Crafty

I haven't posted in a few days because I wasn't feeling very positive.  I didn't want to share my "stinkin' thinkin'." Most of my crud was revolving around money and lack of insurance... But moving on!

I got a picture in my head the other day and I couldn't get it out.  Both of the girls have gotten their ears pierced this year and neither of them have a jewelry box. I have wanted to make one, but just couldn't come up with just the right idea. I didn't know where to begin.  So I woke up the other morning and had the jewelry box in my head.  I started with a pyrex box and cut it apart. Then made a shell. I'm planning on putting 2 drawers in each one, but haven't gotten that far.  I have deco-podged the shell with newspaper and am planning to add sparkle and glitter before it's all done.  I'm going to use bottle caps for the pulls on the little drawers... If I can figure it out.

I came across a recipe for kielbasa and potatoes yesterday that looked pretty good.  I am allergic to sausage, so I tried it with stew meat.  It was okay. Cailyn liked it.  So with the left overs this morning, I added a couple of eggs and made breakfast burritos.  It was much better as a breakfast burrito and I have left overs of that for tomorrow's breakfast too.  Brenna's school has a cookout this evening so no dinner planned.

Tomorrow evening I'm going to make creamed chicken and biscuits. It's another first time recipe for me. But it sure sounds good!
Ingredients:
¼ cup butter
¼ cup plus 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk
1 egg yolk, beaten
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup drained canned carrots and 1/2 cup drained canned green beans (optional)
1 can refrigerated biscuits
Directions:
1.  Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat; add flour, blending well.
2.  Gradually stir in broth, then milk.
3.  Reduce heat to low; cook until thickened, about 2 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
4.  Remove 1/4 cup milk mixture and gradually stir into egg yolk.
5.  Return egg mixture to milk mixture.  Add chicken, salt and pepper; heat through.
6.  Serve creamed chicken over hot biscuits.  Serves 4 to 6.

Silent tears are the worst!

Okay, I want to preface this with the fact that Cailyn has plenty of toys and is in no way a deprived child. lol

I had to go to Wal-mart today. Unfortunately, angel food ministries isn't doing food orders in September.  They have been affected by the financial crisis just like the rest of us and are unable to support the orders this month.  I pray that they are back up and running next month. I sure have come to depend on them and I'm sure you've all noticed, I am a great advertiser for them!

So I decided to stock up on some staples while I have the money, before I pay all the bills.  Food and shelter come first.  I went for the frozen chicken breasts, another lb of hamburger, you know, mainly meat to go with all the veggies I still have.  So of course while I'm there, as always I felt compelled to visit the clearance section... You know, just in case there's something I can't live without.  After all, I love my $1.50 shower curtain!

As we are all accustomed the "I want..." and "Momma, please..."  And I know that we would all like to get our kids so many of those things that they want and don't need.  I reminded Cailyn that she just had a birthday and had lot's of new toys.  We kept moving and I kept looking and I explained that she had toys and Momma didn't have extra money for toys.  After a little while, I noticed that she had grown very quite in the cart.  I turned to see silent tears rolling down her little cheeks. Her little chin was quivering. She seemed to be trying so hard to hold back her sobs. It wasn't the "Momma said no" cry anymore.  This was different and I wanted to stop and cry right along with her.  Instead, I pulled the cart into the garden section and took her out to just cuddle and hold her.  I am so very blessed to have my girls to hold on to.  I know God has a plan for us!!  Nothing and no one can take my faith!

Chicken, chicken and more chicken

Last night I didn't plan anything ahead of time and stir fry sounded good so I made some rice to go with it and had chicken stir fry.  I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of veggies that the girls ate.  So tonight I'm using the rest of the chicken breasts from the pack I opened yesterday. I'm making aChicken Enchilada Casserole.  I am cutting the recipe in half to fit my family, plus I only have 2 breasts left so it works out just right.  I'm also substituting corn tortillas for the chips. 2 reasons: 1 to cut salt and 2 the tortillas are cheaper than chips. I picked them up at Aldi's!


Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
2 10-¾ ounce cans cream of chicken soup
¾ cup milk
1 10-½ ounce package tortilla chips
4 ounce can green chilies, drained
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
1.  In a large mixing bowl, combine chicken, soup and milk together; set aside.
2.  In a lightly greased 13"x9" baking dish, layer tortilla chips, half of chicken mixture, green chilies and cheese.
3.  Repeat layers ending with cheese.
4.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

We also got our family picture done this week:

Yummy

I'm really looking forward to dinner tonight. I'm making mexican lasagna. I've changed the recipe some though. I'll post the original recipe at the bottom of this post. I'm using ground beef instead of ground chicken because that's what I have. I don't like cumin or black beans, so I'm leaving those out.  I also don't have taco sauce, so instead I mixed an off brand can of rotel with the hamburger and a can of tomato sauce. I picked up a  lot of tortillas at Aldi's on Monday. Flour for this recipe and corn for a chicken enchilada casserole recipe for next week.

I made the lemon chicken last night and was pretty disappointed in it. It was okay, but not worth doing again. I may have not done it all right. The directions weren't completely clear.

Back to the mexican lasagna, I went ahead and made the hamburger, tomato and corn mixture last night while the girls were finishing dinner.  Since I'll be making it in a smaller size, I'll freeze part of the filling to use another time.

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds ground chicken breast
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 cup taco sauce
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
1 cup frozen corn 
salt
8 (8 inch) soft corn or flour tortillas
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
sliced black olives for topping
Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2.  Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil to the skillet.
3.  Add ground chicken and season with chili powder and cumin. Brown the meat (about 5 minutes).
4.  Add taco sauce, black beans and corn. Heat the mixture through then season with salt to taste.
5.  Coat a shallow baking dish with remaining Tablespoon of olive oil.
6. Cut the tortillas in quarters for easy layering.
7. Start with a layer of the meat mixture, then layer with tortillas and then cheese. Repeat for a second layer, ending with cheese.
8. Bake lasagna 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is slightly browned.
9. Remove from oven, top with sliced black olives and serve.

I give myself permission

I give myself permission to do things my own way!  So the other night I was making the 5 minute lasagna and since all the ingredients were mostly frozen I decided to downsize it.  I have a cake pan about half the size of a regular one. It was just perfect for us the 3 of us.  This makes so much more sense than making full size casseroles for just the 3 of us. I end up with way too many left overs that I either become sick to death of or end up throwing it away.  I was thinking back about the bierock casserole, which I did throw out half of, and I think I can do it half sized as well and freeze the filling for another time.

I have quit using my non-stick skillet because I could see that the teflon was coming off and clearly, I don't want that in our food.  As soon as I can find some I can afford, I will pick up a sauce pan and pot that are also without teflon. But for now, I have to use what I have. Luckily, I had a simple no coated skillet and an iron skillet so I'm good to go there.  Unfortunately, I did not have a metal spatula and you really need one if you don't have a coated cooking surface.  So I ran to Tuesday Morning and TJ Max looking for a good deal, but ended up finding one at Walmart.  I did find another small glass baking dish at Tuesday Mornings for $4 so now I have 2. That ought to be plenty.

Also, did I mention that I do NOT have a dishwasher!?! So using these smaller dishes for my casseroles makes washing them much more manageable too.

My wish list: A sauce pan, and big pot that are NOT nonstick, a refillable spray mop, 2 cup glass measuring cup. A handsome man to come over and do the dishes for me...