Thanksgiving: The Holiday Where I Eat Too Much for Two Months Straight.

Since I'm sure everyone is over and done with the whole "I'm thankful for blah-blah-blah" posts, I'll spare you the thankfulness act. Instead, I'll just overload you with a photo dump from the holiday weekend.

We spent Thanksgiving day with Eric's family. His parents recently bought a new house and this was my first time seeing it. I loved it. I also loved the new furniture. And I especially loved the endless supply of holiday food. In fact, when we first arrived I put away nearly a whole dish of French onion dip/ Fritos all by myself. The pilgrims would have been proud.

Pearl and her cousin working on an archeological dig project that we bought at the Gem and Mineral Show.

Eric's parents, who graciously hosted the delicious meal.

Eric's sister and brother-in-law, Vicki and Tate.

The table setting I fell in love with.

Still in love with it.

Eric and his brother Todd.

Pearl and her cousin modeling holiday attire 2012.

Nephew Mark playing the guitar.

Eric and I doing our best "teenager" impression.

Two days after Thanksgiving, we hosted our own get-together for my family at our house. Since everyone was all turkey'd out, we switched up the menu and went with Mexican. Eric and I slaved away over enchiladas, Mom made Mexican rice, and my sister Tanya made the refried beans. My brother Chris brought beer and margaritas. I'm not exaggerating when I say EVERY item on the menu was mouthwatering. Eric and I even ate it again the next night as leftovers and it was even better the second time around.

The kids acting like they have deep thoughts.

Sister-in-law Joy chatting with the girls.

Sister Tanya and niece Annalise.

Mom, probably telling the story about how she swears the movie Losing Isaiah is a real story that she heard about on the news.

Nephew M, his flared nostrils, and Biscuit.

The enchiladas from Heaven.

The enchiladas from Heaven (continued).

The younger kids played Tennis on the original Nintendo, while the older ones played Halo.

All of the kids made their own sundaes for dessert.

My sister, the Unoriginal Thinker. We all acknowledged that this was the best picture taken of her the whole night, so I agreed to actually making it available to her.

Pearl and her new BFF. At one point, I actually saw Pearl run up behind Annalise and casually put her arm around her. You know, like on an awkward date.

Nephew L lounging around while watching TV.

My brother Chris. In our family, it's not a party unless at least one person ends up like this.

That's it for my Thanksgiving round-up. Both celebrations were a success and lots of fun. How did it compare to yours? Pretty standard, I'm guessing. Except fort he enchiladas. Unless you're Mexican. In which case, it was still pretty standard.

Boner'ppetite!

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Recipe: Best Enchiladas Suizas.

Growing up in southern California, I've had my fair share of enchiladas. My mouth had come to know and love the sight of that rolled up corn tortilla, stuffed with cheese and onion, and drenched in red sauce. Sure, the raw onions gave me heartburn, but that's the price you pay for good food, right?

It wasn't until I was in high school when I first saw a green chile enchilada. I was at my friend Melody's house and her mom asked if I wanted some enchiladas. She pulled out a baking dish that was stacked high with casserole-style enchiladas. IN GREEN SAUCE. 

This was not something I was prepared for.

Not wanting to be rude- and also because I was hungry- I said I would like some.

Long story short: They were delicious.

And completely different from what I'd always known as "enchiladas."


Flash forward many years. I was at lunch with a couple of girlfriends. My friend Chrystal ordered something called Enchiladas Suizas. She was raving about how good they are and how she always orders them at that particular restaurant.

When the plate arrived, it was like Melody's mom's enchiladas all over again. 

Green sauce.

Again, delicious.


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This past Friday, while sitting at the computer, I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner. I knew I wanted to use chicken breasts, but wasn't sure what to do with them. I spent some time Googling recipes and looking at Pinterest images. Nothing was catching my eye.

Then I thought about those green enchiladas.

After some researching, I settled on two recipes that I wanted to combine for one super ultimo enchilada.

Here are the recipes I used:

Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Sauce
Enchiladas Suizas

And here's what I came up with...


TILTE'S BEST ENCHILADAS SUIZAS EVER 

INGREDIENTS
2 skinless chicken breasts
Olive oil
Pepper
Garlic salt
5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
12 corn tortillas
24 oz. green chile enchilada sauce
1/2 cup (or a little more) heavy cream
6 oz. grated Monterey Jack cheese
Crumbled Cotija cheese, to taste
Vegetable or canola oil for frying
9x9 baking dish

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 400 Fahrenheit (204 Celsius).

2. Place chicken into a baking dish and baste with olive oil. Sprinkle with pepper and garlic salt to taste. Add garlic cloves to the dish and bake until chicken juices run clear, approximately 20-30 minutes (depending on the oven). When the chicken is done, set aside to cool.

3. In a large bowl, combine heavy cream and enchilada sauce. We used Frontera Green Chile Enchilada Sauce with Roasted Tomatillo and Garlic. I'm sure any green chile sauce would work just fine, but if you can find the Frontera stuff, I'd strongly suggest using it. I found this one at my local grocer (Vons) in the "Mexican food" aisle.

4. Once the chicken has cooled, shred to your preferred consistency. I like mine pulverized. 

5. Use a large knife to flatten garlic cloves, squeezing the insides out. Discard peels.

6. In a medium sized bowl, combine shredded chicken, baked garlic, and 1/3 of the enchilada sauce. This will be your enchilada stuffing. Set aside.

7. In a small frying pan, heat oil. There should be enough oil to fully submerge a tortilla. One tortilla at a time, flash fry for about 5-10 seconds. You want them to be in long enough to become soft and pliable. If it starts to get crispy, toss and start over. As each one is complete, set aside on a paper towel.

Important: Make sure the oil is fully heated before you start frying- if it's not, your tortilla will just soak it up and turn into a grease pit.

8. Once the tortilla has cooled enough to handle, dredge in enchilada sauce and place on a "working station". This area will get messy. Add a small amount, roughly 2 tablespoons, of chicken mixture to the sauced tortilla. Top with a light sprinkling of Monterey Jack cheese.  Roll up tightly and place, seam down, onto your baking dish. 

When the first layer of enchiladas is done, top with half of the remaining enchilada sauce, Monterey Jack, and Cotija. 

Repeat steps 7 and 8 until done. Top with remainder sauce and cheese.

9. Bake at 350 Fahrenheit (177 Celsius) until heated through and cheese is melted, roughly 30 minutes. Makes 12 enchiladas.

Dinner is served!

Since we were eager and starving, we didn't do any fancy plating. But if you're looking to razzle dazzle your guests, combine sour cream with a little water and whisk. This thins it out, similar to Salsa Crema. Drizzle over each serving and top with a handful of chopped tomato.


I'd LOVE if you tried this recipe yourself and let me know what you think! Please feel free to post in the comments or email me at TILTE at live dot com.

Boner'ppetite!

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