Chicken & Cheese Enchilada Casserole

Chicken & Cheese Enchilada Casserole

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 tortillas (I used the low carb, high fiber ones)
1 can Progresso Chicken Cheese Enchilada soup
1 pkg sliced Pepper-Jack cheese

- Cook the chicken in the oven @ 350, covered, for at least an hour (I put them in still frozen, and cooked them for about an hour & a half)
- Leave the oven on when your doing the next steps
- Take each chicken breast and quickly shred it - with a fork - in a big bowl
- Open the can of soup, pour it over the chicken, mix it together
- In a round or square pan (I used the same one I cooked the chicken in), layer a tortilla, some chicken mixture, & cheese. Repeat until you're done. The way mine ended up, I had a top layer of cheese, tortilla, cheese.
- Bake, uncovered, @ 350, for around 20 minutes - you just want all the cheese to melt.

Now, this is a little spicy, even the soup itself, so use a milder cheese if you prefer. Trevor, Lance & I could have eaten more than I fixed. Both Trevor & Lance couldn't stop saying how much they loved this. Lance said, "this is a keeper; fix this anytime." Trevor agreed. Usually Trevor is not that excited about anything I fix, so it made me very happy to have him rave about a meal I fixed (so I thought - I must share this on my blog!).

I like many things about this meal - 1) there are very few ingredients, 2) since you're just cooking the chicken until it can be shredded, you have a lot of leeway on the initial cooking time, and I need that with my kids, 3) it is tasty & spicy, 4) it is low-carb, high protein, high fiber.

Consignment Sales

I first stepped foot in a children's consignment store in Connecticut, where I went in search of maternity clothes and left with all I needed plus a car seat and some baby clothes. Here in Chattanooga, I was a little disappointed in the local consignment stores (okay, to be fair, I've only been to the one on Hixson Pike near Ely Rd.). Then, some very nice friends at church let me know about the local semi-annual consignment sales. The first one I attended was the Jack & Jill sale at EastGate Mall, and I was hooked! I bought the bassinet and infant swing I needed, and lots of cute baby girl clothes. I think I'm even more excited about them since I have a cute baby girl to dress! I don't see why I should spend $30+ on an outfit when I can spend $5 or less and it looks the same as after I wash the new one.

In an effort to help me keep up with when the sales are, I have added a section to my blog (on the right) where I have links to the sales' websites. A few are coming up soon, so check them out! Oh, and if you know of any that I have not listed, please let me know and I will add them.

A father's love

I hope you all have read Lance's latest blog entry about Noelle. My first thought after reading it was that it was a bit too sappy. But, the more I thought about it, the happier I was that he wrote it. I think there is a special love a father has for his daughter, and our culture does not really encourage men to write about it. I know my dad loved me so much, and not that I need it, but I would really treasure something written by him about me. So, all you dads out there, I encourage you to write periodically about your children, and how much you love them. Keep it somewhere safe and they can have it after you're gone.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Three cheers for Trevor & my grandfather!

Trevor returned safe & sound from his mission trip to Africa. Sounds like it was a success on many fronts. I am glad that they were able to reach out to those who are sooooo much less fortunate, and at the same time be mature enough to be touched deeply by the African children's great joy and faith in the midst of poverty. I can't wait to hear more. Hopefully I can post a few pictures soon.

My grandfather (mom's dad) was scanned yesterday and all his cancer spots are gone! He has just finished about 5 rounds of chemotherapy. His battle with cancer over this last year has been painful, but nothing short of miraculous.

Slipping into the past

Something I'm struggling with right now is the way my dad is slipping into the past. He's becoming part of history. I know this is how it works, but it's difficult to process.

Thinking of family members who are alive is so different from thinking of ones who are not. It's like when I finish a really, really good book and I don't want it to end because I want to know more about what the characters do after the final words. My dad's book is over, and it ended so suddenly, without a nice wrap-up. Like someone snatched it out of my hands while I was in the middle of reading it.

Big Baby

While still precious in every way, Noelle is a very big baby (just like her big brother Connor was)! She went for her 6 month well baby check-up this week, and weighed in at 18 pounds 1 ounce, and measured 26 inches in length. That is 80th percentile for weight and 50th for height. She was perfectly healthy in every way.

Let's see... what is she doing right now?
She is making more and more sounds, she is sitting in the highchair (where she loves to eat her favorites - fruits), she is sitting briefly without support, she is squealing to get attention, and she is a mommy's girl. She is very used to her mommy being around all the time, and doesn't much like anyone else to hold her (or for her mommy to leave the room). When she's in a good mood, though, she does love to play with her daddy. Connor makes her smile most of the time, laugh sometimes, and cry sometimes when he is just too much. When she is playing with something special and drops it, she starts crying until we hand it back to her. She loves to shake rattles and bang things, but sometimes she accidentally bonks herself in the head or face, and that makes her cry. She still hates tummy time, although she can go a full minute or two before the protesting begins (this is better than the few seconds she used to go). She spends a lot of time in her exersaucer, which is how mommy gets to do laundry, and cook & clean in the kitchen.

Noelle & Connor

Here are a couple of photos of Noelle in the family baptism outfit - my grandfather wore it, my mother wore it, I wore it, and now Noelle wore it! These pictures were taken on May 29th.

And, here's one of Connor -

Credits & Thanks go to Amber on the photography.