Painting, Carving, Food, and a Birthday Party

Boy, has this been a busy week!  After the guys installed the laminate floors, I got to work on our Family Tree mural.  It's been a fun little project and I look forward to picking up the brush again.  I'm thinking I might have that finished next week or so.

On Thursday my littlest monkey had his 7th birthday.  Many of you helped us to celebrate with an impromptu sale in my Etsy shop.  THANK YOU!  I'm working very hard to get your orders out to you.

Saturday was his Birthday Party day.  We ended up with 10 kiddos, so you can imagine I didn't want to put much thought into what we were going to have for dinner.  In the morning I pulled out the trusty crock pot and started Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

What you'll need:

1 lb chicken

1 small can enchilada sauce

32 oz chicken broth

1 medium onion, diced and sauteed

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can black beans

1 bag frozen corn

1 small can diced green chiles

Cumin and pepper to taste

Sour cream or nonfat Greek yogurt
Corn tortillas cut into strips and fried
Shredded cheese (use your favorite)
Lime
Cilantro, chopped

Combine all ingredients in crock pot and set to low.  Go about your busy day and forget about the soup, it's fine.  In about six or eight hours take the chicken out and place it in a bowl.  Shred it, then add it back to the pot.  I hope you remembered to gather your garnishes.  For that, I recommend sour cream or nonfat Greek yogurt, tortilla strips, shredded cheese, lime, and cilantro.  Of course, all of this is totally optional, but it makes for a FABULOUS addition to your creation.

While we're discussing this week's fabulous food, I'll share my pancake recipe with you.  Of course, it's not MY recipe, but I've been using it for so long that I have no need to reference it on paper and don't remember the original source.  

From Scratch Pancakes
Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt 

1 egg

2 tbsp oil

3/4 c milk

Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Next, stir together wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then combine to dry mixture. Spoon into pan or onto griddle set to medium-high heat. (Use a dry, non-stick skillet if you have one!) Batter will be thick, so with the back of your spoon spread batter to about 4" in diameter. Once your pancakes start to bubble, flip 'em! They'll cook another minute or two...

On this day I added fresh blueberries to the batter.  Some days I'll add a chopped apple and cinnamon.  If you would rather substitute buttermilk for milk, use 1 full cup.  Experiment with it and ENJOY!