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

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!

The Best Chili You'll Ever Eat

When I gave birth to my son a friend dropped off chili that I've ever had! It has since become a constant recipe in my arsenal. I literally make this almost once a week. Its quick. Its filling. Its filled with so much goodness! My husband made it last night and I didnt think to start taking pictures till half way through so... a few steps are missing photo wise. The recipe is listed below the pictures

Recipe for the best chili ever

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 onion

1 can of corn

1 large can of diced tomatoes 

about 4 stalks of celery

1 large green pepper

1 packet of chili seasoning

2 large can of kidney beans

1 small can of black beans

you can use fresh chopped up garlic if you like a little extra, the seasoning packet will already have that flavor but we sometimes add extra

a little bit of butter (like a tablespoon amount)

salt and pepper

sour cream (optional)

ok so first I cut up all the veggies, I prefer bite size pieces as opposed to tiny diced pieces. Cut according to your preference though. Put the onions, celery, and green pepper in a skillet on med heat with the butter and sauté that till they are softened, my husband doesnt do this step for long he prefers them a little harder.

 in one big pot I put the diced tomatoes, I drain the can of corn add that, drain all the beans and add those, I also add the season packet to this pot. Include the veggies you just sautéed.

Clean out your skillet then brown your ground beef. Drain and add that to the pot. 

Let this cook stirring occasionally with a lid on it, simmer it on med low heat for about 30 min. Or you can do this test to see if its done to your preference, taste 5 dif beans and if they are done then the rest should be done. 

The nice thing about this is you can adjust how many jars of each thing you add based off of how many people you are feeding. Smaller jars for less ppl, larger for more. We usually have enough for lunch for the next two days as well as enough for me, my husband, and our 2 year old son, my husband and I eat huge portions though so...

I usually add shredded cheddar cheese to the top as you see in the pics above.