Chicken Bombs

I found this recipe on Pinterest. It is the best! I only used 4 chicken breasts since we have a meal planned for tomorrow night and I didn't want too many leftovers. Even with 4, it seemed like it would be too much. I was able to slice some of the chicken breasts into three pieces so I still ended up with 10 pieces. But if it looks like a lot of food, it's not. For three of us, we ate of 7 of the 10, and I could have eaten another. They'll make a good lunch tomorrow.

http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-bombs-499604

A couple of notes:

• I lined the baking sheet with foil because I don't want to have to clean the pan.
• I baked it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes then turned it to 375 but I didn't move them to a different pan. The bacon was still soft on the bottom, but it didn't bother me. And I'm a person that likes my bacon nice and crisp.
• It's not at all spicy wit the jalapeños.

Hope you enjoy!

Black Bean Soup

Another winner from Our Best Bites! I wasn't sure how much I would like it but wanted something healthy tonight. We LOVED it! Even Vance and Rene ate seconds! I made it exactly as written, except that I accidentally left one of the bay leaves (I doubled the recipe) in the soup when I blended it. Luckily we didn't find any surprises while eating. Has anyone accidentally eaten a bay leaf? I wonder what it would be like!

We had small key limes so I juiced about five of them to put in the soup. We added sour cream, shredded mozzarella cheese and limes to our bowls and ate it with tortilla chips.

I can't emphasize how EPIC this recipe is! I hope you try it and enjoy. :-)

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/01/black-bean-soup/

Martha Stewart's Lentil Vegetable Soup

http://www.marthastewart.com/317682/lentil-vegetable-soup

Machaca Beef

http://www.lanascooking.com/2010/08/06/machaca-burritos/

Whole Wheat Bread

http://www.anoregoncottage.com/whole-wheat-sandwich-bread-101/

Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/cherry-vanilla-cupcakes/

Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches

We had THE best dinner tonight! I saw a link one day for some crock pot freezer meals and stumbled on this group of recipes from Six Sisters' Stuff.

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/02/10-slow-cooker-freezer-meals-in-less.html

The recipe for Italian Beef Sandwiches looked especially easy and delicious! And I was right! It took me longer to pick out the ingredients at the grocery store than it did to put it all together.

I picked up my ingredients at the local small town IGA so the prices may have been a little higher than if I had gone to a bigger store but it wasn't too bad. It was about $18 and will feed Adrian and I for at least 3 meals.

A few notes:
-I used a rump roast and it turned out great-nice and tender. The meat was under $6.00.
-It didn't say if you should drain the pepperoncinis-I tossed in the whole jar, liquid and all and it was great. It's hard to tell if it added to the flavor.
-We served with provolone cheese to make it like a cheesesteak (which I'm sure I'll start craving soon. Anyone up for a trip to Philly?).
-I cooked mine for about 9 hours on low - I think any longer would have started to burn the meat.
-This definitely has a kick to it but for me the pepperoncinis are mild enough that I can taste their delicious flavor.

This will definitely be a repeated recipe in our house.

♥

Apple-Cinnamon Breakfast Smoothie

I've been drinking this smoothie for breakfasts this week and I have really enjoyed it. For my lactose-intolerant sisters: you can substitute the milk for almond milk. There's not a great non-dairy substitute for Greek Yogurt, but hopefully it wouldn't be too much dairy. 

Picture and recipe from Fit Sugar

Harley Pasternak Apple-Cinnamon Breakfast Smoothie

INGREDIENTS

5 raw almonds
1 red apple
1 banana
3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup nonfat milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1. Place all ingredients in a blender. (Depending on how powerful your blender is, you may need to chop the apple and almonds into small pieces before blending.)
2. Blend on medium-high for 30 seconds (or until desired consistency).

White Bean and Potato Soup

I love love love this soup!  It's very tasty and quite healthy.  A roommate in college made it and I've made it a few times since.

White Bean and Potato Soup

2 Carrots peeled and grated
2 Garlic Cloves chopped
1 TBS. Butter
4 cups Chicken Broth
4 Potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
16 oz. can White Great Northern Beans
1/2 cup Sour Cream
Thyme

Saute garlic and carrots in butter until soft.  Add broth and potatoes.  Boil gently for 30 minutes.  Mash about 1/2 of the potatoes with the back of a spoon.  Add drained beans.  Bring to a boil just to heat the beans. Add a little thyme and stir in sour cream right before serving

Oven Fajitas

This is a dinner that we have pretty often. We all love it, but what makes it one of my favorites is that I can put it together ahead of time so I'm not standing over a stove during Crazy Hour. It would probably make a great crock-pot recipe, although I've never tried it. You can use store bought fajita seasoning or make a big batch of this seasoning and keep it in the cupboard.

In a greased 9x13 pan, toss 1-2 lbs chicken breasts, a sliced onion and a couple of peppers, seeded and sliced. Drizzle a bit of olive oil and 2 T of the fajita seasoning below. Bake at 350 until the chicken is done. Serve with tortillas, sour cream and limes

Here's the fajita seasoning. This makes enough for several batches.

1/4 cup cornstarch
2 T chili powder
4 tsp salt
4 tsp paprika
4 tsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin