Why Catholic Schools?

This past Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr Day.  A couple of years ago our president asked us to use this day as a day of service to continue Dr. King's legacy of serving our neighbors.

We spent the day on Fountain Square doing the Power Packathon with the Freestore Foodbank.  You can see more on the boys blog Dare for a Difference.

I think the coolest part of the day came three days later when Nicholas got this in the mail.



This probably summarizes how happy we are with our decision to send our boys to Catholic schools.  What a blessing to know that our boys are led each day by dedicated Catholic adults who are genuinely proud of their accomplishments. My boys are not only surrounded by words and images of the Church but truly submerged in Christ's love.

It's Catholic School's Week next week. We are very pleased with our decision to make Catholic schools a priority for our family and would encourage all families to consider making the sacrifices to invest in their child's future in the same way. 

If you are trying to decide on what open houses to go to you can visit the Catholic schools website. And here is the Catholic education difference here in Cincinnati.

Enchiladas your kids could make (with your help)

Day 18 of the Christmas break that will never end and I took my kids to work with me to check in on some odds and ends before we HOPEFULLY return tomorrow.  I was so frustrated at one point I demanded they run laps in the basement hallway (10 each) to burn some energy. It didn't work. I think they need recess, or PE. Something.

I found the Enchilada recipe that we can do together care of my new favorite blogger Tidy Mom. You can find the original recipe here. I made a number of changes to fit my pantry and our taste.

Here is the best part, the pictures.

Ready to get cooking.

 

Seasoning the chicken
(you can use pre-cooked chick if you like)

Filling the Enchiladas

Ready for the oven

Toasting the tortilla!

 

Joshua approves.

 

 

 

Ingredients

·         1 can (10.75 ounces) Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

·         1/2 cup organic sour cream or  Greek yogurt

·         1/2 cup organic milk

·         1 (10 ounce) can Mexican Lime & Cilantro Rotel

·         2 teaspoons organic chili powder

·         2 cups cooked chicken breast skinless (I cooked mine very quickly in Olive oil by cutting the breasts in half, I just seasoned with salt, pepper and ¼ taco packet)

·         1-1/2 cup shredded Mexican Blend cheese

·         1 cup all natural taco sauce

·         8 flour tortillas (6-inch), warmed (save two to make crispy chips)

·         1tbsp Olive Oil

·         ¼ tsp salt

·         ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper

·         chopped organic tomato (optional for garnish)

·         fresh organic cilantro (optional for garnish)

Instructions

 

1.       Heat the oven to 350°F. Spray 11 x 8 x 2-inch baking dish with cooking spray

2.       Stir the soup, milk, rotel and chili powder in a medium bowl.

3.       In a large bowl, combine 1 cup soup mixture with chicken and 3/4 cup cheese.

4.       Fill enchiladas with the chicken mixture. Drizzle with a little taco sauce then roll up the tortillas and place seam-side down in baking dish.

5.       Pour the remaining soup mixture and taco sauce over the filled tortillas, then sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.

6.       Bake for 15 minutes, remove foil and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes or until the enchiladas are hot and bubbling. Top with the tomato and cilantro if desired. Serve with Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt on the side.

7.       While enchiladas are baking drizzle olive oil in large pan.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper and place remaining tortilla’s flat in pan.

8.       Toast tortillas on each side for 2-3 minutes.

9.       Remove tortillas from heat and cut with pizza slicer in desired shapes.  Add salt to taste and serve with salsa or enchiladas for crunch.

 

2013 - New House, Kids and Food

2013 was an exciting year for our family.  We were FINALLY able to make our move back official by moving into our new house.  Jack graduated pre-K and Nicholas and Jack started a new school together.  Below is a picture summary of the year.

Note: We bought a Fresh20 subscription for last year and followed it each and every week for 52 weeks.  Almost all of the food you see below came from the Fresh20 Classic Meal plans. 

January 2013:

Daddy turned 30!

 February:

Joshua turned 1!

 ...and we moved into our new house.

March:

Easter

 April:

Baseball

Fresh20 Turkey Sausage Ragu over Creamy Polenta

May:

I cut 11.5" of my hair for Pantene Beautiful Lengths

Goat cheese stuffed chicken over brown rice
with balsamic asparagus

Jack Graduated Pre-K

Mother's Day Tea Party

Nicholas and Jack turn 5 and 6
...and celebrate with friends.

Poached Salmon over Garlic Spinach
and Brown Rice

June:

Apricot Braised Chicken over Couscous
and Summer Veggies

July:

 

Grilled bay scallops over linguini. (Fresh20)

 

August:

We went to see the Crew play.

Started a new school.

Ginger Crusted Salmon over Soy Lentals
covered with Sautéed Spinach (Fresh20)

Hern Crusted London Broil
over Summertash (Fresh20)

My biggest eater!

September:

Tilapia with Capers Spinach and Beans

 

November:

Jack making homemade applesauce.

Homemade Eggs Benedict with
faux hollandaise sauce

Chicken and Broccoli Stirfry
 over brown rice.

December:

Christmas

 

Freestore Foodbank Holiday Ops.

 

 

...go tell John we are ready for 2014, just as soon as we can go back to school!



Will this ever end?

We (me and the boys) have been on winter break for 18 days.  Its been fun. We got ready for Christmas, celebrated Christmas, played soccer, got snowed in, went to the Museum Center, celebrated New Years,  had play dates. And now we are frozen in. FROZEN IN. It's a POLAR VORTEX.

This is a good summary of the last couple of days.

Yes, that is a cowboy hat paired with a basketball jersey.

So what do you do when the laundry is done, your closet is organized, Christmas decorations are put away and you can't sweep the floor one more time. I started cooking. We watched Trisha's Southern Cooking the other day and it looked good so I decided to make everything she made on the show. Un-Fried Chicken, Mashed Cauliflower and a Carrot Cake.  Yes, I made a Carrot Cake. I followed the recipes on foodnetwork.com and made some small changes to fit my pantry.

Trisha Yearwood has a 30 minute show.  It took me nearly 3 hours to make all of this. 

Here is a trick I use (I think I'm clever) instead of having a garbage bowl I take a plastic grocery bag and put it in my sink. I also use my cutting board over my sink this way everything can go from washed to cutting - scraps go in the sink/trash bag.

 Here is the Carrot Cake:



  

While making the Carrot Cake I was able to
use my new Christmas toy.

Instead of using my hand chopper on a cutting board I do it
in a measuring cup like this so it doesn't make such a mess.

 

 

 Here is the Un-Fried Chicken:

I didn't have any buttermilk so I used greek yogurt 1 for 1. The good thing is if you use yogurt you can use the leftover in the mash.

 

 

 

Here is the Cauliflower Mash:

 

 

 



This calls for a Donut

After days and days of being told that we were going to have a HUGE snow storm I thought this morning would be a great time to be trapped inside making donut. And eating donuts.  I even made a trip up to Jungle Jims to check out their AWESOME accessory selection which often includes great deals on clearance items. I found a donut baking sheet. It was official.

Then I woke up this morning to find that our weather predictions had changed and our 6+ inches of snow was switched to rain with maybe a 1-3 inches of accumulation that we won't see until tomorrow morning.  I can't lie I found this to be bittersweet. While I was getting excited about being snowed in I was also getting worried that school might be canceled on Monday and with the last two weeks off of school and work we are READY to get back into a routine. 

So this morning I made donuts.  If you choose to make these donuts you can find the recipes at Cooking with my Kid and Buns in My Oven.  I made the Baked Maple Cinnamon Donuts and the Chocolate Donuts.

 

The chocolate ones were eaten so quickly I barely was able to get a good picture.  My only two suggestions are 1. Only fill your donut pans have way, they plump up plenty in the oven. 2. Buns In My Oven suggests 8 minutes for the Chocolate Donuts, my suggestion is a full 10 minutes.