An Afternoon Well Spent

As much as I love cooking, cleaning up is my very least favorite thing to do....However I am OBSESSED about making sure my kitchen looks clean every single night.  I can't rest if there are dirty dishes, crumbs on the counter, empty cups lining the edges of the sink....I even stress if the spoon rest has a bit of residue on it.

With all that said, I did something a little different this week than I have ever done before.  It wasn't planned, but it worked out that way due to my dog deciding to have horrible diarrhea problems.  After spending half the day at staff development on Monday morning, I rushed home at lunch to check on the pup....only to discover he had christened the entire outside of his crate and the sides of my dresser....and the walls.....and the carpet.....and a lot of his bed.  Needless to say it was AWFUL and I feel fully prepared for parenthood and all the poop that comes with that.  I couldn't leave him unsupervised due to the fact he was needing to go outside to poop aka squirt every 20-30 minutes so I had to stay home the rest of the afternoon, rather than returning to school.  I used this afternoon at home to my advantage though...I decided to camp out in the kitchen!  And what an adventure it was.  During my day in the kitchen I made the following meals:

Dinner Club Enchiladas:

This is what the dish looks like pre-cooked and before you top it with shredded cheddar cheese.  These are probably the most unhealthy enchiladas ever, but they are absolutely fabulous and fool-proof.  It's impossible to mess them up bc they are just that easy:

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

1 can Rotel

1 lb. ground beef (I used 90/10 just to make myself feel less guilty)

1 onion, finely chopped

1 pckg taco seasoning

1 cup sour cream

1 package flour tortillas (soft taco size--NOT fajita size)

shredded cheddar cheese

Brown the ground beef and onion and drain.  Heat soup and Rotel (stir together) in a small saucepan until it bubbles then reduce heat.  Stir in sour cream and continue to heat.  Add taco seasoning to beef and onions (add water to the meat as directed on taco seasoning package).  After sour cream/soup mixture is heated through, spray a 9 X 13 Pyrex and preheat oven to 350.  Spread a small amount of the sauce onto a tortilla, then add a couple of spoonfulls of beef/onion on the tortilla.  Roll it up and place in the Pyrex.  Repeat this process (sauce first then meat) until the dish is filled.  Usually I am able to fit about 9-10 enchiladas in a 9 X 13 dish.  Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the tortillas then top with cheese.  Bake for about 25 minutes.  

Bobby Deen's Light Baked Spaghetti

This was a recipe from my wonderful Food Network magazine.  Here is the link: Light Baked Spaghetti


And finally.....The Grand Finale:

Rachel Ray's Fragrant Fried Rice Pilaf....This was absolutely the world's most pain-in-the-butt meal to make.  I'd made it before, but I'd forgotten what an ordeal it was.  It's not that it is difficult...it just uses A LOT of dishes, cutting boards, knives, spoons, bowls, etc......It's extremely tasty though.

Link to recipe: Dishes Galore, but worth it!

All in all, I enjoyed my afternoon in the kitchen.  It was definitely a huge release and even though I didn't sit down for over 3 hours, I enjoyed every minute of it.  This week has been nice bc I come home and dinner has already been prepared!  I just have to take it out of the fridge and warm it up and/or bake it.  By the way....the spaghetti bake, when I baked it ahead of time, I did everything but top it with cheese before covering it with foil and placing it in the fridge.  Same with the enchiladas.  

On a side note....

New wine to try:

Only $7.97 at Wal-Mart!

Happy eating, everyone!!!