Friday's Frugal Find & Sour Cream Enchiladas

One of my tricks I employ to make my life easier is to make a double batch of a particular dish and then freeze it. For instance last week I mad Salisbury steak and made enough for two meals, freezing the uncooked extra patties for another meal later. I made a lot of mashed potatoes and turned the leftovers into potato salad. However my favorite use of this technique is to make ahead enchiladas. It was very nice the other night when it had been of those days and I didn't really want to cook. Pull out the pan from the freezer pop in in a cold oven, and let the oven and the pan preheat and cook for about an hour, throw some salad in a bowl and we had dinner.

Also because Elizabeth asked and I know Bird loves enchiladas here is one of my recipes.

Green Chile Sour Cream Enchiladas

1/2 cup of butter or margine
4 tbls of flour
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 pint of sour cream
2 dozen corn tortillas
1 pound of hamburger meat *
1 clove of garlic
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1 tblsp of cumin
1 pint of green chile**
1 pound of cheese, cheddar, muenster, colby or jack or mixed.
9x13 pan


1. Brown hamburger meat with onion, garlic and after draining off fat, add cumin. *I have also made this recipe with chicken and pork, and would really like to try it with brisket. Vegetarian options that are tasty are, beans, corn and squash and olives.
2. Soak corn tortillas in warm water while you start the sauce. (You can also fry them in oil, but this is a very rich recipe, I try to save calories where I can..)
3. In a saucepan, melt butter and then brown flour, then add milk, once mixture thickens add sour cream and green chiles, let simmer on low heat while you assemble enchiladas.
4. I make mine casserole style, I line the bottom of the dish with a layer of softened tortillas then add a layer of meat, a layer of cheese and cover that with a layer of sauce and then repeat until the pan is full. (If you want to roll them with the filling, you may need to fry the tortillas to get the softened enough.)
5. Top with a layer of cheese and any garnishments you like such as slice black olives or chopped onions.

Bake in oven at 375 until warmed through and cheese on top is bubbling. Let cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Suggested sides, are refried beans, Spanish rice, and or a salad. My three year old loves this recipe, the other night I asked him what I was going to do with him and he responded, love him and feed him enchiladas.

** A note about green chiles. It has been a while since I lived outside of NM and I know that some of you may have a hard time finding them. I suggest Bueno frozen chile, Albuquerque Tortilla Company frozen chile. On your mexican food aisle at the grocery store you might also find canned green chile, or green chile enchilada sauce. My favorites in that category are El Pinto Green Chile Sauce, and Hatch Green Enchilada sauce. If you are using a sauce, don't add the extra water recommended on the can.

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions if something I said doesn't make sense. I am obviously not a recipe writer and when I cook I tend to make it up as I go and obviously substitute for what I have on hand.

Cleaning out the clutter.

I have a goal, that is to clean out the clutter filling my house. Seriously. I have to get a handle on it. Living in a tiny space, we are often overwhelmed by our things. Thank God for ebay, thrift stores and freecycle.

Likewise, I realized I have left some internet clutter out there and left you dear readers hanging on a few issues. Since I realize it has been hard for you to sleep at night, wondering, about those cliffhanger endings of mine, I am going to update you.

Regarding the inappropriate questions on the newspaper job application. That was delayed a few weeks because of the Nashville trip, then the conclusion was rather uneventful. I asked for a new application when I went back and lo and behold it was a new application, minus all the inapporpriate questions. I turned it in, talked the the manager for a while, and have heard nothing about a job. I doubt anyone related to the paper reads my blog, or anyone in this town for that matter, but who knows.

Regarding my wonderful curly locks. I am still not "loving" my haircut but am loving my hair since I tried the new Tresemme Curly Hair product line. I also was ecstatic to get a some free samples from the Queen of Curly Manes, Ouidad by signing up for their brochure. While I had been to the site before, Mocha clued me into the freebies on her blog, it doesn't say you will get free samples but I did, just sign up for the brochure, wink wink. Now if I could just win the weekly giveaway. Just for the record, no flat iron has touched my hair of late.

Zach finished preschool, as an A+++ student, or at least I assume so. (Just kidding folks, they don't keep grades at Headstart.) We have only two more tee ball games left, of late we have gone around the bases in the right order, so that is progress as well. Oh and we got invited to a birthday party for non family. That is exciting since we have lived here and year and this is the first invite. Someone wants to see us again that isn't obligated by family ties. Awesome! Although my precious Max Attack bit a kid at playgroup, and we are actually forgoing church over it tonight because he has been a terror and I am afraid to subject the nursery workers to him today. That is a step backwards for us, he hasn't bit anyone in a several months. Ben and I should both be going to the party so we can take Max and hopefully get a repeat invite.

Lastly I did actually use my workout clothes for good and hauled a bunch of gravel from the back 40 to the front yesterday. I need to finish the job today. I felt awesome, and had a Kashi Bar for a snack, I had got an email from Kashi about a coupon and I was estatic when I dropped by their website and found that they are giving away a free sample of their Granola. I love this stuff, and thought I would pass it along.

By the way all the freebie links are just because I want to share, not because I am sponsored or anything. For the record, I am not in the business of mommy blogging.

The Speed Limit is 35, slow down...

Some people have a habit of pointing out things you know but are trying to ignore.

I call these people, husbands, parents, aunts, evil friends.

I try to remind them to buy fabulous presents. They try to remind me of the number that is impending. Half past thirty, five till forty. Whatever. Then the bratty high school kids have to graduate and I realize I am more likely to know their parents, and have even gone to school with some of them. Then my quote unquote friend I graduated with has to post pictures on myspace of his son who is graduating THIS YEAR. Dude, that kid was born senior year! What the "HEdoublehockeysticks".

The point is, thirty five, as a number seems high. So far age milestones haven't really mattered to me, but this year it hit me for a while. Even the thought of one of those fancy chocolate cheesecakes to eat didn't cheer me up. Then we went to see Indiana Jones for my birthday and I couldn't help think as the movie opened how Mr. Ford is starting to show his age. Then he started kicking butt and I realized I still have thirty years until I get that old and if he can kick butt that age so can I. Do not dare burst my bubble and tell me that they used stunt men and special effects in the movie. DO NOT, old people can be grumpy. ; )

And the Winner Is..

Using highly scientific methods, I wrote down all the names of people that left a comment on the hummingbird entry, folded them up tossed them in a bowl, swirled a few times and let my assistant select a name.

WAIT!!
Little brother wants to be included...

Oh Good Curly Sue is still the winner.

No Country for Water Lovers

Friday night we didn't have anywhere we had to be. Wow. It has been a few months since that has happened. While contemplating what to do, the little one had a fit about something and was sent to his room, he promptly fell asleep, while I finished up dinner, big brother also fell asleep, so it was dinner for two instead of four.

While we ate hubby and I were talking (I know!) and decided that he should go down and rent No Country for Old Men since we weren't able to get to see it in the theater. We have really liked all the Coen brothers films we have seen. Personally I like the way no matter who they portray they seem to always give an honest portrayal of the characters.

In particular this movie was relevant to us since the story line takes place near where we live and quite a bit of it was filmed in New Mexico and the places in Texas where it was filmed are near us as well. The opening scenes with the hunter are typical of what the landscape looks like around here. That is what I see as I look out my window typing this. When we watched the extras the film makers talked about how the landscape, it's harsh environment was critical to the film, almost a character even.

It is a harsh environment, to date, we have had about 0.86 inches of precipitation for the year. (On average our yearly total is less than 8 inches.) This is a dry year, normally we would maybe have double that by now. The wind has been brutal ripping up everything that isn't nailed down and some that is. Even in the summer when I think the pasture looks green after monsoon rains, most of you would find it yellow and tan, they are always the dominant color. I know many people who view all the native plants as weeds, and the landscape as ugly. I find beauty in them. I revel in every blooming plant I find, sometimes no bigger than few inches, and I marvel at how they can survive, even bloom on so little.

Last spring I took a few pictures of the plants in the pasture. Some of you may take exception to my using that term for our land, but it is where the horses eat.

Devil's pincushion.




Paper flower (Tagetes lucida) about two inches tall.

Prickly Pear (Opuntia) in Bloom


Native Verbena (Verbena species.)

This flower I haven't taken the time to try and identify, I didn't know it.

Soaptree Yucca (Yucca elata) our state flower

Poor shot, but a close up of a yucca flower.

On a large scale is harsh country and a bit wild. I still marvel at the little bursts of beauty and love it despite its harsh nature.

Mother's Day Musings

Mother's day this year is pretty perfect, other than going to church this morning, we have no plans. We opted not to go to anywhere and my mother decided to skip town this year, which I am glad for, I hope she is having a good time and not missing her mother too badly as this is the first year without her.

I have been blessed by the mothers in my lives.

Mom: still does sweet little things, like bring me a glass of iced tea the other day when we stopped by.

Grandma: asks me if I want her to pay off my student loans, yesterday. No thanks but the gesture was still sweet, generous to a fault.

Nanny: although she is gone, the gift of laughter that was always present is my favorite memory.

Crazy aunts: you are all crazy, and I love ya, life would be tres boring without you.

Lora: my friend who showed me how to be a mom. I miss you chica! (You really need to come work for the oil companies and live here making bank.)

All of you crazy women in blog land, mothers or no, you all have a nurturing spirit I adore. Thanks!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On to my boys and the presents I received. A big bag of Ghiradelli squares, that we shared a few of this morning. A pretty blue and silver ring, earring, necklace set. Laughter as you play clonetrooper and stop to give mom kisses. Thanks to your daddy for cooking breakfast, and cleaning up his mess.

Zach, my five year old, made me a cute card/book in school this week. He drew a picture of a necklace he wanted to get me, called me the best cook and drew the ferris wheel he wants to take me on to have some fun. Adorable, then I noticed something about the stick figures representing him and his brother, they had an extra appendage. I asked what it was, and he informed me it was a penis. "I drew underwear around them mom, see." Thank goodness I taught you something besides the word penis. Thank goodness.

More Hummingbird Jewelry

If you were so unfortunate to read my twittering last week, I repeatedly mentioned working on my mother's birthday present. I decided to repeat the hummingbird theme I did for my mother in law but in green my mom's favorite color. However I tried the polymer clay wings again, I wasn't quite happy with the beaded ones. My first batch made it through sanding but didn't make through buffing, so I tried again with a thicker layer of clay and then a backing of clay.

She really seemed to like it. I told her she was market research and had to tell me what is wrong with it.

While I think my finish work was improved from my last piece, as I edited the photos I noticed a few partial fingerprints I missed. I am working on some photo transfer pendants for mother's day and am coating my fingers in cornstarch first to try and prevent fingerprints.

So do any of you want to be market research for me? I am going to give away one hummingbird pendant this week. Winner gets to choose between the purple beaded wing model or the green polymer clay winged model. To enter the contest simply leave me a comment, and I will pick a winner randomly. Feel free to link the contest for your blog buddies if you like. The giveaway will end on Tuesday May 14th at midnight and I'll announce the winner on Wednesday May 15th.

Curl Up & Dye

I have been in a bad mood about my hair this weekend. I got it cut, which usually upsets me. I freak out, and think it is too short. This week was no exception, the layering job on my hair seemed to look more like Eddie Van Halen then the Elaine curls I prefer. While I was kvetching, I pondered that maybe I was the only one who could see the difference to my husband. He gave a slick answer. I don't see the difference, but if it is important to you, it is important to me. Is the man running for office?

Mostly I get upset because I don't think my stylist understands curly hair well enough, nor do I seem to have the ability to explain what I want. I would like to state that I really like my stylist and she is trying to learn, and I don't think I have a better option in my area of the world. (Their are stylist who specialize in curly hair, but not in my remote backdesert.) A while back I didn't get my hair cut by a professional for three years and I snipped it myself because everyone else wanted to hack it off, make it behave, and generally just didn't get curly hair.

I decided to use the flat iron to calm the Eddie look down and flat ironing my hair makes it seem like it grew a foot since no matter how long I have let it get it, the curls always spring up to right around my collar. I admit it had been a long time since I had done it, and it was drastic change to see my hair straight.

However at my mom's birthday party, Saturday night, the reactions started to get under my skin. The compliments were fine until one my mother's oldest friends who often has encouraged me to chemically straighten my hair, went on and on about it. I try to grin and bear it, knowing she hates her coarse curly hair and is always fighting it. When other relatives started suggesting I get it done chemically I started to get hot under my collar.

My family aren't the only ones who feel that way. The lady on the Millionaire Matchmaker told one girl who to straighten her hair, men don't like it curly she said. I know other people who religiously blow dry theirs out every day, and would rather be caught dead than curly. I have had other people tell me they will take me more seriously with straight hair, it looks more polished put together.

Maybe I am a rebel, but I want to wear it curly. Some people actually pay good money to get their hair curly like mine. I am not talking a frizzy mess or unkempt hair. I get nice defined curls most of the time, or at least I think I do. I am bugged because apparently many people see me as mess with my hair au natural, not the way I see my ringlets with love. In fact there is a whole website devoted to girls like me who love their curly locks.

It can be fun to have straight hair for a while, like having a secret identity, but it is a lot more work than I normally do on my hair,because I have two small boys who can make a big mess in the half an hour it takes to straighten my hair. (That is on a good day, it often takes longer.) I can't fathom why they think the change should be permanent.

Culturally I wonder why people see the straight hair as the better option. Sugar & Spice had an interesting post about it from another race's perspective. I can't help but think of Julia Louis-Dreyfuss who has progressed from a bunch of frizzy curls, to tamed curls, and then to straight. Maybe it is an attempt to break the Seinfield curse?

Picture A, on Sunday, Picture B a few weeks ago prior to the cut.

I am curious what you think about it. Sexy or a turn off? Professional, unprofessional? Unsightly or lovely? Go ahead and tell me the truth, I can take it. What's the worst thing that will happen, you will make my hair curl?

Grocery Line Musings

Overheard behind me in the line, spoken by 3rd or 4th grade age boy.

Oh look Britney. Why did she shave her head Dad? Did she have cancer or was she just drunk and crazy?

My first thought was how sad, he knows about that. I felt certain, Brittney, Ashlee and all those other girls have no idea about the example they are setting for all the kids who look up to them.

Then, I remembered how my son was chanting Miley Cyrus, Miley Cyrus this week. I asked him if he knew who that was, he said she was the girl from Hannah Montana. I cringed because I didn't turn of the Today show early enough one day last week and we caught the "news" story about her Vanity Fair pictures. I didn't pick up the remote fast enough, I don't really want my kids thinking that is the way to be. Plus, I don't think he knew who she was before that.

On one hand I can understand why people are concerned about the over sexualization of young girls, but how many grade school age kids read Vanity Fair? Many more may be sitting around the morning watching the Today show with mom.

On the other, I think we are way too invested in the lives of celebrities. Not that I want to excuse bad behavior but how would most of us fair under that kind of microscope. I can guarantee you I would flip out at some point, say something stupid, do something wrong or wear the wrong dress to the wrong event. Thank God no one was following me around as a teenager.

While at times I would really like to solely blame the media, I have to find fault with myself too. I used to click on those little stories on the bottom left of the MSN Homepage too. A while back it occurred to me that I was part of the problem, I was reading it. Those advertisers on those pages were targeting me. I highly suspect if more people were turning the channel every time a bit of celebrity gossip or really unnecessary story came on they would be fewer in number. Just a thought...

A Blog About Nothing

I have been racking my snot filled brain to come up with something worth blogging about. I wanted to find something exciting, or controversial, you know pithy that makes you come back for more. No such luck, trust me I spared any of you who weren't reading what I was twittering about this week.

Have I ever mentioned my need to do things well sometimes gets in the way of doing it at all? Tom quit laughing sometimes I do something well.

I have been burning the candle at both ends trying to get my mother's birthday present made. Version one didn't make it through the buffing stage so I am having to redo. They are cool if I can make them sturdy enough to be jewelry.

Tee ball is taking up a bunch of time lately. It is entirely worth every minute though, the kids are too funny. Zach hit the ball the other night and promptly ran to third base. (It's not like it was his first time, he just got confused.) Well I need to get back to my present making. Bird posted about how she never gives her handmade gifts away. I always ending up spending too much money on supplies. I do usually give them, perhaps to the chagrin of the recipient. Sometimes I cringe when I see them at a later date. How do you feel about homemade gifts?