Exciting things & FOOD

Well, it's been almost a week since I posted last.  We've had lots of great food cooking and exciting things going on.  Exciting things first:

MEET JOY!  She's the newest addition to our little family.  Leeloo absolutely LOVES playing big sister to her  & having someone to play & cuddle with.

Another big exciting thing that happened this week:  Texas Rangers baseball is back!!!  I love love love (can't say it enough) BASEBALL SEASON!  There's no other sport that I love more than a sport that I can watch 6 nights a week and NOT get sick of.


And then of course, the last exciting thing that happened this week:  Easter at Mom's :)   We had a wonderful lunch and spent some time just hanging out, which we don't do often enough.


Here's Kaydon checking out his Easter Basket from Aunt Sammy & Uncle Chris 

And eating Easter candy

Now.....on to the 1/2 week in food (I'll post the other half tomorrow) -

Monday night I made a Cheddar Bacon Dip for us to snack on before our Honey Glazed Chicken & Bacon Bites & Cheesy Garlic Bread.  I halved everything in the Cheddar Bacon Dip since it was just Chris & I eating it.  It made for a great snack while dinner was cooking.  I also used entirely too much bread for the Cheesy Garlic Bread.  We would have been just fine with 1/4 of our loaf of French Bread.  ::sigh::  I promise I'll get bread baking right someday.

Tuesday night we had Lemony Garlic Chicken & Homestyle Mac & Cheese (and no, it wasn't by Kraft....as much as I love theirs, I figured I'd try another one)

On Wednesday, I made Crockpot Taco Chicken & Chili's Copycat Salsa.  I have to say that this was a pretty dang good meal.  Extra Spicy, which is how we like it in our household.

CHEDDAR BACON DIP

Ingredients:

1 cup Sour Cream

1/2 packet Ranch Dressing Mix

1/2 bag REAL Bacon Bits

1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Mix 'em all together and stick in the fridge for a bit.

HONEY GLAZED CHICKEN & BACON BITES

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into strips

Enough bacon to wrap around each strip (9 in my case)

2 tbsp Honey

1 tsp Spicy Dijon Mustard

1/2 tbsp Lemon Juice

Directions:

Combine the honey, mustard & lemon juice in a bowl.  Wrap one slice of bacon around each strip & place on a foil lined cookie sheet.  Tip:  The foil makes for easy clean up later on.  Brush each strip heavily with the marinade.

  Bake at 425 degrees for 13 mins.  Flip the strips and brush heavily with marinade again then cook for an additional 13 mins.

OOOOH WEEEE!!!  Don't ya wish ya had some!

CHEESY GARLIC BREAD

Ingredients:

1/2 loaf French Bread

1/2 cup Shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/4 cup Mayo

Salt to taste

1/2 stick Butter

2 cloves Minced Garlic

Directions:

Mix all 3 Cheeses with the Mayo & Salt and set in the fridge til you're ready to use.  

Melt 2 tbsp Butter in a skillet and add 1 clove Minced Garlic.  Place 1/4 Loaf of Bread face down in the skillet and swirl around so the bread soaks up all the garlicky, buttery goodness while it's toasting.  When bread is slightly toasted, place on a foil lined cookie sheet.  Remove the used Garlic & Butter & repeat these steps as many times as necessary.  Spread the cheese mixture over each toasted 1/4 loaf & bake at 425 degrees until the cheese is melted.

See....too much bread  ::sigh::

LEMONY GARLIC CHICKEN

Ingredients:

2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

1/3 cup Lemon Juice
1/6 cup White Cooking Wine
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1/8 cup Parsley
4 cloves Garlic
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper

Directions:


Coat a baking dish with cooking spray.  Combine Lemon Juice, Wine, Olive Oil, Parsley & Garlic in a bowl.  Season the Chicken with Salt & Pepper and place in baking dish.  Pour the marinade over the Chicken, cover & place in the fridge for about 20 mins.  

Then bake uncovered at 375 degrees for an hour.




HOMESTYLE MAC & CHEESE


I'll be honest....I got a little sidetracked while cooking and totally forgot to take pics.   A note to add, I actually ended up using 2 different types of pasta that were NOT elbow macaroni.  I didn't have any on hand.....


Ingredients:


1/2 lb Penne Pasta
1/2 lb Rigatoni
1 stick + 2 tbsp Butter
1/2 cup Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
4 cups Milk
4 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/4 cup Crushed Saltines

Directions:

Cook Pasta according to package directions.  Drain & set aside.  Coat a baking dish with cooking spray.  Melt a stick of Butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add Flour, Salt & Pepper & mix well.  Gradually add milk, bring to a boil, and cook until smooth and thickened, stirring constantly.  Add Cheddar Cheese and stir until melted.  Add Pasta and mix well.  In a separate bowl, melt 2 tbsp Butter and mix Saltine Crumbs until evenly coated.  Spoon Pasta into the baking dish & sprinkle Saltine Crumbs over the top.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 mins.

And VOILA!!!

Final product for our meal that evening:

CHILI'S COPYCAT SALSA

Ingredients:

2 cans Diced Tomatoes, drained

1 can Whole Jalapenos, drained

1/4 cup Minced Onion

1 tsp Garlic Salt

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Lime Juice

Directions:

Mix it all together in a blender and liquefy to the consistency of your liking. 

This salsa was so incredibly SPICY....much better than Chili's!  :) 

CROCKPOT TACO CHICKEN

I only had 1/2 a jar of Salsa so I used some of my Chili's Copycat Salsa in this recipe too.  Made for extra spicy Taco Chicken.

Ingredients:

2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 jar Salsa

1/2 lb Frozen Corn

1 tbsp Chili Powder

1/2 tbsp Cumin

1/2 tbsp Minced Garlic

1/2 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Cayenne

1/4 tsp Salt

Pepper to taste

1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in Crockpot and stir coating chicken evenly with the mixture.

Cook on high for 4 1/2 hrs.  Near the end of the cooking time, cook rice according to package directions.  While rice is cooking, shred chicken in the crockpot with 2 forks.

That's all the yummy goodness I had for the week.  :)

Until next time......

-Samantha