Crock Pot Chicken Chili

Here comes another one of my favorite recipes. Crock Pot Chicken Chili is wonderful when your having cold, blustery weather like we are experiencing right now. I just looked out the window from the hospital and it's snowing!!! I don't think it'll stick much but still! Anyway....

Crock Pot Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

1 Onion, chopped
1 can Black Beans
1 can Kidney Beans
1 can Tomato Sauce - 16 oz is best
2 cans Corn
1 28 oz can Diced Tomatoes w/ chilies
1 pkt Taco Seasoning
1 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Chili Powder
3 Chicken Breasts
Fresh Cilantro, chopped

Combine everything except chicken and mix in the slower cooker. Add chicken on top and cover. Cook on low for 6-7 hours. Before serving remove chicken and shred. Return to crock pot and serve with fresh cilantro and sour cream.

This chili goes fantastic with homemade corn bread. 

The Seven Realms

Alright folks! I gotta tell you about this book I've been reading. Well, four books actually. They are called The Seven Realms Series.

Oh my gosh I am hooked. They are fantasy books so if that's not your thing then stay away from them. But man oh man, It's been a very long time since I've been hooked by a book like these have done. I'm only on the third book right now and I don't want to put it down. I can't figure out how they are going to end, and I have to wait for the last book to be returned to the library!! Ahhh! It's killing me. Anyway, now that I've got my nerd moment out of the way.

Friday night Andrew and I went and saw the new movie, The Saratov Approach. 

I was very impressed with this movie. They did a good job portraying some of the emotions that I'm sure were going on during this time. It was definitely a tear jerker. Even Andrew had a few tears in his eyes (sorry Andrew!). And it's absolutely crazy to think that this really happened to two missionaries. Blows my mind. 

Fall Break

We had a great fall break! This weekend was opening weekend of the hunt. Of course that's when my mother and I decide we want to go hiking. And of course we have to wear our orange because we can't be shot ;) So we don our orange.... (yes we are aware of our attractiveness). 

My dad and Zach both had good luck this year!

We're gonna be eatin' good!

Anywho, Sunday afternoon Andrew and I headed up north to see his family. The line of cars was never ending! Everyone must have been headed home from the UEA weekend or something. It was nuts. Coming home today was much better. 

It was so good to see Andrew's parents as well as Heather, Cameron, and Seja. We don't get to see them nearly enough. And, the best part about it was that Andrew got his braces off!! What a stud!

Now we just have to wait three more weeks and during Thanksgiving we will get his permanent fake teeth put in! We are so close I can taste it! 

Food, Food, and More Food

What a week we've had! We've had a busy, crazy, fun week, as shown by pictures below (somehow most things I do revolve around food... Weird huh?)!

We had dinner with some friends that turned out being so fun! For desert I made apple pie with homemade whipped cream. Ahhh, heaven! 

It was so good and fit perfectly with the fall time weather we've been having. Their daughter was so cute! She is a year old and she had so much fun playing with the dogs. She would chase after them and then come running with look of pure terror when one of them headed her direction. She also caught on quick how to play fetch with Julie. We had a blast watching her play and have fun.

I also got to meet with my 4h girl. This year as a service project Andrew and I are doing 4h. We were each assigned to a student in the middle school who we meet with once a week to work on homework and do fun things. The little girl I meet with is super cute. She decided she wanted to learn how to make suckers, so that's just what we did! Andrew was bummed because I let her take them all home to her siblings so I made another batch just for us!

Blue Raspberry!! I forgot how much fun they were!

Then last night we went on a date! I took Andrew to see Monster's University. He had no clue what to expect but he loved it! I thought it was absolutely adorable and will be buying it in the near future. And we can't forget the large popcorn we ate while there (told you there was always food). We took the refill out to my parents for them to eat. My mother always knew I was the favorite child (wink, wink). 

And last but not least, dinner for tonight. I made 

Chicken Taquitos

Ingredients:

4 oz Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 cup Salsa

1/2 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Chili Powder

2 cloves Garlic, minced

3 Tbs Cilantro, chopped

Green Onion, sliced

1 cup Cheese, shredded

2 cups Chicken, shredded

Tortillas

Combine cream cheese, salsa, cumin, chili powder, garlic, cilantro, and onion. 

Mix in chicken and cheese. 

Spoon a few tablespoons onto tortilla and roll as tightly as possible. Layer on greased cookie sheet, seam side down. Spray tops with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. 

Bake at 425* for  minutes and you have this lovely mixture!

Now I have to be honest. I was lazy. I only had big tortillas and I had no intention of running to the store just for a smaller size. So I used the ones I had on hand. These things were HUGE! Like... Hagrid size huge. One filled me up easily! But they tasted delightful and that's what matters, right?!

All in all it was a great week! And, to top it off, we get to head up north and see Andrew's family for fall break! And, he gets his braces off!! Wahoo! Almost just a few more months and he'll have his permanent fake teeth! Counting down!

I Love Weddings

This past weekend I got to go up and see one of my best friends in the whole wide world get married!! Yay for weddings!

We had so much fun. Andrew wasn't able to miss class so I went up with my mom instead. We attended the wedding at the Salt Lake City Temple. 

Definitely one of the prettiest places on earth. 

Hillary looked beautiful, of course! It was also great to see Chelsea and Jill! And I enjoyed spending time with my mom!

Oh man I miss these girls. We grew up together and I've missed them both so much since they moved up north. It was great to see them again!

We had some time between the wedding and the reception that night, so what else do we do but go shopping?! We stayed in City Creek so that's where we did most of our shopping. We got lots of Christmas shopping done! I also got to spend my birthday money! I got a cute shirt and necklace that I can't wait to wear! 

The reception was lovely! The food was fantastic!!!! The place was decorated beautifully! And of course, the bride and groom looked amazing! 

I  had so much fun traveling with my mom and it was so good to see some good friends again!

It's a Birthday!

This post is a long time coming. I realized as I logged on today that it's been a week since I blogged! That's way too long. 

Anyway, I have lots of good things to share, but I have to get a tad bit of bad news to get out of the way first. I found out on Saturday that I didn't not get into the nursing program. I am completely depressed about it still but I am trying to get over it (I may or may not have eaten my way through half of a pumpkin pie single-handedly yesterday). 

My sweet parents brought me these to cheer me up. 

We haven't decided if I will reapply here or wait till we find out where we will end up with Andrew's work. I will be a nurse eventually... I just might not be one in the timeline I had planned out.

Alright, that's all the bad news I have. The rest is fantastic news!

Andrew found out he got an externship with Deloit next summer! He'll go spend three or four days in Vegas and spend time working with this company and getting to know the people there. This is such a huge opportunity for him and I am so excited! He also applied for a few internships, where he would be working for a company for up to three months. We are still waiting to hear back on those but we're hopeful they will turn out good results. 

So... today is my birthday!! Yay for being 21!! Anywho, Andrew had class and work today so we decided to celebrate all weekend instead. Saturday night Andrew took me up on the mountain to a pretty spot overlooking Cedar. There we made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner! It was so much fun! He knows just how to cheer me up when I'm feeling down. Then yesterday we had a dinner with my family while we watched General Conference (see here or here). My mother, who is an amazing cook and I hope to be as good as her someday, made Cafe Rio style salads with sweet pork! YUM! I brought apple crisp and pumpkin pie for dessert. Man I love my family! They spoil me so much! 

I got this cute shirt from my mom

And this smokin' hot jacket from Andrew

And Andrew MADE this necklace! That boy is wonderful!

I also got some stuff to decorate my house which I cannot wait to put up!

All in all it was a good birthday! I am the most spoiled girl there ever was!

And now, of course, I have to share with you this new recipe. Well, actually it's not new, I make it all the time. I love making pizza, but Andrew isn't a huge fan of marinara sauce, so it took me a little while to find a pizza that he really enjoyed. The funny part about it is that he enjoys the most simple recipe more than any of the others.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Let me know what you think!

This recipe is very simple.All you need is your pizza dough (I used pita bread because I had some on hand to make personal pizzas and I didn't want to make dough. My favorite recipe for pizza dough is found in Our Best Bites. I've tried a lot of different recipes and this one was the best), BBQ sauce, shredded chicken, shredded cheese, chopped onion, and spinach (fresh or frozen). 

Spread BBQ sauce on the pitta bread or pizza dough.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Add chicken and onion.  

Top with spinach, a little more cheese, and a drizzle of BBQ sauce (if you can make that look good then props to you). 

Bake on 350* for 20 minutes. 

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza dough

BBQ Sauce

Shredded Chicken

Shredded Cheese

Chopped Onion

Fresh or frozen Spinach

Spread dough with BBQ sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Then add chicken, onion, and spinach. Add a little more cheese and BBQ sauce and bake on 350* for 20 minutes. 

Macaroni Chicken Casserole

Holy cow! I just realized it's been a week since I've been on here! That's not good. Anywho, I have the most amazing recipe ever on the whole face of the earth to share with you today. I made it a couple of days ago and just realized today that I deleted all the pictures... oops. But you don't have to take my word for it. Go make it and see how good it looks and then how good it tastes. 

This recipe is something we grew up on. We had it at least once a week for dinner, and there were never left overs. I've shared this with friends and their kids always enjoy this as well. Eat this. Trust me. You will not regret it. 

Macaroni Chicken Casserole

1 cup uncooked macaroni                ½ tsp. mustard

2 cups diced, cooked chicken           ½ cup milk

1 can cream of chicken soup                ½ cup chopped onion

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese            1 cup soft bread crumbs

2 Tbs. melted butter

Cook macaroni according to package directions and drain.  Combine soup, mustard, milk, cheese, and onion.  Add the chicken and macaroni.  Put into a casserole dish.  Combine the melted butter and bread crumbs; sprinkle of chicken mixture.  Bake at 375* for 30 minutes.

*NOTE* You will want to DOUBLE or TRIPLE the butter and bread crumbs. This is the part that we always fought over. It makes it especially good.