I have two boys. A 16 year old and a 3 year old.  This year will mark the first Christmas I’ve ever spent away from my older son. He’s going out of town with his Dad.
I’ll miss him but I know he’ll have a lot of fun with all the family he will be visiting with over the Holiday. Plus, he seems excited to go.
The fact that Sam isn’t going to be here got me thinking about traditions and the way people feel about those traditions.  Sometimes I feel like our tradition is to not have any traditions.

We participate in other peoples traditions and we have a few of our own.  But the ones we have we are extremely flexible with. Sometimes I wonder if we are this way because of our age or if it’s because we are just this way. Like, I wonder if, in the future, it will suddenly become incredibly important to me for my kids to be with me on certain holidays regardless of how they feel about it.
I always expected in the future there would be Holidays that Sam would not spend with us because of the paths his life takes him on. And although this one came a little earlier than expected I believe it was inevitable.
I feel at peace with that fact now. I wonder if I won’t in 15 or 20 years.
I don’t ever want to make my kids feel guilty for not spending time with me if they’re busy. Life is way too short to feel guilty about things that aren’t meant to hurt anybody.

I’m not a religious person but I decided the other day that if I was a religious Christian I’d have to change The 10 Commandments to The 2 Commandments.
The 1st. Commandment would be: Thou shalt not purposefully or knowingly hurt another human being in any way. The 2nd. Commandment would be: Thou shall not feel guilty about anything except breaking commandment #1.

Here is a nice simple, yet decadent, lasagna to impress your Christmas Eve guests.
The heavy cream sort of puts it over the top creating these amazing custard like layers which temper the jalapeño, in a good way. I didn’t use real crab meat because frankly I didn’t want to turn this from a $25 lasagna into a $50 lasagna. But, I’m sure real crab-meat would’ve made it even better!

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Seafood Enchilada Lasagna

Ingredients

• 12 flour/corn blend tortillas I used Don Pancho brand
• 8 to 16 oz. green chili enchilada sauce I used Frontera
• 1 lb. raw shrimp size 51/60 (shelled, deveined, and rinsed)
• 1 lb. imitation crab meat diced small you can use real crab if you want
• 1-7 oz. can of pickled jalapeño slices drained
• 1- 2 to 3 oz. can sliced black olives drained
• 2 cloves of fresh garlic minced
• 2-7 oz. cans of salsa verde
• 1.5 tsp. cumin
• 1 to 2 Tbsp. oil I used grape seed oil
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 8 oz cream cheese cubed
• 16 oz. 2 packages Mexican style shredded cheese (I used Kraft with a hint of Philadelphia cream cheese)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9"x13" pan with foil lined parchment paper.
2. In a small sauce pan heat cream over medium low.
3. When the cream is hot (almost a simmer) add the cream cheese and stir until smooth.
4. Remove the cream mixture from the heat and add 1/2 (8 oz.) of the shredded cheese (a little at a time), stirring constantly until all cheese is melted in and the sauce is smooth. Add 1/2 tsp. of the cumin and stir. Set aside.
5. Over medium high heat in a medium sauté pan add the oil, jalapeños, olives, and garlic. Stir for a minute.
6. Add the raw shrimp and the imitation crab meat and stir until the shrimp begins to turn pink.
7. Pour both cans of salsa verde over the crab and shrimp mixture. Add 1 tsp. of the cumin.
8. Stir until well combined and simmering.
9. Taste mixture add salt and pepper as needed.
10. Remove from heat.
11. Pour all enchilada sauce into a large shallow dish.
12. To assemble lasagna dip each tortilla into the enchilada sauce coating both sides.
13. Arrange 4 coated tortillas in the bottom, and up the sides, of your lined pan.
14. Ladle about 2 cups of the meat mixture over the tortillas and spread out evenly.
15. Pour 1/2 to 1 cup of the cheese sauce evenly over the meat mixture.
16. Sprinkle 1/3 of the remaining shredded cheese over the cream sauce.
17. Repeat exact sequence of layers one more time.
18. Top lasagna with one more layer of tortillas, a layer of cream sauce, and the last of the shredded cheese.
19. Bake uncovered for 40 to 50 minutes. Until the cheese on top is golden brown and the lasagna is hot and bubbly.
20. Let the lasagna rest outside the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
21. Slice and EAT!!!