Coin Jar Date Night.

It litters the bottom of your purse. It hides in the couch, lurks in the junk drawer, and waits in the nooks and crannies of your car. It accumulates. It gets shuffled around. It's rather filthy.

It's change. And you have more of it than you think.

We've been collecting our coins for a few years now. There is a glass jar in our pantry, and we toss coins in every now and then when we actually think about it. Otherwise the change filters into the recesses of our home and lies in wait like Gollum's ring. Since I have an almost-crawler on my hands, I am frantically trying to clean out my house and get rid of anything excessive that my little boy will most definitely want to put into his teething mouth. This decluttering sparked a great idea. I'd like to be able to take credit for it, but I'll admit that it was Stevie's brilliant idea:

Why don't we take all the coins in the jar (which had turned into two jars), and use the money to go on a date?

We set the rules - we could only use the cash in the jars. No extra spending. So if it was $15 or $50, that was all the money we could use on the date. We drove our golf cart (no gas needed, so no $ spent there), and we went to the local Kroger where there is a Coinstar. If you aren't familiar with Coinstar, it's one of those kiosks where you can dump your change in and it counts it for you and then gives you a ticket to take to the cashier, where you collect your moola. Of course, Coinstar takes a pretty percentage (almost 12%!!!), but I wasn't going to take the time to roll all the coins and take them into the bank. Hello, I have two children. So Coinstar took its commission and I was very fine with it.

So we went on our coin jar date! Coinstar counted our two jars of change and awarded us $43.81, which we decided to use at our favorite local Mexican restaurant. Thankfully, our waitress was a doll and let us ask her really annoying questions about the pricing of everything - we just wanted to make sure we weren't over-ordering so we could still leave enough to tip her 20%! Oh math. It wasn't my strong suit in school. Thank goodness for Stevie's brain - he calculated up front and we were able to order everything we wanted! Guacamole, drinks (margarita for him, sparkly water for me - I'm not drinking alcohol right now), and then fajitas for the two of us. It was sooooo good. And really fun and funny.

This date reminded me of the early days when we were married and living on very little. Our first year of marriage we were both in ministry school in California and working part-time jobs, so we lived on a tight budget and there was obviously very little extra for extravagant dates. Back then one of our standard Friday night dates was go to Chipotle, split a burrito (but we each got our own chips and guac - I don't share guac), and then go next store to Jamba Juice and each get our own smoothie. We would take everything to go and then head home and binge-watch Jack Bauer saving the country on 24. This was in the days before Netflix, and certainly before the practice of "Netflix and chill". Those times were challenging in a lot of ways, but now when I look back, I am so glad that we had those experiences. We were super budgeted and we still found ways to laugh and date and enjoy our life together, sans shopping and extras. Nowadays we aren't living that tight, but this date reminded me of those sweet early days when we were just kids, starting out and trying to live responsibly and take good care of each other. Now we have babies and a mortgage and we are pretending to be grown-ups - life has gone by so fast!

This was a really fun idea and I think we are going to try to make it an annual thing - our coin jar date night! I dare you to join me - if you decide to give it a try, make sure to post about it on instagram and tag me, along with #coinjardatenight. It will be fun to see what you're able to do with all the money found in between your couch cushions, don't you think?

P.S. - Just wanted to mention that this post isn't sponsored by Kroger or Coinstar (although I wish - I spend half my life at Kroger).

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Gap Midi Skirt, Banana Republic Tank, Lucky Wedge Heels, Banana Republic Scarf c/o, Banana Republic Clutch c/o,
Stella & Dot Alila Cuff

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas.

I have been searching high and low for my favorite chicken enchilada recipe. I've tried everyone's - Giada's, Ree Drummond's, Jessica Alba's, a zillion people on Epicurious and Allrecipes.com. But I haven't found THE ONE. Until now, that is. This recipe is a blend of trial and error (a lot of error - there have been batches lost to too much spice, too much cheese, too much sauce, too little sauce, etc.) I am excited to share this with you! I hope you love it as much as my family does :)

Ingredients:
- 3-4 boneless, skinless organic chicken breasts
- 4 32-oz. boxes of chicken stock
- 1-2 package tortillas (I prefer flour)
- 2 15-oz. cans red enchilada sauce
- 1 can green chilies
- 1 can diced black olives, drained
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 24 oz. Mexican-style cheese, shredded (this could be 3-4 packages)
- 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup, plus 1/2 cup more, cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1 green pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 tbsp. diced garlic
- salt & pepper, to taste
- paprika

Method:
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Place the chicken and 1 tbsp. diced garlic in a large stockpot and cover with the chicken stock. Toss in a bit of salt and pepper for good measure. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and let the chicken cook for about 20 minutes, or until cooked all the way through. It should be white and easy to slice through (that's how you will know it's done!)

3. While the chicken is cooking, you can prep everything else. In a smaller stockpot, pour the 2 cans of enchilada sauce and the 1 can of green chilies in and heat over medium-low. Let it slowly heat up. Make sure to stir every few minutes.

4. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine 18 oz. of the shredded cheese, the drained black olives, and the chopped cilantro. Mix well. Set aside.

5. Go ahead and de-seed and dice up the green pepper. Dice the yellow onion.

6. Once the chicken is finished cooking, remove from heat and drain out the broth. Move to a large plate or cutting board and shred the chicken meat.

7. Heat a large deep skillet over medium. Add some olive oil to the pan and allow 1-2 minutes to heat. Add in the diced onion and green pepper. Toss in a bit of salt and pepper, for funsies. After 3-4 minutes, when things are getting soft and slightly browned, toss in the shredded chicken. Then add the magic ingredient: the cream cheese. Allow the cheese to melt over the chicken, and mix everything well, so the chicken, cheese, onion and green pepper make a creamy situation. Yum. Yum yum yum. Lower the heat. 

8. Now it's time to dress your tortillas! Lay your tortilla flat and add some of the chicken mixture down the middle. Then top with the cheese, olive + cilantro mixture. Roll the tortilla up and place seam-side down in a large glass oven-safe pan. Repeat this with all the tortillas until your pan is full. Note: I had enough ingredients to make 1 large 9x13 pan and another 8x8 pan.

9. Pour the enchilada sauce over the top of all the tortillas in the pan, making sure to completely saturate the tortillas.

10. Top the tortillas with another 8 oz. of shredded cheese.

11. Bake in the oven at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

12. Top enchiladas with 1/2 cup of cilantro. Dress with sour cream, black beans or green onions - or nothing at all! These enchiladas can stand alone and stand proud.

Serves 6-8.

I really really REALLY love this recipe. It's taken me a good bit of trial and error to get here, so I am proud to share this with you. I hope it warms up your home on these days that are getting chillier and chillier :) Happy yummy dinner to you and your family!