Tortilla MANIA!

I love tacos, quesadillas, and enchiladas! And most of my close friends and family know that all too well since I request or suggest Mexican food frequently!

I think tacos are pretty much the easiest dinner to scrape together, especially since I buy tortillas and taco shells pretty much every time I shop. Now I present to you: Tortilla MANIA! 12 different ideas and recipes for creating fabulous tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas and other food surrounded by tortillas.

Note: I follow all of these blogs, have come up with the recipe myself, or just think the recipes are yummy and wanted to share my collection! Go check out these other blogs and leave comments, I am sure the site owners would appreciate it.

#1 Real Food Tacos - http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/08/15/recipe-taco-salad/

#2 'Almost Like Chipotle' Carnitas Meat - see recipe below

#3 Ground Turkey Tostadas - Brown ground turkey with the Easy Taco Seasoning (#6). Add a little oil to a small skillet and crisp tortillas on each side. Top with meat, cheese, avocado, and sauteed purple onions

#4 Beef and Potato Tacos - http://www.food.com/recipe/beef-and-potato-tacos-401126

#5 Salmon Tacos - http://inthelittleredhouse.blogspot.com/2010/03/for-dinner-tonight-fish-tacos.html

#6 Easy Taco Seasoning: http://thewaytohisheart.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/taco-seasoning/#comment-1712

#7 Tacos Kit for Kids - use a biscuit cutter to make tortillas the right size for little hands and mouths. Put taco ingredients in a divided plate.

#8 Spinach, Goat Cheese, and Chicken Quesadillas: http://sugarcooking.blogspot.com/2010/02/chicken-spinach-goat-cheese-quesadillas.html

#9 Chicken Tacos - http://www.5dollardinners.com/2010/09/avocado-chicken-tacos.html

#10 Chipotle Chicken Tostada Bites - http://kelseysappleaday.blogspot.com/2011/04/chipotle-chicken-tostada-bites.html

#11 Easy Creamy Green Chile Shrimp Enchiladas - Recipe below

#12 Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas - http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/05/white-and-green-chicken-enchiladas.html

RECIPES:

Easy Creamy Green Chile Shrimp Enchiladas

Ingredients: 
1/2 Package of frozen, tail off, pealed, raw shrimp, defrosted. (I buy Market Pantry at Target)
Sprinkle of Old Bay Seasoning
Sprinkle of Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning Blend
4 oz. cream cheese (1/2 package)
8-10 tortillas (depending on how many servings you want to make, and how full you want your enchiladas.)
Grated cheese of  your choice

Procedure:
Preheat oven, 400 degrees.  Saute shrimp with a little olive oil, a dash of Old Bay Seasoning, and a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning Blend. Before the shrimp are done cooking, add a can of chopped green chiles (drained), then stir in a half a package of cream cheese (4 oz).

Soften tortillas in the microwave just a little bit (20-40 seconds) then place shrimp without sauce mixture inside, add some cheese (your choice) then roll in to enchiladas. I usually roll each one in the pan that I will be baking them in so I don't have to transfer. Top rolled enchiladas with remaining sauce and a sprinkle of cheese. Bake until bubbly and cheese is melted, about 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Almost Like Chipotle Pork Carnitas 

(Warning takes 2 days! but is SOOOO worth it, and very little actual cooking and work on your part. )

Brine Ingredients:
1 gal. water
1 cup sugar
1⁄2 cup kosher salt
2 ea. oranges, cut in quarters
 2 ea. lemons, cut in quarters
1 ea. limes, cut in quarters
1 tbsp. whole peppercorns

PROCEDURE DAY 1
Mix up brine and add 6 lb. pork butt, brine for 24 hours. 


Carnitas Ingredients:
1 cup  vegetable oil
2 ea. onions
1⁄4 cup garlic
2 cups white wine
1 bundle rosemary, chopped
1 bundle thyme, chopped
1⁄2 cup    brown sugar
2 tbsp.  kosher salt
2 tbsp. fennel seeds
2 qts. chicken stock

PROCEDURE DAY 2
Cut brined pork butt into 4” thick slices. In a sauté pan with 1⁄2 inch hot oil, sear on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside. Discard all except 1⁄2 cup of the oil and add onions and garlic. Do not brown garlic. Deglaze pan with white wine and reduce by half. Place pork in a crock pot, layering with herbs. Pour sautéed onion mixture over pork and add brown sugar and spices. Cover with chicken stock. Cook on low in crock pot for 4-6 hours until very tender. Cool and shred into strips.

10 Recycled and Reused Activities

So, I know I am a little wacky sometimes. I save almost all of the tissue paper and wrapping paper from gifts we receive. I save that pesky strip of wrapping paper that you can't really use for gifts. I insisted on saving over 20 formula cans when my twins were babies. I stock pile a lot of things, partly because I have the Pack Rat gene (Thanks MOM!) but also because I know... some time... in the near future, I will think of a way to use it. Now I present you to you:

10 Activities Reusing"Stuff" to celebrate Earth Day!

#1a - Catalog Flowers
Fan fold 3 layers of catalog or ad pages,
secure middle with staple, cut slits for petals,
open layers and fluff outward.

#1b - Catalog Flowers
Fan fold paper, secure middle with a pipe cleaner
cut flower points on end, unfurl and secure edges,
spray or brush with liquid watercolor

#2 - Ultimate Frisbee with Lids
Position tubs, buckets, or kid pools in yard
Fling lids trying to get them in the "goals".

#3 - Covered Cans, Ball/Toy Load/Unload
Cover cans with saved wrapping paper
or the strip left at the end that isn't big
enough for gifts. Place balls or toys inside
and toddlers love to load and unload.

#4 - Paper Bag Hat
Turn bag inside out and roll edge. Add paper scraps, tissue
paper, foam stickers, pipe cleaners, or anything else
available.

#4 - Paper Bag Hats

#5 - Egg Carton Air Boat
Paint egg carton with tempera or watercolors, make "mast"
out of pipe cleaner, cut triangle of tissue paper and glue
to secure. 

#6 - Tissue Butterlfy
Fan fold left over tissue paper, secure middle
with pipe cleaner, twirl ends to make antennae,
spray with liquid watercolor, or flick with paint
brush filled with watercolor

#7 - Water Bottle Fish
Fill bottle with paint, secure cap and shake to coat inside.
Embellish with glitter, sequins, feathers for fins, caps for
eyes, and foam for lips.
CREDIT: Tamm King, Under the Sea Camp

#8 - Can Stacking
Cover cans with left over wrapping paper
and step back and watch your
architect work!

#9 - Balloon Bird
Blow up balloon, form head and beak with
crumpled paper, secure with masking tape.
Form wings with cardboard pieces cut to size.
Cover with 3 layers of paper mache, allowing
to dry in between. Paint and embellish with
feathers and raffia for "nest"

#10 - Wood Scrap Pets
Gather wood scraps, bottle caps, buttons,
wire, and other small objects. Use hot glue
(by adult) or wood glue to secure. Spray paint
(by adult) black, then use paint markers
to decorate.

Just some pictures

No written content today, just pretty pictures from our recent adventures. 

Space Bugs!

 Space Bugs for Ages 3 and UP!

This is one of my favorite projects because it's simple, open ended, and uses some recycled materials! My 3 year old son made the bug on the bottom left with the pompom mouth (pictured above).

Instructions:
1. Gather foil, pipe cleaners, silly eyes, beads, pom poms and plastic "trash". I have used glad ware containers, heat shaped shrink packaging, and lids of many kinds. 
2. Tear off short pieces of foil, about 6x12 inches. And loosely crumple.
3. Poke pipe cleaners through bug's body and once in place, scrunch foil more to secure.
4. Sharp, pointed plastic can be poked in to the foil and secured with hot glue (by adult).
5. Plastic can me embellished with colored permanent markers.
ENJOY!

Use any type of plastic packaging!

Trim it to make wing shape

Color with permanent colored markers

Wings are made from a glad ware container.

Pin ME!

My first Snapguide: Beef stroganoff from only 4 simple ingredients.

Have you heard of Snapguide?  Well, it is where I built this step-by-step recipe guide.  It makes great looking guides for anything and is a free app on iPhones, but you can also use their website to explore guides that people have made.  (I am not getting paid to promote this, just thought it was cool!)

Here are some screen shots of my guide, or you can view the actual guide here.

Easy Diaper Cake Tutorial

 I came up with this process because most of the diaper cakes I saw out on the internet involved buying 2 or 3 packages of diapers, having to make this HUGE pinwheel swirl of diapers that seemed hard to hold together or rolling each individual diaper into little sausages and then placing those around some kind of study thing in the middle. All of that seemed time consuming and fussy.

I thought... there has to be an easier way, plus I have 3 kids and sitting around rolling diapers seemed out of the question. Also, as a recipient of one of those diaper sausage cakes I didn't want my recipient to have to sit and cut all of those sausages apart and unroll each diaper in order to use them.



So here you go...  

Easy Diaper Cake Tutorial 

Layer 1

Supplies:

• 1 (YES, just one) package of 40 ct diapers. I used size 1 because most babies fit in to them at or around birth.
• 1 package of elastic, any kind, but I used cut-by-the-yard from JoAnn's with my coupon and it was CHEAP! 
• 1 small waste basket or bucket. Got mine in the Target dollar bin for $2. 
• Felt, ribbon, rick-rack, small toys, hair clips, socks, booties, or other things to decorate with.
• Glue gun!

Directions:

Layer 2

1. Cut elastic to fit somewhat snugly around waste basket toward bottom third.

2. Line diapers up so they overlap by about 3/4th on the bottom row. I think I used about 24 diapers. Slip them under the elastic as you go to hold in place. If you have the folded side of the diapers show and hide the band at the top, you'll have a white, uniform looking cake, but some cakes reverse this so that the decoration adds to the color scheme of the cake.

3. Repeat step 1 and 2 for the second layer, but overlapping less so about 2/3rds of the diaper shows. Use about 10 diapers.

4. Repeat the same process for the top layer, but overlapping by about half to 1/4th. Use the last 6 diapers.

Layer 3

5.  You may have to adjust how many diaper you use in each layer depending on your wastebasket size.

6. Decorate to match your shower or mother-to-be's theme. I cute the ric-rack to size and then tacked with hot glue. I used double stick tape to affix the felt cut-outs.

Easy Oven Meal - Meatloaf, Potatoes, Baked Kale

Welp, I took a few days off from the 100 posts because my parents are in town and we are busy with projects and very close friend of mine is having her baby sooner than expected and we are trying to finish up some sewing projects for the nursery before he comes.

Tonight, Mom made some great meatloaf which is a recipe handed down from my great grandma Frederika Schroer. Mom recalls her making this often during the weekend when they were visiting because it's a good way to stretch 1 lb of beef for a crowd.

Another note about this meal is the use of the oven to cook everything. My mom, Sharon, likes to use the oven to it's full potential and always tries to put at least two items in at once because she always says, "Don't fire up the oven for one thing if you can avoid it."

Meatloaf made with bread
2 slices of bread torn in small pieces (heals are good if you don't like to use for sandwiches or toast)
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/8 cup chopped celery
salt and pepper  according to taste
1 lb hamburger

Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
tsp Worcestershire

Instructions:
Tear bread, add milk and work together until it forms a paste. Add the egg and mix together thoroughly. Include onion, celery, salt and pepper. Add hamburger, making sure not to over work the meat. Form in to a loaf and place in a glass pan. Mix together sauce and pour on top of loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes tightly covered with foil, then 20 minutes without foil. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.


Oven Roasted Potatoes
Chop red, purple or small yellow potatoes into bite sized pieces, place in a bowl, then microwave for 3-5 minutes, depending on how many potatoes you have used. Coat with olive oil and dehydrated onion flakes (1 tsp) then spread on a flat pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.


Baked Kale
Rinse kale with water. While holding the thick stem with one hand, grab at the base of the leaf and slide hand down stem, ripping the leaf from the stem. Discard the stem portion. Rip up the leaves into smaller pieces. Coat with 1 tbs of olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and bake for 20 minutes, turning once half way through cooking. Remove when the kale is crispy and sounds like paper crackling.


What are the secrets?
Secret #1- The use of the bread instead of breadcrumbs not only makes the meatloaf really most, but bread is also something most people always have on hand. I don't really keep bread crumbs around because they are better to make at home with a food processor, and I use Panko crumbs for pan frying instead of bread crumbs.  Soaking bread in milk to prep for meat loaf is not necessarily unique, but it is our family recipe so it's special to us.

Secret #2- Pre-cooking the potatoes before oven roasting makes them cook faster.