I made a new friend earlier this year, Fred, an entrepreneur from Canada. We instantly clicked and I felt like I'd met my personality twin. Fred is a Do-er. A Go-getter. An Influencer. A Positive Thinker. One of the most confident people I'd ever met. We were talking about how he goes ‘all in’ on things. Fred said, "When I invest in something, it's 100% on me and I don't eff it up. I will never disappoint myself." (Wow.)
In context, Fred was talking about actually investing his time and money in projects. If he’s going to start a jam-making business, he’s in it to win it. He won’t fail by his sheer will to not let himself down. An impressive and inspiring approach, right?
I found a lesson in our conversation: When we're asked to do something that is daunting, there’s all this pressure to do it right, to please others, to be liked, to not disappoint. But all of our efforts are dependent on someone else's perception, their opinion of right and wrong, their pleasure, their approval.
But what if we went ‘all in', the whole enchilada, giving 100%, to please ourselves first. We wouldn’t act out of fear, we wouldn’t second guess ourselves, and we’d trust our instincts. I bet we’d have more wins, more home runs, more success, don’t you think?
I practice Fred’s philosophy as a cook in New York City. I go all in. I think I’ve been successful because I pretend I’m the client every single time. If I was planning a party for my friends or cooking dinner for my family, I wouldn’t half-ass it. I’d go to the extreme to make it perfect. I’d pull out all the stops. I’d push myself to give my all.
How would I want my party to go? Smoothly. How would I want my food to taste if my friends and family were eating it? Like it was special and made just for them. If I was hiring myself I’d be low maintenance, but I would have extremely high standards. I’d give myself the entire experience - the whole enchilada!
I looked up the idiom ‘whole enchilada’ and a few different sites said it means the entirety of something. Sure, but where did the saying come from? Other sites said the British version of the whole enchilada is caboodle. As in ‘I want the whole kit and caboodle.’ Fair enough, but then what’s a caboodle?! I found this: Caboodle may come from the Dutch word boedel meaning possessions’.
Ooooh.
Possessions = My Stuff.
My Stuff = Mine.
Mine = Me/I
Which brings me back to "When I invest in something, it's 100% on me and I don't eff it up. I will never disappoint myself."
The Whole Enchilada.
This holiday season as we close out 2017 and begin to welcome the new year, it's a perfect opportunity to go all in. Do things with 100% effort. (One of my all time favorite sayings: 100% effort = 100% results!) Please yourself first and the people around you will be pleased. Take pride in your job, imagine you’re the client - you’ll make fewer mistakes, you’ll find more joy in your tasks.
You didn’t think I’d leave you hanging with all this enchilada talk and not give you a recipe, did you? I created these mole enchiladas for Stoneridge Orchards using their dried cranberries. What?! Yup. Authentic mole sauce uses raisins and I subbed in cranberries. This dish sings with holiday ingredients and is a welcome change from the traditional holiday meal.
TURKEY ENCHILADAS WITH CRANBERRY MOLE SAUCE
INGREDIENTS
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 8 oz sour cream
- 4 oz can of mild green chiles
- 2 cups leftover roast turkey, shredded OR the meat of one large rotisserie chicken, shredded
- Salt and pepper
- 12 corn tortillas
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Mole Sauce (see below)
- Grated cheddar cheese
For Mole Sauce:
- 1 dried ancho chile, stem and seeds removed
- 1 dried guajilo chile, stem and seeds removed
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 can (1 lb 12 oz) chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 cup Stoneridge Orchards All Natural Dried Cranberries
- 1 Tbsp chopped garlic
- 2 corn tortillas, torn into pieces
- 2 oz dark chocolate
- 1/2 tsp cracked red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
DIRECTIONS
- Make the Mole Sauce:
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
- Add dried chiles and almonds, stirring until lightly toasted.
- Remove chiles and almonds with slotted spoon and place in the bowl of a food processor. Purée until smooth. Set aside.
- Add remaining Mole ingredients to the skillet and simmer 15 minutes. Let cool slightly.
- Add contents of skillet to the chile mixture in the food processor and purée until a smooth sauce is formed. Set aside.
- Combine cream of chicken soup, sour cream, green chiles, and meat in a bowl. Season to taste.
- Heat 4 Tbsp oil in medium skillet.
- One by one, slip the tortillas into the oil. Cook several seconds, flipping halfway through; tortillas should be coated in oil and no longer have a raw quality.
- Lay all fried tortillas on a flat surface.
- Evenly distribute filling mixture among tortillas, roll them into tubes and place in 9x13 pan coated in non-stick spray.
- Cover enchiladas with Mole Sauce and cheddar cheese.
- Bake 20 minutes or until bubbling.
- Remove from oven and serve immediately.
