Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This is such an easy, yummy recipe! I know that there are tons of variations on this recipe out there, but we just love it in our house. I've been making this since college, but it had been a while and we had friends over last night for dinner and I decided that something easy was the way to go. If you want to pretty up your casserole serving, lay a purple cabbage leaf on each plate and serve each slice on top of a leaf. We had this with guacamole and a green salad. Yum!

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 yellow onion
1 can of rotel
1 can of diced green chiles
1 can of black beans
1 can of refried beans
1 package of taco seasoning
1 small package of corn tortillas
3-4 cups of shredded sharp cheddar or jack cheese

Sautee onion until browned, remove from heat and mix with shredded chicken, rotel, chiles, beans and taco seasoning. Layer in a large casserole dish: mix, cheese, tortillas, mix, cheese, tortillas, mix and cheese. Go light on the layers of mix, or you won't have enough for the top!

Bake at 350 for thirty minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Panic

I've never had a panic attack, but how I felt last night was probably close. I let Dodger out to go potty, like we do every night, and went to put up some laundry before letting him back in. When I went back out, the gate was partially open and I didn't see him. My stomach dropped and I ran into the front yard, where I see him between our house and our neighbors. Of course when I call him, he takes off between the houses. Now I'm really getting scared, it is 10:00 at night, dark, I can't exactly run like I used to, and Phil is in the house getting ready for bed. I follow him but by the time I reach the alley he is nowhere to be seen. I start screaming his name hysterically but he is like Toucan Sam and was probably following his hound nose on some sort of scent trail. I run back between the houses, into our house, yell to Phil, grab my keys, back out the car, and drive off. Luckily, I found him one street over, he runs to me and jumps in the back of the car. Huge sigh of relief, lots of "don't ever do that to me again you naughty beast" and lots of trouble falling asleep after that! Fortunately he is now safe and sound, probably lounging on one of our couches that he isn't supposed to be on while we're at work.

Free Pastry at Starbucks Tomorrow!

And this time it is no joke on my part. They are courtesy of Dodger. Not really, but here's a cute pic of him just in case you wanted to see. You do have to purchase a beverage, but you would need something to drink with that pastry anyway, right? I will be enjoying a nice decaf caramel macchiatto, that's for sure.

http://www.starbucks.com/retail/print_free_pastry.html

Lily's Room

It is finally finished! Well, almost, but it is picture worthy in my opinion, and I just love the way it all came together. Thank you to my in laws for painting and helping Phil redo the closet. They helped us out big time, and Phil worked very hard to get things just right. I can't believe that in around a month, she'll be here and we can put our lovely little nursery and all of those itty bitty clothes to good use. I am still feeling pretty good, and I've been lucky to have a relatively easy pregnancy. Now that we're back in our house, I've been walking again in the mornings with Dodger. We'll see if I can keep that up until the end!

Mr. Pig has to stay up high or face being eaten by a stuffed animal loving rhodesian ridgeback.

Before and After

A quick shot of the new floors! I haven't had a chance to take pictures of the whole house, but we love the way they turned out! I also painted the red room because I thought it would be too dark with the dark wood floors. Now I just have to finish cleaning the dusty house, put the nursery together, and put back the china, lamps, books, etc.

After the wood had been laid

Priming

After!

4th of July

Phil's parents put us up over the weekend while we were still wandering nomads, and we spent the 4th with them and Phil's sister Tracy and her husband Blake. Jim has become quite the brisket smoker, and we enjoyed some really good food. It was nice to relax and lay around for most of the weekend after a week of camp (my junior league project) and painting, and running around making sure everything was ready for the floor guys.

Phil relaxing in the hammock
Prisoner #1
Prisoner #2

The backyard pond, full of swimming creatures.Tasty brisket!

Free Guac at Chipotle

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Chipotle isn't handing out free guacamole. I think you just have to be sad faced and pregnant to get a free handout there right now! Last night Phil and I went to pick up the chair for the nursery. The expensive chair. That I had to have. That I specified I want these arms, with this cushion, and the back just so, and the pattern here, and the solid there, and extra height and width for the giant Phil and so on. Well, the chair really does look great, but two little things were lost in translation. It really isn't a big deal in the end, and a little slipcover is going to correct the ottoman, and the chair is still beautiful just the way it is. But I was still a little upset that it wasn't perfect, and Phil was probably even more upset that it wasn't perfect, and when he gets stressed out, it stresses me out. You get the picture. So we are still wandering nomads due to our floors and have no food at our house and therefore made a stop at Chipotle for dinner. I look over at Phil and ask if he wants to split guac. He says "no, just go without it." Umm, it is an extra $1.75 for guac, raising the price of your reasonable $5.75 or so burrito to almost $8.00, so I see his point. But hello, I am pregnant, homeless, have an empty nursery, a not quite so perfect nursery chair in the back of the truck, and I just wanted some guacamole. So they finish rolling up my guacless burrito, I grab some napkins, and go right to the locked truck to stare at my nomadic dog through the window and wait for Phil and guard the not quite so perfect chair. He comes out and hands me the bag, and there is guac in it. That of course, made me feel a little guilty. I threw a little fit, and he gives in and asks for a side of guac for me. Awwww. No, not exactly how it went down my friends. Apparently, awesome Chipotle girl can't stand to see poor sad 35 week pregnant girl not get her guac, and throws it in, to which Phil says something like "we didn't order it" and she says something like "no, please take it" and in her head is probably thinking something like "I am saving you a huge headache man." I didn't know that my guardian angel works at Chipotle in Plano, but I do now!