Whatever your heart desires, we wish it for you today.

Happy Mother’s Day!

~BigSis

If you still haven’t decided what you’ll be making for your Cinco de Mayo dinner tonight, here’s a super simple Chicken Enchilada Casserole recipe that I make quite often for my hungry guys. And, if you happen to be hosting a party, I promise you that this one is always a crowd-pleaser.

Super Simple Chicken Enchilada Casserole

4 chicken breasts (boiled and shredded)
1 lb. grated cheese (I use a 3 cheese blend)
8 oz. sour cream
1 bottle enchilada sauce
1 pkg. corn tortillas, cut in half

Put a few spoonfuls of the sauce on the bottom of a casserole pan. Line the pan with tortillas. Mix together the sour cream, chicken, and almost all of the sauce. (Save a little sauce for later.)

Layer half of the chicken sauce mixture, then cheese, then tortillas. Finish with the last half of chicken sauce mixture, cheese, and tortillas. Drizzle the remaining enchilada sauce on the tortillas and top with more cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until cheese melts.

This is one of those recipes that you can very easily adapt to your liking. I’ve added green chilies to the chicken mixture a few times and I usually put sliced black olives on the top with the cheese. You could also add chopped bell pepper, onion, or any favorite veggie to this casserole.

I got the original recipe for this casserole from Trader Joe’s years ago and it called for their canned chunk white chicken instead of the boiled chicken. So, if you don’t have the time to boil the chicken, you can use a good quality canned white chicken and it still turns out very good. I made it that way originally but my guys wanted more chicken so if I have the time, I prefer to boil and shred chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins.

Even if you don’t make it for Cinco de Mayo, this is a great everyday “go-to” chicken casserole that you can put together and have on the table in no time at all!  Serve with some chips and salsa or guacamole and a salad and you’ve got dinner!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! 

~LilSis

Do you remember Mexican Wedding Cookies? When we were kids we also used to call them Snowballs or Almond Crescents. They were essentially the same recipe: flour, butter, powdered sugar and chopped pecans. We rolled them into small balls or crescent shapes, baked them, and then rolled them around in more powdered sugar.

I’ve always loved these cookies. They’re tender, crumbly, gently nutty, and powdery sugary, but just barely sweet and perfectly bite-size!

When I was thinking about baking something sweet for Cinco de Mayo, I thought of Mexican Wedding Cookies. With a twist. How about a touch of chocolate? And cinnamon. And almonds. And vegan, of course. Done.

Chocolate Mexican Wedding Cookies (Vegan)

adapted from Williams-Sonoma

2 sticks Earth Balance, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar (divided usage)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups less 1 tblsp all-purpose flour
2 tblsp cocoa (divided usage)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup ground blanched almonds

~BigSis

We talk all the time about our love of Mexican food, and we don’t need ANY excuse to indulge. This weekend is Cinco de Mayo though, and I’m inspired to get in the cocina and rattle some pots and pans instead of just heading to the nearest tacqueria and trying to find something without meat, lard or cheese.

One of my favorite everyday go-to quick meals is Super Speedy Mexican Stew. It’s essentially just canned tomatoes, corn, kidney beans and green beans with any spices that strike me. It’s not fancy and I can’t really even call it cooking; it’s just decent food on the table and in my tummy in literally 15 minutes on a weeknight.

My new go-to Mexican veggie stew when I have a touch more time is Terry Hope Romero’s Quick Red Chile Posole from Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers.  This is the first recipe I’ve tried from Terry’s book, but it won’t be the last.

It takes my simple little dish and turbo-charges it with flavor. It has a tomato base and includes a can of pinto beans and a can of white hominy. I just learned that the hominy is what makes it “posole”.

There’s magic though in the combination of onion, garlic, poblano pepper, chile powder, mexican oregano, cumin and lime. I followed the recipe precisely, and was really amazed at how tasty this little stew was after just 25 minutes of simmering.  It’s warm, spicy, creamy, chunky and bright…all at the same time.

Traditionally, you would top the posole with a variety of garnishes: onion, cabbage, tomato, radishes, cilantro, or tortilla chips. I initially thought I would add a pinch of Daiya pepperjack shreds, a dollop of vegan sour cream and some avocado.

After just one bite of the posole I decided that it needed nothing…except to be devoured. Quickly. So I could refill my bowl, and repeat.

I’ll definitely add this dish to my rotation and hope you’ll give it a try for Cinco de Mayo or any old time!

~BigSis

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times, we sisters LOVE our Mexican food! Whether I’m visiting in Dallas or BigSis is here in San Diego, we always treat ourselves to Mexican food at least once every day! (It’s impossible for us to ever get enough chips, salsa, guacamole and nachos.)

As most of us know, this Saturday is Cinco de Mayo, the official Mexican food eating holiday.  We thought this would be a great time to share with you some of our favorite recipes that are perfect for a Cinco de Mayo party or if you’re just cooking for family or friends.

Shrimp with Garlic and Chili Pepper

Roasted Garlic Dressing with Green Chili

Ceviche Salad with Avocado, Cilantro, and Green Chili

Hatch Green Chili and Garlic Goat Cheese

Classic Tortilla Soup

Super Speedy Mexican Vegetable Stew

Spinach Mushroom Enchilada

And we can’t forget about a little something for dessert!

Mexican Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats

We’re both busy in our cocinas trying to whip up a couple of new dishes; so if all goes according to plan, we’ll be back in a day or two with a few more ideas for your Cinco de Mayo menu.

~LilSis

~ If all you can do is crawl, start crawling. – Rumi

~ There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth… not going all the way, and not starting. - Buddha

~ Dare to believe that something inside you is greater than your circumstances. – unknown

~ Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. – George Bernard Shaw

~ The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor touched but are felt in the heart. – Helen Keller.

Photo credit: intent.com

~LilSis

There’s a good reason why BigSis and I were missing in action for over a week.

IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY WEEK!

Last Saturday, I had an wonderful lunch with my girlfriends at one of my favorite spots by the beach; then when we returned home from lunch, I was surprised with an amazing birthday party!

I couldn’t believe it when I realized that my sister was here in California for my party.   BigSis left on Saturday after a week of much needed ‘sister time’ and lots and lots of yummy Mexican food! (We went to a different spot every day.)

For many reasons, the symbolic butterfly has a very special meaning to me on this birthday. I’ve had a super fun birthday week full of wonderful family, the best of friends and many butterfly surprises.

(We’re both returning to work tomorrow; but I hope to share a few photos at some point this week.)

~LilSis

Do you have friggatriskaidekaphobia? I don’t.

Have you ever heard of friggatriskaidekaphobia?

I hadn’t; until today.

Sounds nasty, doesn’t it?

Friggatriskaidekaphobia is the actual fear of Friday the 13th. Or, maybe you just have triskaidekaphobia, which is the fear of the number 13. Nope? Me neither, but I do think it’s interesting that such a phobia exists.

It’s been reported that many notable figures suffered from triskaidekaphobia. Winston Churchill, J. Paul Getty, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt all experienced the irrational fear of 13.

Supposedly, Napoleon and Christopher Columbus also suffered from the phobia.

This is already the second Friday the 13th that we’ve had in 2012 and we’re going to have one more in just 13 weeks.  I just realized that anytime a month begins on a Sunday, there will be a Friday the 13th in that month. So, July 13th will be the last Friday the 13th for 2012.

Well, that’s the trivia for the day. I choose to consider Friday the 13th a lucky day instead of an unlucky one. I don’t need to encourage bad luck; I’ve had my fair share of that lately.

I hope you have a very happy and lucky Friday the 13th!

~LilSis

I had so much fun with my Natural Dye Colored Easter Egg project  last Easter so I decided to try something different again this year.

Before I started these, I watched an instructional video on Martha Stewart and I also browsed online a little bit just checking out some other tutorials on how to make these Silk Dyed Easter Eggs.

I loved the gorgeous eggs from Our Best Bites so I suggest checking out their site for step by step instructions.  Each and every one of their eggs are beautiful! I didn’t have as colorful silk as they used but I’m still pretty happy with my results.

I didn’t take the time to photograph each step but these are really easy to make. Here’s a photos of a few of the eggs after they were wrapped in the silk squares. I tied the twist tie at the top of some and on the side of some depending on the pattern of the silk.

Next, wrap the eggs in some kind of white fabric; an old pillowcase or napkin works perfect. This step can be done at the same time when you wrap the silk around the egg, but I wanted to make sure the silk was really tightly wrapped around the egg, so I wrapped in the silk first, then the white fabric.

Here are the wrapped eggs in a big stock pot ready to be covered in water. Just cover with water, add 1/4 c. vinegar, then boil at a slow boil for about 20 minutes.

Let them cool a few minutes and then you’re ready to unwrap. This was the best part; like Christmas morning.

A few of these have more subtle patterns because I think the scarf I used wasn’t 100% silk. That’s the most important part about this process. For the pattern to transfer in detail to the egg, the fabric has to be 100% silk.

This was one of the subtle patterns created by the animal print scarf that I believe was not 100% silk. (the tag was missing, so I took a chance.)

This was a random design that I thought was pretty; just made by the way the silk was tied.

This pretty pattern was created from an old tie that I dug out of my hubby’s closet.

These are my favorites. They turned out the best and were actually made from an old pair of my hubby’s silk boxers! (That explains why there was no ‘before’ photo.)

So; be creative, have fun,

and most importantly,

have a Blessed Easter Sunday!

~LilSis

Easter sure snuck up on us this year, didn’t it? Are you ready? Need a few ideas for some Easter goodies?

Both of us have had a lot going on this past month so we haven’t been able to get any new Easter treats posted.

But, the good news is that we have fun recipes for cupcakes, candies, cookies, and decorated eggs that we’ve shared in the past that we’re going to round up for you here today.

First, let’s start with these adorable Homemade Easter Chocolate Candies from BigSis.

Here’s a photo of the little duckies, bunnies, sheep and eggs before they were wrapped in the foil.

The Easter Bird’s Nest Candy is an easy recipe that you can change up a bit depending on your preference. These nests were made with butterscotch chips.

Here are a few made with white chocolate instead of butterscotch.

If you’re looking for a different way to dye your eggs, try these Natural Dye Colored Easter Eggs that I made last year.

Here are some of the eggs before going into the dye.

It would be fun to get the kids in the kitchen to help with these Swirled Cookie Suckers.

These are great for wrapping in little treat bags for gifts or to add to your Easter baskets!

These Chocolate Snickerdoodles are perfect for making Decorated Easter Cookies.

Super cute and super easy with these stencils!

And even though my Easter Bunny Cake didn’t turn out too cute, I’ve got step by step instructions on how to Make an Easter Bunny Cake.

Here’s Floppy with a different face and ears.

If you were looking for some new ideas, I hope we’ve helped you find something that you want to try for Easter this year.

If all goes well, I’ll be back in a few days to share my latest Easter Egg decorating project. (Fingers crossed.)

~LilSis