And since I promised to include my fails...

Okay, so I promised some fails on my part, so here we go. I can admit when I have made a mistake, and this one was a doozy. I had (finally) decided that I needed to clean out the fridge. And after deliberating for a few minutes (because I hate throwing out good food), I put my butternut squash leftovers down the disposal. Now, I cannot pinpoint the exact cause...okay, it was probably the squash, but all of a sudden I was looking at a sink back up. I was running the disposal and the other sink was backing up with disgusting leftovers. So I did as any self respecting wife would do... I tried to fix it myself without letting my husband know that I had massively screwed up. I poured some degreaser into the cloudy, nasty water. I  kept running the disposal, only to make it worse. Next thing I know - it is POURING out of the dishwasher. I start trying to stop the water while (finally) screaming for the husband to come and help me. He had that look on his face - come on, wives, you know the one. It is the one that says "you should have called me an hour ago before you did this much damage. lol 
So, anyway, he tried plunging while I started searching the internet. I kept coming across the same advice of baking soda and vinegar, but still sent the husband off to the store to find a solution. (I also requested that he purchase another box of baking soda, just in case) He came back with a snake and my requested box of baking soda. Of course, the snake did nothing. It wouldn't go past the curve in the pipes. So back to the internet I go. And found this. I will paraphrase to shorten but I have to say - I got to do that happy dance mentioned in the last step. ;)

1)Dump a fair amount of baking soda down both sides of your two sided sink. 
2) Follow that up with a good glug of vinegar and watch it foam. FUN!  
3) Let it sit for as long as you are patient. For me, it was about 5-10 minutes.
4) Boil a medium sized pot of water and dump that down both sides. 
5) Wait a few  more minutes. and then turn on the hot water to fill up each sink about half way.
6)  Plug up the non-disposal side of the sink and hold the plug down if it tries to pop up. 
7) Plunge the disposal side for several minutes, 5 or so should do it.
8) You should soon hear that wonderful sound of the drain clearing.9) Do happy dance and call back husband that doubted it would work to show him your success. ;)
10) If this does not work try reversing the plug and plunge the other side. 
11) Last resort - call a plumber.

I am extremely happy to say that this worked PERFECTLY for me. And at a time that we could ill afford the call to a plumber. 

So that's my fail of the week... well, just the one I am going to admit to ;)

And my new favorite 'go-to" recipe...

Melt in Your Mouth Chicken

Okay, so I have a few recipes that I like to make often. Chicken fajitas, Beef tacos, and Spaghetti are recipes I make almost weekly. These are recipes that I almost always have the ingredients for and that take the least amount of effort on my part. I may have started this new lease on life, but I am still not a great cook. Anything extremely complicated is out.  This latest recipe does not disappoint and was surprisingly AWESOME! I really didn't expect it to taste so good, so I didn't take pics or anything. But this is so simple and yummy, I couldn't not share it. :)

So here is the simplest recipe you will ever make. 

Melt in your mouth Chicken

4 Chicken Breasts 

1 cup Mayo (we use Olive Oil kind)

1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tsp of seasoning salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

I also added some onion powder (cuz I put that *&^% in everything lol)

Put the chicken breasts in a glass baking dish. Mix all these ingredients together and smear on top of chicken breasts. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. 

That's it. Seriously. It's that simple, and tastes SO good that you will want to make it every week. I am adding it to my list of SO EASY MY 12 YEAR OLD COULD DO IT. :)

Let me know what you think if you try it. :)

And it's time for Fajitas!!

Okay, I should start out this entry by stating that I LOVE anything and everything TexMex, Mexican, Texican (might've made that one up). And this recipe for Crockpot Chicken Fajitas is SO good that it should really be top of anyone's list. It is not like having Fajitas cooked on the grill (which I have yet to perfect), but it is a great recipe for throwing into the crockpot and then making any number of TexMex dishes from...enchiladas, Fajita salad, tacos, etc. I also want to tell you to follow this lady's if you are interested in more great recipes and TONS of advice on how to handle finances, groceries, budgets, you name it. I you want to save money - go to her blog. It's AWESOME! :)

(Please forgive my lack of pictures... I get really excited when these are ready and forget to take pics) :)

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

Okay, so I will say that Lime juice is the key to this recipe. I forgot it one time, and I swear it did NOT taste the same. So..anyway, slice up one whole onion, and whatever peppers you like..Mr M likes anything but the green ones, so I use one green and one red or yellow...whatever I have in the drawer. Then I drop in the 4 chicken breasts, chicken broth (not alot needed), and throw spices on top. Squirt some lime on the top, and you are good to go. It looks kinda gross, but trust me...super YUM. 

After cook time, I shred up the chicken and return it to the pot. Stir it up and serve it however the family wants it. If you want to keep it low carb, just serve on top of lettuce with sour cream, salsa and cheese. So good. 

Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas 

1  onion, sliced up chunky

2-3 peppers, sliced, any kind are fine

4 boneless chicken breasts

1/4 cup chicken broth or even just a dash of water and chicken bouillion

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cumin

1 ½ tablespoons chili powder

A good hefty squirt of lime juice

Tortillas

And then whatever you like on your fajitas. :)

Put sliced onion and peppers in the bottom of a greased crockpot (very important step. This recipe can be a mess. Yes..I have forgotten) Lay chicken on top of veggies. Pour chicken broth over top. Sprinkle everything with cumin, salt, and chili powder. Give a nice quirt of lime juice over the top. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours (or on High for 4-6 hours). When meat is done, shred and stir back into juices. Then just serve however your family likes chicken fajitas. :)

And the night I made it a little too spicy ;)

Blackened Pork Chops

So I had this recipe pinned on my Pinterest for a while, and found pork chops on sale, so decided it was fate. ;) My tip on this one is to keep in mind your target audience. I LOVE spicy food, and especially blackened Cajun flavored food. So I put extra spices on mine, but promptly forgot that I had done that when Oldest asked for extra pork chop. SO...cater your spices to the people that will be eating it. That said, I thought this was very yummy, and so did the fam. 

1 lb Pork Chops (thick cut)
1/2 Tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp Paprika
1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp onion powder 
1/2 tsp black pepper 
1/2 tsp salt 
1/4 tsp cayenne

 Assemble all the spices and put into a container/bowl. The recipe mentions putting it in a spice grinder, but since I don't have one, I used child labor and had the Littlest help me out. We just used the back of the measuring spoon and mashed the spices up together. (ps. no, I am not organized enough to really have all these spices out on the counter BEFORE I start. Just for the photo op)

Sprinkle pork chops with seasoning, keeping in mind how spicy you want them to be, and put into a skillet with 1 TBS of olive oil and cook for a few minutes on each side. Then place into a baking dish for an additional 15 minutes at 350 degrees to finish them off. I didn't have as thick of pork chops as the original poster did, so I only cooked for 10 minutes in the oven and checked them to be sure they were cooked. 

If you are super talented at making gravy (I am not, but I will work on it), but I would think you could use the pan drippings to make a sauce. 

And it's Shrimp tonight!!

Okay, so in keeping with my LAZY theme (if you are unaware of my laziness, you will soon figure it out), I made these shrimp for dinner last night. If you are making these for more than 2 people, I would double or triple the recipe. It fed me and the Mr, but if the kids were eating with us, I would have needed a bigger boat. ;)

 Start with about a pound of raw, uncooked shrimp. I bought a bag that was about 31-40 count, but that is just what they had at the store (plus I REALLY hate cleaning shrimp, so I buy them already done for me)

 In a small bowl, mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic (I used 4 cloves. The hubs has never met a garlic clove he didn't like), honey, salt and pepper. Drop in your shrimp and swirl. I put mine in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes, but you could certainly leave them overnight and cook the next day. I am a BIG fan of anything I can do today to save me time at dinner another day. I am sure to have a blog all about the craziness that always ensues around dinner time. ;)

 Put shrimp on skewers. Be sure to soak wooden skewers in water first so they don't burn. 

And here is my completed dinner. Since I am trying to eat healthy, quinoa and brussel sprouts. I love quinoa, and will start featuring recipes with that soon. I am obsessed with making it into other recipes. 

Garlic Lemon Shrimp

• 3 cloves of garlic run through a garlic press
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp honey (21g)
• Kosher Salt & Pepper
• 1 pound of uncooked shrimp (I used 26-30 count)

Mix together all ingredients, let sit for 20 minutes and then grill for 3-4 minutes on each side, depending on the size of your shrimp. 

And a new beginning...

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

So I have been meaning to start this blog FOREVER, and have decided to just jump in and get started. I really wanted to start out with something healthy for Marika, but made a pumpkin spice cake tonight that was just SO delish, that I couldn't help but want to share. So I apologize to Marika and promise to post something healthy next time. :) 

I was originally just going to go to the store and buy a spice cake mix and canned frosting and be done with it. Then I got lazy (yes, I realize that making it from scratch sounds less than lazy, however when you have 3 kids with you, you are looking for any way to avoid going to the grocery store). So to Pinterest I go to find a spice cake recipe. Up pops this one. Remembering I have a can of organic pumpkin in the pantry, I rejoice in avoiding the grocery store and decide to try my hand at making a cake/bread from scratch, with a few variations from the original recipe. :)

Pumpkin Spice Cake

(preheat oven to 325°)

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

dash of ground cloves

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, mix together the sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil and eggs until well blended. Then add pumpkin and vanilla and mix until smooth. 

In a larger bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir together until well blended. Don't wear yourself out. You don't want to over mix this, just get all the ingredients mixed up. :) Then grease a medium loaf pan and pour in batter.

 Bake in a 325° oven for approximately one hour, or until toothpick comes out clean. Then allow to cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan before removing from the pan.

 Once cooled completely, it is time to put together the cream cheese frosting. This is the simplest recipe, however can be frustrating, so bear with me. :) All you need is 1(8oz) pkg of cream cheese, 4TBS butter, 1Cup powdered sugar and 1tsp vanilla.
 I laid out the 8oz pkg of cream cheese while the spice cake was in the oven. And should have laid out the butter too. Both cream cheese and butter need to be softened but not melted. In a small bowl, mix together cream cheese and butter. Now, the reason I mentioned how frustrating this was is because I used a hand mixer. Of course, the cream cheese and butter kept getting caught up in the mixer and I had to keep pushing it back out into the bowl. I think you could/should just mix together with a spatula, but see my above mentioned laziness? Seemed like it would be easier to mix it, but alas. ;)

 After you get the cream cheese and butter good and smooshed together, then add the vanilla. Once all smooth-ish, then start adding the powdered sugar gradually and keep mixing until frosting consistency. You can keep the frosting in the fridge until you need it, or just go ahead and frost your cake. I frosted the whole thing, ala cake, but you could just put on the top since this is really more like a bread or coffee cake. 

And you're done! Enjoy. It is SO moist and delicious. Let me know what you think. :)