A Crackle Painted Rolling Pin

I told myself that I was done with this. That I was not going to do this crackle painting thing anymore. And yet, here I am doing even more. What is my problem?

Part of my problem is Pinterest and seeing all the people that are pinning my crackle painted projects with the stars on them. THAT'S what my problem is. Someone had pinned this little number I did last year.

And you know what they put in their comments? They said they would love to see what this design would look like on a rolling pin. Well, that was all I needed to get me going. So, you know I had to make a rolling pin in this design, don't you? 

Oh yes. I did.

I keep saying that I'm not doing crackle painting anymore. It's not really a good seller for me, but for some reason, it draws quite a bit of attention without creating a desire to buy it. It's kind of a nuisance to do, with little financial reward. LOL! Maybe I should try selling this stuff on Ebay. It seems to be a hot ticket on there, at least for now.

 
I still have several rolling pins sitting around waiting to have something done with them. Some are old, some not. I'm getting them done, slowly but surely.
 
I sort of have an interesting story with this one. Ok, maybe it's not all that interesting - to you guys.

This rolling pin was my first choice to do the crackle paint & star design on. But then I noticed that stamped word "Foley" on the end. I didn't remember seeing it when I bought it. I'm sure it came from either a thrift store or a garage sale for no more than a couple of bucks.

I'm not a rolling pin expert (or any other kind of expert for that matter) so I did a little research on the name. It seems as though it was a well made rolling pin that was produced from the 1920's-1960's before going out of business. It must be a somewhat highly collectible piece because they go for pretty good money (for a rolling pin, that is) on Ebay & Etsy, not to mention the $10+ for shipping! It is quite a heavy rolling pin made from maple wood and the roller portion is larger than normal. It even has ball bearings in the pin mechanism. Mine doesn't even look like it's been used much!

So this little number isn't going to get anything done to it. It's just going to be sold as a vintage collectible, but not for the ridiculous price that they're going for online.

It's been a crazy couple of days around here lately. On a spur of the moment, we drove just over the state line into Michigan last night to look at a smaller enclosed trailer we found for sale. I have to say that unlike campers, those suckers hold their value. I don't understand. They're just an empty box with a couple of doors and a wood floor on 2 wheels. We got a better deal than the asking price and we put some cash down to hold it until we can go get it this weekend. It's going to store my 8 ft. tables and be used to haul my stuff around to the craft shows I do.  I was hoping for a smooth sided one, so I could do my Rustique & Chic logo on the side. However, it has lots of rows of rivets all along the sides. Oh well, I just have to work around that, I guess. 

Oh, and that was after I got up at 5 a.m. to help my 20 year old son make a New York Style cheesecake for a coworker that he lost a bet to (pssst...it was a girl he's kind of sweet on). Mind you, neither he nor I have ever made one of those before. I've eaten plenty, never made any. 

The winner wanted chocolate covered strawberries on top. I have to say that Walmart carries some dipping stuff called Chocolate Lava, or something like that, and it is very good on the strawberries!! Oh my!

No, I didn't get any of the cheesecake, but the reviews were off the charts, I guess. He decided he wanted to make a Vanilla Wafer crumb crust instead of the standard graham cracker crust for his. I guess that got him some bonus points with the winner. ;) We used the crustless cheesecake recipe I found on Pinterest (is there anywhere else to look?) The crustless cheesecake recipe can be found on What2Cook.net. I plan on making one for us when I get a 10" spring form pan. My largest one is 9" and it ain't gonna cut it with this recipe. It definitely needs a 10" pan. I also have to wait until after Alan has his bi-annual blood work done. I'll give my take on how it good it is after that.






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Chicken Enchiladas ~How About A Recipe? ~

It seems as though I'm only good for one recipe a year, so scoot in a little closer, cuz this is probably going to be THE one. 


My husband says I shouldn't share this with the world, but he's kind of selfish like that. Part of me says not to either, but then there's the generous side of me that says, why should MY family be the only ones to enjoy this specialty. My daughter is a very picky eater and she eats it, not to mention that her friend just spent the night and she said she LOVED it. 

BAZINGA!

I've tried several different versions of this recipe and tweaked it along the way. One recipe called for making a roux (thickener) with butter and flour in chicken broth and small cans of diced this or that and a bunch of other stuff. Meh, I'm basically lazy, so I looked for other ways to make it in as few steps as possible, while still providing a delicious meal. Enter Chicken Gravy and Green Chile Enchilada Sauce. Yes!

So here it is:

Chicken Enchiladas 

1 - 14 oz. Can Chicken Gravy
1 - 10 oz. Can Green Chile Enchilada Sauce (It comes in Mild and varying degrees of heat, so use what you like)
*Mix & heat these 2 ingredients in a medium saucepan. 
*Remove from heat and then add...
8 oz. Sour Cream (you can use low fat sour cream or even try using a low fat yogurt, I have not tried that yet, but I will.)

*Do not add the sour cream to a boiling mixture or you may have issues with the sour cream curdling.

2 C. of Cooked Chicken (Store bought Rotisserie Chicken is good, I used left over turkey here - hint hint)
2+ C. of Shredded Cheese (I used Colby Jack-you can add more if you like, I did)
5-7 Soft Tortilla Wraps - depending on size of wraps. You can use Flour or Corn. I used Flour

*Bake 375 degrees for 30 minutes. 
*To brown the cheese, turn up oven to 425 degrees and bake additional 10 minutes, but keep an eye on them, as oven temps vary.


Here is a picture of the ingredients I used. You don't have to use these brands, but they're what I like and what's readily available in my area. 
**I'm not compensated in any way to promote the products I used in the making of this recipe.

NOTE: All I had on hand was 10 1/4 oz. cans of chicken gravy, so I had to use 2 (but had a little sauce left over), so if you can find the 14 oz. size, it might be just right. 

Also, I also show a 16 oz. container of Sour Cream, but I was planning on using the extra left over for another recipe. So just use 8 oz.

I'm also going to throw in a few tips for easier clean up. I mean, who doesn't like less mess? Am I right?

I am also NOT paid to promote this product, but I swear I should be. I'm probably the one that keeps them making this product. I know it's not environmentally friendly, but it's Beth friendly and that's what I like! Here's how I save on dirty dishes and the best way to line a deeper pan with foil. It's also good if you have a crappy pan that's a little rusty. Line them with this stuff and you don't have to buy a new pan right away.

I will say that I learned this trick many moons ago from a cook that used to be on the Public Television stations back in the 90's. His name was Jeff Smith & loved watching his cooking show! I was into DIY back when it wasn't cool ya know & PBS was pre-HGTV. Gasp!

Flip your pan upside down and tear off a piece of foil a little longer than your pan. Flip this foil over with it's "wrong" side up. Press your upside down foil on your upside down pan, then press and form to the shape of the pan.

There is printing that's on the foil that tells you which is the right side to use for the non-stick to work. If it's upside down, it looks like that.

This is what it looks like right side up on the non-stick side. Pretty good thing they do that too.

Next, you flip the pan over and turn the foil right side up too and place it inside your pan. It will look like this.

All you need to do now is finish pressing it to your pan and over the top edges. You'll notice that the foil doesn't completely cover the long sides of the pan, but they do for the most part. If you're not a messy cook like me, this won't be a problem with clean up. I still end up with some cooked on stuff on the pan, but it's a whole lot less than if I didn't do this at all. When the pan is empty, just throw away the dirty foil. You do have to be careful when removing food from the pan, as the foil does have a tendency to tear, but the food isn't baked on, so it's still easy to wash what little food debris ends up actually on the pan.

Boy, that sure was a lot just about foil, wasn't it?

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...
 

Take the heated gravy, enchilada sauce and sour cream mixture and spread a decent amount in the bottom of your pan. 

Next, take a tortilla and place some shredded cheese down the middle. 

Then add your chicken on top of the cheese. You can actually add your cheese and chicken in reverse order. There's no right or wrong way to do this part. 

Start wrapping one side over the filling... I know this is basic stuff, but someone will not have ever done this before and want to know how to do it.

Somebody get that girl a manicure!  -Now you just flip the left side side over the first. 

The tricky part is getting a picture of turning this over into the pan AND trying to take a picture, so I opted not to lose a camera or an enchilada in the making of this blog post & did without a photo. But, you need to place the enchilada folded side down into your bed of sauce in the pan.

Since I used HUGE Tortillas, I only get 5 in my 9x13 pan & I have to kind of tuck the ends under. I typically get 6 or 7 when I use the smaller tortillas. How many enchiladas you get depends on how full you make these also, so the number will vary.

Now you need to pour the remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas until they're covered completely, and a little thick or else they will be a little dry when you're eating them.

Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese on top. I probably needed more cheese, but I already used 1 and 1/4 package, because we really like it cheesy.

However, being the bad blogger that I am, and because it was late and we were all starving, I forgot to take a picture of them when they were done baking in the oven. 

It's good to see that nothing has changed in 2013. (insert rolling eyes here)

It may be a little while before I can get a printable version available, but since I only do this once a year, I have to relearn how to do all that & I've only done one anyway. I'm slow like that.

Enjoy!

  
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Valentine's Day

I just want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day today, even if you don't have that special "someone" in your life. Then just go and celebrate YOU! You're well worth it!

I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who, even though he tests my patience many a time, is the love of my life and I could never imagine it without him.


My hubby is a funny sort of fella. He's not very good at keeping things well hidden from me. At least he's not good about keeping hints that give away what his intentions are. He was just mentioning to our daughter last night something about learning his lesson to not ever get mommy flowers again because I got mad the last time on my birthday. There was much more to the story than just getting mad because he got me flowers. And it's not that I don't LOVE getting flowers...oh mercy no! I do feel they are a waste of money, unless you picked them for free, but I love flowers!

I didn't hear the UPS man pull up, but the dog made me aware that someone was outside. Even though the pkg states right on the address label, to be sure to ring or knock, the UPS man never did either. Maybe he figured the dog's few barks was warning enough. Needless to say, I couldn't figure out what the UPS man would be dropping off on MY doorstep. I sure wasn't expecting anything and didn't realize that they made floral deliveries.

Inside the cardboard box was this beautiful vase and red roses!

I was kinda sorta maybe thinking I might get some today.

I called to thank my sweet hubby, but there is a possibility that we won't be able to spend the evening together, as it's looking like the job he is working at may take all night. bummer. It's one of the down sides to his occupation of being a plumber.


In spite of his working late, I have been working on dessert for us. It's not going to be anything spectacular, but more than I typically do. I know, isn't it terrible? So creative & crafty and yet so lazy. pshhhh!


I put more work into the staging and the photography of these cuties than I did in making them. no lie.

No, they're not Pinterest material, but my family will be impressed! However, feel free to Pin them if you think I'm wrong... ;^)

They're just made from a box mix, but I only used one egg, instead of 2. They're less fluffy without the extra egg. I won't be eating these 4 since they have frosting, and I don't care for frosting. I just used canned white frosting with lots of red food coloring & then I sprinkled the red sugar crystals for my daughter. She won't eat yummy chocolate sprinkles on whip cream, but she'll eat the crunchy sugar on thick frosting! Blach! Give me sprinkles on whip cream any day! No, I will be content eating the leftover brownie that wasn't cut out. I love the hard, chewy edges and corners the best. And I think my daughter has weird tastes??? 

Hope you and yours have a wonderful Valentine's Day!



 
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