Pintrest Success!

I found an delicious, easy, new recipe on pintrest yesterday. We all give it 2 thumbs up! The lady it is credited to doesn't even have a name for it other than "Cream Cheese Crockpot Chicken". It doesn't need a name. It's just yummy! And ridiculously easy. Only 5 ingredients: chicken (doesn't even have to be thawed), cream cheese, black or pinto beans (I only had kidney beans and it was still good), corn, and salsa or Rotel!

I used 4 frozen chicken breasts (the recipe calls for an entire bag)-just put them in whole on the bottom and when it's done, you can either leave them whole or shred them. Leftovers are supposedly great on tortillas. The recipe calls for a can of corn, drained, but I only had frozen. Works just as well. And the recipe calls for Rotel, but I only had salsa (lime & garlic to be exact) and it was still delicious. It is pretty soupy so I served it over rice. Supposedly it gets thicker once it sits without cooking for a while. I cooked mine on high for about 4.5 hours, but you can cook it on low for 6-8 hours so it's a great recipe to put in the crockpot after breakfast and you don't have to worry about supper the rest of the day!

Not a good picture at all, but trust me...it is tasty!

Summertime Deliciousness

In light of my last post, here is a delicious smoothie recipe from Jamie Oliver's website! It has been kid-tested and approved in my house! Even after Jacob took a taste of the plain yogurt!!

Fruit Smoothies
1 ripe banana
1 c frozen (or fresh) fruit (mango, blackberry, blueberry, strawberry)
2 heaped Tbs plain yogurt
1/4 c quick oats (NOT instant)
1 cup 1% milk, soy milk, or apple juice
5 ice cubes
Slice banana and berries (if necessary), put in blender and add yogurt. "Whiz it up" as Jamie says. Add oats and blend some more. Add milk (1% or soy) or juice and ice cubes and blend until smooth. If it's too thick, add a bit more milk or juice.

The oats help make this a bit more filling and the fruit makes it nice and sweet. Plus you can make it year round using frozen fruit, and not compromise on taste or quality since the frozen fruit is picked at its prime. My kids loved it. I did double the recipe and ended up adding 3 bananas and a whole carton of fresh strawberries. It made plenty for all 4 of us and then some!! Next up is his recipe for Yogurt Pops!

Favorite New Dish

I have to give Aaron credit for this one...he picked it out of the Schwan's magazine. I added my own and switched things up to fit what I had on hand. SUPER easy and delicious! Even Seth approved! :)

Chicken Penne

1-2 chicken breasts, cubed

1 chopped red pepper

1 chopped yellow pepper (or just one or whatever you have!)

1/4 c diced onion (or use dried onion)

2 tsp olive oil

8-10 oz penne pasta (I use whole grain)

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 Tbs corn starch (or flour)

3 oz. shredded Cheddar cheese

Boil water and add pasta and peas.

While pasta is cooking, cook chicken in olive oil. Set aside in large serving bowl.

Add pepper(s) and onion to same skillet (you might need to add more oil)-saute over medium heat for 4-6 minutes. Add to chicken.

When pasta is done, drain and add to chicken and vegetables.

In a GLASS dish, mix broth and starch/flour. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and microwave an additional minute or until it bubbles. Stir again and add cheese. Stir well and pour over pasta mixture. Mix well and enjoy!

Food and Little Friends

These are the cookies Anna made at Kim's. The middle cookie is Anna's masterpiece :) She made it all by herself and she was very proud. Thanks again Kim for watching the kids so I could be at Grandma's surgery.

Today, I kept Kim's kids for a couple hours. I tried a new quesadilla recipe from my "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook. They were really good!

Jake really liked them!!! :) Better not try and take any of his food!

Everyone except my Anna liked them. At first little Anna didn't like them. She took one bite and said "yucky"! haha But then she tried it again and ate 2 pieces! Jacob ate one piece and Jake ate like 5! I also fixed some mac & cheese and they all had a little of that. And I just realized that there's a big carton of vinegar in the middle of the table. ha

We had fun and can't wait to play again :)

Here's the recipe (from the cookbook that sneaks pureed veggies into foods so you can make sure your kids get their veggies, whether they know it or not!)...well, this is my version of it!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

It calls for chicken breasts, cooked and either pureed or sliced. I didn't have anything but canned chicken. I rinsed and drained it and threw it in a skillet (one can); add a little salt & pepper. I also threw in a chicken bullion cube. Canned chicken has that funny taste, and that really did cover up that taste.

Spray a cookie sheet and lay out 3 tortillas. Spread sour cream on them (the recipe added 1/2 cup pureed navy beans to the sour cream). Lay out or spread the chicken over that. Mix together 1/2 cup pureed butternut squash and 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used the fiesta blend). Spread that over the chicken layer. Top with another tortilla. Bake for about 5 min, or until the cheese is melted. Slice into wedges and serve with salsa (if your kids eat salsa).

They were tasty!

Garden variety pizza anyone?

We had a DELICIOUS veggie pizza at Bible study this morning (seriously--it was like a smorgasbord today! TONS of food). I was telling a friend about the Pampered Chef recipe I make and she asked me to post the recipe....so here you go Shellie! :)

Garden Ranch Pizza
1 pkg. refrigerated pizza crust
1/2 c. mayo (it tastes the best with mayo and not miracle whip)
1/2 pkg (2 Tbs.) Ranch powder mix
1 garlic clove, pressed (I rarely have garlic, so I don't usually put it in)
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 c. chopped broccoli
1/2 c. diced red pepper
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 c. black olives, sliced
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
*I never measure out the veggies and I usually just use whatever veggies I have on hand. The recipes gives the veggies that give it gorgeous color when it's all done. I also have PC's "handy chopper" which is great for chopping the broccoli--messy, but great. I don't think I ever put the Parmesan cheese on either. ha! I rarely follow a recipe to the letter!!*

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle round stone (or pizza pan) lightly with flour. Unroll crust dough and spread out on stone (PC's mini roller is perfect for this).
Combine mayo & Ranch mix and garlic; whisk. Spread onto crust. Top with 1 c. mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle veggies over crust and top with remaining 1 c. mozzarella. Sprinkle Parmesan on top.
Bake 18-22 min. or until edges are golden brown.

Very yummy (my kids love it) and super easy. We never have leftovers! Make some and invite me over! haha ;)

Yummy Stew

Well, had I been thinking I would've taken a picture of it. But we're just lucky I remembered to put it in the crockpot this morning before we left for Bible study!! This recipe is from a dear friend Ellie. It is so delicious and it feeds a LOT. We had 4 college kids over tonight, plus the 4 of us. There's none leftover, but mmmmmm! :) I also used about 1/2 the amounts b/c I've made the full recipe before and it was too much for my crockpot (a big one).

Gone All Afternoon Stew
2lbs. stew meat (next time I'll use the full 2lbs. of meat, but I like it to be meaty)
3-4 med. carrots, peeled & quartered
2 med. onions (I use red)
3-4 potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 12-16 oz. pkg. frozen peas
1 12-16 oz.pkg. frozen corn
1 can tomato soup (I only had tomato sauce, so that's what I used)
1/2 soup can water
1 can stewed tomatoes (I did use a full can of these)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
1/4 c sweet pickle juice (or soy sauce, dill pickle juice or sweet pickle relish)

2 Tbps cornstarch

Mix all ingredients but cornstarch. Cover and cook in a crockpot:
on HIGH for 5-7 hrs.
on LOW for 8-9 hrs.
After cooked, and 30 min. before serving, remove the bay leaf. Mix the cornstarch with a bit of water. Add. Turn to high and stir a bit. It will eventually thicken it just a little.

I also only had Mexican style stewed tomatoes, so that gave it a little kick. It was still really good. I love this weather!! :)

Yummy new recipe

We had some friends over for supper tonight and I thought I'd try a new recipe I found (of all places) on the back of the "crispy rice" box. It was so good! And it's incredibly easy to make and doesn't take very long.

Chinese Chicken Bake
2 Tbs butter, melted
1/4 tsp onion powder (I didn't have any so I used garlic powder instead)
2 1/2 c. crispy rice cereal
8 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
2 c. chopped cooked chicken or turkey (I used chicken)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup
1 1/4 c. chopped celery
2 Tbs. chopped green onion
4 1/2 tsp soy sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Combine butter and onion (or garlic) powder. Gradually add cereal, stirring until all pieces are evenly coated. Set aside. Combine remaining ingredients. Stir in 1 c. cereal mixture. Pour into ungreased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle top with remaining 1 1/2 c. cereal mixture. Bake 30 min. or until top is lightly browned. Makes 4-5 servings.

This fed 4 adults and 2 kids. So good!! :)