Turkey Enchiladas - Recipe

Last week we were lucky enough to take delivery of an Asda Butcher's Choice Turkey! I've never cooked a whole turkey before, only turkey crown or breast, so I approached it with trepidation but decided that I'd just cook it like I do any roast dinner. We were also given an Asda gift card in order to get some bits to go with our turkey, so I got all the veg and the pigs in blankets, stuffing (forgot the cranberry sauce though!) and some mince pies for afters. I was really impressed with all the Christmas fare available when I went in store and especially impressed with the 'Extra Special' range, made in partnership with Leith's School of Food and Wine.

Once we got home from the supermarket I got cracking and put the turkey in the oven and prepped the veg. The turkey said it would feed 9 people so I knew that we would have plenty of left overs to make something else the next day.

So this is our turkey at the end of cooking and the dinner that we sat down to eat. The OH was very impressed - and he'd done a hard days work as a postman so a big roast was just what he needed! The turkey really was deliciously soft and tasty.

The following day I made Turkey soup, yeah I know not a very original use of turkey leftovers but it's the right time of year for soup, and I make it regularly when we have a left over chicken carcass. Recipe can be found here - just replace chicken with turkey. There was also enough turkey to make Enchiladas, which is great for a tasty lunch, here's my recipe:

Ingredients:

Leftover turkey - use enough turkey to feed two
2 Peppers, sliced into strips - I used yellow and orange
1 Red Onion, sliced into thin half moons
3 Garlic cloves
1 teaspoon of Lazy Chili
Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1 teaspoon of Cumin
Half a teaspoon of Ground Coriander
390g Chopped Tomatoes
Dash of Worcestershire Sauce
1 Chicken Stock Cube with 100 ml of water

4 Flour Tortillas
75g of Cheddar Cheese
150ml Sour Cream
Salt and Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C.

Method:

• Gently fry the peppers and onion in the olive oil until nice and soft, adding in the garlic after 5 minutes and the lazy chili, cumin and ground coriander once softened.
• Add the turkey, chopped tomatoes, chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce and leave to simmer for 10 minutes - that's your Enchilada filling done
• Place 1 tortilla in your oven dish and put some of the turkey filling in the centre. Fold the tortilla so that the filling is sealed. Repeat this with all four tortillas so that you have them all in the line, nice and snug.
• Mix the Sour cream and cheese together and then spread over the top of the lined up tortillas. Put on a baking tray and place in the oven until nicely browned on the top and the filling is starting to bubble out the ends of the tortilla - about 20 minutes.
• Serve with some nice salad - ENJOY

I've found this a great way to use up left over turkey. There are so many things you can do with the left over bird on Boxing Day - what would you do?

Thank you to Asda for sending us the turkey, gift card and a few other treats - including some really delicious 'Extra Special' Belgian  Marc De Champagne Truffles - pick some up if you can!

Isla, my fashion conscious toddler

In the past couple of months Isla has become very assertive when it comes to what she wants to wear. I say fashion conscious, but that's not really it as what she decides to wear isn't really Spring/ Summer 2012 or anything, it's just that she knows what she likes and what she doesn't like!

Initially it was all rooted in wearing everything with Peppa Pig on it. I found that she was wearing clothes with cartoon characters on all the time and it drove me a little crazy. Grandparents would buy her Peppa clothing and she loved it! I do love all that kind of thing but I also wanted her to wear other non branded clothing. So, the purchases of Peppa clothing slowed down a bit until I made a trip to Asda with Isla before Christmas. We were taking a look at the clothes when she spotted a pink stripey Peppa Pig dress. Now, I really didn't like it but I got the impression that things were going to be a bit tricky in the supermarket if I didn't get her that dress and when they're priced so cheaply it was no sweat to buy it for her.  Here is the offending item....

This dress has now become her favourite item of clothing and she teams it up with some (non-matching) pink leggings and stripey socks. She LOVES it. The only way we can get away with her not wearing it is to say it's in the wash!
Having said that she likes all things Peppa, she will not wear this particular Peppa top that I bought for her from Tesco.

I really liked it as it wasn't the typical pink, girly style, it's purple and blue and in my eyes a bit more funky. Can I get her to wear it? NO. I even give her a choice now in the mornings and every now and then I get this top out along with another more plain one and she always says "I'll wear that one later" to the Peppa Pig top! When she says she'll do anything later it basically means NEVER.
Then at Christmas time Isla got an outfit bought for her by her great aunt, some jeans and a top. The top was navy blue with a pink pattern on. One morning I got the outfit from the draw and went to put it on her. I got the jeans on but when I went to put the top over her head, she flatly refused to wear it. I tried again a few days later and again she really wouldn't wear it. Luckily I hadn't taken the tags off and I decided that there was no point in forcing her to wear something she didn't like and I took it back to the shop for something else.

To me this all seems a bit early for her to have such opinions on what she wears. A couple of weeks ago she had her first ballet lesson and afterwards I promised her i would get her a net ballet style skirt. I'd already seen one in Next and so we headed there. She proceeded to lead me all round the store pointing out what she liked and refusing a lot of what I was pointing out! We also came away with the headband she is wearing in the pictures above.

I love it and I'm finding her new found girliness and desire for dresses really sweet as up until now I've not really dressed her like that. She's been more like a mini me - wearing jeans and tops and nearly always trainers. I'm looking forward to summer and her wearing all sorts of pretty stuff!

Is your toddler as assertive about what they want to wear? Does it differ between boys and girls? Do you tend to dress your little one like a mini you? I'd love to know your thoughts.

Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas - Christmas Stocking Filler!

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to a preview lunch for the new Ice Age DVD release - A Mammoth Christmas. In recognition of the fact it's a Christmas release we had a delicious 3 course Christmas lunch and pulled crackers while Christmas Carols played in the background! It really was a lovely way to spend a lunchtime, I appreciated some me time away from the kids and also caught up with Mirka from All Baby Advice looking glowing with baby bump!

So after the festive fun we went to the screening room and watched the 20 minute film. So what's it all about?

Everyone's favourite sub-zero heroes are back in an all-new holiday adventure for the whole family. When Sid accidentally destroys Manny's heirloom Christmas rock and ends up on Santa's "naughty list", he leads a hilarious quest to the North Pole to make things right - and ends up making things much worse. Now it's up to Manny and his pre-historic posse to band together and save Christmas for the entire world.

I can't wait for Isla to see it as she really loves the characters in Ice Age (she should do after the number of times we've watched it together!) and she loves the little squirrel who chases the acorn all the time. I enjoyed it, it was very funny and all the original voice cast are back too.

Ice-Age: A Mammoth Christmas is out on DVD from the 21st November 2011and is available exclusively from Asda, courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Priced at an excellent £5!

I was given a box set of the Ice Age collection and a cuddly squirrel on the day. The views written here are my own.