Avocado Bacon Parmesan Salad with Tangy Avocado Dressing

I hang my head as I write this post because I am breaking one of the cardinal rules I set for myself - I am pilfering an image. It's extra shameful because I actually have my new lens and I probably could have taken a half decent picture, but I kind of forgot and then when I remembered all that was left of this salad were a few little scraps stuck on the salad tongs (which I promptly ate). So, please forgive.

So ... salads. For the first 26 years of my life all a salad was to me was iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, croutons and ranch (maybe carrots if my mom was feeling sassy). Well, actually, in her defense she did once make a snickers salad, which she was ridiculed for and vowed to never make again. Anyway, I always thought salads were kind of blah.... and I would be rather insulted when people would ask me to bring a salad to a function, because I thought they didn't trust me to actually bring something important. But then in Texas a good friend made a salad that had apples in it. And avocados, and mandarin oranges, and nuts. And she made her own dressing. It was one of those defining moments in life where I realized that salads don't have to be boring. And now making salads is kind of my thing. I'm always on the lookout for new recipes to try, always throwing in a few more veggies, new types of nuts, and making my own dressings. Don't get me wrong though, there is still a place in my heart for iceberg and ranch!

I took this salad to a family party on Saturday. It was the first time I had left my house since becoming deathly ill earlier in the week, and it was lovely. Good food, good friends, horses, s'mores, mosquitos. Ah, sweet, sweet, summertime!


Avocado Bacon Parmesan Salad with Tangy Avocado Dressing
by Natalie @ Perry's Plate

For the salad:
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
6 ounces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/3 cup fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese shavings
12 ounces of salad greens

For the dressing:
1/2 of an avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into large chunks
1 green onion, sliced
3 T sour cream
3 T mayonnaise or plain yogurt
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T agave nectar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper, to taste

To prepare the dressing, place all dressing ingredients into a small food processor and blend until smooth. Adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Toss dressing with salad greens and top with avocado slices, bacon crumbles, and cheese shavings.

Parmesan Garlic Tilapia Sticks

The embarrassing thing about going two weeks without a post on a recipe blog is realizing that now everyone will know that it's been a good two weeks since I've actually cooked. Whoopsie. I got a little crazy and decided to take my kids on a road trip to Oregon (I loooove the ocean!). That was....probably not the smartest thing I've ever done, but gall darn it it was memorable. And that IS the important thing. Since I am not crazy enough to drive solo with three children, I invited my friend Katie along (and her two girls, five car seats, one van, I deserve a medal). Maybe I will post the gory details in the "outside the kitchen" tab of lemonglaze. Get excited about that :). Then on the heels of our arrival back home I came down with the plague. It was seriously the sickest I've ever been, and I've been really sick before (read: pregnancy). This was more of a head-pounding-so-hard-you-have-to-hold-it-in-place-so-it-doesn't-explode type of sickness. I am so glad to be over that.

So needless to say we've been eating a lot of pizza, questionably old leftovers, cereal, jamba juices, and Del Taco. Not my proudest two weeks of eating. Though I ate better on the Oregon trip than I have probably ever eaten in my life. Rotisserie turkey, steaks grilled to perfection, organic multigrain cinnamon rolls (there are lots of advantages to staying with friends and family over staying at a hotel!). Anywho, I finally got it together and made dinner tonight.

Tilapia. It's one of the best things ever. Mainly because it is inexpensive and fast/easy to cook. I always keep a couple packages of frozen tilapia on hand for an easy meal. Plus, it doesn't taste too "fishy", it just tastes like whatever you season it with. Perfect!

We love these fish sticks, they are easy to make, tasty and best of all the kids love them (and so does Blaine!).

Parmesan Garlic Tilapia Sticks

by Natalie @ Perry's Plate

1 lb tilapia or any other firm, white fish such as cod
1 egg
1/4 cup buttermilk (I used regular milk)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
salt
pepper
sauce for dipping (ideas include marinara, ranch, sour cream, tartar sauce)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut fish in to 1/2-inch strips and sprinkle a little salt on both sides.

In a small shallow bowl whisk together the egg, buttermilk and garlic. In another shallow bowl combine the bread crumbs, cheese, and a big pinch of salt and pepper.

Dip the fish sticks into the wet mixture, let excess liquid drip off, then coat in bread crumb mixture. Lay on a baking sheet and repeat with remaining fish sticks. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. If you want them golden brown, broil them for the last minute of baking time.

Feta Stuffed Turkey Burgers

Turkey Burgers...ewww....right? WRONG! These are fantastic! Then again you could stuff a cardboard box with feta and pinenuts and I would probably love it :). A friend who moved today called me up to see if I wanted to raid her fridge for food (I am usually on the other side of that phone call). I gladly obliged and came home with three pounds of ground turkey that she strongly recommended I use that day. Well...I did use them....two days later and we haven't keeled over yet, victory! An extra special victory since the Greek Yogurt I had on hand expired on MAY 2nd (relax, it wasn't opened yet, and yogurt stays good indefinitely as long as you don't open it, right?). This whole rambling probably isn't making you very hungry, is it? Sorry about that. These are a really good burger!

Feta Stuffed Turkey Burgers

adapted from allrecipes.com

1 pound ground turkey
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced (or you can use black olives, or you can omit)
1/8 cup pine nuts
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
ground black pepper to taste
1/8-1/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth (I used water this time, last time I used olive juice from the can of olives...)

Preheat the grill for medium high heat (or plug in your George Foreman, holla!). In a large bowl combine turkey, feta, olives, pine nuts, oregano, garlic, pepper, and liquid of choice. Mix together and form in to patties. Lightly oil the grate, place patties on the grill and cook 10-12 minutes, turning halfway through. Top with tzitki, or Greek yogurt, or sour cream. You could serve these on a pita, on a bun, or just plain like us : )

Tres Leches

Okay guess what? MY NEW LENS CAME! But all of the pictures for the recipes I am going to post were taken last night...at like midnight, with the old lens. It was pretty funny because I put the new lens on, drug my six-year-old outside and took pictures of her and they were like...beyond awful...all flooded with light. I figured I would just need to read the manual for the new lens but then I realized...the lens was NOT even attached to the camera. Doi. Once I attached the lens the right way life got much much better. I can't wait to show you.

In the mean time though, this is probably the best cake I have ever made or eaten (oh and I have eaten my fair share of cakes people). At my last visit to Cafe Rio I got a thing on my receipt for a free dessert, I ordered the Tres Leches and loooooooved it. Unfortunately though when you have to share a small dessert with five people (darn kids...) you don't get very much of it. So I came away realizing that I had to learn how to make Tres Leches. Good news! It's easy as pie. Probably easier, and the results are stellar. I will be taking this to my next family function. Good thing I am growing fond of my love handles.

Tres Leches

by: allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup white sugar
5 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For topping:
2 cups whole milk ( I only had 2%, the shame!)
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk (do yourself a favor and do not calculate how many calories are in this can alone. Trust me)
1 (12 fluid oz) can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 - 1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 dgs F. Grease and flour one 9x13 inch baking pan. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside. In a separate bowl cream butter and the one cup sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs (one at a time, with about ten seconds between each) and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; beat well. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture 2 tablespoons at a time; mix until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 dgs for 30 minutes. When cake is done pierce several times with a fork. Seriously...I made funky designs all over the cake, go to town. Set cake aside to cool.

Combine the whole milk (uno), condensed milk (dos), and evaporated milk (tres, tres leches!) together. Pour over the top of the cooled cake. Watch it all soak in. Mmmmm.

Whip whipping cream, when the cream is almost whipped add in some powdered sugar (to taste, but if that stresses you out, add like half a cup) and a dash (teaspoon) vanilla. Spread whipped cream over the cake. Be sure to refrigerate the cake!

Here's the thing. This cake was good, but it was SO MUCH better after the cake had been in the fridge a while. So I recommend letting the cake sit in the fridge for an hour or two before serving. Seriously, I had it for breakfast this morning....mmmm baby. My love handles are quivering just thinking about it.

Avocado Feta Salsa

The good news is...this salsa isn't pretty in real life, it has absolutely nothing to do with my picture taking abilities. It is before you stir it all together, it's all colorful and vibrant, then you mix it and it's like...bleck. BUT! It's absolutely delicious! I get a lot of compliments on this tasty salsa whenever I take it anywhere. It's simple to prepare, filling, and best of all realllllly tasty.

Avocado Feta Salsa

by: allrecipes.com (I think, I've been making it so long I really don't remember!)

1-2 tomatoes chopped
1 ripe avocado - peeled, pitted and chooped
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon snipped fresh cilantro (psshhhh...I used like 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons red while vinegar (or use white)
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and chill up to six hours. This is one of those recipes where you should just look at the list of ingredients and decide your own amount. I think I used two avocados, two tomatoes, 1/8 cup red onion, way more cilantro, and who knows how much feta (I buy the huge brick at Costco and have no concept of how many ounces I put in). Then add a little olive oil and a little more vinegar than you did olive oil. If it tastes weird, add some more of this or that :). Super good!

Obscure Ingredient Week

So I found out two days ago that we have to move. Like SOON. So, it's going to be "use all of the random ingredients in the pantry that I bought for some particular recipe but never actually used" week on the blog. So, get excited!

Also get even more excited because my super awesome camera lens that is going to cure all of my bad photo taking is arriving from amazon on Tuesday. So be prepared to be amazed by my photography. Because it's all about equipment, not like....skill or talent or anything, right?

Speaking of equipment...I kind of want to buy an ice-cream maker, grill pan, and more before we start law school in the fall and our budget is reduced to nil. *soft weeping*

The end.

Well, except guess what? I am going to Portland! Woot! For a four day whirlwind adventure to see the ocean, eat Tillamook cheese, and pick fresh strawberries. But don't try to like break in to my house while I am gone, as it will be guarded by viscous attack dogs, and also Blaine, so...yeah. (Yes, I am going solo on a 13-hour-road trip with my three children). (Well, except my friend Katie and her two children are going to come too, two adults, five children...fun!).

Linguine with Clam Sauce

This is one of those meals that comes together in under 15 minutes and I usually have all of the ingredients on hand. I just pick up two cans of clams whenever I think about it and I am good to go. There are few meals that are super easy and fast to prepare that I actually love, this is one of them. Seriously, easy, delicious, perfect. Plus I just loved the story that Annie shared when she shared this recipe. It's part of why I love blogging so much, knowing that if anything ever happens to me my kids will always be able to read my old blogs and feel like they still have a piece of me (maybe I should start writing more about the sweet things they do and not just the naughty things...hmmm...). Anyway, enjoy this simple tasty meal!

Linguine with Clam Sauce

by: Annie's Eats

12 oz linguine (I use spaghetti more often than not)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 (6.5 oz) cans minced clams, juices reserved
1/2 cup heavy cream (or half-and-half, or even whatever type of milk you have on hand)
salt and pepper
grated Parmesan, for serving

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta according to the package directions until al dente. Drain well.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet or saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium-high heat until the butter is completely melted. Add the garlic to the pan and sauté until golden and fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the reserved clam juice to the pan, bring to a simmer, and reduce by about half. With the heat on medium-low, stir in the clams and the heavy cream. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Portion the pasta into warmed serving bowls. Spoon some of the sauce over the pasta and top with grated Parmesan, if desired. Serve immediately.

Notes: I am the kind of person who usually uses half and half when things call for cream, or often will use 2% milk even. I just so happened to have cream on hand when I made this last. Mercy. But, it's still good with whatever you use...it was just extra good with actual cream. Heaven knows I wouldn't want to like....actually lose weight or something.

Whole Wheat Waffles

I don't really know Kayla, but we've been blogging friends for a good three years now. Through blog hopping I stumbled across her blog when she was wallowing in the depths of morning sickness. And I'm going to be honest here - if pregnancy makes you so sick that you plead for the sweet release of death then I immediately like you (unfortunately the opposite is kind of true, if you actually like being pregnant...it kind of makes me mad at you. Hey, I'm not perfect.) Anyway, I became a fan of her blog because she is just so darn funny and even now that she blogs mostly about fashion (something that I don't really care about, I know surprise surprise!), I still find her posts so fun, plus she's an amazing cook and I like to steal her recipes (when they aren't too hard :). So she posted this yummy recipe the other day, and since I have a newly acquired waffle maker (thanks to an addiction to these) I gave it a go. We loved these waffles! Oh and also Kayla designed LemonGlaze. Pretty amazing right? I'm telling you, her talent knows no bounds!

Whole Wheat Waffles

by: frecklesinapril.blogspot.com

1 1/2 cups white wheat flour (I used red wheat flour-- still really good!)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey (I used agave with good results!)
1 large egg
1 1/2 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup melted butter or coconut oil (mmm I used butter, but can only imagine how awesome coconut oil would be)
optional: 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix wet and dry ingredients separately then mix together until just combined. Cook on waffle maker.

Rumbi Rice Bowl

I am having a love affair with Rumbi. What I miss the most about Texas (besides fall, winter, and spring) are all of the awesome local restaurants. The good news is that Utah has some great chain restaurants that aren't in Texas, so it's almost as good. Almost. Rumbi not only has the best fries (sweet potato/regular mix) but the kids meal is enough to feed me, and that's kind of how I roll. But really, this post isn't meant to be an ode to Rumbi, it's an ode to rice bowls that taste better than the ones you can get at Rumbi. These bowls are easy to make and taste delicious!

Rumbi Rice Bowls

by: favfamilyrecipes.com

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 carrots, peeled and grated
3 celery stalks, washed and sliced
1 zucchini, chopped into small cubes
1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli florets
2 cups chicken, grilled and cut in to small cubes
Spicy Hawaiian teriyaki Sauce (see below)

Heat vegetable oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, zucchini, and broccoli (pretty much equal parts of all vegetables, add more or less depending on your personal preference. I doubled the vegetables (besides celery, the scourge of the earth according to my husband) and because I had so many vegetables I doubled the oil as well. Saute ONLY until vegetables are crisp tender. The recipe says 1-2 minute tops, I sauteed mine for 10 minutes and they were still crisp tender, if I would have only gone two minutes I would have chipped a tooth on my carrots. Serve over rice with chicken and a healthy smattering of Spicy Hawaiian Teriyaki Sauce.

Spicy Hawaiian Teriyaki Sauce

3/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (in the Asian section of the grocery store, we used the one in the clear plastic jar with the green lid. You can add more if you like it spicy or reduce if you can't take the heat. I think our sauce is super spicy, so I reduced it to 1 1/2 teaspoons).
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
pinch of salt
pinch of brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water

Combine teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, garlic sauce, ginger, salt and brown sugar in small saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Combine cornstarch and water and SLOWLY add to sauce for thickening. You want it to be slightly thicker than the teriyaki sauce was. Allow to simmer for about a minute. Serve over your rice bowls.

PS Buying broccoli from Costco in the big bag (the fresh kind), is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me. It's like a vegetable bomb, we have to eat an absurd amount of broccoli around here to beat the expiration date, but it's really good. Because broccoli is awesome. Lookin' at you Janssen.

PPS It was so hard to find an angle to take this picture where there was not a crazy mess in the background. My whole house was clean then I decided to make dinner thirty minutes before we were supposed to leave to my daughters kindergarten graduation. That was really not smart. And, because I know you care, we were in the very back row for the program and she was sitting in the front for of kindergartners. I could not see her AT ALL during the program. I was so very, very sad.

Santa Fe Veggie Wraps

This is my favorite summertime meal. Easy to prepare, no extra heat in the kitchen (well, minimal extra heat in the kitchen), colorful and fresh ingredients, and most importantly light and delicious!

Santa Fe Veggie Wraps

by: Jessica Krohn, a Texas friend who should now be a Utah friend since we both live here. I should call her.

Serves 2

2 whole wheat tortillas (you lucky devils in Texas who can get fresh wheat tortillas from HEB....)
1 1/2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
3 leaves red or green leaf lettuce ( we used spinach tonight)
4 slices pepper jack cheese
4 thin slices tomato
1/2 avocado, thinly sliced
4 thin slices red onion
1/2 cup thinly sliced jicama
1/4 cup fresh or frozen and thawed sweet corn
1/2 cup cooked black beans, rinsed and drained

Spread cream cheese on tortilla. Layer other ingredients on top and roll up tightly. Serve.
Notes: One day I will be awesome and make my own whole wheat tortillas, but today was not that day and I used white tortillas (the cook yourself kind, mmm). I've made this countless times and again, improvisation is key. I rarely have jicama. I did tonight and it was a nice touch (you can use your leftover jicama from when you make these). We really enjoy these wraps. Especially me. I could eat them every day in the sweet, sweet, summertime.

P.S. Dear Winter, I packed away our winter coats today in good faith that you are going to GO AWAY. It's June. Give up already, please.

Black Bean Soup

There comes a time in every person's life where they need to make dinner in a jiffy. It's okay, it happens to us all. Sometimes you just gotta stop at Del Taco, and other times, when you've stopped at Del Taco three days in a row...you just have to think of something else. This recipe was just about the easiest thing I have ever made, and I thought it tasted great. I probably wouldn't serve it at my next dinner party, but if I did my next dinner party would certainly be less stressful! I look forward to making it again soon - especially since all three of my kids came back for seconds, and thirds!

Black Bean Soup
by: Favorite Family Recipes

3 cans black beans (do not drain)
2 cans chicken broth (which I figured was slightly less than four cups...not sure if that is true or not)
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups cooked rice (how lucky that I had leftover rice in the fridge, eh?)
avocado, sliced
grated cheese
tortilla chips (the best thing you can do in your life is throw your tortilla chips on a cookie sheet and let them sit in a 250 dg oven for ten minutes, trust me)
sour cream

Blend together the black beans with one of the cans of chicken broth. Add black bean mixture, the other can of chicken broth, and salt to a large pan. Cook on medium heat until nice and hot (no need to boil, though mine did...and spilled all over the stove...sigh). In individual bowls, layer the rice, then the soup, then the toppings.

Notes: I mixed the rice in with the soup while it was heating and nothing bad happened : )

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am a professional garage-saler. Every Saturday morning at about 6AM I start twitching with excitement. Sadly the garage sales in Utah aren't quite as awesome as the ones in Texas, but I am learning to adjust. Last Saturday though....was a total bust. Not only did I drive way out of the way to go to a neighborhood garage sale, but the sales themselves were pretty pathetic and overpriced. Aside from a life-size cardboard cutout of Edward Cullen, there wasn't a treasure to be found. (And they wanted too much for said life size cutout of Edward, and just to clear things up it wasn't that I wanted the cutout for me. It was to prop outside of the front door of a dear friend who loves Edward more than Jacob - weirdo). Anyway, at one of the garage sales there were some kids out selling cookies. I have a personal standard to always buy food from kids. Always. So I snagged a cookie and cinnamon roll.

I was already to the next neighborhood when I took my first bite of the cookie and...oh my. It was the best chocolate chip cookie I had ever tasted, which was really saying something since I make a mean chocolate chip cookie. So, I stewed about it for a good five minutes and decided to drive back to the kids selling cookies. As embarrassing as it was I found the maker of the cookies and got her e-mail address. Here we are nearly a week later and she sent me the recipe and I have made and devoured an entire batch.

The really ironic thing is that her recipe for chocolate chip cookies is strikingly similar to my own, with just a few minor changes. As for which one is the better cookie...well, it just depends on which one is in front of me at the time.

Garage Sale Chocolate Chip Cookies

by: Jenni Carlson, a very nice person who was nice to not call me crazy when I demanded her recipe.

1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 bag of milk chocolate chips

Cream together the shortening, brown sugar, white sugar and vanilla. Add the two eggs, then mix in the flour, salt and soda. When thoroughly mixed, gently mix in the chocolate chips. Form in to balls. Please on greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies

by: Jan Genessy

1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar, well packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream together shortening, sugar, vanilla and eggs. Add salt and soda, mixing well. Add 1 1/4 cups of the flour, mix well. Add the last cup of flour and mix by hand, add the chocolate chips and mix by hand. Bake at 350dgs for 7-10 minutes. The trick to these cookies is to not over bake them. Pull out when they first start to crack on top or start to barely turn golden brown.

Notes: I had the worlds biggest milk chocolate chips when I made the garage sale cookies. For reals, they were like Hershey's kisses. So I am not sure if that is what happened or if the recipe just calls too many,but I would say that you would be good to just add a cup of chocolate chips there in that first recipe. Enjoy!

Honey Lime Enchiladas

I hate to start every post out with the same disclaimer, but really these taste better than they look. And they don't look so bad in real life. I guess there is something about taking pictures at 9PM that is unflattering to casserole type foods. Who knows? All I know is I tried putting it on a plate for a picture and I may possible be the worst enchilada cutter and scooper outer in the world. So just take my word for it, these are awesome. And not only are they awesome, they are about the easiest enchiladas to make too.

Honey Lime Enchiladas

adapted slightly from melskitchencafe.com

5 tablespoons honey
6 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (abt 3 small chicken breasts)
8-10 flour tortillas
1 lb Monterrey jack cheese, shredded
16 oz green enchilada sauce
1 cup sour cream

Mix the first four ingredients and toss with shredded chicken. Let marinate for at least half an hour . Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese, saving about a cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce and sour cream. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 dgs, covered with foil for twenty minutes, remove foil and cook an additional ten minutes.

Notes: So, the thing I love about recipes like this is that they are so forgiving. I used to be such a stickler and follow recipes exactly, cooking was a lot more stressful back then. Just take it easy and know that it's probably going to turn out fine. I made this a million times and probably never exactly the same. Take yesterday for example, turns out I only had like 2 TBS honey, so I dumped some agave in. I was sure it was going to taste funky since I used a mix of two sweet ingredients, it was totally delicious! I've used a costco rotisserie chicken before, but yesterday I just put four chicken breasts in the crock pot (just plain old chicken breasts) and shredded them to put in the marinade, it was so easy. I am kind of weird about cooking chicken, it's all slimy and *shudder*, so just dumping it from the package to the crock pot was awesome. I also use cheddar cheese a lot of the time. This time I had half cheddar and half Monterrey jack, and a combined total of less than a half a pound (have I mentioned before how extremely healthy I am?). Anyway, just don't be afraid if you follow the general direction of the recipe they will turn out great.

Oh and also, if you are still buying regular flour tortillas, just stop. The ones that are refrigerated that you cook yourself are about a hundred kazillion times better tasting. The precooked variety kind of makes me want to yak. You can get a big pack at Costco for less than $7 or if you live in an area where you can get a bountiful basket you can often order their tortilla pack. For $10 you will get enough tortillas to last six months. They freeze really well. Hey and speaking of that, these enchiladas also freeze well....to do that DO NOT thaw them, just bake enchiladas covered for one hour, then uncover and cook for thirty minutes longer. Wow, that was a lot of "notes" sorry.