Venison Enchilada Casserole

My opinion of cooking is that a recipe is simply a guideline.. Do what you think works and you might discover THE DISH!
So I decided to make an Enchilada Casserole the other night and it turned out so pretty I had to take a picture. Steve thought this was just goofy and he thought it was funny to pretend to tear into it as I walked down the hall with my camera in hand. He is such a teaser! So anyway, once we tasted it I decided I would post the recipe because I totally did my own thing and it turned out very nicely. You might like it too so here you go.. my Venison Enchilada Casserole.

• 2 lbs of ground venison (if you prefer hamburger - drain the fat)
• 1 package of Corn Tortillas
• 2 large cans of Enchilada sauce, red - brand and hotness of our choice
• 1 med onion
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 or 3 Tsp of Fiesta Brand taco seasoning
• 3 shakes of liquid smoke
• 1 -2 cup bag of mexican shredded cheese
• 1 -2 cup bag of shredded mild cheddar

Finely chop the onion.. saute with minced garlic in a bit of olive oil until onions are clear. Add ground venison and brown. Once meat begins to brown add taco seasoning and 3 shakes of liquid smoke (don't over do the liquid smoke) Finish cooking meat and remove from heat. Use non-stick spray on a 13 x 9 inch glass casserole pan. Poor enough enchilada sauce into the bottom of pan just to cover. Break corn tortilla's in half so that they fit better into pan and lay on top of sauce. Sprinkle lightly with both cheeses - add a thin layer of meat - repeat cheese - top with tortilla halves to create a layer. Top with enough enchilada sauce to cover -not float - the layer. Repeat until ingredients are used. Top dish with remaining shredded cheeses (should hold back 1/2 cup of each cheese at least. Place in oven preheated to 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and bubbly. SPECIAL NOTE: I usually cut and deep fry remaining tortilla's while my casserole is cooking and serve them with the enchiladas. You can also toss them in sugar, cinnamon and cocoa powder for something sweet after the meal. If you try it.. I would LOVE to hear your comments on this recipe.

Tree Balls!

Apparently I have not had much to say in the last few months because it has been a long break from posting here. Well the fact is I have just been busy busy and now with the holidays approaching busy is the mainstay.

So anyway, Christmas is in 9 days and I am busy baking bread and cakes, wrapping gifts, last minute shopping and Christmas parties, planning a menu for the big day and feeling pretty overwhelmed. Stress like this always puts me in the straighten the house, rearrange and decorate mode. I constantly fidget with how things are arranged and this really irks Steve especially when I ask him to jump up in the middle of a show and move a bookshelf across the room to see how it will look. I simply cannot stop myself!

Now, Last year, Tylea thought it was fun to move tree balls around on the tree every time she walked by it. So in the middle of my holiday frenzy I notice a huge clump of red balls on one side of the tree and a huge clump of gold ones on the other side. I holler, "TYLEA!" and she comes running and I hold my hand up to the tree and say, "WHAT IS THIS!" (carefully putting enunciation on each syllable as my mother taught me to do so well) She looks over her work and looks at me and shrugs her shoulders.. "I made a pattern, see... Red over here and gold over there." I get a bit twerked by this because it has not been an hour since I told her to stop fooling with the balls on the tree. So sticking to the learning of my parents I pipe up with the most parentful phrase I can muster.. "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO QUIT MESSING WITH THE TREE BALLS!" She gets a thoughtful look on her face and says to me. "Maybe Four or Five." I think my mouth fell open at this point but I gathered myself together, working hard to stifle the giggle behind my lips and with all the gumption I could muster and with hands on my hips, I leaned over and said quietly "Go Clean your Room." Then I put all the balls back in their proper places.

Christmas is a great time of year but me, being me I tend to get caught up in the seriousness of what I am doing and how things are going. Sometimes it takes something as innocently funny as this to make me stop and just savor the lighter moments a bit more and not be so serious all the time. Enjoy your kids now while they are young and naive and don't forget to tell them you love them! By the way.. after this incident I bought Tylea her own table top Christmas tree (pink of course) with plastic balls that she can rearrange till her heart is content! She quit messing with the big tree.. WOOT!

We went last week to Arkansas and stayed at a cabin on Lake Ouchita near Mount Ida. Steve's sister lives in Arkansas and made most of the arrangements for us.. Thank you Mischel! The weather could not have been better and every day was filled with walks, hiking, rock hunting and lounging about. Tylea had a great time finding crystals which where laying everywhere we looked. Kids have such energy.. she would come home after an
all morning hike in the mountains, get a drink and head back out to look for rocks.
One afternoon some of us girls stole off and went into Hot Springs to get pampered at a bath house. Hot mineral bath, towel wraps, steam sauna, a shower and then a full body massage. You just cannot beat that!

One day Steve and I took his folks into Hot Springs to be tourists. We made a trip up to the mountain tower in Hot Springs which provides an excellent view of the town and surrounding countryside. Plus there is a small historical museum at the top floor where you can learn facts about the history and people of Hot Springs. Later we took a tour of the Forsythe Bath house which was famous in its' day but now only used for touring. It was fascinating to see how the folks pampered themselves back in the 1920's and earlier even. I found the stained glass in the roof particularly beautiful.
The spring that fed the fForsythe baths was still running under the hotel and there was a windowed area so that you could see how if flowed beneath. The architecture of the building was breathtaking and intricate.
We did a bit of shopping and lots of eating.




The whole time we where away it was bothersome to Tylea that we had left Texas.. After all it was her first trip out-of-state and she would say "Mom, I just miss Texas." So when we got back we made a point to stop and take a picture just for Tylea right in front of the Texas monument on the Texas side of Texarkana.

We are glad to be home but blessed to have had such a safe and refreshing trip!

RODEO

We were invited Saturday to go to the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo by some good friends. The day was full of firsts for me.... My first time to Reliant Center, my first Rodeo (no laughing please) and my first concert.
I have actually been to a rodeo before but it was because I was working a booth. I heard some "yehaws" and pounding hooves but that is as close as I got. I saw Amy Grant in concert in the 80's at Six Flags but only a passing glance as I headed for the next ride. So needless to say it was quite an exciting day for me and From the grand entry fireworks to the after concert fireworks I was captured!
Our seats on the east end allowed us to see bulls coming right out of the shoots. I think bull-riding is fun to watch and I like to see it on TV when its airing. Number 326 was a seriously ornery critter and was NOT going to be herded out of the ring after the violent removal of his rider.
(I do not understand why they call it "riding" a bull.. isn't it more like tying yourself to a 1500lb pissed off, poop slathered, drooling, eye-rolling, head-tossing behemoth that turns into a freight train after you hit the dirt and is determined that you are on the track!?!) Riding.... now that IS amusing.

Anyway this boy was a dappled humped back colossus with a wiggly horn that bobbled with every move. He was snorting, eye-rolling and putting on the show and was dubbed the highest kicking bull of the night. He ditched his rider and took one look at the gate before high-tailing it for the other side.








There was all of the regular activities of attending a rodeo, bareback and saddle bronc riding, calf-roping, steer wrestling and barrel racing.. even the enormously entertaining sport of chuck wagon races.

Then there was the concert.. Martina McBride was performing on the night we attended. Now I am not a regular country music listener and honestly could not name a single song I knew that she sang. Once I heard her sing then I recognized a few. Let me tell you - that little lady can belt out the notes!! She put on a grand show and did not hold back a bit. Now I am humming country tunes as my MP3 player rolls its' eyes!

Its the First!

It is the first day of a new month - already! Time flies so quickly in life. I cannot believe that my baby will be 6 years old this month. She is beside herself having to WAIT for her birthday party.

So many things have transpired over the month of January. I have been struggling with 2 herniated disks and resulting pain and Boogie has injured himself as well. So we have both been taking pain meds and being miserable. Its hard to watch a pet suffer.. he lays there holding his leg up and looks at me with those pleading eyes.. and I can't do a darn thing for him except keep feeding him his pills. Its miserable really. We don't know how Boogie injured himself, he just came up lame. And his pain has the doctors stumped as to what exactly his injury is. Which of course means vet bills.

On the other spectrum.. Buddy our big dog jumped a fence and caught his leg on it. He hung upside down screaming so loud that all dogs in range where howling, our neighbors pigs where squealing and neighbors where coming out of their houses. Meanwhile we are trying to figure out how to get our screaming, biting and thrashing dog off the fence. DRAMA!
So finally we just fling him off to avoid further injury to him and less of a chance of our getting bit by a desperate dog. He hit the ground, rolled and popped up... limped a bit, shook it off and ran up to apologize for trying to bite us. He had a large hole in his leg where he snagged himself. All sorts of images roam through your head at moments like this.. surgery, amputation, how bad is it ??? After a conversation with the vet, he determined we could treat Buddy at home. I gave him a shot of Penicillin and we treated the hole with yellow wound medicine. He is fine.. barely limped more than a day.

Good stuff has happened as well! Tylea has been nominated by her teachers to be put into the Gifted and Talented program at her school.. She is one of 3 children in Kindergarten to get this honor. As you can imagine.. we are very please and most proud. I only hope she thinks its fun when her learning becomes challenging. Its all been so easy for her until now and if she can't make the best grade or be first to do it.. then she gets defeated. BUT on the other hand.. she will get bored if she stays where she is now. Something to pray about and see how it goes.

I wish life would slow down a bit but I also can't wait to see what will happen next!