a recipe and a new lens

I mentioned last Sunday that I would post my recipe for chicken enchiladas. Here it is.


Here's what I use. Keep in mind that you can make this as fancy or as simple as you'd like. This recipe started off with one I got from my mom, which just had the chicken, cheese, and sauce in the tortillas, and that's good too. I like to add a bunch of stuff for added flavor and fiber and to make it colorful.

1-2 chicken breasts (depending on how many people you are feeding)
1 can of black beans
1 can of corn
1 tomato
1 can of olives
1 bell pepper
1 white onion
1 clove of garlic
a little olive oil
a handful of cilantro
1 can of roasted green chilis
2 cups of shredded cheese
1 package of tortillas
2 large cans of enchilada sauce (our favorite is Macayos but we can't find it here (it might just be an Arizona thing) so we use La Victoria instead. If you know of a really good enchilada sauce, please post and let me know).
Lemon pepper, Italian seasoning, or any other spice you feel like adding.
(avocados would also be good. Yum.)

So boil your chicken for about 45 minutes or until it's cooked. Then shred it up and put it in a bowl. Add one can of enchilada sauce. (I usually add red inside and green on the outside or the opposite. In this case, I used red on the inside and green on the outside, as you can see.) Then add your beans and corn. Cut up a bell pepper and onion if you're going to use those. Put them in a pan with a little olive oil and a (finely chopped) clove of garlic. (I use a garlic press for this.) Then add all of that to your bowl too.

Add tomatoes and olives if you want. Add your seasonings if you want to add some. Add one cup of shredded cheese (or if you are trying to be healthy, don't put any cheese inside and just put a little on top).

**Preheat your oven at 250 at this point**

Spray your casserole dishes with cooking spray. Then mix everything up and put some of the mixture in a tortilla and roll it up. Do this until they are all rolled. Once they are rolled in your casserole dishes, pour your other (green) sauce on top (or another can of red if you like red better).

Sprinkle with one cup of shredded cheese. Add olives and tomatoes if you want. Put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes (the chicken is already cooked so this is to basically melt the cheese and warm them).

When they come out, put your chopped cilantro on top (and avocado if you're a fanatic like me).

That's it! These are Dub's favorite. I think your family will like them too.

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Also, we got a new lens! We used our reward points from our credit card. We've been wanting this lens for a while. It is the Canon 50mm f1.4. The nice thing about this lens is that it's great for low-light settings. I hate using a flash unless I absolutely have to, and this lens allows me to take flash-free pictures with poor lighting. Love that. Here is a picture I took of our cat Squeak (I take lots of pictures of him. He's so photogenic. Loves the spotlight. Or at least humors me from time to time.)

I took this picture in the late afternoon. The blinds were closed and the light was off. I am just amazed that I could get such a great shot with such poor lighting. I just adore our new lens. So cool.

Wendel worked a on a garage all weekend. He's amazing. I helped him a little on Friday night but I wasn't feeling too well so I whimped out. He pretty much organized the whole thing himself. He went through boxes and put everything in it's place (after creating a place for everything by building shelves. Side note - the people who lived here before us had a rock climbing wall in the garage. Kind of weird because the garage isn't that tall. Anyway, Wendel took it apart and used the wood to build shelves. I love being married to a handyman!). He is just awesome.

Also, while we were working in the garage on Friday night, the youth in our ward heart-attacked our house. So cute of them.
*(Updated with a picture)*


Wendel took me out to eat last night at the restaurant at Druids Glen (the golf course we went to a few weeks ago). I've been craving their Spinach Salad (with Thai dressing - yum) and garlic mashed potatoes. It was fun to dress up a little and go on a date.

That's all for now. Have a great week!