More fun with hatch chilies!

I still have chilies. Can't let those babies go to waste! So I decided to make green chili enchiladas. Here is what you will need.

6 Hatch chilies
1 tomato
1/2 onion
1 tsp minced garlic
4 chicken breasts
12 tortillas. I use corn.
1 small bag of shredded cheese
low fat sour cream

These are easy if  you do some of the steps ahead of time. You will need to cook your chicken breasts. I usually leave them in the crock pot, adding some seasonings for flavor.

You will need to roast the chilies. In case you forgot, set them on a baking sheet or roasting pan and put them in a pre-heated oven with the broiler set on high. Roast for a few minutes on each side until they are charred.

Once the chilies are cooked, place them in a 1 gallon zip lock. Let them steam in the sealed bag for 10-15 minutes.

Remove from the bag, slice open and pull out all the seeds.

Dice up your onion and saute in a pan with some olive oil. Add in the tsp of minced garlic. Let it cook for about 10 minutes. While it is cooking, you can dice your tomato. Multi task, baby!

Put the diced tomato into a blender, adding in the onion, garlic, and chilies. Blend until it is a nice, creamy consistency.

Next, put it in a pan to warm it all up. If it's a little too thick, you can dilute with a few drops of water. Let it simmer just for a few minutes. While that is simmering, go ahead and shred your chicken breasts. And while you're at it, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Warm up your tortillas, then dip them one and at a time into the sauce. Fill with chicken, cheese, then roll and  place into a baking dish. Once you have all the enchiladas in the pan, pour over more sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Then put the dish in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Serve with a scoop of low fat sour cream on top. If you are a chili light-weight, you might want to smother the enchilada with sour cream. It will kill some of the fire in these babies. 

It's our wedding anniversary. Let's make chili rellenos!

On Saturday, Alex and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to make a chili rellenos casserole. It's Hatch chili season, so I had fresh chilies on hand. Yay me! This is a bit of a spin off from the Pioneer Woman's recipe. She uses canned chilies. Amateur!

Here's what you will need.

• About a dozen fresh chilies. The bigger, the better. Who says size doesn't matter?
• A block of grated cheese of your choice. I use monterey jack or pepper jack. You can also use already shredded cheese. Expect to use one bag. 
• 5 eggs
• 2 cups milk. I use 2%
• paprika
• cayenne pepper

Step one. Roast your chilies. Here in the land of no gas burners, I use my oven broiler. Set the broiler to high, lay out your chilies on a broiler pan or cookie sheet that can stand high temps. Let them broil for maybe 5 minutes on each side. You will hear some snap, crackle, pop sounds. 

Step two. Sweat the chilies. Once they are out of the oven, put them in a gallon sized zip lock bag and seal it up. Let them cool off for maybe 10-15 minutes. The steam will build up, and the chilies will continue to cook a bit in the bag. 

Step three. Remove the chilies from the bag and start to peel off the skin. Most of it should come off easily. Unless you don't roast the chilies long enough. See picture below. The resistant skin pieces can be removed with a knife. 

Peeling the skin off a chili

Step four. Slice the chili down the center and remove all seeds. The chilies are delicate, so be careful when you are slicing.

Step five. Lay the chilies flat onto a lightly greased baking pan. My latest cooking spray that I love is made from Coconut oil. Trader Joe's, baby!

Step six. Whisk the eggs and milk together, adding some paprika, and cayenne pepper. I don't measure, I just shake some in old school style.

Step 7. Pour the egg batter over the chilies.

Step 8. Sprinkle half the cheese over the eggs.

Step 9. Add another layer of chilies.

Step 10. Add another layer of cheese.

Step 11. Place the dish on top of a cookie sheet. Add some water to the cookie sheet. Just enough so that it is about 1/2 inch deep. Carefully place this all into a 325 degree pre-heated oven. 

Step 12. Patiently wait the 35-45 minutes until cooked. Enjoy the aroma coming from your kitchen.

Step 13. Eat! 

Step 14. Food coma, but totally worth it!

To celebrate our anniversary, I used our wedding china, wedding glasses, and even our wedding cake cutter to serve the chocolate chip cheesecake that I made. 

Yes, that is Minnie Mouse. We got married at the Disneyland Hotel.

Alex and I spent the afternoon at the movies. We saw The World's End, and really enjoyed it. Then we got home with Nik having a bit of an allergic reaction to a bug bite. Nothing major, but his arm was starting to swell.  At the advice of the on call nurse, we went to get it checked out. Fortunately, a bit of benadrl cream helped. Nik got to keep his arm, and he scored a lollipop. 

We capped off the day by watching our wedding day video with the kids. Happy Anniversary to us!

First day of school

The boys both transitioned to new schools this year. Nik is a high school freshman, and Noah is in middle school now. I can't believe how fast time flies. Before I know it, Nik will be building a house for his wife. At least, that's what he says he has planned in the future. I hope he builds a back house for Alex and I.

I was calm about this transition thing all summer long. Then the first day of school rolled along. I admit that I was a tad nervous. But of course, my kids did great. There was that one e-mail from the high school that wanted to know why  Nik did not show up to class on the first day. I called the attendance clerk and tried to explain that he was at school that very moment. And furthermore, it would be hard for him to ditch PE, considering he was being followed around by a para. Because we all know that having a para as your shadow is enough to ruin the best ditching plans. Of course, that e-mail was all a misunderstanding. Nik was at PE, and not at the smoking corner or whatever it is that the ditching kids do now days.

Nik is adjust well to high school. He is taking Beginning Acting, and loving it. Today he is getting up in front of the class and demonstrating how his grandma walks. Go Nik!

Noah is also adjusting well. I have only had one call home. And one day Noah also called to check up on me. He is making cinnamon rolls at school today. I'm sure he will be a happy boy when they get to eat them.

So, here are my happy boys on the first day of school. They had smiles going off to school, and even bigger smiles coming home.

And in other news, Alex left me home alone with these this morning. I will have to restrain myself somehow.  

The last weekend of freedom

School started this week. We always try and do something fun before the new school year kids off. On Saturday, we went to a Royals game. We had great tickets, behind the Red Sox dugout.

Unfortunately for me, I sat next to a man who was very large, loud, and had a bit too much to drink. But we did manage to enjoy the game.

Between innings 3 and 4, some mascots came out to have a dance off. First, it was KC Royal vs Herbie Husker, the University of Nebraska mascot.

Then Lil' Red, the other Nebraska mascot, joined the party. Apparently, he likes to dance on his head. . The kids loved it.

Ok, back to baseball. 

Runner getting ready to slide into 3rd base.

After the 4th inning, the kids were getting bored, and the large dude next to me was getting on my last nerve. So we decided to check out the kids area. The kids area was pretty neat. It had a museum, small baseball diamond that the kids could run around, a batting cage, miniature golf, a large play area/jungle gym, and a carousel.

First, we walked through the museum. It was filled with allot of interesting artifacts.

Bobble head display.

 

Derek Jeter helmet.

Nolan Ryan hat.

Baseball bat display.

George Brett display.

The Royals World Series trophy. 

After the museum, we headed to the different play areas.

Jungle gyn.

Carousel ride.

Miniature golf.

Outdoor patio to enjoy watching the game.

It really is possible to go to a Royals game, and not even have to watch a Royals game. LOL. After we walked around and checked out all the new fun things, we decided to head home. But not before we stopped and bought some cotton candy!

A day at the farm

When we first moved here, one of our favorite places to visit was the farmstead. The kids loved the playground area. And they got to feed different animals. It's been a couple of years since we have payed a visit to the farm. Last summer was just too hot.On Monday, we met our friends and had such a nice morning just wandering around.

In previous years, Noah loved going to the playground to play on these little animals. He would stay there all day if we let him. So, when we passed the playground on Monday, he asked to play on the animals again. I was hesitant, because he is really too big for them.I didn't want people staring. But his heart was set on playing, so I just let him. He was so happy. And we only got a couple of glances. There was a dad and his toddler playing in that area, and the dad and I exchanged a short but friendly greeting. So, I worried about the bad glances for nothing. And when Noah was finally ready to leave, another girl his age came running over to the playground. She had Down Syndrome. So Noah was not alone in his love for this area.

We had a great time at the Farmstead. It really made me realize how much the kids have grown in the past 2 years. We'll have to come back before they really are too big for this place.