MEXICAN LASAGNA GIVES ME ALL THE HAPPIES!

So... I loath to cook. Usually, the only time I'm in the mood to cook is in the Fall. Something about Fall that just screams for yummy, warm, homemade meals. The rest of the year, it is something that I rather not do and which I rather ignore, or at best "put up with".

Therefore I refuse to cook anything that isn't SUPER EASY and FAST.  Oh yeah... I HATE getting hot too; mainly because it makes me sweat. Ick. Cooking makes the whole kitchen and house hot also. So, not much of a cook.  That said, I must toot my own horn and say I just have the "nack" for cooking, because I am a freakishly GOOD COOK.  Not many folks say they are better cooks than their mothers, but I am. I don't say all this in a boasting manner. I say it in a manner that simply acknowledges that the Lord has blessed me with this gift - and I'm probably being a very unprofitable daughter by not being more grateful for this gift. Shame on me. (My Mama was a good cook, by the way.)

So today, I just felt like homemade Mexican something - and I also had to make something to drop off to a member of our ward who just got out of the hospital. I figured I might as well just make two of everything. So I did.

Here is the dish I made.  Well, dishes, as you'll come to see below.

Remeberifier:  You can always tweek your recipes. You don't have to follow these exactly. Play around with it, add different ingredient that you/your family might like! That's what I do ALL. THE. TIME. (when I do cook!) ;)

MEXICAN LASAGNA

Preheat oven to 350º

Spray an 11x17" baking pan with non-stick spray


In a large pot of water, boil 8 chicken breasts. (I use skinless/boneless, but if you use whole, then remove skin after boiling).  Shred the chicken when it is done boiling and set chicken stock and half of shredded chicken to side.



Ingredients:

4 boiled chicken breasts, shredded

1 C sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

3/4 C shredded "Fiesta Blend" cheese

3/4 C shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 C salsa

1 (4oz) can chopped green chiles (I prefer Hatch brand)

1 Tbsp Onion powder

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp dried cilantro

1 tsp ground chili powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, optional

12 corn tortillas



Preparation:

* Blend chicken and all other ingredients, except corn tortillas, in a large bowl until well mixed.

* Arrange 6 corn tortillas, slightly overlapping, in bottom of baking dish

* Top with half of the chicken mixture

* Layer another 6 tortillas over that

* Layer with remaining chicken mixture

* Top with shredded cheese of your choice (I use a mix of "Fiesta" and cheddar)

* Cover with foil and bake for 30 min.

* Remove foil, and bake for another 30 min.



Cool for about 10 min. before serving.



Now - remember that chicken stock and half the shredded chicken on the side?  I used it to make:

SUPER EASY CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP

Ingredients:

chicken stock (left over from boiling 3-8 chicken breasts; about 12 C)

4 chicken breasts, boiled, shredded or cubed into small pieces

2 Tbsp chicken-&-tomato flavored Knorr Suiza granulated bouillon

2 cans corn

2 can beans (red, pinto, black, or combination of these)

2 cans diced tomatoes

2 cans' worth of diced zucchini or yellow squash

1 C salsa (optional)

1 (4oz) can Hatch chopped green chiles

3 Tbsp minced garlic powder, or minced garlic

3 Tbsp onion powder, or minced onion

1 Tbsp chili powder

3 Tbsp dried cilantro (or 5 Tbsp fresh, chopped cilantro)

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Cummin

3 Tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice


Preparation:

Mix all ingredients in a large pot (about 2-4 gal. size) on the stove..
Bring all ingredients to boil, stirring, then reduce heat, stir, and simmer for about 15 min.

Let cool about 15 min.



Stir and serve, garnished with sliced avocados, shredded cheese of choice, crushed tortilla chips.



All ingredients are approximate (as I usually just eye-ball my recipes), but it's pretty close to what I follow.

DELICIOSO!!

MILLIE'S MOTHER'S RED DRESS ~ HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Many years ago, I was gifted a book of poetry. In it was a poem that has stuck with me ever since. It was authored by Carol Lynn Pearson, an LDS author and playwright. I think it touched me because somehow the idea of the mother always sacrificing for the kids - and I mean ALWAYS being the ONLY one sacrificing - always taking the burnt piece of toast, made me feel like that mother was teaching her daughters and sons that mothers are only good for giving their all to their kids, without them ever having the duty and responsibility to learn how to sacrifice and give back - and most especially how to be grateful for what they receive.

I do believe that mothers should sacrifice. It is part of what motherhood is all about. And most of the time those sacrifices are, in reality, "blessings in disguise", for we mothers end up being the ones that grow immeasurably from it and are blessed tremendously for it. We should sacrifice for our husbands, for our children, for our God, for our nation, for our friends, and even for our own selves at times. However,  to me there is something inherently wrong with ALWAYS sacrificing for the kids WITH the attitude that "we don't deserve", or that "I should never have something for myself" ... teaching the kids, through that behavior and attitude, that they should never sacrifice for the mother (and by extension for others), and by extension teaching them to not feel gratitude.

I feel that in a family everyone should sacrifice together, without "keeping score." Everyone should take turns sacrificing for the others almost without thought, but from sheer love, and 'who' sacrifices 'when' is determined by the circumstances of the moment as well as the circumstances of eternity. In other words, keeping a balance in all things. In addition, many times, the sacrifice is not in "giving up" something, but in "sharing", wherein you don't get "as much" as you selfishly wanted, but you DO get "some" plus the joy of knowing that your loved ones got some too - and being grateful you have someone to sacrifice for and someone to share with.  Sacrifice and sharing with gratitude- a delicate, healthy balance.

So... in honor of Mother's Day, which for me is always on May 10th, and for the rest of the U.S. is on May 11th this year, I share this poem. One of my favorites.

Happy Mother's Day Mama and all my dear and sweet female friends and relatives! We are all mothers by our sheer natures - regardless of bearing children ourselves. We are the mothers that "mother" the world!

MILLIE’S MOTHER’S RED DRESS

It hung there in the closet

While she was dying, Mother’s red dress,

Like a gash in the row

Of dark, old clothes

She had worn away her life in.

They had called me home

And I knew when I saw her

She wasn’t going to last.

When I saw the dress, I said

“Why, Mother – - how beautiful!

I’ve never seen it on you.”

“I’ve never worn it,” she slowly said.

“Sit down, Millie – - I’d like to undo

A lesson or two before I go, if I can.”

I sat by her bed

And she sighed a bigger breath

Then I thought she could hold.

“Now that I’ll soon be gone,

I see some things.

Oh, I taught you good – - but I taught you wrong.”

“What do you mean Mother?”

“Well – - I always thought

That a good woman never takes her turn,

That she’s just for doing for somebody else.

Do here, do there, always keep

Everybody else’s wants tended and make sure

Yours are at the bottom of the heap.”

“Maybe someday you’ll get to them.

But of course you never do.

My life was like that – - doing for your dad,

Doing for the boys, for your sisters, for you.”

“You did – - everything a mother could.”

“Oh, Millie, Millie, it was not good – -

For you – - for him. Don’t you see?

I did you the worst of wrongs.

I asked for nothing – - for me!”

“Your father in the other room,

All stirred up and staring at the walls – -

When the doctor told him, he took

It bad – - came to my bed and all but shook

The life right out of me. ‘You can’t die,

Do you hear? What’ll become of me?’

‘ What’ll become of me?’

It’ll be hard, all right when I go.

He can’t even find the frying pan, you know.”

“And you children – -

I was a free ride for everybody, everywhere.

I was the first one up and the last one down

Seven days out of the week.

I always took the toast that got burned,

And the very smallest piece of pie.”

“I look at how some of your brothers

Treat their wives now

And it makes me sick, ’cause it was me

That taught it to them. And they learned,

They learned that a woman doesn’t

Even exist except to give.

Why, every single penny that I could save

Went for your clothes, or your books,

Even when it wasn’t necessary.

Can’t even remember once when I took

Myself downtown to buy something beautiful – -

For me.”

“Except last year when I got that red dress.

I found I had twenty dollars

That wasn’t especially spoke for.

I was on my way to pay extra on the washer.

But somehow – - I came home with this big box.

Your father really gave it to me then.

‘Where you going to wear a thing like that to – -

Some opera or something?’

And he was right, I guess.

I’ve never, except in the store,

Put on that dress.”

“Oh Millie – - I always thought if you take

Nothing for yourself in this world

You’d have it all in the next – - somehow

I don’t believe that anymore.

I think the Lord wants us to have something – -

Here – - and now.”

“And I’m telling you , Millie, if some miracle

Could get me off this bed, you could look

For a different mother, ’cause I would be one.

Oh, I passed up my turn so long

I would hardly know how to take it.

But I’d learn, Millie.

I would learn!”

It hung there in the closet

While she was dying, Mother’s red dress,

Like a gash in the row

Of dark, old clothes

She had worn away her life in.

Her last words to me were these:

“Do me the honor, Millie,

Of not following in my footsteps.

Promise me that.”