Tay M. | Tay's Bipolar Kitchen

Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken enchiladas are one of my favorite dishes. For decades, this dish has been in my life. I have such wonderful memories of my great-grandmother making a pan of ground beef enchiladas without olives when I was a tiny tot. During my teenage years, my grandmother/mom would make them for me. As she got older, she started to experiment by adding raisins to the ground beef filling. It was not quite my thing, but I loved her adventurous spirit. It wasn’t long before it was my turn to start making our family dish. Unlike my matriarchs, my tastes were simpler. I like cheese enchiladas with fire-roasted green chiles and white onion topped with a red sauce and plenty of cheese.

At one point, my friend Edna provided me with her family recipe for enchilada sauce that used smoky chipotle peppers. Sadly, that recipe has been lost, and I can’t recall all the ingredients. It was not a traditional sauce because it used tomatoes, but it was delicious, nonetheless. At this point in life, I tend to use canned sauce since getting dried chiles is a little difficult here in Dayton, Ohio.

Different Fillings

For the vegan options, swap out the Monterey Jack cheese for vegan shreds.

Vegan “Chicken” Enchiladas: Follow the recipe for the Chipotle Vegan Tacos filling. Use veggie stock if more liquid is needed.

Ground Beef Enchiladas: The chicken can be replaced with 2 pounds of browned 80% ground beef. Use beef stock if more liquid is needed.

Vegan “Beef” Enchiladas: Use 1 ½ pound of ground Beyond Meat instead of ground beef. Finally, diced mushrooms can also be used. Use veggie stock if more liquid is needed.

Cheese Enchiladas: Increase the cheese by 8 to 12 ounces and omit the chicken for cheese enchiladas. It is your choice if you want to keep the garlic, onion, and jalapeño or omit. Use the block cheese instead of the pre-shredded. They use anti-caking powder that makes it harder for the cheese to melt and looks like it has a film over it. Also, feel free to use pepper jack, mild cheddar, or any melting cheese you like.

Vegan Cheese Enchiladas: Use vegan queso inside along with olives, green onion fire-roasted green chiles. Omit the jalapeño if desired.

Flour or Corn

Personally, I always use corn tortillas. I like the texture of corn over the flour. However, the choice is yours. Unless you use street taco size flour tortillas, you will probably get just over a dozen enchiladas instead of two.

Equipment Needed
8-inch skillet	3 qt saucepan	4 qt sauté pan	6 or 8 qt stockpot
Rimmed half sheet pan (13x18x1)	Chef’s knife	Grater (large holes)	Measuring spoons
Cutting board	Can opener	Slotted spoons	Spatula
Tongs	Measuring liquid cup	Foil	2 Dinner plates
1 medium bowl (4 cups)	3 small bowls (one cup )	2 large bowls (6 cups)	Hand or stand mixer

Chicken Enchiladas

Cheesy, saucy yummy chicken enchiladas.

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Prep Time: 1

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 1 30

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings:

Calories: 417.72kcal

Author: Tay M.

Ingredients

3 ½ lb. whole chicken bone-in and skin on
2 white onions
6 whole cloves garlic
2 ½ tsp kosher salt
2 – 4 jalapeno or serrano chiles seeded and diced
1 – 7.75 oz El Pato green, yellow, or red can
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp Mexican oregano
2 tsp ground chiles ancho, chipotle, New Mexico, or your choice
2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1 – 28 oz can red enchilada sauce
1 – 28 oz can green enchilada sauce
1 – 4 oz can fire-roasted green chiles diced
1 – 3.8 oz can black olives sliced
1 – bunch green onions thinly sliced
32 oz Monterey Jack cheese block grated
24 corn tortillas
Vegetable or canola oil for frying

Instructions

For the Chicken:

Peel one white onion then cut into quarters.
Place whole chicken in a 6 or 8-quart stockpot with onion quarters, 3 whole cloves of garlic, and kosher salt. Cover with cool filtered water by 1-inch. Bring to a simmer for 1 hour, check for doneness.
Meanwhile, dice the remaining onion and garlic; keep them separated. Seed and dice the serrano or jalapeno peppers. Set aside
Strain chicken into a colander set in a large bowl save chicken broth. Do not discard.
Discard onions, garlic, skin, and bones.
Using folks pull the chicken apart to shred or use a hand or stand mixer on low. You can also allow the chicken to cool and shred by hand.
In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add to 2 tablespoons of oil. Once hot, add onions and chiles, sauté for 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic, stirring constantly until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Add cumin, dried oregano, and dried chiles, sauté for another minute. Add shredded chicken and tomato sauce. Add ¼ to ½ cup of leftover chicken broth if more liquid is needed.
Simmer for 20 minutes over medium-low heat. The chicken should be “saucy” with no runny liquid.

For the Tortillas, Sauce, and Filling

In a 3-quart saucepan, add both cans of enchilada sauce, simmer over medium heat for 15, stirring every 2 to 3 minutes. Cool slightly, then pour into a large bowl. Set aside.
Meanwhile, grate cheese into a large bowl. Pre-grated cheese has an anti-caking agent that stops the cheese from melting smoothly; if possible, try not to use it.
Drain olives. Rough chop about two-thirds of the can place in a medium-sized bowl. Set the remaining slices aside in a small bowl for garnishing.
Drain green chilies, add to the bowl with the olives.
Thinly slice 6-8 green onions, including the white part, add them to the bowl with olives and chiles. Save ½ to 1 cup of part green for garnish in a bowl.
In a small skillet, heat 1 tbsp of oil over medium-high heat. Add on tortilla in the pan and fry each side for about a minute each. The tortillas should be pliable and not crispy. Stack them on paper towels to drain

To Assemble:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
On a half sheet pan, spoon enough enchilada sauce to coat the bottom of the pan, about ½ to ¾ cup.
Set up your assembly station. Use a dinner plate to roll each enchilada. Place the bowl of sauce and tortillas close to the rolling plate. Line up the chicken, cheese, and olive mixture.
Quickly dip the tortilla into the enchilada sauce and place it on the rolling plate.
Spoon chicken onto the end of the tortilla closest to you. Add cheese and olive mixture.
Roll the tortilla away from you, place it on the sheet pan. Continue until all tortillas are used.
Evenly spread enchiladas with more sauce. Cover with cheese. Top them with sliced olives and green onion tops.
Loosely cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10-15 minutes more or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @taysbpkitchen or tag #taysbpkitchen!

Mental Health Wellness TikTokers

The pandemic has lasted longer than most expected in March 2020. While the world dissolved into fear and uncertainty, some sought to unplug from the heavy onslaught of knowledge by tuning into media streaming services, creating new hobbies, and social media. For me, I turned to social media. Who would think you could find so much positivity on social media. Imagine my surprise when I came across five professional mental health wellness Tiktokers, which I love.

I am going to let you in on a little secret; I love TikTok. Yes, I am a GenXer tiptoeing through the Gen Z Tiktok streets, mostly undetected. Regardless of what you may or may not have heard, TikTok can be extremely entertaining, inspiring, engaging, and educating. Since this is a mental health wellness post, be sure to check out my disclaimer before you continue. Following my advice, I talked to my therapists about these accounts. He gave me the thumbs up and was happy I found uplifting content.

Side One

Outside of viral dances and mental health accounts, you can find musicians, ballet dancers, and figure skaters. Not to mention, there are layers of cooks, eateries, and chefs to satisfy almost anyone. Of course, you have mainstream music artists, comedians, and actors galore. Furthermore, you can find people who give the news, talk about science, and a wide range of other topics. All you have to do is search TikTok, and you can find almost anything, that is, if it does not break it is community guidelines (that are enforced in a very random way, to say it nicely)

Side Two

However, let’s be honest, just like any other social media platform, there is always a level of bickering, harassment, and unsavory behavior. TikTok is also a place where people share their advocacy and ignorance on a wide range of topics. I have seen constructive and honest conversations happening in the comments. Sadly, I have seen unconstructive and conversations devolve into attacks and general ugliness. Therefore just like any other platform, I tend to disengage from certain videos when my tank is low.

TikTok Therapists?

When I need a mental boost between therapy sessions, I turn into five mental health wellness Tiktokers, which I have come to love very much. All of them speak authentically and fearlessly, using pop culture and new trends to deliver their message. Just like any proficient therapist, they can make you feel uncomfortable, which is always a tell-tell sign that an internal searching needs to take place. For me being uncomfortable has been a sign that I am on the precipice of change. On the other hand, their delivery is also entertaining, relatable, and honest. As noted below, you can see these professionals bring their insights to TikTok to spread mental health awareness and wellness. Even though you might pick up several good tips, these accounts are by no means a replacement for any type of therapy.

My Favorite Tiktok Mental Health Professionals

@raquelmartinphd, Raquel Martin Ph.D., is a “Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Podcast Host.” She keeps it very real from the preceptive of a woman and a POC in the field. She gives me that solid advice which helps me to evaluate my perspective internally and externally.

@raquelmartinphd
Sometimes your brain can be such a hater ???? ##thoughts ##learnontiktok ##blacktherapists ##healing ##growth ##therapy ##feelings ##trainyourbrain
♬ original sound – RaquelMartinPhD

@Thecoachingcounselor, Chis Diquone, is a “mental health therapist, high school counselor, and coach.” His platform of a mix of shoe fashion, practical mental health advice, and good ole fun. He is full of humor and honesty. Even though he works mostly with kids, the knowledge he imparts is useful for all ages.

@thecoachingcounselor
##mentalhealthawareness ##mentalhealth ##adhd ##adhdtiktok ##schoolcounselor ##lgbtq ##blm ##therapy ##anxious ##anxiety ##mentalhealthmatters ##mh
♬ Blue Blood – Heinz Kiessling & Various Artists

@embodimend, Cris, a “mental health & energy healing therapist,” brings a New York state of mind and East Coast vibe to her account, dishing out mental health realness. She definitely helps guide people to feel comfortable in their own skin.

@embodimend
##duet with @queerblacktherapist important message from a fellow therapist. Thank you ##MentalHealthMatters ##TikTokTherapist ##Embodimend
♬ original sound – QueerBlackTherapist

@drhanren, Han Ren, Ph.D., a Psychologist who helps expose and navigate colonialism in the mental health profession. Her content makes you confront your biases and others to ensure you get the care you need. She points out how medical bias in the mental health industry.

@drhanren
Reply to @availableusername03 some ##friends aren’t worth your time. ##friendships ##frienemies
♬ Send Me on My Way – Vibe Street

@that.anxious.therapist, Alysia, LPCC, LADC, a self-proclaimed “anxious emo kid turned anxious therapist,” humanizes therapy by showing you can still achieve with a mental health diagnosis. She is very frank and honest about her struggles. Her relaxed demeanor is enduring, which helps the viewers connect.

@that.anxious.therapist
Message for those struggling today ##mothersday ##LoveMeMode ##MillionActsofLove
♬ original sound – Alysia, LPCC, LADC (she/her)

Stay tuned to my favorite cooking accounts on TikTok!

care for you mental health wellness social media therapists tiktok

Redefining Success

Remember when participation trophies were a thing? Some bristled at the idea of giving rewards to “losers” regardless of the intent. In all honesty, the concept was great, but the execution needed some work. Stated plainly, it was not a reward for losing. It was meant to be acknowledgment and encouragement to keep pushing forward. In our society, so many activities are based on win-or-lose; it is imperative to understand that losing is not the end of the journey.

Most successful people have a long list of failures under their belt. Each one of those unsuccessful attempts was a learning stepping stone to move them closer to success. Nonetheless, in general, failing sucks and causes us to feel there is something wrong within ourselves. Imagine if I told you that failing does not make you a loser. Perhaps the timing was poor, did not do enough research, overestimated demand, focused on the wrong market, and so on. Those items and more are mistakes, perhaps even costly ones.

Let’s reexamine how we view success. Pretend you want to be a doctor. There are several steps to get the end goal, such as:

having a certain GPA
acceptance into college
finishing college
gaining acceptance to med school
finishing med school
internship
residency
fellowship
passing boards

Some will look at this list and think success is only found after completing the last item. In actuality, accomplishment is found after each level. Typically, there are layers to reach a certain level of achievement. Unfortunately, people tend to have their eyes so focused on the prize they do not stop acknowledging and appreciating each completed step. Some who stumble along the way may quit all together because they feel like failures. For this reason, it is crucial to be able to look back and be grateful for the completed attainments. Moreover, those completed steps can provide the tenacity we need to dust ourselves off and keep on moving forward.

While the emphasis is often placed on winning or the end goal, success is built with every milestone achieved. Each test, personal best, and so on smashed is a successfully placed building block. Celebrating these milestones can help to hold you up when you fall. By making a habit of acknowledging the miles traveled, making mistakes will not always feel like starting over.

Stay tuned to more Care for You posts!

care for you mental health wellness success

My Love Story

Man, I am so in love. It is amazing how someone can be right before your very eyes, yet you don’t notice them.

This kind of love is new to me. It is uncompromising but kind. It is strict and demanding but encouraging. It holds me to a higher standard of accountability and acceptance. It is protective, comforting, and unyielding.

It was so hard to accept. I turned away from it many times, ignoring it for the love of another. Sadly, I could not accept and give love when I didn’t have it for myself.

Loving myself led me back to school. Loving myself got me out of a toxic friendship and living situation. Loving myself finally let me accept I needed more help to be healthy; therefore, the gastric sleeve. It is this love, which has me walking around my apartment because it is cold outside.

This love also doesn’t allow me excuses when I fall into bad eating habits. This love doesn’t care how many times I have to start over. This love pushes me to take care of myself first and foremost.

It is true; I have neglected my friends. I was too busy exploring this love. This care. This new state of being. I’ve never felt love like this before.

My Love Today

A year ago today, I wrote this letter and posted it on Facebook. For the first time, I could see the love I had for myself. My love wasn’t this abstract concept I was trying to force myself to believe. I was truly smitten with myself. There was no shame or conceit in this self-admiration. Today, I still feel the same.

Never feel ashamed to love yourself out loud. Love yourself, how you want someone else to love you. Count the flaws, imperfections, and quirks, then add them to the list of items that make you unique. Acknowledge areas of improvement and change while realizing there is enough self-love inside of you to make progress in those areas. Love your humanity because, as a human, you will make mistakes. Hone your patience because it takes time to grow. Keep pressing forward, and you will get there.

Self-Love Despite Struggles

2020 has been an unforgettable year for a variety of reasons. For many of us worldwide, this has been a time of confusion, stress, and unprecedented uncertainty. Globally, we feel the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic as it continues to rage on for over nine months. Personally, this time has taken a toll on my mental health as both my college and my work went virtual.

In my life, segmentation plays a significant role. I function better when I have separate places for schooling, working, and home life. Having all three of these combined for such a long time took an unexpected toll on my life. I continue to be grateful to have a job still. Working from home allowed me to do my job in a compacity, which I feel benefited the students. However, the move to online-only schooling posed some difficulties that I was unable to overcome. Sadly, as spring, summer, and fall semesters ticked by, I saw my GPA drop. In fact, I had to take an incomplete in most of my fall classes.

All this stress, combined with uncertainty, threw my mental health for a loop. I had more manic episodes than I ever had in my life. While mania feels good, I could not sit down and concentrate enough to do my homework. Hours would be wasted on repeatedly reading the same page because I could not comprehend what I was reading. My level of frustration grew to the point of wanting to quit school. Luckily, the staff at my school was able to work with me as I went through two medication changes and two tweaks to the time I took my medicine.

I am very confident that self-love got me through these challenges. It was that love that sought out care to fix my crumbling mental state. It was the desire to better myself, born from self-love, which pushed me to try to work out some type of agreement with my professors. If I was not so smitten with myself, I could have easily given up out of shame or embarrassment. Please realize, I understand how hard it can be to admit to others that you are struggling with mental health issues. However, I am worth the effort to get myself closer to the place I want to be.

Moving Forward

Now that I am more stable, I will be spending my break catching up on about four weeks of assignments. I feel confident I can get this done before the start of the spring semester. Consequently, that means my posting schedule may become even more erratic during that time. I want to thank you in advance for having patience with me. I look forward to coming back soon!

Personal Experiences are posts that speak directly to my journey with mental health. My goal with sharing these experiences is to show how the concepts I write about look in practice.

If you want to hear more of my personal experiences, please click here!

mental health personal experience self-love

Being Aware

It is my hope, sharing my journey will provide some insight into your own journey. Before trying anything, I mentioned, as always, check with medical professionals. Please check out my medical disclaimer link.

Awareness at the Start

At the beginning of my mental health journey, I thought being aware was the entire battle. My Virgo mind assumed knowing my behavior was unacceptable, toxic, and wrong would be enough to counteract it. Sadly, it was not. It was like watching the same movie over and over but still being frustrated at the ending. Being aware of my feelings of rage, hopelessness, despair, and more did not change my reactions or actions. In fact, at the start, I felt being aware was doing more harm than good. Seeing myself fall into the same patterns with full awareness was frustrating. At the time, I questioned myself as a human being since I continued being so awful. These were some of the darkest times in my journey.

Soon it was clear, I could no longer trust my emotions and feelings. They were coming from a place I did not know much about or understand. I needed to decipher what was genuine and what was not. For this post, please note the word genuine is different than real (actual) or valid (legitimate). Genuine in this context is closer to the meaning of true when considered against the triggering event. For example, I find myself upset at a friend who sits in my regular spot at Starbucks. Is that feeling genuine? In truth, taking the seat triggered an emotion because of past experiences. Therefore, the feelings are not genuinely linked to the action of my friend sitting in my seat.

Turning to Logic

Consequently, I turned to using logic to pick through my mental state to help control my emotional wellbeing. This is a skill I picked up at several programs. To perform putting logic over emotion, the use of a thought record was employed. Over several months, I completed at least one every day. It got to the point where I could run through the process in my head; yet, doing one on paper still has its benefits.

Thought records basically force a person to evaluate their thoughts surrounding a particular feeling or emotion via a series of questions. The goal is to help someone to realign their thinking about a particular emotion or feeling. This process was key to helping me sharpen my awareness.

Moving Deeper into Being Aware

I discovered there was another component to awareness that I had overlooked. In my case, I needed to be conscious of the root of these feelings. Where did these feelings originate? What are the triggers? Desperately, I would search for answers and understanding. There were times I was able to find what I was seeking. While other times, I could not, and I became fixated on trying to find the missing pieces. Sadly, this obsession pulled me away from recovery and refocused my attention on something which was not obtainable. In other words, I was spinning my wheels.

Making Peace Without Answers

After a time, I realized I would not get some of the answers I wanted. Honestly, this was a tough pill to swallow. Of all the concepts I have practiced, making peace without answers was the hardest to put into action. I felt I could not move forward without those remedies. I was angry and hurt that someone did these things to me and would not give me what I needed to fix myself.

Often, I wanted to know why I was chosen for abuse. How could a parent do those things to their child? Why didn’t my abuser seek help for her own mental health issues? However, my abuser died before I started asking these questions during my journey. When they were alive, they did not acknowledge any wrongdoing, often blaming me for their actions.

So how do you move forward without answers? The answer for me was making peace with not understanding. Furthermore, I had to come to the realization that even if I knew the answers, it would not change anything. There are no magic words that could have been uttered to excuse anything which happened to me. At this point, I had to ask myself, why do I continue to let myself stand still in my recovery?

Beyond Awareness

At some point, I had an epiphany. My recovery involved me and me alone. I could not hang my progress over the neck of someone else. Everything was in my own hands. It is about my relationship with my thoughts, feelings, actions, and emotions. While understanding the reason for their genesis could be helpful, it was not required in the least. Being aware that another’s actions triggered reactions (aimed at helping me cope) is all I need to understand. The desire to understand what caused the other party to act in such a way was a burden, and I needed to put it down.

The Other Side of Being Aware

The downside of sharpening my awareness is noticing my mood changes when I am heading into an episode. Of course, this sounds fantastic, but the phenomenon is duel sided. On the one hand, it is fantastic to have what amounts to an early detection system. If my mood starts to tank, I can get in there earlier to help head off a full episode. In opposition, when a problem is outside the realm of control with coping skills (needing my medication adjusted), it can be frustrating to notice changes and feel unable to make any significant moves to reverse the emotional and mental collapse.

That being said, I would not give up being aware. This is another item that I need to learn to manage better. As I cover more ground on this journey, I come to realize recovery is like building blocks. As skills and knowledge are added, they interlink, stack, or combine with information I already own. However, this process is not automatic, and it can take some time to completely fold in a new skill.

If you are interested in other posts about my personal experiences, please feel free to click here.

awareness no recipe personal experience

Spicy BLT Avocado Toast

BLT meets avocado toast and has a party with some spicy jalapenos. This hardy toast is a feast of textures and flavors.

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Say it with me, Spicy BLT Avocado Toast. Perhaps I should start off by saying that I did not think I liked avocado for the longest time. I know, I know. What type of self-respecting southern Californian does not like avocado? I swear I did not. Boy, I have never been so happy to prove myself wrong.

As part of my Tay Tastes Things (again)! Series, I decided to put avocado to the test. Now, I could not just do it any ole kind of way; I had to be different. Therefore, I took something I knew I liked, the BLT, and mixed it with something I was not sure I liked. It was a hit!

That being said, I still do not slather avocado on everything. Oddly enough, I have to continue to remind myself I enjoy the fruit. Since it is after Thanksgiving and I have a couple of pounds of turkey to get through, I am thinking now it is the time to start slicing and smearing avocado on turkey sandwiches. Turkey BLT with avocado and sliced cheddar cheese sounds like a winner to me. Oh, come on! Bacon and turkey go hand-in-hand, same with bacon and avocado, including cheddar, bacon, and avocado. It is a win-win situation!

Eventually, I will start cozying up with my newfound love on other culinary applications. For now, I want to take my time to really get to know them. It may take a little bit to integrate avocado into my life, and the Spicy BLT Avocado Toast is the vehicle to usher me into new foodie delights.

Some other honorable mentions for Tay Tastes Things (again) include mushrooms (delicious), kimchi (delicious), Gochujang paste (super flavorful), and Gochugaru flakes (extra flavorful).

I hope you give Spicy BLT Avocado Toast a whirl. At the very least, try something new this week! Enjoy!

Spicy Avocado Toast

BLT meets avocado toast and has a party with some spicy jalapenos. This hardy toast is a feast of textures and flavors.

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Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 15

Total Time: 40

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 361.54kcal

Author: Tay M.