Mexican Taco Monday!

At the end of a dreadful Monday, I always need a good meal to look forward to. Am I right?

I found this recipe a few weeks ago when reading a magazine, made a few changes to make it work for us, and now we have a new easy weeknight dinner. Ole!

The secret to this recipe is in the beans. Seriously! They're packed with flavor and add a perfect kick to the meal.

Chicken Fajita Tacos

What you need for the beans-

1 can of black beans (or 2 if you're making a larger batch; which we have been doing)

1/4 cup cilantro

4 slices of deli sliced jalepeno peppers

Sprinkle of salt and pepper

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons water

1 tsp. cumin 

1 tsp. garlic powder

All of your ingredients for the beans.

Put all of the ingredients into your food processor and press go! After the beans are mixed, simply transfer them to a pot and warm them on the stove.

Next, cook a chicken breast. Then cut it into strips, dice it or shred it (however you like it)! Or you can take the easy route, which I prefer to do on a weeknight every night, and use a pre-cooked chicken like this one:

This is really delicious and takes just three minutes in the microwave! #winning

Grab your tortilla, spread a generous amount of beans on it, add your chicken and any other desired toppings (I added salsa and cheese) and dinner is done. BOOM.

The picture really doesn't do it justice. This meal is delicious!

It's a really quick weeknight meal. To save time you can prepare the beans over the weekend and keep them in the fridge. When you are ready to eat, just heat them up.

I also love this because you can do several variations. The first night I made it, we had shredded chicken tostadas. Lately, we've been doing fajita tacos. You can also substitute the chicken for beef, make quesadillas, or a taco salad. Again, the flavor in this recipe comes from the beans. It's all about the beans!

And did I mention that if you dip the taco in queso it's absolute perfection? Because every Monday deserves some queso. 

Weeknight Pasta

Before we got married, my family threw me a kitchen shower where guests attached a recipe to their gift. I got a few great recipes, and this weeknight pasta was one of them (thanks, Kim!). It has three ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen. It's so easy to throw together on a busy weeknight, trust me!

A little background: my husband is a very picky eater...and that is an understatement. He doesn't eat anything green; no fruits, veggies, or anything remotely healthy. His favorite veggie: salsa; favorite fruit: red starburst. This is not an exaggeration. So, cooking in our house can be quite a challenge as you can probably imagine.

Fortunately, we both agree on this dish and love it. Hope you enjoy it, too!

Balsamic Pasta
9 oz. store bought ravioli (or your favorite pasta) (we use the Buitoni brand)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
Chopped, toasted walnuts, if desired (hubs does NOT desire)
Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top

How to make it: Boil water. Add pasta and cook until tender. Drain pasta and put back in pot. While pasta is boiling, combine butter and vinegar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until bubbly. Once foam subsides and butter turns brown, turn heat off and let it cool. Stir in the balsamic butter mix with the pasta. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and walnuts on top.

This is what the final product looks like (for tonight, anyway).



I also love this dish because there are several variations to it. You can use ravioli, tortellini, angel hair, and the list goes on. You can easily throw in last night's leftover chicken to make it a more hearty dish or add in some sun dried tomatoes and spinach to get your veggies for the day. I usually serve it with a light salad, too. It's also good reheated for lunch the next day (if that's your thing...and it's very much my thing!).

Bon appétit!

Chopped Beef Sandwiches

This is a great week to pull out the crock pot and let it work its magic. The crock pot is probably the most under utilized gadget in my kitchen, which I hate to admit. Nevertheless, it's perfect for this easy weeknight meal. This recipe is based on my mother in law's recipe she uses at Ford Family Tailgating parties, just modified to work for our family (and my MSPI diet).

Ingredients

• 2 cups of pre-chopped creole mix veggies (in the produce section at the grocery store)
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce (your choice of sauce; I use Stubb's or homemade)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (I use A1 so that it's MSPI friendly)
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of creole seasoning (I use Slap Ya Mama)
• 1-2 pounds of boneless chuck roast
• Burger/sandwich buns

Mix the first eight ingredients together in the crock pot, and then add the meat. Turn the crock pot on high and cook for 6-7 hours, until the meat is tender. When you are ready to serve, shred the meat and serve on a burger bun of your choice. It goes great alongside grilled veggies!

Happy St. Patrick's Day - Wednesday's Project

Happy St. Patrick's Day! In honor of the national green holiday, I baked green cupcakes. I've never made green cupcakes, or any St. Paddy's Day dessert, so its my something new for today! I tried a new recipe for the icing - its white chocolate! I can't wait to try it, but I'm going to wait for hubby to get home before diving in! Hope you all had a great day!

Chocolate Cake Monday

To celebrate Spring Break, I'm doing something new every day! I love to bake, so I figured I'd make a new dessert today - not to mention I LOVE SWEETS!

Today I made a Chocolate Sheet Cake! I've never made one before, but I love to eat them, so I gave it a go with Pioneer Woman's Recipe. It only called for 3 3/4 sticks of butter (yep, you read that right!). It was fairly easy to make, but next time I'll use a deeper baking sheet. The mess took a long time to clean up! Live and learn! That's my cooking motto :)

This is the icing starting to boil; after I made the icing, I poured it onto the cake just as it came out of the oven...this was pure bliss!

This is what the cake looked like in the oven!

It was all fun and games until I realized the big mess I made pouring the icing on top of the cake - oh well, part of the fun!

The only downside to this cake is that making it uses a ton of dishes!

This is what Charley did while I was a baking! Usually he's right on my heels, so this is serious progress!

Happy Spring Break!!
Brittney