Turkey Day Take Two, 2010 version

Since the kids were at their dad's for Thanksgiving this year I took advantage of the hospitality of my friends an relatives rather than cooking. I did make cranberry sauce though and like every other year I was the only one eating it. No worries I had plans for the leftovers. This morning I made up a batch of cranberry bread. I changed the recipe slightly by mixing the cranberry sauce in with the batter rather than layering it like the recipe instructs. It did not work out too well, the bread looks terrible and didn't rise like it should, fortunately it still tastes good. For the rest of the cranberry sauce I plan on making up a batch of slow cooker meatballs. To save time (and so I could have meatballs in the freezer) I just made up a big batch of meatballs and set aside enough mixture for tomorrow's dinner. Here is the meatball recipe I used:

Basic Meatballs:

1lb ground beef
2 TBSP milk
1 egg
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup onion finely minced
1/3 C dry bread crumbs
1/3 C Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic finely minced
1/2 tbsp parsley
3/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together, shape into balls (I find the medium pampered chef scoop works great for this) Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

I also have another recipe that would be perfect for leftover turkey, but that I am making with chicken I cooked the other day. This is one my friend Suzy gave me a while back. I will give you the basic chicken recipe, but you could modify it by using leftover turkey and adding some of the spices to that when you mix it with the cheese and enchilada sauce.

Chicken Enchiladas ala Jessica

Ingredients:
1 – fryer chicken
2 – 15 oz can STOKE’s Green Chili w/ Pork Enchilada Sauce*
salt
pepper
cumin powder
garlic powder
onion powder
12 oz (3 cups) mozzarella cheese, shredded
8 oz (2 cups) Colby-jack cheese, shredded
12 flour tortillas (8”)
Directions:
1. Place whole fryer in crock pot. Cover with water. Add A LOT of all dry spices**.
Cover and cook chicken in crock pot at low heat for 6-10 hours.
2. Remove chicken and cool so it is finger-touchable. Shred all the meat.
3. In a bowl, place the shredded meat. Add about 1 ½ cups broth from the crock pot.
Mix more of all dry spices into chicken until it suits your tastes. Add one can of
enchilada sauce, plus all mozzarella cheese. Mix well. Taste again. Add more
spices if necessary.
4. Preheat oven to 350 F.
5. If your pans need it, butter them (seasoned stoneware won’t need to be greased).
Pour a little enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pan(s)***.
6. Roll chicken mixture in tortillas. Place, seam side down in pan.
7. Once all enchiladas are rolled, cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle Colby-jack
cheese on top.
8. Cover with foil.
9. Bake 23 minutes, then remove foil and continue baking 8 minutes more.
10. Remove from oven and let sit about 10 minutes before serving.
6-9 Servings

Suzy’s Notes:
** You may use fresh garlic cloves (2-3) and onion (½ – whole) in the crock pot in the
place of dried powders of the same.
*** I put a dozen enchiladas in two pans (9x9 or 9x13).

Variations:
1. Add green chili peppers.
2. Add scallions.
3. Add black olives.
4. Add sour cream (in mix or on top).
5. Substitute leftover turkey for the chicken, add a little more seasoning if desired.
6. Cut tortillas into strips then layer like a lasagna casserole instead of rolling.

The Birthday Dress

When I was in Albuquerque visiting Suzy I picked up some darling strawberry fabric and a coordinating green fabric to make Abbie a dress. Well by the time we got home Abbie decided that she no longer wanted to wear dresses so I put the fabric aside with the intent that I would use it for Abbie's annual birthday dress. A week or two ago I let Abbie look through my patterns and decide which dress she wanted for her birthday dress. Nothing much happened with the dress between then and today because I was just too busy to work on it. Today I decided that the tradition of making Abbie a birthday dress was just to important to miss and I got to work after church this morning. Luckily Abbie picked a really easy pattern and I was able to get the dress done in less that 2 hours. The dress doesn't look that great in the picture but I hope that it will look cute on her. This was my first time using the jumbo rickrack and I am not sure I like how it looks. Abbie seemed to like it when I showed to to her and that's all that matters. This is another of the Oliver +S Popover sundresses that I have made before (here). I love this pattern it is so quick and easy, can be worn year round and can be embellished in many different ways.

My Abbie turned 4!!!!

It's hard to believe but today Abbie turned 4! It seems like just yesterday that I was anxiously awaiting her arrival (ok, maybe crankily was more like it). Like Alex she decided to take her sweet time and was a week late. No matter the late arrival she is dearly loved and I enjoyed being able to bake her a cake and wrap a couple of presents for her to have when she got home this evening. I will have a larger friends and family party for her and Alex next weekend but this one tonight was just for the three of us.

Yummy dinner salad

I recently bought a new cutting board from Pampered Chef and this salad recipe came with it. All three of us really enjoyed it, plus it used up a bunch of the Bountiful Baskets produce that I had in the fridge.

Southwestern Salad

Dressing

¾ cup ranch dressing

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

2 tsp taco seasoning

1 Tbsp lime juice

Salad

½ cup pitted ripe olives, sliced

1 cup diced red bell pepper

1 pkg torn romaine lettuce

1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed

½ cup whole kernel corn

2 cups diced cooked chicken

1 ripe avocado, peeled, seeded and diced (optional)

For dressing combine first 4 ingredients, stir until well blended. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For salad combine remaining ingredients. Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine.

Of course being me I had to change things a bit. I didn't use olives since I don't like them, but did add chopped tomatoes and shredded cheese. Rather than combining everything I put everything in separate bowls and let everyone choose what the wanted. Lastly Alex had regular ranch on his salad, Abbie had no dressing at all and I really enjoyed the dressing from the recipe. One note on the dressing is that I feel it really needs to sit for several hours before using so that the flavors can combine.

Absolutly Insane

Suzy and I have started a little block exchange of 3" finished blocks made with crumbs. I decided to make something a little different and made this little 3" finished log cabin block. The block has 21 pieces. I love it! I will have to make more of these.

An idea I had

Do you have pad locks hanging around the house that you don't use often? Do you have trouble remembering the combo from one use to the next? If so then you are like me. I have two padlocks that I have had for a very long time. I rarely use them and often have trouble remembering the code from one use to the next. I came up with the idea of writing the code on key label tags and putting them on the lock. Now I don't have to worry about remembering the code and when I am using it I can put the key tag on my key chain to help me remember the code.

Help me choose please....

I have made some more pineapple blocks to use as a sample for the class I am teaching on October 30th. Suzy has helped me with some different layouts. I can't decide which one I like the most, please give me my opinion. From top to bottom vote for A, B, C, or D