Fish Fingers

I made fish sticks for dinner last night. It was so easy and healthy since they are baked. The kids really liked the "Fish Fingers" as they insisted on calling them. It was a little salty, so I would say you can cut down or even cut out the salt in the breading because you'll get probably enough from the sauce/ketchup. My husband and I used a sweet chili sauce and it was quite tasty!

Honey Lime Green Chile Enchiladas

Apparently I started to blog it and I was just waiting for myself to upload a photo. Here's the recipe! : )

Ok, so it took longer than I intended for me to post this, but I am doing it! :) here is a recipe for some yummy enchiladas with a twist. Any kind of meat works, even just boiled chicken breast. I used leftovers from the pork I mentioned in the previous post and it was DELICIOUS! The only thing is, you have to remember that the meat needs to marinate. It really makes a difference.

Ingredients:

Marinade:
6 T honey
5 T lime juice
1 T chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Enchiladas:
1 lb chicken, cooked and shredded
8-10 flour tortillas
1 lb Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
19 oz can green enchilada sauce
1 c heavy cream

Directions:
Whisk the first four ingredients and toss with shredded chicken in a Zip-Loc bag. Let it marinate in the fridge for at least a 1/2 hour, but preferably a half day or so.

Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan. Fill the tortillas with chicken and cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Put rolled tortillas in 9x13 pan as you go. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and any leftover marinade (I usually don't have any left). Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. At this point you can freeze the dish or bake at 350* for 30 minutes, until brown and crispy on top. ENJOY!

Genious!

Ok, ok! I promise I *will* get around to posting that enchilada recipe. I have to find it first. We're in the middle of moving across the country. We made it to the other side but now we're stuck in corporate housing while we find permanent housing so I don't have any of my stuff. Stuff that I didn't realize how much I loved until I didn't have it. Like my kitchen stuff. Ok, so maybe I knew how much I loved that stuff ; ) Anyways, my daughter got a puzzle. She's 3. She's not very good at keeping things together like my older son. I think the system I have been using for his puzzles will come in handy for her. We've never had to actually use it for him. I know she's going to mix all the pieces together and won't it be oh so fun to sort them all out??? Here's my solution.

So we assign each puzzle a number, letter, symbol, word... whatever they want. Then we write that on the box and the back of the puzzle pieces so if (when) they all get jumbled together it's not an impossible task. Simple but SO useful! : )

Whoa! Has it REALLY been that long??

So I'm looking at my last post and I see that it was nearly 1 1/2 years ago. Whoops! Well, I'm back. We have 3 children now, and we are also dealing with a coast-to-coast relocation which has left me as a single parent for 6 months now. Ok, so I'm done making excuses as to why I haven't blogged. It's just been busy :) I'm proud to say that I am still cooking "real" meals for my children, even though it would be SO easy to get away with chicken nuggets and grilled cheese. This week I only cooked twice and it lasted me 4 dinners. Here's how I started:

On Tuesday, I made shredded pork wraps in the slow cooker. This is by FAR the easiest meal. You need a 2 lb pork tenderloin, 2T corn starch and 1 cup of salsa. Mix the 2T corn starch with 1/4 cup of the salsa. Spread in the bottom of your slow cooker. Place the pork on top of that and pour the remaining 3/4 cup of salsa over the pork. Cook on low for 6-8 hours and shred with 2 forks when done. Serve with tortillas and any fixings your family likes. I cut up bell pepper and avocado and also served with shredded cheese and more salsa.

I discovered the beauty of the slow cooker bag this week!!! Omigoodness, where have I been??? I cooked the shredded pork in a slow cooker bag. When it was done, I lifted the bag out of the slow cooker and just shredded the meat while it was still in the bag. The only thing I had to wash was the slow cooker lid! I immediately went out and bought 2 more boxes of the bags so I'm sure to not run out :)

My next blog will be about how I turned the shredded pork into honey lime green chile enchiladas. YUMMY!!

Score!

I LOVE shopping. But I have zero tolerance for clearance racks. After my last find though, I think I should spend a little more time scouring. We are expecting baby #3 (another boy) and while I have saved my older son's clothes, if the seasons and sizes don't match up, I will pretty much have nothing for the first year or two. My first son was born during a heat wave summer, so he was only wearing onesies for the first few months. The past few summers have been pretty chilly though, so I have been keeping my eye out for long sleeve/warmer clothing for our new son. Here's what I found; and all for only $6!! My tip: shop off-season, and wait for for sales where you can stack coupons. Happy shopping!

Homemade Mac & Cheese

This is quickly becoming a recipe blog. LOL! But HEY I'm posting something! :)
I always make my kids homemade mac and cheese. They love it, and to me, it's just as easy if not easier than the boxed kind. And it's definitely better for them. Here is a very easy recipe for creamy mac & cheese:

1 box pasta (my kids love shells, but I use whatever we have. Rigatoni, penne and elbows have worked)
2 cups shredded cheese (whatever you have on hand is fine. Mild or sharp cheddar (depending on what your family likes) works the best, but I have also been in a pinch and used mexican blend cheese, or a mix of cheeses to get rid of those pesky bags in the fridge.)
1 can evaporated milk (you can substitute low-fat)
1 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, you can always dish out for the kids first and then add this in for the adults)

Boil pasta per instructions on box. Drain and return pasta to pot.
Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.

* Like baked mac & cheese? Cook pasta al dente and follow instructions above. Add 1 egg to the pot. Put pasta into baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs. You can even dot with butter if you like. Bake at 350* until golden and bubbly. This is fun to do in individual dishes if you have them.

ENJOY! :)

Homemade Raviolis!

See, I told you I was going to be horrible at this blogging thing :) But I also promised to post things I thought you would enjoy. I made some homemade (ok, well "homemade" since I didn't make the pasta from scratch) raviolis that the family really enjoyed. Hopefully yours will too!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup frozen spinach (thawed and water squeezed out)
1/2 cup white kidney (cannellini) beans (drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
2 T shredded parmesean cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1 garlic clove
1 pkg won ton wrappers (we like the thick ones, but you can use any kind you like)

Combine ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth (1-2 minutes).
Place about 1/2 tsp of filling on the won ton wrapper.
Wet edges and fold in half and press edges to seal.
Boil gently for about 2 minutes. We take them out when they are floating, but it will depend on how you like it cooked.

You can eat as is, with parmesean cheese sprinkled on top, or serve with your favorite sauce. The kids love this and so do mom & dad. Enjoy!