Chicken Tortilla Soup

My family absolutely loves this soup.

That’s such a great feeling!

Feeding my family something they love that I know is packed full of yummy, fresh ingredients makes me happy.

Oh, and I should mention how fast it all comes together!

I believe from start to finish this dinner is on the table in under 30 minutes, so that’s a win in my book!

Let’s take a look at how this all comes together, shall we?

Baked Cheesy Penne Dish

I first found this recipe over a year ago on Pinterest. I needed to take a noodle side dish to a family dinner and decided I wanted to try something new.

It was a really good dish but I wanted to give it a couple of tweaks, so I've made it since (quite a few times actually), and I feel like I've got it ready enough to share with you all!

So, with out further hesitation I give you the Baked Cheesy Penne dish.

You're welcome 😊 

These noodles are incredibly delicious!

Homemade Pizza Dough

A few years ago, when my oldest was about 3 1/2 years old, my husband took him to a restaurant to pick up some pizza. While they were waiting for the food my husband and son were talking about how the people working there were pizza makers. That was their job.

 Right then and there my son decided that when he got older, he wanted to be a pizza maker.

In Pre-school and Kindergarten when all of the other kids were talking about being a firefighter or a sports star or whatever, my son, with so much excitement, would exclaim that he is going to be a pizza maker.   

At first I thought he might eventually grow out of it.

Nope.

At almost 8 years old if you ask him what he wants to be when he gets older, his answer is a pizza maker.

He has decided that he wants to have his own restaurant and he wants my husband to work there with him. (So sweet)

Last year I decided if that's what he wants to do he should probably learn how to make pizza.

We experimented with a few different recipes and tweaked them a little bit, and have come up with this pizza dough recipe.

Spinach and Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

We've been on a recipe kick over here lately, and I have been loving trying my hand at new things!
For years I have wanted to find a really good enchilada recipe.
I have actually tried a few recipes and none of them quite lived up to our tastes.
I found this recipe a few months ago and gave it a shot. They had a really good starting base, so we kept it in our rotation.
Since then I don't even know how many times we have made these enchiladas, but we have added or tweaked something each time to get them just right, and I must say they are delicious!

I was kind of nervous to make these at first because the original recipe called for corn tortillas, I was a little wary of working with those. (I'm talking the store-bought corn tortillas here).

In the past they always seemed to break apart on me.

So, because I didn't want a complete disaster, the first time I whipped these up was with flour tortillas, and they were actually really good, but my husband said he preferred the corn ones. He said it gives it more of an authentic flavor.

The next time I made this recipe I tried the corn tortillas, and low and behold they did break apart.

Since then I have done some research and even ended up talking to my neighbor for advice, and I found a few tips that ended up working. Now we use the corn tortillas all the time, and I will admit, they do add a nice authentic flavor and I would definitely recommend them.

BBQ Chicken Marinade

Sometimes in the midst of these winter months, with all of the soups and stews and such, you want something a little lighter, like a taste of summer time.

This chicken is just that, I promise! 

This chicken is made on the stove in a skillet, so no need to go outside in the snow to fire up the grill! (But if it is warm where you are, by all means fire that baby up!)

This chicken is also very versatile and can be the main part of the meal or chopped up and thrown in a salad, which is what I love to do with the leftover pieces.

Mmmmm.

You do want the chicken to marinate for up to about 4 hours, so plan on throwing it together in advance and then just let it be for a while. If you are pressed for time you can let it marinate in as little as 30 min and go from there as well. I try to prepare it in advance and let it sit for the 4 hours.

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

First post of the new year and it's a yummy, hearty soup for the cold months we still have ahead!

I, along with everyone else I'm sure, have quite a few recipes that are seasonal.

I only want to make them, or even feel like making them, at certain times of the year.

This chowder is a prime example of that.  I actually crave making this soup on cold winter nights.

As soon as the cold weather starts up this recipe is added to our rotations and it usually makes an appearance once every other week.

I love that it's full of veggies, creamy, flavorful, and filling.

I found this recipe last year on Pinterest and changed it up just a little bit to make it my own.

It's one of the ways I can get my kids to willingly eat broccoli ;)

Roasted Tomato Soup

It's been chilly here for the last couple of weeks and as I was scrolling through pictures I stumbled across these.

The moment I saw these pictures I was reminded of how amazingly delicious and creamy this soup was!

I haven't made this soup in a couple of months because I usually like to use this recipe as a good way to use up tomatoes from the garden...after reminiscing here for a minute though I may need to add it to this weeks menu...

Mmmmm.

Look at those colors...

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus

Alright, so I am finally getting around to a post here!

That took a lot longer than I anticipated. I was all excited to dive back into blogging, but for the last week I was designing and creating, and I am so excited to post that for you soon, but for now I really wanted to share this amazing recipe!

About a year ago I really wanted to try making hummus.

I searched through recipes to get an idea of how it should all come together and then my husband and I kind of created this one.

I am not going to lie, it is a little time consuming, but the results are SO worth it!!

Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta

I have a new recipe to share with you!

This dish is delicious folks!!

The great thing about this recipe is that it can work with whatever pasta you have on hand. We've used shells and tortellini. You could use ravioli, penne, spaghetti, anything! You can even go gluten-free here.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I am so excited to share this soup with you today!

This recipe was added to our rotation just a few short months ago, and we've made it A LOT :)

Before making this I had never cooked with cauliflower...ever...weird, I know.

I was intrigued when the recipe said to roast the cauliflower first, and was excited to try this new technique.
I have to tell you, after I roasted the cauliflower, I snuck a couple because I wanted to see what flavors I was dealing with, and it was so good! You could actually just eat it like that. But, you should also try it in this amazing soup :)

Just a quick note, if you recall, my mom is a celiac and my parents were over one night while I was making this. I wanted them to have a chance to try it, so I decided to substitute 1 Tbsp corn starch for the 1 Tbsp flour, and it became gluten-free!

Crispy Chicken with a Lemon Cream Sauce

I've still been keeping up with my goal of finding and trying out new recipes.

I was really excited to try this one when I found it on Pinterest, and my family LOVED it!

I think I've made this chicken dish 5 or 6 times now.

I did modify the recipe from the original, just a little bit.

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

I have a new recipe for you!

This was my second attempt making quinoa and I must say I love having it as an option to throw in the mix of dinners.

This dish had really great flavor.

We actually ended up having some left over, so the next night for dinner I actually made nachos with it. I just added tortilla chips, cheese, and lettuce for a meatless version of nachos, and it was really good.

And it doesn't hurt that this is super simple to throw together :)

Spinach & Parmesan Quinoa

I don't really ever remember eating spinach growing up.

I do remember people always hated it in the cartoons and kids shows though.

I honestly don't know why that is.

I happen to love it.

I make this recipe probably once every other week. It's great to throw in the mix for a meatless meal that's still packed with protein, and it's super easy to throw together!

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce

So this is one of those recipes I pinned a long time ago on Pinterest, and since starting my goal of trying one new recipe a week, I finally tried this recipe out.
(It also helped that red bell peppers were on sale 3/$1!! Oh yeah.)

I'm so glad I tried this, it's SOOOO yummy!

This sauce is packed full of some amazing flavor!

* Update, I have made this pasta a few more times and tweaked the recipe a little. I also now add baby spinach to sneak in even more veggies. If you want to add a little more protein you can also add some cooked chicken (cut into bite sized pieces) to the noodles and sauce.

Spinach Salad

A few months ago, in the earlier stages of pregnancy, I told my husband I was craving a good salad. 

I told him kind of what I had in mind, and then he added some thoughts as to what might go together well.

For some reason I would go grocery shopping, and somehow come home without the ingredients needed to make this salad...I think it was because I didn't want to commit to buying stuff and having extra if it wasn't going to be as good as I wanted it to...

Anyways, I now make this at least once a week. I add little variations here and there, depending on what's in the cupboard.

Trust me folks, it's so yummy!

Southwestern Egg Rolls

So about a month and a half ago I decided that I wanted to start making and trying new recipes.

I thought in order to make this a realistic goal I shouldn't go too crazy, so I decided that I would make one new recipe every week.

That way I didn't feel overwhelmed, but it would be a nice change up for my family.

Well, I've been successful in keeping up with my goal, and I'm excited to say we've added 5 new recipes to our collection so far!

This is one of the new ones we tried out and liked.

This recipe can be a Main Dish or used as an appetizer!

Creamy Sun-dried Tomato and Chicken Pasta

So the blog has been quiet for a while, we had an awesome vacation with my husband's family, and it was nice to unplug and just enjoy spending time together.

I haven't done a recipe post in a while, so when I came up with this yummy-ness a couple of weeks ago I just had to share it with all of you!

The orginal recipe I found is just the chicken with the sauce, but I decided to change up how it's made and add the noodles.
I LOVE how this dish turned out.
It's so good :)

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

This recipe is an end-of-Summer must!  With only 5 ingredients and around 200 calories...yeah...easy and healthy!  I found this on Pinterest a while ago, back when we were living in our old house, and had our veggie garden...I know, I need to get over not having a garden anymore...Anyways, I loved this because when I had first found this recipe my kitchen counter was overrun with fresh tomatoes.  It was a nice way to use some of them up.

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breats sliced open to make them thinner (this will give you 4 pieces of chicken)
• 1/2 c. Italian salad dressing (it originally calls for sun-dried tomato salad dressing, but every time I've made this recipe, I've only had the Italian on hand)
• 2 tomatoes finely chopped
• 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• salt

If you remember, which I never do, sprinkle the chicken with a little salt, then place chicken and salad dressing in a Zip-lock bag and marinate in the fridge for as long as you've got time for.  As you can see in the picture below, I just sprinkle the salt, and then brush on the dressing.

Turn your grill on to medium, and once it's ready put the chicken on.  Leave it until it's cooked about half-way through, and THEN you can turn it over.  Combine the chopped tomatoes, basil, and shredded cheese in a small bowl, and then top the cooked side of the chicken with the mixture.  Finish cooking the chicken on that side...

Then remove from the grill and serve!

This time I cut the recipe in half since my husband was at work, I was only making it for my son and myself, so that's just 1 chicken breast I used...can you tell which one is his and which is mine?  :)
Recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything

P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef Copy-cat Recipe

We have made this dish at our house multiple times, but this particular post is kind of a sad one for me...not because of the food, the food is AMAZING, but because we are moving in a couple of weeks to California.  We made this last Sunday at my parent's house to celebrate my mom's birthday.  I've always been very close to my mom, I'm the only girl with 4 brothers, so she's always been like a best friend to me, and I feel very blessed because we've lived within 25 minutes of both of our families since basically forever, and we get to do Sunday dinners with my family a lot.  That will be coming to an end soon for us...No tears for now though!  On to this delicious recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
• 1/2 c. soy sauce
• 1/2 c. water
• 2/3 c. dark brown sugar (I have used regular brown sugar as well, and it works just fine, the sauce will just be a little bit lighter of a color)
• 1 lb beef flank steak
• 1/4 c. corn starch
• 1 c. vegetable oil
• 1 bunch green onions, cut into 2" lengths
• 1 Tbsp oil
• Cooked rice

Directions:

Slice the flank steak 1/4" on the diagonal.  I forgot to take a picture of that part...sorry, I was too excited...  After you have sliced all of the meat, coat it in the corn starch and let it sit for about 10 minutes.  Here we have a picture of my younger brother demonstrating for us...

Coconut Crusted Chicken

I've made this YUMMY recipe a couple of times now, we are big fans here!  Sorry about the fuzzy pictures, my camera is still getting fixed :(

What you'll need:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 c. coconut milk (it comes in a can, and it can be found in the Oriental aisle at the grocery store)
• 1/2 all purpose flour
• 1 c. Panko bread crumbs 
• 1 c. shredded coconut
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• vegetable oil
• sweet and sour sauce for dipping*