A wine & cheese party with a twist...

Although I have been a mom for almost 18 years, I am still not used to having my plans changed.   I mean c'mon, with 6 kids, and a Husband who has been deployed as many times as we have kids, you would think I would be used to being flexible right?

nah, that would be too easy!

In that sense, I planned a nice evening for a few of our Adult friends with a Wine & Cheese party, I did my shopping at Smart & Final.  I may be missing sleep, but not common sense ;)
I shop at Smart & Final a few times a week, the prices are very low, there is no membership dues, and they accept coupons!!!

So off we went to shop for our fun evening...

First thing's first right!?!?

We shopped for an entire Army, wine, cheese, snacks, food & snacks for the kids, and party supplies as well.
I was so excited, we spent way under $100!!!

Now, back to not being used to having my schedule messed with, guess what happened the morning of our Wine & cheese party?
My 8yo Daughter broke her hand during school, not a hairline fracture, we're talking about her wrist, broken :(

Let's say that she had the giggles from the pain meds ;)

SO, after being all day in the hospital, she didn't want to go home and go to bed, she asked if I could please not cancel the wine & cheese party, so we turned it into a "get well" get together for her ;)

We made another quick trip to Smart & Final, after all, Mommy was going to need some extra wine after this ;)
We bought shredded cheese and more supplies and we made homemade pizzas!

though it wasn't the day I had planned, it was nice to be able to relax at home after such a terrible ordeal, eat some good food, and enjoy some "happy drinks" ;)

We were able to do both shops for around $100!!!!
Is that awesome or what?!?!
So c'mon, do the Smart thing;

Shop at Smart & Final!

If you want to see our entire trip check out my Whrrl story

More check-ins at smart & final

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All opinions and suggestions are my own ideas, no other children were harmed in the planning of this party, said 8yo will be sporting a flashy bedazzled pink cast on Wednesday, thank you CB for sponsoring our shop.

Foodie Friday: Chicken Enchiladas recipe YUM!

Aricka has been nominated for Best Foodie Blog of the Year!!!!!!!

If you agree, which you should!! ;) go on and vote for her, voters are also eligible for a prize!
http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/504857
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We eat a lot of Mexican food in this house. Now there are a ton of really good Mexican restaurants here. They are practically on every corner yet I still cook it every chance I can.

Enchiladas are a little time consuming and somewhat messy (especially with a camera in one hand) but cheap and feeds an army! I can get two nights out of one tray of enchiladas. Add some Spanish rice and re-fried beans and you will be competing with the corner restaurant! (or so I keep telling my pocket book) Now there are some shortcuts, tonight, I am using the leftover meat from The whole chicken made for tacos (I froze it) and I am using can sauce. I have made the sauce home made. It is by far better home made but time is an issue so the can will have to do tonight! If you don't have chicken handy, take three chicken breast and bake them with salt, pepper and a little olive oil in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until cooked. Even better, go buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store or Costco! I personally like to freeze leftovers for this purpose. But that's another blog post entirely!

Chicken Enchiladas

Meat from one rotisserie chicken or equivalent
1 cup sour cream
1 cup Cheddar cheese plus
3 cups Cheddar cheese
1 SM can of ortega green chilis diced undrained
1 extra lg can green enchilada sauce
9-12 flour tortillas (depends how full you stuff them)

In a medium size bowl mix chicken meat, 2 cup cheese, (in my case it's two handfuls) green chilis and sour cream. Mix well. This mixture will melt down into a creamy sauce!

Now here's where the sloppy part starts!
Pour enough sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan to cover the bottom.
Pour 1 cup of sauce in a pie plate. Take a tortilla and place in the pie plate. Flip over to sauce both sides. This is important to my family...they do not like dry enchiladas. Note: I skip the pie plate and just do it in the baking pan. You can save the dish to wash!

Add 1/2 cup meat mixture and roll up. Keep refilling sauce to moisten tortillas. Nobody likes a dry enchilada!

Repeat until the pan in full or the meat is gone.

Take remaining sauce and pour over top of enchiladas


Cover the top of the enchiladas with cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes uncovered.
Try to resist seconds.

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Foodie Friday: Chicken with White Wine Gravy (Pantry Meal)

Aricka has been nominated for Best Foodie Blog of the Year!!!!!!!
If you agree, which you should!! ;) go on and vote for her, voters are also eligible for a prize!
http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/504857
Don't forget to add her name on the bottom of the form for the vote to count "Shamrocks and Shenanigans"

Guess what day it is?!? It's Foodie Friday with My Dear Friend Aricka at Shamrocks and Shenanigans.  For today's post she made an AWESOME Chicken with White Wine Gravy (Pantry Meal)


My cupboards are bare. It is the night before I shop and there is literally two nights of meat left in the freezer and a bunch a canned goods. The Fireman is home so I am expected to cook. This is where I pull out my Pantry meals. This one is an old one too. I took this from Gram (back when I was barely married to The Fireman) who probably took it from a Woman Day's or some sort of magazine. It has been copied to the backs of envelopes and tweaked for my family. I have to make twice the gravy. Just don't tell The Tortured Teenager that it has Cream of Chicken soup in it or she will never eat it again! She has a thing against any recipe with Cream of Anything Soup in it!

Chicken with White wine Gravy-Pantry Meal
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1 cut up chicken (like what you would use for fried chicken but all I have is breasts)
1/2 finely chopped onions (the smaller the better for picky eaters)
1/2 to 3/4 cup white wine (make sure it's a dry wine you really would drink...I prefer to drink red but I will drink this too!)
2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
salt and pepper

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Mine are old so I added some olive oil.

Salt and pepper chicken. Add to skillet skin side down. Cook 5 minutes

turn, cook another four minutes.

Squish meat to one side of the pan (see I put mine on their sides) and add onion and cook till translucent. Aww heck, we like a little color on ours!

Add wine, carefully...drink some too! Let cook for a minute...stick your face in the fumes...don't you want to bathe in that?

Add the soup and 1/2 can of water and mix it all well. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until your chicken is done. Again, mine were big pieces and I do not want raw meat. I don't have a lid for this pan, so I'm about to put foil over it!

Gram used to serve over Smashed Red potatoes but I dont have that in my bare cupboards so skins on mashed potatoes will have to do!

This is The Fireman's FAVORITE chicken gravy! Why? It's canned soup and wine! But it taste like what he ate in elementary school...at school! Lucky me! I am being compared to lunch ladies in the 60's! Such is my luck!

The Tortured Teenager practically licked her plate clean. God help me if she ever reads my blog!


For my crock pot cooks, you could brown the meat pop all ingredients into the crock pot and let cook on low for 3-4 hours. You can even toss in the potatoes! This would be perfect to make before a baseball or football game! Toss in before you leave and it will be perfect when you get home.

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