Use It Up Recipe: Chicken Enchiladas

First I apologize for how unappetizing the picture looks. I made chicken noodle soup to use up a package of egg noodles. I then had chicken leftover. I also had some wheat tortillas and a bit of shredded cheese. These along with a few other ingredients became chicken enchiladas which went into the freezer for a quick meal at a later date.

I do use the term "recipe" rather loosely since I barely follow one. Here goes:

can of cream of chicken soup (I use my homemade version)

chicken broth (homemade from the freezer)

sour cream

shredded cooked chicken

bell pepper

onion

shredded cheddar cheese

tortillas

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I mix the cream of chicken soup with a few spoonfuls of sour cream. I then add in enough chicken broth to make it creamy but not runny. Keep about a cup of these separate. To the remaining mixture add the chicken, bell pepper, onion, and cheese. You can also add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon some of the chicken mixture onto a tortilla, roll up and place in an eight inch casserole dish. I normally get about five generously stuffed tortillas from this. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the tortillas. This can be topped with cheese and baked or frozen to cook later. If freezing, thaw overnight in the refrigerator first and top with cheese. I bake it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until it is bubbly.

One freezer hint if you need your dish before you are ready to bake. Line the dish with heavy duty foil before adding the tortillas. Cover tightly before placing in the freezer. Once it is frozen, remove the tin foil containing your enchiladas and place in a gallon freezer bag. Now you have your dish. The tin foil can be placed in the casserole dish when you are ready to bake. Just be sure to uncover the top.

One of My Favorite Things

I will start this post of a favorite thing by telling you one of my least favorite things - mopping the floor. We have no carpet in our house. With two people and three cats constantly in and out of the house, we have a bunch of feet tracking in dirt. I am not sure what exactly about mopping that I find so awful. I love a clean floor. I hate lugging the bucket of water around the house and waiting for the floor to dry while trying to keep all of those feet off of it. I also hate the chemical cleaners. Not mopping really is not an option although I tried to put it off as much as possible.

I set out searching for a good steam mop. That brings me to my favorite thing....the Eureka Enviro Steamer. I opted not to purchase any additional clean cloths. I am using cloths made out of old towels to supplement the two than came with the steamer. I love how clean the floor feels after I mop. I also love that the floor dries almost instantly. In fact I love the steamer enough that I have been known to mop three or four times a week.

Just for information the one thing I have always hated more than mopping is scrubbing the tub. I need to find an equally great item for cleaning the tub. If only all of those little bubbles really scrubbed the tub like they do in the commercials. Oh well, a gal can dream.

Goldfish

Earlier this week I helped DH clean out our goldfish "pond". He emptied all of the water out which meant all of the fish had to be removed as well. I worked rescue by picking up all of the goldfish and mosquito minnows as he bailed out the water. The little pond is a work in progress since late last summer.

I bought 24 tiny goldfish last year for 38 cents each. They have grown so much, and we still have all 24. The mosquito minnows were free from a neighbor's goldfish pond. We were given about eight of those and have they have multiplied into many more. We also have two catfish that DH caught. The catfish can stay until they get too big, which I am assured will take a long time. All of the fish are happy to be back in their cleaner home.

Easter Cupcakes

My mom and I hosted the church Easter egg hunt this year. We always provide a simple meal for everyone. I made cupcakes. I ended up making 48 cupcakes. I bought two cakes mixes with a coupon and also a container of chocolate frosting. The other frosting was from the freezer and had been leftover after making my cousin's birthday cake. I did buy the bunny Easter picks and had the flower picks left from another year.

I prefer to make a butter recipe cake mix with real butter. I also used fresh eggs from my parents' chickens. I ended up using Bantam eggs, which are smaller than regular eggs but taste just as good.

Men's NCAA Basketball Champs

I am a big Duke fan. I love them when they lose, but it is so much more fun when they win. I have a ritual each year. Every November before basketball season starts I paint my toes blue and white. Unless the team loses two games in a row, I just add another coat of polish on top as they chip. A good year is when my toes are still blue and white in April. This is a great year!!

I am a Duke fan because of Coach Mike Krzyzewski. About 18 years ago I had the honor of meeting him at the Atlanta Tip-Off Club. He was kind, patient, and really nice. He made such an impression on me that if Duke had never won another game I would have been a fan. Fortunately he is not only a wonderful person but also a wonderful coach. Congratulations to the National Champions Duke and Coach K!

The Cats.....Again

I am sure everyone gets tired of seeing my cats, but they are always around and really do love to be photographed. I wish you could have seen Lucy who actually smoothed her fur down before she settled into her pose.

Here is the little diva.

Paris is not so concerned with her appearance.

Happy Easter!

I have been very busy in the yard since the weather here has warmed up. Be sure to visit my gardening blog for more about that. I did put up my Easter/spring decorations recently so I will share a couple of photos of the porch.

First up is a photo of the main display. The other side of the door looks the same without the wreath. The stand with eggs was left from Christmas. Dh suggested I leave them out and decorated them throughout the year. I used ribbon and attached plastic eggs. The pots have a sad looking Boston fern, a coleus, and a Japanese painted fern.

Here is a better picture of the wreath. It is a grapevine wreath that I already had. I wired on some white flower garlands leftover from another wreath. The butterflies are also leftover. I wanted something spring-y that I could leave up for several months.