Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas

What do you cook on the days your baby wakes up not feeling well and MUST be held for hours?! Any other time in my life I would have thrown in the towel and told Nolan to bring something home for dinner, but I have found several quick, easy, and surprisingly yummy meals over the years. Tonight we had one of my super quick and easy meals, 4 ingredient salsa verde chicken enchiladas, yes 4!! Not only can I make this meal using only one arm, other arm holding child, but both children cleaned their plates without a fuss. Im sorry, but that never happens! After a few bites Santi even said, "Mama, this is delicious, thank you!" Nolan even made a comment about how good it was. I was very happy that everyone enjoyed the meal, but it almost is annoying considering I did nothing! There are so many nights I slave in the kitchen for hours only to hear whining and fussing! Oh well, thus is the life of a mom. And now I'm whining! On to the recipe!

You can cook the chicken however you like. I always bake the chicken with a little salt, pepper and Italian seasoning, thats just my quick go to. Also, anytime I cook something that has cheese on top, after everything is cooked, I turn on the broiler for a few minutes to get the nice brown crispy cheese!

I almost always have flour tortillas, so that is normally what I use to make the enchiladas (I use about 5 to 6 verses her 16). The recipe says to serve with rice and beans, but I like it best with a simple green salad.

Here's to hoping little man feels better in the morning, and lets just be honest, doesn't need to be held all day!

Potato Soup

I have been wanting to make potato soup for a long time, but haven't ever given it a shot. I found Pioneer Woman's recipe a few months ago and planned to make it this winter, but it just never happened. This week spring finally came and we have had amazingly warm weather...until today! So since warm weather is inevitable and we will no longer want hot soup, I decided today had to be the day! And oh am I soooo glad!! I know I have been on a PW kick lately, but I can't stop! Her recipes are so easy and taste better than anything else out there, so I may just end up making everything she has ever published.

Perfect Potato Soup. I couldn't agree more! There were lots of things to chop, so I did all the prep while Luca napped. Luca still naps twice a day and I am so so so grateful!

I love it when the first step of a meal fills your house with the most amazing smell!!

Then the smells got even better!

Potatoes and spices next!

I got a little worried at this point because it looked nothing like potato soup, but it's 

PW, so I really had no reason to fret!

And THIS is why I do all my prepping while Luca is sleeping. He is tiny and 

adorable and a handful to say the very least!

The finished product. My goodness, it was amazing! Potato soup is one of my favorite soups, I think thats why I haven't ever made it, it had to be just right!! And it was!!!!!

Leftovers for the freezer! My favorite!!

My mom doesn't know it yet, but she has dinner cooked for tomorrow night! She is amazing and fantastic and the best ever!!! She watches my boys every Thursday so I can either work or run errands, so every once in a while she needs a break with dinner. Im so glad this one is going to be awesome!!

The reality and very worst part about cooking!!

Heres to one last yummy soup before warm weather!!

Easy Spring/Summer Dress

The other day my sweet friend invited Santi over for a play date. Instead of cleaning my house or cooking dinner like I should have, I looked up fun DIY craft ideas online. I found a SUPER cute dress idea here. I am not a seamstress, in fact I can not sew a straight line. I do have a sewing machine that is almost entirely used for sewing holes in pants. The girl who wrote the tutorial said "I might even venture to say that it's one of the easiest sewing projects I’ve ever done." That sentence is basically the only thing that made me keep reading, because again, I am not a seamstress! When someone says a sewing project is super easy and then I see button holes and other sorts of craziness my eyes glaze over and I click out! This dress actually seemed doable, so I decided to give it a shot. I have a really hard time finding dresses that are actually long enough! Im only 5'9", but for some reason pants and skirts are almost always made at the average length, 32". I wear 34". 2 inches doesn't sound like a lot, but skirts always hit at just too short. So, all that to say, I was excited to be able to possibly make a long skirt actually long. But if you are short and skirts are always too long, you could make it the perfect length too.

I went to Old Navy were they were having a Spring sale, so all their ribbed tank tops (that fit perfectly) were on sale for $5! WIN #1! I then went to Hobby Lobby and found cute fabric for 30% off! WIN #2. I did have to buy some elastic thread for a whole whopping $1.59. The whole dress cost me about $15. Pretty great, if the dress looks decent!

Old Navy ribbed tank top and enough fabric to wrap around you 1.5 times. 

My stride is pretty long, so I think next time I would wrap it around me twice instead.

Thankfully this dress is long & has a pattern so you can't tell my lines aren't straight!

After hemming the top and bottom of the skirt I then cut the tank top at the length I wanted and pinned it to the skirt. The elastic thread part totally didn't work for me. It was supposed to ruffle the fabric and for some unknown reason it did not. I'm sure I did something wrong, but I have no idea what! SO, I just ruffled it myself as I pinned. I'm still glad I used the elastic thread though as it did give the fabric some give.

I then sewed the two together.

Right when Luca woke up from his nap I made my last stitch! I was SO excited...until 

I turned the skirt right side out. I SEWED THE TANK TOP ON

 INSIDE OUT! See, I told you I don't know how to sew!

I got to stare at my pretty dress all evening, half of it inside out!

Once the boys went to bed I began ripping the thread out.

Then I ripped some more!

Heres a tip. Do NOT turn your tank top inside out. The skirt goes inside out, not the tank top!

Skirt inside out, tank top NOT!

The finished product! I added a little sash to cover the zig zag sewing lines! Maybe one day I will learn to sew straight, but if I find cute dresses like this, maybe I'll never need to learn!

If I can sew this in an hour and a half (if you skip the ripping apart and re-sewing), 

Im sure a normal person can do it in under an hour!!

I wore my dress to church this morning! Ahh! It didn't break or fall apart! The very best part is that I got to wear heels with a long dress! If you look closely you can see a little head peeping out from behind me on the left. Hi Santi!

I made the sash longer. I think it looks much better!

I sewed a whole entire outfit that I actually wore! Happy spring y'all!

Bacon Cheddar Risotto

My boys love Mac & Cheese! If they were allowed, they would probably eat it every day of their lives! I have to this day never found a homemade mac & cheese they approve of. I cannot do the out of the box with powdered cheese stuff, but they love the Kroger pop in the microwave kind.

I found this recipe and the first sentence intrigued me. "Think macaroni and cheese on a pedestal." Umm, yes please! I kept reading and saw it called for bacon grease instead of cooking oil. Ok I'm sold, sign me up! Last night I gave it a try and let me tell you, its awesome!! Both boys loved it. I mean, what's not to love? Cheese, bacon, & risotto, Yum x 10!

This may not be the most appetizing picture, but I promise you, it was heavenly!

Topped with a little more bacon. Yes!

The best part was we got to eat outside, while wearing flip flops!

Oh spring how we have longed for your arrival!

I realize there are no vegetables with this meal, at all!!! This would have been great with a salad, but I used all the veggies for the salad the night before! Oops! We will pretend bacon is a vegetable this time around!!

Tortilla Bowls

I ran across the most simple yet brilliant concept the other day, homemade tortilla bowls. I knew instantly I had to try it myself. Let me tell you, they were even better than I thought! I haven't ever been a huge fan of the super hard and crunchy edible bowls. These are nothing like the bowls you get at a Mexican restaurant, which in my opinion is a good thing! These tortilla bowls are crunchy, but still have a bit of soft chewiness to them as well. I love love loved dinner tonight!!

Stick a burrito sized soft tortilla in an oven safe bowl and bake. The end! Why have I never thought of this before?

I added a little pam to the bowl just to make sure the tortilla 

didn't stick, but it probably wasn't necessary.

3-4 minutes before the tortilla is done add a little cheese, this makes it heavenly!

Or maybe the pico de gallo is what makes things heavenly! I didn't have any lime juice (what is wrong with me?!) so I played around with a few spices and it turned out wonderfully!! I added a little cumin, because it's amazing, a little paprika, because it's amazing, a little pepper and a little sea salt.

Once the bowl cooled I added lettuce, pico, black beans, a spoonful of sour cream, 

a spoonful of our favorite Peruvian green sauce, and huge chunks of avocado.

The very best part was eating the bowl at the end with the last little bits of pico! Yum! Will be doing this again for sure!!

And this is what my children ate. Don't judge. I had to explain to Santi what a corndog was, then had to explain what a hot dog was. Lets just say HE LOVED IT! Luca on the other hand only ate the breading, no hot dog for him! Oh well, I guess it's not a bad thing for him to reject!

Tortilla bowls:

Use burrito size soft tortillas

Bake at 375 in oven safe bowls for approximately 10 minutes

Add a small amount of cheese and bake another 3-5 minutes

Remove from oven once cheese has melted and the tortilla is as crispy as you like

Cool on rack

Add whatever toppings or salad you choose

Homemade Granola

Anyone who knows my mom knows she is one of the greatest cooks on the planet. The problem is, she has been cooking for so long she no longer uses recipes. Not using a recipe isn't really a problem for her, but it is for you when you eat one of her fantastic meals and want to recreate it.

For several years now, mom has been making her own granola cereal. Her granola is to die for!!!!!  Not only is the granola to die for, but the smell of her house the day of cooking the granola is insane, you want to lick the air! I honestly think the smell of cooking granola is on par if not better than freshly baked bread, and that says a lot!!

My mom and I were talking the other day about the breakfast burritos I had made and her granola came up in the conversation. I decided I wanted to give it a shot. If I make the granola, it will give Nolan a break from the burritos so hopefully he won't get sick of them!

Granola isn't the cheapest thing in the world to make because both nuts and dried fruit can be pricey, but with a Sams/Costco membership it ends up being lots cheaper than a regular grocery store. I will be able to use the same huge bags of pecans, craisins, etc for several batches. Cereal is almost $5 a box these days, so in the end granola really isn't more expensive, and it's much much better!!!

The ingredients.

Mix the oats with oil, honey, molasses (if using), coconut, and all nuts.

Once baked, add dried fruit. Notice the color change, nicely toasted!

Place in containers immediately, but leave lids off.

After several minutes put the lids on and flip upside down to cool completely.

Santi wanted to help taste test right away!

Kid approved! He ate every bite without ever looking up!

The milk changes colors as the oats soak which can mean only 

one thing, you have to drink the milk at the end!

Mom's recipe: This changed several times as mom remembered one thing or the other. She just dumps a little of this and a little of that. She is a true cook!

1 box old fashioned uncooked oats (not quick oats)
1 cup olive oil
1 cup honey
(sometimes she adds 1/4 cup molasses as well)
3/4 cup coconut (either sweetened or unsweetened)
walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds (any or all to taste, enough to cover well)
cranberries, raisins or craisins, dried cherries, apricots (any or all to taste)
*cinnamon sometimes

Preheat oven to 350
Stir together all ingredients except fruit
Bake 30 minutes

Stir & bake another 15-25 minutes (depending on desired toastiness) in 5 minute increments stirring each time.

Remove from oven, stir in fruit and place in storage containers immediately (without lids).
Once somewhat cooled (approximately 10 minutes) put lids on and flip containers.
Cool to room temperature.
Freeze what will not be eaten in a few days.

Enjoy!!

Beer Battered Fried Pickles, PW Chicken Spaghetti, & Creamy Garlic Mushrooms

Anyone who knows me, knows I am not a fan of cold weather, it's just too cold! I do love a good snow, but only one or two a year. I am a true Texan at heart, we don't do cold! We have had a surprisingly mild winter up until 2 1/2 weeks ago. All the sudden we have been punched in the face by winter, like really hard! First we had a week of ice, then it finally got up to 64 two days ago, it was heavenly. Then, this morning I woke up to 4 inches of snow. The ice had JUST melted off the front bushes yesterday. At least it is mostly snow and not ice, but STILL! Also, the boys aren't sick this time around, so we actually got to go play with friends, but STILL! 

Desperate snow days call for desperate measures; in come the beer battered fried pickles. I have wanted to make these for a long time, but haven't ever gotten around to it. I found a super yummy recipe on Pinterest probably a year ago. When I went to look for the recipe, the website was gone, the downside to Pinterest. I still wanted to make the pickles, so I found another recipe that looked pretty good. Here is what I found.

I have to say, the whole process was a lot easier than I thought, which is normally the case. Sometimes I get it in my head that something is going to be really hard, so I don't even try it. When I finally get the guts to try said "hard" thing, most of the time I’m surprised by how easy it was.

I like a thicker batter on my pickles, so I only added 1 cup of beer.

This was interesting to me, flour first, then batter. In most situations you add 

batter first, or egg, then flour. Totally makes sense though!

They fried much quicker than the recipe said. Maybe the oil was too hot?

Yummy! They were fantastic! I ate some with ranch, but the majority I ate all by themselves. Just an FYI, if you eat too many you may feel sick to your stomach for a good 20 minutes, not that I would know anything about that! I know how to control myself and only ate 3, I lie!

The fried pickles were fantastic, and I will make them again, but with Dill pickles. But after soooo many snow days, yes I get it, I’m a southerner, I needed more. I needed a fantastical dinner! And so I made Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti. I don't normally make so many PW recipes, but I have been on a kick lately!

Feeling much better after eating entirely too many pickles with lunch, this spaghetti was wonderful, and warm, and happy, unlike outside! I didn't have any pimentos and I used leftover chicken I had from the other day, but it was awesome! Plus it’s Pioneer Woman, so the recipe is huge. I cut it in half and put the other half in the freezer right next to my beautiful white chicken lasagna that is my all time fav!

The pretty ingredients before the pasta was added.

It was really good! And this is half! We still have leftovers from half! Happy dance!

This is a new one too, but I thought it looked amazing and would go well with the pasta!

Creamy Garlic Mushrooms. I like food, a lot!

The low tonight is 6, but the high Saturday is 51. The 10-day forecast has all 50's and 60's after tomorrow! We can do this!