Spicy Mexican Skillet Chicken

So, Jason is constantly complaining that I don't make enough of his precious beans and rice.  A meal substitute that he believes he could happily live off of for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I, on the other hand, don't really care for beans.  Which is something that has not gone unquestioned in Jason's mind "what was I thinking...".  However, being the awesome wife that I am, something else that hasn't gone unquestioned..., I try to make at least one Hispanic meal a week to appease my love's ferocious appetite for everything spicy.  I have to say, my daughters also share his love.  I am outnumbered.
This is one of his favorites.  What he doesn't know, is that it is good for him and I thoroughly enjoy it as well.  It is easy, cheap and is versatile.  Jason likes to eat it in a bowl mixed together.  I like it wrapped in a whole grain flour tortilla with lite sour cream and shredded cheese.  Bonus, the girls eat it without a fuss.  That's worth it's weight in gold.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 to 2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb)
1 tbsp canola oil
1 can black beans, drained, rinsed
1 can of Mexican corn
1/2 cup salsa
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1/2 onion

Optional:  Serve with Zatarin's Spanich Rice (the best boxed rice I can find!), shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortillas.

Step 1:  Cut the chicken into small cubes or slices.  Mix with the chili powder, salt and pepper until evenly coated.

Step 2: Heat oil in skillet on medium/high heat.  Add seasoned chicken.  Cook until chicken is no longer pink in the middle.  Approximately 8-10 minutes.

Step 3:  Add beans, corn, bell peppers, and onion.  Let simmer for about 5-10 minutes or until veggies are cooked through.

Step 4:  Add salsa.  Heat through.  Serve.

End result, kids who find it hilarious that their daddy is wearing a pink bib and a wife with a happy content husband.

A Little Love...

I have a weakness for Valentine's Day stuff.  I don't know what it is.  The colors, the easy crafts, the great yummy treats?  Whatever it is, I thoroughly enjoy finding excuses to participate in it.  That's one of the reasons I had kids...  So, I decided for the second year in a row to throw the girls a little party.  Yes, it was intended for them but I am not ashamed to say that it also was for me.  We invited our mom's group over for a morning of controlled loving chaos.

I found a lot of motivation this year on pinterest (where has it been all my life).  I decided to make home made Valentine's this year and found a couple cute corny play on words to inspire me.  For Marcella, we made "Will you o"fish"ally be my Valentine?" labels and stapled them on top of clear plastic bags filled with goldfish. 

Adelyn's were a little more labor intensive, but fun to make.  We cut down old crayons,

stuffed and melted them in heart shaped silicone molds (we learned that you have to use Crayola.  All the generics contain too much oil that separates when you melt them. I'm sure you can get these molds lots of places but we got ours at Walmart),

and hot glued them onto labels we made saying, "You color my world."

I used washable crayons as well, since we were dealing with toddlers.

I made a dessert bar with strawberry cookie sandwiches and Valentine's puppy chow.  Click on the title for the recipes.

Both I thought were dangerously addictive.   I served strawberry milk and we exchanged valentine's. We ate our snacks picnic style on table cloths.

I had pre-made bags to keep their Valentine's and to use in a game we played later using brown lunch sacks, temera paint and stamps.

I hung them on textured string with the pre-mounted paper we used for our Daddy's Valentine we made.  I painted the kiddos hands with washable temera paint, stamped them upside down with fingers meeting to create a "heart" shape.  I outlined them with a black sharpie and asked them why they loved their daddy. I wrote the response around the heart.  I really like how they turned out! Sorry, photography is not my strong suit.

After their busy bodies were choc full of sinful sweets and uncontainable energy, I set them loose on the basement to find hearts that I had hid.  Even the little ones were able to participate and it kept them busy for a hole ten minutes!  That's like ten years in toddler time!

I enjoyed it, can't speak for others but I think the mommies enjoyed it, and the kids definitely had a blast!  Look at these faces...

Valentine Puppy Chow

Um... Can we say amazing?  I love this incredible addictive stuff!  Simple, cheap and yum!  Can't beat it.  I doubled this recipes because... um, well... we are fatties.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups rice chex cereal
1/2 cup candy melts (I used red)
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp butter
2/3 cup powder sugar
1/4 cup m&m style candy
2 tbsp valentine colored jimmie sprinkles

Step 1: Place cereal in medium bowl. In small microwavable bowl, microwave candy melts, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. Pour peanut butter mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.

Step 2:  Place the cereal mixture in 1-gallon food-storage plastic bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper or foil; cool about 15 minutes.

Step 3:  In serving bowl, mix cereal, candies and sprinkles. Store in airtight container.

Fantastic!

Strawberry Cookie Sandwiches

One of my new favorites!  Easy, inexpensive and incredible!  Enjoy! Since they are stacked will yield between 12-15 cookie sandwiches.  So, you might want to double the recipe!

Ingredients:

Cookies:
1 package strawberry cake mix
2 eggs
3/4 cup shortening

Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick of butter, softened
2 tbsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Step 1: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Step 2: Mix together all cookie ingredients in mixer on medium for two minutes until well blended.
Step 3:  Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out dough and roll into balls (since you are going to
             stack them it's important they are all roughly the same size.) Place 2 in. apart on cookie sheet.
Step 4: bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees.
Step 5: Remove from oven, let cool for a minute and transfer to a cooling sheet.
Step 6:  Mix frosting ingredients in mixer on medium until smooth.
Step 7:  Once cookies are completely cool, frost and stack together like an oreo.
Step 8:  Try not to eat all of them in one sitting.