Chicken Fried Rice {Gasp!}

Yes, that’s right. This white girl made Chinese food for the first time ever. And, let me tell you… it was unbelievably amazing! Plus, the kids are on a roll. They loved this one too! Husband said it was great. Like eating at a Chinese restaurant if ya ask me.


Totally took the pic after I was already eating it. It’s SO good!

So make some!

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked rice**
• 2 cups of chicken {I used my leftover rotisserie chicken from yesterday’s recipe. Easy peezy lemon squeezy}
• 2 Tbs sesame oil
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• ½ frozen peas and carrots, thawed {I used a can of mixed veggies because that’s how I roll}
• 2-3 Tablespoons soy sauce (more or less to taste)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 Tbsp chopped green onions (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat a large skillet or wok to medium heat. Pour sesame oil in the bottom. Add white onion and peas and carrots {or 3/4 of the can if you’re lazy like me} and fry until tender.
2. Slide the onion and veggies to the side, and pour the beaten eggs onto the other side. Using a spatula, scramble the eggs. Once cooked, mix the eggs with the vegetable mix.
3. Add the rice to the veggie and egg mixture. Pour the soy sauce on top. Stir and fry the rice and veggie mixture until heated through and combined. Add chopped green onions if desired.
   
   **Side note: this works better with not-freshly-cooked rice. But, I used freshly cooked rice because I don’t have time to wait! It was still perfect!
   
   Enjoy loves!

You Asked and You Shall Receive

My kids have become increasingly picky. And I’ve cooked less and less because of it. BUT I'm back at it because I was craving enchiladas and just went on a roll with recipes from there!

Kid Friendly Chicken Enchiladas



Ingredients

• 1 Rotisserie chicken shredded or cut up (about 2.5 cups shredded chicken, I saved the rest for tomorrow’s dinner)
• 8 oz sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk (I used whipping cream instead just because)
• 1 can of mild, red enchilada sauce
• 1 Tbsp cilantro
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 cup onion, diced (I sautéed these before so they would be hidden from the kids)
• 8  flour tortillas
• 1/2 cup Mexican shredded cheese

                                                                              Instructions

1. In a saucepan, mix together sour cream, enchilada sauce, milk (or cream) and cilantro. Heat through and set aside. (This will boil quickly and make a huge hot mess if you don't keep stirring. I learned the hard way.)
2. Combine the chicken, tomatoes, and onions in a mixing bowl. (Or now you would sauté your onions if you want them soft and sneaky :) )
3. Fill each tortilla with about 3 Tbsps. of the chicken mixture.
4. Roll the tortilla up and place seam side down ( or they will unravel ) in an 8x11 dish ( or whatever you have ) sprayed with cooking spray
   (side note…  I like rubbing my pans down with butter. We never have spray. Ever.)
5. Pour/spread the sour cream sauce over enchiladas and top with cheese. ( One more side note, I like to cover all the tortillas, including the ends especially,  with sauce. Because if you don’t, they come out majorly crunchy and I hate that )
6. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and cheese is melted.
   
   Yuuuum! Seriously so good. So so good.

The Best Chicken Spaghetti Ever!

Hi friends! I took a way-too-long break from cooking or posting my recipes! It’s sad. Mr. Spouse is probably more sad than anyone. Poor guy. I promised to him tonight that I would start cooking dinner again. I also promised my friends I’d start posting recipes again. So here’s to you guys!

So, there’s a lot of “stuff” in this spaghetti, BUT it’s super easy to make. So don’t fret when you see the ingredient list :)

Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients:
1 "Cut Up Fryer" (Basically, one lovely rotisserie chicken that someone else cooked for you. Makes mama’s life much better. Don’t you agree?)
Thin or regular Spaghetti (1-2 Cups)
1 can chicken broth (You’ll only use half the can)
2 Cans of Cream of Mushroom soup (You can use one can cream of mushroom and one can cream of chicken, if you’d like.)
1 onion chopped very finely (so the children can’t find them-mine don’t like onions)
1 green pepper (I don’t use the whole thing. I chop it up in little pieces and spread it all around so the kids can’t find them)
3 cups cheddar cheese
Lawry’s Seasoned Salt (about 2 teaspoons)
salt, pepper.

This is basic stuff, folks!

1. Boil a pot of water and the broth to a boil. When it’s boiling, break the spaghetti into 2-inch pieces until you have around 2 1/2 to 3 cups and let it cook according to the directions on the package.

2. I buy my rotisserie chicken the day I know I’ll make this and let it cool on the counter. It’s painful to tear up a hot chicken! So wash your hands, and start pulling chunks off the chicken. Maybe use a knife to cut them into smaller pieces if you’d like.

(Tip: You can use any cut of chicken you like. I like the whole chicken because it gives you a mixture of dark and light meat. If you’d like to do just breasts, that would work just fine! Also, if you are using a rotisserie instead of your own cooked chicken, be sure to add the canned chicken broth to the water before you boil the spaghetti. (I only use half of the can because it’d make the dish too salty.)

3. Cut up the veggies however you’d like.

4. Now, add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl. Since I don’t like dirtying up extra dishes, I mix mine all in the casserole dish and skip the bowl. It’s up to you! Add the spaghetti (drained), cut-up chicken, 2 cans of soup,  veggies, 2 cups of cheese, and your spices and mix it all together.

5. Bake it at 375 for 30 minutes. The last five minutes, spread the remaining cup of cheese and let it melt.



Yum!
Husband and kid approved!

Take it Easy

CROCK POT BAJA PORK TACOS

recipe from Chef in Training

1 {3lb} Boneless pork tenderloin

5 {4oz} cans chopped green chiles

2 tbsp. taco seasoning, reduced sodium

1 tbsp. ground cumin

flour or corn tortillas

Optional toppings

lettuce

cheese

pico de gallo

avocado

Directions:

Cut the tenderloin in half and place in crock pot. In a small bowl, mix together chiles, taco seasoning, and cumin. Pour mixture over pork, cover, and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until pork is tender and easily falls apart. When it’s about ready, shred pork with a couple of forks. I didn’t remove the pork from the crock pot to shred it. I was able to shred it while it was still cooking. Ohmiword…it was SO tender!!!!!

Place a generous heaping of pork down the middle of your tortilla. Then, I load up on sour cream and cheese. Husband likes to add pico and gauc or avocados. I’m a simple girl myself.

The best part about this recipe was that it was ready when we got home from my pain injections. Good for husband because I was OUT. So good, y’all! And they were even better the next day!!!!

Daddy's Birthday Breakfast

This recipe is SO yummy. I do not like sausage pretty much at all, but especially not for breakfast. But blueberry sausage sounded like my thing so we cooked some up for husbands 27th birthday breakfast!

Blueberry Maple Breakfast Sausage




This takes maybe 5 minutes to throw together and will feed you for a while. Recipe can be halved, and adjusted to your preferences.


2 lb ground pork
1/4 c maple syrup
1 c blueberries chopped up
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 T sage, chopped up if fresh (or more to taste)

Mix everything together, then form into patties. Two pounds of meat makes about a dozen and a half small patties. Fry as many as you need, with a tiny bit of oil in a pan over medium heat (about 10 minutes). Freeze the rest, layered in between wax paper until hard, then transfer to zip lock bags or wrap individually (or in pairs) with plastic wrap. Thaw in the fridge overnight for the next day's breakfast. Serve drizzled with syrup.

Yummy Apple Crisp

Ingredients

• 7 apples, peeled, cored and sliced ( I had a lot of bags of the already cut up apple slices, so I used those)
• 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Method

1 Preheat oven to 375°F. In a mixing bowl, combine apples, lemon juice, and vanilla. Toss to combine.

2 Layer sliced apples in a 9 x 13-inch (or approximately the same size) baking pan.

3 Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and oatmeal in a bowl. Mix in the butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apples.

4 Bake 45 minutes or until topping looks crunchy and apples are tender.

Mmmmm SO GOOD!!

Cowgirl Cookies {Cookies for Santa}

We made these for Santa on Christmas Eve. They are seriously yummy cookies!!!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Stir all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Add:

1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup butter (melted slightly in the microwave)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Use the back of a large spoon to work it all together. You may even need to use your hands to get everything incorporated.
Then roll the cookie dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, place on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. I got about 26-28 cookies out of these.