Easy Enchiladas

My friend, Cindy, makes wonderful enchiladas.  She shared her easy recipe with me.  This would be a great meal to take to a friend!

Ingredients:
1 1b. lean ground beef
1 package of taco seasoning
1 large can of enchilada sauce
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
corn tortillas
sour cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown the ground beef in a large skillet.  Drain any remaining fat off the beef.  Add the taco seasoning mix and 1/2 cup of water. Mix in about 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese.

Spray a 9x13" pan with non stick cooking spray.

Pour 1/3 of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Fill a tortilla shell with the meat mixture.  Fold the edges of the shell in and place it, edges down, in the pan.  Repeat until all of the meat mixture is gone.  Pour the remaining enchilada sauce on top of the enchiladas.  Top with the remaining shredded cheese.  Bake on 350 degrees for 30 mins. or until the top is melted and bubbly.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Enjoy!

Oriental Chicken Salad

I have a new salad to share with you that is perfect for summer.  A lady from church passed this along to me and it is a favorite of our family now.  What is nice is you can dress this up if you want all the ingredients or just use what you have on hand for a delicious salad either way!

When I make this salad, I typically don't have the sesame seed, almonds or even green onions on hand.  It doesn't matter though.  It still tastes great with the remaining ingredients!

Pam's Oriental Chicken Salad

1/4 cup sesame seed, toasted
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 large head of lettuce (or chopped romaine-what I use), cut into bite size pieces
4 to 5 green onions sliced
3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped (I usually grill it on the George Foreman and then slice it)
2 packages of fried noodles from a Chinese Restaurant (usually less than a buck each) OR fry wonton noodles that you have cut into fourths.

Dressing:

6 TBSP sugar

2 TBSP soy sauce

6 tsp.  red or white wine vinegar

½ c. vegetable or canola oil

¼ tsp. pepper

Sprinkle of ginger

Cook chicken and slice into bite size pieces.  In a large bowl, combine toasted almonds, sesame seeds, green onions and lettuce.  Combine all ingredients of dressing and stir (or shake in a container) well.  Add chicken, fried noodles, and dressing to salad right before serving (warm chicken will wilt the lettuce and you don't want the noodles to get soggy).  

Enjoy this fresh and light salad!

A Great Thing-Little Me Tea-A Giveaway with 6 winners!

Little Me Tea is a GREAT THING!

It's a drink, for children, that's caffeine free, all organic, with no added sugar. I know we're not used to buying "Tea" for our children; but, just look at the benefits and you may just change your ways.

Little Me Tea has two flavors of tea. Julia's Tropical Tea is a unique combination of organic, caffeine-free white and Rooibos teas  blended with hibiscus and chamomile, then sweetened with organic tropical fruit juices and vegetable juices. Zane's Grape Tea is unique combination of organic, caffeine-free white and Rooibos teas blended with hibiscus and chamomile, then kicked up with organic red grape juice and vegetable juices.

The chart above shows how Little Me Tea compares to other available children's drinks.  It's amazingly clear that this tea is a GREAT THING!

It's such a GREAT THING that not only will your child's health benefit from drinking Little Me Tea, your child will enjoy it. It's tasty!

Would you like to try it for your child or for yourself as so many adults have been reporting how much they like it and the benefits they're seeing from drinking it?  Little Me Tea is shipping 6 of our followers a winning prize pack. Each prize pack contains a carton of Julia's Tropical Tea and Zane's Grape Tea.  This one is easy to enter and you have great odds!

Here's what you need to do to enter.  Remember, leave a separate comment for each entry!

Comment 1: Are you an email subscriber to Our Seven Dwarfs? Leave a comment telling us you are or subscribe and leave us a comment telling us you are a new subscriber.
Comment 2: Do you follow Our Seven Dwarfs on blogger? (see sidebar under Follow us) Leave us a comment telling us you do or become a new follower and leave us a comment telling us you follow OSD now.
Comment 3: Do you like Our Seven Dwarfs on Facebook? Leave us a comment and tell us you do or like us and tell us you did.
Comment 4: Visit Little Me Tea's website  and leave a comment about the benefits of tea.
Comment 5: Like Little Me Tea on facebook and leave a comment telling us you do.
Comment 6: Follow Little Me Tea on twitter (it's under Big Organic Life) and leave a comment telling us you do.
Comment 7: This is the bonus comment: look at the comparison chart above and leave us a comment telling us what impresses you the most about this chart.

You will have until Saturday, June 11th at 11:59 pm EST to enter. We will announce the winners, that's right 6 WINNERS on Sunday, June 12th.

Good Luck!

Triple Stitch Crocheted Baby Blanket

I love making baby blankets for friends and family who are expecting.  The process can sometimes be a love-hate relationship.  I love making blankets, but hate how long it takes to complete just one.  As you know, I have issues focusing.  If I focused for a few nights, it wouldn't take me near as long.

I've gotten away from my old tried and true pattern and have started experimenting with new ones.  This pattern was from Kristi of RAKJ Patternss and is called the Triple Stitch Blanket.   Kristi has some great patterns and she is always offering specials on her facebook page.  Make sure to check it out.

I used Lion Brand Baby's First Yarn in Sea Sprite.  This is a very chunky and thick blanket.  It was very quick and easy to whip up.  Next time I think I will use a less bulky yarn (probably back to my favorite- I love this Yarn from Hobby Lobby) as this one took 5 skeins and it wasn't a inexpensive yarn either.  Other than the cost, this is a perfect baby blanket!  I hope my friend's little man will love it!

Decorated Clipboard Tutorial

If you saw the Monogrammed Totes I made for Ryan's teachers, then you got a sneak peak at the clipboards that I made for them as well.  Here are the clipboards:

These are super simple to create and personalized for anyone.

Supplies needed:

• A wooden clipboard (under a dollar at Walmart or a dollar at the Dollar Tree).
• Various scrapbook papers
• Scissors or a paper cutter
• Small amount of paint to match scrapbook papers (for edge of clipboard)
• Foam brush
• Mod Podge (matte or gloss, your preference)

1.  Pick out the papers that you would like to decorate your clipboard with.  I used three different ones.

2.  Measure the clipboard and cut your papers to fit how you would like them to appear on the clipboard.

3.  Paint the edges of the clipboard in a matching paint color.  Allow to dry fully before moving on.

4.  Apply Mod Podge to the clipboard.  Take your paper that goes closest to the clip and apply it to the board.  Scrape it down to get rid of any bubbles.  Apply remaining pieces to the board and allow to dry.

 5.  Apply vinyl name to front if you choose to.
6.  Finish the clipboard with a layer of Mod Podge to the top of the papers and vinyl.  Allow to completely dry.
7.  Repeat this process for the back as well.

Here are the two boards that I made for Ryan's teachers.  Learn from my mistake and allow the papers to dry before applying the top coat of Mod Podge.  That is why I had a few bubbles show up.

There are so many nice personalized gifts you can make with clipboards.  You could make your to-do lists look exceptionally pretty, or your weekly house schedule, shopping list or menu plan.

Happy Crafting!

Recycling At It's Best

I used to throw away the negative part of the vinyl.  Not anymore!  I've learned it makes a great stencil.  In my earlier "Peace, Love, and Happiness" post, I showed you how I cut vinyl to put on the poles.  Well, I saved the stencil part of the vinyl, added some symbols and voila... I made more signs using scrap 1x4 wood.  All these materials are left over from other projects.  With just a little time, I was able to create a great gift.

Creating a Shelf out of Something Unexpected

My husband had to buy fireplace "guts" for a customer. It was cheaper to buy the whole fireplace than just the guts, so.... he was left with this.

I saw it in his storage building and got all googly eyed.  I asked him what his plans were for this wooden contraption.  He replied, "The burn pile" or "The trash" or something like that.  Usually I'm the one who wants to get rid of things and he wants to keep them.  Not this time.  "I want it!" I screamed!!!!

I took it.  I sanded it.  I primed it. I painted it three times. Then, I handed over to my sweet hubby and he added shelves and a back.

Here's the finished mantle, in my girls' playroom.  I am thrilled with it. Now, I need to get my girls to fill it up with their favorite things!

Birthday Balloon Wreath

I've had a balloon wreath on my to do list for over a year now.  I spotted it on How Does She way back when and haven't wanted to make one for all our family's birthdays.  My oldest turned five last week, so I felt it was the perfect time to accomplish something on my list!

I followed the tutorial on How Does She, but I used a ton more balloons.  I probably doubled the amount and could probably use more to make it fuller.    I am not in love with all the different colors, I think I like the colors from the tutorial better.  I got balloons from the Dollar Tree.  Next time I would probably get multiple bags of balloons from Walmart, but they cost significantly more.  Oh well, when you craft, you sometimes have big successes and other times craft fails!  The important thing is to keep trying and experimenting!

Happy Crafting!