My Best Turkey Leftover Suggestion

 

I did not make Thanksgiving dinner this year.  We headed south for an afternoon with family and it was quite lovely.  The down side to not cooking is that there are no leftovers.  Now, I did end up with some carrot casserole, some mashed potatoes, a little turkey and a piece of pie but only enough for Friday’s lunch. 

If I did have piles of turkey left over, I would make these.

Chicken (well, turkey) Enchiladas  - Laura’s Recipe :)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

1 can diced green chilies

4-6 cups grated cheese - (cheddar/jack or Mexican mix)

3 cups chopped cooked chicken

8 flour tortillas

Mix together soup, sour cream, chilies and ½ of the cheese. Spread ½ of the mix evenly in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Add chopped chicken to the remaining mix. Fill tortillas with the mix, roll and put into pan. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350* for 30-40 minutes until hot and bubbly

Serve with salsa.

Note to self. Finish one thing before beginning another.

 

Strangely enough, I like to have a lot of things going on all at once.  As I have turned my attention to the wedding reception next weekend, the hand made things I want to work on for Christmas and the fact the Thanksgiving is next Thursday, I realized that I have not even posted the pictures from the birthday party that was in October.  So for everyone who has been so patiently waiting to see how it all turned out, here you go!

Thanks to Briee and Tasha and Ryan for all their help with the games and the activities and the face painting.   And thanks to Tasha and Jan for bringing their wonderful cameras and getting such great pictures. Last but not least, thanks to Laura, for helping with pretty much everything.  It was a great party.

Oh Wow.

Links to a variety of food related things frequently land in my in box.  But this week I have been bombarded with way too many not  to share.  

Thanks to Mom for this one.  And a special thanks to Dad for reading the WSJ for his WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE!

Read the whole article here.

And the more accurate description of making the cake here.

 

And then my sister Lauren sent this tonight.  STOP THE MADNESS!

(It wouldn’t let me copy the picture.  Just go check it out, you won’t regret it!)

So, there you have some food for thought.  Ha ha ha.

It is never too early to start thinking about Christmas!

 

Check out this  site where you can customize your holiday invites and print them yourself for free!   I do love thinking about Christmas but I better stay here on October 21 and make it through one more birthday party and Halloween first! 

I am hoping to be organized enough to provide you with lots of great ideas for the holidays.  Don’t worry, they won’t be my ideas, I will continue to borrow them from others :)  Stay tuned.

Make Free Printable Christmas Party Invitations & Holiday Invitations

Fun and Games

 

I am pretty sure that no one year old would ever care if there were games at their first birthday party. Or a cake, or presents for that matter.  But, when you have two older sisters and all your “friends” are older, school aged (and by that I mean college aged) friends, you really need some games at your birthday bash.

 

So in planning this little shin dig, I found the perfect party for all ages.

July marked the birthday of the blog Draw! Pilgrim.  She designs some pretty cute stuff and the whole month she featured great free downloads for a Pinwheel and Bunting Themed party.

 

So for the big birthday event, we are going to play Pin the Pinwheel, and maybe bingo, because it is too cute not to play.

Check out all of her stuff over on her blog.

Taverns, Made Rites and Sloppy Joes

 

So my sisters are at home for a few days visiting our parents in Northwest Iowa and the question has arisen as to the difference between the three types of sandwiches named above.  

I have done a little research and will share my findings with you.  I know, you can hardly contain your excitement.

 

1.  Tavern.  The tavern recipe I have comes from my childhood friend Erin.   I have know Erin since grade school and we spent a fair amount of our Junior High years  working on our 4-H record books, baking cream puffs at her grandma’s house, riding 4 wheelers around her farm, practicing crazy skits, working on our Share the Fun for the State Fair, and making super cool cards on  the computer(like when computers were first invented)!  Ah the good ‘ole days.

Back to the taverns.  Here is the official recipe. 

Simmer for 10 minutes-

2 cups water

1 cup catsup

3 teaspoons dry onion

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup brown sugar

Add to that, 2 lb cooked ground beef and 1 teaspoon dry mustard.

Simmer 40 minutes. 

There were a few recipes to be found for taverns on cooks.com and the ingredient list was similar.  I like Erin’s recipe.

 

2.  Made Rites.  Another Iowa original. 

In 1926, Fred Angell, a respected butcher in Muscatine, Iowa, combined a special blend and grind of the finest Midwestern ground beef with a selected recipe of secret spices and created the one and only Maid-Rite sandwich.

As legend goes, Mr. Angell asked a delivery man, at his restaurant, to taste his newest sandwich creation. After a few bites, the taster exclaimed, “You know, Fred, this sandwich is just made right.” Thus our signature sandwiches name was born.

Thanks to my mom, I have a recipe for Made Rites as well. 

Bob’s Drive-In Made Rites

2 1/2 to 3 lb ground round

14oz chicken broth

1 small onion

salt and pepper

Brown beef in 1 tablespoon oil, crumbling with a fork over medium heat.  Add chicken broth and simmer uncovered until liquid is absorbed.  ( You may use 3 tablespoons dried chopped onion)

I love Made Rites too.  We have Carl’s Canteen here in Loveland where you can get a sandwich for lunch and the owners are from Iowa even! 

3.  Sloppy Joes.  The most commonly known of the sandwich names.

Sloppy joe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sloppy joe is an American dish of ground beef, onions, sweetened tomato sauce or ketchup and other seasonings, served on a hamburger bun. Commercially made sauces are also available. Contradictory lore suggests that the Original Sloppy Joe Sandwich was invented at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Florida or by a cook named Joe at a cafe in Sioux City, Iowa as a variation of the popular "loose meat" sandwich (which does not contain tomato sauce).

Sloppy joes are also referred to as:

• Yip Yips in Southern Illinois near St Louis.
• Yum Yums in parts of the Midwest USA, particularly in Nebraska
• Wimpies in parts of the Northeast USA, especially Northeastern Pennsylvania
• Slushburgers in parts of the Upper Midwest, particularly in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota
• Barbecues in other areas of the Upper Midwest, and also in some parts of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
• Hot Tamales in parts of southeastern Wisconsin, particularly in the Sheboygan area despite the fact that tamales are a completely different food item.
• Taverns in parts of northwest Iowa and Minnesota.
• Sloppy Janes in parts of central Minnesota.
• Steamers in parts of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.
• Gulash (not to be confused with Goulash) in parts of the Upper Midwest, especially in areas where people of Scandinavian heritage, boasting Viking roots, are prominent.
• Dynamites in northern Rhode Island.

 

So, if it is  a sloppy joe you seek, I would refer you back to item #1.  The best Tavern recipe ever. 

And that settles that.

Maybe I should stop wondering and start working.

 

I often find myself wondering  things. Why can’t I get anything done?  Why is my birthday a month past and I have not sent out any thank you notes?  Do you think these plums will turn into fabulous jelly all by themselves?  When do you think the girls will be able to wash their own hair?  And get all the soap out?  Will I survive a 1st birthday and two 10th birthdays in one week?

Sometimes I think if I had less stuff going on, I could get more stuff done.  While this may be true, I have figured a few things out when it comes to stuff getting done.

1.  Nothing is more important than the things I do for my family. 

2.  Dirty clothes and dishes don’t wash themselves but they will wait patiently until after everyone goes to bed. 

3.  And the things we do for others are the most rewarding when they are done because we are able to do them and for no other reason. 

October gets kind of crazy at our house.  We celebrate our anniversary and all the girls birthdays.  We have my sisters coming to visit.  The girls have changed their mind about what they want to be for Halloween at least 100 times already.  And that is just the family stuff!   We have a whole bunch of things going on at church that will be  great to attend (and maybe plan too :)  and I am sure there are things going on at school that I am not even aware of yet.

And on top of all that I am so thankful that I have time to fill in at church, get together for coffee dates, help Scott clean off his desk,  watch the big girls chase the little girl around the chair and read books before I tuck everyone into bed. 

I love being busy.  It forces me to slow down so I don’t miss out on anything. 

So tomorrow I start my list for October, mostly so I don’t forget anything.  And I think I will start with this for the birthday festivities. 

 

This is one of the cutest blogs I have come across lately and I am using all her great party stuff for the girls birthday party.  Stay tuned for all the details.