Healthy Chicken Enchiladas(kid friendly)

 This is a family FAVORITE!!!! I make this a couple times a month and everyone raves about them even though they have had them so much! I think, out of the many things I have concocted, this is my husbands favorite! He always asks for me to make it! My husband LOVES spicy food but I don't normally make it because of the kids! One of the great things about this recipe is that it can be made spicy and mild all in the same dish!!! 

This next step is very difficult for me because I NEVER measure anything out when making this! I am going to give you a recipe to go by and you can change it up to your tastebuds and/or what you have in your kitchen at the time!

What you will need:

• Two chicken breasts
• about 2 cups of processed raw vegetables 
• 1-2 cups of frozen spinach
• 1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
• 1 can enchilada sauce(or make your own)
• about 2 cups of shredded cheese
• one package of tortillas(or you can use crepes)
• season with salt and pepper

First thing I do is cook my chicken, then you can shred it or cut it up into little chunks.

Set aside.

   

Next you are going to process your raw veggies. For this particular recipe I used, 1/2 a green bell pepper, a handful of carrots, 1 zucchini, and 3 green onions. Then blend it in your food processor!

   

 As you can see all of this equals 2 cups! 

Just to let you know, you can use just about any veggie in this step. A tip that I found is bell pepper and onion add good flavor to this dish!

 The next step is to heat up your diced tomatoes, frozen spinach, and processed veggies in a pan, about 5 minutes. Then add your chicken and seasoning. Stir together about 1 minute and remove from heat.

   

 This next step is Optional! My kids like me to make crepes instead of using tortillas. They really make this dish TASTY! Click the picture below to see how I make my crepes with options for dairy free and you can make them Gluten Free by using Buckwheat flour.

 These tortilla are my "secret" ingredient! I LOVE these Chile & Onion flour tortillas from Trader Joes! They add a little spice to the dish! 

OK, so this is normally what I do! I have normal tortillas/crepes for half the pan(the kids half) and Chile & Onion tortillas for the other half! If you don't have a Trader Joe's by you just use whatever tortillas you like.

 Next add your chicken and veggie mix to the middle of your tortillas and top with a little cheese.

roll the tortilla up and put it fold down in your pan.

   

 Now that you have your pan full... you get out your enchilada sauce! This is the step that I want to change... I buy the cheap sauce from target... this is not the healthiest option but I do it because of time and flavor. I have tried many different sauces and so far Target red mild is my FAVORITE!!!!! 

If I ever find an EASY& healthy recipe for enchilada sauce I might add it to this post...

I add the sauce to the "adult" side of the dish.
My kids, like most, think the sauce too spicy so try no to let it touch over to their side of the dish!

Then I top the whole thing with cheese!

 Put in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until cheese slightly browned.

 Here it is... Fresh out of the oven!!!

A picture of the adult side with spicy tortilla and topped with red sauce & cheese.

 

A picture of the kids side with crepe topped with cheese!

Princess Party Ideas!

I am going to try and pack the few other ideas I had for Kiki's Princess Party in one more post! 

This first idea was to welcome people into our home! We wanted to make a FUN entry to our home so I decided to line the walkway with pink balloons!

 Since her birthday is in October, I spray painted a BUNCH of pumpkins of all sizes! Then we wrapped a balloon string around each pumpkin to be the weight for each balloon outside!

I loved how this turned out but I wouldn't be helping anyone if I wasn't truthful about this experience! I will tell you that out of ALL my ideas for this party, this was the most costly and stressful!!!! First of all, to transport a ton of balloons on a windy day isn't easy!!! Then once you get them safely to your house and your kids start playing with them.... they might start to POP!!!! This is what happened to us! I had everything planned out to line the walkway on both sides but we lost a lot of balloons before we even got them outside! Putting them all on one side actually worked out for us on the day of her party because it happened to be windy.... They would have blocked the walkway if I did it the way I was planning! 

Even though this looked so cool, to save me my sanity before guests arrive I probably wouldn't do this again! LOL

 Now onto other lest costly and stressful ideas.... 

A lot of the stuff I used was from the Dollar Store! I bought a hula hoop and different color plastic tablecloths. I cut the tablecloths in strips and taped them to the hula hoop. Then I taped the hula hoop to the ceiling around our chandler.

   

 I then simply taped the other end to the ceiling as pictured below! It really made the room look ready to party in!!!

 I also did almost the same effect to the ceiling above the Cardboard Castle. Click HERE to see exactly how I did it and to see how I made the castle!

This next idea I wanted to make a post ALL on its own.... When I bought some Crayola Crystal Effects window markers at Target I didn't know HOW COOL these were going to be!!!

They are so much fun to play with.... my kids colored over and over on our mirrors before the party that I was afraid they would be all dried up! Here is Brenden and one of his cool pictures on the mirror!

The fun thing about these are you draw on windows and mirrors and they magically show up and with a crystalizing effect!!! They are so cool, you just have to get some for yourself and try them out! They would be a great stocking stuffer for christmas coming up!!!

This is what I drew on one of the bathroom mirrors for the Princess Party using the markers!

For this next idea, I got these cute glass vases, princess rings, and clip on earrings from the Dollar Store! I collected sticks with my kids outside and then spray painted them silver. To fill the vases I just wanted something with the colors pink and purple so I chose Nerds and all reds Starbursts!

 Here is a close up of how I hung the earrings and rings on the silver painted sticks!

These were perfect to greet people when they entered. Also pictured below is the Princess Wands that we bought from the Dollar Store to hand out to all of the little Princesses at the party!

The other party favors we had, from the Dollar Store, for the princesses are red, purple, and pink boas. All of the little Knights got to have a sword and shield! How cool is it that the kids got to keep such fun things and it only cost $2 a child!!!

   

 Next, I found these cute "silver" platters and glass candle sticks....YES at the Dollar Store!!!

I hot glued the candlestick to the platter. You can even stack them as pictured below to make a tiered serving platter! 

   

What we put on one of our platters was SO simple to make and a HIT to all of our guests! I found these cute plastic wands at the dollar store, 8 for $1! We simply dipped marshmallows in white chocolate with one drop of red food coloring. Then we added sprinkles on top and stuck the wand ALL the way in! They stood up all on their own!!

 Here is a picture showing how the kids went crazy for the marshmallows! YUMMY!!! So much easier than cake pops! =)

Another treat that is a must at a princess party is Ring Pops (4 for $1 at the Dollar Store) and candy bracelets/necklaces. I don't like candy and let my kids have it very rarely but I couldn't resist the fun for this party! I mean look at these happy faces! =)

 I didn't make this but I had to show you Kiki's cute Barbie cake that we got from Target.... It was the best price we found out of the different places around. $39 AND you get a cute Barbie to have and play with afterwards!!

I will leave you with a picture of all of these CUTE princesses! I have to say, the party was a success!

If you didn't see my post on the fun and simple poster you can make for your party, CLICK HERE!

If you would like to see how I made the Princess Cardboard Castle click on the photo below!

Party Poster Idea~ Mod Podge

I LOVE this idea for any type of party! What child wouldn't want a HUGE picture of themselves up to celebrate THEM!?! I have actually posted about this idea before, HERE.

Staples makes it CHEAP & EASY to make enlarged prints!

Since I was throwing a princess party for my daughter, I decided to build her a large castle out of cardboard! If you want to see how I made it, CLICK HERE!

I thought it would be cool to enlarge a picture of her standing in front of her castle!

Here is the picture I used!

After adding the lettering onto the photo in Illustrator,

I simply uploaded this photo to staples website under the Engineering prints! CLICK HERE to go to their page! They have three sizes to choose from, 18"X24", 24"X36", 36"X48"!

This time I choose to go as LARGE as possible! 

It was only SEVEN dollars for this print 36"X48"!

 We took it home and colored in parts of the picture with crayons and markers!

 This next step added so much extra drama to the photo. My husband said it almost looks a little 3D! 

I simply painted a little sparkle Mod Podge to parts of her dress, tiara, and the number fives in the picture! Can you see the sparkle and shine!?!

A simple decoration to add to any party!

Princess Cardboard Castle

This past week has been so much fun celebrating our little girl turning FIVE!!!

 She really wanted a PRINCESS party! 

The other thing is we just moved into our home four months ago so this would be our first PARTY at our new home! 

So, while my husband used ALL of his free time on getting our deck ready, I started working on making this party special for Kiki and her friends!

I have so many different projects I worked on for this party that I have to break it up into a few posts to show you everything! 

This post is all about the pink princess castle I created!

I love showing the step by step so you can see the transformation! 

It all started out with a few big boxes!

I called all around and many places wont give away their boxes....

Finally, I called Marshalls & Home Goods store and they were MORE than helpful! I got 4 chair/dresser size boxes from them. They even helped me break them down and load them into my car!

If you are looking to find boxes I would say call a local, not large chain, furniture store.

I had the PERFECT spot for the castle! We have a playroom which is partially finished. I already knew I wanted to use a corner of the room as two of the walls so I could make the castle pretty large! Sorry for the messy picture below, I started moving things around before I took the picture!

Now that you have your boxes, you should start by making the entrance of your castle. Cut our your door with a utility knife. The picture below is one box. I would suggest that you leave one set of box flaps taped in on the floor for support. To make the castle tall enough, I taped the top flaps straight up with duct tape. I also added a fun cut out above the door using hot glue and duct tape.  I wanted to have a working drawbridge so I just punched two holes on the door and two above the door. I used one long piece of velvet ribbon that I had on hand. The ribbon can be pulled from the inside bringing the door up... It's pretty fun!

   

Once I had my entryway somewhat together, I started putting things in place!

The great thing about setting this up in my playroom was the concrete floor! It was so easy to stablize the boxes by duct taping them to the floor. Then, for even more support, we laid rugs over the cardboard on the floor.

I knew I wanted to make the castle large enough to put a little kitchen area in it.

Here is a picture with the basic shape of the castle done, using three medium/large boxes.

Because our whole basement is beige, I knew I wanted to make a scene on the wall next to the castle to add color. I bought a few plastic tablecloths from the dollar store and tacked them to the wall.

I cut a white tablecloth in half and hot glued it to the bottom of the pink. Then I simply spray painted some swirly trees and added a cute little carriage. Also, you will see a cute little dragon that my kids colored hanging from the ceiling. We had this crayola set from a while back and it worked out perfectly   to color and hang for the party!

I wanted to add some extra support to the front walls of the castle and also add some details to dress up the castle. I decided to add some support pillars on either side of the door. I had a few Home Depot boxes left over from our move so I cut one side, with a utility knife, to flatten it out. Then I scored a line down the middle of the box.

I then folded and taped the box together with duct tape!

I also had to add another box below the pillar so it will reach the ceiling. I also used hot glue and added different size rectangles to the top of the castle, which really changed the look and gave it more castle-like features!

Next, I started trying to paint the castle. I thought that spray paint would be the easiest. The cardboard ended up soaking up most of the color and it was really hard to do inside because of the fumes. 

 I got out the left over light pink paint I used to paint Kiki's room. This totally made the castle look so much better! I also stapled two pieces of plastic purple table cloths(from the dollar store) to the door as curtains so you wouldn't see in when the drawbridge is down.

Next, I used acrylic white paint to paint the look of brick on the front of the castle.

Above the door Kiki and I colored a sign, "Kiki's Castle", and used sparkle Mod Podge to seal it to the cardboard. It gave a nice sparkly look!

As I worked on the outside of the castle, the kids worked on the inside. They colored and cut out cupcakes and glued them to the inside close to the kitchen area.

Brenden got VERY creative and drew a TV and even made a wii remote! He is playing a Kerby Wii game, pictured below.

Next, I worked on the ceiling. I hung a hula hoop, from the dollar store, right around the can light. 

Then I cut strips of plastic table cloth, folded them over the hula hoop and taped it in place. Then attached the other ends of the strips of table cloth all around the ceiling.

One of Kiki's favorite things to do is write letters to people so I decided to make a mailbox. I spray painted one side of a fruit snack box silver.

   

Cut a whole in it and used pink duct tape to attach it to the front of the castle. We also used sparkle Mod Podge to seal the word "Mail" to the box(not pictured).

At the party I provided blank cards and markers in the castle and the girls had fun making cards and putting them into the box!
As you can also see in the next two pictures that the castle is large enough that we fit two throw rugs in it! Also, we added a little "hideout" or box in the corner with a window and a door. My kids LOVE to crawl in there! We covered it with a blanket and added some of Kiki's dolls on top to soften the look of all of the cardboard!

Here is a shot of the inside of the castle, all set up with Kiki's new tea set!

The princess and her castle!

Don't forget to add white twinkly lights to the ceiling around the castle!

Here is a picture of 11 of the kids at Kiki's party! I have to say, I was very concerned, after all of my hard work, that the castle wouldn't hold up. 

I was VERY pleased that the castle is STILL standing for many more playdates AND....... All of these kids could fit in the castle at once! SO COOL!

Happy 5th Birthday my sweet little Kiki!

Below are some more ideas for a princess party! 

Just click on the picture below to take you to that post!