Best Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas with Red Sauce

by Michelle

"Happiness is a kitchen full of family." —Unknown

My nieces frying the corn tortillas and assembling the enchiladas.

   More often than not when my extended family gets together for a meal we prepare Mexican food. Nearly three years ago, we made carnitas for my daughter, Maddie's graduation, along with shredded beef tostados, creamy refried pinto beans, coleslaw, strawberry-infused margaritas, and pineapple-ginger auga fresca. For the past two years we gathered together for festive afternoons of making tamales in early December in early preparation for our Christmas dinner. My sister Linda was known for her Feliz Navidad Fiesta Menu during the holidays, which albondigas soup and cheese enchiladas were key components. It seems as if we can never get enough of a good thing. We all love the spicy food hailing from our neighbors south of the border.

I use a combination of chiles for a more complex flavor. 

   Last month a handful of our larger group were all together again at my house the day before Thanksgiving. The day before turkey day I am energetically baking pies and prepping sides for the feast. If I'm too busy cooking the night before Thanksgiving, which is normally the case, my husband picks up pizzas and a big salad so that I can avoid making dinner. I love the fact that I can be too busy cooking tomorrow's meal to cook tonight's dinner. In my family everyone cooks, and cooks well, so I figured that I would put all that talent to good use and ask everyone to pitch in to help put a homemade dinner on the table instead of bringing-in take-out. Ask and you shall receive.
   My niece, Sonora volunteered to fry the corn tortillas and her sister, Avalon agreed to stuff the enchiladas. In a pre-planning move, I made the enchilada sauce the prior weekend along with a taqueria-style salsa. My sister, Juliette shredded the specialty Menonita cheese (made by Menonites) that she purchased just over the border in Mexico specifically for the enchiladas. Maddie arrived home a little later than expected because traffic was predictably terrible. She was thrilled to have a margarita poured for her shortly after walking in the door, plopping down her bags, and letting out a deep sigh of relief to be safely home for the holiday. No rest for the weary, I promptly tasked Maddie with making the guacamole and the Mexican crème fraîche, which always seems to be her assigned job. I was in charge of making the homemade refried pinto beans that everyone adores. As a group we can forgo the rice but we can't skip the beans. Many hands make light work and within short order we finished prepping the garnishes and made a really delicious dinner together while we chatted, sipped margaritas and laughed. This cherished time together is what memories are made of.

Ready to pop into the oven. 

Best Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas with Red Sauce

Instant Pot® Wild Rice Chicken Stew and Adventures in Moving

by Michelle

   Although I haven't written previously about the Instant Pot®, I have fallen for the time-saving kitchen appliance just like every food blogger on the planet, or so it seems. I must admit though, I was slow to the pressure cooking party. And I would probably still be resisting the appliance if it wasn't for my sister, Linda. My steadfast mantra pre-Instant Pot® was that I didn't need one more appliance in my kitchen. I was wrong.
   Last fall during the small window of time that Linda felt well enough to start cooking again—one of her life-long passions—she volunteered to start making dinner during the work week. Although Linda was experiencing an upswing health-wise, she didn't have a lot of stamina. Linda wanted to cook and be productive but she didn't want to spend an inordinate amount of time getting dinner on the table.
   After reading many favorable reviews about the Instant Pot®, Linda ordered the 7-in-1 6-quart model and began using it on a regular basis. I was able to witness the ease of which she was able to quickly produce pot roasts, soups, beans and chili, poached chicken, shredded meats and even breakfast items such as steel cut oats. Although the Instant Pot® is a multi-use appliance, we have primarily used the pressure cooker function. Because it is an electric pressure cooker, it doesn't need monitoring while the food is cooking so it is as simple as pressing the settings and walking away, freeing up time to pursue other activities.

Ain't moving grand? Happiness is... finishing moving in.

   After two years of living in a college dorm, in August my daughter Maddie and two friends moved into their first apartment that is conveniently located near the university. The bad news for most young people is that an unfurnished apartment requires furniture, kitchen equipment and a stocked pantry, if one wants to cook, which after two years of enduring dorm food is exactly what the ladies wanted to do. Unlike most college kids, Maddie moved in to her first apartment with a fully loaded truck as if she was thirty years old.
   My family, we are the keepers of things. I hesitate to use the word hoarders. We do like to have the right tool for the right job, as our father taught us. Interesting knickknacks decorate every nook and cranny. We appreciate clothes; our closets runneth over. We cook, we bake, we barbecue. We adore thrifting and entertaining. Although let's be honest, we liked entertaining more in years past than we do now. We are artists, which requires a stock of art supplies. We craft together, making things like sugar skulls and paper flowers. As sisters we have passed on our handy ways, our decorating styles, cooking skills and our love of velvet to our children... well, at least to our daughters. To be fair, the sons are handy and like to cook (if they like velvet, they keep it to themselves).
   As we were working outdoors in August to get Maddie packed up, I remarked to my husband that I couldn't believe Maddie had enough "stuff" to fill-up a 15-foot truck from floor to ceiling. Without missing a beat my husband made an antagonistic crack about how I was successfully completing my mission to burden the next generation, that these belongings would act like an anchor tied around Maddie's waist. Noting my sour expression, he quickly turned his mouth from a frown into a smile as if an insincere facial expression would counteract the instant flare-up of ire that I was urgently trying to tamper inside myself before it boiled over into a rancorous retort. Our inside joke is that you can pretty much say anything to anyone as long as you have a smile on your face. A delayed smile is a smile given too late. Mount St. Michelle was on the verge of erupting.

My house has been a jumble of home furnishings for the better part of six months as we sorted
and distributed Linda's personal belongings and household goods across our family.  

   The conversation could have quickly escalated in to a full blown argument, but it didn't. Largely because I did not take the bait. My numerous years of circling the sun on this planet have taught me many valuable lessons, such as... moving sucks! On top of the moving drudgery, we were both feeling the wearing effects of the intense heat and humidity of a scorching summer day in the Sonoran desert. The afternoon high would reach a steamy 103 degrees. Crabbiness will naturally escalate in triple digit heat. It was simply too hot to put our withering energy into an argument, especially while in our front yard in earshot of our daughter and neighbors. We're not that kind of couple... yet.
   Although I didn't appreciate my husband's snarky comment, I couldn't necessarily in good conscience disagree with him either (much as I wanted to). I love the saying, "Keep it light enough to travel." Yet I've never managed to take the advice for myself, even when I've attempted to put it into action. My personal failure doesn't stop me from making the recommendation to others because it is still good advice. Much to her dad's chagrin, Maddie seems to be highly satisfied with her collection of possessions, a mix of new purchases as well as familial hand-me-downs and inherited items from Linda, including furniture, housewares, decorative items, kitchen equipment, and that magician of an appliance, the Instant Pot®.

Keep calm, it's moving day. 

   I have mentally taken note over the past few months that Maddie uses the Instant Pot® frequently. After cooking on a gas stove all these many years at my house, Maddie is totally bummed over having an electric stove. The apartment's stove does seem pretty lame. So much so that when I called Maddie the other night she was using the Instant Pot®'s sauté function to fry Boneless and Breaded Chicken Breasts instead of using a skillet on the stove. She said that not only does the stove take a long time to heat up, but it also doesn't get very hot. I recommended that she submit a maintenance ticket, which is, after all, the beauty of renting.
   After eating chicken upon chicken in myriads of ways for weeks on end on her limited budget, Maddie was more than ready to cook something different, so I recommended Nom Nom Paleo's Instant Pot Kalua Pig. Maddie was thrilled to cook up a big batch of the porky goodness and marveled at how easy it was to prepare (and inexpensive). While the pork was cooking unattended, Maddie did never-ending homework.
   Maddie froze leftover portions of the shredded pork in several ziplock packages for future meals. A packet can be quickly defrosted in the refrigerator overnight, or popped in cold water to defrost in about an hour, or slipped directly from the freezer into marina sauce to reheat slowly for a rustic ragu to ladle over cooked pasta. One base recipe of Kalua Pig can be taken in multiple directions, including  Mexican, Italian, Hawaiian and Southern barbecue.
   I have used the Instant Pot® so much over the past year that I decided to upgrade to the larger model, the 7-in-1 8-quart/1200W.  I'm glad I did. The extra capacity of two quarts makes it easier to cook larger cuts of meat, especially a whole chicken. Maddie and I love our Instant Pot®'s so much that they have earned permanent homes on the limited real estate of our kitchen counters.

Instant Pot® Wild Rice Chicken Stew

San Francisco's Amazing Legion of Honor and the High Style Exhibit — Mark's Best Ever Paella

My Traveling Tales by Linda

"Have pity, mean girl. I can't go on. I can't go another day without seeing you. Atrocious madness, it's the end, I won't be able to work anymore. Malevolent goddess, and yet I love you furiously." 
                                                                       —Auguste Rodin writing to his lover Camille Claudel

Maddie's first look at The Thinker by Auguste Rodin in the courtyard of the Legion of Honor. 

   Directly after an amazing Dim Sum experience at Ton Kiang that I wrote about last week, we hopped in my car and drove a few short blocks to the Legion of Honor which is part of the fine arts museums of San Francisco. It took us all of about four minutes to get there and find a parking space. We had discovered online that there was a special exhibit showing called High Style, and it was entering its last weekend before folding and moving on.

   Always excited by the prospect of enjoying an afternoon at the museum, Michelle and I were pleased by the chance to have Maddie experience the cultural wonders housed within. She had not visited since she was a baby, and was spoon-fed lunch on the lawn many years ago. If the weather is mild this is the perfect picnic spot.

 

    The Thinker, arguably the most famous of the sculptures of Auguste Rodin, graces the entrance to this majestic courtyard and building. A large collection of Rodin's work is present among the permanent collection of this world-class museum along with 4,000 years of ancient and European art that is housed in a stunning Beaux Art palace. It was formerly called the Palace of the Legion of Honor, and I still prefer that title for this jaw-dropping building that is situated on a knoll that provides views of the Pacific Ocean and Golden Gate Bridge.

 
On this Friday in July, the exhibit High Style was just finishing its run at the Legion, and we were certainly game to join in with the other visitors that day in gawking and ooghing and aahing at the haute couture creations on display. Most of the dresses and gowns had been worn by famous models and actresses, and any lover of great design or anyone who has ever handmade a dress could marvel over these creations that all represented a couture house or a famous designer.

   The permanent collection of the museum is full of gorgeous gems. From classic sculpture and Greek urns, there is also a wide variety of European paintings and French decorative arts that grace beautiful galleries. All of this amazing art is housed in this magnificent building and on the grounds.

Maddie still retained some spark for further exploration at the end of the afternoon...

Michelle, however, had overdosed on beauty.

   Legion of Honor is a treasure that I am happy to have close access to. It is truly a wonder that one should not miss when in San Francisco. As part of the birthday festivities, Mark made his famous paella, which we dined on that night. It was just about as perfect as a day can be.