Gunner in the Kitchen! Burrito Prepping

This doesn’t happen often, it really is a momentous occasion!  This kid would rather be outside playing, running, digging, throwing, shooting, anything at all, than in the house and especially in the kitchen. But he asked if he could help me cook and we had burritos on the menu in a couple weeks, so I jumped at the chance!  Just look at that face!  You couldn’t have turned him down either.

We had refried beans and rice cooled and ready, some leftover crockpot chicken and taco meat, and he sliced some medium cheddar and pepperjack  and crumbled some queso fresco.

And then he started assembling the burritos!   We filled the burrito size tortillas  with rice, some beans also, laid a slice of cheese, topped with either chicken or beef, and then some of the fresco. I rolled them up and wrapped in foil, tossed in a Ziplock Freezer bag and in the deep freeze. We made 16 burritos, and all but 7 were frozen; those 7 were going to be for dinner tonight.

This one got beans and rice with cheddar and taco meat.  He really enjoyed putting whatever he wanted in them!

We prepare them the same way, whether frozen or fresh.  Place in a baking dish with enchilada sauce poured in the bottom, and then on top as well. Top with cheese and bake on 375 until they are heated through and cheese is melted and bubbly. You can also broil for the last minute or two for a nice crunchy cheesy texture. The ones topped with queso fresco were chicken, cheese and rice.

While the ones topped with a slice of cheddar were beans, rice, cheese and meat!

After baking, I like to top mine with lettuce and more cheese, some salsa and sour cream.  I forgot to take a picture at dinner, but we had one burrito leftover that I ate the next day for lunch. So here’s a picture of my leftovers (which was just as good as night before!)

 

 

Merce in the kitchen “I want to be a chef”

It’s been a looooong couple weeks in our house. We were having the kitchen cabinets refinished by a local genius (Jamie at Lola’s…if you are in Oklahoma, let her work her magic for you!), and EVERYTHING was out of the kitchen.  We are still working on getting things moved back in there, but most importantly, Merce got back in the kitchen!

Merce packing up 1/4 c almonds, 13 turkey pepperoni slices, and 3 slices of cheese that she helped cut. Don’t let that sweet look fool you! 😉

She spent spent some time helping me package up my snacks for the week (high protein, low carb), and she felt like a chef.  She said “I want to be a chef when I grow up, so I can cook for you.”  Well dear child, I will let you cook for me whether you are a chef or not.  ❤

Soooo, she became a pastry chef of the Easy Bake variety.  I may not have all my food, or dishes, or cooking vessels back in that kitchen, but I have the most important thing of all in there.  (Merce, not the Easy Bake).

PS. This isn’t a paid ad or anything, but don’t my cabinets look amazing?!  Flooring is next of course. My poor husband (literally after the flooring is done).

 

Fall pictures faux pas

It’s officially fall.  Oklahoma had temps in the 70s finally! My allergies are INSANE, which necessitates hot liquid (insert Basic White Girl Pumpkin spice Chai Latte here).  And it’s time to for Fall pictures. Fall pictures in our house are a nightmare, and a practice-run for the inevitable Christmas Card Pictures in November.  So with the cool weather, and lack of Saturday morning soccer games, I thought it would be a great time to get this crap done.

It. Was. A. Disaster….in terms of pictures.  The kids however, had a great time. We couldn’t seem to get all of looking our direction at the same time, with a smile.  The 13 year old developed an acute case of Tourette’s, he couldn’t stop talking or blinking to save his life.  The 7 year old….I don’t know what to say. He was his typical self–squirrelly, twitchy, giggly, unpredictable.  And then there’s Merce.  All she wanted was for her brother’s to kiss her! A couple years ago we took some pictures and both boys kissed her on the cheeks. We try to recreate it every year, but this year the 7 year old just couldn’t bring himself to touch his lips to her face. Here’s a Helmer family progression of kissy-face pictures:

Summer of 2013:

Then again in Fall 2013 (somehow the oldest snuck out of this one):

Summer 2014:

Those were pretty successful, considering the subjects.  And now here’s a couple from the failure that was the Fall 2015 attempt:

This was after several attempts. And the 7 yr old is explaining why he can’t pull it together to kiss his sister.  Merce is just laughing at everything. And the 13 year old is praying to God that this gets over with soon. Which then lead us to attempt #572….

Sooooo close.  Look at that little boy. He’s trying so hard not to laugh. But he just couldn’t pull it off.  And it was about this time that I ran out of room on my memory card.  I’m terrible with memory cards.  I may copy files into Lightroom to play with, but I keep forgetting to delete them off the card.

Individually we got some keepers, but unfortunately we will have to try again for the group pictures.  God help me. Here are some of the keepers.  They may not be perfect to everyone, but they are perfect to us. ❤

From my family, to yours…may your fall pictures go smoother than ours.  Happy Fall!

Merce in the Kitchen

This, my new friends, is Merce.

Merce stirring Jell-O like a pro.

Merce is a shortened version of her middle name.  If you’ve read my ‘Enchihooey‘ post then you know about my English Grandpa and Hispanic Grandma. Grandma’s name was Mercedes (mer-said-es, not like the car). Grandpa would frequently call her Merce, or Mickey, or Gert.  And he was famous within the family for saying, “Good God Gert!” or sometimes “Good God Merce!”  Always in good fun, but the saying stuck with us all. Then Grandma was gone, but the saying needed to live on.  This little girl came into the world, and was blessed with her name. And tradition carries on.  She gives us so many opportunities to use Grandpa’s phrase.

 This girl is a diva. She’s the youngest of three kids, and the only girl–so she’s been a little spoiled and babied. She gives definition to the term ‘fournager’.  But oh how we love her.  She’s kind and caring, and stubborn and opinionated. All the qualities of an amazing adult, but aggravating in a child.  😉

Merce loves to be active, her brothers and daddy, and all things pretty.  We have a Matilda Jane obsession in this house, as you can see even her apron is Matilda Jane!  She loves to help me in the kitchen, and as she gets older (and taller to reach the cabinets) she will be rolling enchihooeys, learning to food prep, and understanding the importance of stockpiling enchilada sauce and chili beans.

And just because she is my favorite subject for pictures (she’s the only one that is willing), here’s a couple more from our day making Minion Jello-O jigglers.

Measuring with Merce

Black & White is my favorite! Yes I could have evened her dark circles out with editing, but she’s perfect just the way she is.

And that’s my Merce.  You’ll see more of her in posts to come, I am sure.