My MOMS'S Recipes, and my thoughts on blogging lately.

I've been a little bit "over" blogging lately.

Well, not just blogging, all social media to be exact.

See, I LOVE my job, and that takes up a lot of my time.

I LOVE my little family (Logan and Sundance), 

and I love to spend any spare time with them.

I still LOVE cooking/eating/food in general and I love sharing those recipes.

But blogging, and all social media seems to take me away from those things lately.  

SO I am in a bit of a dilemma, maybe I will take a break from blogging soon,

maybe I will shut down this blog all together, I haven't made a decision,

but that's where my head is at as of late.

BUT I cooked a recipe from my mom Heid-Dog this week AND a recipe from my mother in law Momma B and they were both so delicious, so here they are for ya!

I have been hard at work preparing for a pretty epic murder mystery party I am hosting for Halloween this year and I will be cooking the soup below for the party.

I NEVER cook a new recipe for guests so I had to do a run through this week

and it was so delicious and just perfect for the fall season .

White Chicken Chili (but it's really more of a soup)

Ingredients:

1 box (32 oz.) chicken stock

3 (14.5 oz.) cans white beans (undrained)

5 cups of shredded, cooked chicken (rotisserie or boiled)

1 jar (16 oz.) salsa

1 block (8 oz.) pepper jack cheese grated

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

salt/pepper to taste

Directions:

Well this is an easy one, place all ingredients in a crock pot on high until cheese is well incorporated (can also do this on a stove-top). I cooked it for about 2 hours in the crockpot on high.

Serve with tortilla chips, avocado, cheese, and/or sour creme.

***Serves 6

Broccoli and Pepper Pasta with White Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

2 T butter

4 Chicken Breasts Cut into bite size pieces 

2 Bell Peppers (any color)

2 Cups Broccoli Florets

1 Cup chicken broth

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

salt/pepper to taste

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese

6 oz. bowtie pasta (about 3 3/4 cups) cooked and drained

Directions:

1. In large skillet melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add chicken; stirring frequently.  Cook 3-4 minutes until chicken is white and cooked through.  Remove chicken. and set aside

2. Add broccoli, red pepper, chicken broth, garlic powder, and salt/pepper.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until broccoli is tender.  (About 5-7 minutes)

3. Return chicken to skillet and cook 1 minute longer.  Remove from heat.  Stir in cream cheese until smooth.  Add Bow tie pasta. Toss to coat.

***Serves: 4-6

ENJOY!! XO

Best Chicken Pot Pie

So I decided 12 days ago to challenge myself to

not eat fast food or drink soda for 30-days.  

Also, part of that challenge was to eat breakfast everyday (I RARELY eat breakfast)

and eat at least 1 fruit a day (I hate fruit, weird I know).

My friend Brooklyn is a super clean eater 

and she kind of inspired me to do this.  

You can check out her awesome blog HERE.

SO, Bear and I decided to pre-make a bunch

of dinners so I wouldn't be as inclined to grab 

fast-food on my way home after a long day at work.

We made freezer breakfast burritos (awesome),

my honey-lime enchiladas,

enchilada soup, and a chicken pot-pie! 

The chicken pot-pie really blew us away so here are the deats!!

Ingredients: 

2 cups of Costco rotisserie chicken (or any kind, that's just what I used) shredded

2 uncooked pie crusts (I just did store bought and it turned out great, homemade would be extra fabulous)

1 Tbs. olive oil 

½ C. chopped onion

1 ¼ C. thinly sliced carrots

½ C. thinly sliced celery stalks (I left this out because I don't like celery)

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

4 Tbs. unsalted butter

½ C. all-purpose flour

1 ½ C. milk

2 C. chicken stock

½ tsp. dried thyme

1 C. frozen peas, thawed

                                                       Directions:

1.   In a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion, carrots, and celery in the pan until soft

2.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3.   While the vegetables are softening, shred the cooked chicken. Set the shredded chicken aside in a large bowl.

4. Remove vegetables from the pan, place them in the bowl with the shredded chicken; set aside.

5.  Heat the butter in the same saucepan that the vegetables were in. The butter will foam as it melts. Once the foaming stops, whisk in the flour. Cook the flour/butter for one minute…whisking constantly.

6.  Pour in the milk and chicken stock. Continue to whisk until smooth.

7.  Add the thyme.

8.  Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until sauce fully thickens…stirring constantly

9.  Taste sauce and adjust salt & pepper, to taste. (I added quite a bit of salt here)

10. Pour sauce over chicken and vegetables in the large bowl; stir to combine.

11. Stir in the peas.

12.  Set filling aside and put one pie crust in your pie pan. Make sure that your dough is fully touching the bottom and sides of the pie plate.

13. Spoon the filling into the pastry lined pie pan.

14. Put other pie crust on top of your pie, trim the edges of the pastry, and then fold & crimp the edges. (I put a little bit of water with a brush on the crust in between each pie crust so that it seals really well)

15. Cut a few slits in your pie crust for ventilation purposes.

16.  You can either cook your pie right away (400 degrees for 35 minutes) OR freeze it covered in tinfoil like I did.  In that case when you take it out, cook it frozen with tinfoil around just the crust so it doesn’t get too brown. Cook for 1.5 hours at 375 degrees

17.  Let pie rest for 10 minutes before serving

                                                          ENJOY!! XO