mexican night

I'm telling you, I often think while cooking "this is good, I should post it to the blog".
This is a good dinner to eat if you have leftover meat or it can also be meatless. I have only made it with leftover meat but I'm sure boiled chicken or slow cooked meat would be good. This is the closest I have come to making restaurant enchiladas

Red Enchiladas
1/2 onion
3 garlic cloves
lbs chicken (I sometimes use a roast from sunday dinner)
salt & dash of cumin
1/2 a bag of Guajillo peppers. (that is the brand. they are dried whole red peppers found with the mexican food)
cilantro
tortilla's
cheese

get all the seed out of the peppers. Heat some oil in a pan and quickly grill/sautee' the peppers, don't burn them because the sauce will taste burnt. It's a quick frying.

in a blender add:
peppers
1 c. H20 (or broth from boiled chicken)
onion
garlic
salt, cumin
some cilantro

blend that all up and clear your sinuses.
in a baking dish spread a thin layer of sauce. Fry the tortillas quickly but don't fry them stiff, then spread some cheese and meat in the tortilla and roll it up like a enchilada and place in baking dish. Once your pan is full put another layer of sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle more cheese.
Put it in the oven, I'll let you choose your temp and time since I I don't have it written down, I just put it in and keep an eye on it.

These are good served with spanish rice. This recipe is from my cousin Sydney.
2 T butter
1 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 c rice
1.5 c chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes ( I prefer to chop the tomatoes even smaller, I don't like chunky tomatoes in rice)

melt butter in large skillet, one with a lid and add the onion. Sautee until translucent. Add the rice and garlic and toss to cover with butter. Reduce heat to med-low and cook, stirring constantly until rice is golden 2-3 minutes. Add chicken broth and tomatoes and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is tender.

last week or all about charlie

Ryan got older on the 15th
he wanted bread pudding for his cake and I finally mastered it. So delicious.
Charlotte got an insulin pump! I am still figuring it out but it is so much easier than shots. The meter that I use to check her blood also communicates with the pump so I have given her a dose of insulin while driving down the freeway, so cool.
We went for a lunch date after our 3 hour training appointment and one on one time with my kids on a date is my favorite. She was so cute, she started dancing to a song and told me "this is my favorite song" and she was totally serious.


That same day was St Patricks day, not the most eventful holiday but we were still payed a visit by a leprauchan. He left the kids a note with a luckey $2 bill.


green pasta, green salad and I made mint "oreos" (not a huge fan of mint oreos)

Brody earned this gun but I was really trying to capture Charlotte's reaction when the insulin is "delivered" through the pump. The pump vibrates and so the first few days she was always surprised when I gave her insulin

Our baby chickens aren't so little and fluffy anymore. Charlotte still ask to hold the baby chickens all day and has recently started sending them down her slide and also loves to take them for rides on her bike or scooter.

my Grandpa

On Wednesday, March 2 my mom called me worried because my grandpa had had bad diarrhea and was having a hard time breathing and asked me to drive up to Bountiful with her. I have to admit I was a little hesitant because it was dinner time and it didn't seem like anything to worry about but I went and shortly after, we got the call saying that he had passed away. It was completely unexpected and a total shock for the whole family. He was so healthy. I was glad I went with my mom because although he had already died, it was comforting to see my cousins and aunts at the hospital and to sort of say "good bye" to grandpa. The funeral was the following Monday and all the grand kids had a chance to say something short about grandpa, I was proud to always have such a good looking Grandpa, now you know where I get it, and my kids always referred to him as "Grandpa with the big muscles." I feel like my feelings towards him are so cliche' but he was a good example of so many positive traits. I know he loved me and my family and I know that he was proud of me. He was very giving and I wish I had inherited his organization skill. I always enjoyed talking with him and felt like his favorite because he would write me letters when I was living in Italy. But come to find out, he made everyone feel like his favorite. I miss him a lot, I think that comes with his death being so sudden. I love him and can't wait for the day when I can see him again. I have to admit that one thing I do like about going to a funeral is the reminder of how precious life is and how important it is to be prepared. It always makes me reflect on my own life and how I want to be remembered and what type of person I am.

My Grandpa served in the Navy and always flew a flag at his house. There is something about the American flag that always makes me emotional. As soon as we arrived at the church and I saw these flags I got choked up. Seeing flags out on patriotic holidays also gets me emotional, and hearing the National Anthem makes me teary eyed.

dinner

I am a huge believer in family dinner. For the obvious reasons of bringing the family together and talking and having that intimate time together without distractions but I also believe in the importance of well cooked dinners. Made with as many fresh ingredients as possible, made from scratch, full of flavor and smell. Harmony and peace and love abound in a house where dinner is being cooked and served. I love when my kids say "mmmmm, smells good, what's for dinner?" I also really enjoy cooking and baking, it is one of my hobbies. I think it would be awesome to be a chef in a restaurant, a good restaurant. I took some cooking classes while in Italy and it was so fun, I've thought about doing it here but haven't found one that really strikes my interest. I need to just do it because I love when friends teach me a new recipe and we cook together. So on that note, I think I might occasionally post some of our favorite recipe's around here. Sometimes when I cook, I think, "I should post this to my blog, it is so good", but then I worry that we might have different taste....
My kids love this recipe. I try to plan the week out so that a lighter meal follows a night of a heavier meal and I try to have a night or two that is meatless. Tonight was meatless.
Lentils with Spinach over Rice:
3/4 c lentils
1 cup water or so (that is another reason I don't post, I don't really measure)
3 T olive oil
clove of garlic
1 can tomato, or fresh ones chopped
1/2 a lemon juiced or some squirts of lemon juice (see, I'm bad measuring)
2 handfuls of spinach, I always end up adding more after it wilts
1.5 tsp salt

bring lentils and H2O to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in O.O, garlic minced, tomatoes and salt cover and simmer 10-15 minutes. Start cooking your rice, I prefer mine cooked on the stove, my rice cooker hardly ever made rice just right. Add spinach and lemon juice. Simmer while the spinach wilts and serve over rice or pasta.

Let me know if you try it, if you've never had lentils you'll be surprised at how tasty they actually are.


While I'm at it, can I also add the importance of a good breakfast for your kids? Since diabetes education, I've learned that cold cereal isn't the best way to start your day. I'll throw in a breakfast recipe we enjoy once in a while as well. But don't get me wrong, we do have cereal, it just isn't the first option and it isn't colorful.