The day my puppy got owned.

This one day. Macey and I were happily playing fetch at the park.

 

Hey mom. Look I went and got the ball you threw. Did you see mom? Did you see?  

 

Yay. Ball. 

 

I love it when my ears flop up when I run mom. 

Oh look it's another cute puppy just like me! I bet it wants to play!

 

Um mom? I think this puppy has a different type of "play" in mind that I did.

 

Okay puppy! I've got at least 3 months on you! I can take you any day!

Ow. ow. ow. 

 Waaaah

Only I'm allowed to bite my tail!!

 

Okay. You win.

Mom, if you open the car door I promise I won't run away, I promise I'll jump right in! 

Okay. Okay. Enough of my wussy puppy. As bad as the pictures make it seem, it really was fun and games. Macey has a pretty submissive personality and this puppy was ready to eat her up! 

But they ran for a good half hour having a great ole time :) 

Now for just a few of her better moments in life. 

  

                                                           




                                                               

Uh. Macey...the ball is back there.

The ball Macey! The ball!

 

And that's my puppy. Oh how we love her. 

Things are going well for the Tuna clan. Work is keeping us both busy, but enjoying the heat that has finally come! Planning a camping trip in July that is giving us both something to look forward to. 

I've been playing around with the some great recipes lately, excited to get some new things up here. 

If you missed it, check out my "spring 2011" album on facebook, I posted my latest macro shots. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the beginnings of summer! 

Love,

Little Tuna

The day we found a fawn...

Yesterday at the Ford Nature Center

AKA my place of employment

We found a fawn.

Do you see what I see?

Is she not the most precious thing?

(I don't "know" that it's a she, but I like to think so)

She is not abandoned. I repeat. NOT abandoned!

Mother deer drop their young, and then they leave them.

It's going to be okay.

Don't feed it. Give it water. Or try to put it in your car.

The fawn can't walk yet. It is at its most vulnerable time of life.

So instead of standing over it hovering, waiting hours or even days before the runt can get on its feet, the mother leaves.

If she stayed, she would only be drawing attention to it, the exact opposite of what she wants.

The mother tries to hide the fawn as best she can. And let it be known, she is somewhere near by.

Feeding herself as well as getting food for her new little one.

After a time period of anywhere between a half day to a few days, the fawn will be strong enough to join its mother. And they will be happily on their way.

Now you know what to do if you find a fawn. Leave it alone. :)

If you're in an area with heavy pedestrian traffic, let the park authorities know so they can make sure no one does anything....well, stupid.

Other than that, just let that baby sleep it off and find her legs!

Hope you enjoyed the lesson. And the pictures of a baby deer.

Love,

Little Tuna

Walgreens Deal-io

I have to share some walgreens love this week. 

I have a receipt from this afternoon from my walgreens trip. 

I spent 3.62

Saved 31.46

OH YEA!

I've talked about this before, but I am going to remind you.

If an item is buy one get one free. And you have a buy one get one free coupon for that item, BOTH are free!

Clean and Clear morning burst body wash is buy one get one free this week. In the 3/27 Smartsource insert there is a bogo coupon. 

So I got two body washes priced at 5.99 for free. 

Lysol Toilet bowl cleaner was 2.99 with buy one get one free. I had a 1.00 off two coupon so they were 1.00 a piece. That was in the 4/17 Smartsource insert.

Lays and Rold Gold are on sale 2.00 a piece. Which is a really good price in general! 50% off. 

But in the 5/1 newspaper there was a "moments to save" insert that have 2.00 of 2 coupon.
Since Greg also grabbed an insert from work, I had two of those. 

So I got 4 bags of chips/pretzels for 1.00 a bag

Also carefree liners on sale for a buck and I had a buck off coupon from the 5/8 Smartsource 

Then from last week I still had 3.00 in walgreens bucks (from a slammin deal on toilet paper!)

Again. 

Spent 3.62

Saved 31.46

So go to walgreens and get yourself some amazing deals this week. Cheap chips and free bodywash! 

Get it!

You can check out MoneySavingMom's post for more deals Here if you're interested

Love,

Little Tuna

Easy Peasy Chicken Cheesy Enchiladas

I love me some enchiladas. 

Did you know that I worked in a mexican restaurant my first two years of college? 

I try to block it our mainly because I was in a mexican food coma for 2 years straight. (Abuelos! I miss you!)

These enchiladas are easy, cheesy, and delicious. (and they freeze well!)

My bestie/maid-of-honor/college roomie Megan Williams inspired this recipe. She made enchiladas one night, and I thought...hey I can do that! So I've played around with it over the past year or so and have come up with these:

 

Start with some spicy spices. 

Rub your chicken with those spicy spices. I used boneless chicken breast. You can use legs, halves, quarters, whatever you got on hand. Just keep in mind you'll be shredding the meat!

 

Is this not a rather emotional (or emo, if you will) picture of my garlic and onion? Maybe it's because of the sad state of that onion. 

Alright, after that chicken has roasted, shred it with two forks, a knife and a fork, a spork even! Just shred that baby.

Deliciously spicy spiced roasted chicken.

Tortilla shells. YUM.

Sour cream. Go ahead. Go for the fat free! It's good for you! And especially wonderful in spicy recipes.

Don't forget that chipotle tabasco sauce!

Mix the sour cream and tabasco in with the spicy spiced chicken, this is your enchilada filling!

Oh yea man.

Spoon it into one side of the tortilla

And roll it up!

Line the stuffed tortillas up in a 9x13 pan, make sure to place them "flap" down

Pour that enchilada sauce on! I normally use store bought, simply because this is "easy peasy" cheesy enchiladas. Not make your own enchilada sauce from scratch enchiladas.

Add that cheese! Any kind will work. Whatever you got on hand. Cheddar, cheddar jack, cheddar jalapeno, pepper jack, something with a little "kick" is nice. But I'm pretty sure this picture is just plain ole cheddar!

I love me some easy sour cream and chicken stuffed cheesy enchiladas. 

Yes. Please. 

Okay. So typically since I sorta just throw everything together and don't really follow a recipe for this...I'm going to TRY and create an actual recipe. Though use your experience and change it as you may. :) 

Ingredients:

about 2#'s of chicken (will be shredded so more like 3#'s if it has bones)

Generous Dash of Chili Powder

Dash of red pepper flakes

Dash of Cumin

(these three are for seasoning the chicken before roasting)

1 small onion finely chopped

1 to 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped (to taste..more the merrier for me!)

1 16 oz tub of sour cream (I always use fat free)

Tabasco sauce (optional, but adds a nice kick!)

1 package or 10 Tortilla shells  (we're a whole wheat kinda family)

2 small cans or 1 large can of enchilada sauce (I'm pulling a fail on how many ounces because I don't have any on hand to reference right now! But I know I either use one big or two small :)

One 8 oz bag of shredded cheese (type on hand, or something with a little spice is nice) 

Steps:

Place chicken in an oven safe dish and season with chili powder, red pepper flakes, and cumin on both sides. Roast at 375 till no longer pink and juice runs clear (usually about 35 minutes)

NOTE: you may also choose to boil the chicken, grill the chicken, microwave the chicken (ew), however you like to prepare shredded chicken. I prefer to roast, I find it keeps the most flavor! 

Shred chicken, careful to remove any bones, and place in a bowl

Chop onion and garlic and mix into shredded chicken

Add sour cream to shredded chicken (I usually use close to the whole 16 oz tub, but you may use more or less to taste)

Add a tablespoon or two of tabsco sauce (or to taste)

At this point you may want to add some extras, such as another dash of chili powder or cumin, cheese, jalapenos, etc. Make it your own! Or follow mine and keep it simple. :)

Spoon chicken and sour cream mixture into each of the 10 tortilla shells. 

Line shells into a 9x13 greased pan, laying on down on open end of shell

Pour the enchilada sauce over the shells and give the pan a nice shake to get the sauce down to the bottom and evenly spread

Top with package of cheese of your choice 

Bake at 350 covered for 20 and then uncovered for 10 minutes or until cheese and sauce is nice and bubbly

NOTE: these freeze GREAT! So if you're cooking a frozen batch, thaw it on the counter the night before or that morning. Cooking time might be an extra 20 minutes or so, just watch until it's beautifully bubbly

Serve and satisfy that watering mouth! 

Love,

Little Tuna

Easter Dinner- The Results

When we talked last, I was brainstorming for our Tuna Family Easter celebration.

 Well I am happy to say that it was a blast and a relative success as well. 

But first. Before I show you pictures of my endeavor.

We need to talk technical. 

Do you remember those horrible lights that you had in every classroom you sat in from pre-k to college?

Those are called fluorescent lights. 

And they are the bane of my existence.

I have a fluorescent light in my kitchen. But regular filament bulbs every where else, even just a few feet away in the dining room. 

Do you know how stupid hard it is to get food pictures to look normal under fluorescent light? 

No?

 Well. Really I'm just trying to explain why my food photography is sub par. 

No excuses? 

Well then you're really not gonna like it when I complain about my slow internet again and how I have to shrink the photo size basically by blasting the image quality.(I'm working on this issue. blah)

Well. With all this in mind, love me for who I am dears. Even if my pictures look like they were shot with my old school nokia phone camera instead of my Nikon D90.

This is Turk.

This is Turk, having a nice sauna experience. 

This is me rubbing soothing butter on Turks delicious bod.

This is me giving Turk a new "gauge" piercing. (meh meh meh)

 

This is Turk after the tanning bed stage. What a hunk. 

Okay enough of the Turkey. 

My favorite part. 

Stuffing. 

Started with a loaf of french bread. (obviously I just bought one)

WHIP IT! err tear it.

This is pan of corn bread. I forgot to take a picture before I flipped it. ooops.

And tear that up too.

Place it in the bowl and let it sit over night.

Celery. gross.

Fresh Parsley. Yum.

Chicken stock, celery, onion, and lots of other herbs.

Pour the mixture over the bread. And bake it. 

This stuffing was by far the hit of the meal. 

GREAT recipe. 

(I posted the recipes to the stuffing, gravy, and turkey in my previous post)

Easter morning at the tuna can.

 

This is me, little tuna, true to form.

 

This is Turk again. After a bit of chilling out in the fridge.

This is what Big Tuna does when other men like Turk try to come around.

Don't worry Turk. You won't feel a thing.

Only after the roasting, did we find Turk's giblets. 

(oh yea. I went there)

My prince charming.

Aw. My tuna puppy. 

(have I mentioned recently that "puppy" has started to morph into "poopy" in our vocab? We can't explain it. But I now have a beagle that responds to Macey, Puppy, and Poopy)

I don't have pictures of the gravy process. But it was from scratch baby! With the pan drippins of course!

Tuna's mighty sour cream mashed potatoes

Left over zucchini casserole it took to group that past week! (oh yea. I'm not too proud to serve left overs with our Easter dinner meal)

Me. With a plate of gravy. And a few extras.

Mmm. Gravy.

I hope you had a great Easter. 

Love,

Little Tuna