8 can taco soup.

when we first got home from the hospital, jae's mom brought us a bag full of cans and this recipe. i finally made it the other night. super easy and so nice to have on a night when neither of us were up for making something else or going out to buy something. for how easy this recipe is, it was pretty tasty! plus, i think this would be a great gift for any new moms or sick moms or whoever needs an easy meal to throw together. and it makes a good amount - we've been eating it all week.

ingredients:
1 15 oz can black beans, drained
1 15 oz can pinto beans, drained
1 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 15.25 oz can sweet corn, drained
1 12.5 oz can chicken breast, drained
1 10 oz can cream of chicken soup
1 10 oz can green enchilada sauce
1 14 oz can chicken broth
1 packet taco seasoning

directions:
mix in large pot. heat, stir, serve!

i added crunched up tortilla chips, but Fritos would be good too. then top with some shredded cheese and you've got yourself a yummy bowl of soup, perfect for these 20 degree winter days :)

and because it seems like you can't post a recipe without a food picture (even though I take awful food pictures)....

white chicken chili.

i know, a recipe from me?
i hardly ever post these, obviously, but since i wasn't a total failure in the kitchen the other day when i made this delish soup, i thought i'd better share the recipe!

seriously, it's so good. not something i'd usually like much less find myself making. but i could not resist this one. will definitely be making it again and again this fall/winter season.

ingredients:

2 medium onions (cut up and sauteed in 1/2 cube butter)

1 T garlic powder

1 T oregano

2 T cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 small cans diced green chiles

3 cups chicken broth

4 15 oz cans white northern beans

1 chicken bouillon cube

4 cups cooked chicken

2 cans white corn, not drained

32 oz sour cream

monterey jack cheese

corn chips (i used fritos!)

directions:

sautee onions until transparent. add and simmer all other ingredients except sour cream, chips, and cheese for 30 minutes. add sour cream and simmer 10 more minutes. serve with chips and cheese.

that's it! of course, you want to cook your chicken beforehard, however you choose to do so. i just cut ours up in cubes and sauteed it in some oil. you can also, of course, salt and pepper to your liking. jae's a major salt and pepper fan, so he added some both on the chicken itself and in the soup. this recipe does make a good amount so use a big pan/pot or half it. i halved it and we still had a couple days worth of leftovers for jae and i.

and i'm telling you - don't forget the cheese and fritos on top. they totally make this soup the best it can be :)

happy october!!
(and a special birthday shout-out to my bff mary! happy happy birthday!)

lemon bars.

a few weeks ago, i offered to bring a dessert for a family shindig. i wanted to try something new - not just the usual cookies or brownies or cake or whatever. and this spring weather made me think of lemon bars for some reason. i've never made lemon bars before, but i thought i'd find the easiest recipe i could fine (no joke) and go for it! Jae always wonders why i choose to try new recipes or make something i've never made before when it's for an event that a big group will be eating (i guess the guy has a point).....so i decided to do a trial run the day before and make sure they didn't suck :) they were delish! now to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

*1 package lemon cake mix

*1 egg

*1/2 cup vegetable oil

*1 8 ounce package cream cheese

*1/3 cup white sugar

*1 tablespoon lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
2. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Add the egg and oil; mix until well blended. Mixture will be slightly dry. Reserve one cup for the topping, and pat the rest into an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
3. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with the sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Spread the mixture evenly over the baked crust. Crumble the reserved cake mix mixture over the top.
4. Bake for an additional 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until filling is set and the topping is lightly toasted. Cool before cutting into bars. Refrigerate leftovers.

1st layer

with the added cream cheese middle yumminess

after the 3rd layer of crumbly goodness was added and baked

the recipe doesn't say to do this, but i've always envisioned lemon bars should have powdered sugar on top. so i added it!

they are so super crumbly and messy to eat, but SO good! 

worth the crumbs :)

gearing up for the weekend (and a fun recipe!).

i know. a recipe...from me??!
weird.
i'm not the greatest cook or baker, and yes, it's probably mostly because i just don't do it all that often. but honestly, i feel like i've stepped out of my comfort zone a little more lately and i try things that i normally wouldn't try (aka i've cooked...more than once!).

anyway, this isn't any big special recipe, just a small fun treat i made for my co-workers (and Jae, of course) for valentine's day. i'm sure you've seen it around, and probably even tried it. but they're pretty delish, so i thought i'd share.

(they don't even have a name...so we'll go with....)
chocolate pretzel pieces!
sure, why not.

anyway, you'll need:
-mini pretzels (i like the square/rectangle ones)
-Hershey's kisses (or hugs. i used kisses because i couldn't find the hugs i wanted. and i ended up using the kisses with caramel in them, which actually made it that much better!)
-M&M's

*heat your oven to 200 degrees. (i actually waited until after i got all my pretzels spread out and had started putting the kisses on them just because it literally only takes about 1 minute for your oven to heat to 200. but whatever you want to do.)

*start by putting a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and spread out your pretzels. i fit 60 pretzels on my cookie sheet, and had just exactly enough kisses for them (plus the one i ate....).

*now...unwrap all the kisses! this is where a helper is...well...helpful. it can be time consuming! plus, they might be able to stop you from eating kisses along the way.... ;) (i only ate one, thankyouverymuch, and i had no one there to stop me).  place one kiss on each pretzel.

kisses halfway done.

*once you have all your pretzels 'kissed' (bahaha i'm so hilarious), put them in the oven for about 4-5 minutes. the time obviously will vary from oven to oven. the recipe i had said 5 minutes. i left them in for about 4 minutes and they were a little too soft, if anything. then again, that might be because i used the caramel filled ones rather than the solid chocolate ones. so you figure out what works for you!

*once they're out of the oven, put an M&M on the top of each kiss, ever-so-slightly pressing it down to push down the tip of the kiss. like i said, mine might have been a bit too soft, because of the caramel inside, so they didn't end up as pretty as i had hoped they would after they settled and hardened a bit. but i assure you, they tasted wonderful :)

{i just realized this might sound a little silly - all my detailed explanations for a treat that really is so simple. so some of you are probably laughing at me. buuut that's ok.. i'm just that amateur when it comes to anything in the kitchen, that i surely would screw something up if i didn't have the extra hints. it is what it is, i guess!}


plans for the weekend? i don't know about you, but we get a long, 3-day weekend (thanks, President's, for having a day off for yourselves!). i plan to take a nap. ha! i joke. but no, really, i really want to take a nap.

we had a hot date at subway last night for lovers day, so perhaps we'll go out for a "real" date night this weekend. and on monday, we're celebrating Jae's and my birthdays with my family! yayy!! should be a good time.

happy friday. xo.

bacon, egg, & cheese.

one of our favorite breakfast foods to make are breakfast sandwiches.

they're super easy and quick, and taste warm and yummy!

i'm sure many of you have made them before, but here's how we do it:

1. grab your bread/croissant/biscuit/bagel/whatever kind of sandwich "ends" you'd prefer 

(we usually like just our good old wheat bread and we toast it)

2. put on some cheese of your choice 

 (we put it on the toast quickly so it can start getting warm/melty. 

and yes, go ahead and mock me and my kid-style kraft singles...)

3. add your microwaved egg 

(do you guys know/use microwave eggs too? 

so easy and the perfect sandwich size!)

4. the pile on your bacon pieces 

(best part, if you ask me)

and there you go!

easy and tasty breakfast sandwich.

what other quick breakfast concoctions do you make?

garlic parmesan chicken

a couple of weeks ago i decided to pretend to be a cooking housewife again (i know, twice in like a month - it's kind of a big deal) and made some dinner. when Jae got home, he's like "what is that smell??"
it's a home-cooked meal, ya bum!
and now i'll share...

garlic parmesan chicken

you'll need:

8(ish) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup mayo

1 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

are you ready for the easiest recipe ever? well here it is:

mix all of the ingredients together (except the chicken of course), spread the mix all over the chicken, and put it in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes.

done!

easy peasy.

and really good!

{pretty sure i originally got this recipe like a year ago
from this lovely lady :)}

i put some oil on the cookie sheet to help the chicken crisp up a bit in the oven.
(i know, it doesn't look super appealing in this stage of the process. i promise, it's good.)

i just paired it with some quinoa. kinda looks boring, but hey, this is a step in the right direction. i did think about making a veggie....baby steps.

***only 2 more days to vote!***

everyone has been so awesome to help us out with this contest, and we cannot tell you how much we appreciate it! you all rock. like rockstars.

#127.
go.
{please}

baked beans

as part of our duties for the rodeo we helped put together, we were in charge (mostly Jae) of making baked beans. he got an awesome recipe from his brother that we used. i don't even like baked beans, but these, i'll eat!

you'll need:

2 cans Bush's baked beans

1/2 an onion

1/2 green bell pepper

1/2 pound bacon 

we obviously made a (lot) larger serving for the rodeo crowd.

eight cans of beans!

make sure to chop up the onion and green pepper in little tiny pieces. put them in a pot with some oil until they're a nice brownish color

the trick with the bacon is to make sure you cook the bacon separately first so it's nice a crispy and then chop it up in little pieces too and add it to the pan with the onions and pepper. (it is a messy, messy job cutting up that cooked bacon!)

{Jae likes to add some of the bacon grease to the pan to soak in the onions and pepper a bit. it's really healthy and stuff ;) he also adds a couple other things to the pot, but i'm sworn to secrecy. sorry!}

when those are all mixed together, just add in the beans and keep it on some heat to make sure the beans are nice and warm and everything is mixed well. and that's it! of course, i didn't actually get a picture of the finished product. oops.

they're obviously best to eat right after you make it, so you get more crisp in your bacon with the softness of the beans. mmm it really is good, which i never though i'd be saying about baked beans.