~CPK's Chicken Tequila Fettucini~

Every time I go to California Pizza Kitchen, I can't help but order this delish pasta. It's amazing! Really, I order it every time. I'm not even sure why I tried it the first time (...tequila??) but it is oohhhh so good. It has such a pop of flavor! I scoured the internet for the recipe, and found that CPK has a cookbook with most of their recipes. Yes! So I ordered it used on Amazon for one cent. Double yes! I was surprised with all the ingredients that went into this, but it is still pretty easy to make. You'll enjoy this one, especially if you like bell peppers, lime and chicken!

You need to have spinach fettucini to really make this right. Walmart didn't carry it, so I found this at Stater Bros.

Look at all those beautiful festive colors!

I made this dish before without the red bell pepper and I won't lie--I wish it had more peppers, and I really wish it had red bell pepper.  The fettucini is already green because it's spinach, so you definitely want to add some variety in color.

Serves 6-8

you'll need:

1 lb. dry spinach fettucini

1/2 c. cilantro, chopped (2 Tbs. reserved for garnish)

2 Tbs. minced garlic

2 Tbs. minced jalapeno pepper (take out seeds)

3 Tbs. butter, divided

1/2 c. chicken stock

2 Tbs. gold tequila

2 Tbs. fresh lime juice (must be fresh)

3 Tbs. soy sauce

2 large chicken breasts, cut into bite sizes

1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 1/2 c. heavy cream

get busy:

1) Boil water in a big pot. Cook the pasta until al dente, about 8-10 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, cook 1/3 c. cilantro, garlic and jalapeno in 2 Tbs. butter over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock, tequila and lime juice. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until reduced to a pastelike consistency; set aside.

3) Pour soy sauce over diced chicken; set aside for 5 minutes. Meanwhile cook onion and peppers, stirring occasionally with remaining butter over medium heat. When the veggies have wilted, add chicken and soy sauce; toss and add the tequila/lime paste and add the heavy cream.

4) Bring the sauce to a boil; boil gently until chicken in cooked through and the sauce is thick (about 3 minutes). When the sauce is done, toss with fettucini and reserved cilantro.

That's it! Next to my Penne Alla Vodka pasta, this is my favorite pasta dish!

~Bang Bang Shrimp~

BANG this was good! Jeremy and I inhaled this the other night for dinner. I think it is supposed to be an appetizer...however, I wanted it so badly for dinner, I made this for the main course and some brown rice and buttered carrots! However, if you throw some tookthpicks on the side, they will be an amazing hors d'oeuvre. This recipe is sure to impress friends and family for the upcoming Superbowl party or New Year's Eve. Don't mind the picture...I forgot to take off the tails because I'm smart like that...Cut off the tails haha :-)

This is the best Sriracha sauce out there (and comes from LA) and this is the rice vinegar I use for those who don't know what it is. Both of these can be found at any grocery store, even Super Walmart.

This shrimp didn't take too long to make. In one bowl, you combine all of the spices and flour.

In another bowl, combine the milk and egg.

In a third bowl, combine all the ingredients for the sauce.

Next, you dip the shrimp in the flour mixture, then the egg, then back to the flour mixture to get a real good coating.

Heat some oil in a pan on medium high (or higher) and drop those coated babies in. Let them cook for 2-3 minutes, remove them and place them on a cookie rack or towel to soak up some of the oil.

serves 2 for a main dish, or 2-4 as an appetizer

you'll need:

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled, deveined

vegetable oil for frying, enough to completely cover shrimp

for the sauce:

1/2 c. mayonnaise

4-5 tsp. sriracha sauce*

1 tsp. sugar or 1/2 tsp. agave

1 tsp. rice vinegar

for the egg mixture:

1 egg, eaten, 1 c. milk

for the breading mixture:

1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 c. panko breadcrumbs

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. dried basil

*If you like it spicy, add 5 tsp. or more. If you like it not so spicy, add less.

get busy:

Combine all the ingredients for the sauce; set aside. Combine all the ingredients for the egg mixture; set aside. Combine all the ingredients for the breading mixture; set aside. Bread the shrimp by first coating each one in the breading mixture. Dip breaded shrimp into the egg mixture, then back into the breading mixture. Place the coated shrimp on a plate and put them in the fridge for about 20 minutes (this is supposed to help the coating stay on the shrimp when it cooks...who knows if it really does). Heat the oil in a deep fryer or pot. When the oil is hot, fry the shrimp for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain them on a rack or towel. Once all the shrimp is fried, drop the shrimp into a large bowl and gently mix with the sauce so that the shrimps is completely coated. There you go. BANG!

~Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza~

I have started to make specialty pizzas on Friday nights since Jeremy loves pizza so much. I don't really care for the pizza you get at Papa John's and types like it, but I do like pizza that is a Mediterranean style of sorts. We made our own BBQ sauce recipe for this, but you can use any BBQ (without HFCS high fructose corn syrup) of course. I also always make my own homemade whole wheat pizza dough {for a great recipe, click here}.

Once you have rolled out the dough, brush the crust with olive oil. Spoon on the BBQ sauce, cooked chicken and thinly sliced red onion.

Next, add a lot of cilantro. I like a lot of cilantro!

Then you can add mushrooms {I love them, so I put them}. Others don't put mushrooms on their BBQ pizza. Totally up to you. Mushrooms are good for you! They have zero cholesterol, zero fat, and very low carbs. Mushrooms are also said to help prevent breast and prostate cancer. To learn more about the health benefits of mushroom, click here.

After you sprinkle on the Jack cheese, cook at 450 for 20-25 minutes and voila! Homemade BBQ sauce on homemade whole wheat pizza dough that the family can enjoy because it's delicious and healthy-ish too.

serves 2

you'll need:

1 whole wheat pizza dough

olive oil for the crust

1 1/2-2 c. BBQ sauce

1 chicken breast, cooked, chopped in small pieces

1 handful of chopped cilantro

1/2 c. thinly sliced red onion

handful of chopped mushrooms

shredded Jack cheese

get busy:

Preheat the oven to 450. Roll out the pizza dough, brushing olive oil on the crust. Next, pour on the BBQ sauce and even spread around the crust, leaving about a 1/2 inch or so of crust. Add the cooked chicken breast pieces, and evenly sprinkle on the cilantro, red onion, and mushrooms. Then add the Jack cheese and pop it into the oven. Cook for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy.

~Melt-In-Your-Mouth Mushroom Bisque~

My favorite place to get yummy soups and salads is Zupas in Utah. They have an amazing tomato basil soup, which used to be my fave soup there...until I tried the mushroom bisque. Holy flavor! I scoured the internet for the recipe but couldn't find it. The other day I was asking my beautiful sis-in-law Kelli for some yummy mushroom recipes (I am obsessed with mushrooms lately). She gave me this mushroom soup recipe that I modified a little bit. I couldn't believe when I tasted it, it tasted exactly like the mushroom bisque from Zupas!! I was so happy!

Serves 4

you'll need:

1 lb (or more) chopped assorted mushrooms
5 Tbs. chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbs. butter
2 1/2 c. chicken stock
2 c. heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste


get busy:

Saute the onions and garlic in butter, then add the mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms release their liquid. Add the stock, salt and pepper, and simmer for about 20 minutes. In a blender {I highly recommend a Blendtec} puree the soup until smooth and there are no chunks. Return the puree to the pan and add the cream. Adjust the consistency to your liking. I like my soup a little on the thick side. If you like it thinner, add more chicken stock. Serve hot.

If you like mushrooms, you will inhale this soup. Yum!

~Baked Zucchini with Parmesan~

Such an easy way to make zucchini and so tasty! I love zucchini, and most of the time I bake it like this because it requires minimal attention and it does the work by itself. Also, there are only a few ingredients for this, and it is almost impossible to mess this up! All you need is 1 zucchini, salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese and some butter. Get cookin'!

serves 2

you'll need:

1 large zucchini

salt

pepper

Parmesan cheese, shredded

1 Tbs. butter, cut into fourth chunks

get busy:

Preheat the oven to 'broil.' After washing the zucchini, slice it fairly thin. Lay foil on a cookie sheet, completely cover the sheet. Fold up the sides of the foil (to catch the butter). Place the slices on the foil and spread evenly, but keep them close together (like the picture). Distribute the butter chunks evenly over the zucchini. Season with salt and pepper and some shredded Parmesan cheese (just eyeball it). Throw that in the oven for about 4-6 minutes. Don't forget to check the zucchini! It will probably burn if you leave it in too long. The zucchini should be soft for the most part.

This is a great dish for those times you are cooking dinner and forget about the veggie until everything else is almost done. This cooks up so quickly, you'll have it done at the same time everything is, most likely. Enjoy!

~Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake~

{Courtesy of alexandracooks.com}

Uh-MAZING!!! I couldn't believe how delicious this cake was!  The office where I work threw a Christmas party and we all brought some food to share. Most people brought store-bought items, and some people made food as well.  I was so excited to try this recipe on my co-workers because I'm still pretty new there and I really wanted to impress everyone!  I found this recipe on Pinterest (of course) and luckily my sister-in-law had just made it and said it was to die for.  It really is to die for!  My pictures of this didn't do the cake justice, so I've posted some pictures from the website I found this recipe.  I modified the cake to make it healthier, and it was still amazing.  Don't be afraid to try healthier options of unhealthy food!  It's still scrumptious! And it's not as bad for you as it would have been with the original recipe.

serves 6-8

you'll need:

1/2 c. butter, room temperature

2 tsp. lemon or orange zest

1 c. sugar, plus 1 Tbs. sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour (will taste great, I promise!)*

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 c. fresh blueberries

1/2 c. buttermilk**

get busy:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter with the zest and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until combined.  Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk.  Gently fold in the blueberries.  

If you like thicker cake, use a 9 inch square pan; if you like thinner cake and need to feed more people, use a 9x13 size pan.  Grease your pan, and spread the batter into the pan evenly {the batter should be way thick).  Sprinkle the remaining Tbs. of sugar onto the batter, and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Insert a toothpick to check if it's done--the toothpick should come out clean.  Let the cake cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

*If you use regular enriched white flour, use 2 cups. 

**Supermom taught me a wonderful trick to buttermilk.  You do not have to buy buttermilk at the store!  Make it yourself:  If a recipe calls for 1 c. buttermilk, take a 1 cup measurement, add 1 Tbs. of vinegar.  Fill the rest of the measurement up with milk.  Let it sit for maybe 20-30 minutes.  There you go.  Never buy buttermilk again.

~Chicken Avocado Parmigiana~

This was delicious!!!!! Another wonderful recipe found on Pinterest. Jeremy and I loved this last night, and like most of the recipes I post, it was incredibly easy! Most of the ingredients I already had in my pantry or in the fridge/freezer. Parmigiana is a southern Italian dish made with a shallow-fried sliced filling, layered with cheese and tomato sauce, then baked. This is the quick version of Parmigiana (short for parmigiana di melanzane). I am an avocado lover, so I knew this recipe would taste good. I served this with fresh green beans with sliced almonds--I have a really easy and yummy recipe I will post soon.


you'll need:

2 chicken breasts
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 Tbs. milk
1 egg
1 1/2 c. dried whole wheat bread crumbs
cooking spray
1/2 c. spaghetti sauce
1 large avocado, sliced
about 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese

get busy:

Preheat the oven to 400. Place foil onto a cookie sheet. Mix together the flour and breadcrumbs on a plate. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Whisk the egg and milk together in a shallow bowl. Coat chicken breasts in egg mixture, then coat in flour mixture. Place coated breasts onto the cookie sheet. Light spray the chicken breasts with olive oil, and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the breasts over and bake for another 10 minutes, or until cooked through.

Take the chicken out of the oven, and pour spaghetti sauce over the breasts. Place sliced avocados on top, then sprinkle the cheese over the avocado. Return to the oven and bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese is completely melted. Enjoy!

~Green Bean Casserole~

This is NOT the typical boring casserole recipe that calls for Cream of Mushroom soup!! This recipe is a million times better, thanks to my sister Ashley! It is seriously amazing and everyone she and I have made it for has loved it. This green bean dish is one of my husband's favorites and he requests these often. Unfortunately these pictures hardly do them justice, but I promise the cheesy goodness is one sweet dish sure to impress your friends and family.

Serves 4

you'll need:

1 pkg frozen cut green beans (or enough fresh green beans to be thick in an 8x8 pan)
1/8 c. finely chopped yellow onion
2 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
1 c. evaporated milk
4 oz. Velveeta cheese, cubed
French's Dried Onions

get busy:

Preheat the oven to 350. Microwave the green beans until cooked. Meanwhile, saute the onion in the butter until tender. Remove from heat; whisk in flour, salt, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard until blended.

Gradually stir in the milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from the heat; stir in cheese cubes. Stir until the cheese completely melts.


Gently fold the green beans into the cheese sauce. Pour them into an 8x8 dish. Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle some French's Dried onions on top and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and onions are hot. If you are cooking for more than 4 or want leftovers, simply double the recipe. Enjoy!!

~Steak with Mushroom Wine Sauce~

Of all of the recipes I have made since this blog began, this has been my number one fave so far! This recipe is packed full of flavor. I do love a good steak, and personally, I will devour anything that calls for a wine sauce and mushrooms! If you were to only try one of my recipes, this is the one I recommend making. It seriously tasted like something you would order in a nice restaurant. Best thing yet, it's incredibly easy to make. Serves 2.

you'll need:

2 6 0z. flat iron steaks*

5 Tbs. olive oil, separated

1 tsp. black pepper

1 Tbs. ground paprika

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 c. red wine

2 c. sliced mushrooms

get busy:

Stir together 2 Tbs. of olive oil, pepper, salt, paprika, mustard and garlic powder in a small bowl to make a paste. Prick the steaks all over with a fork and rub them well with the paste, working the paste into the meat.

Heat a large skillet over high heat and add the remaining 3 Tbs. of olive oil. Heat the oil until it just begins to smoke. Quickly sear the steaks until the outside is brown and the inside is still pink, 2-3 minutes per side.

Remove the steaks from the skillet. Pour in the red wine and bring to a boil while scraping the brown bits of food of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Stir in the sliced mushrooms, cook and stir until the mushrooms are cooked and have released their liquid, maybe about 5 minutes.

Return the steaks to the skillet on top of the mushroom-wine sauce. Reduce heat to low and cook until sauce reduces and thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove steaks onto serving platter and pour the sauce on top of the steak. I know you will enjoy this meal because it is divine!!

*I was out one steak, so I used ground beef for the other "steak" and I thought it was absolutely fabulous.

Week Fun

Well I had a fun week! Lots of things are happening now that Christmas is so close. I finished all of my Christmas shopping. Yay! Work is picking up and I am finally done training. Jeremy passed his final government test with flying colors (90%)! We also had an extended family Christmas party on my Mom's side at my parents' home. It was so good to see all the family, especially the only cousin my age, Carley. Love this girl!

Some other highlights from the week:

1. Someone at work made an adorable snowman cupcake that was also delectable.

2. Supermom invited me to shop and dine with her since Jeremy was out of town for the week. We hit up Hobby Lobby (sigh, love that store) and CPK to share a yummy Thai Crunch salad.

3. I surprised Jeremy with a cute Christmas tree, brought in, set up and decorated solely by yours truly.

4. Starting at 6:45 in the morning, I made homemade BBQ sauce, homemade pizza dough and BBQ chicken pizza. It turned out great!

5. I also made another fabulous batch of English toffee {for the recipe, click here} Friday morning.

6. I made my all-time favorite dish to order at CPK: spinach tequila fettucini!!! I ordered the CPK cookbook for 1 cent on Amazon because I crave this recipe. I will post the recipe this week. It's seriously phenomenal!!!!

7. I made two whole wheat pizza doughs and froze one. Next Friday's pizza night is already half done!

8. Now that it's December, I got to bust out my Christmas china! We eat on these just about every night until the New Year. I heart Christmas!

Last weekend, we went shopping for 6 straight hours. I love my man; he can shop! On our way home, we stopped by Target to pick up this shelf I've wanted for a while now. He couldn't sleep that night, so I woke up in the morning to the shelf all assembled! Thanks J.

Jeremy went on a business trip for Edward Jones to Tempe, AZ this week. He was so excited to tell me all about it every night. Monday he embarks on a new adventure of prospecting and finding clients. He will work like a madman for the next 2+ years. On a side note, downtown San Diego is amazing and the airport is in a beautiful location...ergo, any Utah friends that need a warm vacation, please come visit us!!

~Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets~

Have you ever seen those commercials where someone asks, "What part of the chicken is the nugget?" It kind of made me think...What part of the chicken is the nugget? It's bits and pieces from the whole chicken! Eww. I'd rather have a chicken nugget that is one part of one chicken rather than a thousand chickens. These chicken nuggets are healthy and you make them with chunks of chicken breasts. Yesss. Jeremy loved these (I swear he likes all kid food). I liked them too! No butter, no frying. And, of course, they are so easy to make. These chicken nuggets take 5-10 minutes to prepare.

These taste really good dipped in ranch dressing or BBQ sauce.

you'll need:

2 large chicken breasts, cut into nugget-size chunks

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbs. olive oil

1/3 c. whole wheat seasoned bread crumbs

2 Tbs. panko

2 Tbs. grated parmesan cheese

get busy:

Preheat the oven to 425. Put the olive oil in one bowl; the breadcrumbs, panko, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese in a another bowl. Dip each chicken nugget chunk into the bowl with oil, then into the bowl with the other ingredients. Place the breaded chunks onto a cookie sheet or air bake pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. Flip over the chunks and put them back in the oven. Turn up the heat to 450 and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the nuggets look crispy.

I like to make these with zucchini. I'm not sure why. They are sooooo good! Enjoy.

~Sweet Jamaican Jerk Pizza~

I can't say I had ever had this pizza before or even heard of it. My beautiful sis-in-law Kelli gave me this recipe. She and Austin raved about it, so I decided to give it a try. Now...keep in mind, I don't really like pizza. At all. I maybe indulge in it 3 times a year. It's just not my thing. That being said, this was delicious! So good in fact, that I am making homemade pizza again Friday night for dinner. Maybe I will make this a Friday dinner thing. Jeremy loves loves loves pizza. So if we can settle on homemade pizza with homemade sauce and homemade whole wheat pizza crust, then I'm good with that!

Homemade sweet Jamaican jerk tomato sauce. Mmmmm. The only remotely unhealthy part of this meal is 1/3 c. brown sugar (102 calories) and the cheese, which counts as dairy and as long as you stay under 3 c. of dairy per day, you're good. This tomato sauce takes about 8 good-sized tomatoes.

My homemade whole wheat pizza dough. I probably could have rolled it with a pin...yes...that would have been smarter. But I made this at night and was all out of smarts for the day, so I squished it along with my fingers. Whatever!

What gives this pizza the amazing and unique flavor it has is this wonderful little spice. It wasn't in my pantry before, but it is now!

Once the chutney is done, spread it across the dough. Then sprinkle chicken, cheese and green onions! Lots of fun colors.

you'll need:

1 homemade pizza dough {for a great whole wheat recipe, click here}

1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded

homemade chutney

1 large tomato, diced

shredded jack or mozzarella cheese

1/3 c. chopped green onions

homemade chutney:

8 large Roma tomatoes

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. apple cider vinegar

1/4 tsp. Jamaican jerk seasoning

2 minced garlic cloves

get busy:

Directions for chutney:

Cut tomatoes in fourths, and put in a food processor (or Blendtec :-) .) In a large skillet, combine the tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes until it's thick and the liquid has reduced.

Preheat the oven to 450. Spread the chutney over the pizza dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Top with cheese, chicken, diced tomato and green onions. Bake your super yummy-looking pizza for 20-25 minutes. If you are making your pizza on a storebought pizza dough like Boboli's, cook it for 10 minutes.

I am making BBQ chicken pizza this Friday night with Jeremy's special homemade BBQ sauce. If he lets me, I'll post that recipe. It is far, FAR better than store bought BBQ sauce. You'll never want the store bought kind again. Enjoy!

~Whole Wheat Pizza Dough~

Healthy pizza??? Um...yes please! Besides, it tastes amazing, so why not, right? Half the reason I don't normally like pizza is because I know how unhealthy it is. But there is something special when you know exactly what went into your food. So if you make your own pizza dough, sauce and toppings, you know whether it's healthy or not. This dough is delicious and I got this one from my sis-in-law, Kelli. I just slightly modified it with whole white wheat instead enriched bleached flour.

For those who don't know how to proof yeast, this is how ya do it. You put the yeast and water in a small bowl or measurer with 1/2 tsp. sugar and stir it for a second with a spoon. Let it sit there for 5-10 minutes. It should grow!

After mixing the dough for a few minutes, put it in a big greased bowl and let it rise until the size doubles.

It was cold in my house the day I made this, so I turned on the oven for a few minutes and placed a hand towel over the bowl.

This could probably look prettier, but once the dough has risen, flatten it out onto a cookie sheet or a no-bake air pan (these are my favorite).

you'll need:

4 c. whole white wheat flour

1 pkg. of active rise yeast, or 2 1/4 tsp.

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. honey

1 3/4 c. hot water

2 Tbs. olive oil

get busy:

{This recipe makes two pizzas.} Combine all ingredients in a mixer and mix for 2-3 minutes. Place the dough into a greased bowl and let it rise until it doubles in size. After the dough has risen, cut in half, flatten the dough out and stretch it to the size of pizza you want. {Optional: Brush the crust with olive oil.} I didn't do the olive oil on my pizza and it tasted great. For less oil, do without. Add whatever toppings and fixins' you want! Preheat the oven to 450 and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. You do not need to cook the dough before putting on the toppings. A big thanks to Kelli for this recipe. I can now actually like pizza! This tastes 10 times better than a Papa John's or Pizza Hut type pizza. The best part of this recipe is that if you only want one pizza for dinner, freeze the other half of the dough. The next time you want homemade pizza, simply defrost the dough and you already have it made! Hope you like it.

~Five Star Enchiladas~

I modified this recipe from allrecipes.com. Yet another fab recipe I found on there with more than 1,000 5 star reviews. This was quite a yummy dinner, and like most of my recipes, easy to make. I modified bits of this recipe to make it healthier. I don't always get the 'reduced fat' version of everything, because some things just don't taste the same and it's not worth it. However, there are some things that taste the exact same to me, so I always substitute those things. Some of these things include: light sour cream, reduced fat cream cheese and low fat cottage cheese. If it tastes the same, why not drop some of the fat?

This picture makes the enchiladas look much soupier than they actually were. In fact, when I put them in the oven, I was worried there wouldn't be enough sauce. But it turned out perfectly. Jeremy loved these!

Once you've prepared the chicken mixture, place some in each whole wheat tortilla, roll it up and place on top of the bit of sour cream mixture on the bottom of the pan. I cut this recipe in half for Jeremy and me.

These enchiladas are full of flavor, so if you're looking for something to spice up an otherwise bland or basic meal, try these. SO easy and so good.

you'll need:

4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 1/4 c. light sour cream

1/4 tsp. chili powder

1 Tbs. butter

1 small onion, chopped

1 4 oz. can diced green chiles

2 Tbs. homemade taco seasoning {click here for the recipe, or 1 packet taco seasoning}

1 bunch green onions, chopped, divided

1 c. water

1 tsp. lime juice (optional)

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2. tsp. cumin

12 medium sized whole wheat tortillas

3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1 10 oz. can red enchilada sauce

1 can sliced olives (optional)

get busy:

Cook the chicken in boiling water in a pot or big skillet until done; then shred. Set aside. In a bowl, combine the sour cream, cream of chicken soup and chili powder, then set aside. Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent and soft. Add chicken, chiles, taco seasoning, half of the chopped green onions, and water. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the lime juice, onion powder, cumin and garlic power.

Preheat the oven to 350. Pour 1 c. of the sour cream mixture into the chicken mixture. Spread the rest of the sour cream mixture onto the bottom of the pan. Fill each tortilla with the chicken mixture and sprinkle some cheese in the tortilla before rolling it. Roll them up and place the enchiladas seam-side down into the sour cream mixture. Once you're done rolling all of the tortillas, pour the enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Cover with the remaining cheese, and sprinkle the rest of the green onions over the cheese. Cook for about 25 minutes. Your fambam will really love these. These are the best enchiladas I have ever had.

~Tri Tip Roast~

Tri tip is my absolute favorite way to eat beef. It is the best! It has the most incredible flavor and it is the easiest dish in the world to make. There are less steps to this than making mac and cheese! When I lived in Utah, this roast was a rare find; grocery stores just don't seem to carry them there often or ever. I was so happy when I saw this go on sale at Stater Bros. This is a family fave for us. Try it and I'm confident it will become one of yours as well.

Weird as this may sound, the best part of this roast is the fat/top. The majority of the flavor lies on the top!

I don't use a meat thermometer (although I should) so I just cook my roast for a good hour and then take it out.

you'll need:

3 lb. roast

kitchen bouquet

pepper to taste

garlic salt

1/2 c. water

get busy:

Preheat the oven to 350. Pour some kitchen bouquet over the roast in a 9x13 pan, enough to completely cover the roast. Take a basting brush and brush the roast until the bouquet gets in all the crevices. Liberally cover with garlic salt. Sprinkle on some pepper. Pour water in the pan. Cook for about an hour. The inside of the roast should be a light pink, depending on how you like your beef, but regardless of your preference, it should still be a little pink in the middle. This dish is really tasty with a creamy potato side and my sister's green bean casserole (I will post this recipe soon; it's ten times better than the Campbell's soup recipe). Serves a family of 6. (I buy a 1 pounder for Jeremy and me because we are a small fambam :-) ). Love, love, love this cut of beef. Try it out!