5.14.2015

The Enchilada Debacle

Yesterday I decided to take the afternoon off just to relax.  It was one of those “I need a break” days.  My husband normally cooks supper so I thought I’d cook for a change.  I love cooking and normally only do it on the weekends.  I had all the fixings for enchiladas and a new recipe I wanted to try out as a side dish as well.      

I had plenty of time to relax before starting supper.  I walked around the yard and admired the squash, tomatoes, and peppers that are growing nicely in the patio garden.  The volunteer sunflower from the winter seed we give the birds is growing quickly and is already about 18” tall.  We love feeding the birds.  We always throw old bread out in the backyard for them to eat.  And before you bird fanciers go into a panic, I have researched and though bread doesn’t provide any nutritional value for birds it does not harm them.  I noticed my husband had thrown several slices of bread out back for them. 
Later on in the day I started supper.  Chicken was cooked and shredded and I got my taco potatoes ready and in the oven before I finished up the enchiladas.  I mixed up all the soups, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes and mixed it together.  No, this is not a diet dish.  That part was ready so I needed my flour tortillas to fill, roll and top so it could go in the oven.  I look in the pantry.  No tortillas.  I had just bought a pack.  I looked around on the counter to make sure I hadn’t already got them out and forgot about it.  No where.  Then I thought…but no, surely not.  He didn’t throw out the tortillas to the birds!  I looked out the back door and from a distance those bread slices sure looked pretty round to me.

So I asked my hubby just what it was he fed to the birds.  “Those old tortillas”.  Old?  Those were not the old tortillas.  I had thrown the old ones in the garbage a few days earlier.  So, we tried to come up with an alternative.  We found a half empty box of taco shells in the pantry.  Stale.  Maybe some chips would work.  Not enough.  Bread?  No.  Only thing to do was drive to the local grocery which is only 18 miles away and get some. 
So, he did.  We ate.  It was good.  We survived.  And I hope the birds enjoyed those nice, fresh tortillas.  And we’ll take suggestions for recipes that use enchilada filling but no tortillas.