Veggie-packed, Chicken Enchiladas

These yummy enchiladas are packed with protein and are a super easy way to slip vegetables into your meals. These are easy to customize with whatever veggies you have on hand.

Ingredients:

-Shredded Chicken Breast (I just used a can of Trader Joe’s chunk white chicken breast, which I shredded with a fork because that’s what I had on hand. Home-cooked, or store bought chicken breast would also be delicious.)

–For this recipe, I used roasted frozen corn, fresh diced zucchini, homegrown tomatoes, diced white onions, and black beans. 

–Enchilada sauce (I used a large can of Las Palmas sauce).

–Grated cheese (I used my favorite cheese-sharp white cheddar from Trader Joe’s.)

-Spanish Rice, and refried beans (optional, on the side.)

-Chopped red onion and cilantro, for garnish (optional)

–Guacamole (optional)

–Tortillas (I used corn, but you could also you flour.)

-Salt and pepper to taste. Cumin, dried oregano, chili pepper, to taste. (If cooking for kids, I would ommit the chili pepper, as the enchilada sauce itself has a kick to it already.)\

-Lemon juice

 

Directions:

Heat over to 350. Heat cooked chicken breast in a skillet with onion, tomato, zucchini, corn, and black beans. Season to taste, including lemon juice. Add about a half-cup of the enchilada sauce (just until all the ingredients are wet. Heat through. Sprinkle with cheese, and incorporate until melted. Heat tortillas over flame on stove. Scoop filling into tortillas, and roll, leaving the tortillas open at both ends.Place rolled enchiladas in an oven-proof dish, then cover with more enchilada sauce and grated cheese. Heat in oven for approximately 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Carefully remove from oven, and place on plates. Garnish with red onion and cilantro, and serve with rice, beans, and guacamole, if desired.

 

 

 

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How Does Anyone (who is not Bill Gates) Afford Daycare??

I went back to work when my son was three months old, and, honestly, it was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Baby’s dad didn’t have a job (nice), and healthcare in America doesn’t think its a big deal for women to have time to bond with and care for their children, despite the studies proving that it is beneficial for both mother and baby (but that is another can of slugs.) Anyways, my wonderful mother stepped in to care for the newborn bear full-time. It was so difficult being away from him for 8+ hours, five days a week. Still breastfeeding, trying to pump and all that, dodging criticism from my superiors, dealing with being sent to manage an entirely different store, etc. Long story short, after about six months of that, I couldn’t handle it. Breastfeeding was easy (for me), but I couldn’t pump enough milk for baby, and he even started losing weight. I called out sick one day because I had no milk to leave for him. I talked to my boss, and she allowed me to step down from being a manager, and accept a different role that was part-time. It was amazing. I was very thankful to have someone who worked with me instead of just laying me off.

Who could leave this??!

So baby now plays with his grandma about 20 hours a week, which is great. However, I’m starting school in August (woohoo!), to become an Elementary school teacher. Which means that I now need to find a daycare for Sammy, because as much as Grandma loves him, she needs a life too! I have worked in schools, and in daycare’s, both public and, private. I attended a Waldorf school until I was 8th grade, and from my personal experience, that is the kind of education I want my child to receive. I’m not saying its terrible to put your kid in public school, or that it’s going to mess them up or something, I just know we all want the best for our kids, and for me that is what I think is best. I value the approach to teaching the whole child, and the natural toys and everything. Yes, I will occasionally turn on Sesame Street, so I CAN DO LITERALLY ANYTHING, FOR FIVE MINUTES, but no, he doesn’t have an iPad. SO I’ve been trying really hard to find a Waldorf-ish or Montessori inspired daycare (baby bear is 16 months, so he’s not even in preschool yet.) I’m a single mom, yes I get child support (baby dad is great btw, although I don’t know if I’ll ever get over him not having a job to help out in the beginning, tbh), but living in San Diego is so, so expensive. Rent, bills, food, etc, (trying) to save money. Why don’t I just move? Because this is my hometown, all my family and my support system is here. Also, amazing weather. But I digress. What I’m trying to get at is….I do not have an extra $375 A WEEK, to throw around. That’s $19,500.00 a year! My entire yearly salary is not a whole lot more than that. Yes its a great environment, and the feed the kids, and blah blah blah, but seriously? If it was every month, I could probably, if I really tried, swing that. The other options are Church-run daycares (we’re not religious), or state-subsidized ones. Obviously people put their kids in those, and they turn out fine. Maybe you’ll call me privileged, or any number of things (this is the internet after all), but I feel the approach to learning is totally screwed up. 0-3 year olds should not be being “trained” to sit still, hold a pencil in their hand, and be reading/doing up close work. It is entirely detrimental to their cognitive development. Kids that age should be experiencing the world through sensory play, not being made “kindergarten ready. Just check out this article;

https://www.popsugar.com/moms/How-Play-Preschool-Can-Cure-Sensory-Issues-Kids-38426705 privileged_medium=facebook&utm_source=post&utm_campaign=moms

Besides, you try telling this kid to sit still…

Immediately after this photo was taken, he scampered up the tree like a Red Panda.

 

Maybe I will organize my maternity shoot photos…by the time I’m 40.

I have over 9,000 photos, from the past two years alone. 9,000. What am I supposed to do with 9,000 photos? Even if I had the time (which I don’t), I definitely don’t have the patience to sift through photo after the same, nearly identical photo. And then what do I do with them? I could stick them in albums, I guess, and write cute captions like my mom used to do. Do I shove them in my guests faces anytime they come to visit? Do they really need/want to see 200 maternity photos of me? Of course they do; look how freaking majestic I am. Like an orca whale, cresting the surface of the water, while a bald eagle soars above me. 

The world deserves these photos. So here I am, sitting at my kitchen table at 12:44am, listening to the sound of the hot fudge for my brownie-ice cream sundae bubble away, while baby and hubby sleep in the other room (is there any other time to get things done??) I am going to attempt to organize/categorize/hopefully bring into the physical realm these photos. All the way from my maternity shoot, to baby’s first birthday. Because like I said; after all, the world deserves these photos.

So majestic.

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