Simple Perfect Enchiladas - The Pioneer Woman

I watched a lot of Food Network while on vacation. Okay, I watch a lot of Food Network when not on vacation, but this past week took the cake! And, because of the Food Network, I found myself craving Mexican. I haven't craved Mexican since I was pregnant with McKinley. I watched the Pioneer Woman's "Mike's Day Out", "Building Pens", and "BFF". Every one of those episodes contained some version of Mexican. Even Sandra Lee made Mexican during "Spring Fiesta". I had to have it!

We had planned to go out to dinner one night, Jose Pepper's being the restaurant I chose, but neither of us were all that hungry when it came to dinner, so we had iHOP instead. If you can't have Mexican, breakfast is the next best thing, right? Last night was the night! I decided on Ree's Simple Perfect Enchilada's and boy were they good! A lot of work, but really good. Here are the deets!

You make an amazing sauce! You will use this sauce several times.

Okay, I have to ask. How in the world are the on-air chefs able to keep tears at bay when cutting onions? Seriously, I was crying buckets last night. Ree, what are your secrets?

You brown some hamburger, along with the tearful onions, and add diced chili's. I went a little light on the chili's as my hubs isn't one for a lot of spice!

 

Now, here is the tricky part. Heat some oil in the skillet, but make sure you don't have the flame up too high! I made that mistake and oil splattered everywhere! You need to heat the tortilla, not cause first degree burns on your hands when adding them to the oil!

 Grate a heaping mound of cheese.

 There are couple of things I didn't capture on camera. Like when I dunked the tortilla in the amazing enchilada sauce. Or, when I added all the ingredients into the tortilla shell, rolled them, and placed them in the baking dish. My hands were covered, dripping, and there would have been no way to capture any of this!

Bake and eat! I made some Mexican rice as our side. These enchiladas were an incredible end to a craving that plagued me for days! Get the entire recipe here

Big Steps!

I know people say to take baby steps when you're first starting out with something new, but not this girl! I've never been that girl! Just ask my mom. I am a "go big or go home" kind of girl! I blogged about self image on Style My Way a couple of months ago and decided to finally take the reigns and do something about it. I mean, no one is going to lose the leftover baby weight but me, right? So, I signed up for Weight Watchers online yesterday. Yes, it was on May 13th. Yes, it was on the second week of May. Yes, I realize that if you are going to set a goal for yourself most people start it off at the beginning of a new month. Again, not this girl!! I also know you are never supposed to utter the words diet in public! One should never tell family and close friends that "I started a diet" because if you fail, they know you failed! However, going back to my forty before 40 post, look at numbers 13 and 14. I pretty much spelled it out!

Dieting is hard. Dieting sucks!! I know that on Weight Watchers they claim that you can still eat the foods you love, but that's not really the case! I love cupcakes, cookies, bread, milkshakes, frosting from the can, candy bars.....can I really eat all of those things? Yes, if I don't want to lose weight! Yes, if I eat them within moderation. Yes, if I stay within the points I'm given per day. But what it really boils down to is, no! I can't really eat those foods as often as I would like! I have to be choosy about when I actually eat them. Like when no one is looking or I lie about it on my tracking tool!

Another component of dieting is the dreaded exercise. For those of you who love to work out, I envy you. I hate it! I dread going to the gym, pulling out the workout clothes and getting on that treadmill or lifting those free weights. However, when all is said and done, I feel better afterward. It's just getting through it! I've made the cardio/motivational play list for my iPad. I read magazines or books will on the treadmill. It's just getting myself pumped to go! Yesterday, since my hubby picked up the peanut, I decided to hit the streets instead of the gym. The weather is too gorgeous right now to holed up in the gym. I put on shorts, the horror, threw on the old tennies and off I went. I walked the general route of our neighborhood and kept pretty a pretty good pace. Lots of hills, I went that way on purpose, and felt really good after I got home. I even slept well for the first time in months!

I'm sore today but it's a good sore. I haven't really pushed myself to walk like that in ages. Sure, I stroll around the zoo, Deanna Rose, the mall, but it's all at the pace of a two year old and that's just not cutting the mustard. Will I get back in the gym, maybe. Will I be more inclined to try and get out among nature, probably? Will I bring myself to charge up the controls to my Wii, yes! Because I have a goal! I need to stay focused. I'm not going reveal how many LBs I plan to lose. That's between me and my reflection in the mirror. Oh, and that little number on the scale that's screaming at me! But I will try my hardest to lose what I can however fast I can. Right now, my eight tracker is telling I need to lose eight pounds by next Monday. That is NOT going to happen because who loses eight pounds in less than a week? Celebrities, that's who!

So, it's out there! Like Harry Burns said, "Call the cops, it's out there!" I'm not brave enough, like Jessica of What I Wore, to photograph myself before and after. I honestly can't be that honest with you on my appearance. Vanity, self-conscious, scared. Call it what you will. I can't bring myself to go that far. I can tell you how I'm doing, tricks I've found, recipes I've tried and loved and how I'm feeling throughout the process! Until then....wish me luck!