New low fat recipe!

Eating healthy is kinda a big deal in our house.  The problem with that is that low fat/healthy/clean/non processed food usually doesn't taste that great.   ::coughcardboardcough::   Let's be honest here, I love me some processed food (omg Totino's party pizza and aerosol cheese), and a raw carrot just isn't going to cut it for me sometimes.

So I *try* to find ways to make my favorite foods in a better for you healthy way and last night I made these enchiladas.  I guess I'll be creative and call them Turkey/spinach/sour cream enchiladas. 

6 98% fat free tortillas
1 pound low fat ground turkey (sub chicken if you don't like turkey)
Some spinach ( I'm guessing that I used about 1-2 cups?  I didn't measure.  I used frozen but I think fresh would work MUCH better.
1/2 cup of LIGHT sour cream (only 2.5 grams of fat!)
1/2 cup 2% mexican cheese
1/2 can of green chile enchilada sauce (or you can puree a can of green chilis.  If you have rotel tomatoes and green chilis you can probably use that too- just puree it to make a sauce)
Garlic because I like it.
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350.  Brown turkey and garlic in a skillet until cooked through.  Add spinach and cover.  Cook on med low heat for about 5-10 minutes and add sour cream.  Stir until it's all mixed up.

Spray your 9x13 pan with Pam and take tortilla and fill it with the filling.  Add some cheese and roll that bad boy up.  Do this until you run out of the filling or run out of room.  Cover all your rolled tortillas with either the green chili enchilada sauce (I used a can sauce from the taco section at the store) or the rotel.  Sprinkle your enchiladas with some cheese and cook for 25 minutes!

Add some black beans and some light sour cream or salsa and enjoy! 

I don't have pics.  Sorry.  But I really enjoyed them and so did Jim and they were super fast so thought I'd share.

I'm running with this craft thing

YAY! I bought a sewing machine! For years I've talked about sewing and finally just did it. I purchased a starter Brother LX3125 machine at the Wal-Mart and went to town learning and trying to absorb all the skill I can through the interwebs. I've been scouring the net looking for free tutorials and lessons and there is a TON of information out there. What the hell did we do before the internet? I decided that instead of buying fabric I was going to repurpose old clothing so that a.) it was free and b.) if I screwed up I wouldn't be pissed and cuss a storm because of the $7.00 I paid on fabric. I'm a bit thrifty that way.

First project: Turning one of Addy's recieving blankets into a pair of pants. I used contrasting thread so I could see my stitches which really helped. Now I decided that I'm just going to go by the tutorials online and don't have a pattern so I took a pair of Addy's leggings and made my own pattern. Lets just say I learned a lot from this first project....like seam allowances are your friends and your finger CAN get caught and it hurts... 

First pair of pants = WAAAAYYY to small and WTH is going on with the crotch?  But I'm pretty darn proud that I sewed a crooked line with only minor injury and no blood so I rate this a PASS. These have to be the UGLIEST leggings I've ever seen but whatever it's my first time.


Next project: Now I've gained a bit of confidence after some minor mishaps resulting in a weird and very large nest of thread after trying to sew a straight line, having to rethread the darn machine twenty billion times, and hurt finger- I decide I am going to recreate the pants using this tutorial:  Make it and Love It
 The chick that writes this blog is my new girl crush. I've been stalking her blog for days now and she has the best tutorials and advice. Because of the blog above my second attempt at pants came out surprisingly much better:
AND notice the ruffling??? Those were a pain in the butt and are extremely unruly but the cuteness outweighs the annoyance. My lines are crooked- the ruffles are hilariously off kilt- but it's a definite improvement from the last go around and I didn't lose a finger!  So PASS! They even fit this time! So Wooohooo! I made something!

My next project is a dress repurposed from a T shirt. Should be interesting.

Craft time!

I like hobbies- I think it's very important to have a hobby that you find relaxing. I love crafts and have always been uber jealous of my crafty friends and their skills. I've never really explored my crafty side as an adult because honestly, who the hell has time for all that? But I decided one day while shopping with my gorgeous friend Janae, that I was tired of talking about all the wonderful things I wish I had time to make and I was just going to do it.

Janae told me about a wonderful idea she did for her now 12 year old spunky daughter....she purchased some chalkboard paint and painted a table. BRILLIANT idea! We just so happened to be in Ikea at the time of this awesome nugget of info so I jumped at the chance.

Wouldn't you know it? Ikea didn't dissappoint. I purchased a side table for $7.99 and a chair for $9.99 and got to work. THAT's a great deal people, and I LOVE a great deal.



Here is the end result!


Addy enjoying her new table. She LOVES this thing. She eats at it now as well. All we do is cover it with a little table cloth for dinner time!



This has unleashed a crafty beast in me. Yay for hobbies!

I hate teeth.

I know we need them to chew and stuff so I guess they are important in their own right but a year and a half of cranky whining screaming keeping me up at night foolishness from my kid seems a bit of an overkill.

What the hell did I ever do to you teeth?

The only thing that makes it okay is this.

New Recipe!

I like to cook. Love it, actually. I'm not a fabulous cook, I'm decent, but love it anyway. Having a toddler who refuses to eat any sort of vegetable (I'm convinced it's because of the color) is annoying at times, so I have to get creative and sneak the vegetables in so she doesn't realize she's eating them. It works with things like chicken nuggets and fritattas but I need new ideas. So after reading this FABULOUS blog called Annie's Eats: (http://annies-eats.com/) I was inspired to try a new recipe.

I have no idea what these would be called because I just threw it together so bear with me.

1 can of crescent rolls (biscuits or pizza dough would work well, also)
Sliced Turkey
Cheese
Vegetable (I used spinach)

I took the crescents out and separated them and then trimmed each crescent to make a square. I added turkey, cheese, and a little spinach and then folded dough around to make a pocket.
I baked at 400 for 11 minutes or so until they were golden brown and viola! It's a baby hot pocket! AND...this is the best part...they are PORTABLE. My messy kid ate one on the couch and didn't make a huge mess! These can be premade and frozen for sure.

I'm now imagining all sorts of possibilities. Pepporoni pizza, crab meat, hamburger, chicken. Just add your favorite cheese and favorite vegetable! These would make great appetizers as well and hold on...even BREAKFAST! I'm sure you could add some cheese, bacon, and scambled egg as well.

And the best part is that my kid ate spinach and asked for more later. Here's a pic I took, sorry about the quality it's from my phone.


Even Jim loved these, and they took about next to nothing to throw together. Next time I might use canned pizza dough as there is more of it and it might be easier to use.

Determination sometimes isn't a good trait to have

Last night Addy and Sadie the dog were in the living room watching Elmo. This is our nightly routine when we get home from school as I get dinner ready. I hear Addy WAILING and I run in there to investigate. She is so upset that when I ask her what's wrong she can't even talk. She just wails. So I said "Did Sadie bite you?" More crying. Now I'm freaked thinking that my sweet puppy has turned into cujo so I look at Sadie who is cowering in her bed with this dejected look of guilt on her face and give her a stern what did you do look. Then I notice the cookie. Addy's cookie is half gone and it doesn't look like she's the one who enjoyed it. AhHA. So I ask her if Sadie ate her cookie and I get a mumbled cry and a nod and then a whimpering "ess". I decided to discipline Sadie by saying "NO Sadie you don't eat her cookies!" which resulted in more Sadie sulking. This didn't resolve the issue though because then Addy runs over to Sadie and yells "NO! NO!! COOKIE!! NOOOOOOOOO!" as she tries to PRY the cookie from Sadie's mouth! Poor dog.

So this may have been a fluke...

But I *think* Addy counted to twelve this weekend. Which was shocking. My mouth is still agape. We were cleaning the bathroom together, and when I say cleaning I mean I was cleaning while Addy threw every toy, towel, piece of clothing, shoes, and whatever she could find into the bathtub...

Anyway, she was distracted so I started counting and said "one" and she answered "two" so I say "three" and she answers "four" and we continued like this ALL the way up to twelve. TWELVE. Is that even possible for a twenty month old? I was shocked, proud, and looking at her like she was some kind of alien kid sent from outer space with some weird genius intelligence that I would never comprehend. Okay a little dramatic...but still..OMG.

But the kicker is that when I tried to show Jim the brilliance that we have created, she couldn't recall all the numbers in the correct order and WOULD not perform as I asked (hmph- sassy kid) so I couldn't get the "proof" that every mom (admit it- you all do it) does in order to brag to family members and friends. But *I* know what happened. I was there. :D

What this means is that I will desperately be shoving the video camera in her face until I catch this on film...which also means that she will stubbornly refuse to count- at all... period - because she doesn't perform on command. She's cool like that. It's a vicious cycle....