Recipe: Layered Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

I made this casserole over a year ago when looking for recipes to use up the massive zucchinis I grew in my garden.  I really liked it but haven't made it since because I didn't grow zucchini this summer and I forgot I could buy it in the grocery store.  I came across the recipe in my recipe box and figured we should give it a try again. I still think it's pretty good.  The Donkey Chips served as a side probably  help too!  It's vegetarian, but there is enough cheese in it that you (or the vegetable hating spouse or child in your life) will never know!

 

Layered Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil      

                                                                                       

2 cups diced zucchini                                                  

                       

1 cup chopped onion

                       

2 cups packed coarsely shredded fresh spinach

                       

1 cup frozen whole kernel corn

                       

1 (17.5 ounce) jar Pace® Enchilada Sauce

                       

12 corn tortillas (6 inch)

                       

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

                       

Chopped fresh cilantro leaves

 

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Heat oil in skillet. Add zucchini and onion and cook 5 minutes or until golden brown and tender. Add spinach and corn. Cook and stir until spinach wilts.
3.  Spread 1/2 cup enchilada sauce in 3-quart shallow baking dish. Place 6 tortillas, overlapping as needed to cover bottom of dish. Spread with half of remaining enchilada sauce. Top with vegetable mixture and half the cheese. Top with remaining tortillas and enchilada sauce.
4.  Bake 20 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and bake 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Cut into 6 squares and garnish with cilantro.

Projects 52

After a year of little photo inspiration I decided to try a project 52 challenge again.  I like the idea of themes but was hoping to find something easier since I know my picture taking time is limited with having Ben around.  Though I did find a group with monthly themes and the rest being personal choices I opted not to join in favor of three (yes, three!) other groups.  All with weekly themes.  My goal is to post weekly in at least one group.  Yes, I'm going to pick and choose my themes!  One group is dedicated to photographing your children so I figured that would be easy for me this year.  Another is a Facebook group created by a friend of a friend.  The third is the group I joined last year.  So, we'll see how well I do this year!

Favorite Things: Donkey Chips

Two days after arriving home from the hospital with Ben our friend Jim stopped by for a visit.  He brought over some food including the most awesome tortilla chips on the planet.  Donkey Chips are da bomb!  They are crunchy with just the right amount of salt.  The perfect tortilla chip.  Not too big and not to small.  Small enough that you can almost fit a whole chip in your mouth and not have to worry about double dipping in the salsa!  I used to be a lover of another local tortilla chip.  It was my staple snack.  Not anymore.  Donkey Chips (still a Midwest product) have replaced them.  I think other people have discovered these super yummy snacks too because they are always out of stock at my local grocer.  Now when I see them I stock up!  Go get some today.  Just don't go to my grocery store!

What I did on my Maternity Leave

As my twelve week maternity leave comes to a close and I head back to work later this week I'd like the reminisce about my time off.  Mainly for my own remembrance.

Weeks 1-4 were spent in a blurry haze.  The stay in the hospital was hell.  I was recovering from a c-section that I did not want to have and hated that my mobility was limited.  Ben seemed to cry all the time and we didn't know what to do.  I got more rest at home but things didn't get any easier.  I was beginning to think I should buy stock in Kleenex or Puffs.  I cried all the time. Even during an episode of the comedic sitcom The Goldbergs. (Poor Mike - dealing with a crying baby and wife!) There were many visitors...all of who I was hesitant of having because of my self consciousness regarding breast feeding (will they come when he has to be fed??).  I spent way too much time on my favorite chair (which I was beginning to resent) feeding my baby when all I wanted to do was cook dinner (something I knew how to do...breastfeeding felt so foreign to me).  I didn't understand the 'bonding' experience at all.  Ben and I 'fought' with each other more than we bonded, that's for sure!  I dreaded Mondays when Mike went off to work and I was left alone all. day. long.  I longed to go to work too.

Weeks 5-8 got a little better in regards to feeding.  I switched to all formula and was so much happier.  They say breast is best but I was not enjoying it or my baby.  I hated it and thought the switch would save us money on tissues.  It did!  And I felt like myself again.  For us, formula has been best.  The baby?  He was still a pain in the butt.  At first, I was OK with attempting to get out of the house, but he quickly turned into a difficult little one.  Even a walk in the stroller had me and him coming home in tears.  I was going stir crazy.  The nights weren't any better.  In fact, Ben was a bigger whiner then.  (Again, poor Mike.  He only saw the crabby side of Ben)  I'm surprised I have any hair left!  He did sleep well overnight at least...once we got him to sleep.  I can't imagine dealing will all of this AND being majorly sleep deprived (from the start I only had to get up once during the night to feed him).  My C-section incision healed but I struggled with the feeling of having no abdominal muscles.  Even though I had lost most of the weight I gained while pregnant, I felt weak.  Rolling over in bed still made me feel 8 months pregnant.  I hated the fact that I had to have a C-section more, but later found out from my doctor that that's just what it's like after being pregnant and it would just take time to retrain those muscles again.  Very frustrating when I felt in tip top shape before I got pregnant.

Weeks 9-12 were much much better.  Ben began to nap more regularly and I started to figure him out.  He was actually happy when he was awake most of the time.  He was smiling and interacting more and actually seemed to like me!  I got stuff done while he napped.  I cleaned the blinds!  I cooked sometimes.  I decorated for the holidays, online shopped, and wrapped gifts.  I cleaned the bathroom every week!  I vacuumed twice a week.  I kept up with the dishes.  I did the laundry twice a week.  I went on lunch dates (thanks to my mom who came to babysit).  I packed up maternity clothes, newborn sized clothes, our wedding albums and such into Rubbermaid storage bins.  I updated Ben's baby book.   I updated my recipe box.  Ben and I had Christmas card photo shoots.  I occasionally did a workout video (and feel my abs returning!).  I dusted the baseboards of the built up dog hair.  These were the weeks where I enjoyed visitors as my contact with adults was so minimal for so long. Ben became more bearable when out and about and we went to the mall a few times. We visited Santa.  He started to go to bed at a decent hour.  The days were still long but by week ten I had the hang of things.  Without my own honey to do list I would have been majorly bored though. I'm still not used to being tied to the house.  And honestly, once he gets more active and mobile, I'm not so sure I would like it anymore.  Kids are exhausting!

And so, just as I'm getting used to the routine, I am headed back to work.  I'm ready to go back so I can (hopefully) relax and have conversations with adults! We will all have to readjust to a new schedule again (and probably a dirtier and less organized house).  I'm just hoping I don't have to stock up on Kleenex for this round.

Recipe: Cheddar Bacon Chicken

Once again, I have a Taste of Home recipe to share.  This one comes from one of those recipe books they sell at the check out lanes titled "5 ingredients".  Now that's my kind of recipe!  The bonus is that the five ingredients are usually ones that you have on hand.  Well, maybe not the teriyaki sauce...until you buy it for this recipe and have the remaining sauce left over!  I'm not a big fan of barbecue sauce, but I really liked this chicken nonetheless.  It was super easy to whip together with some roasted red potatoes and steamed green beans.

Cheddar Bacon Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each)
• 1/4 cup reduced-sodium teriyaki sauce
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 4 slices ready-to-serve fully cooked bacon, cut in half
• 4 slices cheddar cheese

Directions

• Dip both sides of chicken in teriyaki sauce; place on a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 425° for 13-18 minutes or until a thermometer reads 170°.
• Spread barbecue sauce over chicken; top with bacon and cheese. Return to the oven and bake for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Yield: 4 servings.  

Favorite Things/Review: Baby Breeza Formula Pro

When I started to primarily formula feed Ben I was faced with a baby that screamed even more while he waited for me to measure, mix, and heat up a bottle.  Trying to do this while holding a flailing baby was no fun.  I also had to prep up bottles for the middle of the night feeds.  Most of this wasn't really THAT big of a deal.  Mothers (and fathers) have been doing it for ages.  However, I saw this baby and thought, "Damn, a Keurig for baby formula?  That's so awesome!"

We decided that since I was home on maternity leave for a good two months still and my mom would be watching Ben at our house once I went back to work that it would be worth the cost for the convenience.

In a nutshell, the Formula Pro dispenses 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 ounce bottles at the optimal temperature.  We use a few different style bottles of various heights and it works for all of them.  In the middle of the night I get up, pop a bottle under it, press a button and presto!  The water reservoir needs to be filled about once per day and the formula bowl needs to be filled every five days or so (obviously, this is all dependent on how often/how much your baby eats).  Check out this video for a more detailed look.

One thing I have noticed is that the dispenser area starts to get a little clogged over time possibly resulting in less powder being dispensed into the bottle (we learned this the hard way when Ben seemed to be eating a TON!)  We now do a little preventive maintenance each time we fill the powder and clean this area out.

Besides that fault, I love this thing!  It's nice not to have to measure out scoops six or seven times a day.  There's no messy powder on the counter (except the once a week that it gets filled).  Bottles are always warm.  One thing I do wish this fancy thing would do is make a one ounce bottle.  Ben is currently drinking around five ounces at times.  To combat this we make a two ounce bottle and add an ounce to the bottle.  We then refrigerate the extra ounce and add it to the next bottle (sure, it cools it down a little, but not much).

So, though this is splurge, I recommend it if you are a formula feeder and are a stay at home mom or are planning to take a significant amount of time off of work after the birth of your baby.

Recipe: Crispy Buffalo Chicken Roll-ups

Here's another recipe from the Taste of Home magazine!  I'm not a huge fan of buffalo sauce, but I know Mike is and I sometimes try and cook with it.  I'm also not a fan of recipes that involve the messy task of dipping raw meat into various bowls to coat it.  Nonetheless, I decided to try it.  Despite the fact that I chose to buy thin sliced chicken to save on pounding chicken and they were probably much smaller than they should have been, I think the final product was pretty good.


Crispy Buffalo Chicken Roll-ups

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup hot pepper sauce
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 cup crushed cornflakes

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400°. Flatten chicken breasts to 1/4-in. thickness. Season with salt and pepper; sprinkle with blue cheese. Roll up each from a short side and secure with toothpicks.
• In a shallow bowl, combine pepper sauce and mayonnaise. Place cornflakes in a separate shallow bowl. Dip chicken in pepper sauce mixture, then coat with cornflakes. Place seam side down in a greased 11x7-in. baking dish.
• Bake, uncovered, 30-35 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Discard toothpicks. Yield: 4 servings.

Something I thought of when shopping for the ingredients:  Don't you wish they sold really small boxes of corn flakes?  I only use them for 'breading' and hate that the box takes up so much room in my pantry.  And by the time I use them again they are stale.  Just a thought for anyone reading this who may work for Kellog's.