Oh My Yum

As I continue to procrastinate on updating...I thought I would share this oh so yummy enchilada recipe I tried tonight.  It was super easy and super tasty.  Very family friendly (i.e. mild)...everyone cleaned their plates!  This hardly ever happens.  It would be easy to spice up if you prefer a little more kick.  Without further ado, here it is:

White Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili Sour Cream Sauce
10 Soft Taco Shells
2 Cups Cooked, Shredded Chicken
2 Cups Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
3 Tbsp Butter
3 Tbsp Flour
2 Cups Chicken Broth
1 Cup Sour Cream
1 (4 oz.) Can Diced Green Chillies

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13" pan.
2.  Mix chicken and 1 cup cheese.  Roll up in tortillas and place in pan.
3.  In a sauce pan, melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute.  Add broth and whisk until smooth. Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.
4.  Stir in sour cream and chillies.  Do not bring to a boil, you don't want curdled sour cream.
5.  Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.
6.  Bake 22 minutes and then under high broil for 3 minutes to brown the cheese.

*I cooked chicken thighs in our crockpot for a couple hours in chicken broth with garlic, tomatoes and carrots to give it flavor.  I put the tomatoes and carrot in with the shredded chicken.  It just calls for shredded chicken so you can cook it however you want.  :)  I also added some cottage cheese to the chicken/cheese mixture that was super yummy.  I can never follow a recipe.

Going Private

Blame it on the local news.  I actually try not to watch the news so I am not paranoid about everything but there was some truth in a story about pictures on the internet.  Mid-story it dawned on me that anyone and everyone can look at pictures of the kids I post...got a little (a lot) creeped out and am now going to make this blog as private as can be on the internet.  So, here is what will happen.  In a week I will make this site private.  Anyone that reads this can just send me there email in advance so I can "approve" you or if you check-in after it has gone private just send a request for "approval" and I will let you in.  If you are friends, family, friends of friends, etc. just let me know and I will make sure you are on the list. Thanks!

I have a ton of catch-up to do but after our crazy last week I am going to give myself a night off from thinking.  :)

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day fell mid-Brooklyn's birthday week so we just kept the party going!  We started with a lovely heart themed breakfast and the kids opened their cards that came in the mail.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Opening their mail.

Money!

Yes, Bink is yawning.  It was eeearly.

Heart toast/egg for the boys and heart cinnamon rolls for the girls.

Emmett and his card....so tired.

Molar Update

The fun continues!  We, Emmett, is now working on four molars.  Both upper and lower sets.  Poor guy.  He has puffy cheeks (puffier than usual) and swollen eyes from all the crying.  On Thursday I literally carried him around in an invisible front pack.  I could put my arms in the air and he would cling on for dear life.  Cooking dinner with a giant 14-month old attached to you is super fun.  I am so behind on housework it isn't even funny.  I know he is in a great amount of pain and it is only temporary but seriously, grow in you stubborn teeth!

Sour Milk

This morning I woke up, opened my door and was hit with the strong scent of sour milk.  Ew.  The kiddos piled out of their rooms and down the stairs and I sniffed tested each one to see if they were the culprit.  No luck.  I took out the garbage, recycling and spraying Febreeze like a madwoman.  No luck.  I had to give up the hunt to cook some breakfast had forgot about it while I was packing the kids up to go to the gym.  As I was loading Emmett in to the car I smelled sour milk again!  I gave him a thorough sniff test to no avail.  I was stumped.  I dropped the kids in the activity room, grabbed my gear and hit the gym.  Sour milk.  You know where I am going with this.  IT WAS ME!  The sweatshirt I was wearing reeked of sour milk.  Who knows who, why or how it happened or why I wasn't smart enough to put two and two together at home.  I quickly stuffed the sweatshirt in a locker so I would stink out the rest of the gym.  Ridiculous.

Red Robinhood

Let me start by saying that we rarely and I mean rarely go out to eat as a family.  I can list a myriad of reasons.  I prefer to eat home cooked meals, we have three wild kids, I think restaurants are crazy overpriced, we have three wild kids, I like to cook, we have three wild kids, we live off one income, and did I mention we have three wild kids?  I think you get my point.  But about every six months or so we suddenly think going out to eat would be F-U-N!  

We give each other reasons why this time it will be fun.  "Emmett no longer needs a bottle so he should be easy!"  "The kids have been acting so grown up lately."  When really we are just feeling lazy and don't want to cook.  Enter Red Robinhood.  You might know Red Robinhood to be plain old Red Robin.  Our family, uhem, Brooklyn, has a unique name for pretty much everything.  This is the same child that to this day calls french fries "somefries" because when she was a wee child we would ask her if she wanted some fries.  Awesome.  Anyhoo, We were out running errands and decided, wait did we decide?  No.  Brooklyn shouted, "RED ROBINHOOD!" as soon as she saw it in the Bed, Bath and Beyond parking lot and that combined with our laziness landed us in a cozy booth for five.  

Brett and I decide to share a chicken sandwich because it took us 15 minutes to order...indicating that we wouldn't really have time to eat while filling three hyper mouths.  Once the order was placed we took time to observe every item hanging from the ceiling, introduce ourselves to our boothmates behind us by shouting BOO into the back of their heads (Jameson) and squawking like an injured seagull (Emmett).  Brooklyn was pretty quiet as she downed her strawberry lemonade.  While this might seem like a recipe for indigestion for most, we actually quite enjoyed ourselves.  The kids were so excited.  Brooklyn even thanked us for taking her to such a fancy restaurant.  Surely all fancy restaurants serve corn dogs.  While we did have a good bout of family fun, we'll probably gather enough gusto for a return trip in about, well, six months.

Fun, we are having fun!

Jameson, the boothmate terrorizer.

A classic shot of Emmett.

Trying to grab, then eat, the camera.

Big boy haircut.

Water from a straw, so fun!

I love strawberry lemonade!

Be Quiet Everybody!

As you might imagine, our car can be quite chaotic.  It has been especially loud lately thanks to Emmett's (I'm trying to drop the "Baby"...I can do it, I can do it.) FOUR molars that are working there way in.  Grow in already!  Anyhoo, this afternoon we were all in the car together laughing, playing games, being loud Krache's when Jameson shouts from his seat, "BE QUIET EVERYBODY!" So, we do as instructed.  As soon as it is quiet he calmly says, "I have something to tell you."  To be honest, I can't even remember what he told us because we were laughing so hard at his assertiveness.  Brooklyn even told him that he was, "so crazy."  I guess it's one way to get our attention, that's for sure!  I can pretty much guarantee that after the reaction we gave him we'll be hearing this happen again in the not so distant future.  I think he is finally holding his ground and isn't going to let Brooklyn do all the loud talking.

Food

Well, my camera cord disappeared and who knows where it could be.  Emmett has taken up the habit of hiding things lately.  I found my camera in the pots and pans drawer this afternoon.  Looks like I will be on a whole house scavenger hunt tomorrow!

Until the cord is revived, you'll have to hear about food.  My sweet tooth was in high gear tonight and after desperately searching the cupboards I put root beer and ice cream together to make a float.  Mmmm.  There are two people that I always think of when I make a float, my Dad and my Grandma Sonna.  My Dad makes these insane root beer drinks that can cure just about anything.  Better than antibiotics.  At sleepovers, my Grandma would make a "sludge" in the bottom of a float by mixing just a little ice cream with the root beer before adding the rest of the ice cream and root beer.  Genius.

Isn't it strange how strong the connection to emotion is through food?!?

You are welcome for your root beer float craving.  Soooo good.