The Summer of Pinterest

Okay, so it's no secret that I'm addicted to Pinterest.  If you by chance follow my boards you know that I have a ridiculous amount of pins.  From crafting and DIY, to delicious recipes, stuff for kids and stuff for my classroom.  "Hello, my name is Heather and I'm a pinaholic..."  Well, admitting it is the first step, right?  And if you aren't on Pinterest, you are totally missing out!  You need to stop reading this blog right now and request an invite!

Okay, now that you're logged into Pinterest and that crisis was diverted, back to the blog at hand.

So this is going to be a craft-tastic summer.  I have so many projects and ideas I have wanted to do all year, but just don't have the time for.  And now that I have turned my final grades in, I have nothing BUT time to play with my adorable children and get to my to-do list.  I promise, I'll keep you posted on all the things I do that I put my own twist on :)

So first up, I wanted to make something for dinner on this first Monday of my first full week of summer that isn't on our normal menu.  I scoured Pinterest for inspiration and decided to combine two different recipes I saw and made my own crock pot version of Buffalo Chicken Wraps.  They were such a hit, we will have to put them in our regular repertoire!  Graham even liked them, he was mad there wasn't one on his plate!

don't they just look like they'll melt in your mouth?

So here is my recipe to share with you- I hope you like it as much as we did!

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

ingredients:
3-4 frozen chicken breasts
Frank's Red Hot Sauce
8 oz cream cheese (I used Nufatchel)
Ranch seasoning
tortillas
reduced-fat cheese (optional)
cooking spray

1. Put the frozen chicken in a crock pot with 1/2 a bottle of Frank's Red Hot Sauce.  Let it cook for 4-6 hours.  It should be so moist and tender, it will pull apart easily with a fork.  Using 2 forks, you can shred the chicken.
Return to the crock pot and add the rest of the hot sauce, the ranch seasoning and the cream cheese.  Stir, then let it sit for another 30 min- 1 hour, until it's creamy.

2. Heat the oven to 425*.  While the oven is warming up, sprinkle a little reduced-fat cheese on the tortilla.  Spread about 1/4 of the chicken mixture on top of the cheese on the tortilla (the cheese is optional- honestly the chicken is so creamy, you don't really need it!).  Roll the tortilla and place on a cookie pan.  This should make about 12-14 wraps, depending on the size of your tortilla.

3.  Spray the wraps with cooking spray, and place in the oven for 15-18 minutes, turning the wraps once during cooking.

4. Enjoy!  You can dip them in Ranch dressing and eat with some celery if you're feeling really crazy- I'll warn you, these do have some kick!

I know you're jealous.  Next time I'll let you know so you can drop by for dinner!

**I had leftover chicken stuff, so I am going to make myself a big, fat buffalo chicken sandwich tomorrow for lunch- maybe with a little ranch dressing to top it off!  Mmmmm, my mouth is watering already.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

We've been a very busy, crazy family lately!  But I have the summer bug- I can't wait to spend time with my munchkins this summer and do tons of fun projects with them.  I have a HUGE to-do list, and I really can't wait to get started.  There seriously is a reason that teachers have the summer off.  We need to recharge our batteries and live a life outside of school for a few months; get ready for the new students and add new things to our bag of tricks.

Well, I digress.  This blog is about a little taste of summer, and a little taste of Mexican!  I have become a Pinterest Queen, I love stalking the boards for new ideas and recipes.  One of my favorite things to eat is Mexican food- when I was pregnant I wanted Mexican every day (poor Tim!).  So today was the perfect day to try out a new Mexi recipe.  :)

Tonight's dinner menu:
Tim's Famous Guacamole
Turkey Enchiladas
Tomalitos (Chevy's Corn Cake/Mush)
Margaritas!

We'll share the recipe for Tim's guacamole in another post... if he's willing to give up his secret!

The enchiladas were amazing- I have to give you the recipe I concocted!
note: Tim's stomach cannot handle super spicy food so I didn't put in as many spices, onion and garlic as you might want to add.  I doubled the recipe because we have lots of mouths to feed right now, and I like to have leftovers for busy weekdays!  So if I changed the amount of ingredients when I doubled the recipe, I made a note.

Turkey Enchiladas
Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups frozen corn (2-1/2 cups if you double)
1 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies (3 if double)
1 cup fresh cut cilantro
1/3 cup half and half
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
garlic salt to preference


1 pound ground turkey
1/3 cup chopped onion (1/2 cup doubled)
1 garlic clove, minced (2 tsp doubled)
3/4 cup salsa (2 cups doubled)
1 tbsp cornmeal
2 tsp chili powder (3 doubled)
1-1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
6 flour tortillas (8 inches) warmed
1-1/4 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Directions:
1. place the first seven ingredients in a food processor; cover and pulse until blended
2. In a large skillet, brown the turkey, onion and garlic until meat is no longer pink.  Remove from heat and stir in salsa, cornmeal and seasoning.
3. spoon 1/3 cup of the turkey mixture down the center of each tortilla.  Top with 2 Tbsp of cheese.  Roll up and place seam side down in a greased 11x7 glass baking dish.  Spoon the corn mixture over the top.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
4. Cover the dish with foil and bake at 350* for 30 minutes.  Uncover, then bake another 10 minutes longer.

Tomalitos (aka Chevy's Corn Mush) modified from AllRecipes.com
again, I doubled this recipe to feed the masses.


4 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup masa hanna (this is a finely ground corn flower, it makes a big difference)
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup water
4 cups whole kernel frozen corn, thawed
1 cup cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
8 tsp milk

In a medium bowl, mix together the margarine, masa flour and sugar until light and fluffy.  In a food processor (or blender) blend together 2 cups of the corn, water and cornmeal until smooth.  Stir it into the masa mixture.  Add in the remaining corn, baking powder, salt and milk until batter is smooth.

*the recipe I used recommended to cook the mixture into a double boiler and cover tightly with aluminum foil and steam for 50-60 minutes.  However, I didn't want to wait that long for the delicious, mushy corn cake-stuff.  I placed it in a glass bowl and covered tightly with saran wrap.  I cooked for 7 minutes on 30% power in the microwave, then another 5 minutes on high power.  Mix before you serve.  If it is still too moist, cook without the saran wrap for another 2-3 minutes on high.  Serve in small scoops... or eat the whole thing with a large spoon right out of the bowl if you can't wait long enough to get it onto your plate!

yummy dinner! 

and some fantastic Margaritas to go along with the spicy enchiladas and sweet corn- 

the Grand Marnier was a perfect touch

"waistin away again in Margaritaville..."

After dinner we went into the backyard with the kids to play with bubbles- it was a nice, breezy evening, perfect for playing with the kids and sipping icy margaritas.

Kennedy is concentrating so hard!  I bet she's going to be a competitive sports player...

Graham is lovin' it, he's having so much fun!

We stopped chasing bubbles long enough to give Daddy some kisses.

they are very sweet kiddos

What a fun day!  Happy Cinco de Mayo!