Thursday Thoughts with Jen - Vol 3

Time for Thursday Thoughts with Jen. Hopefully these will get you through this extremely long post-holiday 5 day work week. Whyyyyyy isn't it Friday yet?!

1. I have a love/hate relationship with Mexican food. It is seriously impossible for me to eat a normal amount of food at a Mexican restaurant. You know that feeling you get when you're full? It's the point where normal people push their plate of half eaten chicken enchiladas towards the center of the table, throw their hands in the air, and surrender. But me? No. I'm no quitter. I push past that point until I absolutely loathe myself. I don't stop until I'm physically uncomfortable. It never fails. You'd think I would've learned by now, but I just keep shoveling chips dripping with white queso into my mouth at rapid fire speed. I barely stop to breathe. Then when it's time to go I have to wobble my way out of the restaurant looking like I'm 6 months pregnant. Hellooooo food baby. Somebody needs to teach me some self control.
2. Why is it always the old ladies who choose to get ready buck naked in the gym locker room? Even if I hadn't eaten my weight in Mexican food the night before and had only been nibbling on spinach leaves for the last 8 days, you wouldn't find me blow drying my hair and applying mascara in my birthday suit. No way. No how. No one wants to see that. At least put on your skivvies. Is that really too much to ask?!  I don't want to start my day with saggy boobs and butt wrinkles. It's an all-too-familiar reminder that I too am getting older and will in fact look like that some day. Ignorance is bliss people.
3. I need to plan a trip to Paris NOW. You guys!! As if I didn't love Paris enough, there is a cat cafe opening there now!! Drinking coffee and playing with cats? Magical! Apparently these things are in Vienna, London, and now Paris. Just another reason to go back to Europe immediately!
   
4. I can live without a man in my life...until I have to put on a bracelet. I can handle changing light bulbs, hanging pictures, assembling furniture...the usually honey-dos, but putting on a bracelet by myself? I swear it's the hardest thing to do...like ever. Yesterday morning I struggled for at least 3 minutes before I finally said screw it and gave up. Oh well. It wasn't that cute anyways.
5. Speaking of men, I have extreme road rage towards men who drive huge pickup trucks. Do all these guys have to drive like such a-holes? I'm sorry if I'm not going fast enough for you, but I'm already 10 mph over the speed limit, and as soon as I get past this semi I'll get my little Camry back in the right lane so you, your giant truck, and those heinous plastic balls you have dangling from your tow hitch can zoom by me. Clearly your huge truck is overcompensating for your shortcoming in another area.
6. Guess I really am a Millennial girl because I absolutely love 99.9% of the things on this list. Heck yes to boozy brunches, guacamole, and crossing things off a list!
7. What is with this heat?! Yesterday when I got into my car after work the thermometer said 106. Miserable. On my way home I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things, and I swear to you by the time I carried my spinach from the car into my house it had already wilted. What a waste of $4. The only plus side to this heat? I don't have to drive all the way to the gym to sweat since a few minutes in my car without the air conditioning is just like owning my own personal, portable sauna.
8. Fro-yo with rainbow sprinkles is amazing. It's a fact. It is also a fact that fro-yo from TCBY is exponentially greater than any other fro-yo (except for Yagoot but you can only get that in Cincy). You can't even argue with me on this one. Simply amazing. 
   
9. I'm sure my roommates hate me in the morning. First of all let me just say that I get up really early....like super early. Let me also say that I am a huge klutz. I drop things, run into things, trip, fall down, etc. at least 3 times a day. It's an absolute miracle I've made it an entire year without breaking my iPhone screen. Watch, I probably just jinxed myself. This clumsiness is magnified x 1,000,000 in the morning. I swear no matter how careful I am in the bathroom, I always knock at least 3 items off the shelf in the medicine cabinet. The kitchen is even worse. If there are cups in the sink, they will tip over, and it will be loud. Sorry girls. I'll try to be quieter. Please forgive me.

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas

I never get sick of Mexican food ever. I'm absolutely positive that I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for a week and still jump at the chance to go get some white queso with my roomies. Well...maybe not breakfast. Although sopapillas could count as breakfast so yes, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Glad that's settled.

I also really enjoy cooking...but not for just myself which is why my weeknight meals usually consist of eggs, smoothies, or cereal. Tonight I had to go back to my parent's house so my daddy dearest could change the oil in my car so I decided to whip up a little something for my fam.

If you follow me on Pinterest you know my food boards are out of control. I have a serious, serious problem with food porn. I really just can't get enough. It's bad. I let my sister peruse my pins, but nothing was really calling out to her. She was craving buffalo wings, and I wanted Mexican so we compromised. Buffalo chicken enchiladas it was!

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas

Large whole wheat tortillas
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
28 oz can red enchilada sauce
1/2 - 1 cup Buffalo sauce
1 cup shredded colby/monterey jack cheese blend
4 oz. gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
6 green onions, chopped
Fresh cilantro, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 in baking dish with non-stick spray.

I really despise touching raw meat so my dad was a dear and threw the chicken breast on the grill for me while I was doing the other prep work for this recipe, but if you want to cook the chicken in the oven that would work as well.

While chicken is cooking, pour enchilada sauce in a large bowl, and whisk in buffalo sauce. I thought I was using a 1/4 measuring cup. Turns out I was actually using 1/2 cup so I accidentally added an entire cup of buffalo sauce to the enchilada sauce. My mouth is still burning. If you like things hot by all means add a cup, but I would advise starting with 1/4 cup and taste testing until you reach your desired spiciness. Set aside.

In another bowl mix 2 chopped green onions with 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Pour in roughly 1/2 cup of the enchilada/buffalo sauce. Once chicken is cooked, shred with two forks and add to the green onion, cheese, sauce mixture and mix thoroughly.

Cover bottom of the baking dish with enchilada/buffalo sauce. Take each tortilla and fill with the chicken mixture. Roll and place in the baking dish, seam side down. I only ended up with 7 enchiladas, but some were very generously sized so you could easily get 8. Once all the enchiladas are rolled, pour another 1/2 cup (or more) of enchilada/buffalo sauce on top of the tortillas. Add remaining shredded cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes. While enchiladas are baking chop remaining green onions and cilantro. I don't do Mexican food without black beans so while the enchiladas were cooking, I also chopped and sauteed some white onion and heated with 2 cans of black beans on the stove.

Immediately after taking enchiladas out of the oven sprinkle the crumbled gorgonzola cheese on top. Garnish with green onions and cilantro and enjoy!

10 things that make me really happy

Today's Topic: ten things that make you really happy.

Cats...specifically my amazing, perfect, adorable cat Evie.

Thunderstorms. Is it weird that I like rainy days better than sunny days?

Long dinners with friends and/or family.

Mexican food and margaritas. Actually...food in general.

Board games. Monopoly is probably my favorite, but I don't discriminate.

Christmas time, and of course Christmas music. Why couldn't it be Christmas every dayyyyyyyy?? The time period from Halloween until NYE is by far THE best time of year. 

Screw summer and the heat.

A new outfit.

Hair appointments. Nothing makes you feel better than a fresh cut and color.

Long car rides alone with the music turned up singing at the top of my lungs. Good thing I have an hour commute to work everyday. Hopefully none of my co-workers have seen me jamming out on the highway.

Trashy Bravo TV shows. I seriously can't get enough. Don't judge me. I haven't found one that I don't like. What does everyone think of Lydia? I'm still undecided.

I would add KU basketball to this list, but sometimes they make me really, really sad...like when they lost to Michigan in the tournament this year. Yes. I'm still heartbroken. At least there is a glimmer of hope for next year. Welcome to Kansas Andrew Wiggins!

Right Now

How is it already May?!? I swear this year is flying by so fast! Here are some of the things I've been into right now:

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*obsessing over *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

My sister's new kitten, appropriately named Benjamin Button. He is so cute...yet so creepy at the same time!

Look at that fat little tummy! Dying!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*working on *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Learning to love gardening and yard work. So far not so good. Saturday I had big plans to pull up the gross plastic edging around my front gardens and replace it with rock, rake leaves, weed, and transplant some things. I'm not kidding, within 2 minutes of being outside my dad spotted a snake, and of course I completely freaked out. I literally sprinted to the sidewalk, and en route almost stepped on the stupid thing. My dad then proceeded to pick up the snake and toss it towards me. So not cool. His punishment? Him and my mom basically had to do all the yard work themselves while I supervised from the front steps because I was way too terrified to step foot in the grass. Also, I was contemplating buying a mower and cutting the grass myself, but after my roommate spotted the stupid snake again this week I've changed my tune. Lawn mowing service hired. Best $30 I could spend, and totally worth it if I can avoid anymore snake encounters this spring/summer.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*thinking about*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Re-evaluating my personal life. Seriously. I've got issues. I know I've said over and over I don't want to have a boyfriend right now. I need this time to be single since I jump from one relationship right into the next. The truth? I miss it. I miss the companionship. I miss staying in and cooking dinner, drinking wine, and cuddling on the couch. I miss sharing my day with someone. I miss fun comfortable dates, and not awkward first dates with forced conversations. Being single is exhausting. Does he like me? Does he not? What do you think he meant by that text? I haven't heard from him in three days...what does that mean?!? Do I even like him, or do I just like the attention??? The game playing and over-analyzing is enough to drive a girl insane.

Yes being self-sufficient and independent is great and all, but it's also nice to have a counterpart. I had a breakdown Sunday afternoon when I was trying to put together my new patio furniture. I seriously spent 45 minutes trying to get one screw into the leg of the love seat, and I lost it. I sat there on my deck, crying and feeling sorry for myself. I'm neverrrrr going to meet anyone. I'm going to die alone. Cat lady for life. Was I being overly dramatic? Maybe. Was it because it was that time of the month? Possibly. Either way it was pathetic. I need a man in my life stat.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*excited for *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The weather to warm up and stay warm! We had a sneak peak into summer weather Sunday and Monday, and it was so fantastic. My roomies and I had some people over Sunday afternoon to enjoy the patio furniture (post breakdown), and I anticipate hosting many more get-togethers this summer. Now I just need to buy a grill. On it...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*can't live without*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

My Nebraska Furniture Mart card. 2 years no interest? Done and done. Time to get that grill!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*on repeat*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I can't get enough of Ellie Goulding - Anything Could Happen thanks to the New Girl episode this week. It is so catchy although the video is slightly creepy...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*devouring *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I've been trying to be better about my eating habits this week since summer is literally right around the corner (at least I hope so...it is currently snowing. WTF Kansas?!?). So far so good. However I feel like this weekend is going to put my self control to the test with Cinqo de Mayo celebrations. You know how I feel about Mexican food and margaritas!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*thankful for*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A weekend without any plans! No Bachelorette parties. No weddings. No family obligations. Just a nice relaxing weekend at home thank goodness!