One dish chicken and potatoes

This is the easiest thing I've made in a while, and it's delicious!

Chicken, Potatoes, and green beans
Original recipe found here.

Ingredients:
4 Chicken breasts
1 bag frozen green beans
1.5 lbs red potatoes, cubed
1 packet Italian seasoning dressing mix
6 Tb butter, cubed

Directions:
1. place chicken in middle of a 9x13 dish. Place green beans on one side and potatoes on the other. sprinkle Italian seasoning on top and then place butter on top.
2. cover in foil and bake at 350 for one hour.

Skillet Chili Mac & Cheese

This is my favorite thing that I have made all year. If I could, I would eat this every day!

Skillet Chili Mac & cheese
Original recipe found here.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 tp garlic, minced
salt & pepper
1-15 oz can tomato sauce
1-6 oz can tomato paste
1-15 oz can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
4 cups beef broth
1 Tb chili powder
2 tp cumin
1 tp paprika
1 tp dried cilantro
1/2 tp dried oregano flakes
2 c elbow macaroni, dry
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
toppings: shredded cheese, green onions, tortilla chips, hot sauce

Directions:
1. Add ground beef, onion, and garlic to a large skillet over medium heat. cook until no longer pink.
2. Add tomato sauce, paste, beans, broth and spices to the skillet. Bring to a boil then add macaroni noodles and place a lid on top. Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring once. Remove from heat and add cheese, stirring until smooth. Let sit and thicken for 10 minutes before serving.

One Pot Creamy Chicken Pasta

Well, I haven't posted since November, this is ridiculous! I wasn't that great about posting regularly with just one child, and now I have two, it's gotten even worse. I'm going to do a bunch in a row tonight with recipes that I've been cooking up for dinner. Delicious!

One Pot Creamy Chicken Pasta
Original recipe found here.

Ingredients:
2 large chicken breasts or 3 small ones, diced
2 Tb olive oil
2 c raw or frozen veggies (I used peas, carrots, green beans)
1 Tb minced garlic
salt and pepper
1 small can cream of chicken soup and one can milk
2 c chicken broth
1/2 tp thyme
1 tp garlic powder
1/2 lb dry fettucine
1 cup shredded cheddar and 1/2 cup more for topping.

Instructions:
1. Heat olive oil in a large 4-5 qt pot.
2. Add in garlic and veggies. Sautee about five minutes.
3. Add chicken and cook until it is no longer pink.
4. Add in all other ingredients except cheese. Stir.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
6. Once pasta is cooked to your liking, remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup cheese. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover and let it sit 5-10 minutes for sauce to thicken.

E's New Bedroom!

We are expecting baby number two in January! The ultrasounds indicated that this baby is going to be a little girl, just like E. Eventually, they will probably share a bedroom, but for now, with E such a light sleeper, we are going to give the nursery to the new baby and give E the guest bedroom. 

I wanted it to function as a guest bedroom as well until the last possible minute so in order to accomplish that I've left the bed in there for now. I'm going to move the crib in next week and let E start sleeping in there to get used to it. 

The first thing I did was paint. I always forget to take before pictures, but you have to imagine that the walls were a light brownish pink, not as bad as I'm describing but not very pretty. I painted a light blue with white ceiling to make the room look lighter (there is only one window.)

Next I took the doors off of the closet. They were the accordion doors that come out into the room. They took up a lot of space when they were open, and E couldn't get them open herself. I found baskets at the dollar store and labeled them for her clothes. She loves going in there now and picking clothes out in the morning!

Next I added a corner book area. It was a really awkward space, and not enough room for any furniture, so I used drawer dividers (also from the dollar store) and screwed them into the wall.

I also made the curtains and am working on a quilt for E to go in the room. If you want to read more about that, you can see them on my other blog, here.

Sweet Potato Soup

I know, another post about food, and again, no pictures! I promise to try and do better, but this time, it's not my fault. My server where we store the pictures is down, so I can't post about E's new bedroom, which was what I was going to do today. Instead, I'm going to talk about my new favorite fall soup. I made this last night from the all recipes website, and it was so good, my husband had seconds!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 apple, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup lentils (the original recipe says red, but i just had regular lentils and it was fine)
1/4 tp powdered ginger
1/2 tp black pepper
1/2 tp cumin
1/2 tp chili powder
1/2 tp paprika
4 cups veggie broth (I used chicken bouillon cubes and cut out the 1 tp salt original recipe called for)

Directions:
Melt the butter in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Place the chopped veggies and apple in the pot and cook about 10 minutes, until onions are translucent.

Stir in lentils and all seasonings, including broth. Cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes. Then puree with an immersion blender or blend in batches in your blender.

Veggie Fried Rice...or why Pinterest is driving me crazy!

As stated before, I really love Pinterest. I use it all the time to find ideas for dinners for the family, not to mention kid crafts, decorating ideas, and anything else you could think of. However, the reason why I continue to post recipes here is because occasionally, a recipe I love on Pinterest suddenly disappears. You click on the picture you diligently filed away for future use, and the recipe attached to it is gone!

That happened to me today, unfortunately, it happened before I posted the recipe here. And even worse, it was one that P actually liked! Luckily, thanks to the power of google, i was able to find the original post here. What a relief! This is turning into one of our regular meals, meaning I'll make it at least once or twice a year.

Vegetarian Quinoa "Fried Rice"

Ingredients:
2 TB olive oil, divided
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tp minced garlic
1 small onion, diced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
3 carrots, peeled and grated
3 cups cooked quinoa
1 tp ginger powder
3 TB soy sauce
sriracha, for serving

Directions:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over low heat. Add eggs and fry until cooked through, about 2-3 minutes per side, flipping only once. Let cool before dicing into small pieces.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring often, until onions become translucent, about 4-5 minutes.

Add zucchini. Cook, stirring constantly, until vegetables are tender, about 3-4 minutes.

Add corn, peas, carrots and quinoa. Cook, stirring constantly, until heated through, about 1-2 minutes.

Add ginger and soy sauce, and gently toss to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, until heated through, about 2 minutes.

Stir in eggs.

Serve immediately, drizzled with Sriracha, if desired.

Wow am I behind!

I have far too many things to post about. My last post was about the letter B for E's collection and I'm already done with C and D! Not to mention my baby turned one and is almost walking!  So, a quick recap of the last month.

E turned one. We had a birthday part for her over Easter weekend with my parents, P's parents, and P's brother and sister. Here are some pictures from the party and Easter!

We also got nice pictures taken of her at JC Penny, here are my favorites.

Next, in my ongoing effort to put more art up in the house, I made two new pieces.

The first covers up our really ugly doorbell and thermostat:

The second is a magnetic scrabble board for your wall!

Both of these ideas were from pinterest. You know that bumper sticker that says "I do what the voices in my head tell me to?" Mine should read, "I do what the pictures on Pinterest tell me to."

In other crafty news I made little finger puppets for E's friends for her birthday:

and for my friend's birthday I made a shopping bag that folds up in your purse. I had to learn how to make a french seam, which is a very useful skill!

Ok, I think that's all the news that's fit to print.  Oh, I'm probably not going to be as crafty for the next 8 weeks because I'm taking an online logic course through Coursera. I tried one other course before, but it require reading a book a week for 8 weeks and I just didn't have enough time. This one is a little tricky so far, similar to a course I took in college but that was ten years ago now and I am rusty. The courses are free though and very well done in case you're interested!