Ring me out..but feed me good

Another day, another dollar. I feel like all anyone wants is money money money. I haven't got any. Literally. Yesterday I spent the afternoon on the phone with Allstate. They had sent me a bill for an insane amount of money that mad absolutely no sense. After an hours of trying to work with someone who spoke English as a second language, I finally got through to the main mess up. Apparently when i transfered my insurance to FL someone made a booboo. I paid first and last month at the time of transfer. Low and behold, I was not suposed to pay this until now, a month later. So rather than make a notation of this, they tried to pretend like I had never paid it. The man on the phone mumbled something about the bill being sent out after the payment was made...I smell bull sh*t. He claims that the bill was sent out *after* I made my payment. Except, I made my payment before the date it says on the bill. So clearly someone just screwed up. At least I don't owe anything until Dec. 27th now!

Add to this my phone calls with hospital billing departments sending out bills for things i already paid for in full a month ago. Annoyance. Does no one do their jobs anymore?! Seriously, I feel like half the time I'm speaking with someone new or just stupid. Putting me on hold for a half hour or mumbling does not make me go away, it only makes me pissed off. As I battle the unemployment game I intend to know where every cent of my money is going. But those two examples are not even my worst...

Banking. Now let me get this straight. You pretty much can't live without a bank account because so many people take only plastic or checks or money orders. You now intend to *charge* me money to keep a bank account. Honestly if my bank from Pa was anywhere around here I wouldn't leave them. But they aren't, so I went to a new bank in the area... Let's call it... Regional..(ha) The woman I met was great, boasting about their bank procedures, free checking, blah blah blah. I sign up, drop my last check in their bank and I feel pretty good about myself. Then right after I sign on the dotted line she turns and says "Now remember to keep this checking account free you must keep a minimum of $500 or 12 transactions." EXCUSE ME. Then she goes on to explain how if i don't they charge anywhere from 5-25 for the account a month. WTF. SO now I frantically look for another bank. The other 2 closest banks... lets call them Bank of Americus and Chase-aftaya both do the same thing. I think I may have to jump on the Wachovia band wagon and hope for the best.

I might just open a Chase account because it offers me 150 to open it... money is money.


In more happy news I made an excellent dinner last night. I so love the combinations of weird foods that turn out amazingly delicious.Drum roll please......

Cranberry Chicken Enchiladas....

I varied from the recipe a bit to make it a little less fattening/sodium containing

2 chicken breasts
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 cup mexican blend cheese
taco sauce
8 low sodium low carb tortillas
3 tbsp fat free sour cream
1 cup black beans
1 green pepper chopped
1 onion chopped
cumin to taste
chili powder to taste
1 large baking pan
1 large bowl
tin foil

As I use fresh beans I soaked them over night. I precooked my chicken in the morning by adding a quarter can on cranberry sauce, water, cumin, chili powder and chicken breasts to my crock pot. Cooking it on high for 2 hours and low for an additional 3 made them extremely tender. I pulled the chicken out and shredded it with a fork setting it on the side until I needed it again. The remaining juices I put in a separate container.At the same time I added the beans and roughly 5 cups of water to a large pot and simmered them for 2 hours.

Next, an hour before you plan on eating you preheat the oven to 350 then take your chicken, 2 Tbsp sour cream, a few dashes of taco sauce, half the remaining cranberry sauce, green peppers, onions, 1/2 cup cheese and mix it together in a large bowl. Take out your tortillas , placing a heaping table spoon of the mixture onto one end of the shell, roll tightly from the filled end to the empty end to seal in the mixture. Place rolled tortillas seam side down in your large baking dish.Continue until you have rolled all 8 tortillas.

Now take the remaining cranberry sauce, 1 Tbsp of sour cream and a dash of taco sauce. Mix this together in a small bowl and spread the mixture on top to the rolled tortillas. Cover with tinfoil and bake for 45 minutes. Pull the pan out and carefully remove the tin foil. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake an additional 5-10 minutes or until fully melted.
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Honestly the combination grossed me out at first and ended up being fantastic. The sweetness added with the zing of taco sauce was fantastic. The original recipe called for turkey, salsa and corn tortillas. For us we got low sodium low carb tortillas. The best we have found in our area is La Banderita. Chichi's and all those other brands have nearly double what these have in regards to the bad stuff! 1g fat, 200mg sodium, 23g fiber. I still don't love the numbers and would be open for suggestions. We used taco bell taco seasoning which is about 40 mg sodium.

Hope you enjoy. Blog on :)