Chicken Black Bean Nachos

It's been awhile since Kalyn or I have posted, but I threw some ingredients together tonight for a quick dinner and it was pretty good.  We tried this as both a filling in a tortilla and on top of corn chips and liked it as a topping the best!

Ingredients:
1 can black beans (with liquid)
1 can diced tomatoes (with liquid)
1 can cooked chicken (drained)
1/2 can corn (I had this leftover...anywhere from 1/2c to 1c would work)
1/4c diced onion (all of this is to taste, more or less depending on what you like)
1/4c diced peppers (I used green and red, but whatever you have would be fine)
1 TBSP of Southwest Seasoning (I used a blend, Taco Seasoning would work well, too)
Salt to taste

Combine all of the ingredients and bring to a slow boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until the mixture thickens.  Serve on chips with shredded cheese and sour cream!

This meal was filling, pretty inexpensive, and had plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Spinach-Tomato Omelet

So recently I've only been a little preoccupied.. you know, with a new baby and all. But I HAVE been cooking... just not documenting it very well!

Jayme's recipes are getting rave reviews, and I must say, her Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread is DELICIOUS! I ate the four pieces she gave me in route home from her house.. they lasted maybe 5 minutes.

So, on to more cooki-ness!

Last week, I tossed together a few ingredients in my veggie bin, and was delightfully surprised with the outcome. It went something like this:

Spinach-Tomato Omelet

Ingredients:

1 cup spinach

1 clove garlic (minced)

6 grape tomatoes (halved)

2-3 eggs (beaten with a splash of milk)

1/4 cup shredded cheese

salt/pepper to taste

Directions

Beat eggs, salt/pepper and splash of milk and set aside. In a small pan sprayed with cooking spray, saute tomatoes and garlic. Add in spinach until it has wilted. Remove from the pan and set aside. Spray your pan again, and add in eggs. Prepare into an omelet. Lay mixture of spinach/tomatoes into one side of the omelet. Top with cheese then fold egg over onto itself. Cook for a few more moments until cheese is completely melted.

Remove from pan, and enjoy! This would also be tasty with bacon, Canadian bacon or even sausage!

So there you have it!

Kalyn's Pizza is Great!

So tonight Rob and I (together!) made a version of Kalyn's pizza, and it rocked.  We just added green bell pepper, onion, and a minced clove of garlic and whatever cheese was in the fridge.  This is definitely an easy, go to recipe- check out Kalyn's earlier post to check it out!

Two thumbs up Kalyn!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

So my husband asked if I could not only make Banana Bread, but make a 'Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread'.  I thought it sounded like a great idea, so I adjusted my favorite recipe to make my own combination, and it turned out great!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

3 very ripe bananas

1 cup sugar

1 stick margarine (I used light and it worked fine)

2 cups flour

2 eggs

3 Tbsp peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter chips

Mash bananas (a potato masher works well), and combine with sugar and margarine.  You can use a hand mixer if desired, but I just mix well by hand.  Add flour, eggs, peanut butter, vanilla, soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix well.  When ingredients are well combined, stir in chocolate and peanut butter chips.  You could also add nuts if you like, my husband is not a huge fan so I leave them out, but I would reccommend about 1/2 cup.  I baked mine in a bundt pan at 325 for 40 minutes (two loaf pans works well, also), but I have the feeling my oven here in AR cooks a little hot...so check your bread and cook longer if needed.

This turned out awesome...give it a try!

The Best Chicken Recipe

So tonight I will share what is my favorite chicken recipe of all time.  Sorry, no pictures, but I did just cook this, so it is fresh on my mind!

Wedding Chicken (Jayme's Version)
4-6 cooked boneless skinless chicken breast (baked works great)
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 8oz container of Sour Cream
1 sleeve crushed Butter Crackers (We all know our favorite round brand...but I have even used the chicken flavored crackers and they work great!)
1 stick melted margarine or butter

Dice chicken breast and arrange on the bottom of a greased 9x13 casserole.  Mix soups and sour cream together and cover the chicken with the mixture.  Top with crushed crackers, and drizzle melted butter/margarine on top.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350, or until crackers are browned and mixture is bubbly.  Your chicken is already cooked, so no worries about that!

This is ALWAYS a winner in my house...as it was when I was a child.  Serve with your favorite veggie or rice, its a nice mild dish that works well with most anything!

French Vanilla French Toast

Check out my recipe for French Vanilla French Toast.  I just finished eating this, and it always hits the spot!  I tend to be an 'eyeball it' kind of cook, so if you feel you need a pinch more of this or a dash less of that, feel free to change it to suit you.

French Vanilla French Toast

(yields 4 pieces)

4 pieces Texas Toast (or other thick cut 'white' bread)

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 c milk (I use 1%)

2 Tbsp French Vanilla Coffee Creamer

1 tsp Cinammon

1 tsp Sugar

Mix eggs, milk, creamer, cinammon, and sugar together.  I like to mix this in a deep plastic sandwich container, this gives a great size and depth to dip your bread!  Dip the bread into the egg mixture, the longer the bread is in the mixture, the more it will absorb.  After both sides are coated, put the bread in a pre-heated medium heat non-stick skillet.  Cook each side until it is golden brown and does not appear shiny or wet.  Serve with your favorite topping, I like maple syrup!

Get Your Grill On

Last night was "I don't want to clean the kitchen so let's grill" night.

Very basic barbecue chicken legs on the grill with some grilled corn! I'll spare you the super easy barbecue chicken legs, because really... they're the simple grill/brush glaze/grill some more/brush some more glaze... eat.

The corn is a little special. I'll share!

Hubs and I have been focusing for a while now on not being wasteful, saving money, paying off debt and living on a tight budget to make sure every dollar counts. This includes planning meals of course! I have been using E-Mealz since 2008; however, recently with my ever changing taste palate, it's been a little more challenging planning meals for all. So, we've been improvising! Our weekly budget for groceries/toiletries is $50.00. You can see how this could be a bit of a conundrum, but so far, we've managed it! Sometimes it means a little bit of compromise, but you'd be surprised at how far things can stretch!

Anyhoodle, the corn! It has been $.33/ear for the last few weeks, so we've been taking advantage of the fully husked corn.

Simple, easy, and juicy.

Ingredients:

4 ears of corn (with husk)

butter

sugar

grilling/cooking twine cut into 4 strips long enough to tie around ears

Instructions:

1) Soak all four ears of corn in a sink of cold water for approximately 30 minutes. (Fully submersed... I use a plate to hold them down)

2) Remove corn from water. Peel back husks to the base of the corn and remove the silk (the stringy stuff attached to the corn). The more 'ripe' the corn, the more easily the silk will detach itself. 

3) Spread a thin layer of butter (or EVOO if you prefer) around the entire ear of corn.

4) Sprinkle a generous layer of sugar over the layer of butter.

5) Push husks back into place. Try to leave no gaps (helps steam the corn in the grill). Tie with twine toward the top.

6) Place the corn over the direct heat source for 5-7 minutes on each side to avoid burning the husks. 

7) After each side has had a turn on direct heat, remove to indirect head and grill for 20-30 minutes. (We usually let the corn cook while the other meat is grilling.)

Before you eat, remove the husks! Enjoy!

I don't do anything to my corn (i.e. butter, salt) after it's been grilled this way. It's usually very sweet and juicy!

So, that'll do it! We're munching on leftovers (do you SEE how much chicken is there) tonight.