July 17, 2011- Chicken Enchiladas

This morning Ben flew off to Maine for a week of business meetings.  My goal for the week is to keep Katie busy and happy.  I guess that should be my goal every week, but it is most important without Ben to back up my lack of patience at the end of each day.  My strategy is to limit the battles I pick with Katie to those things that will lead to someone or something being hurt or damaged, behaviors that we never stand for, and blatant defiance.  As far as food goes, I'm going to let her dictate what she wants to eat.  It will definitely make my life easier this week.  The last thing I want is for Ben to come home to a cranky, exhausted wife.

For dinner, I reheated the left over enchilada from earlier this week.  I sat Katie on my lap and let her be in charge of the fork as much as possible.  She "helped" me cut it into small bites and even let her feed me a couple times.  She thought that was a hoot.  In the end, we were both full and still happy.  Great! 

July 15, 2011- Chicken Enchiladas

I make enchiladas for the first time tonight.  I didn't do much research before deciding to try this.  They weren't bad, but I definitely could work on improving them.  If you have any great techniques or recipes you like for enchiladas, please send them my way:)  While he's never made them for me before, Ben told me during dinner that he usually doesn't mix sauce in with the chicken.  He has only poured it over the top before.  Here's how I made them:

1. I prepped a casserole dish with a little bit of non-stick spray and pre-heated the oven to 375 degrees
2. I took the rotisserie chicken that I shredded last night, heated it in a skillet, added 3/4 cup of mild enchilada sauce and a cup of cheese. 
3. I spooned the chicken/sauce/cheese mixture into three wheat tortillas and placed them into the casserole dish, seam side down.
4. I pour the rest of the can of sauce over the tortillas and topped with more shredded cheese. 
5. The enchiladas baked for 25 minutes.

Katie didn't have a big lunch, so I was not surprised when she wanted to eat dinner before the enchiladas were cooked.  She asked for and ate a bowl of oatmeal along with some cheddar cheese before Ben came home.  When Ben and I started to eat, she came over to ask "Whatcha doin?"  I told her I was eating and asked if she wanted a bite.  To my surprise, she said yes.  And then she said "I like that" and asked to be up on my lap.  There she sat for the rest of the meal, eating my enchilada.  I guess she was still hungry:)

Tuesday, 8/31/2010

This morning I accounted for all of our receipts from the month.  I found that we had a little more money in our dining out budget than we usually do on the last day of the month.  What a nice surprise!  So, Katie and I picked Ben up from work and took him to Cactus for dinner.  The last time we ate there I had the nachos and fell in love.  I couldn't try something new tonight; I had to have them again.  As expected, the nachos were delicious.  I am a little disappointed in myself for finishing the whole dish.  I actually stopped halfway through with the intention of taking some home for lunch tomorrow, but found myself eating them all.  Oh well.

Ben ordered a Chimayo Enchilada--blue corn tortillas, house-made chorizo, chicken, spicy green chile sauce, and jack cheese.  It was served with their delicious rice and black beans.  He was disappointed in his enchilada.  He said the quality had gone down hill a bit--something about the tortilla being broken up and not wrapped around.  We still enjoyed our meal out together as a family.  

Katie ate a little cheese and a few grapes, drank some water, ate a lot of black olives, and refused chicken and sausage.  Her nap schedule has shifted to later in the day and is causing her to eat lunch late in the afternoon. I imagine that is making her less hungry for dinner. Thankfully, she was in a pretty good mood while we ate. 

What a nice way to end the month!

Monday, 7/5/2010

We left Redmond, Oregon, around 10:30 this morning, heading for Spokane, Washington. It took us 11.5 hours to get to Spokane, but it was pretty uneventful. We drove in a two-car caravan, stopping in Biggs, Oregon, for lunch, Condon, Oregon, to visit our friend Ernie, and in the Tri-Cities, Washington, for dinner. We ate at an Azteca. Historically, Ben and I have not been big fans of Azteca. Thankfully, tonight was our best experience so far.

I ordered two enchiladas--one with chicken and one with ground beef. Ben enjoyed his plate of carne asada and a chicken chimichanga. My dad had a chicken sandwich, and my mom had a fajita salad. Katie ate some rice, beans, chicken, and black olives. What a mess she made! Other than a couple weak margaritas, our food was pretty tasty.

Friday, 5/21/2010

We made it to our hotel in Carmel tonight by 8pm. Not too shabby. We stopped about an hour North of Carmel for dinner in Morgan Hill, CA. We found Las Palmas with the help of our Garmin GPS. As we drove up, one restaurant sign said "Fine Mexican Dining" and another said "Mexican Dining -and- Miniature Golf". It looked really nice inside and we were immediately seated. The salsa was good and spicy hot. I really liked it. But, we were only mildly satisfied with the rest of our meal.


First of all, the margaritas that we ordered were filled with too much margarita mix and not enough tequila. So, that was disappointing. You would think a Mexican restaurant in California would be able to get that right. And then the food... Ben and Spencer ordered enchiladas. They were fine, but lacked flavor. I ordered a cheese quesadilla, which I planned on sharing with Katie, and tortilla soup. The quesadilla was just not cooked enough. And the soup was broth based and really didn't have any flavor either. It had beans and carrots in it, which I have never seen in a tortilla soup before. And, strangely enough, it didn't have avocado in it. Tortilla soup always has avocado in it in the Seattle area. Katie ate some of my beans and tons of black olives. She wanted nothing to do with the quesadilla. Jennifer had a chicken tostada. She thought it was good. Anyway, we didn't really think it was "fine" dining. The atmosphere was fine, but overall, the food... not so much.






Ben and Spencer tried to go get us a bottle of wine to share at the hotel, but found out that the stores that sell wine all close by 8pm. Oh well.