Spanish Rice

I did it! I figured out how to make Spanish rice with our left over white rice! Sometimes dinners will leave us with leftover white rice, often times from haystacks, etc. I hate to see the cooked white rice go bad. Last time I tried the Spanish rice, it didn't turn out well, but this time. WOW!

I've discovered the magic of Rotel. A little goes a long way with this stuff. But this gave it the kick it needed and the flavor punch to the taste buds! Give it a try.

Ingredients:
- Rotel
- Corn
- Rice
- Tomato sauce

1. Combine cooked rice and rotel in a pan. Go easy on the Rotel, add it in slow and add more if you'd like more heat. Ours had a kick on the back end that you had to watch out for. ;)
2. Add in corn
3. Add in a can of tomato sauce. I used just an 8 ounce can. This helps tone down the Rotel. I also found that the longer it cooked the more mild it became.
4. Salt or pepper to taste, if desired.

Sorry for my crummy picture, the easiest camera I have is on my phone. 

This competes with the Rice-a-Roni Spanish rice. Quite frankly, this has more flavor, I think. Once the Rotel and corn are added in, it gains quite a bit of bulk. You don't need a lot of rice to make a nice large side dish. :) 

- SamiMae

Second time Guacamole (Rotel included!)

Update on my guacamole making skills, I found a magical secret to making tasty guac. Are you ready? Mix in some Rotel with it. Yes, that's right. Rotel. (Save most of it for Spanish rice.) This batch of guacamole was SOOOO TASTY. It had quite a bit of heat to it. Rotel includes the pepper seeds in it, so that's where the heat is.

Ingredients:
- Avacado
- Rotel
- Minced onion
- Salt
- Lemon/lime juice.

1. Mash up avocado
2. Add a tiny bit of Rotel. A little goes a long ways! Learned that the hard way.
3. Add minced onion, salt and lemon/lime juice to flavor.
4. Let sit for at least 15 minutes. The longer you let the mixture mix, the more the flavors will combine. I let it sit in the fridge 15 minutes while I finished up dinner, and it did wonders!

It's super easy to make tasty guacamole! Avocados around here are only .99 cents. That's all this cost me! Everything else I keep on hand!


- SamiMae

Homemade Bean and Chicken Burritos!

Today I had the hardest time trying to figure out what I wanted to make for dinner. I cruised Pinterest for quite a while and gathered a few ideas. Finally, I decided to make homemade bean and chicken burritos.These burritos were delicious because - the tortillas were homemade, the inside was kept simple.

Some times, things are better and tastier when kept simple. This dish was one of those. I've been perfecting my tortilla making, so they were soft and flexible and oh so flavorful, way better than store bought. Even though there is no extra seasoning involve in this stupidly simple dish, it had a LOT of flavor. You can spice it up however you like with any extra spices or keep it mellow.

You'll laugh when you hear the inside mixture. A drained can of pinto beans, and a drained can of chicken. Ya, that's it. Nothing else. I drained both cans, put them together in a pot on the stove and warmed them up. Wrapped up inside a tortilla with a little bit of cheese, sour cream and salsa if you like, these things were AMAZING. Better than any frozen bean burrito and belly filling delicious for homemade.

I also made homemade guacamole again, (which was EVEN better than before.), and Spanish rice. (Super easy, see recipe here)


Ingredients: 
- Can of chicken (or cooked chicken breasts)
- Drained pinto beans
- Tortillas
- Cheese
- Sour cream (optional)
- Salsa (optional)

1. Make/ warm tortillas
2. Drain chicken and pinto beans. Warm up on stove.
3. Load it all up and dig in. :)

Doesn't get better than that. Homemade, healthy, fast, simple, cheap. Altogether this meal cost me probably less than $5 and it'll get us both lunch tomorrow as well! :) Trevor and I ate way to much! So tasty!

It's to easy not to try it!

- SamiMae

Fast Asian Broccoli and Beef

I LOVE Asian food. So whenever I can cook something slightly Asian, I will. I've had some frozen broccoli that I've wanted to use for the last little while and so I did! This recipe is super simple, stupidly simple. You don't need any fancy Asian seasoning to make this yummy dish.

Ingredients: 

- Beef

- Broccoli

- Garlic (I minced mine, 2 cloves)

- Mr. Yoshida's marinade

Use what beef you have on hand. I had some frozen beef that I had cooked a few weeks back. I used my wok to heat it up. Meanwhile I minced 2 cloves of garlic. After the meat was warmed up, I sliced it into bite sized pieces. I put the meat back in the wok, put in the garlic, broccoli and a fair amount of Mr. Yoshida's marinade. This stuff is amazing. If you don't have some, get it! :) 

I quickly made some 5 minute rice to put my yummy meaty mixture on top of and dinner was finished. It took me maybe 30 minutes from start to finish. I love fast and simple meals, especially when I already have everything on hand. Mr. Yoshida's is made from soy sauce but has sugar added to give it a sweet and sour flavor. It's heavenly.

Hint: The best part of this dish is all the leftover seasonings that left in the pan. Be the last one to dish up and you'll have the most flavorful dish! :) 

Happy Eating! 

- SamiMae 

BBQ Chicken Tin Foil Dinner

This was another original. Not to complex by any means though. It was quite tasty, completely healthy (other than the BBQ sauce), and I had everything on hand. It's similar to my favorite BBQ pineapple quesadillas .

Ingredients:
- Chicken tenderloins
- Pineapple
- Green or red bell pepper
- Green chilis (I used a tiny bit from a can, optional)
- BBQ sauce
- Onion (Optional)

- Tin Foil.

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Put chicken on tinfoil, top with pineapple, green chilies, about 3 slices of green pepper, a few slices of onion. Top with BBQ sauce. Wrap it up.
3. Bake for 45 min to 1 hour.

Pretty customizable. Use whatever you have at home!

In the last 10-15 minutes this had to cook, I prepared an super easy and quick stir fry. I LOVE stir frys 

Stir fry: 

I cut up 1 zucchini and 1 squash. You can add in peppers or other veggies like broccoli. I cooked them in a bit of canola oil and topped with Mrs. Dash seasoning. Quick, simple. Tasty. Healthy.

This was a favorite. Quick and easy. It was perfect for a weeknight. I love meals that I can put in the oven and continue on doing my own thing. The BBQ sauce is pretty liquidy after it comes out, but the chicken was so moist! I'm making this again. 

- SamiMae

First Time Guacamole

Earlier this week, I bought an avocado. The first one in my entire 6 month marriage! I didn't know quite what to do with it, until tonight. I made guacamole! YUM! I found a recipe on Pinterest, so I could see what it called for, because I had no idea what is in guacamole. I found this recipe. I did mine quite a bit different, because I didn't have a lot of it, but it was a start!

Ingredients:

- 1 avocado

- Lemon juice

- Garlic powder

- Diced tomatoes (leftovers from last night, yes, I got creative)

- Diced onion (I actually used frozen!) 

- Salt

Pretty simple to make. Cut up avocado and mix in all the ingredients! Use a fork. Go off of taste, but remember that after it sits for a while, the flavors will absorb and it'll taste better. I can't wait to taste mine tomorrow. :) Even the 10-15 minutes that it sat while Trevor and I finished making dinner, was enough for it to start absorbing the flavors. I was quite impressed. It was pretty good. :)

I didn't have any lime, only lemon. I had cilantro, but was to lazy to see what parts of it were good to use. (It was 9 pm when we were making dinner). I even used frozen onions, just a bit though, and they were diced, so they thawed pretty quick. 

I gotta say, for my first time, it was pretty good! I think I will SO be making this again! 

- SamiMae

Leftover Success - Bean and Rice Burritos

So, dinner tonight gave me a challenge. I had leftover rice, beans, corn and diced tomatoes. I also had an avocado that I needed to use soon. After a few minutes on Pinterest, I came up with the idea to do rice and bean burritos. I made guacamole for our chips and salsa I already have. We made up some homemade tortillas and BAM! Dinner!

The rice gave me a bit of a challenge. I've never made mexican rice before, and I wanted to keep it simple. Many recipes said use tomato paste. I was thinking about using tomato sauce, but went with the paste instead. Well, I should have had about another cup of rice to even things out. It was very...pasty. But, I think we recovered.

For the beans, this was pretty good. I sauteed some diced onion, red peppers and minced garlic in some canola oil. Then I added by leftover black beans and cooked those. After it was all warm. I added it to the rice. With a bit of cumin and some taco seasonings - hey, it was edible! Hahaha, Trevor actually, really liked it. This recipe just wasn't up to my normal level of creativity and awesomeness that most of my other meals are. I had quite a few set ingredients that I had to use, and I had to make it all work. Overall, at the end, it wasn't so bad. :)

Trevor made some homemade tortillas. We are getting pretty good at those homemade tortillas, they sure are better than store bought! That's for sure. While he was making the tortillas, I whipped up some guacamole.

This was interesting, because I had never made it before. I remembered from cooking in the kitchen with my mom, that it takes a little while to absorb the flavors of the things that's in it. Because at first, I added a ton of stuff, and it still tasted like avocado! See how I made the guacamole here!

Not too bad, eh?!

Ingredients:
- Rice
- Black Beans
- Corn
- Cumin
- Taco seasoning (optional)
- Diced Onion
- Red bell pepper (diced)
- Tomato Paste


1. Warm rice up, (or cook it), put in tomato paste, cumin, and tomato seasoning.
2. Saute onions, red bell pepper and 2 gloves of garlic (minced) together. After onions are cooked, add in black beans and corn.
3. Once rice is cooked/warmed, add in bean mixture.
4. Serve on tortillas as a burrito. (Ours were more like tacos, because they were so stuffed!
5. Top with sour cream, cheese, guacamole, salsa, whatever is your favorite!


What I love about this recipe, is how simple it is. This recipe is more like an idea. You can do anything you want with it, and customize it to your crowd. There is only Trevor and I so, we generally cook and prepare less. This was all natural really. Nothing was pre-made. Only the beans and corn came from a can. Everything else was natural. How awesome huh?! AND - it was meat free and very filling. :) Way to have an awesome meal on a tight budget.

This is one I think I'll make again. :) We used all leftovers from the night before, and all the leftovers got used! Success!

- SamiMae

Stuffed Bell Peppers

So, last night I made stuffed bell peppers. Secretly, growing up I never liked them. But I wanted to give them another try. I've learned the only way to like things, is to eat them. :) This was pretty tasty. I was able to eat about half the pepper, and then I was done, but the insides were really good! These were simple to make. They can be time consuming depending on how you choose to make them. This was another recipe I made from Pinterest. But, I made mine quite a bit different. You can view the original recipe here.

Ingredients:
- Bell Peppers
- Cumin
- Salt
- Diced tomatoes
- Black beans
- Corn
- Rice
- Meat (I used ground beef.)
- Cheese
- Green onions (optional)


1. Clean out peppers, remove seeds and veins. Let them dry
2. Start cooking rice. I used brown rice, no instant stuff. So, that took a while to cook.
3. Cook meat, add in cumin, salt, tomatoes, black beans, and corn.
4. Add rice to meat mixture after it's cooked. Season to taste if you feel it needs more.
5. Next comes the stuffing. Stuff each pepper full of the yummy meat mixture!
6. Cook peppers in the oven for about 30-45 minutes at 350, depending on your preference. Mine was about 35 minutes. Top with cheese and green onions.

I found that it was really good with ranch. That's how I was able to eat the pepper! I love peppers in dishes, but to eat one whole or raw or even cooked can be a challenge. But, nonetheless, this was a tasty dish! Trevor ate the whole thing! For being in a pepper, it was pretty mild on heat and taste. Give it a shot!

We only cooked two peppers, and had quite a bit of leftover rice stuffing mix, so we put it in the pan with the 2 peppers to cook to eat later. (We actually used the leftovers tonight for dinner. :) Along with our stuffed peppers, we had a salad and my yummy homemade bread.

- SamiMae

Homemade Sandwich Bread *** Updated

How many of us want to buy bread when it's over $3 a loaf? Not me! So, I've found a recipe that has SUPER delicious and is sturdy enough to have our all our favorites spread onto it. My favorite is Nutella. Peanut butter and Nutella to be exact. (It's like a giant Reece's peanut butter cup, but better!)

I've made three batches of this now and each time it's gotten better and better. The flavor is always tasty, and it's fluffy. I've also improved my technique. I found this recipe on Pinterest. I also followed her link to learn a bit more on the technique. I've gone into more depth to explain the steps and what I've learned. This recipe is amazing, I'm never buying store bought bread again! (Click here for original recipe.)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 teaspoons of yeast
- 1 cup of milk (Whole or 2% are best, I think.)
- 2 tablespoons of white sugar
- 1 tablespoon of salt
- 2 table spoons of butter
- 5 1/2 - 6 1/2 cups of flour

Instructions:
1. In your mix master, put in yeast and warm water. I like to do yeast first, because that way I know all the yeast is activated by the water. Let it sit for 5 minutes

2. Meanwhile, melt butter. Measure out milk, and set aside sugar and salt.

3. After the 5 minutes is up, pour in sugar and salt. (These help the yeast). Then pour in the butter. I like to then turn on the mix master while I slowly pour in milk. You don't want the butter to solidify again. (This did happen to me once, not the best thing). Right now, I'm using my whisk like attachment.

4. Turn on mix master and pour in 3 cups of flour. Do it gradually. I found it took me 3 cups of flour before the dough clumped together. We will be mixing the dough for about 8-10 minutes. During this time, keep adding in flour. Do what's best for you. Climate and elevation can have an effect on bread. You want your dough to be sticky, but manageable. If you pull the dough out and it sticks to your entire hand, better add a bit more flour. I speak from experience. I try to add in as little flour as possible. But, go with your gut feeling.

5. After you've mixed your dough, and have it in a nice ball, put it in a bowl that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking oil. Let the dough rise for 1 hour in a warm area.

6. After it's risen, dump the dough onto a cutting board, or counter top with a bit of flour nearby. Cut the dough into 2. (I used a pizza cutter, that way my two balls were more even sized). Form dough gently into a ball and let it rest for another 10 minutes.

7. After the dough has rested for 10 minutes, it's time to form the dough into our loafs. It is important that you do this. I didn't do it on my first batch and my loaves were tiny.
     A. With the palm of your hand, gently push the dough into a rectangle or square. There will be little bubbles in the dough. Don't purposely try to pop them all. :) I believe that these help your dough rise.
     B. After the dough is in a square/rectangle, fold in thirds. Yes, fold this hot dog style.
     C. Next, pinch the edges together so it creates a seam.

8. Gently put dough into a greased bread tin. (I use stone cookware. I only have 1 bread tin, but I have similar shaped casserole dishes. I find that these work better then the bread tin.)

9. Cover the dough and let it rise for another 45 minutes to an hour. The dough doesn't rise very much once it's in the oven. So, make sure you let it get nice and big. I usually let it sit for an hour. Sometime during the second rise, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

10. After it's risen, you can slash the top of it, from one end to the next, very gently with a knife. The original author of this recipe claims it helps. I haven't found much of a difference personally. Your choice!

11. When you go to put your loafs in, turn the oven down to 375 and pop them in! Let the dough cook for about 30-45 minutes, depending on your preference. Mine is usually 35 minutes. Once the dough is pulled out, dump it out of the tins and tap the top and bottom. It should sound hollow. Now, let the bread cool. I know we all are looking forward to that warm slice of bread, but give it a few minutes. Do this because, first, you'll burn yourself. And second, you'll squish and deflate the bread. I speak from experience. The bread will get a dough like feeling at the bottom of the loaf if you try to cut into it to early, plus it'll separate the top of the bread from the bottom when you cut it. I'd recommend maybe 15 minutes to cool down.

12. Enjoy your tasty bread!

First attempt, the red dish is my stone cookware.

See, this loaf did really good, the other one didn't rise very much. 

One came out prettier than the other. The bigger one (left) is the one from the red dish.

Kinda sad looking loafs, but ohhhh sooo tasty! I cut into it too early, see my loaf is squished and has a doughy texture on the bottom of the loaf because it was compacted.

Third attempt. Much, much better. 

(Third attempt). SEE how large it is! I also can slice the bread pretty thin, which is nice! This bread is sturdy enough for thinner slices. See how full it is? :) With each attempt they get better. 

I've been enjoying having fresh homemade bread. With more practice, I'm totally independent from the grocery store and their pricey breads!  No preservatives, no prepackaged or processed bread. Homemade, fresh, warm delicious bread from now on!

- SamiMae

Potato Chips - A Work in Progress

Today, I wanted to try making potato chips. I am trying to become less dependent on the grocery store and save money. We don't need potato chips, but they are fun to eat. So I decided to give it a try.

For a first shot, they turned out pretty good! I used this recipe as a guide.

Ingredients:
- Potatoes
- A clove of garlic
- Olive Oil
- Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut potatoes thin, about 1/16th of an inch. This is key. I don't think they'll turn out good if you don't do this. I have this handy little slicer that I got as a wedding gift. The first time I tried using it, I couldn't figure it out. But, I tried it again and it was like magic. It's one of the best kitchen tools around. My potatoes got super thin!

After I sliced them, I put them in a bowl of cold water to wash off the starch and keep them from going yellow. A few days ago, I tried making hash browns by shredding them, and they didn't turn out well, they got soggy and yellow really quick. I was afraid that'd happen here, but luckily it was different! Anyway, after I had them all cut up and in the cold water, I strained them and then rinsed them to get any remaining starch off. Then I patted them dry with a paper towel.

Sometime during this process, we need to pour some olive oil on the pan we are going to be using and then take a garlic clove, slice it in half and rub it all over the pan. Squeeze the garlic's oil onto the pan, it'll help give it flavor.  

I put them in a bowl and poured in some olive oil, salt and pepper. I then used a plate to cover the bowl and I shook it up. Don't be afraid to go a bit heavy on the pepper. I could have done more. I should have put the garlic cloves in the bowl while I shook it up. That might have helped give it more of a garlic flavor.

Afterwards, put the potato slices on the pan. The original recipe said have them about 1/4th an inch apart. I only wanted to use one pan, so I just covered the whole thing. Still turned out good.

They tasted good, but are a work in progress! You can see my oven gets hot on the sides of the pan...hahaha. Weird! Those burnt ones were good. Most were crispy and had a crunch. There were a few soggy ones, but there was quite a bit of oil by the time you consider the pan being covered and the potatoes soaked with it. 

These little guys were good, and I'm going to perfect my recipe and try new ideas and recipes. I don't want to have to buy potato chips at the store again. They aren't healthy and it costs a bit of money. The picture above doesn't look like a lot, because I had already eaten a few. But, I only used 2 smaller sized russet potatoes. So really, this didn't cost me much at all! 

If you try this, let me know how yours turned out!

- SamiMae

Lick the Bowl - Chicken Enchilada Pasta

This was an AMAZING meal. So good, that I didn't manage to get pictures of the final product. Hahaha. This one is a MUST. It was super easy, and it tasted so good! I got the idea off of Pinterest, but did mine quite a bit different. View the original recipe here.

This is better then hamburger helper, and probably quicker. I'm so excited about this meal, I was worried, and experimented. I also had to feed this to my mother-in-law. I was hoping it'd turn out edible, but it is probably one of my new favorite. I'm a huge fan of enchilada's and this just took it to a whole new level.  Are you ready?

Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts (or a can of chicken. I did 2 breasts, and the flavor and texture were great.)
- 1 can of enchilada sauce
- Noodles. (I used bowtie)
- Sour Cream
- Cream cheese
- Diced onion, or minced (Optional.)
- Crushed garlic, or garlic powder. (Optional.)
- 1-2 tablespoons of veggie oil.
- Shredded cheese. (Optional.)
- Green onions. (Optional.)


Yup, that's it. You can add any seasonings you'd like. I really like the enchilada sauce that I use. I don't put amount sizes because it differs for everyone.  Now, I'll explain my process.

1. Cook the chicken breasts in some vegetable oil. Add in some diced onion and garlic while it cooks. It adds great flavor! If you are using a can, you can skip this step.

2. Boil your water, and begin cooking your noodles.

3. Warm up enchilada sauce. When I make my enchilada I use this:

This stuff is a small brand I've never heard of, but this is liquid gold in a can. Amazing heavenly goodness. I found this at Winco I believe. I need to pick up some more, because we use it so much.

So, I cooked this, it was a little spicy, and my husband and mother in law are a bit sensitive to heat. So that's where a couple scoops of sour cream come in handy. Well, that wasn't quite enough. So I added in a few tablespoons of cream cheese. Feel free to get creative and try adding different spices to yours. I continued to heat this on the stove. Then, this mixture did something awesome! It began to thicken and...kind of enlarge in size. I could just tell by looking at it, that it was ready to get dumped on my noodles!

4. Dump over noodles, stir. Top with cheese and green onions. I love green onions, so for me, those really made the dish. This dinner had so much flavor! It was gobbled down and almost gone by the time dinner was over. Everybody had a nice helping of seconds.

Top with some green onions and cheese.

Again, this dish was so good, I didn't get a final picture because it was so good and I didn't have leftovers. I was so excited about this meal that I forgot to take a picture before I began eating!

I served this dish with a salad and a side of veggies. Super quick and cheap meal to make. I'm doing this again!

- SamiMae

Easy Caramel Popcorn - Great for FHE

Last night was family home evening. Trevor decided to put off his homework so we could do something together. :) He cleaned up dinner, and I started making this recipe for caramel, do drizzle on our popcorn. I found this recipe on Pinterest. Grab the original recipe here. I actually didn't make any modifications to this recipe. I didn't really dare, because I haven't had any practice or experience with making caramels. But, I'm sure going to get into it after this! This was a DELICIOUS recipe.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup karo
- 2 cups of brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp water
- Dash of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- Air popped popcorn.

Combine karo, brown sugar, butter, water, and salt together and bring to a rolling boil. After it's brought to a boil, take off heat, mix in vanilla and baking soda. It should get to almost a foam. At least, mine did. Once it got to that point, I knew it was ready to dump over the popcorn.

YUM! 

We mixed it in with the popcorn. My goodness! It was SOOOO GOOD! We had warm popcorn with caramel to eat while we watched the Emperors New Groove.

It was great. Who doesn't love the Emperors New Groove?! Fun family night. This show came out in 2000, even 14 years later, we still quote this show.

Spend time with your families. Do something fun!

- SamiMae

Mr. Yoshida's Beef Fajitas

Last night, I wanted to make some more tortillas. They were just so tasty the first time. I didn't want to cook any chicken, and I realized I hadn't cooked any beef for a while. So, I pulled out 2 of my "beef slabs" from when I previously cooked my 5 lb. roast. All it is, is 2 thick slices of that roast, with the juices it cooked it. It has quite a bit of flavor on it's own.

I pulled the 2 slabs out and cooked them in my wok. I love using my wok, I love stir-frys and love Asian flavoring and food. I'm trying to expand my cooking abilities to include Asian food. Last night, I had to come up with it on my own, based on the ingredients I had. Pinterest was of no help to me, but that's ok. So this, as simple as it is, I do believe I can call an original. :)

I thawed the beef in the wok, it had some nice juices it was cooking in. I have a little grate that sits on top and I put some veggies on it to thaw. I keep bags of frozen veggies in my freezer. When I go grocery shopping, I'll pick up an extra pepper or onion. Then I'll come home and slice it up and freeze it. I usually rotate these out pretty quick. So, I got everything cooking/thawing.

After that was done then I had to decide what seasonings to put in it. I poured in a bit of Mr. Yoshida's seasoning. You can find it at Costco. It's my favorite. :) This seasoning gives it a sweet taste. I also added in a bit of cumin, and an extra onion seasoning, let it all mix together and simmer. I must say, I was impressed with the flavor. This was quite a great meal. :)

Ingredients:
- Beef
- Red bell pepper, sliced
- Green bell pepper, sliced
- Onion, sliced
- Cumin
- Mr. Yoshida's
- Optional: minced onion. I used this because I didn't put enough onion in it to give it much flavor.
- Tortillas
- Toppings, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, cilantro

I found that the meat had a lot of flavor when I dipped it in the sauce and then put it on my tortilla. I also made some rice-a-roni "fried rice". Pretty bland, but it was nice to have a side dish.

I love the color that the red and green peppers add. The sauce, is where a lot of the flavor is. 

Not too great of a picture, but man...this was SO GOOD! 

My favorite thing about cooking is, it's an experiment. Forget the measurments. Each time a recipe is made, it's going to be altered based on amount of people. There is only Trevor and I eating, so I have to cut back on a recipe. This usually forces me to just look and see what ingredients are in a recipe and then go from there. It's fun to go off of taste and smell. It makes it unique and not just "some recipe". It also improves a cook's skills. I've found that since Trevor and I have been married, that my cooking has improved exponentially.

And, if it does turn out horrible? Worst case scenario? Scrap it, and make mac and cheese. :) HAHAHA. (I think I only offered to do that once, when we were first married.). I learned a lot.


-SamiMae

Rotel and Cream Cheese Chili!

This recipe was amazing! This was probably a top 10 dinner. There was a punch of flavor in this dish! This is another meal that I found off of Pinterest. You can view the original recipe here.


This was a crock pot meal that I put in before church. When we got home, the house smelled WONDERFUL! This would have been a great chili to put in my bread bowls. I made last week. This meal is so easy, crack open some cans, shake a few bottles and forget about it. :)


Ingredients:
- Chicken breasts (I use 2 tenderloins)
- 1 can of Rotel
- 1 can of corn
- 1 can of black beans
- Cumin
- Chili powder
- Ranch mix packet (I only had half a packet of the spicy ranch. Still turned out great!)
- Cream Cheese
- Onion powder


In crock pot, put in chicken, rotel, corn, black beans, ranch mix packet. Sprinkle on some cumin, onion powder, and chili powder. Let it cook as long as necessary. Mine cooked on low for 5ish hours. I drained my corn and black beans, if you do that, add a bit of extra water. I added about 1/2 cup.

Once it's cooked and you're ready to eat, stir in some cream cheese. I probably used about 3 oz. Then dish up! Top this with cilantro, sour cream, and cheese. YUMMY! I had 2 big helpings of this. It's perfect for a cold day.

I only took one picture, because today was Fast Sunday, and we don't get out of church until 3:30. So I was starving. :) I could hardly top it with sour cream and cheese fast enough. I did grab out some cilantro and put it in mine as well. It added a nice dynamic to the flavor. This dish can be a bit spicy. It was warm, but not burning. The cheese and sour cream helps, for sure.

Enjoy!

-SamiMae

Asian Haystacks!

So, I have Hawaiian haystacks, I have Mexican haystacks. Now I have Asian haystacks. :) This recipe is fantastic! I'm so making this again. I found the original recipe on Pinterest, but changed it around a little bit.

Ingredients include:
- Chicken breasts (I use tenderloins)
- Mr. Yoshida's marinade sauce
- Pineapple and juice
- Brown sugar
- Garlic
- Green onions
- Water
- Rice
- Cornstarch (To thicken sauce)


This is a super simple meal. It can easily be a crock pot meal, but I just prepared mine in the oven.

1. Set oven to 350 degrees
2. Put chicken in a casserole dish, along with:
     - About 1/4 cup of Mr. Yoshida's
     - 3/4 cup water
     - Sprinkle some brown sugar over the chicken (Go easy on the brown sugar, I did about 2 tablespoons, but I only cooked 2-4 chicken tenderloins)
     - Pour some pineapple and juice on top.
     - Crush some garlic on top, (or whichever way you use garlic)
     - Cut up 2 green onions and put it in as well
3. Make sure the meat is covered with sauce.
4. Cook about 45 minutes to 1 hour


In the last few minutes that it's cooking, there are a few other things we can do to prepare. Cook any side dishes or desert that you'd like. Make sure to get some rice cooking (whether you use 5 minute rice or steam it, it doesn't matter).

During this time, you can also take about 1/4th cup of cornstarch and dissolve it in about 1/4th cup of water. I've never used cornstarch before, so it was neat to try this! Stir it and it should dissolve pretty quick.

Once the chicken is cooked, pull it out. Cut/shred chicken into small pieces. Put the chicken and the sauce in a small pot and bring to a boil. After it's boiling, then pour in cornstarch. Stir. It will quickly thicken in to a "sweet and sour" sauce thickness. Then, serve this lovely mixture over the rice and Ta-Da! Dinner is served!

Note: Mine was really sweet, almost like a dessert. I would ease up on the brown sugar, go more for the pineapple flavor. I would have added a bit more garlic in it too than what I did. This was an easy weeknight meal that could be done in the crock pot and can be adjusted for any size of crowd! Give it a try!

See the chunks of pineapple?! YUM! 

The green onions are still in there as well. 

Happy cookin!

- SamiMae