NOT Vintage Thingies Thursday

I made up a recipe.

It was actually eatable. Not only was it eatable, it was good. I usually don't like recipes with someone's name in them, but for my very first completely made up recipe, I'm going to put my name on it. I admit I got the general idea from a few different recipes, but what makes it mine is that I had no clue how it would turn out when I was making it because of all the stuff I threw in there. If there's a recipe out there like this one, don't tell me. Or, do tell me so I don't get sued.

Chicken Chimechangas a la Jamie

8-10 10" flour tortillas
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (Depends on how saucy you like your chimechangas. I used 3)
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (I used the Campbell's Health Request kind)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T butter
1 T dried minced onion (I'm sure fresh onion would taste even better. D & I are not onion people so I don't have fresh onion in my house)
1 T chopped jalapeno (I use the jarred kind)
1 T salsa (I used my homemade salsa which is more pureed than, say, Pace, so just eyeball it)
2 T taco sauce (I bet enchilada sauce would be really yummy as a substitute)
1/4 c shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°
Boil & shred chicken. Set aside.
In medium saucepan, melt 1 T butter over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and saute until soft. Add soup and stir well to combine. Add jalapeno, salsa, and taco sauce. Stir to combine and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Add the cooked chicken.
Fill each tortilla with about 1/4 cup of the mixture and roll pretty tightly. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and brush melted butter on top of each tortilla.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

I scorched the roof of my mouth biting into one of these last night, so be careful. They may not look/feel hot, but they are pretty much an oven on the inside. They're so good - very flaky, buttery on the outside. The chicken on the inside was super tender and the sauce was so flavorful (kind of spicy!).

So, D wanted me to share with you all what he got me for our anniversary. He said he didn't want you all to think he was a chump and didn't buy me a card! He gave me the sweetest card - I almost cried. I love when our anniversary or Valentine's Day comes around and I can see what eloquent words he thinks of to describe how he feels about me. It really melts my heart.

Along with the card, he got me my favorite candy in the entire world... See's Bordeaux chocolates. If you don't live in the Northwest you probably have never had See's chocolates. You are missing out. If I ever make any money from this blogging thing (which is unlikely to happen), I will give away some of this chocolate. It's that good. Bordeaux, specifically, are like little pieces of chocolate heaven. The inside is a rich blend of brown sugar and buttercream, and the outside is either milk or dark chocolate, depending on your taste. I'm a dark chocolate girl all the way. The best part, in my opinion, are the chocolate sprinkles on top.


We had a really great time at The Melting Pot. SO much food! It never looks like a lot of food, but D always has to practically roll me out of there when we're finished eating. We had 7pm reservations. Since it was a Tuesday night and we assumed they wouldn't be crowded, we arrived at 6:50. The hostess told us it would be just a few minutes. A couple that walked in after us were seated a little after 7pm. I won't go in to the questions of why a couple who had reservations for 7pm but walked in after D & me were seated before we were seated. But anyway, we finally got a table around 7:10. Turns out they were short-staffed so our waitress was not only our server but she was also the busser. We chose one of the "Big Night Out" meals for two. It comes with a salad, your choice of cheese fondues (all fondues come with "the trimmings), your choice of broth or oil for your main course (we chose broth - the oil is way too heavy!), and then your choice of dessert fondue.

The salads are good - I wouldn't say they're anything special.

For the cheese fondue, you get to choose from a list of about 8 different kinds of cheese fondues. We chose spinach artichoke fondue with Fontina and Butterkase cheeses. It was very, very good. They bring out bread, raw veggies, and green apples to dip in the cheese. D & I weren't big on the apples - they were way too tart and tasted funny with spinach artichoke cheese on them.

Our main course platter had filet mignon, Memphis BBQ pork tenderloin, Key West shrimp, honey dijon chicken, spinach artichoke ravioli, and some fresh veggies and potatoes. It came with salmon, too, but we subbed more filet mignon since D isn't a fan of seafood. I have to tell you the story of D and his favorite dipping sauce. The first time we went to THe Melting Pot and he tried the cocktail sauce, he quite literally fell in love with the slow burn of the horseradish in the sauce. I'm pretty sure the only dipping sauce he uses is the cocktail sauce and maybe some of the cream cheese and chives. He puts the cocktail sauce on everything. Last time we went to the Melting Pot, the cocktail sauce had lost its burn - apparently one can get used to the burn and have it not really effect them anymore. Kinda like a drug addict. This time, the waitress offered to bring D some horseradish on the side so D could add more to the cocktail sauce. Throughout the meal, D got more and more used to the burn. Finally, for one of his last bites, he loaded up the cocktail sauce with more horseradish and literally piled it on to his piece of pork. The following pictures were of this bite...

I love that it looks like the steam is coming from David's head.

For dessert, we ordered "Cookies and Cream Marshmallow Dream" fondue. It's dark chocolate topped with marshmallow cream, flambeed, stirred together, and topped with crushed Oreo cookies. And to dip in the fondue, we had strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, marshmallows, pound cake, Rice Krispie Treats and brownies. But you probably want to see a picture...


I'll leave you with pictures of our trip to the pumpkin patch. Just because it's my blog and I can.
First, this is our pumpkin that we picked out at the patch. I LOVE this pumpkin - it was love at first sight. I laid eyes on it and I said "That's the one!" I feel like we were meant to be together. The second picture is the stuff we picked up at the pumpkin patch this year. The popcorn is kettle corn.

Here's D getting us some roasted corn on the cob. I'm salivating now just thinking about it. They even had Cayenne Pepper to sprinkle on your corn...D was happy about that.

The next picture is D picking up my pumpkin of choice. Oh, he's showing his dirty underbelly. Excuse me. I know it looks like D has on a Michael Jackson-era coat, but that's what D calls his "getting dirty jacket". It's in the trunk of his car at all times (along with blankets and a homemade emergency kit - isn't that cute?) in case he has to get dirty and it happens to be cold outside. The pumpkin patch is usually notoriously muddy, but this year it was great!


That's all I've got.

I wish I could work on headers/banners at work but I can't. All of my fonts and image uploads are on D's computer at home. Sidenote: Don't download Microsoft Vista. It rots your computer. Okay, it doesn't rot your computer, but it makes it slower than molasses which is highly frustrating!

D & I were invited to a couple of Halloween parties this year. At one of them we have to actually dress up. Any ideas?

Have a happy October 16th!