Monthly Archives: August 2014

Time Flies, 2nd Sleep, and 30 Day Challenge

Wow! Labor Day Weekend is upon us already! It was 17 years ago, this weekend that we made the move from Virginia to Oklahoma. It is good to occasionally stop, look back and remember what all God did to enable us and my entire family (my parents, youngest sister, middle sister and her family) to make the monumental move in one 4 month period. My children were 6, 4, and 3 months old and now they are 23 (and married), 21, and 17; time sure does fly. Of course, it doesn’t seem like it at the time, when you have no time to yourself and have 3 kids calling Mom, Mom, Mom, Moooooommmmm, all the time but sitting on this side, I can definitely attest that it really does go by fast.

Brian and Lauren are going on vacation and Sean will house and dog sit for them while they are gone. This is a double whammy for me because I won’t get to see Brian and Lauren while they are gone and my sweet Sean will not be home each night, brightening our home with his sweetness and thus making me FEEL how old my kids are, how much time has flown by, and that he too will be married before I know it, which will be a happy and sad time for me. Happy that he will have found his love but sad that our home will no longer be blessed with his presence on a daily basis.

Holiday Grand Plan starts next week. I’m looking over the website and seeing what I will be doing next week. I know it sounds early to be thinking about Christmas, especially with it being so hot here this week but my sister, my mom, and I like to have all of our shopping DONE by Thanksgiving so that we can thoroughly enjoy our favorite time of the year! Consequently we start shopping sometime within the next 2 months.

One part of the Holiday Grand Plan is cleaning and decluttering the house. Tiffany and I did NOT get our goal accomplished during her month of vacation from school – namely, getting the library and craft/game room clean, although we DID get started in each, we will have to get that remedied very soon! I’m looking forward to gradually getting everything in order so that the holidays are nice, neat, and fun (couldn’t think of an “n” word that meant fun ;) ).

I think I have mentioned before that I, generally speaking, get up when Mike gets up and go to bed when he goes to bed. Left to my own devices I would push myself and stay up until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer and then stay in bed the next morning until I felt it was ridiculous to roll over and sleep any more. You see, I don’t like to go to bed and I don’t like to get out of bed either. The problem is that each night I would end up going to bed a little bit later and sleeping in a little bit later the next morning than the morning before, until I would probably end up sleeping most of the day and being awake most of the night. So, I have an external control that helps me stay on track and NOT end up getting my days and nights mixed up.

Sleep ~ LifeOfJoy.meWell, I thought this was odd and that I was just weird but this week I read an article that supported me/proved what I have said about myself. It states that without external cues we would run on a 25.4 hour day! They even said, “In extreme cases, an individual can cycle completely around the clock.” Ha! I knew it! I guess I’d be an extreme case without my love! ;)

I read this other article about alternative sleep cycles, in which most incorporate some naps throughout the day and sleep fewer hours at one time over night. Naps don’t work very well for me, especially short ones. If it isn’t an hour long nap, I don’t feel like it accomplished anything and if I nap for an hour, I feel very groggy when I awake.

These two articles reminded me of one I read several months ago, it might have been this one, about “two sleeps” or “second sleep”. This was the practice, in previous centuries, where people would go to bed when it got dark outside, or shortly thereafter, and sleep for several hours. When they awoke in the middle of the night, they were not bothered by this, as it was a time they would read a book, pray/meditate, or some such other activity for several hours and then go back to bed and sleep for another several hours but not generally sleeping more than 8 hours even though it was spread over a 10-12 hour period. If I ever struggle again, tossing and turning in the middle of the night, I hope I remember this article and go ahead and get up and enjoy some quiet time rather than getting frustrated that I can’t sleep, until I am tired again. ;)

In the month of September I will be participating in the 30 Day Pray for Your Spouse Challenge, which can be found on facebook. I also signed up for The Dating Divas’ 7 Days of Love Program for free by signing up for their newsletter, which I thought I’d already signed up for, but oh well! ;) They have a cute little printable 7 day journal you can print out to go along with it. If you print sign up and print out this journal, don’t cut it like they say to. Instead, fold the pages so that the printing is on the outside. Then insert the loose ends of the pages (fold side out) into the fold of the cover page, and then staple. This makes the pages sturdier and no blanks backs. :)

Well, I’ll go for now. Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº

Reading Aloud and Book Suggestions

Reading Aloud and Book Suggestions ~ LifeOfJoy.meI read some books aloud to my children when they were little but I do not recall doing it a lot. I wish I had. I didn’t realize how valuable it was to their development and pleasure. Now, don’t get me wrong, I did read to my children but I just didn’t do it on purpose as a daily activity; I read to them sporadically.

I did not realize that children had a listening comprehension. Okay, yes I knew they could understand words that they could not read but didn’t really get it. I thought the big thing was to get them to read and understand the words they read.  I knew my children loved to hear a good book read to them and would frequently ask to have me read it again, right after I’d read it to them but did not really get that there could be any benefit in doing that other than enjoyment.

Then I heard about Five In A Row by Steve and Jane Lambert, which is a homeschool curriculum where you read the same easy picture book to your child every day for five days and talk about a different aspect of the book with your child thus giving them “hooks” to remember information they learn. It was during these years that I began to hear about reading aloud to children.

When you read a book aloud to your child you are experiencing new places together. It gives you a conversation starter to talk about situations and behaviors, consequences and rights. It develops a greater vocabulary in your child. AND if you read the right books, it can help develop good morals.

I was amazed at the number of “classic” children’s literature that I had NOT read or had read to me and how wholesome and good they were. For example, I had never read Heidi. I had been exposed to the Shirley Temple movie of it but had never had it read to me. That is a shame! I thought it was just another in a long line of books/movies about a poor little orphan kid and I had a hard time dealing with that kind of situation. But Heidi, by Johanna Spyri, is such a wonderful book, full of God and always making the best of the situation you are in. I am sad to say that I was 40 years old before I found this wonderful book and I had no idea that secular books actually talked about God at one point in history. I did not read this book aloud until my boys were 13 and 11 and Tiffany was 7; unfortunately she did not remember it, so I read it aloud to hear again when she was about 12 and it became one of her favorite books. So much so that when she got a bunny the next year she named it Schneehopli after one of the goats in the book.

I will take a moment here and point out that you have to be careful about different versions of books. I have gotten some from dollar stores and later found that they were not the complete book. You want the UNabridged versions of books, generally speaking. If it seems too long for your child, better to wait until they are older than to have a book that may have some of the good removed. (I wonder who decides what to remove in those abridged versions?)

One time we got an old copy of Heidi from a book seller. My daughter eagerly began reading it and about three chapters in, came out to me complaining that this book is not Heidi. The version of the book I read to them used the German names for the goats, as you may have guessed from the name of Tiffany’s bunny. Unfortunately this copy translated the names. They probably thought it made the names more meaningful, and it does but it was no longer the beloved goats Tiffany fell in love with, so she deems this book as “The Book that Was NOT Heidi.” ;) This changed the feel of the book for Tiffany and she thinks that they may have changed other aspects of the book as well, but we have yet to prove that accusation. ;)

Another truly wonderful book that I had never heard of is A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett. This is another book about a child that becomes an orphan, so I hesitated reading it to my children but since it was highly recommended to me, I went ahead and read it any way. I’m really glad I did! It is such good exposure for the children to see how hard some can have it and yet maintain a good perspective and attitude AND it ends good. ;)  (A good ending is a very important part of a good book for me; I don’t need bad endings, that’s probably why I struggle reading John Grisham’s books, i.e. they don’t always turn out the way I like them to.)

The last book I will mention today is about another girl that is an orphan, Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. One take away from this book is “The Glad Game” where you find something to be glad about, even in disappointment, which is something I wanted my children to emulate after reading this book. :) It is another book with great perspective.

If you haven’t read any of these books yourself or to your children, take the time to do so. I believe they are all available on Project Gutenburg and are definitely worth reading.

Until next time, God Bless,

Michele ºÜº

Stripes

Today I am participating in the Weekly Challenge by The Diva, Laura Harms. I’ve only participated in one other challenge before. I hope to complete more challenges in the future, since I had such a good time doing this one.

This week’s challenge is #182 “Stripes” in which we were directed to try out some stripes in our piece today. I went with large horizontal stripes and than added some thin diagonal stripes on alternating stripes and then I striped the stripes. :) {Whew, I didn’t realize I did ALL of that while I was doing it.}

Weekly Challenge #182 Stripes ~ LifeOfJoy.me

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Favorite Zentangles

Today I will share my very favorite Zentangles that I have done to date.

 
Favorite Zentangles ~ LifeOfJoy.me

 

This time I will start with the last one. I wish I could tell you all the tangles I used but I don’t remember. :(  I do know that the main two are Bellaposa (from the Tangle Library iPhone app) and Florz, which is an official tangle by the creators of Zentangle. I do remember that the floral design in the lower left corner did not go as I desired it (as in, there was some kind of mistake BUT there are no mistakes with Zentangle) so I kept working on it until it was acceptable to me. ;)

Bellaposa + Florz ~ LifeOfJoy.me

 

In this one I used a variation of Heartvine, Verdigogh, a few remnants of Hollibaugh, and all I can think is that I used part of Kuke. I have always thought that Kuke kind of resembled a flower, so I think I must have taken a segment of it and made it resemble a flower, even more. It’s been a while since I drew these so I can only guess what I did now.

Verdigogh + variations of heartvine and kuke ~ LifeOfJoy.me

 

This last one is usually everyone’s favorite and if I’m honest, I think it is my favorite as well. ;) I simply used Hollibaugh and Cyme (well, not EXACTLY cyme because I messed part of it up). I really like the overlapping of hollibaugh here and the shading on it as well but I think It is the black background that makes it so vibrant.

Cyme + Hollibaugh ~ LifeOfJoy.me

I really love how the last two flow together! :)  See?

Favorite Duo ~ LifeOfJoy.me

I hope these inspire you to try your hand at some Zentangle. :)

Until next time, God Bless,

Michele ºÜº

Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Burgers ~ LifeOfJoy.me

Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Burgers

Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Burgers ~ LifeOfJoy.me

I fixed these last week when Brian and Lauren came for dinner. Since there were 6 of us, I doubled this recipe. And since Mike cannot have beef and Lauren doesn’t like turkey, I made one pound with ground beef and one pound with ground turkey. Both were delicious! I divided each pound of meat into 3 burgers, making 3 third pound burgers but with the cheese and bacon in them, they were even larger. I do believe that one pound of meat could be stretched to feed 6 if some were smaller children, but we have 6 adults. I will also note that those of us that ate the beef burgers were too full for dessert even an hour or more later.

Ground turkey with worcestershire sauce ~ LifeOfJoy.meI break up the meat in a mixing bowl and add 3-4 shakes of Worcestershire Sauce. (I know this is kind of unappetizing as far as pictures go, but I wanted you to see about how much Worcestershire sauce there is.) Add salt and pepper as desired; I use about 3-4 shakes of my table salt shaker and about 2-3 twists of my pepper mill.

Then cut the cheddar cheese into small cubes. These need to be big enough that they will melt into cheesy pockets of yumminess but small enough that you can get the ground meat worked around them. I used about 3½ ounces of cheddar cheese and cut them into about ¼-inch cubes.

Next cut TURKEY BACON into about ¼-inch square pieces. I do this by stacking about 3 slices of turkey bacon on top of each other. I then cut them in half along the length of the pieces and then cut into approximately ¼-inch pieces all the way down the stack.

Now mix it all together ensuring that you are getting as much of that cheese covered with the meat as possible, so that the yummy goodness is melting inside your burger rather than in your pan. ;)

Put them in a pan and cook. When I want to hurry them along, I put a lid on the pan, because it will help it to begin cooking on the top as the bottom cooks. Flip when the bottom is browned.Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Burger Close-up ~ LifeOfJoy.me

Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Burgers

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground meat
  • 3-4 ounces cheddar cheese, cubed
  • 3-4 slices turkey bacon, cut into small pieces about ¼-inch by ¼-inch
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Break thawed meat into a medium size mixing bowl.
  2. Add 3-4 shakes of Worcestershire Sauce, salt, and pepper.
  3. Add cheese cubes and turkey pieces.
  4. Combine as best you can.
  5. Separate into 3-6 burgers (I did 3 for adults but it was VERY filling.)
  6. Fry in non-stick skillet or pan sprayed with oil spray like Pam. Brown on both sides.
https://lifeofjoy.me/bacon-and-cheese-stuffed-burgers/
Until next time, God bless,
Michele ºÜº

Connect with Your Spouse

TConnect with Your Spouse ~ LifeofJoy.meoday I thought I’d share some GREAT websites to give you some GREAT “Date Night” ideas. Many of these ideas are adaptable to different situations. I like these sites because I don’t have to get super creative, I can just read through and find something that I think we’d enjoy and make any adjustments I want to make for our given situation.

  • First up is The Dating Divas  which is jam packed with lots and lots of date nights that are customizable to your situation. Many of the ideas include printables for you to download and print out and use!    Here is one you can do with your kids: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/corie/10-dates-for-20/ Check out some of the different date nights and see which ones you and your hubby might like and which ones you might enjoy with your whole family; just remember that if you use the idea with your whole family to ensure that your hubby knows and feels that this time is created with HIM in mind, since the point of it is to get closer to him. There are also a list of about 100 suggestions added in the comments of this post.
  • This next one is another idea from The Dating Divas site. This is a cute idea for a once a month, year long, project of “date” nights. Here’s how to adapt this for the whole family and some homeschooling as an added bonus. Make the passport and such as suggested on the site but give it to your husband when the two of you are alone together and explain that once a month you will be treating him to a special date night. Much of it will be shared by the entire family but let him know that the ‘night belongs to him’ and that once the children are down for the night and/or you retire to your room, the date night will continue. Imagine the smile that will be on his face when he comes home to the decorations and smells of a foreign place, right in his home, but he knows that his fun is ONLY just BEGINNING. Be sure to decorate your bedroom as well as the eating and/or living areas. Take the opportunity to do a short unit study on the chosen “destination” with the children prior to the “date night” so that there is an educational benefit as well. 🙂 You can make passports for your kids too, just leave some special touches for just your honey. (Remember to make it special for HIM, if you do all the same things for the kids, he’s not getting anything special.)
  • Love Actually is the next one and it has many date night ideas (click that one for the index)!!! You could spend hours here. You might even plan a date night where you and your hubby look through some of the different date night ideas and see what he thinks would be worth a try. You might want to also check out the blogger’s other site, http://lifedesigncraft.blogspot.com/ , to see some ideas she has there for other things . . . I noticed she has a girls party with a theme of Milk and Cookies, sounds like it could me a fun Homeschool Moms Night Out.
  • Here’s another Date Night Idea blog: http://fridaywereinlove.blogspot.com/ She has a link to 101 Date Night Ideas, surely we older ladies can even find some ideas here. ;)
  • Here’s an interesting article, “Reinventing Date Night for Long-Married Couples,” that has some interesting ideas about the kinds of activities you should pursue together. Please take the time to read this; it is really good.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/health/12well.html
  • Here is one idea I plucked from an other-wise ridiculous list: Pick up a bucket of fried
    chicken and head for the drive-in.

In my travels, I came across that great website mentioned above, The Dating Divas. While perusing the site, I came to realize that a couple of the contributors are Christian ladies, which explained why the site is so tastefully done. I read their FAQ page  and the answers to questions 7 and 8 are great. I hope you’ll pop over there and read their wise words and that these links will inspire you and help you keep connected with your husband in a deeper way than before.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

On My Mind Today…

LifeOfJoy.meHmmm, what is on my mind today? Tiffany has her vacation from “schooling” right now because she “schooled” May through July.  Doctor Who’s new season begins airing soon, so we’ve been re-watching the previous seasons, not that it is necessary; it’s just fun. Because we’ve seen them before we put it on in the background while we do other things.

I read this article this week. I’ve actually had it open in my browser for most of the week because it was longer than I had time to complete at once and I wanted to be sure to read it all. It is by a pediatrician who has made some interesting observations of children and their parents/guardians. Although I don’t believe that our children need our undivided attention all the time, I think they do need to know they are important and that we value them. If every time my child wants my attention, I make him or her wait – and lose track of time, with how long I are really making him or her wait – I’m sending the message to that child that what I am doing is more important than he or she is. Stop and think about that a minute. Is that email, facebook post, website, online conversation, book, or whatever else I might be doing really more important than my child and my relationship with my child?

I am sad to admit that I was guilty of this when my children were young. I needed adult interaction during the day and homeschool forums were vital in helping me learn to do what I needed to do BUT I know that I sent my kids the wrong message. I had to work to fix this. I’ll also admit that there are times, even now, when my daughter wants to tell me about a show or book that she has watched or read and I’m busy and will put her off. It doesn’t happen as often any more than it did, partly because they are older but partly because I choose to focus on them when they talk. I also make sure that I take time to engage with my children, asking what is on their minds, what they are thinking, or what God’s been telling them lately and then I listen.

I also read this article on Crosswalk dot com, which I also agree with. While the children need to know they are important, they also need to know that Daddy and God are both more important and that each one has their time. Another big thing is to teach your children to respect you when you are on the telephone. I always found it very frustrating when I’d be talking on the telephone with someone and their child would come up to them and just start talking away and the parent would give the child their attention. When I was on the phone and one of my children came up and started talking to me I would point at them and hold up my index finger, telling them to wait a minute. Then, depending on how important the call was, I would ask my caller to hold for a moment and see what my child needed or I would close my eyes and motion for him/her to go away. Then as soon as I got off the phone, I would find the child and ask what they needed. One other thing I did before I made a phone call was to check with the kids to see if they needed anything and inform them that I was going to make a phone call. This gave them an opportunity to ask me whatever they might want before I placed my call.

I love my family.  We’ve been having some good, normal/general times this summer. For the first year in ages, I actually have a bit of a tan. I attribute it to the few hours swimming in my son’s pool several times this summer and working outside for thirty minutes to an hour many days prior May through July. Like I said, August has been an odd month, with Tiffany on “vacation” we are completely off schedule, which means we are not getting a whole lot accomplished. Hopefully we will get back on track next week.

A couple months ago Brian learned a card game and taught it to the rest of us. We enjoyed playing it a couple of times. Recently I mentioned that we should play it again one night after dinner. It took us a bit to remember how to play the game. It wasn’t as easy as googling it to get the directions and rules because apparently, the name had a curse word in it and he didn’t tell us. :D We muddled our way through a round and then he found a version online and we had fun paying another round or two. It really is an easy game, if you can get past the name . . . S***head . . . I think we’ll call it by one of its other names, maybe Palace. Anyway, I even think the younger kids could play it, as long as they know sequential order well. Of course it throws a few wrinkles with the 2 and 10, so they have to be firm enough that you don’t confuse them. You can always make them a cheat sheet. ;)

I think I’ve rambled enough for one day. So, until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Narration, Copywork, Dictation, and Spelling

Narration, Copywork, Dictation, Spelling ~ LifeOfJoy.meI had thought I might write about my favorite read alouds today but I just watched a video by Dollie Freeman that I wish I had had available when my children were young. This is so good that it will be part of Tiffany’s “curriculum” on home educating children this year.

This is the link: How to Teach Copywork and Dictation the Charlotte Mason Way. In it Dollie shares about copywork and dictation and how she learned with her first child and changed things with her third.

My children, especially Tiffany, were natural narrators only I didn’t know about narration then. She loved to tell me about whatever book she had just read. I am sorry to admit that because I did not understand how valuable this was, there were times that I cut her short. :(   So you see, I understand what it is like to have kids around all the time and just need them to stop talking but I encourage you to dig deep within yourself and remain “present” with them, engaging with them. I am glad to report that after I learned that narration was a valuable tool in education, I eagerly listened to her “narrations” any time she wanted.

I learned another interesting piece of information by listening to Dollie’s video: we spent way too much time on our copywork and dictation . . . no wonder my kids hated it; although to be honest, they hated anything that took very long to do or involved much writing. ;)  She shared that Charlotte Mason suggested only 5-10 minutes on either, if I remember correctly. She also said that the child should do their best work. Now, I’ll admit that I did require my children to do their best work but I think I may have had my standards a bit high. I remember pushing them to write a bit more when they were just learning their letters and pushing them to practice just a bit longer rather than being happy that they had made one or two very good letters and practiced for 5 minutes.

Another thing she talked about was the child having a book of quotes in their own handwriting that brings them pleasure. I wish I had let them pick more of the things they wrote, so that it would have been more of a keepsake that they enjoyed. Although, I do remember giving them more freedom when they were older, I wish I had let them pick things when they were younger. And I guess it is important to really let them pick, even if it means the things they copy are hints for a video game. ;)

Dollie also mentions the Charlotte Mason method of spelling. I treated dictation as more of a pre-test to gather spelling words than being concerned with them getting it right at the time of dictation. Oh, I bet my kids wish I’d have known this method when they were young. Charlotte Mason’s method is to allow the child to look over the material to be dictated ahead of time AND EVEN point out words or punctuation that you think the student might get stumped on, so that they can take a visual picture of it and get it correct. Wow! That viewpoint is so much more encouraging than looking for mistakes in their work so that they have more work to do.

Well, since I cannot do it over again, I hope I can share my failures with you and you can avoid them (especially if the “you” reading this happens to be my children :) ). I really encourage you to take the time to watch Dollie’s video. (It’s free.) I do not get any compensation for sending you there, I just think it is worth listening to – and enlightening.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Tangled Orbs

Tangled Orbs ~ LifeOfJoy.me

I love Carole Ohl’s Tangle-A-Day Calendar. Here is one page I did earlier this year. This one has ornamato, pepper, cirquital, kuke, and jetties.

Here’s a little bit bigger picture of the first section:

Tangled Orbs A ~ LifeOfJoy.me

And now the second section:

Tangled Orbs B ~ LifeOfJoy.me

I really enjoy drawing Kuke, as I think it looks really nice and nearly floral. :)

I hope this inspires you to try your hand at some Zentangles yourself!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Enchilada Pie

I’m really going to have to get better at taking pictures before we eat. I’m managing to get pictures taken while I make it but when it is finished, we are a bit impatient to eat. I took this one with the leftovers. :D

Enchilada Pie ~ LifeOfJoy.me

I was first introduced to this yummy casserole when I was a teen and our family was on vacation in Nags Head, I think, with another family from church. Brenda, the matriarch of the other family, made this for all of us for dinner one night and it left an impression on me. Years later the church put together a cookbook for a fund raiser, I purchased one and thankfully this recipe was in that book.

I use ground turkey instead of ground beef, since Mike is allergic to beef. Generally speaking, I do not care for ground turkey but because the sauce is so rich in flavor, it tastes great. It also saves me money because I can find ground turkey cheaper than ground beef. :)   Win. Win. (a quote from Letters to Juliet)

My children have never liked onions cooked in food but actually like the flavor of onion powder in foods; I guess it is the “crunch” of the vegetables that they don’t like. Consequently I use onion powder instead of an onion in this recipe. There is a similar problem with tomatoes, so I either puree the canned tomatoes or use crushed tomatoes; it all depends on what I have on hand.

I love cheese. Thus I always think the more cheese the better BUT that is not very frugal. This recipe has a unique way of tricking the taste buds to think that there is more cheese in it . . . trust me, you have no idea, when eating it, that you aren’t eating cheesy goodness. :)

Oh! One final thing before I share the process of making this yummy dish, although it uses two pounds of ground meat it makes A LOT. Just last Saturday I fed our family of six – 5 adults and one 17yo – AND had LEFTOVERS. Thus this recipe really could be cut in half or serve what you need (half or less for family of 4) and wrap and freeze the other half, once it cools. I have actually done this during the holidays for an easy meal.

This recipe has passed the Pickiness Test by Lauren. ;)  It is a new addition to her favorite foods list.

Brown the ground meat and break it up.Brown Ground Turkey ~ LifeOfJoy.me Since I’m using ground turkey there is very little grease, if any but if you use ground beef, you’ll want to drain out the fat. (I like to use a turkey baster to accomplish this.)

Next I add the onion powder. I don’t really know how much, maybe a ½ tablespoon or so – basically, I just shake it on, sprinkling it over the entire surface of the meat, until I smell it. ;) Then add the garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and mix it all together.

If I use a can of diced tomatoes, I puree it in my mini food processor or with my hand blender, while the meat is browning.

Next I add the tomato puree (or crushed tomatoes), can of tomato sauce, package of taco seasoning, and chili powder. I puree the green chiles the same way I did the tomatoes and add them to the meat mixture as well. The sauce is now complete.

Enchilada Pie Sauce ~ LifeOfJoy.meNext cut the corn tortillas into pieces to cover the casserole dish evenly. Here is how I cut them. Take the stack and cut it in half. Then take one half and cut it in half.

Cut Tortillas in Half ~ LifeOfJoy.meCut in Quarters ~ LifeOfJoy.me

I sometimes cut them in half yet again.

Cut in Eighths ~ LifeOfJoy.meCut Tortillas ~ LifeOfJoy.me

Now layer them in the casserole dish sprayed with “Pam”. I use a 9×13 baking pan.

Layered Tortilla Pieces ~ LifeOfJoy.meNext pour the sauce over the tortilla pieces and layer the other half of the tortilla pieces on top. Combine the cream of chicken soup and milk and pour over the tortillas. Then top with the shredded cheese.

Casserole ~ LifeOfJoy.meBake at 350º for about 45 minutes (or until cheese is bubbly).

Serve with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and/or hot sauce.

Enchilada Pie ~ LifeOfJoy.me

When I made this Saturday, I made it in the crock pot so that we wouldn’t heat up the house. I put about 1/3 of the tortillas on the bottom, 1/2 the sauce, 1/3 tortillas, about 1/3 of the cream soup milk mixture, a bit of the cheese, the rest of the sauce, last of the tortilla pieces, remaining soup milk mixture, and the rest of the cheese.

Enchilada Pie

Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. ground meat (ground turkey)
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced OR about 1/2 tbsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 - 8oz can tomato sauce
  • 1 - 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes OR 2 cups crushed tomatoes
  • 1 - 4 oz. can green chiles
  • 1 pkg taco seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste)
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • 14 oz corn tortillas
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese, or variety of your choosing
  • Optional toppings:
  • finely sliced lettuce
  • diced tomatoes
  • sour cream
  • hot sauce

Instructions

  1. Brown ground meat and diced onion (drain if necessary) in a large skillet and crumble meat.
  2. Add garlic powder (and onion powder if not using fresh onion).
  3. Add salt, pepper, chili powder, taco seasoning, tomato sauce, green chiles, and crushed tomatoes.
  4. Cut tortillas and place half in the bottom of a slightly greased 9x13 pan, covering completely.
  5. Pour in sauce.
  6. Layer on the other half of the tortilla pieces, covering all the meat.
  7. Combine the cream of chicken soup and milk. Pour over tortilla pieces.
  8. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over soup milk mixture.
  9. Bake uncovered at 350º for about 45 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.
  10. Serve with thinly sliced lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream, and/or hot sauce.
https://lifeofjoy.me/enchilada-pie/

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº