Cilantro Lime Chicken

That's right y'all, a non-baby-related post! Seriously, what's going on here? Not only is this post not about Peyton, but it's about cooking, which I totally hate. I know, I can't believe I actually had time to cook a meal and blog about it. Look who's finally becoming a legit stay-at-home-mom. Go me. Of course, with my new role as a mommy I'm in need of recipes that are quick, easy and produce leftovers. This one is perfect for just that and it involves my all-time favorite kitchen appliance, the Crockpot.

I actually borrowed this recipe from my friend Rebecca and her blog. I just tweaked it a little bit and changed the way I serve it because some of the toppings she included in her recipe are delicious dairy and I'm trying to avoid incorporating dairy into my cooking at home for now. She also suggests preparing it ahead of time, bagging it and putting it in the freezer so that when you need an easy dinner option, you can just throw it in the Crockpot and heat it up. What a great idea!

What You Will Need...

1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts

Juice from 2 limes

1 bunch chopped cilantro

16oz frozen corn

2 minced cloves of garlic

1/2 red onion chopped

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 tsp cumin 

Black pepper to taste

2 bags of Ready Rice

Step 1: Mix together frozen corn, black beans (drained and rinsed), and chopped red onion. Pour mixture into the Crockpot to form the bottom layer. 

Step 2: Add chicken breasts, garlic, black pepper and cumin. 

Step 3: Top with chopped cilantro and lime juice. 

Step 4: Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. 

Not only does it taste good, but it also makes your kitchen smell like cilantro-limey goodness!

Step 5: Serve over a bed of rice. I used the microwave Ready Rice, but you can also just use regular uncooked rice and throw it in the Crockpot with the rest of the ingredients as well. 

I like to shred up the chicken breast and mix it altogether. It's delicious and I hope you enjoy it too!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Pinterest is the only thing that motivates me to cook. Seriously. Well, that and my Crockpot. I found another good recipe on Pinterest that I decided to make for dinner this week. Of course, it involved my Crockpot. I strongly dislike cooking, but if the recipe allows me to use my Crockpot to make the meal then it has a much better chance of actually happening. I especially love Crockpot recipes that feed like 8 people so that I can make it at the beginning of the week and then we can have it for lunch or dinner throughout the week. Do you see how much effort I put into avoiding actual cooking? It's a gift really. Anywho, today's awesome Crockpot recipe is brought to you by Rachel from Baked by Rachel.

You will need:

1lb chicken breast, shredded

15oz can sweet whole corn kernels, drained

15oz can diced tomatoes, drained

5C chicken stock

3/4C onion, chopped

3/4C green pepper, chopped

1 serrano pepper, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Seasoned tortilla strips

*The original recipe calls for you to cook the chicken breasts in the Crockpot for a few hours and then shred them by hand. Well this girl does not have the time or energy for all the nonsense, so I bought ground chicken breast meat and browned it in a pan prior to putting it in my Crockpot. I always go for the quick and easy option thank you very much.

So if you are using my method...season the ground chicken breast meat with salt and pepper and then brown it in a pan. Add the first 9 ingredients on the list to your Crockpot and put it on low heat. Let it simmer for about an hour. The end. Seriously, that is all you have to do. Do we see why I love the Crockpot so much now?

You can serve the soup immediately, but I recommend making it the day before you want to eat it (that way the soup has time to thicken up and not be so liquid-y). Put it in the refrigerator overnight and re-heat it in the Crockpot when you are ready to serve. After re-heating, spoon portions into bowls and then top each portion with a generous helping of shredded cheese and tortilla strips (if you can't find tortilla strips in your grocery store than just get some tortilla chips and crush them up). Enjoy!

Crockpot Queso

My all-time favorite kitchen appliance is my Crockpot. Seriously, everyone should own one. Anytime someone I know is getting married and asks me for Registry advice, I always tell them that the first thing they should register for is a Crockpot. Jared's fraternity brother, Michael Boden, bought us our Crockpot as a wedding gift and it is still probably my favorite wedding gift.

So we all know that I hate to cook, but we do a lot of tailgating and going over to our friends' houses for cookouts so I always have to think of something to make that is within my realm of cooking skills. Everyone like chips and queso, so I have two queso recipes to share that both simply involve throwing some stuff in a Crockpot. They are both quick, cheap, easy to make, and easy to transport.

Crockpot Queso #1 

Chili is one of my favorite meals to make. However, you can never make just a little bit of chili. Every time I make chili, I end up with enough to feed an entire football team. Well, after eating leftover chili for about a week, I'm sick of it. However, I don't want to just throw it away so I just make something else out of it.

Take your leftover chili and add an 8oz. block of softened cream cheese. (Just leave it in the same Crockpot! No need to dirty extra dishes) Once the cream cheese is all melted, add about 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and melt it altogether in the Crockpot.

Ta-da! You now have chili queso! Cheap, easy and resourceful...and no one ever needs to know that you used your own leftovers to make it :)

Crockpot Queso #2

Warning: people with heart-related health conditions should probably stay away from this queso. It's like a heart-attack in a Crockpot.

What You Will Need

1 lb. of Lean Ground Beef

28oz. can of Rotel

32oz. block of Velveeta cheese

*Alternate cheese option: use 24oz. of Velveeta and 8 oz. of cream cheese for extra heart-attack goodness

Brown the ground beef in a pan and drain the grease. Put the Crockpot on high heat and add the ground beef with the entire can of Rotel (drained). Begin cutting the block of Velveeta cheese into smaller cubes and gradually add them to the Crockpot as it heats up. 

Continue to add cheese, stirring occasionally as it melts. Once all the cheese is melted, the queso is going to be a little soupy. Turn the Crockpot off and allow the cheese to cool and congeal. (Just as the cheese is going to be congealing around your arteries later) I recommend making the queso the night before your event. You can put it in the refrigerator over night and then reheat it in the morning. This will help the cheese thicken up and be more like a dip instead of a soup. 

Turn the Crockpot back on and allow the queso to reheat. Servce with chips and probably beer (just to help you from thinking about how bad what you are eating is for your health). Enjoy the cheesy deliciousness!

Fabulous Fall Challenge: Day 7

I am so proud of myself for keeping up with Neely and Amber's Fabulous Fall Blog Challenge! Today is Day 7 and it is all about delicious fall eats. Yummy. I actually enjoy cooking fall-themed foods because they happen to be foods that I can actually cook and cook well. Enjoy!




Today's Topic is Fall Recipes 
I would not consider myself very talented in the kitchen. However, there are a few things that I cook really well and they are the only things that I actually ever cook. The rest of the time, Jared does all the cooking. Even if you are not a very good cook, feel free to try my recipes because if I can do them successfully, then anyone can. 
"Sugar Pecans" (See my post about this recipe: Holiday Baking)

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 lb. pecan halves

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Grease one baking sheet. 
2. In mixing bowl, whip together egg whites and vanilla until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugars, salt, and cinnamon 
3. Pour egg white mixture into one gallon sized ziploc bag, then add pecans. Shake bag until pecans are coated. 
4. Pour sugar mixture into another gallon sized ziploc bag, then add the pecans to that bag and shake. 
5. Spread the nuts out on the greased baking sheet. 
6. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour. Remove from oven every 15 minutes and stir pecans.

"Brandy Slush" (See my post about this recipe here: Brandy Slush)

Ingredients:

1.5 cups sugar
4 teabags
12 oz. can frozen OJ
12 oz. can frozen lemonade
2 cups brandy
2 liter Sprite
Ziploc freezer bag (gallon sized)

Directions:

1. Heat 5 cups of water and 1.5 cups of sugar until sugar dissolves

2. Boil 2 cups of water with 4 teabags

3. Let tea cool and then add tea to the sugar water

4. Add 12 oz. can of frozen OJ and 12 oz. can of frozen lemonade

5. Add 2 cups of brandy

6. Pour mixture into a gallon sized Ziploc freezer bag

7. Freeze for 48 hours

8. Scoop out a cup of slush mixture, pour Sprite over it and serve

The next two recipes are my two favorite chili dishes to make. I'm really good at making chili, probably because it's virtually impossible to screw up. I never cook chili according to a "recipe" per say, just a list of ingredients that I throw together in a stew pot and let it all simmer on low for a few hours.

"White Chicken Chili" (See my post about this recipe here: Sunday Funday)

chicken breasts (chopped)

great northern beans

white kidney beans

sweet onion (chopped)

green pepper (chopped)

red pepper (chopped)

garlic (minced)

jalapeno (seeded, chopped)

green chiles (diced)

chicken broth

flour (about 3 tablespoons to thicken the broth)

McCormick's white chicken chili seasoning

garlic salt

cumin

oregano

black pepper

chili powder

cajun shake

shredded monterey jack cheese (for topping)

"Drunk Deer Chili" (See my post about this recipe here: FSU vs. Maryland)
ground venison (season with wildlife seasoning)
tomato sauce
tomato paste
light red kidney beans
green pepper
sweet onion
white mushrooms
garlic cloves (minced)
chili powder
black pepper
sea salt
cumin
Kentucky bourbon (I used Maker's Mark)
Louisiana hot sauce
shredded cheddar cheese (for topping)

Sunday Funday

It is so nice to be able to actually enjoy an entire Sunday without having to worry about grading papers or what I am going to teach tomorrow. Since I am officially on winter break, I got to have one of those Sundays yesterday. I needed to venture down to St. Augustine before Christmas to get a gift for someone from the San Sebastian Winery. Heather and I kept talking about going to the winery one day because she has never been before, and I got her addicted to their wine. Whenever anyone ever comes to visit me I take them to St. Augustine and especially to the winery. So since I needed to go and she didn't have any plans we decided to make a girls' trip out of it.

We arrived in St. Augustine around lunch time and needed to get some food. I wanted to go to Cruiser's, but it was freezing outside and Cruiser's only has outdoor seating. So I decided to take her to one my St. Augustine favorites, Scarlet O'Hara's. My recommendations if you ever go to Scarlet O'Hara's are the jalapeno cheese grits and their signature cocktail, which is appropriately named the Scarlet O'Hara. After lunch, we wandered around St. George Street and went in some of the fun little shops.

Next on our agenda was the main event, San Sebastian Winery. The winery offers free tours and wine tastings every day, and they never cut you off! I have done probably at least 20 wine tastings there and they never turn me away :) In fact, our tour guide gave me a wine bottle opener as a gift for being the person on our tour who had visited the winery the most times.

Heather and I went on the tour of the facility, which I could probably give myself and then it was tasting time. We tasted 8 of their wines: Blanc du Bois (dry white), Castillo Red (dry red), Rosa (pink), Vintners White (sweet white), Vintners Red (sweet red), Port (dessert wine), Cream Sherry (dessert wine), and Proprietors Reserve (sweet red/port blend). My favorites are the Vintners White, Vintners Red, and Rosa. Their champagne (which you don't get to try in the tasting) is awesome as well, called Blanc de Fleur. We bought some wine while we were there of course, but you can also buy their wines in grocery stores in Florida and Georgia. If you like sweet wine, their wine is perfect for you. This wine is made from the muscadine grape, which is native to the Southeast region so it tastes completely different (and better in my opinion) than California wine. 

While we were in St. Augustine, Heather was talking about the white chicken chili that she was making for dinner that night, and I was intrigued. I had never had chili made with chicken before; I'm too much of a red meat lover. When I got home from our outing, I told Jared that I wanted to try and make white chicken chili for dinner as well. So I got online and started looking at different recipes. I picked out certain ingredients from each recipe that I liked and decided to come up with my own recipe (listed below). I started throwing ingredients into my stock pot until it looked like I had enough of everything. Luckily, it came out great! For some reason, I have a nack for making chili. I don't cook much else very well, but I can make some delicious chili. Once the chili was ready, Jared and I started a fire in our fire pit in the backyard. We sat by the fire and enjoyed the crisp winter night with our chili and some wine.

Due to my exceptional chili making skills, I have been volunteered to make our Christmas day dinner for the family. My family has this interesting tradition (I have no idea where it came from) of having chili as our Christmas day meal. No turkey for us! This year, I am in charge of making our traditional meal. I am really excited and kind of nervous. As of yesterday, I have decided that I am going to make both of my chilis, my traditional beef chili and this new white chicken chili. Hopefully they will both turn out good! 

Listed below are the ingredients for my new chili. I never cook chili according to a "recipe" per say, just a list of ingredients that I throw together in a stew pot and let it all simmer on low for a few hours.

"White Chicken Chili"

chicken breasts (chopped)

great northern beans

white kidney beans

sweet onion (chopped)

green pepper (chopped)

red pepper (chopped)

garlic (minced)

jalapeno (seeded, chopped)

green chiles (diced)

chicken broth

flour (about 3 tablespoons to thicken the broth)

McCormick's white chicken chili seasoning

garlic salt

cumin

oregano

black pepper

chili powder

cajun shake

shredded monterey jack cheese (for topping)

We had never made this recipe before, but it turned out great! Enjoy :)

FSU vs. Maryland

I've decided that I really am not fond of away games. Yes, I enjoy hanging out with friends watching football all day on a Saturday, but it's not the same as enjoying the day from our parking spot tailgating. Perhaps when we are older the Roches and the McGuires will buy an RV and road-trip it to every home and away game. Dare to dream :) I like to think that away game weekends are good for me because I have time to actually get things accomplished at home; however, that never happens, so either way life is set aside for only college football in the fall.

On Saturday, Jared was gone all day taking the 2nd session of his Certified Financial Planner licensing exam. With him out of the house all day, one would think that I would seize this opportunity to get all my school work and cleaning done without interruption, wrong. We had plans to go over to Boden's house to watch the FSU vs. Maryland game (8pm kickoff). Since I am a professional at coming up with absolutely every excuse possible to not have to clean my house or grade papers, I decided that I was going to make chili for our game-watching party. I do not like to cook. Cooking involves way too much effort and clean up. Plus, if it turns out bad then you have just wasted all this time, effort and dirty dishes only to have to order take-out anyways. Although I claim to be a terrible cook, there are a few things that I make really well. All of the things that I can cook are unhealthy, fattening, and involve red meat, but then again I'm from the South so what do you expect.

Perfecting my venison chili became my goal for the day. However, I did not have any venison available to me because no one in my family has been deer hunting thus far this season. So I enlisted my daddy to hunt down some venison for me from his buddies. He succeeded, as he always does for his little girl :) With 5 pounds of venison in hand, I was ready to perfect my recipe (listed at the bottom of this post). I read somewhere online that adding Kentucky bourbon to chili really enhances the flavor, and being that there is no shortage of bourbon in my household, I decided to add it to my recipe, hence the new name of my dish "Drunk Deer Chili".

I love cooking with venison because it tastes a lot like beef, but it is much leaner and better for you. If you can get over the fact that you are eating Bambi, it is a great substitute for beef. Don't get me wrong, I love beef, but venison is a nice addition to great seasonal (fall/winter) dishes. Needless to say, I spent almost the entire day preparing my chili and getting myself ready for the game. Of course, Jared was going to Boden's straight from his test so he put me in charge of getting all the beer and cigars ready for him as well. Therefore, I accomplished nothing else on my to-do list.

When it was time to go, I was still a little hesitant about my new chili recipe. It tasted good to me, but I was going to be serving it to 8 other people and there was no one at home to verify the good taste. My payment to my dad for going to get the venison for me was that I would save him a bowl of it. Therefore, I decided to take him his bowl before going to Boden's so he could be my taste-tester. After being reassured of the deliciousness of my chili, I made my way to Boden's house.

Once I arrived at Boden's, the boys went outside for a pre-game cigar. Apparently, Jared and the boys have smoked a cigar before every game that we have won this season; any game that we have lost they have not smoked a cigar prior to. The boys are a little superstitious with their FSU football, in case that wasn't completely obvious. The game began and the Noles were stressing me out as usual, but I had beer and chili to comfort me. The chili got rave reviews and I was excited. Everyone loved it except for Boden, he couldn't eat it due to him being so picky. I knew that Boden didn't like mushrooms, but everyone else does and they really make the chili taste good, so I consciously cut them very big so that he could pick them out. However, my efforts were not enough. Picking out the mushrooms was not an option and he wouldn't eat it at all. I don't like mushrooms either, but I just pick them out because I'm a big girl :)

During the game, we had the sliding glass door open because it was so nice out. Of course I started getting cold but no one wanted to close the door so I borrowed Judy's snuggie. This was my first experience with a snuggie and I must have one. It was so amazing that I immediately texted Erika and told her that I want one for Christmas. I was lying on the floor all warm in the snuggie, drinking my beer and texting on my phone wondering to myself, why didn't I invent this! Then I of course fell asleep on the floor because the game didn't end till midnight and my bedtime is 11. Luckily, the Noles got the W and the boys had their confidence restored for next week's big game against Florida.

I am already starting to get excited for this upcoming week! Jared and I are in charge of the turkeys for Thursday, so we are venturing to Costco today to pick them out. I only have to work two days this week (Monday and Tuesday). On Wednesday, all of my siblings and my grandparents will be in town to help get ready for the festivities. Jared's mommy and my aunt and uncle will get into town on Thursday and we will be celebrating Thanksgiving at my parents' house! The girls will be conquering Black Friday starting at 4am and Friday night we will be making the drive to Tallahassee for the FSU vs. UF game on Saturday. There will probably be a lot of blogging this week because I will be so excited for all the fabulous Thanksgiving festivities! Let the preparations begin :)

Listed below are the ingredients for my chili. I do not cook my chili according to a "recipe" per say, just a list of ingredients that I throw together in a stew pot and let it all simmer on low for a few hours.

"Drunk Deer Chili"
ground venison (season with wildlife seasoning)
tomato sauce
tomato paste
light red kidney beans
green pepper
sweet onion
white mushrooms
garlic cloves (minced)
chili powder
black pepper
sea salt
cumin
Kentucky bourbon (I used Maker's Mark)
Louisiana hot sauce
shredded cheddar cheese (for topping)