Zupa's Chicken Enchilada Chili Knock Off!

 This past Saturday I got to do one of my very favorite things of the whole year ... I got to go to breakfast, dinner and five movies with Barb, who is one of my dearest friends, because this is how she celebrates her birthday.  We have been doing it for 15 years ... I look forward to it every year!

As you can see we started with breakfast at Mimi's ... (Yes that is her gift, I thought it matched the restaurant well, don't you?)

Our other meal was dinner at Zupa's, a favorite Utah sandwich, salad and soup cafe ... yum...  The group varied during the day with some people coming for a meal or a single movie.  In all about 20 of us were involved at one time or another.  My DH and I are die hards and managed to do it all!!

I ordered the Chicken Enchilada Chili at Zupa's and fell in love ... After I got home, I got on line  about 1:30 A.M. and found several variations, since the actual recipe is not available. (I did however find a lot of people out there begging for the recipe.)  Combining some of the recipes I found and with the taste still strong in my memory, and using foods I had on hand, (We don't shop on Sunday)  I made the soup above and served it for dinner.  Yummy ...  Here is my variation.  

(Just let me warn you that I tend to be a scratch cooker)

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Pollyanna's Chicken Enchilada Chili

 

2 pounds of chicken breast cut in 1/2 chunks and browned in olive oil.

1 small onion chopped finely and browned with cooking chicken.

2 c of seasoned chicken broth (I used powdered chicken bullion and water)

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 can diced green chilies with liquid

1 can black beans rinsed and drained

1 T minced garlic

2 T chili powder

1/2 t cumin

2 T liquid from bottle jalapenos

Allow mixture to simmer while you make the roux, then sauce below.

 

1/4 c butter, melted in medium sauce pan

whisk in 1/4 c flour *until it is a smooth lump

slowly whisk in 1 can evaporated milk,

continue with whisk until sauce is smooth.

add 1/2 lb grated cheddar cheese, slowly, stirring with a spoon until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth.

 

Slowly add cheese mixture to simmering soup, stir with a large spoon until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

Garnish with grated cheese, tortilla chips or strips, sour cream, as desired.

 

 Thanks for dropping by

*this amount was changed by suggestion of Jon Brewer in a comment below to improve the consistency of this recipe.  Thanks Jon.

 

 

Modifying Christmas Decor to New Years Theme

Yep, its that time once more ... time to rework the Christmas decor for more mileage ... right?  Am I the only one that does this?  This fine fellow is just a cutout from Graphics Fairy ... plus a hat and a sign that I made from other graphics fairy graphics.  I 'borrowed' his base from another Christmas craft project you will see below.

These fine snowmen hung around all Christmas, and I see no issues with them occupying their home dome through February ... but ... after all they are snowmen, right?

I thought I would try our New Years Snow man in their dome ... nope, not working for me.

 Then I noticed my Victorian card receiver ... which I can no longer keep Victorian calling cards in (My husband's father, who has Alzheimer's and who lives with us cannot seem to leave them alone ... usually leaving them in shreds ... alas, empty calling card holder.)  When I put the snow man in the holder he obviously needed a base ... and since our girl to the left, had just outgrown the bottom of her base ... it seemed perfect.

 

Now she has a New Years sign like our snowman's, and a shorter base so she can still fit in her dome even with her taller sign ....

 

... and he is standing on the piano, in a calling card holder that has bird details, just like the bird detail on the sign he holds ...  Some how birds just seem to keep invading all my vignettes ...

Alas spring IS on its way, with the sweet chirping of birds that will draw me back out to my garden house ...

 

Have a Chirpy New Year!

Memory Drawer

All the wonderful and fun preparations for Christmas are over ... now there is nothing to do but to preserve the memories of Christmas 2012.   I am first and foremost a journaler.  I have scrapbooked since I was in High School, long before it was trendy.  In the 1990's I redid all the boring scrapbooks I had done for my children after becoming friends with a Creative Memories consultant ... I have never looked back.  This year I found another great   scrapbooking idea on Pinterest ... a drawer of memories.  Each memory is recorded on a card and then stacked together in an old drawer.  Since I had a nice old sewing machine drawer, I knew just what to do.

I made several cards for my children and their families, etc.  Other cards focused on an event or activity.

The one's above show elements of our celebration of Hannukah, which I spell my own way, since its not 'real Hanukkah'.  To the left are Nativity pics.

 

I will include a card for each of my grandchildren.  All cards have the years on them, so that as I add cards in the years to come, we will be able to put them in order, if we want to.

I even made cards that are of scenes that just make me happy.  Graphics Fairy is a great place to find goodies like these.

My friend Nikki saw me working on these and suggested that next year I could attach them to a garland to make a cool holiday banner.  I love the idea, and added punched holes or something to attach each to a garland when the times comes.

I LOVE the picture above ... and it just 'happened'.  As we were getting things ready for Christmas Eve, my son-in-law Sam brought up his Trombone and started playing, then my son Spencer ran to the attic and got his ... next they had dug out my husband Scott's trombone ... how fun is that!!  Also, did you notice?  They all have names that start with 'S' .. thus the 'S' on the top of their card.

I am indebted to Graphics Fairy for the darling background pattern I used on my drawer front.  

Fabulous New Dealer at Treasures

Hey all, do you remember the pictures I lost in cyberspace last week?  Well, I have foiled the universe by taking more to replace them.  These pictures represent the latest new dealers at Treasures, the antique mall where I work and sell in Springville, Utah.

They sell reinvented objects, which are all, of course, one of a kind.  The bottle above is amazing, eh?  They also sell aged trims and other fun details for crafters.

 

Are these stands great?

And individual second hand finds like the box above and the clock to the right, become OOAK works of art!

 

These dealers are an aunt and nephew duo, Tonya and Brandon.  Talent clearly runs deep in this family.

 

I love all their goodies, and look forward to seeing new treasures as they come in .... We may even recruit them for our indoor flea.o.logy Flea Market on January 19th, here in Payson.

 

At any rate, stop by if you can, they are in the North building, and I don't think you will be disappointed!!

Merry Christmas My Blogworld Friends.

With Christmas behind us for the year 2012, I just wanted to say that I hope you had an amazing and memorable day!!

I definitely wanted to remember mine, and I took 200 pictures ...  you will be happy to know I am just sharing just a very few of my favorites ... to begin with, above, the tree before. 

 

 My daughter and her husband and baby, who live in our separate basement apartment came up to share their Christmas morning with us.  We also had our three unmarried 'children' on board to share ... I know I will never have this many of my children for Christmas morning again, so I totally savored every moment.

Granddaughter Beckie, aged 16 months, got her first bike ... her papa, a native Texan got a shirt from his folks that is approximately the size of his home state.

My thirty-something, unmarried, but always dating son, got "The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past", which he was good natured enough to laugh about.

 His sister the speed reader got a couple of books which she will undoubtedly be done with both by noon tomorrow.

 

My youngest son is opening a gift from his girl friend who is spending Christmas with her sister in NYC... luckeee!

After Christmas lunch, when more of my children and grands came, I found my self charmed by this scene.  My oldest grandson (11)  is showing two of his 2 year old cousins how to pop bubble wrap!

 

And next is my daughter Emily with the shoes she had coveted of her sister's, who then gave them to her for Christmas ...

 

 

... and here they are together.  Both are pregnant with their second babies.  They grew up a year apart in school, and have always been very close ... I love their friendship!

 

Thanks for stopping by to be tortured with my Christmas Pics ... hope they made you smile at least once.



Bethlehem Dinner for Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas all, I can't believe I am posting on Christmas, but here I am sharing our Christmas Eve.

 

 

 

Here is our table set with wood plates and goblets, as well as a couple of pottery pitchers.

We have been having a Bethlehem dinner on Christmas Eve for more than 30 years ... Its hard to believe I know.  We 'pretend' that we are having dinner at the Inn, dressed as characters of the nativity story.  We eat foods we read about in the Bible; olives, grapes, nuts, cheese, crusty bread, fatted calf and grape juice (which we refer to has 'new' wine.) We tear our bread and dip it in olive oil, we eat our meat and cheese with our fingers.  We eat by candle light.

I once told my kids that since they were all grown up, we were going to quit having Bethlehem dinner.   They disagreed, and here we are still doing it, even though my baby is now 22.

 

 Meet the three wise people from the east.

Above is Joseph and the baby Jesus.

 To the left is a lone shepard boy.

Here is a lovely shepherdess talking to Joseph.  We always conclude the evening by reading the story of the nativity as found in Luke.

 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas Eve, and that you are now having a wonderful Christmas Day.