Table for 5

January 06, 2009

Chicken Enchilada's

This recipe I got from my sister Bridgette!

My dear, sweet husband Kent made this for us last night which might give those that know him a heart attack because he NEVER makes anything from scratch. If you can't pull it out of the freezer and stick it in the oven he doesn't make it!

He was such a sweetheart to help me because I was so busy re-writing my essay for my English class that was due yesterday. I realized as I was ready to start my conclusion that I wrote the whole thing wrong so I had to start over.

In the midst of my cramming to finish my paper I completely forgot to take a picture. So I will try to remember to take a picture next time I make these and attach it here. This recipe is very yummy and most of my kids (the ones who don't decide that they don't like it before they've even tried it) loved it!

Easy Chicken Enchilada's

(I finally got that picture taken)

2-3 lbs. cooked & cubed chicken

3-4 cans of cream of chicken soup

1 pint sour cream

30 corn tortilla's-approx

1/2 c. salsa

shredded cheese (a lot~you can never have too much cheese!)

1 can olives, optional

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix soup, sour cream, salsa and olives together until well blended, then add cooked chicken. I cube and cook my chicken in a skillet on the stove, adding my favorite seasoning that has no MSG in it, Mrs. Dash! This is your sauce! Layer corn tortilla's in a 9x13 pan (I cut mine into quarters first~I don't really know why that's just how my mom taught me to make enchilada's ~actually they do fit in the pan better this way). Then layer sauce all over the tortillas, then a thin layer of cheese. Continue to layer until the pan is 3/4 full! Make sure to add a good amount of cheese on top. Bake at 350° for 30 min. or until cheese is melted.

It's best to add your own homemade salsa, but store bought works well too!

January 04, 2009

Menu Plan Monday

There's a great site called I'm an Organizing Junkie that I got this great idea from. Once a week you plan your menu for the week.

I actually plan out a month's worth at a time. This has been a great way to prepare a shopping list & has saved us money shopping for groceries. It helps me not buy a lot of things that we don't need. I've been doing this for a few months & have been posting them on my private family blog, but I thought you all might like to see it here as well.

This is the way that I organize my menu planning. I use Google calendar, & type in at 6pm (which is the time we usually eat dinner) on each day what is on the menu for dinner that night. When I know there is a concert, soccer meet or other event that night then I will schedule it earlier. This helps me know when I need to start dinner to have it ready on time as well. I usually keep my calendar from the previous month, so I can space out how often we have each meal. I do a different type of meal each day of the week (see below). Then I actually go through & do all the menu's for Monday, then all for Tuesday, etc., so I can better keep track of the type's of meals we are having & don't repeat the same thing too often. After I've filled in the whole month I print out my calendar! If you don't want to do a whole month just print a blank calendar out & then you can pencil in each week at a time. I keep my calendar on the side of the fridge!

Our different type's of meals for each day of the week:
Monday~Mexican
Tuesday~Pasta
Wednesday~something fast & easy (this is our extra busy day, so we do something like chicken nuggets, pot pies--usually frozen & not homemade).
Thursday~chicken (chicken as the main dish)
Friday~pizza (a different type of pizza dish each week: homemade pizza, calzone's, etc.)
Saturday~ "Other" (this will be anything that doesn't fall in the other catagories, like Navajo tacos).

I have a list of all the different meals that fall under each of these catagories (at least all the one's my family will eat). See my list below. I hope this might help you get started! The ones that are highlighted in a different color are linked to the recipe! I'll try to add the recipes for those that need them as I make them!

Mexican: Grandma's enchilada's, taco's, taco salad, quesadilla's, fajita's, spaghetti sauce casserole, chicken enchilada's, chicken taco's, Southwest Taco Pie, tostada's.

Pasta: fettucine alfredo, spaghetti, lazy lasagna, tuna casserole, homemade chicken noodle soup, bow tie alfredo, chicken spaghetti, cheesy chicken tortellini, chicken alfredo, chicken lasagna alfredo.

Fast: chicken nuggets/fish sticks, fried chicken, frozen pizza, chili, pot pies, hot dogs, chicken salad sandwiches.

Chicken: yogurt chicken, grilled chicken, Monday Night Chicken, chicken & rice casserole, chicken enchilada ring, soy sauce marinated chicken.

Pizza: homemade pizza, family style calzone, english muffin pizza, pepperoni pizza twist.

Other: Navajo taco's, grilled cheese sandwiches, beef stew, breakfast (cheesy hashbrown casserole, chili relleno's), potato cheese soup, baked potato bar, mock taco's, chili, hot dogs/hamburgers on the grill.

Sides: veggies, funeral potato's, oven roasted potato's, rice, cornbread, dinner rolls, homemade tortilla chips, garlic bread, french fries, tater tots, roasted potato wedges, cheesy hashbrowns, salad, fried seasoned potatos, cinnamon chips.

So here is my menu for this week:
Monday~~chicken enchilada & homemade tortilla chips
Tuesday~~lazy lasagna & garlic bread
Wednesday~~hot dogs & french fries (easy, no recipe here)
Thursday~~baked potato bar
Friday~~homemade pizza
Saturday~~yogurt chicken & funeral potato's
Sunday~~extended family potluck

If you have any questions please feel free to post a comment here.

January 03, 2009

Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole

1 (20 oz.) bag of Simply Potato Hashbrowns (or any other thawed hashbrowns)

1 (10-3/4 oz.) can of cream of chicken soup

8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

3/4 c. sour cream

1/4 c. garlic powder

salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mix in the hashbrowns last. Place in a greased 2 qt. baking dish & sprinkle more cheese all over the top. Bake at 450 for 30 min. Enjoy!

We are having this dish tonight so I'll add the picture later!

Potato Cheese Soup

8 medium sized potato's

1 cup of broth

4 or 5 chopped green onions or 1 med. yellow onion

1 Tbs. parsley

1 cup cheddar cheese

1 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. garlic powder or salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1-1/2 c. milk

2 Tbs. bacon (I use the Hormel Real crumbled Bacon Bits)

salt to taste

Peel & cube potato's, then boil until they are soft. Then I put this into my crock pot (on high) & add the rest of the ingredients. You can continue to cook this in a pot but I like to put it in the crock pot so I don't have to stir it as often. If you leave it in a pot on the stove you need to stir every few minutes so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. In the crock pot let it simmer for about an hour until everything is mixed well & it looks creamy. It should start to thicken & smell very yummy. Enjoy! You can add celery to this mix if you like.

Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Spaghetti

(this recipe is from our sis Kristi!)

3-4 chicken breasts (cooked)

1 pkg. spaghetti (cooked)

1 lg. can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cheddar cheese soup

shredded cheddar cheese

salt & pepper to taste

You can substitue any cream soups for the ones listed above. My family doesn't like mushrooms so I just added another small can of cream of chicken to substitute for the mushroom soup.

Boil the spaghetti as directed. Cut the chicken into cubes, cooked them in a pan on the stove & seasoned with Lawry's chicken/poultry seasoning or any of your favorite seasoning. While spaghetti & chicken are cooking, in a large bowl mix all the soups together, add some salt & pepper for more flavoring & about 1/2 cup. of cheddar cheese.

When chicken & spaghetti are finished cooking add them to the soup mixture. Then pour about half of this mixture in a 9x13 pan & sprinkle cheese over, then add the rest of the mixture & sprinkle more cheese over the top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

I advise you not to do what I did and accidently buy the Fiesta Nacho Cheese soup, instead of the cheddar cheese soup. The nacho taste really didn't appeal to anyone in our family although they have loved this recipe when my sil, Kristi has made it for family dinners, so I'm pretty sure it was that nacho flavor that we didn't like.

December 21, 2008

My Christmas cards (Rachelle's)

These are my Christmas cards this year. I usually do all of mine the same, but I decided to use printed paper & didn't have enough of one so I did 3 different versions. I really haven't had time to do the work that I usually put into my cards & I wanted to keep them very simple anyway! I ended up making 60 cards this year!

December 19, 2008

This Year's Christmas Cards!

Hello All!

I make my Christmas cards every year, it's fun and it saves me tons of money, plus they are much cuter than anything you can purchase in the store.

So each year I pick 3 or 4 different style of cards, then duplicate each card 30-40 times, I usually make about 100 cards.

Here are this years creations:

Tea-n-Hot Cocoa

I love Peppermint Tea before I go to bed, it helps me sleep

I also love Hot Cocoa, with Peppermint Stick in it.

So I just tried this last night. I steeped myself a mug of Herbal Peppermint Tea, let it sit for a minute, then squeezed the bag and tossed it. Then added 1 packet of Cocoa to my mug of tea and stired. It was way different then adding the Candy Cane to the Cocoa but it tasteded great and it didn't have the added sugar from the candy that I don't need, plus I get the benefit of the Herbal tea.

So If you like tea and you like Cocoa, you must try your favorites together!
Its really great on a cold night!

If you don't like tea, you can also try Peppermint Extract -Or Your favorite flavor in an extract - get the Flavor without the sugar!

December 05, 2008

Cookies & More Galore!

Hello all, Bridgette here!

My friend Keith from VA sent me this list of hyperlinks for all different types of cookie recipes.
I thought that it was just about the coolest thing so I thought I'd share it will all y'all!

There are seriously a lot of cookies here, if you click on the hyperlink of one that sounds good to you it will pull up the website with the recipe.

You can bake to your hearts content!