Put the crock pot on low and leave for 5 hours.

Five hours into the cooking time of the roast, it is time to add the vegies. Cut the potatoes into one inch chunks. Then peel the carrots and cut into one inch chunks. (try and get the vegies about the same size for even cooking)

Arrange the vegies around the meat and push down into the gravy. Do not over pack the crock pot with too many vegies. There needs to be enough room for everything to cook in the sauce. Put the lid back on and continue cooking or another 5 hours.

Five hours later the roast is ready to serve. The meat will be so tender it will fall apart. I chop up the reserved cooked bacon and sprinkle on top. I like to serve this with grands biscuits. This is comfort food at its best. ENJOY!

*note: If you need to leave your home and let the roast cook all day, don't add the vegies at the beginning of the cook time. The vegies will be mushy and will fall apart if they cook for 10 hours. Another alternative is to steam the vegies when you get home just prior to serving and then serve on the side with the roast, pouring gravy over the top of them. I've done it both ways.

A house becomes a home

Here are a few snap shots of our house with our things inside. I will post a few rooms at a time over the next few weeks. To see a larger view of the pics, just click on the images and the picture will enlarge. Then click on your back arrow key to return to the post. I hope you enjoy these pics of our new home. We sure love it!!

The breakfast room. The room is so large we were able to put the leaf in our farm style table and we are really enjoying it this way. Kevin did a great job painting the room a light almond. As mentioned in a previous post...most all the rooms in the house have splotchy walls with a mismatched touch up paint. This room was the worst of all of them, so I am SO happy that Kevin painted this room before our furniture arrived. My favorite part of the room is my Mom's painting to the left of the window. My Dad gave it to me a few months ago and it is my most cherished possession. Isn't it beautiful!?

Kevin did a great job painting over the gold paint and pink/purple brackets. Now they are neutral and go with the sage green tile.

The family room. We are so excited to use the fireplace this winter. This couch used to be in our living room in our other house. I put away the formal pillows and put these casual striped pillows on the couch instead. Other than the leather chairs, the big screen t.v. and other family room furniture from our other house is now in the loft. (not done decorating the loft, will picture later)

Another shot of the family room.

The dining room. This room could be used as a dining room or living room. We chose to use it as a dining room. There is not light fixture above the table, so we will have candle light meals in here!

The entry way.

A shot of the kitchen. We need bar stools!

A closer shot of part of the kitchen. I love the maple cabinets

and the sage green tile is growing on me.

It seems to go well

with my Tuscan/country decor.
The dowmstairs guest room. This bedspread ensemble was new in our last home. We thought

it worked well in this room with the brown wall. We decided to keep the window coverings as they looked fine with everything.

Another shot of the guest room. The antique dresser was in my room as a child.

The downstairs guest bathroom. We decided to keep the lavender paint when I found this matching shower curtain and towel ensemble that went well with the color. I decided that priming and repainting this wall (including the ceiling) was more work than I was interested in! I actually LOVE the way it looks now. We replaced the bamboo shade for ivory mini blinds which lightened up the whole room.

another shot of the downstairs guest bathroom.

Stay tuned for more pictures of our new home in the days and weeks to come. We have several painting projects to complete as well as applying vinyl decorations to some walls. As the projects are completed we will share them.

helpful hint

Dear Blog Readers:

Directly after the post on two new card designs you will find the wedding scrap book I made for my Dad and Polly in it's entirety. When you are scrolling down to view the pics and it stops...you will need to click on "older posts" on your bottom right hand side, which will take you to a screen with the rest of the book.

Two new card designs

Here are two cards I recently designed using all Stampin Up! supplies. Making hand stamped cards is so much fun!