Recipe

Turkey Taquitos Recipe

Ingredients-18 servings

• 2 cups plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 white onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno
• 1 1/2 cups shredded turkey
• 1 1/2 cups shredded jack cheese
• 1/2 cup Mexican-flavored canned tomatoes, drained and chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 18 white or yellow corn tortillas
• Serving suggestion: Serve with Cranberry Salsa, recipe follows
• Special equipment: toothpicks

Directions

Sweat the onion, garlic, and jalapeno in a saute pan with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Remove from the heat and add to a large bowl. To the bowl, add the shredded turkey, cheese, tomatoes and season with salt, and pepper, to taste. Mix the ingredients thoroughly.

Warm the tortillas in the microwave for 10 seconds so they are pliable.
Fill the tortillas with a tablespoon of filling and roll into a thin taquito, securing with a toothpick. Keep the taquitos covered with a damp towel before cooking otherwise the corn tortillas will dry out and crack. Heat 2 cups oil in a straight-sided pan to 350 degrees F. Place the taquitos in the hot oil in batches and shallow fry until crisp, rolling to cook all sides, about 3 minutes.
Drain the taquitos on paper towels and salt. Remove the toothpicks before serving.

• Cranberry Salsa
• 1/2 cup canned whole cranberry sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• Zest and juice of 1 lime
• 1 jalapeno, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 white onion coarsely chopped, covered and microwaved for 1 minute
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup Mexican-flavored canned tomatoes, drained and chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the cranberry sauce, cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, jalapeno pepper, onion, red pepper, green pepper, tomatoes, and salt, and pepper, to taste in a food processor and pulse until blended, but still chunky. Serve with Turkey Taquitos. -foodnetwork.com

Moms Chicken Enchilada Recipe

Mom's Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, chopped (about a cup)
• Vegetable oil - grapeseed or olive
• 2 small cloves garlic, minced
• 1 14.5-ounce can tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted if you can get it
• 2 Tbsp red chili powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup to a cup of water
• 12 corn tortillas
• Grapeseed oil, peanut oil or canola oil - a high smoke point vegetable oil
• 2-3 cups of cooked chicken, shredded or chopped
• Salt
• 2 cups grated cheese (about 1/3 lb)

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2 Prepare the sauce. Coat a large skillet with oil and sauté the onions on medium heat until translucent, a few minutes. Add the garlic for a minute more. While the onions are cooking, purée the canned tomatoes in a blender. Add the tomatoes to the onions and garlic. Bring to a low simmer. Start adding the chili powder, one teaspoon at a time, tasting after each addition, until you get to the desired level of heat and chili flavor. For us that's around 2 Tablespoons. But it depends on your taste and how strong the chili powder is that you are using. Note that the tortillas and chicken will absorb some of the heat, so allow for that and let it be a little bit spicier than what you want in the finished dish. Add a teaspoon of sugar if necessary to cut down on the acid from the tomatoes. You want more of the taste of the chili and less of the tomatoes for this sauce. As the sauce simmers, dilute it with water to keep it from getting too thick as it simmers. Remove from heat.
Alternatively, use a prepared canned enchilada sauce, which can be perfectly fine.
3 Mix in 1/4 cup of the sauce with the cooked chicken, and a 1/4 cup of the cheese. Sprinkle with a little salt. Set aside.
4 Prepare the tortillas. There are 2 basic ways to prepare the tortillas - the traditional way of dipping them in the sauce and heating them individually, and my mom's way when she is trying to cut down on the fat.
First the traditional way. Heat a small light skillet on med-high heat. Add a teaspoon of oil (high smoke point oil as indicated above, we use grapeseed oil) to coat the pan. Dip a tortilla in the sauce to coat the tortilla with sauce on both sides. Place the tortilla in the skillet and heat for a few seconds, until the tortilla begin to show some air bubbles. Use a metal spatula to flip to the other side for a few more seconds. Set aside on a plate. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Proceed to the step 5.
For my mom's low-fat method of heating up the tortillas, she places a small amount of oil in the skillet to coat the pan. Add a tortilla, flip it to its other side. Then add another tortilla on top of the first to soak up some of the excess oil. Flip them both together and add yet another tortilla. Keep adding them wherever there seems to be some excess oil. The idea is to heat the tortillas and soften them with the minimum amount of oil. As the tortillas become soft and heated, remove them to a paper towel to soak up even more excess oil. If you find you need more oil in the pan, add it. With this method, you do NOT get the chili flavor infused in the tortillas. It is a matter of preference. I prefer the first method, excess oil or not, because it has a much richer and spicier flavor. But as my mom says, "Anything goes. This is just a guideline; do what you want."
Note that because we made this batch the low-fat way, the following photos show tortillas not coated in chili sauce, but the method is the same for if you did.

5 Assemble the enchiladas. Use an 8x12 inch pyrex baking dish. Place a couple spoonfuls of the chicken mixture in the center of a tortilla and roll it up. Place in the baking dish and repeat until all dozen of your tortillas are neatly placed in rows in the casserole dish. Cover the tortillas rolls with the remaining sauce.
Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese. Note that I recall often eating these chicken enchiladas with very little cheese on them. Instead we had probably 2/3 cup of chopped fresh onion that had been soaked in vinegar sprinkled over the top. (My mom, bless her soul, has no recollection of the chicken enchiladas without the sprinkled cheese. But she's in her 70s and sometimes doesn't remember these things. Or she remembers later and doesn't remember that she ever forgot them in the first place. But heck, I'm in my 40s and my memory isn't what it used to be either.)

6 Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.
Use a metal spatula to serve.
Serve with thinly sliced iceberg lettuce that has been seasoned with vinegar and salt (no oil), guacamole or avocado slices, and sour cream. Garnish with cilantro.
Serves 4.
-simplyrecipes.com

Recipes

Do you like to try new recipes? well if you have any good ones to share please list them! here is one i found that sounded great to try! enjoy!

Recipe- Mexican Lasagna

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

1½ lb	Lean Ground Beef
6	Flour Tortillas, size depends on baking dish size
1 pkg	Beef Taco Seasoning
1 can	Fat Free Refried Beans
1× 8oz	Container Sour Cream
1× 12oz pkg	Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1× 12oz	Mexican Style Shredded Cheese

Directions:

Brown beef in skillet, add taco seasoning, do not drain fat. Heat refried beans for spreading ease. In a deep casserole pan, place 2 tortilla shells on bottom. Evenly spread 1/2 cooked meat and generous portions of Mexican style cheese and cheddar cheese, cover with 2 tortilla shells. On top of tortilla shells, spread thick layer of refried beans topped with entire contents on sour cream. Cover with 2 tortilla shells. Top layer should be remainder of beef and Mexican style cheese mixed with cheddar cheese. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle handful of cheddar cheese on top, bake for 5 more minutes.

Helpful Tips:

This dish is also good when reheated and topped with salsa. For ease in serving, lightly grease or butter serving dish. Middle layer can also be used for miscellaneous condiments such as jalapenos peppers, olives, tomatoes etc. I've been making this for years, unsure about exact measurements on some ingredients, individual taste and preference will work. Draining the meat will cause dish to be dry.-betterrecipes.com

Work

Work is the last thing anybody wants to do! But, we have to none the less and us mom's work 24 7!
Whether you stay at home or work outside the home as well, it's a long and tiring day! Here are a few suggestions to help make your "daily" duties a little more less stressful.
1.Laundry
Make each person responsible for washing, drying, and putting away their own clothing. Write and post some basic instructions in the laundry room. Have a trial period where your trainees assist you with their clothing.
If you get truly overwhelmed by your laundry, check out a local Laundromat that will wash, dry, and fold your loads for you. These services frequently charge by the pound for laundry and aren't inexpensive, but may save you time and energy when life starts to overwhelm.
2.Filing Paperwork
Make filing time coincide with a favorite show that you feel guilty for taking time to watch. Most filing can be done with little thinking, and you'll get to watch your favorite show in the process. Sort the papers into categories based on your file names. Don't forget to include trash. You'll be surprised how much of the pile you won't need to keep.
3Clearing Clutter
Find a local charity to donate items to prior to a clutter clearing session. Some charities may even be able to pick up your donations at a prearranged time, saving you a trip.
Label various storage containers before you begin to sort your clutter. A label makes placing items in the right category a much easier task.
Go through and grab obvious trash as the first step. Once the trash is gone, it makes it easier to see what you want to keep, and just how much stuff you'll need to get rid of.
These are obviously just a few suggestions to help ease your day! if you have little kids then some of these can be done when they take a nap or watching a kids movie! take a little time each day to savor your favorite coffe or tea and put your feet up and relax...the dishes will get done sometime,  toys will get put away later, trash will get taken out, so just take a few minutesto recharge and for you to collect your own thoughts! some of these ideas were from -housekeeping.about.com

Crafts

Wanting to do some fun crafts with your kids or just making some cute projects around the house?
There are some really great ideas in magazines like Family Fun, Better Home and Gardens, Home Journal, Fresh Home, Home Decorating, House Beautiful, Parenting, CardMaker, Creative Keepsakes, Scrapbooks Etc, Quilting, Elle Decor, Papercrafts, American Style, and Crocheting are just a few good ones to check out! I found some really great ideas for homemade gifts this year! Here are a few I found and maybe you know them already, but here they are:
1. Making a decorative box filled with memorable objects of your kids pictures, crafts, photos, and give to your mom or dad for memorable lifetime treasures!
2. Making handmade coasters from felt or foam to give to grandma and grandpa of the kids handprints!
3. Taking various sizes of glass containers and filling them with decorative sand, shells, acorns, dried flowers, dried greenery, etc..make your own display and give as gifts for decor!
4. Reusing your Christmas Cards to cut and make decorative tags or cards for scrapbooking!
5. Making a wreath out of your old yarn by using a foam wreath and rolling your balls of yarn into 2-3 inch rolls and glue them around like bulbs all around the wreath! assorted colors or all the same colors!
Well, these are just a few cute ideas I read about! You can create ANYTHING! make it creative and imanginative! have fun! :)

Family Fun

Wow time for family fun? What does your family do for family fun times? We are starting to change what and how we do things, since our kids are starting to become adults themselves. It's a very different feeling, but we still try and go camping with the whole family once a year. Picking out a place for entertainment for everyone to enjoy is tricky, but I just want to enjoy my family together. Cedar Point, Mackinac Island, Grand Canyon, Pikes Peak in CO, are just a few places that are truly fun places to go!
One year we took a road trip to Arizona from Michigan, we marked out travel points we wanted to stop and visit on our way! It was a great time. We saw so many interesting spots and views it was a special trip! Now, I don't know if all our kids will ever travel that far again with us, since they are graduated from school and now have their own lives. Kinda sad feeling, but I look forward to new and fun times ahead as our family will grow again with new spouses and kids someday!:) Drop us a line and tell us a few special moments in your lives!

Family time

Is it hard to get quality family time in with work, running errands, sports, homework, etc..the list keeps going on and on! I know that finding a "happy" medium can be very tricky some days, but personally I always let my kids know that I am there when they need me. (even if it's 3:00 am) I would rather be called or woken up to help them if they needed me. It's tricky when your kids become adults and still live at home! When and how do you draw the line between helping them and making them start being responsible? I have found that it works differently for each child, because one might be away in college, or another will still be living at home attending school or working. Do they expect the same treatment or help as the other child? YES! I have found that my kids want to have me help do exactly what I do for the other! But, unfortunately, I also find that impossible to do. Since, one child is away at school and needs help with either extra money, books, living expense, food, and many other items the other might still be at home not having to pay for extras like food or living expenses! wow..how do you handle your kids or do you have any ideas to share with us? please comment and let us know your thoughts!-annettebloom