Recipes

So first off I need to make sure that I am clear when I say I am not a cook! Not by any means or stretch of the imagination. What I am is a mommy who likes to make new things or try new things that either look really appealing through a picture or sound really appealing. (anything that has spicy on it I'm more than likely going to try) So that's all this is. Just a place for me to post the things I have tried or am going to try. And a place for you to do the same if you want to. I have tried numerous recipes that I either found on Pinterest or on Crock Pot Girls. (Okay I'm positive they have a new name due to legal issues and that will come to me in a minute) Some that I loved so much I have done more than once, two times, three times even! Seriously, there have been some good ones. Anyways...hope you enjoy! Bon Appetit~





Caramel Cheesecake Apple Dip I served this at Landon's Birthday party recently. It twas' a hit,  I say. And by hit I mean I have never seen so many kids eat so many apples at once. And double dip. I just bought the pre-packaged Apple slices at the grocery store. (the red and green kind) Here is the recipe. It's easy peezy!

 




Bite Size Party Bark You can find the recipe here for these beauties. But that is all they are to me, Pretty. I love sweet but I had to spit these out. Matter of fact - I'm pretty sure my brother-in-law did too. Or maybe that was everybody. Anyways, these things were super, duper sweet.  Like eating a piece of hard sugar dipped in more sugar. 

  


So obvs I'm doing all the sweet stuff first. If it wasn't obvious, I'm doing all the sweet stuff first.

Smores Bake - This was really easy and if you can get past the marshmallows you may like it. I'm not a big marshmallow fan, as we discovered on Instagram this week. But my kids don't mind them so much so I thought I would make this while tree decorating and listening to some Christmas tunes. I give it a thumbs up because it was easy, it was definitely tasty and a hit with the kids. But still too much marshmallow for me. Now these puppies (see below) are to die for. They are the perfect mixture of all the glory that goes into a smore without all the gooey that I don't like . I, personally, have not made them but my girlfriend has and I loved them!!! (Shout Out Erin!!)



You can get the recipe for the Smores Bake hereAnd the Smore Bars here.



Taco Pizza - So I wanted to make this beautiful, picture worthy, Taco Pizza. But I didn't. I made an "eat-worthy" Taco Pizza. I'll take it. Anytime my kids will eat anything, I will take it. And they ate the heck outta this!! You can find the recipe for this awesome dish here.

Side Note: I would use the size dish pan she used or recommends. I didn't have one so I had to go smaller. (9x13) I believe. So the crust was thicker and I was going for thinner. Also, I didn't add anything except the beans, meat (ground turkey) and cheese. When I cut my serving I added shredded lettuce, hot sauce and jaleps. My kids added hot sauce and sour cream. So you can make it your own. Enjoy!!


Tomato Basil Soup - Only this isn't your average TBS. My favorite is from La Madeline. Like it's the best soup in the world. I have tried to find something comparable. Between other restaurants and the grocery store but, to no avail, always came up short. This is no different. There is still nothing like La Madeline but this soup was definitely delicious. There are a lot of TBS recipes on Pinterest. I picked this one because I wanted something a little more hardy for my family since I was serving it as dinner. The thing is, I didn't make it until this afternoon. I pre-made it for our dinner tonight. (may not have been the best idea since it states to serve immediately) But I did give some to my three year old and he ate it up!! Again, if the little likes it then it's a hit in this house. You could always make it without the pasta and ground turkey. I did try it and I'm looking forward to my dinner tonight!!




Crockpot Pineapple Chicken - I loved this. I love just about anything you can put in a crockpot and leave to cook for the day. I made rice to mix it up with and a side salad and crescent rolls. (And I wonder why I can't lose weight. Pfffft...) Anyways, all the kids loved it too and it was really simple. 4 ingredients and that includes the chicken. You can find the recipe here. Hope you love it as much as my family did!




First off...Ummm So I made this last night and it got gobbled up in seconds. It was deeeeelish!! Probably (Definitely not) the healthiest of choices but it was a easy peasy crock potter and that's what I needed.


Crockpot Salsa Chicken


 Winner Winner Chicken Salsa Dinner!! I added black beans like she suggested. I never knew that I liked black beans until I discovered Chipotle and I never knew I liked Chipotle until about a year ago. To think....all this time...I have been missing out....Anyways...it was really good. All my kids loved it. My husband, of course, had seconds. Highly recommend giving it a whirl. Oh...and I also did the homemade taco seasoning she suggested as well.

And then....you can do this with the left overs....Double Nummmy!


You're welcome. ;-)



 Ummmm so these were really delicious!! But, I cannot tell a lie. There isn't anything healthy about them. I just made this meal for my husband and myself so I used two chicken breast in the crockpot. I used half a bottle of the hot sauce for the two pieces of chicken and no water.  It was nummmmm...EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!



 Loved these!!! And what I loved best about them is I was able to make a healthier variation of them. I got Tomato Basil tortillas that are really low in calorie and can be found at Wal-Mart. I used turkey pepperoni and low fat or reduced fat mozzarella cheese. I added mushrooms and jaleps to the quesadillas but you could add whatever you wanted.(bell peppers would be good too) Highly Recommend for a quick and easy meal. 



It has been so long since I made this I had to go back and look at the recipe. I know I used ground turkey instead of ground beef (lets just assume I do every time) and I would not have used an onion but instead onion powder. They were good. I haven't made them since though, not sure why. I remember them tasting pretty close to an actual Philly Cheesesteak, which I love. Good for a football game day!! Ughhh....Can't wait for fall!!! 



Homemade Toasted Ravioli














So these were my first, "Give it a Whirl" and they were...okay. Just okay. I did some in oil on the stove top and it was too heavy, to "fried" tasting for me. So then I did the other half in the oven and broiled them. That batch was better. I just think at that point I was done with them. Must have ranch and or marinara to dip in.

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich













Two thumbs up for sure. When my two older ones are with their dad, my husband and I try to plan small easy meals for the two of us. This is one of our favorites. I also love spicy foods!! However, I did follow the directions the first time and I found the peppers to be sort of bland. I was hoping for spicier. So now I just put in jalapenos from a jar. Dip the sandy in some tomato soup and you are set!! Nummy!!

Ranch Greek Yogurt



















Mix 1 packet of Ranch Dressing Mix with one container of Greek Yogurt and you will have a tub of BLARF!! I'm all for making things healthier, I do that with most of the recipes when I can but this does NOT taste like Ranch dressing. Not at all. Unless the Ranch dressing you eat taste like straight up vomit. The End.

Dried Strawberries













Taste like Candy!!! Bahahahahhahahaha!! Hilarious...and also Ewwwww...Now, I will admit that when I was making these and following the instructions I questioned adding the salt and pepper but I did it anyways. Because...someone knows what they are doing right?? Whelp..No..Not this person. By this person I mean me. Maybe should have gone with my gut and not added the salt and pepper to taste but even then, I'm not sure I would have been a fan.

Frozen Yogurt covered Raspberries















So she used blueberries but I used raspberries. I thought they would be less sour. I don't do sour. I do sweet. My kids like raspberries and they did not like these. I think, honestly, it was because they were too cold to eat. I, personally, didn't like them but I don't like raspberries so blueberries would not have been any different for me. I may try strawberries next time because I really liked the yogurt. Husband loved these!

Cafe Rio Chicken


















This is, by far, the entire family's favorite meal. I just made this last night actually, with lots of left overs today. :) It is so easy and it's a crockpot meal, makes it even better! It's mindless work when it comes to dinner. I have made this with soft and crispy tacos (we prefer the crispy) and if there are left overs then you can make it like a dip and mix it with refried beans or sour cream and dip tortilla chips in it. It is so flavorful and the chicken is so moist. We all love it!!

Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps













I'm positive I have already posted about these delicious wraps previously in my blog but I love them so much I'm doing it again. The only thing I would recommend is being sure you get a good, fresh crisp lettuce head. It's crucial to keeping these wraps from falling apart. I also never use ground hamburger meat anymore. I am ground turkey all the way. It is so good!!

Cheesy Chicken Wild Rice Casserole


















This one is Momma's favorite!! Which surprises me because it is a little more work for me. But I never knew how much I love wild rice. The recipe calls for 2 cups white rice and 2 cups wild rice but I do 3 cups wild rice and 1 cup white or brown rice. Either one. Wild rice just has way more flavor to it. And the cheese sauce is to DIE for!!!! Secret: I don't do any of the vegetables. I want my kids to eat this stuff. I do flavor with onion powder and serve green beans or corn on the side but I skip the vegetable part for the dish all together. This is a ~ winner winner chicken dinner~ in my tummy and at the table!! Seriously, you must try.

Crockpot Cubed Steak

















Mmmmm....this was delicious and another crockpot easy peezy one!! Seriously, it doesn't get much easier than a crockpot meal right? Anyways, I wouldn't change a thing about this at all!! I served it over rice and we loved it! So good!!

Alright, well I have tons more but I think I will stop here. If you follow me on Pinterest you can go to my 'Been There Tried That' board. I try to repin everything there once I have done it so if you want to try something on the board and want toknow how it ended up before trying it out just ask!!

Laters Gators!!

~ Chicken Avocado Salad ~

So obviously it's been awhile since I have posted or shared any of the recipes I have tried out. Which sucks...because I have tried a lot of them. Especially since being on Weight Watchers. I just made this salad this last week and took a picture of it. It was sooo good!! So good. When I finally managed to get good avocados - it took two different trips to the store. And I left it up to my husband to pick out the avocados. Bad idea apparently. Anyways. I cut up about 4 avocados. Cooked and shredded the chicken. (Not in that order) And mixed in about a tablespoon of reduced fat Mayo made with Olive oil. Squeezed one lime on the mix and sprinkles a lot of cilantro on it. Added pepper to taste but no salt. When I cooked the chicken I seasoned it with pepper, onion salt and squeezed some lime juice on it. Anyways, you could eat this with tortilla chips I suppose. My husband put it in some tortillas on taco night and I just ate it like it was. Really Deeelish!!! I got this off of Pinterest. Here is the original recipe. http://becomingbetty.blogspot.com/2011/09/avocado-chicken-salad.html  Her's looks way better but I didn't want to add green onion or too much mayo. I'm thinking that may be the difference. That and she 'smooshed' up her avocados more.


  




~Valentine Confetti~

Well I was going to go with goldfish for my daughters class valentines until I came across this and now...well I'm not in the mood for fish anymore. My sweet tooth over powered me (as it always does) and I'm going with the Valentine Confetti this year. I mean seriously, what would you rather nibble on??

http://www.nestofposies-blog.com/2011/01/valentine-confetti.html




I'm going to attempt adding some cutesy name tag to each bag...but I think this will be a bigger hit than the goldfish idea.  I need a brownie....


 ~Awesome 1-2-3 Cake~

I don't know how many times I have regretted making an entire batch of brownies or cookies only to have my kids eat a few and it be left sitting there the next day taunting me. Rude, right? I think this is a great idea. It limits how much you are likely to eat. If I had an entire cake there or 20 cupcakes, I may be in trouble. (surely I am not the only one) This idea is brilliant. Thanks again Pinterest for leading the way to awesomeness! And thanks to The Hidden Pantry for sharing. But mostly...thanks to Aunt Betty!!!

http://thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2011/11/aunt-bettys-1-2-3-cake.html 



 ~Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps~











 Okay - so this is not my picture but don't they look delicious!!!  I saw the picture and it lured me in immediately. I did however make these nummy wraps last night! And can I say - MMMM...MMMM..Good!!!  Why - I think I just did.  You can find the recipe here if you want to give these a whirl - and guess what??? They are good for you too!! http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/04/turkey-taco-lettuce-wraps-3-pts.html

 *A Few Tips & Tricks - Okay so I don't like onions at all...but I do like the taste of an onion. (I'm a texture person) So I substituted the Onions with Onion Powder. I also didn't have any oregano or paprika on hand and they still turned out delicious. Honestly, the mixture of the dry ingredients is probably like adding Taco Seasoning without all the added salt. And it tasted just like I had added taco seasoning. I'm telling you, you have to try these!! I am a ground turkey person strictly. I do not eat ground beef any longer, not ever since I tried ground turkey. But...if you aren't a "turkey" like me you could always use ground beef instead. Also, you could make some rice on the side (white or brown) and add  that into the beef mixture if you wanted to give it more girth or make the mixture go farther if you have more mouths to feed. And finally, the most important part, the lettuce. Make sure you get a fresh, head of lettuce and a big head of lettuce at that. If your lettuce isn't large and crisp the mixture will make it soggy and if all else fails you could serve this in tortillas. Depends on how healthy you want it!!! If anyone tries it let me know what you think!!
 


~Rainbow Cupcakes & Pink Chocolate Chip Cookies~
 They are the bomb people. And they are so simple and easy.  I'm sure you are thinking it is completely unnecessary for me to blog about the rainbow cupcakes because of their simplicity. However, I am not blogging to tell you how to make them.  I'm here to tell you how cool you will be if you do make them. For about three hours I was the coolest mom on the block.  No seriously. I was awesome! And my daughter and all her friends all said so!! Who doesn't want the acceptance of 4 seven year old girls. Point for Mommy! Anyways, besides just being fun for her - these things have endless possibilities. Seriously. Think about it. Superbowl Party~Breast Cancer Awareness~Valentines Day~Mavs Watching Party~I could go on and on and on and on.  Just do it!     http://pinterest.com/pin/74872412524659664/
   
Okay, as far as the pink chocolate chip cookies go - also a big hit amongst the girls!! Even my son, Jackson, thought they pretty cool. And he is 9 1/2 and like way cooler than me. I did get the idea from Pinterest but her cookies said they are crunchy and we don't do crunchy, we do chewy so I just bought the cookie dough from the store, put it in a bowl and added the pink gel food coloring.  I kneaded it with my hands until it was the color I wanted.  It will darken up some in the oven so keep that in mind. And your hands are going to get stained but just wash as soon as you are done and it will eventually go away.  Anyways, if you are a fan of the crunchy here is the link. http://quick-dish.tablespoon.com/2011/10/09/pretty-in-pink/

 And you can make whatever color of cookies you want!!! Fun..Fun!


 

3 comments:

  1. Chicken Avocado salad and the lettuce wraps look awesome, making me hungry! Gonna have to try those recipes soon. Secret tip... If you have a Costco membership, go there to get avocados, they are HUGE and you get around 6 or 8. They may be a little unripe when you buy them, but just throw them in a brown paper bag for a day or so until they ripen. I use them a lot for when I make my special signature Guacamole :)

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    1. I'd like to try some of that special signature Guac...Eric!! And ummm...hello...where were you when I needed you, like 12 avocados ago! That's brilliant - I have never heard of that! Thank you so much!! Your da Man!!

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    2. You got it! I'm due for making some Guac soon. It's been a while...

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