Cooking Marathon, New Recipe, Book Review

Thanks you guys! I DO feel a little bit better today. And honestly, while I felt terrible yesterday, I scraped myself out of bed after writing the blog post, showered and me and Reuben headed out to get gas, get some new audio books and head over to Decatur to see my mom’s new kitchen renovations in her carriage house, and my sister’s new purchases in her new house (she bought a house but hasn’t moved in – but is buying stuff and having it delivered there – exciting!). I had a great afternoon with them visiting, seeing their spaces, meeting my mom’s new rescue dog Gracie and having Yogurt Tap, nothing like outdoor sweet treats! And so nice to have Reuben with me all day – Decatur is so dog-friendly! We got home and Austin had done more work on the flowers in the front – so pretty! I’ll have to take pics when he finishes up! Then it was time for a cooking marathon! I made the following:

4 servings chicken tetrazzini New!
4 servings bacon ranch slowcooker chicken (love it…)
4 servings Italian Pasta Bake New!
4 servings sour cream chicken enchiladas New!
8 servings Mexican-flavored chicken New!

So for the Mexican-flavored chicken, I just threw 2 pounds of chicken, a can of hot rotel, a pack of taco seasoning and a diced jalapeno in the slow cooker. Then I shredded the chicken. The idea behind the chicken is that I’ll have it on hand for numerous recipes – like tostados, to use in an enchilada pasta bake, for a chicken taco salad, etc. So the “meat” part (or the hard part to me!) will be done. We’ll see how this works out!

For dinner we had the sour cream chicken enchiladas. Forgive the picture – you know fat-free cheese doesn’t always melt! :(

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
Adapted from Mom of 5 - another new, great blog I found!

Sauce:
1 can fat-free cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies
1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded
Combine all ingredients and stir until smooth.
½ cup onions

Other ingredients:
12 mission corn tortillas
1 (10 oz) can green enchilada sauce
1 cup fat-free grated cheese
2 tsp cooking oil

Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Drizzle ¼ to 1/3 of enchilada sauce on bottom, spreading with soon. Dip corn tortillas in hot oil to soften. Spread sauce across center of each tortilla. Roll each tortilla and place seam-side down in sauce in baking dish. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top. Sprinkle with cheese, cover with foil and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 15 more minutes until bubbly hot.

My serving - I couldn't even eat it all!


Nutritional Information: 461 calories, 51 carbs, 9 fat grams and 39 protein grams.

Review: Loved it! Super creamy and very filling. I will say that I’d rather mix less fat-free cheese and “reduced fat” so that it will melt better (for looks!), but other than that I’d make it as is next time!

After dinner we just hung out, watched TV, chilled with Reuben - the usual - nice little Sunday! I ended up at 1,774 calories, 242 carbs, 42 fat grams and 89 protein grams. Here's what I ate.

And here is my book review of Stephenie Meyer's The Host. The Host is about a time when aliens have taken over human bodies, their "hosts." All is good, aliens are "correcting" the mistakes humans had made and life is seemingly perfect. However, there are "wild" humans trying to take back their lives and their planet, and some humans who are taken over by aliens aren't letting their hosts be happy - they're still in there heads trying to get aliens to help resist the alien takeover. This is a story of Wanderer who took over the body of a wild human. Her job was to tell the "seekers" where other wild humans are hiding, but instead she sympathizes with her host, Melanie, and instead of turning in those who Melanie loves, she falls in love with them herself and tries to help Melanie find them. There are SO many interesting themes that come up in terms of torture, racism, right vs. wrong and more - it's a VERY interesting story that is more than explained and examined in its more than 600 pages. I loved it! If I changed anything, I would just make it easier to get into - it's VERY hard to get into and once I read it I realized it needed a "star wars" type beginning to give the back story (similar to the one I gave above but much more high level!). 5 out of 5 for me - very different from the Twilight series but awesome nonetheless!

My Monday was pretty standard: worked, walked 4 miles during lunch, worked, walked 2 miles after work and did an upper body circuit. I'll post the circuit and the new recipe I had for dinner tomorrow - it was SO good!

Any other enchilada fans out there? What's your favorite Mexican dish? I love them all - burritos, nachos, tacos, tostados, taco salads, enchiladas, fajitas and more - if I had to pick... i'd probably pick enchiladas or chimichangas - sinful!

Anyone seen The Ghost of Girlfriends Past? I watched it yesterday and thought it was SO cute - I love Jennifer Garner and little Lacey Chabert - she's still Claudia Salinger circa Party of Five to me!