Chicken Taquito's

Chicken Taquitos

3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup green salsa
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (juice from half a lime)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro (I omitted this.)
2 Tbsp sliced green onions (I used Green Chilie's)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
small flour or corn tortillas
salt
cooking spray


-Preheat your oven to 425˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.


-In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, ground cumin, chili powder, onion powder and garlic. Once combined, stir in the cilantro and green onions. Add the chicken and cheese; mix thoroughly.

-Heat your tortilla's in the microwave for a few seconds. Keep them warm in a towel. I used 1TBSP of mixture, anymore seemed like too much. Roll your tortillas as tightly as you can. (Unfortunately, my tortilla's started breaking apart as I was working with them. Next time I will use flour tortilla's instead of corn!)

-Line your baking sheet with taquito's making sure not to overlap. Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Bake 15-20 minutes or until brown.

These are very good. You can serve them with dips such as guacamole, sour cream or salsa.  These also freeze very well.   Heavenly Homemaker suggests wrapping each taquito in plastic wrap to freeze. I went ahead and baked mine, and put them in ziploc freezer bags. It only takes about one minute to reheat them in the microwave and they stay crunchy!

Heavenly Homemaker is a fantastic blog. It includes menu planning ideas, recipes (like this one), Christian encouragement in your daily walk, frugal living ideas and so much more!!!

No Good, Bad Day-Or Was It?

On rare occasions, I feel like I am totally rockin' the cape.....

But most days, I am so tired and it takes me forever to get my thoughts processed enough to know what I am doing that day.

Today, my cape was no where in sight (like most every day) and I was dragging. Not only was I running on little sleep, but I really didn't feel well. Last night, all three of my kids ran fever. Last night, all three of my kids ran fever at different times. It first started with M, then E and lastly N.  Not.A.Fun.Night.For.Mommy.

I am sure most would wonder why in the world I would take the time to blog at almost midnight if I am just SO incredibly tired. Well, fact is, blogging helps me clear my head. This is my form of "letting it out" for the time being. My thoughts have been racing all day, so many things have gone wrong and I have kept my cool.  Now, it is time to let it out, let it go, and move on!

Oh, let's not forget to mention I haven't been to the grocery in forever and we REALLY need some things. Fevers make it kind of hard to go to the grocery store when the only option you have is to take your kids with you. Another reason is that I STILL haven't made my menu plan for this pay period. It has taken me FOUR DAYS and I STILL haven't gotten anything accomplished really.

Menu, you will be defeated tomorrow!!!!!

A little preview of  the many hats that I wear:

Nurse, Mommy

Today has been a very, very lazy day.  With the exception of mealtime (and mealtime cleanup) we have really done nothing. Bummer, because I was really, really looking forward to going to church this morning. I missed last Sunday because I was lazy and the Sunday before I was teaching. This is the third Sunday in a row that I have missed and I really, really can tell. The kids were just as bummed as I was. We also had plans for Little River with AAA after church, but that was canceled as well.  I did get to watch most of the live feed, so that was a highlight.

Today has been one of those days that I have been attacked by the enemy on so many fronts. He knows that I am weak and a a low point and he is taking his swings. Today, has not been my day.

I did get some laundry done this evening. Amazing, when ALL of my clothes are clean aside from just a handful...my close is packed and I have NO ROOM in my drawers! And I thought I didn't have any clothes......

Moving along....:) The kids requested chocolate chip pancakes for supper.  Easy enough...or so I thought.  I have been known to not make really good from scratch pancakes. It isn't that the recipe isn't good..it's the chef. This is why I only buy pre-cooked bacon. I burn bacon..every time.

These pancakes looked fantastic. They were whole wheat (flour) blueberry chocolate chip. I was pretty excited about these.  Well, going along with the nothing has gone right for me today theme, I guess these pancakes decided to follow suite.

This is actually the SECOND cooking pan that I used. The first one I burned, too. My heat wasn't too high, I used enough butter...I have no idea what happened.

I got incredibly frustrated and just threw out the mix and put my pans in the sink. (Which surprisingly are now hanging out in the dishwasher-yes-I at least cleaned the kitchen right.)  I announced to the kids that they would be having cheese grits instead.  They were happy with that. Sweet kids (and husband), they put up with alot of flops in Mommy's cooking.

Needing to get out for a bit, after bath time we ventured to McDonald's and got snack size McFlurries. I am one that stands by the "no milk products with a fever" but they had Ibuprofen in and no fevers at the moment, so I felt after such a crappy, sickly day at least this may brighten the mood a bit...and it did. :) 

They got their last round of Ibuprofen (hopefully until morning) right before bed and tummies were happy, so praise the Lord! 

On days like this, I just want to shout "This has been a terrible, horrible, no good, really bad day!!!!"  But really, even after everything and the fact that it took me hours to upload pictures because my computer restarted :).........I still have to be thankful. Thankful that I have a God that loves me and never gave up on me, not for one second today. Thankful that even on the bad days, He is still there. Even on the bad days, He is still my Savior. Even on the bad days, on the days where I can't even think about loving myself, He loves me. Even on the days that are great and I am wearing my cape with pride or the days that I just want to stay in bed all day and shut out the world, He is with me.  It is really hard to remember that while in the moment of  anger because the pancakes burned, but that is one of many things that I am working on.

Looking back on the days events and being an exhausted nurse mommy...today really, truly wasn't bad at all. In fact, no matter how bad the days get (or how good), I am never alone.

".....And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:20

Dryer Lint-Who knew?

Yep, you guessed it. This is my dryer lint. I have been saving it in an emesis basin on top of my dryer for a bit now. :)  I guess I store it in the appropriate container-it is kind of like my dryer vomit. Ha.Ha.Ha.

Anyway, I was fascinated to find what all dryer lint actually is made up of. It is soft, smells relatively nice and is often wasted. So, I used the all powerful Google and did some research.

Did you know that dryer lint can be composted if all the materials are natural? (Well, that counts most everyone out of composting their dryer lint-bummer.)  Dryer lint can also used as covering for pipes in the winter (taped of course), and mulch/fertilizer for your garden.  My favorite idea: Dryer lint can be reformed into cloth! After saving up your dryer lint you can spin it much like wool into a thread. You can use this thread for weaving or you can crochet or knit it into a blanket, sweater, or scarf! Socks can be stuffed with dryer lint to make an effective draft stopper.*  Beware friends and family.....Christmas is just around the corner! Bahaha. 

More practical use for dryer lint include craft making.  Using your lint for effective cloud formation on any piece of artwork is blue ribbon worthy. (This would be especially fun for the kiddos, but if you want to try your hand at it-have fun!) 

Planet Pals.com has great recipes for lint paper mache', lint clay and lint paper. They say that once you make one of the recipes, only your creativity will limit you to what you can make using your lint!!!

If I do decide to make something with my dryer lint, I will update my blog post. Until then, Happy Lint Crafting! :)

*www.essortment.com

Blueberry Cobbler

Lately, I have felt very Betty Crocker-ish. C agrees that this "made from scratch" bug that has bitten me is indeed a good one. Not one of those itchy, annoying ones...but a sweet, yummy, filling one. :)  Gotta love when the bug bites ya good!!!

Here is a recent try of mine: Blueberry Cobbler

Three cups of blueberries (mine were even still a bit frozen). Then, you squeeze half of a lemon (juice) over the blueberries. :) 

Butter and Sugar :)

Flour and milk!

After spreading the sugar/flour/milk mixture on top of the blueberries, I spread the mix of sugar/cornstarch on top with a cinnamon finish.

Drum Roll Please..........

This is my first ever FRESH made-from-scratch cobbler. It was delicious!!

Blueberry Fruit Leather (Fruit Roll Ups)

My kids love "fruit snacks". These snacks made with "real fruit juice" have really no nutritional value and questionable ingredients (including dyes).
In my attempt to become a healthier family by slowly changing things that we eat and use to more earth-friendly, HUMAN-FRIENDLY products; I scour webpages looking for recipes to make HOMEMADE replicas of our favorite things.

I found many different and difficult recipes for fruit leather. ALL require you to cook it for a VERY, VERY long time. So, it took me a few weeks to actually plan to make this stuff. It required me to keep my oven on 150 degrees for 7+ hours! It actually was more like 10 hours.  It was fun to make, and it actually tastes like all natural fruit leathers you can buy in the store, but for a fraction of the cost. However, if you time if extremely valueable to you...it might be best just to buy your fruit leather at the store, paying close attention to the ingredients. :)

BlueBerry Fruit Leather

The recipe that I used, called for 2 cups of blueberries and a few tablespoons of molasses. I am not saying that this recipe is not as good as others...but the one you will find here has three different recipes: blueberry peach, peach and strawberry fruit leather. (Her blog is really fantastic, too.)

Two cups of applesauce (well, close enough) added to the blueberry mixture and blended.

I really like this color. :)

Lining cookie sheet with wax paper and spreading blueberry mixture out.

The ends were a bit crispy, but the middle was just right. I just cut them into strips and rolled them up in strips of wax paper. The keep in the fridge for quite some time. The boys werent very happy with them at first..M, however, gobbled them right up.. :)

Watermelon Recipes

Since I am the only TRUE southern person out of the five of us, I had to get a bit creative when it came to the huge watermelon my Daddy gave us. I love watermelon. I don't love it enough to eat this entire one by myself before it goes bad, though I would probably take care of the majority! :)

So, I researched the many different recipes including watermelon that were easy and used items that I already had on hand.

My Watermelon recipe adventure started with four basic steps:

1.) Cut melon into manageable chunks.

  

2.) Liquify

3.) Strain

4.) Strain more. :)

Top Five Favorite Pantry/Fridge Staples

I have a ton of favorite things.  I figured I would make it pretty simple by breaking it down into manageable categories. So, here is my top five favs (staples) in my fridge/pantry.

Top five FAVORITE things in my fridge/pantry:

5.) Annie's Macaroni and Cheese

We eat a ton of mac and cheese around here. I feel good knowing (that even I spend a bit more for this brand) that the kids can enjoy their favorite without all the additives and preservatives. (I recently pureed carrots into the mac and cheese-worked like a charm!) Note: My kids will eat carrots and love them, but I figured what the heck, right? More veggies never hurt anyone! :)

www.annies.com

4.) String Cheese

Quick, easy, portable and generally a healthy snack or add-on to a quick lunch,we buy string cheese every grocery trip.

3.) Simply Go-Gurt

Oh, how we love Go-gurt! This is another product that is easy, portable and yummy. My kids love this stuff. I was tickled when Yoplait came out with their new product, Simply Gogurt. It's free from artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners. It can be frozen for an icepop-like treat, too!

2.) Diced Tomatoes

Fresh, frozen, canned-which ever way you prefer them; diced tomatoes are awesome to have on hand. I always add them to my homemade spaghetti sauce, chili, tacos, and my mac and cheese/turkey/tomato creation. :)

1.) Naturally More Peanut Butter

Unlike my friend JW's family, I don't make my own peanut butter. :) So, I finally found an awesome and relatively smooth, natural peanut butter at WALMART. It's pretty inexpensive (around 2.88$ and my kids love it. It) I buy one or two of these every time I shop.  Naturally More is all-natural, contains no cholesterol, and has no trans fats. Naturally More's unique formula has a peanut butter base fortified with flax seed, flax oil and other nutrients to provide all the protein and essential fats needed to keep the body naturally balanced. While normal peanut butter is almost exclusively monounsaturated fat, Naturally More contains omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids. It’s What Peanut Butter Should Be!**

**NaturallyMore.com

Homemade Pickles

In the past month or so, I have really been trying to make-from-scratch most everything I can. In the midst of all of this homemaking in the kitchen, I discovered  that I really enjoy canning! I've only canned once before and that was some fabulous strawberry-blueberry preserves. I plan on making that in the very near future. I don't know why I haven't discovered this joy of canning before, but better late than never I suppose!

Recently, I made Bread and Butter Pickles. These were incredibly easy and so very tasty!  The only thing I will do differently next time is to use bigger canning jars! :)

Thanks to my cucumber supplier, NJPR, for these fabulous cukes! :)

 Cutting the onions, which leads to:

This horribly frightening picture of the after effects of cutting onions while not taking LW's advice and swiping my kids' swim goggles for use while cutting. Teary eyes, dark circles and no makeup-OH MY!!! Moving on.....

I have also found that I really enjoy taking pictures of food. I enjoy the food prep, the cooking and the "plating". :)

Lovely salt covered cucumbers and onions!

Getting ready for the liquid goodness...:)

Boil for three minutes....

Stuffing my cucumber/onion mixture into the jars.....

Sweet cucumbers waiting to take their boiling dip (aka-processed).

Processing....

The final product. I am so proud of these and they are so dang yummy.