The Whole Enchilada

I love Enchiladas...and limes!

I love Mexican food!
I love limes in my Mexican food!


This is our Cinco de Mayo last year...I took pictures but never got around to doing a Cinco de Mayo post. It was yummy! I forget how I made the Enchiladas that day...



Enchiladas
Cornbread with cilantro-butter


I've also been loving variations of black bean salsa or pico de gallo - sometimes with avocado.

Again...It's all about the limes!

Oh ... and I discovered...since I was making up my recipe - for the best taste I use more salt than I'd expect.

5-6 roma tomatoes
1/2 to 1 onion
bunch of cilantro
1/2 to 1 jalepeno
juice of 1/2 to 1 lime
salt to taste

can add
2-3 chopped avocados
1 can rinsed black beans
corn

So..I've been making modified versions of enchiladas for a while now. The old cream of chicken enchiladas were getting a little old on me. So I've experimented with my own fillings, black beans, cilantro, tomatoes...and toppings...I've used red enchilada sauce that I'll mix with sour cream or green enchilada sauce/sour cream ...trying to figure out how I really like it. Then I stumbled upon this recipe on My Kitchen Cafe that had adapted it from Sisters Cafe Blog and printed it out a while ago. Well I finally got around to making it on Monday! We were having the Sister Missionaries over for dinner and I had most of the stuff so I got started, even though one of our Sister Missionaries is from El Salvador ~ made me nervous to make Mexican food for her! BUT she said she loves Mexican food and really liked it and even asked for the recipe so I think I passed somewhat of a test:)


My version of ~~~
original versions in the links....
My Kitchen Cafe

My Sister's Cafe
Honey Lime Enchiladas
Marinade:
1/3 c honey
1/4 c lime juice
1 Tb chili powder
2 tsp fresh garlic

Sauce on top:
2 (10 oz) cans green enchilada sauce (next time I am going to try the Herdez Salsa Verde instead - still experimenting)
1/2 cup cream or sour cream
*I also added lime juice

16 soft taco size flour tortilla

Inside:

4 Chicken Breasts or 1-2 lb pork shredded(next time I'm going to cook pork in a crock-pot with the sauce...I. can't. wait! This time I just sauteed the chopped chicken in the marinade...and it was delish.)
1 can of black beans (drained) (my addition)

2 roma tomatoes chopped(my addition)

combine the meat, beans, tomatoes.

1 lb. grated Colby Jack Cheese, or Monterrey Jack Cheese or Cheddar. I used Med. Cheddar because I had it on hand...I want to use Colby Jack or Monterrey Jack next time...

Lightly spray 2 pans with non-stick baking spray. Pour green enchilada sauce into pans to coat the entire bottom. Fill tortillas with shredded meat and desired amount of cheese. Roll and place in dish.
Pour remainder of sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle more cheese on top. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then turn on broiler and place enchiladas nearer the top of oven. Let it broil until cheese is slightly brown and crispy.


Well, I'm still not finished experimenting....but I really loved this recipe and am always in the hunt for a good dinner recipe, so I thought I'd share!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

From 2010_02_27

It was my Grandma Dot's birthday so we thought she'd enjoy seeing some videos of the boys!

click on the photo...it should pull up a video...

home baseball practice...a nightly ritual.

From 2010_02_27

From 2010_02_27

Game with grandpa ~ he traps them and Kyle tries to save.

From 2010_02_27

From 2010_02_27

Erkel? Sean wearing Ryan's pj pants

We were trying to get video of Kyle making his gun noises ~ less than two ~ but learns lots from those older brothers!

From 2010_02_27

Date Night

Spinach and Artichoke Dip.

YUM!

~One of our faves~

Recipe thanks again to Julie!

A blog post about nothing...

try to connect them into a Seinfeld show and this post might be more entertaining...really it's just randomness.

Here is a boy (Karate Kid) who exclaims one evening..."I just caught a fly with my bare hands!"

Skeptical mom beckons him closer to prove it...Yep...still in those little fingers!

He claims he saw it and batted it with his hand mid air knocking it down to the stairs. Before it could realize what happened, he grabbed it and came to show off his catch.

Wierd. He was told to flush it and wash with lots of soap!


This next boy said to me a few days ago, "Mom, I'm really glad I'm me and not a pig."

Me: "Oh Sean, i'm so glad too!"

Sean: "Why?"

the rest of the conversation included lots of giggles.

Sean has a scar on his chin from falling off of a bar stool in our kitchen, chin first onto the floor. I saw it all happen...he wasn't even really sitting on the chair. He was getting onto the chair but didn't make it to sitting before he continued face first down the other side. I was nervous at first we were headed to the ER, but after cleaning it it was very shallow but deep. Daddy came home with a magic bandaid (Butterfly) and it healed pretty quick.

Baseball season has started again. Coach Scott is back!

So are mosquitos. See the huge red bite on Kyle's cheek? It's been there for 2 weeks now! I think he must be allergic or something. But they also really love him! Even after covering him with bug spray he got bit at our last practice again!

Argh.

On a cute note...this was really cute. Sean would hold the mitt open and close it really fast when I pitched the ball for them. What a nice brother to help Kyle play catch! They had a lot of fun doing this. Kyle would squeal each time they caught a ball.

We had a lovely and yummy Valentines Day. Our church was really early (8:30) so we had a yummy brunch after church.

Menus:

After church brunch: {My Valentine's favorites}

Mango Peach Orange Juice,

French Toast (made with Sacramento Sour Dough Bread - the only way to go!),

homemade Lemon Buttermilk Syrup,

homemade whip cream,

and Strawberries.

Dinner:

Omaha Steak Bacon~wrapped Filet's ~ peppered and cooked to perfection by my Valentine

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Salad with Candied walnuts, strawberries, green onions, feta cheese, balsalmic Vinagrette {my favorite!}

Butter and Parmesean topped Broccoli

Dessert:

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie in ramekin Pizzokie

with Cookies and Cream or Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream on top

***We were in such a food coma the kids had to stay up late to eat dessert because we just couldn't eat it any earlier!

Happy Valentines Day!

Buttermilk Syrup recipe (from my fabulous friend Jules' Mudpie Gourmet)

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk (can subsitute regular milk w/ 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar--let sit 5 minutes)
1 T light corn syrup
Combine ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Combine.
Add 2 teaspoons orange or lemon zest, if desired.

* I've also added Cinnamon which is my kids favorite. They think the lemon tastes like lemon bars. These syrups are also fantastic with Wheat pancakes...I don't have the recipe I use here now...but Ryan thinks they are the best ever. Julie at Mudpie Gourmet has a Wheat and Yogurt Pancake recipe which I've never tried because I don't usually have plain yogurt around. I'd like to compare though:) Also my friend Kristen's family has a whole wheat pancake recipe they make in a blender using the pre gound wheat berries. It is awesome. I need Kris to come make me some of that and wheat bread and pasole. mmm!!!!

Our new trail

One of my favorite things to do is taking a family walk. We loved the trail by our old house...something I really didn't want to leave. So when we were looking to buy a house in a different area, I was delighted to find out there were awesome trails there too!

We've been very busy painting inside our house ~ which coordinated with sick kids and rainy weather for a few weekends. However last weekend was beautiful and we all needed a break from home improvements!

I guess this day it wasn't so much of a walk but more of skateboarding, biking, skooter, and me running to catch up with everyone else on wheels. It was a lot of fun to watch my husband skateboard! I'd never seen him skate for so long!

We've yet to see an Egret on our walk even though there are many perfect places for them. But I see two -four Egrets on a regular drive towards Roseville daily. The kids are trained spotters. I even saw a Great Blue Heron the other day - though it was harder to see since it's color matched the day and I was trying to drive!

Have a great weekend! I wish I was in Virginia to drink Hot Chocolate while the snow fell tongiht and go sledding tomorrow once it stops! Good luck Virginians!