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Yellow is the color of summer. Don't you think?
A round yellow sun drawn with long rays and a smiley face.
The light on the tree tops in the evening.
Lemonade from a kid on the side of the road.
Dandelions, daisies, sunflowers, black-eyed susans.
Yellow polka dot bikinis?!
Well, hello. How are you? We are terrific.
We're busy here having a fun-filled summer, but in between trips to the pool and little league games, I'm finding slivers of time to squeeze in some work.
I just finished this for a client (also my great friend). We saw this idea in an old Better Homes and Gardens Kid's Room magazine and copied it using a dresser she had. She found the map wrapping paper at Paper Source. I love it. Love, love, love it. I kinda don't want to give it back. I'm already walking around the house looking for stuff to cover in maps.
And I've also had a few photo shoots for lovely little families.
Also, since N and I didn't finish our fairy house and garden in time, our "diy-chia" heads are over at the Craft Camp. Cindy has added some more great ideas! I'll be sure to share the fairy house when we're done.
Ok, then. Time to go scrounge up something for dinner.
N's day camp at her preschool was last week. J's soccer camp and tryouts are over. We've already gotten an excellent camping weekend and several patio/driveway get-togethers under our belts. And now we're looking at our first few really free, unstructured weeks of summer. Hooray!
I've assigned each kid a few little chores to complete every morning before they turn on any sort of screen or head outside. I'm making a list of things they might like to do and outings they'd like to take (like Martha made for her boys).
Inspired by my mom's neighbor, N and I started a little fairy garden in an old cracked birdbath top today. We'll show you the results at Cindy's Craft Camp later this month. She's collecting a month's worth of great easy crafts to keep the kids busy. I'm already planning several of them for my munchkins.
And of course there are many unplanned delights to discover. Tonight we made happy hour milkshakes. Heck yeah! It's summer time, baby!
When N was born, J's preschool director sent us home with a pan of delicious chicken enchiladas with her recipe attached. I've been using that recipe ever since; it still says "Welcome to the world, Baby N!" at the top. A few weeks ago I substituted rice and shrimp for the chicken and also made them headache approved. I hereby claim that they are in no way authentic or gourmet, but they were well received by kids and husband, so here you go:
Shrimp and Rice Enchiladas
Filling:
1 cup brown rice
3 or so tbsp canola or light olive oil
3 green onions, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 can diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted)
1 diced red pepper (I would add a jalapeno too if I wasn't cooking for kids)
2 cups peeled shrimp (I used frozen)
2-3 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese (NOT the headache approved option)
OR 2-3 cups grated high-quality American cheese* (the headache approved option!)
flour tortillas (corn are yummy too)
Sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 finely chopped green onion
3 small finely chopped tomatillos
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 1/2 tsp chili powder (make sure it's MSG free)
a couple of grinds of black pepper
a couple of large pinches of kosher salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried parsley
1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
2 c chicken (or vegetable) broth
Cook the rice (according to the package) but only until slightly undercooked. Drain off any excess water. Dump it into a big mixing bowl to start the filling.
Start the enchilada sauce: Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute 1 minute. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients (except the broth) and cook a few minutes more. Whisk in the broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 to 20 minutes until slightly thickened.
Continue the filling while the sauce is cooking down. In a large skillet over medium heat cook onions, pepper and spices in the oil until the peppers are tender. Throw in the thawed and drained shrimp at the last minute and saute for a few more minutes. Stir the shrimp/pepper mixture into the rice and let cool. Stir in 1/2 the shredded cheese.
When the sauce is done, spread about 1/2 cup on the bottom of a casserole dish. Spoon generous amounts of filling into the tortillas. Roll and line them up seam down into the dish. I can usually fit in about 8-10. Top with the remaining sauce and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. (The original recipe calls for SO much more cheese. Too much cheese. It also calls for canned enchilada sauce which is extremely iffy in the MSG department.)
Bake at 375º F for 30 minutes until hot and melty and bubbly.
I highly recommend serving with a margarita on the rocks (not headache approved) or a very cold bottled light beer (sort of headache approved.)
*I know that American cheese is barely real cheese, which is why it works as a stand in. Cheese is a potent migraine trigger for many. I buy it at the deli at Whole Foods in big chunks so I can grate it for recipes like this.*
SO there you go. I'm bad at the recipe writing so let me know if something is confusing.
Enjoy!
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