Fernando’s grandmother has been in Spring TX all summer staying with his cousins. Before she returned back to California, she decided to spend the weekend with us and teach me one-on-one how to make her famous enchiladas! We had a very busy weekend and kicked it off at 4:30 am Saturday morning for temple duty. Abuelita was able to do a session while we worked only half of a shift (I had a baby shower to attend and Ferd had a baptism.) After the shower, we rushed home as Fernando had to go to the church early and prep for his first baptismal service as ward mission leader. I baked some cookies for the baptism and Abuelita and I started on the enchiladas. After about an hour and a half, I changed back into my skirt, grabbed the cookies and said,
“Wish I could be here to help you with the rest of the enchiladas. Tell me what the next steps are so I don’t miss anything.”
(note: Abuelita speaks little English and my Spanish consists of two years in jr high), but Abuelita said ok, proceeded to tell me what the next steps were, then I grabbed my keys and left. Two hours later after the baptism, I came back home and Abuelita said,
“Where have you been?”
I said, “Well, I was at the baptism. Remember, the cookies?”
She didn’t notice the cookies were gone, thought I ran off somewhere in the house and took a nap or something.
“Abuelita, what have you been doing this whole time?” I said.
“I sit down and wait for you.” she said.
Realizing that she literally sat down and stared at a wall for two hours (we don’t have cable) and waited for me, made me feel pretty bad. That feeling only worsened as I saw all of the ingredients for the enchiladas sitting out on the counter exactly as they were when I left.
Fernando wasn’t going to be home for another hour and a half, so in the mean time, we finished making the enchiladas, and we sat down on the couch and I told her that I wanted to hear about her life story and her conversion. Don’t let her trick you, her English is better than you think. I am definitely writing down her story so I can tell it to my kids down the road. Fernando came home toward the end of her story and unfortunately I didn’t get much out of it, since she resulted back to Spanish, and my translator (Fernando) wasn’t translating it to me. My Spanish comprehension did improve a bit this weekend though. I know that when they say “ella”, they are talking about me.
Since Abuelita’s 85th birthday is on Tuesday, when we drove her back to Spring, there was a big surprise party waiting for her.
Fernando did translate one important thing:
Enchiladas Verde
8 chicken tenders (about 3 breasts)
3 28 oz can s “Las Palmas” green salsa (found at Kroger)*
1 24 oz sour cream
2 T sugar
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups colby/ mont jack mexican blend cheese shredded
2 cups mozzerella cheese shredded
13 corn tortillas
1/2 onion diced
Directions:
Boil chicken in 4 cups water and a little onion, and shred chicken (save broth)
coat both sides of tortillas in oil and warm in frying pan each side and keep in foil
Pour 1.5 cans of green salsa in a 9 X 13 dish
Spread a spoon full of cream of chicken soup on a tortilla, then add a small spoonful of chicken, some diced onion, mexican blend cheese, and roll up tortilla and place in 9 x 13. Repeat.
Pour remaining green salsa on top of enchiladas and top with remaining mexican blend cheese and mozzerella.
Bake at 375 for 35 min covered with foil.
Top with sour cream and more cheese and eat with black beans and mexican rice. Enjoy!
Mexican Rice:
Dice up a quarter of an onion, and two cloves of garlic. Throw it in a sauce pan with 1/2 cup of rice and brown for 2 min. Pour half a small can of tomato sauce in pan along with 3/4 cup of chicken broth. Let boil. Cover and reduce heat to low for 20 min.
* If you can’t find Las Palma’s brand, buy the other stuff, throw 4 tomatillos in a blender along with 3/4 cup of chicken broth and a tablespoon of sugar and add it to the cans of green salsa.
Diane and Fernando 