Easy Peasy Chicken Taco's

Today, Saturday, I made the easiest recipe I think I've ever attempted in my life. I can't even express how easy this was. I made chicken tacos in the crock-pot. And I used 2 ingredients. Chicken and a jar of salsa! That's it! Pick out your favorite salsa at the store, and pour it over a pound of chicken (or really however much chicken you can cover with the jar) and put your crock pot on low for 8 hours or high for 4. Easy...I need to find another synonym for easy it was that simple. 

The chicken just falls apart, I scooped the chicken out to shred and it literally fell apart in my bowl. I meant to take a picture, but was too busy eating it.

And I had zero clean up, I put one of those crock-pot liner's in my crock pot so I didn't even have to maneuver that big ceramic bowl into my sink to scrape at it. This is perfect for a weekend when you don't want to clean!

Easy Peasy Chicken Taco's

Chicken (1-3 pounds)

1 jar of your favorite salsa 

Pour salsa over chicken in a crock pot, cook on high for 8 hours or low for 4 hours. Shred the chicken and load up in your preferred shells! 

**Use a crock pot liner so you don't have to clean up! Just throw away the liner when you're done cooking. 

Toppings/Extra's

diced tomato

shredded lettuce

avocado

shredded cheese

salsa

sour cream

corn tortilla shells

flour tortillas

Comfort Food and French Crepes

Our God is a God of comfort, and as we go through life we need to be vulnerable and share our story's. God will always use our experiences to further His kingdom, and you never know how your story will influence/impact those around you! 

 2 Corinthians 1:4 says, "...who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."

When we go through life, go through life's hard we have a God who comforts us. But as 2 Corinthians says, as he comforts us we should be comforting others. We need to be opening our hearts and homes to others and sharing our stories so we can walk along side our friends, empathize with them, and ultimately help how only WE (you) uniquely can. When we are vulnerable and share our troubles and stories, we have no idea the impact it can have on another. Someone else may be going through the exact same situation, already has, or may experience something similar in their future. What a difference WE can make for HIM with a little conversation over comfort foods...

While growing up, and even now I like to bake/cook when I am stressed. I'm not talking fancy meals or something grande; I'm talking chocolate chip cookies, pancakes, and believe it or not crepes. Can you tell I have a sweet tooth? Anyways, I remember many a Saturday mornings when garage sale season would hit and on the occasion we were hosting a sale I would pull our my mom's 1970's (it was a wedding gift) crepe pan and whip up a batch of crepe's, homemade whipped cream, and sliced strawberries and serve them to my family. No, I never attempted to sell them, I ate them and dished it out for my grandma Jeanne, who was usually around and my aunts, mom, and any relative that popped over to help or scour the sale. 

It was comfort food. It is comfort food even now, as I think of all of the times I would make these for French class, garage sales, friends were over, just because I was stressed and wanted to eat something fancy...So here's the recipe and hopefully you can try and make these, too! 

Crepe Recipe 

(If you don't have a crepe pan you can pour batter in a frying pan)

1 1/4 C Flour

pinch of salt

3 eggs (beaten)

1 1/2 C milk

2 Tbs melted butter

Blend in blender or using mixer until smooth. 

Use hot crepe pan and dip pan into batter and cook until lightly browned. 

If you're using a frying pan, pour a small amount of batter into a heated pan and "swirl" around to get batter around pan so you have a thin 'pancake'. You can flip if you prefer, but it's not needed. 

Fill with your desired filling (sweet or savory) 

**Nutella, cinnamon/sugar, whipped cream and strawberries, bananas and caramel

**ham/cheese, eggs, cheese, butter, 'pizza'

My mom and aunt recently introduced me to a banana caramel filling that is amazing, recipe coming soon! 

Lasagna in a Bowl

I just made this for dinner last night and as it touched my tongue I knew it was a keeper! The original recipe was found through Pinterest from this amazing blog. I of course altered the recipe a bit to fit my liking (and my pantry), but it was an instant hit and it's definitely comfort food. I'm so thankful for creative people and the endless blogs available to find recipes like this!

AND This is super easy as I only had to use one pot. Any recipe that can be made in one pot is a winner for me, but especially when it's delicious. Honestly, I think it tasted even better today as left overs.

I've always loved a good lasagna but was intimidated by the assembly of it all. This recipe is simple and hits the spot for me. I hope you all enjoy it, too! 

One Pot Lasagna Soup

1 lb ground beef

1 onion, diced

2-4 tsp minced garlic (or 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced)

1 jar favorite spaghetti sauce 

6 C chicken stock (homemade or boxed - I used both)

1 - 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 Tbs tomato paste

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (or red pepper flakes)

1 bay leaf

1 tsp sugar

pinch of salt

10 (or more) lasagna noodles (broken up) or whatever noodle you prefer. I used 14 manicotti noodles broken into pieces because that's what I had in my pantry. 

Heavy cream (1/4 C or more)

Mozzarella Cheese

Ricotta Cheese

Brown the ground beef with the diced onion, the onion will turn translucent. Add the garlic and spices. I did not drain the fat, but I was using a leaner ground beef and I like the added flavor from the fat. 

Add the spaghetti sauce, chicken stock, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, and if you prefer, sugar. Stir and add noodles. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add heavy cream to desired taste. Stir, then add cheese. I only used mozzarella and garnished individual dishes, but you can add the cheese right to the pot.

All assembled just need to boil

This was before any cheese was added. And today the leftovers were even thicker, but fantastic!

I attempted to leave the sugar out, but because of the acidity of the tomatoes I felt it did need a little bit. 

Cookie Dough Icing

You guys if you are trying to eat really nutritious things, please don't read any further because this will ruin you. I got on my Pinterest to find a quick recipe to make something sweet. I always want something sweet later in the evening...anways so I got on and BAM, there it was, this picture of cookie dough icing in all of it's glory. It's from iambaker.net and it has other recipes as well that I am sure are just as delicious.

So I did what any mom avoiding bed-time routines would do and I made it. It was super easy, and it is fantastic. It made so much I think I need to make a cake to pair with it (yes, I made frosting and only frosting with no intention of making anything else). A spoon has worked swell so far...My husband and I can't stay out of it.

Ok so here's the simple recipe and the picture I took of it - YUM.

Cookie Dough Frosting after we'd devoured some of it 

Cookie Dough Frosting

1 1/4 C brown sugar, packed

2 sticks of butter, softened

2 1/2 C flour

2-3 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

8-16 Tbs whole milk 

Handful of mini-chocolate chips

Beat the sugar and butter until smooth. Add flour, vanilla, salt and mix well. Slowly add milk until desired consistency. Enjoy!

 The original recipe says to add 16 Tbs of milk and to add a tablespoon at a time to make a softer/smoother texture. I didn't add as much brown sugar (I was running low) or milk (I just didn't think it needed it) and it still turned out phenomenal. 

Top 7 Reasons We Don't Invite People Over

After writing about the top reason's we don't want to cook, I thought about why we as a culture lack inviting people into our homes. It is common for people to get together, but often it is over coffee or out for a breakfast or lunch date. Very rarely are we inviting our neighbors, community, even our closest friends into our homes. I often wonder why it has become a cultural norm to meet with friends out but not in. Years ago, it was common to host gatherings with neighbors, church groups, and neighborhood barbecues. Just watch a show like 'The Wonder Years' or a movie like 'Sandlot' and it will bring longings of the past, or maybe that's just me. I long for simpler times. When children swarmed the street at the sound of the ice cream truck, instead I often look out my window's and see empty streets and sidewalks. Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, but I do wonder what it would have been like to raise my kids in a world known for hospitality instead of a world priding itself on independence.

a world known for hospitality

When my husband and I bought our house I remember praying, hoping, dreaming it would be a home full of people. I vividly remember before we even found our home I prayed for our future neighbors and community. This desire to be surrounded by authentic community still burns inside of me, especially more so now that we are raising children. What will they see? What will they remember about their childhood? Did we choose television and nights in, instead of gatherings and game nights? Did we choose going to the park alone instead of inviting our friends to come along? Did we choose to sit at our table each night and never offer our neighbor or friend a warm meal? What is stopping us from having people we are in relationships with in our homes? What is drawing us into living a life of solitude?

What will they see?

God calls us to more. God calls us to having relationships. He made us in his image and he was all about having a relationship with US and others. And building community. Oh the power of community. And so my Top 7 Reasons for why we don't invite people IN:

1 Corinthians 11:33
'So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together.'

#1 The Mess
We don't want people to see how we really live. The full sink, the unswept carpets, the piles of laundry waiting to be folded, the half eaten food still left on the table from breakfast, the overflowing trashcan, the pile of papers that just can never find a home. Is any of this ringing a bell for anyone? Is it just me? I feel like I have to clean like a mad women every time I hear someone may be entering our door. Even if it is semi-decent I run around like a crazy person throwing piles into our bedroom or shoving miscellaneous piles into our closets. Confession over. But yes I tend to think it's the state of people's homes that allows us greet people outside and bolt our doors closed. Or maybe how we perceive our mess - it's usually not as bad as we think.

#2 The Ease of TV or Solo Time
Ok this is not to shame anyone AT ALL. I love me some good television time. Netflix binges are my friend, especially when the house is asleep and I have the controls BUT do we use our televisions and relaxation time as an excuse to not gather? Something to ponder, because I know it is much easier for me to push plans back and lounge on the couch then take the energy to entertain. Which in my idea of perfect hospitality, it would take no energy because we would be allowing people to enter into our lives, messy as they can be.

#3 Hello, I'm Martha. I have to DO more and make everything Perfect.
If you haven't read my post on Mary and Martha, please do. I am what I like to call 'A Martha'. I take Pinterest as a challenge to make every gathering an event. The irony in this is Jesus calls us to be Mary. Forget about the pots, pans, doilies, decorations, pom poms, and just invite people into your homes. My aunt Judy gave me some great advice a few years back and she said these simple words 'Just offer whatever you have." That's it people. If its PB&J, a hot dog, offer it. It doesn't have to be a filet people, some of my fondest memories are over saltine crackers and jam! My mom tells me of times she gathered with groups of women over grilled cheese and canned tomato soup - it really can't be so hard. The struggle is real, I get it. I'm a doer, I'm a Martha. I want the themes and perfect little food signs. I get it, but don't let it stop you from having people over.

#4 Money, money, money!
This goes along with Martha up there ^, it can cost money to entertain. More mouths to feed BUT I hope you don't let this stop you. If you can relax and just offer what's in your fridge, then hopefully it won't cost too much...I find the cost comes when I'm trying to make it a THING and make everything perfect and make more food than is needed. I'd love to eat left overs with you, you, my friend, seriously left over pizza is just fine with me especially if that means I can be talking to an adult over lunch instead of my kiddo's. I won't be offended if you offer me last night's dinner. The truth of the matter is it can cost money, but have a pitch-in or pot-luck, offer popcorn and water, cheese and crackers, grilled cheeses! I have an air-popper and I can make a TON of popcorn for very little cost.

#5 Lack of Confidence in the Kitchen
I love to bake and I still struggle with this. Does having people over stress you out? Do you scramble to look through your recipes and can't find what to make? Are you known for burning dishes? I think with practice comes confidence, but I also think people just want to be around people. I love food, but when it's all said in done I like to be around friends and family. If we are having egg sandwiches, breakfast for dinner, or PB&J's that's ok. Also, some of my best memories are around failed attempts in the kitchen - read about my latest here.

#6 I Don't Have Enough Space
This is the excuse I like to use for not hosting large gatherings and it can be a real thing. I want a house full of people. I also want my friends to bring their families, kids and all. My house is lovely but kinda smallish to host large gatherings with lots of kids. Now summer time, we can throw kids outside, but my excuse is often 'Where would all of the people go?'. Even now as I'm planning a 1st Birthday for my son, I think of everyone I want to invite and realize the space may not work. My thoughts on this are sure to change, but I think of my grandma's house where 30+ aunts, uncles, cousins, spouses, grandchildren, great grandchildren would gather for every Christmas and she lived in a 50's ranch....we made it work. We had an amazing time. I'm trying not to 'sweat it'.

#7 Anxiety
Does having people in your home bring on anxiety? Do you stress before anyone enters your doors? I was baffled by the thought of this but I get it. I clean like a mad women before people come over, I try to plan out meals and scramble to get laundry put away. I get frustrated with my kids for not moving quickly enough and I am short-tempered all because we may have someone over. This is definitely true to my personality but thankfully I'm learning to change. Through lots of prayer, and deep breaths, and really acknowledging that I desire a messy hospitality, I think I'm growing in this area. I desire friends feeling welcome to walk through my door at any moment, morning, noon, and night. I desire to be that friend that everyone knows will always offer a cup of coffee, crackers, Pb&J, whatever's in my fridge, and yes that may even be left overs. I would love to have an abundance of friends that would be ok walking in my door when I'm unshowered, bra-less, and still in my mis-matched pjs (I sound lovely, don't I?). Do you want that? I think of the show 'Friends', 'Seinfeld', 'Cheers', really any show that is based on a group of friends. They are so much a part of each others lives that they walk in and out of each others apartments and homes whenever they please. And that is ok because they are a community.And maybe you don't want to be a mess when someone walks in your door, that's ok too...I just prefer the latter.

 Anxiety is a real thing, I am never going to guilt someone for feeling a certain way or struggling with this. I hope my thoughts at least challenged you and that you can talk to someone, and prayfully consider why you are anxious having others enter your home or lives.



And I'll leave you with this, Genesis 28:3

 'May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.'

Thanks for reading!

Top 7 Reason's Why We Don't Want to Cook

I recently read this blog post shared by Superhealthykids.com from thefoodnanny.com. It was titled 'The 10 Most Common Excuses for Not Cooking'. I loved the article and found myself thinking about the reasons why I choose not to cook or am hesitant to start up a meal in the kitchen. I realized my reasons were a little different then the ones listed above, and I would love to hear what your reasons are for leaving the kitchen unattended!

 My Top 7 Reason's Why We Don't Want to Cook 

#1 I Don't Want to Make a Mess

You read that right, so many days I don't want to cook dinner because I don't want to mess up my clean kitchen. As I write this it sounds even more ridiculous than when I thought it. I like my clean kitchen, and by the time dinner time comes not only am I tired and don't want to mess up my already cluttered kitchen, but I don't want to make more of a mess. Do I clean the clutter to cook, to make a bigger mess, to clean that up to? Seems crazy to clean, cook, and then clean some more....did I hear someone wanted Pizza? Delivery it is!

#2 It's Cheaper to Go Out!

I like to believe the lie that it is actually in our financial benefit to dine out. I don't want to go to the grocery and spend a X amount of dollars on all of the ingredients I need, to then come home and cook it, when I could drive through or order takeout for $20. BUT when I take the time to think of the number of meals I'll be cooking, all of the left overs, and the cost per person per meal - very rarely is eating out less money then dining in. But I still have a mental battle when my fridge is bare and I just don't want to spend money.

#3 It's Work!

This is so true. It takes work to think up a meal, buy the ingredients, create the meal, dish out the food, eat it, and then clean it all up. It's work...work that when I plan is a heck of a lot easier but work it is. Some days I just don't want to 'work' any more.

#4 Dirty Dishes

This goes along with my first reason. I don't want dinner to end because I don't want to attack the mass of dishes, utensils, rags, and chewed food waiting for me in the sink. I just don't want to do it. I've contemplated using paper plates on a regular basis so I don't have to do dishes. We run our dishwasher every night. By the end of the day it is full and I just don't love loading the dishwasher and then hand washing the large pots/pans or whatever doesn't fit in the evening. Is it just me?

#5 I Don't Plan

I cook the most when I plan. I am the most efficient and less likely to eat out when I plan. BUT days, let's me honest here, weeks come when we are scrambling at dinner time, eating out more, or eating poorly all because I forgot to meal plan (that also goes back to #3 It's Work!).

#6 Shopping with Kids 

I love my kids, I actually don't even mind grocery shopping, but something about going to the grocery with my kids makes me want to shut down. I have to give myself a pep-talk before heading to the grocery and it's not because my kids are wild. It's the amount of work I have to go through to get out the door, to then get them in the cart, to walk through the store while magically distracting them, and then loading all of the groceries in and out of the cart and into the car, and trying NOT to leave the kids unattended while getting back IN the car. Ugh it's just not my favorite thing. So this makes me not want to cook some days.

#7 I Don't Know How

Ok, let me explain. I know how to cook, or at least I like to think that I do. I've always loved to bake, and if you give me a recipe I can usually follow it, but sometimes cooking is intimidating. Trying new recipes can be a lot of fun, but when you spend a lot of money on ingredients you don't want to screw up a recipe. So I know that sometimes we don't want to cook because we are intimidated by the  idea of cooking or the specific meal.

Rule Breaker - Pasta

I'm terrible at following a recipe, and when I say terrible, I don't mean I can't follow directions I mean I cannot get my brain to follow the rules. Rules. Rules just limit me in the kitchen. Some people are rule followers, some people choose a different path, like me. It makes no sense, a recipe may say 'add a teaspoon of salt' and I throw in 2 pinches. A recipe calls for 'a cup of flour', and I'll scoop a rounded Cup measure overflowing with flour and then shake a little off the top maybe. My grandma, Jeanne, she always used a knife to level the flour off the top of a cup measure to make a perfect flat surface; the perfect Cup measure. Anyways, I just can't do it. Maybe it's the rebel in me. That is probably why I can never make the same dish exactly the same twice. My mom always gives me a hard time for not following directions, especially when I bomb recipes...I get questioned step by step of what I did and there is usually some horrendous misunderstanding or mishap on my end. And tonight....TONIGHT while I'm making HER recipe of Beef Stroganoff (the best flipping grey gravy goo that will ever touch your taste buds) she took over because she doesn't even follow her recipe.  The apple doesn't fall from the tree people...not far at all. Her recipe called for teaspoons of paprika - she just "pours some" and it calls for salt - she chooses to omit it, it doesn't even list minced onion, but yet she shakes some of that in, too. Ladies and gentlemen, my mom is a wonderful cook and she has taught me endless tips in the kitchen but following a recipe to a T is not one of them. So if you're worried about following the rules in the kitchen, I like to think recipes are guidelines for numerous experiments. Unless you're baking, in which case you should probably stick to it pretty closely, unless you're a rebel like me and just can't do it!


This week we had family over for my husbands favorite meal. His mom used to always make a beef manicotti that was DELICIOUS and I loved it when she made that for us. After we got married my MIL gave me the recipe, and I got lazy (no surprise there) so I modified the recipe because I'm so great at following directions anyways, and I came up with what I like to lamely call "Pasta Bake"

Pasta Bake

1 box Penne Pasta 

1 jar favorite spaghetti sauce

1 lb ground beef

1 1/2 C shredded cheese (mozzarella or whatever's in the fridge)

2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 egg

2 tsp garlic, minced (I often have a jar of minced garlic on hand in my fridge)

1 onion, minced (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and pull out a 9X13.

Boil a large pot of water (I know so descriptive) and add a pinch of salt to the water. Once it's boiling cook the penne pasta according to box directions. I like my pasta to be al dente and it usually calls for 10-12 minutes and I don't boil past 8 minutes. While you're waiting for the water to boil, brown the ground beef in a large frying pan. If you are adding onion, chop up your onion in small pieces (diced or minced) my husband doesn't like big chunks so I cut pretty thin. Saute the onions with the ground beef until the onions are translucent. I usually add the minced garlic at this point, too. Once the ground beef is fully cooked, and the onion is translucent (no longer white) I turn off the heat and let it cool for a few minutes, then I add about a 1/2 Cup of spaghetti sauce, 1/2 Cup cheese, 1 tsp italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and egg. I stir this all together and set aside.

Once the noodles are cooked, strain the noodles. Put the noodles back into the large pot. Add another 1/2 C of spaghetti sauce to the noodles, stir. Add the meat mixture to the noodles, mix. Set aside. Pour enough spaghetti sauce to just cover the bottom of the 9X13. Reserve about a half a cup of spaghetti sauce for the top of the casserole. Add any remaining sauce into the noodle/meat mixture. Pour the meat/noodle mixture into the 9X13. Top with reserved spaghetti sauce. Then sprinkle with remaining cheese on top, and Italian seasoning. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until bubbling on edges and hot in center. If the cheese is browning too quickly you can always cover with foil.

I love this recipe. It's easy and I mix everything in the one pot so it's relatively easy clean up. As you make it, you can add different cheese or use different types of noodles. We double this recipe often, and sometimes I'll only use 1 lb of ground beef while doubling it and it is still delicious and no one notices there's a little less meat. And this makes great left overs!

Maybe...just maybe I'll be able to share my mom's fantastic beef stroganoff someday...if I can ever get the REAL recipe!