Prepping for tomorrow's GNI

Today is Friday and I should be in a good mood, but I'm not. I went to bed on the wrong side and woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I think it is the darn oak pollen in the air.

But I have fun fun to look forward to. I have invited myself to my mother's "Girls Night Out" group tonight. They are headed to a local Mexican food resturant, and I just cant resist.

I am also prepping for tomorrow night with for "Girls Night In" with my long time girlfriends from highschool. We have all had a rough couple of weeks, so I am making a one dish meal and a STRONG drink to wash it down.

I will share pictures of both later in the weekend, but to get you started... here are the recipes


Poblano Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter, divided
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 fresh poblano peppers, seeded and sliced into strips
4 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lime, halved
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 pint half-and-half
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 (8 ounce) package fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 ounces sour cream
12 (6 inch) corn tortillas
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Place the chicken breasts in the skillet. Mix in the poblano peppers, jalapeno peppers, and garlic. Squeeze the juice from one lime half over the chicken, and place the lime peel and pulp into the skillet. Cover, and simmer 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken juices run clear. Remove from heat, cool, and cut chicken into cubes.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

3. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Gradually stir in the flour and half-and-half. Mix in the cilantro, mushrooms, sour cream, and juice of remaining lime half. Cook and stir 10 minutes, until mushrooms are tender.

4. Line the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish with 6 tortillas. Arrange 1/2 the chicken and pepper mixture over the tortillas. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese, and cover with remaining tortillas. Layer with remaining chicken and pepper mixture, and pour the cilantro sauce evenly over the casserole. Top with remaining cheese.

5. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until cheese is melted and lightly browned

Cherry Bomb
1- container of Bacardi Rum Runner (Cherry flavor)
1/2- 2/3 of Rum Runner container of Bacardi Torched Cherry Rum
1-1 1/2 shot Orange Vodka

1. Fill blender with ice and water, blend as much as possible.

2. Empty blender of excess water.

3. Hollow center of ice mix in center of blender; pour rum runner, rum and vodka in center of blender. Mix well.

4. Add additional rum and/or vodka to taste.

What to read? What to read?

I think I am out of reading material. I know that sounds weird but I am. I usually borrow books from my mother, but I think I have gone through her stash (that would be eight 5-shelf bookshelves and then some) and have gone through most of what is on the shelves at the local library. I refuse to buy books, I dont want them hanging around my tiny house and why buy when you can borrow. 


I have generated a list of books I want to read and the list continues to grow. Have you read any of these? What should I read next? Have you read something that you think I would like to read?


Send me your suggestions!

A Creed in Stone Creek, Linda Lael Miller

A Stopover in Venice by Kathryn Walker

A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena de Blasi

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

Cleopatra by Stacey Schiff

Dead Even, Brad Meltzer

Going in Circles by Pamela Ribon

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford

How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gill

How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal

If Wishers Were Horses, Robert Barclay

Last Kiss, by Luanne Rice

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, Rhoda Janzen

Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun

One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell

One Season of Sunshine, by Julia London.

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Perfect Family by Pam Lewis

Pictures of you, Caroline Leavitt

PRIVATE, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Push by Sapphire

Rebel Island by Rick Riordan

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

SURRENDER TO ME, by Shayla Black

That Old Cape Magic, By Richard Russo

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, by Garth Stein

The Best Laid Plans by Lynn Schnurberger

The Book of Lies, Brad Meltzer

The Cross Country Quilters,  Jennifer Chiaverini.

The First Counsel, Brad Meltzer

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN, by Kate Morton

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Inn at Eagle Point, by Sherryl Woods

THE INNER CIRCLE, Brad Meltzer

The Irresistible Henry House, Lisa Grunwald

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Lost Girls by Jennifer Baggett

The Millionaires, Brad Meltzer

The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger

The Omnivores Dilemma, Michael Pollan

The Paris Wife, Paula McLain

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The Scret Lives of Dress, Erin McKean

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

The Tenth Justice, Brad Meltzer

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

THE ZERO GAME, Brad Meltzer

THESE THINGS HIDDEN, by Heather Gudenkauf

Time Is a River, by Mary Alice Monroe

Too Rich for a Bride, by Mona Hodgson

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen

Loss of Hollywood Legend

Yesterday we lost a Hollywood legend, Elizabeth Taylor. Ms. Taylor was beautiful, graceful, giving, gracious, activist, man loving, humorous and...

I got to thinking last night, who would be the "Hollywood Legend/Queen" of my life time. I asked some friends and below is some responses I received.

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Natalie Portman

Jennifer Aniston

Julia Roberts

As of this morning I am still unsure who will step into this legendary role as Hollywood Queen. Who do you think it will be?

So much has happened

In so little time.

Well here we are 12 days from my one year anniversary and I am no where near my goal (read that first blog post and you will know what I mean).

So much has happened since my last post in February. I had to drag Troy to the first night of BINGO in The Heights and now he just wont stop. He has it on the calendar for every two weeks. Does this mean that we are old? Have nothing else to do in our lives? Have a small gambling problem? Or just like to get together with friends, laugh, share a drink or two and just have an all around good time? I think that's it! A couple of weeks ago we had 18 people at our bingo table (not one of us got close to winning, but I did end up with bingo marker all over my forehead!?!?)

As most of you know I have not been employed since the middle of December. During that time I have come to the domestic goddess end of life. I began the laundry, cleaning house, sprucing the yard for spring, cooking and thinking "what can I do to baby my hard working husband today?". Oh that got sooooo old. I am not a domestic goddess. I don't like doing laundry, I hate cleaning house! I love to work (outside of the house!). But Troy and I did try a lot of new recipes over the last three months (our waist lines show that too). I had hoped to post pictures and recipes of what we liked, but I wasn't a good bloggess and didn't post :-(

As of March 9th I begin to work for this great guy. He has two companies and has asked that I come on board to help with his corporate books, by-laws, policies & procedures, social media and implement the marketing plan that our awesome marketing company has developed. I want to tell you more about the company I am now working for and the marketing company, but that will be the next posting or two (if I leave it hanging I will have to create). 

In 12 days, Troy and I will celebrate our one year anniversary. People say that the first is is hard. Troy and I keep wondering when the shoe will drop because this has been the easiest year we have ever had, together or apart! We don't have any big plans to celebrate other than going to see CATS at the Hobby Center and then head to Galveston for a bit of off-shore fishing and fun with his company co-workers. My favorite cousin is getting married in July in Napa and Troy and I are trying to figure out how to get there for the wedding and my birthday celebration. If you have any mileage points you want to share ;-)....

So I guess I must end this rambling post and think about what to post next that has some substance so you will keep coming back.

Sunny Saturday Craziness

I could get very used to sleeping til noon on a sunny Saturday with my husband next to me. Then to get up and be lazy yet get lots of errands done. We laughed and joked. We both agreed it was awesome to sleep in and have no kids waking us up.  See this isn't a normal occurrence around here since Troy is a GM for a local restaurant and Saturday's are the busy days and that's when they need him (see me rolling my eyes?).

I just wanted to share how cute my husband is when he is home with no worries...

His new head lamp with the red light on... what's that going to do for you?

Same head lamp, but with a light that you can really do something with.

Our Wal-Mart trip left him thinking what hat to wear for Rodeo Houston... NOT this one!

Another Wal-Mart hat, this isn't too bad. But we aren't going to the Rodeo, so this is a NO too.

GHETTO! I wish the picture would have shown the skull and cross bones and 6 nose rings looking things on the side.
But do notice that we are right next to the baby dept with his arms loaded with dog bones.
He isn't so ghetto after all.