Chicken Enchiladas

Part of my goal this summer is to be prepared for the school year with meals that are easy to prepare. I spent far too many days eating out this last year and need to get back on healthy family meals. I was talking to my sister Sara about this and bulking up my 3 month food storage. She asked me to share recipes and ideas on my blog.

My plan is to have 18 dinner meals in my pantry and freezer. My goal is to have enough to make 5 of each of these meals, or 90 meals total. I have 9 meals planned out to purchase this summer and I plan to add to this throughout the year. Here is my first meal: chicken enchiladas. This is one I got from my sister. They are so easy to make and freeze. I always double the recipe to cook one and freeze one. This 8x8 pan serves my family with a meal left over for me to take to work the following day.

Chicken Enchiladas

1 large can chicken, 2 poached chicken breasts or 2 cups of shredded chicken from a roasted chicken ( I like Costco's the best.)

1 28-ounce can or 2 14-ounce cans of enchilada sauce ( Hatch Green Chile is one of my favorites)

1/2 cup of sour cream

Shredded cheddar or jack cheese(I love cheese so I just eyeball what looks good)

12 flour tortillas ( I used some whole wheat tortillas from our local farmers' market)

1. Place chicken in a large bowl. Mix with sour cream, a splash of enchilada sauce and some shredded cheese.

2. Pour 1/3 of enchilada sauce in bottom of 2 -8x8 pans or 1- 9x13 pan. Divide tortillas between the two pans. Take one tortilla and soak both sides in the sauce in the pan.

3. Fill with a spoonful of chicken mixture and some more shredded cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

4. Pour the rest of the sauce over the filled tortillas, dividing equally between the two pans.

Top with remaining shredded cheese.

5. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or cover with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and freeze for up to three months.

Everyone will love this version. My sister won the Best Enchilada contest at her church with this recipe. It is the sour cream that makes it so delicious. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does. If you have any great recipes that you would like to share that would be great for the freezer or food storage, please let me know.

Happy eating!

Date Night

Last Sunday Dane and I were fortunate to attend a fireside at our church with Dr. Stephen Covey as the guest speaker. He is the author of The Seven Habits books. He is an amazing speaker. He talked about strengthening your family. His main points included:

1. Create a family mission statement

2. Use an Indian talking stick to settle disagreements

3. Create meaningful one-on-one relationships with your children.

We decided to start this immediately. Luckily, Friday Bjorn was attending an 11-year old Scout overnight activity with Grandpa Neil, so Anders and I had our first date night. Here is what we did.

We drove to Target. On our way over, the music requested was Christmas. Anders mission was to buy a toy with his gift card he received for his birthday from the Zonies. So many toys, so little money!

We spent 1 hour and 45 minutes in the toy aisles. Anders is asking if he can buy a Bakugan. I nixed that one.


Here is the final choice. Mom had to pony up the remaining $5. A small sacrifice for a happy boy!

After going to Target, we ate dinner at Panda Express. Anders fortune from his cookie was, "Look to next month for some pleasant surprises."

We returned home to play a rousing game of Life, which Anders thoroughly beat his mom! After Life, we watched Disney channel and Surf's Up! We then snuggled up in my bed and Anders slept until 11:30 am!

We had such a great time and I am so looking forward to spending many more nights like this with both of my sweet boys!

Just a quick update

Summer is officially here! I finally finished with a week long summer institute at school last week (minus students) so now I can begin to enjoy the reward of being a teacher: summer vacation! Here is a quick update of our family.

Bjorn officially finished elementary school. He will be attending middle school next year as a sixth grader. He seems to think that this is really exciting and cool, but I don't think he has grasped how much his academic life will change. He has signed up to play trumpet in band which I am sure will necessitate me buying earplugs. He has also started swimming 5 days a week on the Gold team.

Anders finished kindergarten. How sad it is to see him grow up so quickly! He just celebrated his 6th birthday this past weekend. He got a new bike and is tearing around the neighborhood with it. He also finished his second season of soccer. Today he started his first art class at the Fine Arts Center and came home with paint on his face, jeans, and feet! For Anders, everything is a full body, immersive experience.

Dane is flying back to Joplin, MO as I type. He was able to come home for the weekend to celebrate Anders' birthday and sneak in a bike ride with his Dad and buddy Kent. He is currently a Team Lead which means he is in office reviewing files and helping the managers out with paperwork and such. He is enjoying this new aspect of his job.

I just finished my first year teaching. I absolutely love it! I was fortunate to find out that I now have a permanent position, as last year I was only hired for the one year. I will continue to teach 3rd grade and am on the best team ever! My summer will consist of ferrying the boys to their activities, exercising, and spending as much time at the outdoor pool as the weather allows.

I hope you are all having a great summer and have set a goal to post at least once a week! I will get pictures up next time.