Beef Enchiladas

This is a Taste of Home recipe that another blogger posted (betterislittle.com). After trying it tonight, we all loved it. A different take on our usual chicken enchiladas and the sauce was a cinch.



1 lb. ground beef
1 c. cottage cheese
1 can (4 1/4 oz.) chopped ripe olives, drained (optional - I didn't use)
2 T. parsley
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
8 flour tortillas (6 inches)
1 c. (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese

Brown hamburger in skillet. Drain. Add parsley, garlic powder, salt & pepper. Then add cottage cheese and olives.

Place about 1/3 c. filling on each tortilla; roll up. Place tortillas, seam side down, in an ungreased 9x13 baking dish. Pour sauce (see below for enchilada sauce) over the tortillas. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and return to oven for 5 min. or until cheese melts.

Enchilada Sauce:
1 med. onion, chopped (I just used dried)
1/2 med. green pepper, chopped (I didn't use)
1 T. vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce (I had a 16 oz. can and could have used a little more)
1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies (I didn't use)
2 t. chili powder
1/2 t. garlic powder
1 c. (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese

For sauce, saute the onion & green pepper in oil until tender in another. Add tomato sauce, green chilies, chili powder and garlic powder.

With not using the green pepper or green chilies the sauce was real close to the one I have bought in the past for the chicken enchiladas. So simple too!

I guess I overfilled the tortillas cause I only had enough for 7 tortillas. Guess that happens when you don't follow the recipe! :)

Thank-You

Uncle Dave, Aunt Katie, Cohen & Titus:
We put on our shirts from Costa Rica last night so we could finally take a pic to say thanks. We love them!
Love, Lindsay, Brooke & Ryan

btw- HaPpY BiRtHdAy U. DAVE!

Doug grilled artichokes & chicken last night. We owe our artichoke recipe to Phil's Fish Market. They never gave it to us but we think we have it pretty close. Balsamic vinegar is the secret ingredient with some garlic and olive oil. So good!

It looks like watermelon was the choice appetizer! Can't keep their little fingers out of it!

Sometimes I don't like that I am never in our pics since I am always taking them. But I am glad you didn't have to see my nose and lips all smeared in this one. Now that would have been scary!

Here's to great family moments!

Kitchen and Laundrey

Here are the pics as promised. If only my counters would look this tidy all the time!



A view towards my laundrey room



I love all my new cabinets in here.



The 1 week project (so I thought) became a 2 1/2 week project.

moving everything out of the cupboards...
removing the tile...
the sanding...
the priming...
the painting...
the cleaning up...
moving everything back in the cupboards...

But it was so worth it.

Updating the Kitchen and Laundrey Room

See what we have been working on lately? Painting walls is one thing, painting cupboards is another. Tedious, time consuming and so worth the effort. The finished product is in my camera awaiting upload. Pics coming soon...


Sorry about the blinding object in Dougs pic. I am not even sure what it is but that happens sometimes when you leave the photography to the kids.



My little helpers...



If you want to nap around here you have to put yourself in bed or get as close as you can!



Brooke finished school last friday. Hip Hip Hooray! She baked a batch of choco chip cookies, read a book, and mowed the lawn on the first afternoon off. Whew! I am not sure how I will keep up with her this summer. Maybe with her energy and help I might get caught up on things around here. Now that would be a nice change...to be caught up.



We plan to go swimming today and then enjoy hamburgers, hotdogs, french fries, pasta salad, & watermelon with family. Sounds like summertime to me!

Happy Memorial Day!

Vacation

The beginnings of a vacation week! We are doing a whole lot of nothing so far. I had my wisdom teeth pulled last wednesday and have been laying pretty low. Hopefully in a couple days it will get more exciting around here. I am up for jury duty wednesday, now that could be exciting. But I really am hopeful that my number won't get called and I won't have to go in. We were super busy the past few weeks and then my teeth got pulled and suddenly I was doing NOTHING and laying on the couch. Abrubt changes can mess me up. :) I feel unprepared for the nothing that is going on right now. I am sure this doesn't make much sense since its starting to not make sense to me either.

Ryan started t-ball this year. Everybody plays, everybody wins, everybody is happy in t-ball.
Thought I would share a pic of a very happy t-ball boy.





Brooke is playing softball again too. She wasn't sure if she wanted to again but is glad she did. From being afraid of catching a fly ball last year to getting 3 outs at first last saturday at a practice game, it sure is fun to see her conquer any fears of a softball.

And we have 5 weeks left of school after this week. I am really looking forward to this summer. We don't have any big plans but then again we don't usually make them to far ahead.

Enjoy your week and dwelling on the blessings of a RISEN SAVIOR! OUR GOD, He is Alive!

Tilapia with Jasmine Rice

This recipe is a hit at our house! And if you have never tried jasmine rice, you should! It has a sweet appealing flavor that we have come to love! I doubled this recipe for our family and it was plenty. The filets I buy at Costco are pretty big so 4 filets was enough for us. We don't usually do leftover fish but Doug did finish the small leftover 1/2 as a fish taco the next day and said it was good! We are also big fans of marinating chicken in Italian salad dressing and grilling it so I knew everything in this recipe would work for us. The best part? Dinner was on the table in no time and without much effort on my part. This is all the bigger the pic would get from tasteofhome.com/healthycooking. :)

3/4 c. water

1/2 c. uncooked jasmine rice

1 1/2 t. butter

1/4 t. ground cumin

1/4 t. seafood seasoning (optional, if you have it in your spice cupboard)

1/4 t. pepper

1/8 t. salt

2 tilapia filets

1/4 c. prepared fat-free Italian salad dressing (this is supposed to be a healthy dish but you don't have to use fat free and we think the packets you mix yourself taste better than buying the dressing already mixed)

1. In a large saucepan, bring the water, rice & butter to a boil. Reduce heat; cover & simmer for 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. (you can just prepare jasmine rice according to package)

2. Combine the seasonings; sprinkle over the fillets. Place salad dressing in a large skillet; cook over medium heat until heated through. Add fish; cook for 3-4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with rice.

San Francisco

I love this stage of life we are in right now. In fact if I could freeze time for a while I would. Life feels full and busy as we strive to raise these 3 kids and keep them learning and growing in the grace of God but it is so rewarding too! Just seeing the world through their eyes and then hearing about it too! It is great having that relationship with our kids and it helps us understand our relationship with Christ even more so!

Note: I don't dread the teenage years necessarily but I really want to enjoy this stage just in case! :)

A couple weeks ago we woke up and decided we wanted to take a day trip and so we settled on San Francisco. Everyone got dressed, we packed a light lunch, threw in our sweatshirts and we were off.

Lunch at a small beach close to the Golden Gate Bridge



On the beach - even though the sun was shining beautifully it was quite windy. We were enjoying our sweatshirts right then!

Watching the sail boats go gliding by

Climbing on the rocks



We left the beach and headed to Pier 39. We walked the pier up the backside and came back up the middle. The seals are on the backside and draw a big crowd. With their barking and an argument between one or two it can be a fun time! There are quite a few of these docks full of seals lounging in the sun.

We rode the carousel, got icecream on homeade waffle cones, watched the daily talent show, checked a few more things out and then decided it was time to head on out. The kids remembered getting their picture taken with this seal before and so we stopped here a little while to let them play and Doug and I just people watched (San Francisco - where you never run out of people or people to watch :)

Beautiful spring flowers in the planter behind us

On the way out of the city we drove down Lombard Street (aka the crookedest street) just to say we did it again. Doug was trying to go fast between each turn and the kids were loving it but he had to keep stopping every little bit since there was a cautious driver in front of us - braking at each turn and waiting - we soon realized he was waiting for the driver in front of him to completely clear the next downhill stretch. :p Maybe his brakes were bad, maybe his wife was making him be cautious, some things we will never know. I think next time we need to walk down it and let Doug pick us up at the bottom, maybe then they will realize exactly what Lombard Street is.

There is so much to do in this city and all around it. You can't do it all in one day. There is the Golden Gate Bridge, Exploritorium, Planeterium, SF Zoo, Alcatraz, Bike Ride around Angel Island, Coit Tower, Fishermens Wharf, Cable Cars, Chinatown, Golden Gate Park, Shopping, just to name a few things I have on our list. Things I have done and want them to experience. One thing for sure - I am just glad I don't have to live there every day in all the traffic and tight spaces.

Turkey Picadillo Tacos

I enjoy trying new recipes and the blogs I read are mainly to do with easy meals made from scratch and meals on a budget. My folder of "to try" recipes keeps growing and there is not enough time to try them all. But I love having that folder as a resource. This particular recipe came out of the magazine Family Circle.



Turkey Picadillo Tacos

1 T. vegetable oil
1 med. onion, chopped
1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
1/2 t. garlic salt
1/2 t. gr. Cinnamon
1/4 t. gr. cumin
1/4 t. ground allspice
1/4 t. pepper
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
18 hard shell tacos (we use small corn tortillas)
1 can (11 oz.) Mexicorn or plain corn, drained (I use frozen corn)
Garnish: shredded cheese, cilantro, sour cream, & shredded lettuce

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees to heat hard shells or to cook your corn tortillas. You can cook them while doing your ground turkey and place in tin foil to keep warm until ready to eat or start them in step 3. It always depends on how much time I have till dinner needs to be on the table.

2. The original recipe says to Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat to cook your ground turkey in. I don't cook my ground turkey in oil. Ever. So eliminating the oil is easy for me and I go right to cooking the ground turkey with dried onion flakes. Whatever suits your fancy. So...Add onion and ground turkey; cook for 7-8 minutes until onion is tender and and turkey is no longer pink. Stir in garlic salt, cinnamon, cumin, allspice, pepper and tomato sauce. Simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Heat taco shells or corn tortillas. To do corn tortillas; place tin foil sheets down on middle rack. Lay corn tortillas out individually (I usually get 12 in my oven). Flip them every 3-4 minutes as this will help cook each side evenly. You kind of have to guess when they look and feel done. Too soon and they will not taste good, too long and they will get hard and not fold in half for your taco shape. (These are also delicious with a little butter & salt right out of the oven or off the grill which is what Doug likes to snack on while out grilling.)

4.Add corn to ground turkey mixture and heat about 2 minutes. Frozen corn may take a little bit longer.

5. To serve, spoon 1/3 c. mixture in shell and garnish with lettuce, sour cream, cilantro and cheese. Doug and I skip the lettuce (our kids don't like it) and pile high the cilantro! They say you either really like or really dislike cilantro...we really LIKE it around here.

You might think the ingredients sound strange but we can't get enough of them. Be sure to let me know what you think!

Off to the Races

Awana Groups usually do a derby car race at some point during the year. This is our first year in Awanas thus our first year to do a derby car race! You can design the block of wood into the design of your choice, thrown on some paint, attach the wheels, add stickers, etc. and your good to go as long as you keep it under a certain weight specification. That is the approach we took. After signing in, weighing in and then heading over to the table to place the cars Doug and I soon realized alot more time and thought had been put into some of the cars. Creativity and competition go a long way in this race and it was fun to see what all the cars looked like!







Ryans needed drilling out to get the weight down to limit. See the "Handy Manny" Toolbox car sitting on the tail gate? I told you there was creativity going on here! He was drilling out the entire inside and I am not sure if he ever got it down in weight enough to race but I think it won a ribbon for "show".

I thought the "raceway" was pretty cool!

And in the end if you didn't win a trophy you still got to go get cookies and I am thinking a cookie is better than a trophy any day! Ryan didn't really agree with me since he BADLY wanted a trophy - "sigh" he has lots to learn in the world of what is fair and square!

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a Valentine's Dinner at home tonight. On the menu was stuffed manicotti, salad, broccoli, bagels toasted in the oven with butter & garlic salt, chocolate dipped strawberries and sparkling cider - which my kids think is so grown up to drink. Since we were trying to create somewhat of a Valentine's dinner we got out candles and then I remembered I had gotten rid of those candle holders "that we never have used since we got them at our wedding". I scrambled to make holders with leaves & champagne glasses. It worked for me. Brooke wanted to put the "sparkling cider" in a bucket with ice and now I am left wondering where did she learn that?

So back to our evening...did I mention the attire? Some came in sweats, some with uncombed hair and some without shoes but it was still a pretty nice evening. I did spend some time in the kitchen, there was no busboy to clean up the dirty dishes but...I do have leftovers for lunch tomorrow and that works for me since tomorrow is sunday. I love doing leftovers for sunday lunch. I actually get a day of rest for the most part!



And just in case you hadn't thought too much about chocolate covered strawberries...I will leave you with this.