Ingredients
2 lbs of chicken, cooked
Chili Powder to taste (probably a couple of teaspoons)
Garlic salt to taste (2ish teaspoons?)
7-8 burrito sized tortillas
2 sweet onions
2 cans of Rotel (one original, and one mild)
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
8 oz. Velveeta
Directions
- Sprinkle chicken with chili powder and garlic salt. Bake (or pan cook) until cooked through.
- Dice onion, and mix in a large bowl with the can of Original Rotel.
- When chicken is cooked, cut into chunks and add to the onion/Rotel mixture. Add Cream of Chicken and stir until mixture is consistent. Add additional chili powder/garlic salt to taste
- Fill tortillas and place in a greased 9 x 13 pan, with the seam down.
- In a medium sized sauce pan, combine Velveeta and can of Mild Rotel and heat until melted. Pour over the wrapped tortillas and cover with foil. Back on 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until all is heated through.
- Can garnish with sour cream and chives if you have it on hand.
So, some changes I would make next time. The chicken itself turned out awesome. I would probably cut down on the amount of onion to either 1 or 1 1/2, and maybe saute it with a little chili powder/garlic salt while the chicken is cooking. It was a little spicy for me (Brean thought it was just right) so I may either cut down on the amount of Original Rotel, or substitute it for a can of Mild. I thought I had shredded cheddar cheese on hand, which I discovered midway through this process that I did not...so I think that would be an excellent addition wrapped in the tortillas next time. Plus, maybe adding some more Queso - I like things cheeeeeeeeesy! :p
Well, another Valentine's Day has come and gone. You'd think after 8 Valentine's together, Brean and I would have this thing figured out. Nope. Another cliched girl makes nice candle lit dinner, boy doesn't do anything, girl gets upset, boy gets upset, argument ensues, argument gets resolved, Valentine's day ends on a much less romantic note. Brean says that he hates Valentine's day because there is too much expectation. This is probably true, at least on my part. I don't know about the rest of the female race, but despite my best efforts to NOT expect presents, or a card, or SOMETHING on a holiday in which everywhere is telling you that you SHOULD get one, I fail miserably. So here are some thoughts on Valentine's Day, in no particular order.
1) Valentine's is a made up card holiday. Definitely not going to argue with that. However, I think the premise behind the day is important. You SHOULD have a day at least once a year that is specifically devoted to romancing your spouse, to making them feel special, to proving to them that yes, even after all these years, they are still the one for you. And to those who say that they are not going to celebrate it because it's a made up holiday and that they can treat their spouse special whenever they want, I challenge them to actually DO it! It doesn't have to be on Valentine's day! Make up your own day! But set aside time specifically to connect in a romantic sort of way.
2) Valentine's day should not be a day to make your spouse feel inadequate for not living up to all the hype. And I fail at that pretty consistently. Can I just put a plug in here that having "gifts" as your highest love language sucks most of the time? I was so excited to make a romantic dinner at home, and I kept telling myself "it doesn't matter if he doesn't bring you anything, because you are doing this because you love him". But it did kinda matter... I read a blog a couple of weeks ago about women tend to stuff their emotions into a nice little box that we just have to "deal with because we're women, and we're emotional, and we shouldn't be". I love the way the author unpacks "emotions" and lays it all out. I highly encourage you to read it if you've ever felt like your emotions are getting the best of you and "why don't they just GO AWAY?!"
But I digress - intrinsically, part of me needs gifts to have the feeling of being loved. That does not mean that the person didn't love me before, or that my head didn't know that they loved me. Sometime it just takes that small gift, that thing I can hold in my hand, to make the feeling of being loved arrive. So often I sit there and try to reason through all of the reasons that I shouldn't expect a present, or that I don't need one to feel loved. I try to fit all of that hope, and longing, and feelings of unlovedness into a box that I can squash with a big hammer, because I tell myself I'm just being "greedy", or "selfish", or "demanding".. But they never fit in a box. Those emotions escape, threading tendrils through my attitude, my actions, and my feelings. And since I'm pretty bad about keeping my emotions hidden, it erupts into something that has to be dealt with.
Gifts are hard for Brean, partly because they are his LOWEST love language. Often times, they don't even come up on his radar! So, for the other gifties (such as me), be patient with your spouse. It's not because they don't love you (despite the fact that it often feels that way), it really just may not occur to them. And for the non-gifties out there, be patient with us. Haha, I think patience and grace should be the theme of any relationship!
My goal at this point is to be more honest with my emotions, both to Brean and to myself. The plan is that this will lead to more open dialogue, and more compromise to get a solution that works for both of us. A solution we've come up with so far is that Brean is going to shift the budget a smidge and have a category designated for buying each other presents. This way, he has the freedom to get me a gift, without worrying about financial constraints. I have much hope, not that this is going to be a miraculous fix to all future problems, but at least that it's a stepping stone to a better us.
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