the Holiday's are here

It's hard to believe it's Christmas eve eve. Silly, I know, but when I was little I would get so excited and say "Tonight is Christmas eve, eve!" As an adult, Christmas is still my favorite Holiday. Lately I've been trying to focus on enjoying the Holiday season as much as possible while getting things done, without getting too stressed out. I've always wondered why Christmas has become so stressful and this year I've realized why. Most everyone has high expectations of the holiday that only comes once a year. With those high expectations comes the need to make things perfect "it's only once a year!" I've tried to keep the stress to a minimum this year by sticking to my year long slogan 'keep it simple' you can add an extra S, to make: 'keep it simple stupid' but I prefer to not verbally bash myself.

I probably won't have time for another post until after Christmas. I still have another 5 batches of cookies to bake. I've already baked 5, and a batch of cupcakes (with a couple ice cream cone cupcakes in there, per Owen's request!)

Until then, everyone have a wonderful Christmas!!!

Buffalo Chicken Enchilladas with Creamy Ranch Sauce

This is a favorite of Brian's. I think I made this for the first time about 5 years ago, and it's been a favorite ever since!

prep time: 25 minutes
(ready in 1 hour 10 minutes)
Servings: 6
(2 enchilladas each)

Ingredients:
1 can (10 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup purchased sour cream ranch dip (I used ranch dip w/ a spoonful of sour cream)
2/3 cup chopped green onions (about 10 medium)
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
3/4 cup purchased buffalo wing sauce
1 package (10.5 oz) flour tortillas for soft tacos and fajitas (twelve 6 inch tortillas)
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (12 oz)
~ ~ I also used a bit of cayenne pepper, some chili powder, and garlic powder because we like a little bit of a kick.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13x9 inch (3quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In medium bowl mix soup, dip and 1/3 cup of the onions. In large bowl mix chicken and buffalo wing sauce until coated.

2. Spoon 2 tablespoons soup mixture down center of each tortilla; set remaining mixture aside. Reserve 1/2 cup cheese for garnish. Top each tortilla with about 1/4 cup chicken mixture and scant 1/4 cup cheese. Fold sides of tortillas over filing; place seam side down in baking dish. Spoon remaining soup mixture over filled tortillas. Cover tightly with foil.

3. Bake 40-45 minutes or until hot and bubbly

4. Remove from oven. Uncover; sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup cheese and remaining 1/3 cup onions. Return to oven; bake uncovered about 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!! We're having leftovers from last nights dinner, for lunch today!!

every which way

Last month Brian, Owen and I made a trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana. A 'no strings attached' trip provided by Brian's company. It's pretty overwhelming because even though we loved so much about the area, there are still things we have here that we won't be able to have there. You have to give up some things, to get others, and that's what we're having a hard time with. We haven't made any definite plans or decisions. We have pretty much made plans for if we stay here, and plans for if we go there. We have definitely grown out of our house here in NY, so if we stayed, we would build a house. If we moved to Indiana we would most likely build there too. We did see a bunch of houses we really liked while we were there that make it tempting to not have to deal with the stress of building a house. There was a 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath, 3,140 square foot house that I'm in love with.... with a heated pool in the backyard and full sunlight basement (which is on our list of musts) and it's only about 10 minutes from where Brian would work in Fort Wayne.

Other than that, we've just been enjoying how Owen hasn't had any nasty school illnesses lately (because he only went to 1 day of school in November- because he was sick for a little over a week, we were in Indiana for a week, and he had a week off for Thanksgiving) He went to school today though, so keep your fingers crossed that he didn't pink anything gross up today!

I have all of my Christmas presents wrapped but unfortunately that isn't as good as it sounds because I'm not done shopping. Yuck. I will be doing 99.9% of my Christmas shopping online to take advantage of no lines, shop when I want, and free shipping if I can.

All of you stay warm and have a cup of hot chocolate and stir with a candy cane!!! This is my favorite time of the year, for sure! =)