Enchilada Casserole

For many years I have heard what a wonderful cookbook Tables of Content (from the Junior League of Birmingham) is.  Well, I finally purchased it and have made more recipes from it than the average cookbook.  If you don't have it, I highly recommend it.

One of the recipes I was told I MUST try was for the Enchilada Casserole.  I am going to list the recipe as I made it.  I had a few changes.

1 - 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained, then squeezed of excess water
1 1/2  cooked and drained ground beef
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 - 14 oz diced Mexican style tomatoes
1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 - 4 oz. can diced green chilies
Juice of 1 lime
10 (6 inch) corn tortillas, quartered
1/2 cup butter melted
2 - 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Saute onions and garlic.  Add to ground beef along with cumin, red pepper, spinach, undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chilies, and lime juice. Stir until combined.  Simmer, covered for about 10 minutes.

Dip the tortilla quarters in the melted butter.  Arrange 1/2 of the tortillas in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.  Spread with 1/2 of the ground beef mixture and sprinkle with half of the cheese.  Layer with remaining tortillas, sour cream, remaining ground beef mixture and remaining cheese and bake for 30 minutes.

THIS IS DELICIOUS!  ENJOY!

Cast Iron Plant

When we moved into our home about 15 years ago, this side of our driveway did not consist of plants.  After several years of this blank canvas I decided to try my hand at some self taught landscaping.  The plant you see in this photo is called a Cast Iron plant.  It garnered this name because it can survive anything with no care.  The official name is Aspidistra. 

In the photo above you see many leaves with brown tips.  I have seen these plants in many yards and without the brown tips.  I have wondered for quite a while what I could do to avoid this but upon investigation came up with nothing.

This past Monday I had an actual landscape professional come to our home to help us with our backyard.  We discussed all that needed to be done at length and on his way to his truck he talked to me about my cast iron plants you see here.

He said if you get some scissors and have 30 minutes you can make this plant look so much better.  He told me all I needed to do was cut the leaves with brown tips at the ground.  That's it??  Wow, I was excited to have such an easy solution. 

So this past Saturday I got my scissors and cut away.  Here is the end result.

This looks so fresh and new without those brown leaves.  I love the contrast of the green leaves with my blooming pink azalea.  I am a happy gardener today!

Chicken Au Gratin

Chicken Au Gratin

4 chicken breasts
1 can cream of shrimp soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Paprika
Dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Pound chicken breasts until thin or purchase the thin ones from the store.  Wash and set aside.

Combine soup, milk, broth, and wine in a saucepan.  Cook until combined and hot, about 5 minutes.

In a skillet, melt butter and then add bread crumbs.  Cook until combined and bread crumbs appear toasted.  

Place chicken in a baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  Pour soup mixture over chicken.  Spread bread crumbs on the top of each chicken breast.  Sprinkle each breast with the cheese.  Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with paprika and parsley.  Spoon some of the sauce over each breast.  Enjoy!

Musical Luncheon

This past Sunday several of my friends and I hosted a luncheon for one of our favorite high school senior girls.  She is precious and loves everything about music.  So we decided to host a musically themed luncheon with her favorite foods.

Here is the menu:

Beef Tenderloin
Caesar Salad
Stuffed New Potatoes
Red Lobster Biscuits
Olive Bread
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Sugar Cookies
Mini Cupcakes

Here are several pictures from the day.

In this photo, you will see goblets adorned with musical notes, crushed ice and Red Zinger Tea.  Recipe below.

To greet our guests, I made a musical sheet wreath.  See instructions below

 A closer photo

Sugar Cookies.  I did not make these, but they were so wonderful.  I will try to get the recipe.

Strawberries with white and dark chocolate.

The main food table

Musical Floral Arrangement

Dessert Table

Another floral arrangement combined with musical items

RED ZINGER TEA

My friends and I have served Red Zinger Tea at a multitude of functions.  It is so refreshing and the prettiest pink color.  To make: 
1 liter Sprite/7UP/ or store brand lemon lime drink. 
5 Red Zinger Tea bags. 

Directions:  empty out just a little of the drink.  Insert 5 tea bags individually.  Place in refrigerator overnight.  Pour into a pretty pitcher and serve.

MUSIC SHEET WREATH

75 double sided sheets of music
1 white Styrofoam wreath form (mine was about 9 inches in diameter)
Hot Glue 
2 Floral Picks
Ribbon
Wooden Initial
Paint (the color of your choice)

Fold the sheets into cones and hot glue until the cones remains. Once all of the cones are made you may begin to glue onto the Styrofoam.  I placed a small cup in the middle of the wreath form so that I would achieve a nice round shape.  

I glued at Noon, 3, 6 and 9 first and then began to fill in.  Complete one row all the way around.  Some of the wreath form will be showing at this point.  Continue with a partial second row with the cones strategically placed to cover the wreath form.

Tie the wires of the 2 floral picks together to form a hanger for the wreath.. Insert the pointed side of each pick into the top of the wreath form.  

Tie a ribbon on the wires if desired.  

Paint a wooden initial and hot glue to middle of wreath.   

Hang and enjoy!


 

I am still here!

Hello to my millions of fans!  I have heard that several of you are still checking my blog even though it seems I have checked out.  Not to fear...I am still here.  I plan on posting again after the first of the year so stay tuned as I have some great recipes to share as well as some exciting before and after photos of some of the projects I have been working on.

Until then....Happy New Year!

Trash or Treasure

As promised, I am finally writing my Trash or Treasure post.  I have a wonderful friend who has had an antique booth for years.  She is well educated on antiques and is a great source of information to me.  Over the past couple of months I have been lucky enough for her to ask me to go hunting for great buys with her.  When I hear her words "Junkin outing this week?", I am so excited. 

We will go on the hunt in consignment and antique stores.  There is nothing more exhilarating than finding something fantastic for so much less than it is worth.  She has a great eye for things and a lot more patience than I do.  

On a few of our recent expeditions I found some items that I really liked.  Sometimes I ponder if they are really great or just something someone else did not want.  I have decided that if it makes me happy then it is a good find. 

 

I have no idea why I have a fascination with barns but I do.  I did not grow up on a farm or in the country for that matter.  When we travel it seems I always see a fair amount of barns in the distance.  I also love cows.  Go figure.  Again, I have no idea where this comes from.  At any rate, on one of our junkin trips I ran across this painting of a barn.  I thought the colors were very pretty.  I have no idea what it is worth or who the artist is or even if it is any good from an art world perspective.  My only one clue and total guess on my part came from the frame.  As you can see from the photo, the frame is quite nice.  So I decided that someone with just so so artwork most likely would not spend more on the frame than the artwork was worth.  

So what do you think?  Trash or Treasure?

 One weekend one of our favorite stores had this silverware on display and ready to purchase.  I had never heard of Community silver so was reluctant to purchase it.  I ran this over in my head the whole weekend until I decided I had to go back and purchase the set.  After all, it was very nice, a full service for 8 with serving pieces too!  So I set off for the store certain that someone had grabbed it before I could return. To my surprise it was still available and I took it straight to the counter for purchase.  

Once I got home I began searching Community silver and what did I find?  Community was the predecessor of Oneida.  This pattern is call Milady and was made in the 1940's or close to it.  The most exciting thing I found was the value.  This little treasure of mine is worth 10x what I paid for it.  I love to entertain and think silver plate is so pretty.  For me, this is definitely a Treasure.  

What do you think?

The first photo you see if of a linen table runner.  At first glance, it seems like this has a lot of holes in it. I ran ribbon in and out of the slits and was quite pleased with the end result.  This was a quality piece at one time but was in really bad shape when I purchased it.  I worked pretty hard getting all of the stains out.  I still have some repairs to make but think it will be a fun piece to have since you can change the ribbon out as your table decor changes. 

If this piece had not had such a hard life before I found it, I would definitely say it was a treasure.  For now, I will say it is just a lot of fun.

What do you think?

Now, I am going to share the prices I paid for each of these items and then see if it changes your mind about what category you put it in. 

The painting = $20
The silver plate = $125
The table runner = $4

Hope you had fun with this post.  Thanks for all the great comments.  Keep them coming!

Fall Front Door Arrangment

Welcome Fall!!  This week is the first time I have felt a little bit cooler air and now I have Fall fever.  I worked on this arrangement for my front door and it puts a smile on my face.  Everything you see in the photo came from Hobby Lobby except for the burlap bow.  The burlap ribbon came from Michael's.  I was told by an employee at Michael's that they get a shipment of the burlap ribbon on Monday morning and by Monday mid afternoon they are already sold out.  I think they need to order more.  Just sayin!

I was fortunate to purchase all of the flowers at 50% off.  For those of you who don't know, Hobby Lobby runs the 50% off special on flowers (silk) every other week.  Just check their website for the weekly specials before you go.  The savings is quite significant.  Also, each week they run a 40% off coupon that you can print off or download onto your phone.  That is how I purchased the basket.  I also used 4 bricks of dry floral oasis to fill the basket. 

Have a great weekend.  Next week I am posting a Trash or Treasure segment.  It should be fun so check back in.