Chicken Enchilada Bake

The taste of enchiladas without the messing around!  This recipe is easily modified for your taste and what you have on hand.

10 flour tortillas, each cut into eighths
1 can tomato soup
1 pound chicken, cooked and cut into bite size pieces, seasoned to taste
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 cup mild taco sauce
8 oz frozen corn
Shredded cheese (Sharp cheddar and colby jack)
Nacho tortilla chips, crushed

In a skillet, combine soup, chicken, onion, taco sauce, and corn: heat through.

Grease a 9x13 cake pan, layer 1/3 of the tortilla triangles, top with 1/2 of sauce and top with 1/2 cup cheese.  Add another layer of tortillas and top with the rest of the sauce and the last third of the tortillas. Top generously with cheese and bake in a 375 degree oven until the cheese is melted, remove from the oven and top with the crushed chips and bake 5 minutes more, or until golden and bubbly.  Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Bold as a naked emperor?

The last time my toes were this color, the nail fell off.  That's a cheery thought, but they aren't blue because they got stepped on, rather they've been painted, and not just a neutral, shy and safe pinkish color, but a metallic midnight blue, that mysterious color of the twilit sky right before it fades to black.  I haven't painted my nails (toe or otherwise) since I got married, and that was nigh on ten years ago, but I'm feeling a little bold and frivolous in my relative old age and when the opportunity came to paint my nails, I went for it (I don't even own nail polish).  The rest of my makeup is all neutral colors, very bland and unexciting, and worn exactly 5 times in my entire life.

I don't know a thing about fashion, I have even been termed 'amish' at times by those who've known me longest, though I'm historically more of the tennis shoe wearing Mennonite lady with the long, drab skirt sans the prayer cap and religious devotion inspiring my wardrobe.  I never dressed up or felt pretty because I wasn't, or at least thought I wasn't.  I joke that my feet are so bad I'd make a farrier faint or that wearing makeup or nice clothes for me is akin to the old saying about putting lipstick on a pig.  But then my son can wear camouflage footie pajamas with red rubber boots and still pull it off.  What am I missing?

I think it is all about attitude.  If you feel like you're nobody and that you look dreadful, even the best clothes will look frumpish on you but if you walk around like the storied emperor in naught but your skin, most of the peasants will gawk and gape at your fabulous ensemble, hardly even noticing you are naked (save glib little boys) and then the reactions of those about you feed back into your sense of awkwardness or pizzazz, reaffirming and snowballing your original attitude and beliefs.

I'm tired of being a frump, I'm not drop dead gorgeous but I'm no orc either.  I've got my unsightly bits and my not so unsightly parts, just like anyone else.  I can wear what I want, when I want, as I want, as long as I am happy with it and am obviously not offending whatever is left of the rules of modesty or the law.  I can wear blue nail polish and not stop traffic, if only I accept it as good and fun and okay, I'm the only one who can make a fool out of me.  I need to ignore the person that told me I'm homely and worthless and embarrassing and the voice she inspired in my own head with similar thoughts, rather I need to remember I am me, I'm unique and beautiful in my own quirky, wonderful way, and who cares what peasants or glib children have to say about it?  I need to be comfortable in my own skin, and once I am, whatever I wear, will look all the better!

On big hairy spiders

I'm not a coward, really, there is just something about uber fast creepy crawlies that I have never liked, that and the alien like limbs and eyes of a certain unnamed arachnid.  My small son discovered a rather impressive wolf spider (think half dollar with lots of hair) in the basement and we both went dashing for the stairs.  I don't mind ticks or domestic rats, snakes and I have a mutual understanding of allowing one another plenty of space, insects (except maybe the giant water bug) never bothered me, but ugh, spiders!  And those centipedes and camel crickets, which are just like spiders except for the leg thing.  I've been chased by disgruntled cattle and even an overly large pig, a horse once gave me a concussion, but it is still spiders I loath, though I've never even been bit by one, go figure!

A review of reviews

It seems that the peak of democratic society is the ability of each and every participant to 'vote' and not only vote, but to express their opinions on everything from movies to vaseline to vacation spots to tents, and even people if a certain new app has anything to say about it, and worse, we seem to hold our own particular view as 'the view' the world can't live without and that our opinion is somehow more important than merely a personal preference.  There is nothing wrong with reviewing products and services, in fact it can be quite helpful to your fellow consumers and even let the companies know what they could improve or what you like.  The danger comes when we assume our opinion about everything matters and is so important that life cannot possibly go on without it and that anyone who disagrees with our opinion is somehow maligning us, when they only had a different experience or have different taste than us.  We each want to be the world's foremost wine critic/restaurant reviewer/movie guru…we have neither the expertise nor the time to be an expert in everything nor is the world big enough for 1.5 million experts on baby shampoo.

Besides our personal hubris in our own rather mundane reviews, the other problem with 'the review' is that half the people leaving a review shouldn't be writing one because either they never actually used the product, they didn't read or misunderstood the instructions, or they had some freak experience (say with the shipping company) that they then blame on the product.  I love the recipe reviews on a certain site where the reviewer usually changes most of the recipe and then reviews their version rather than the original.  Or the people that are against a certain 'thing' who leave bad reviews for books about 'the thing' but have never actually read the book, they are against the subject not that particular book.  Or the dog that has an allergic reaction to something in a certain product, it isn't that the product is bad but rather that particular dog is sensitive to it, but as far as that particular owner is concerned, that product is deadly!  Or your boyfriend dumps you at a particular restaurant and now the whole chain is bad…the list goes on.  In reviewing a product, one should, well, review the product or service or recipe or whatever, not some aspect completely unrelated to the actual quality of the product in question.  If you change the recipe, messed up the assembly, are using it for a purpose for which it was not intended, never read the book or saw the movie, had shipping problems, ordered the wrong size…whatever, please don't use 'the reviews' to vent your frustration; that's what Facebook is for!

Unlikely heroes!

I loved this article!  At last, a certain unsung heroine has found her day!  Who knew casseroles were actually a form of super power?

Garlic Parmesan Twists with Pizza Dipping Sauce

This makes a fun meal or appetizer and is a nice 'twist' on pizza or breadsticks.

For Breadsticks:

Bread dough (use your favorite recipe and method and add 2 tsp italian seasoning to the dough or use frozen or store-bought dough and add the seasoning with the garlic, the amount depends on how many breadsticks you want, 4 cups of flour yielded enough to feed a family of three (as a meal) with plenty left over to freeze).

Roll the dough out into a great big rectangle (or several small rectangles) much as you would for cinnamon rolls, aim for about 1/4 inch thick or a little less.

Using your favorite oil, melted margarine or butter, cover the entire surface (don't be stingy).  Shake garlic, a little salt, and parmesan cheese (and the italian seasoning) on top of oil and allow to soak in for a minute or two.  Cut into 1 inch strips with a pizza cutter and cut each strip about 6 inches long.

For each strip, fold it over on itself to get a 3 inch strip with the oil sides together.  Press firmly together over entire length.  Then begin stretching the dough while twisting each end in opposite directions.  Once the twist is of the desired length and shape, place on a baking sheet (they tend to untwist a bit and may need to be repositioned).  Repeat with each twist.  Cover and let rise until double.  Bake in a 375 degree oven until puffed and barely golden.  Serve warm, place extra twists in freezer and reheat in the oven.

Sauce:

In a saucepan over low heat (or in a very small crockpot) place a layer of your favorite pizza, tomato, or spaghetti sauce.  Top with parmesan cheese, shredded pepperoni, etc., then cover with more sauce, top it all with a mixture of your favorite pizza type cheeses.  Don't stir, just heat slowly through (while the twists rise) until the sauce is warm and the cheese melts.  Serve directly from the pan.

Secular Head-scratchers

American society as a whole tends to scratch its head in wonder at the often quirky, sometimes batty, evangelical subculture, but they ain't seen nothin' yet!  Most of them have never been to an evangelical women's conference, then they'd really have something to gawk at.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with such conferences, I've been to a few and they are a blessing to many, and it may be there is something wrong with me rather than the movement: I'm the geeky twenty something sister who's rather fond of but a little embarrassed by a gushing, emotional, flighty younger sister barely into her teens.  This article was a breath of fresh air!  In our culture it is so hard to differentiate our worth and dignity and value and identity in the church from 'identity politics,' we forget that it isn't Who or What we are, what our lot in the genetic lottery is, but rather Whose we are.  While it is fine to contemplate your role as a 'woman in Christ,' what is far more important is to think about Who Christ is and your identity in Him.  If you are a Christian, He is the be all and end all of your life, goals, hopes, fears, doubts, identity, and eternal future; He's not a flower you put in your hat to complement your dress.

As the old hymn puts it:

'Love so amazing, so Divine, demands my life, my soul, my all!"