Chicken chili

I know it’s been a while since we talked but seriously, Ava no longer sleeps like she used to. So I’m on Ava duty all the time. In fact, the only reason I’m able to do this now is because she decided to nap after 2oz of formula. So I better get moving on this meal.

I always have chicken in the freezer. And ever since ABP saw it on sale at Costco, I have even MORE chicken in my freezer. So much it scares me. But I’ll use it.

This meal was very simple. I did nothing different from the instructions. Well I didn’t have corn so that was omitted. I also used 2 tablespoons of my home made taco seasoning. Other than that, I made this perfectly according to directions. Oh! I used one can of rotel instead of separate cans as listed in the recipe.

It was absolutely delicious. I served this over steamed white rice and topped it, mine anyway, with freshly grated cheddar cheese. Jordyn loved it, as did ABP. He took some leftovers to work and a friend / coworker had a taste and asked me for the recipe. (shout out to evelyn!) sorry it took me this long to post the recipe. Better late than never right?!

So the next time you have a freezer full of chicken and need a meal that’s ready when you walk in the door, give this a try. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Two minutes to deliciousness

Tonight I really didn’t make anything exciting. I had a busy day so dinner was simply baking some fish, whipping up a quick pasta tossed in garlic infused olive oil, crushed red pepper flakes and salt, and a side of green beans (jordyn’s choice). Seriously, to say this exact meal could be found in your average tv dinner would be fair and accurate, but it was good and my peeps ate every bit.

Dessert, however, was pinned a few days ago and tested tonight. I found this and thought, ‘whoa, a brownie in two minutes. No way.’. Well guess what, YES way. Here’s how it went down.

Jordyn helped measure, mix and stir the ingredients and then we made the magic happen in the good ole microwave. We ended up doing three reps of 30 seconds before it reached the spongy consistency mentioned in the recipe. The end result was perfect.

We divided it up into our cute little dessert cups, topping them, of course, with a bit of vanilla ice cream, a dollop of whipped topping and a dash of multi colored sprinkles. The only thing we lacked was a cherry on top but now that I say that, we actually had those too. Next time.

I think I’ll make these again tomorrow night when aldemar is here. He seems to like this type of thing. Now, if you want a lot of brownie you shouldn’t share this with two other people. But for us it was perfect.

So the next time you want something sweet, sure you could grab a handful of grapes but really, wouldn’t a quick chocolate brownie REALLY get the job done better? Yes.. I thought so too.

Chinese take out, sort of

Long time, no blog eh? Yeah I know. It’s not that I’ve not wanted to blog, quite the contrary. It’s just that life happens and before you know it, it’s been like 2 weeks since I blogged. And, for the record, I’ve been cooking and pinning my little (I wish) butt off. I have an arsenal of stuff I’ve already made so get ready readers. Cuz when I have the time, I’m gonna catch up.

But tonight I was so excited about our meal that I had to MAKE time to blog. Ava is snoozing after eating a bit of green beans. (side note: she seems to really like them. The peas, not so much but I’ll try those again later). Have you ever said to yourself, ‘I really want Chinese food but don’t want to go out for it?’. Well I didn’t really say that either. I chose tonight’s meal simply because I pinned it and HAD all the stuff I needed to make it. Now here’s what I’ll tell you up front. This meal will jack up your kitchen in every way possible. And if you know me, you know I clean as I cook. But this meal, well it wasn’t that easy. It looked like it snowed on the cooktop. But to see my kitchen now post meal, you would never have known the chaos that ensued during the cooking process.

Before you go any further, here’s the recipe. Now that you’ve seen it and read it, here’s how it went down when I made it.

I had two large chicken breasts and cut them up into small chunks. I must have ended up with a million chunks. Or maybe 35 I really couldn’t tell. All I know is it seemed like I was dipping those suckers in egg for EVER. Now the recipe says to dip in cornstarch THEN egg but that was weird to me. So I did egg then cornstarch, which was just fine. I fried these babies up in batches. My mom in law got me one of those green organic skillet things. You know, as seen on tv, so that’s what I used. Worked fine but during the frying process, some (lots) of the cornstarch came off and formed a thick crust like goo. I still fried each and every piece of chicken though. I put them on paper towels to get off any grease (like it mattered) then out them in the baking dish.

The sauce, well here’s where I changed things up. I read in the comments that some people found the sauce too vinegary. I did not wish to feel the same so I used 1/4 cup instead of half. The other ingredients I used per directions except I adjusted the sugar slightly. Just taste it and go with your gut.

I did not turn my chicken chunks to coat both sides before baking. Nor did I turn them halfway thru the baking process. Mostly because Ava wouldn’t let me and I was lazy. More the lazy part. And you know what. You couldn’t tell.

If you love sweet and sour chicken, you need to make this dish. It was really very simple and chances are you, too, have everything in your pantry and frig to make it. I paired this up with steamed rice (shocker I know) and stir fry veggies. But this chicken was the show stopper. I have enough rice and chicken for lunch tomorrow and I might not even tell ABP about it. Muhahahahaha

Happy b-day, AB Positive

Yes today my beloved is another year older. 42 to be exact. And let me tell you, he looks better now than he did when we met 5 years ago. Seriously. Why is it that us gals buy every cream, concealer and hair color we can get our hands on JUST so we can attempt to stop the clock or freeze time, while the men in our lives look better with each passing year? Or maybe I’m the only one buying those those things. I am, after all, an AVON lady. (DING DONG, Avon calling)

So yes, in honor of AB Positive’s special day, I made him a special meal. I decided to make this. It’s called ‘man pleasing chicken’ so I found it fitting to make this for my man. I had everything I needed so it was a perfect fit. Until I realized I didn’t have enough Dijon mustard. (clutch the pearls!!). So after I squeezed everything I could out of the container, I poured in my rice vinegar and shook the bottle up to release anything stuck to the sides. I did that a couple times actually. Then I added the syrup and stirred it up. I tasted my concoction and it tasted great so I figure my measurements were ok, or close enough anyway.

I have three packages of chicken thighs, from Costco so you can imagine how big they were. I loaded ALL of them into my foil lined baking dish and poured the mustard sauce over all of them. (yes, in case you’re wondering, I made more than the recipe calls for in the sauce department) ((probably about slightly over a cup of the sauce is what I had.)). I also forgot to salt and pepper my chicken before pouring the sauce on so when I turned the chicken halfway thru baking …. That’s when I made my seasoning move. It was just fine.

I will say, this chicken was delish. It browned beautifully, the sauce was perfect and everyone loved it. Aldemar had 4 thighs, which was more than anyone. Funny side note: he thanked me for making it but told AB Positive how good it was. I know deep down I made it so I tucked that little compliment away in my memory. Even though he told his dad, it was meant for me. So yes, this is a great dish. I would say make this for a nice family gathering. I served this with steamed rice and peas.

Dessert was another showstopper. We had no cake. AB Positive (from here on out he is now known by the initials ABP cuz its easier to type.) isn’t a fan of buttercream so he doesn’t like traditional birthday cakes. Being the awesome wife that I am, I made these babies. If you’ve never had Biscoff cookies you can sample them one of two ways. Take a flight on Delta. Or swing by your nearest store. I found these at my local Walmart market. The spread was also found at the same market, which really surprised me. It comes in a glass jar, which surprised me again. These were super simple to make but taste like you used ingredients found in a specialty food store. And honestly, I made these while Ava slept so if any of you have or have had a 4 month old you know the sleeping is touch and go at best. Oh and you should know, I didn’t pipe anything. I spooned the filling in ramekins and then spooned the whipped cream on top before serving. I try to not be so fancy shamncy. (I kid…if I COULD pipe this stuff I totally would but the last time I tried to pipe filling into a cupcake, the bag exploded and I looked like I came in second at a chocolate pudding wrestle fest).

The entire meal was a huge success. Everyone loved everything, especially ABP. What makes me nervous because next year I have to up the ante for the birthday dinner. Or I’ll just make this again, I’m betting he won’t know the difference.

Something so good you should never make it

I mentioned this recipe once before but I truly feel it deserves it’s own post.

I love peanut butter fudge. And when I say ‘love’ I mean if I had to choose between shopping for shoes (if you know me, you know I love shoes) and eating peanut butter fudge…I’m going with the fudge. I have tried any and all peanut butter fudges that I’ve come across. And honestly I’ve never had a totally terrible one. Sure I like some better than others but that can be said about anything.

THIS FUDGE, on the other hand, is so freaking good you will NEVER want to make it again. EVER. I have made it twice. And both times I have eaten it for breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, evening snack post dinner, really it’s sad. I even made it one time with chocolate frosting for that chocolate / peanut butter thing…but it wasn’t anywhere near as good. (which is probably how I should make it all the time since I didn’t like it that much). But no, I made it the right way. And have single handedly eaten almost the entire pan. For the love of God, why did I have to find this recipe!?

For the record, I’m not eating it now, though I wish I were. Instead, I ate a pear. It was delicious, but peanut butter fudge it was not. I’m trying very hard to not go and just eat the remaining chunk… Picture, if you will, that scene from ‘shallow hal’ where Gweneth Paltrow says she wants a piece of cake and proceeds to like cut HALF of it and picks it up with her hand and eats it like a slice of pizza. Yeah, that’s what I want to do with this fudge. But I won’t. I’m practicing restraint. I may lose, but at least I will have tried.

So, if you are fond of peanut butter fudge, as clearly I am, don’t make this. I promise you it’s the best you will ever make, the easiest you will ever make and you will consume the entire thing on your own.

You can’t say I didn’t warn you.

Cheesy chicken lasagna

Tuesday nights are usually reserved for our supper club, if you will, with tommy and Brandi. But they were busy so we had to cancel which was disappointing but totally understandable. Part of why I love them both the way I do is that we can go a couple of weeks without seeing each other and yet when we meet up again, it’s like no time has passed. We have travelled together many times, do e some incredible things (dog sledding on a glacier), silly things (drinking 5 bottles of arbor mist) and scary things (swimming with sting rays, well sort of swimming with sting rays – I mostly hung on the back of whichever man was closest. Tommy or AB Positive. I didn’t care.). We have always enjoyed each other’s company and I know we will continue to do so even as we grow older. And older. And older still.

So back to food. this looked interesting and I had to make it. For two reasons. One, I love lasagna and two, I have a ton of ranch dressing mix to use. Again I followed the instructions with no alterations. The recipe was easy and quick for the most part. Everyone loved it too. My in laws came by and had dinner with us. Papa Positive said it was better than the regular lasagna. I’m not sure if it’s because I used chicken rather than red meat or because it was truly super yummy. I choose to believe its both. Its better FOR you and yummy. Now had he known how much cheese I used, he might have rethought things a little bit. 😉

Tex Mex Monday

I have decided I love Mexican food. Not taco bell Mexican food but good stuff. (not that a 89cent burrito won’t hit the spot in a pinch but you know what I mean). I love fajitas (haven’t made them at home yet). I love chimichangas (am afraid to make these at home). I love enchiladas. (which I will tell you about how I made these now).

First, you use this recipe and get all your ingredients. Second you follow the instructions and enjoy. Now I didn’t do anything different with this. Having said that, the next time I make it I will change things up slightly.

I would probably omit the enchilada sauce and use tomato sauce instead. I use home made taco seasoning and that paired with the enchilada sauce made it slightly too spicy for jordyn. She loved it still but I know it was a bit too spicy for her. I think the seasoning and tomato sauce would be fine.

I tried to be all food stylish and what not and serve this on top a bed of the quick rice cooker Mexican rice I told you about before. But I dono, it didn’t look as nice as I intended. But the taste was perfect. We all loved it and there is nothing left to have for lunch.

Soo. If you love tex mex like me, check this out and make it. I think you will be very pleased. 🙂

Crockpot Mac and cheese (and a quickie dessert)

You know I’ve made Mac and cheese a couple other times but the idea of doing it in a crockpot, well I had to give it a go. I mean whoever heard of making Mac and cheese in a crockpot? I guess the person who came up with this recipe did, that’s who.

I didn’t do anything special with this recipe either. I followed it perfectly and I guess it turned out ok. Actually, I didn’t like it much. No offense to the recipe writer or anyone who loves this version, but I found it plain odd. First, mine did NOT look like the picture. Not even a little bit. The only thing I did do differently was use whole wheat pasta, but I seriously doubt that would have made a huge difference.

My end product looked curdled slightly, which is NEVER pleasing to the eye. I dono. I was expecting. Creamy delight like you will see in the pin pic, but instead I had a curdled mess that tasted like cheddar. If you make this let me know how yours turned out.

A few days later and after a long afternoon of swimming, the kids were hungry. So I made baked fish, per AB positive’s request, not the kids’. I decided to make something fun for dessert and something they could help me make. What better than single serving chocolate chip cookies? Made I. The microwave!? Go ON!!

this recipe is super easy and I’m willing to bet you have everything already in your pantry to make this. I measured up the ingredients in ramekins and had the kiddos stir them up. We cheated and nukes two at the same time…don’t do that. Do one at a time like you’re told and it’ll be fine. They were ok but it took longer, that’s all.

We scooped some vanilla ice cream and had an array of toppings that would make Marble Slab Creamery jealous. I think they were a hit. AB Positive ate all of his. As did the kids. I thought it was a bit too sweet, so maybe next time I’ll reduce the sugars a bit.

So what are you waiting for? Go make yourself your very own deep dish chocolate chop Cooke. It only takes about 10 minutes and you’ve earned a break. So what if it’s only 9am. I’m sure it’d go great with a cup of coffee. 🙂

Let’s talk about pork, baby

First let me start off by saying that, while I have been MIA in the blogging world, I have NOT shirked my responsibilities to food or feeding my family. In fact, I’ve been cooking my butt off which is probably why I’ve BEEN MIA. Lol. The meal I’m telling you about now was made when bestie Brandi and tommy came to dinner. And I must say, it was a showstopper.

I have always liked the idea of making a pork tenderloin but was afraid of the entire process. I think the thought of ME making a tenderloin, something they make on ‘top chef’, just seemed too advanced for a cooking novice like me. Still, I thought telling people ‘I’m making a pork tenderloin for dinner’ sounded fancy and difficult and impressive. Don’t lie, you know it totally does.

So I pinned this recipe for ages before getting up the courage to actually make it, but boy am I glad I did. I marinaded the pork over night. I figured the longer it had to meld together, the better. I do think it paid off. I was worried though that it wouldn’t be done in time. You would think I’d have invested in a meat thermometer by now but I haven’t yet. I will though. You can count on that. And a salad spinner. I want one of those too. I digress.

I served this up with rice and mixed veggies and I must say, the entire meal was perfect. The best part was there were no leftovers. Well I guess if you WANTED leftovers its not ‘the best part’ after all, but I like when everything is eaten. Makes me feel like everyone enjoyed it and I don’t have to find a container to store stuff in. Win/win.

I didn’t make dessert because Brandi picked up a pie. It’s quite funny. It was a frozen chocolate cream pie thing so we left it out on the counter to thaw while we ate. Finally, close to 8pm, I thought, ‘I should go slice this thing up’, but when I went to do it, it was still like a fudgsicle with crust. So I read the box. The ‘quick thaw method’ took 1-2 hours! So I ran a knife under hot water, sliced up 5 pieces of pie and we enjoyed an chilly version of the yummy treat. I thought it was like eating ice cream cake. Except with a crust. It wasn’t bad at all!!

I’m sorry there are no pictures anymore. You see, I updated my apps and apparently someone at pinterest decided that images could be stolen and/or used without permission (so I assume) so now I can no longer save the image. And since I can’t be trusted to take a photo of my food (and I’m not a professional food stylist either), I have no pictures of my goodies. I’ll try to do better thought. But don’t hold your breath.

Cheesy chicken and rice

Little did I know when I planned this week’s menu how incredibly appropriate my timing was.

You see, I chose Monday as a crockpot dinner. And when we woke up this morning our little Ava kitty had, what I thought, the WORST sounding gaggle cough a 4 month old should endure. SO…a trip to the dr was in order. She’s ok. It’s her first cold and we were warned it would get worse before it gets better BUT her lungs are clear and that’s good news. We got a humidifier thingy so hopefully she will have a good night and will start to feel better sooner than later.

So dinner… Yes I am SO glad I opted for a crock pot meal because I had to be a mommy before being a chef. this dish was so easy. I only made a few modifications. I did make the yellow rice last night. Which again, awesome planning on my part right? I used fat free soup and two chicken breasts which were huge!! I didn’t use a whole onion cuz as you know, we aren’t big fans around here.

When everything was done, I added my cooked rice, cheddar cheese – I probably used a cup I didn’t measure. Instead of canned corn, I added frozen peas. Corn didn’t sound good to me and I love peas in dishes like this. I also added some chicken stock to thin the dish out a bit. It seemed too dry so I added maybe half a cup. Again, I didn’t measure. My bad.

When I served this, AB Positive said, and I’m quoting him, ‘wow..that’s delicious. Congratulations.’. So I’m not sure if everything I’ve made up until this point wasn’t WORTHY of a ‘congratulations’ or this dish was incredibly tasty. Both perhaps?

I also promised Jordyn I would make the quick fudge with chocolate and peanut butter. So that’s in the frig cooling down as I type. I’ll let you know how that turns out tomorrow.

Go make this dish when you know you need to get dinner on the table in a hurry. It truly is yummy and is on the table in no time!