Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas with Rice!

So my good friend gave me the best recipe ever to my favorite food! I forgot to take a picture with the food plated...I was too hungry! We all just dug right in. You get the jist of it though. I was starving when I was preparing it so I thought we needed WAY more food than we actually did. This meal is very very filling. I have a pretty big appetite but I can only eat about 2 enchiladas and a small portion of the rice.

Ingredients for the Enchiladas
2 large boneless chicken breast
Corn Tortillas
1 can of corn
1 can of black beans
1 large bag of a mexican mix of shredded cheese
1 large block of Velveta style Cheese with Queso, I used one our local grocery store has called Queso Blanco
vegetable oil

The Enchilada Sauce:
2 packets of powder enchilada mix
3 cups water
a couple tablespoons of sugar
2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
(basically everything thats on the back of the packet just follow those instructions but add sugar)

I boiled the chicken breast for about 30 min, then put in my blender and shredded small amounts at a time.
Drained the cans of corn and beans. Mixed them together in a bowl.
Prepared the enchilada sauce in a medium size sauce pan. In a larger frying pan I put a good amount of oil and let it get hot, then dipped the corn tortilla in it just for a couple seconds to soften it up then dip it in the enchilada sauce then put it in the baking dish. I had my shredded cheese, corn and beans, and chicken ready to go, start adding that small, very small amounts to the tortilla wrap it up and lay it vertically in a baking dish. Continue till youve made all you want :) We made WAY too many. 30 for just 4 people. We'll have leftovers for days! Once you finish wrapping them all up pour the remaining sauce over the top of your enchiladas. Take you block of cheese with the queso in it, and break it up over the enchiladas. Have your oven preheated to 350 and cook uncovered for about 30 min. Your mainly letting the cheese melt. So make sure your chicken is cooked during the boiling process.

One thing I left out is the fact that you need to season your chicken. Once youve cooked and shredded it add salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

The Rice..
Ingredients:
Jasmine Rice
8oz tomato sauce
1 Chicken Bouillon Cube
2 Cups water
Garlic Powder


I put all of the above ingredients in my rice cooker mixed it up and let it cook. Once it was done I tasted it and added more garlic powder if it needed it. So you will know what taste good to you. Thats it!! Its delicious and so so filling

The Best Pancakes EVER! Very Kid Friendly!

Growing up I used to HATE pancakes. It was the only thing my dad could cook and he'd only make them every once in awhile but he'd force us to all sit at the table and eat tons of them. I HATED them. My husband as since changed my mine towards them. He has always doctored them up with things and it has made a world of difference! Our son loves them as well so a couple times a week I make these for him and I. Its just Bisquick, blueberries (sometimes strawberries), cinnamon, and sugar. I usually just do 2 cups Bisquick, 1 cup milk, 2 eggs for the bisquick part. I then add about a tablespoon of sugar, and I have a cinnamon sugar mix that I got at the grocery store I add also. I usually add it to the mix and then again on top of the pancakes. I just add a few shakes to the mix before pouring it in the pan so its not toooo much. Just use your judgement on whats too much or too little for your taste buds. Once done I top them off with butter, syrup, and whipped cream :) A family staple and favorite!

Beef Stew From Allrecipes.com

So for dinner tonight I made a quick and easy beef stew in the crock pot. Majority of the meals that I make are made in our crock pot. Its quick. Its easy. Its good. When you dont have much time for slaving away in the kitchen the crock pot is the way to go. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com I altered it a bit though. I didnt have celery on hand so thats one thing thats missing. I only had about 1 lb of stew meat instead of two like it called for. It still is super good though. Usually when it comes to potatoes I do one potato per person. So I used four I figured even though the baby isnt eating with us since Im nursing she still counts haha :p It turned out so good! I made some buttermilk biscuits to go with it and by made I mean I bought some store ones you pop open and in the oven hahaha! Here are the pictures and ingredients at the bottom

Ingredients:

1-2 Lbs Stew beef

Half of a large onion

1 Small bag of baby carrots

2 Cloves of garlic

1 Potato per person

Salt 

Pepper

paprika

Worcestershire sauce

1 Bay leaf  although I used shredded and just shook it in till it felt like enough

either enough beef stock to cover all the food or beef bouillon mixed with hot water 

I basically just tossed in the meat still frozen, cut up all the veggies then added them, I then did the beef stock, then the seasonings, let it cook on high for about 3 hrs then turned it down to low for about 2-3 hrs. Half way through I added a little bit more of each of the seasonings. I dont have measurements because I rarely go by them unless im baking. I just add it till it feels right. So you want to start out with a little and you can always add more. Just dont start out with a lot because its hard to fix that. You can always add more though. as Alton Brown would say " Now thats Gooooood Eats!"  

Grilled Lemon and Butter Salmon, Green Beans, and Rice

My husband once again made dinner :) Tonight he said he wanted grilled salmon so off to sams club he went to buy a big chunk of salmon to grill. He marinated the salmon in a lemon pepper seasoning, lemon juice, and butter for a couple of hours. I bought some fresh green beans at the store for my fave side dish. I cut off the ends of the green beans cleaned them and laid them on a cookie sheet, I didnt have evoo (because its under the bathroom sink with conditioner on it from my last deep treatment with evoo haha) So I had to use vegetable oil. I highly recommend you dont do that. Olive Oil is MUCH better. Very lightly coat them with it ( I accidentally put WAY too much oil). You may even be able to get a cooking spray since they come in Olive Oil options as well. Once you coat them sprinkle some salt all over them. Turn the oven up to 450, and put them in for about 15 min. When they come out you have a healthier mock french fry :) Its sooo good. I literally could eat a whole bag of green beans myself. My friend posted a picture of hers on Facebook one day and I've been hooked ever since. Back to dinner..scott also made rice along with dinner, I would of been happier with just plain jasmine rice in the rice cooker but he got one of those pre seasoned packets you can buy at the store. It was a good dinner! Tomorrow night is beef stew :)
Sidenote...yes we use paper plates 99 percent of the time to cut back on dishes, not the most glamorous or eco friendly way but with a newborn and 2 year old I need to cut corners where I can!

Smitten Kitchens Homemade Yellow Cake and Savory Sweet Life's Homemade Chocolate Buttercream Icing

So...I've never thought of myself as someone who is good in the kitchen, but every once in awhile I get homemaker burst and start baking and cooking and cleaning like a mad women. Usually its after watching food network haha, for some reason that channel just inspires me to cook better, bake, and clean deeper. Ive been on a roll since im getting back to my ol self since having Riley. I've always had this desire to learn how to decorate cakes and bake well even though i've never felt that good at it. I keep thinking how neat it would be to have a bakery. Then I realized having a bakery you can just go buy boxed cakes lol! You need to know how to make them from scratch. So I decided to learn. I spent about two days searching online reading all types of different yellow cake ( since my hubby said thats his fave only later to say he doesnt even like cake at all after all my slaving away for days to find it and make it for him) recipes. I finally found one at the Smitten Kitchen's blog a friend of mine said that she had tried some of her recipes and they were good and I had already eyeballed her site so that helped me decide hers was the one to try. I have usually always made my own icing for cakes since I really hate store bought icing, but I had never made a chocolate buttercream icing so I searched and searched for one, compared lots of dif sites and their ingredients, the one that stood out to me the most was the one I found at the Savory Sweet Life blog. Hers just looked amazing. Plus it one that I could decorate with since I wanted to play around with different decorating tips I had just bought. So with my newborn and 2 year old it took me a good 7 hours! It should never take that long to bake a cake, but I had to constantly stop. It was so worth it. This cake was AMAZING! It tasted sooooo good. I highly recommend you try it. I still have no problem making a box cake just for the quickness of it, but for the flavor, and the self appreciation of doing it on your own I definitely recommend making your own. I also purchased an apron from Flirty Aprons so it made baking even more fun! Keep an eye on groupon because I got mine with an awesome groupon so it was like half the price! I ended up getting the sassy black one. I should add the density of this cake is insane...I normally eat a LOT of cake. A huge slice...but you cant with this cake, its so filling in just a small slither of a slice. So keep that in mind. My picture does no justice as to how big this cake is...so be ready to feed plenty of people with this.

So here is the recipes although you could just click on the links above that will take you straight to the sites recipes with much better photos than mine (working on that ;) 

Best Yellow Layer Cake 

4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (480 grams) cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt
2 sticks (1 cup, 1/2 pound or 225 grams) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups (400 grams) sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk (475 ml), well-shaken

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (Alternately, you can use a cooking spray, either with just butter or butter and flour to speed this process up.)

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. (I like to drop mine a few times from two inches up, making a great big noisy fuss.) Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.

When it comes to prepping the pans, I just used shortening all over then added flour on top of that and it worked perfect.

                                               Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

A simple recipe for classic chocolate buttercream frosting. Perfect for frosting cakes, cookies, brownies, or cupcakes.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!)
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Instructions

1. Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn off the mixer. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.