Fiesta chicken packet

This is a recipe I found a while ago and like to make a couple times a month. It is extremely easy to cut down for just one person. This is the recipe I use when I am cooking just for me.
1/2 cup instant rice
1 cup hot water
1 tbs taco seasoning
Sliced Red bell pepper
Sliced Onion
Chicken breast
Salsa
Cheese

Mix the rice, water, and seasoning in a bowl. Place foil in a small casserole dish, leave enough foil on the sides to be able to fold. Place the chicken on the foil. Pour the rice mixture over it. Top with the remaining ingredients. Cook for 30-40 minutes on 400.

I ate it before I remember that I needed to take a picture ;)

Weekly plan

I am back to making my weekly meal plan.
Sunday- Fiesta Chicken Packet
Monday- Taco Salad
Tuesday- lemon chicken, rice, and green beans
Wednesday- leftovers
Thursday- leftovers
Friday- dinner with friends and then painting at pinots pallet
Saturday- wedding shower for my cousin

Day Off

The first Friday of May I took a personal day off. It was exactly what I needed to give me energy to get through the last three weeks of school. I had a great day of relaxing and spending time with some friends. I had lunch with a friend and her two precious boys. Then I met up with another friend at Coco Blow. It is Tulsa's first blow out bar. It was so relaxing and your hair looks great when you leave! The day off was perfect!

Wedding Shower

Later in April my mom and I attended the first of many wedding showers for my soon to be sister in law. It was a fun day celebrating Erin.
My mom and I are also busy planning a couple's shower for Matt & Erin. I am having a lot of fun planning it. I'm thankful for pinterest and all the great ideas! I can't wait until the actual shower so we can put all of our ideas to work!

Girls Weekend

I had the wonderful privilege of being able to go away on a girls weekend with two of my sweet friends. My mentor at church allowed us to use her lake house. We are so thankful that she opened her home for our weekend. It was a nice time catching up and also just relaxing! We spend time eating, playing cards, reading, and visiting. I hope we can do this again next year!

April Women's Retreat

The first weekend of April I had the amazing opportunity to attend my church's Women's Retreat. The retreat was exactly what I needed. At the retreat I was reminded to keep believing in the INCREDIBLE plan God has for my life! I just need to keep my eyes on Him.

Absent lately

I feel like the month of April really didn't exist since it went by so fast! I was extremely busy at work due to state testing. I am so thankful that is over with for this year. Now I can get back to truly teaching and not just prepping for the state test.
I am going to spend some time this weekend putting up some catch up posts. I hope you all enjoy :)

Catching up again

Before I started trying to blog, I read a lot of different blogs. When people wouldn't update for a few days I always thought what is so hard about updating a blog. Well now that I have my own blog I understand. It is hard to find time to blog. As always life gets in the way of planning meals. The rest of this week and the beginning of next week I am housesitting. I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things next week.

Chicken Noodle Soup

So far this week I have stuck to my planned meals. I made chili on Sunday night. Then Monday night I made chicken noodle soup. I like my chicken noodle soup creamy, so I add more cream of chicken than chicken broth.
Here it is:
1/2 lb chicken breasts cooked and cup up
1/2 can of chicken broth
1 1/2 cans of cream of chicken
2 tbs italian seasoning
Mix it all together and let simmer for about 30 minutes.
It was very good and perfect for the cold weather we had on Monday.

Weekly plan

I keep thinking this week will be the last cold week to get all my favorite soups and chilis in. But then we have another cold front. I really think spring will officially be here after this nasty cold weather is gone. I am so glad spring is coming but sad that I never got a snow day :(
Well, here is my plan for this week:
Sunday-chili
Monday-chicken noodle soup
Tuesday-lemon pepper chicken, rice, and green beans
Wednesday-leftovers
Thursday-food at school due to parent conferences
Friday-leftovers

I hope everyone has a good week!

Spring Break

It has been a little while since my last post. Life as always is busy. But this week I have been on spring break and have been trying to get caught up in lots of areas of my life. I have had a wonderful week. Here is a quick recap:
*relaxing hair appointment
*being in my first video at church for our wonderful mentor ministry. If you attend my church you MUST get involved.
*an unplanned Starbucks and Utica Square visit with a sweet friend
*great lunch and conversations with my amazing mentor. Again if you ever have an opportunity to be involved in a mentoring ministry do it!
*lunch with a friend and her adorable daughter
*dinner at Cheddar's with two lifelong friends and one of their precious two year old little boy
*walk and park with friend and her little boy. Then walk with another friend and her new puppy, who wasn't too interested in walking ;)
*wonderful phone call and catching up with a far away friend
*long dinner with three great friends from work. I laughed so hard that my stomach was still sore the next morning.

So needless to say I have had many meals out and lots of fun time with friends. I will be back to posting my weekly menu tomorrow.

Weekly Plan

Every week I think I am finally going to be back on a normal schedule but it has yet to happen. This past weekend I help Matt and Erin with their new house. My parents and I helped with everything from packing, unpacking, cleaning, and painting. So needless to say I did not eat at home all weekend or tonight. I hope the rest of the week is a little slower. Here is my plan for the week:
Tuesday- Chicken Noodle Soup
Wednesday- Leftovers
Thursday- Fiesta Chicken Packets
Friday- Nachos

Taco Soup

This week with the weather being cold but no snow :( I decided to make some soup. Taco soup is definitely a favorite of mine and I love it even more when I make it in the crock pot so that it is ready when I get home.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb hamburger meat
1 can corn (drained)
1 can kidney beans
1 can rotel
taco seasoning

I cook the meat the night before. Then the next morning I throw every thing into the crockpot. I cook it on low all day and it is ready when I get home!

Pizza Cupcakes

I received this recipe in an email and it sounded good. Since I am always looking for a new recipe I thought I would try this. It was semi easy to make and very good. This recipe was great to cut down for just me. I also think it would be easy to change depending on the toppings you want on your pizza.
Here's what you need:
1 can of crescent dinner rolls
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/4 cup diced pepperoni slices
1/4 lb sausage, cooked and drained
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 375. Spray cupcake pan with cooking spray. Unroll dough; separate 8 triangles. Press into muffin tin. Then add the sauce mixture. Cook for 16-18 minutes.

These turned out great and were wonderful for lunch at work. I might make these again and freeze them for lunches.

Catching up

Well last week became a lot busier than expected. I was not home much in the evenings so cooking at home did not happen.
I already have my plan for next week. I have attached the two tools I use to help me plan my weekly meals. The first is the weather for the week. If it is going to be cold then I plan for lots of soups. If it is going to be warm then I definitely don't want to plan cold weather comfort foods. The second tool is the notes section of my phone or iPad. I keep it in there all week so I can see what is planned. It also helps as I am planning my shopping list.
I'm looking forward to getting back on track this week.

Last week

So last week got a little off plan. I made chili Monday night and it was great! Tuesday I tried making stew in my crockpot. It was a fail! I have no idea why it didn't turn out.i have made it before and it was great! The rest of the week was busy and I ate out.
Friday was my favorite meal out. I had dinner with two friends at Zio's. Then we went to see Safe Haven. I really liked the movie. It is based on Nicholas Sparks's book. They did a great job keeping it similar to the book. I would definitely recommend it.
Today I am going to Stillwater for Bedlam Basketball. I love the games in Gallagher Iba! I heard it is a sold out game so it should be very loud and fun! Then tonight my family is getting together to celebrate my brother's new job. I plan on getting back on track with eating more at home tomorrow :)

Weekly plan

As I have said before I love chili, soup, and stew. Since this week looks cold and possibly snowy (keeping my fingers crossed for a snow day) I will be making lots of warm meals.
Sunday- Grilled Cheese
Monday- Crockpot Stew
Tuesday- Chili
Wednesday- leftovers
Thursday- chicken noodle soup
Friday- leftovers

Crockpot Roast

I made one of my favorite things today...roast, potatoes, & carrots! I don't make it often because it is really hard to cut down for just me. So I asked my brother and his fiancé if they wanted to have dinner together this week. The roast turned out great! I am a little sad they liked it so much because there aren't very many leftovers for me ;)
Here's the recipe:
Place the roast in the crockpot. Add a packet of brown gravy mix, a packet of ranch mix, and a packet of Italian dressing mix. Then add about a cup of water. Finally add the potatoes and carrots. Let cook on low for at least 7 hours. Mine cooked for 10 hours and it was still great!

I can't wait for the next time I can make it!

Huge Fail!

Tonight's dinner was a big fail! I tried spicy sausage pasta. It was not good at all! So far for my Pinterest week I have been successful with 1 out of 2 meals!

Sunday Cooking

Sunday night I made new recipe from Pinterest. It was a success and I will make it again. I was most excited about using my new iPad from work as my recipe book.

Rotel Chicken Skillet- As I frequently do I changed the recipe to what I like. I also reduced the ingredients so that I don't have a lot of leftovers.


I cooked one chicken breast and then cut up the chicken breast into bite size pieces. The chicken breast then goes back into the skillet and I added the corn tortillas (5) that were also cut into bite size pieces. The cooked for about 5 minutes. Stir frequently.

Then add a can of rotel and a can of enchilada sauce and 1/2 cup of cheese. Next time I would drain some of the liquid from the rotel. It was a little watery, but overall fine.

I also cooked rice in the microwave. This is some of my favorite rice and it is soooo easy! You just put the bag in the microwave for 60 seconds.

Here is the final product. It was very good and I can't wait to have it for leftovers this week!

Scripture 3

Here is the verse I am doing for the beginning of February, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

Pinterest week

This week I am going to cook recipes I have pinned on Pinterest. I have all these great things pinned but have only tried a few things. I will definitely be branching out this week so it should be interesting!
Sunday- Rotel Chicken Skillet (new recipe)
Monday- roast, potatoes, and carrots. I have made this before and it is amazing! However it is really hard to cut down for just one person. So I will be taking to my brother's for dinner with him and his fiancé.
Tuesday- spicy sausage pasta (new recipe)
Wednesday- leftovers
Thursday- garlic pesto Chicken with tomato penne (new recipe)
Friday- leftovers
Stay tuned to see how all these new recipes turn out. :)

Tuesday-Thursday

Tuesday- nachos. Super easy and quick! Cook taco meat. While the meat is cooking I preheated the oven to 350. Then put refrained beans on the chips. Once the meat once done I spread the meat over the chips and the sprinkled with cheese. I put it in the oven for about five minutes. Like I said it is very easy and quick. I can also make this easily for just me and not have a lot of leftovers.
Wednesday- I had dinner out with my parents.
Thursday- I went to bunko and dinner at my church. It was so fun and I hope they do it again! There was a great turnout over 150 women.

I will have my plan up for next week soon.

Sloppy Joes

I survived my first day back after being out for an entire week with the flu. It was a long day! I was very tempted to run a pick something up for dinner but I already had my groceries bought and I didn't want to waste them. So tonight I had sloppy joes. It's a super easy and fast dinner.
1/2 lb of ground beef
Sloppy joe seasoning
1/2 can of tomato paste
1/4 cup of water
Cook the meat until no longer pink then add the other ingredients and cook for about 10 minutes.
I also had green beans and steak fries.
It was a good dinner and I'm glad I made it instead of getting fast food.

Enchilada Casserole

My mom use to make this all the time and I love it!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Saute 1 chicken breast. I added some mexican seasoning to my chicken as it was cooking. I got this seasoning at Affair of the Heart. It is for making salsa but I also use it often when I cook mexican food. By the way it makes the best salsa and it is incredibly easy!

 As the chicken is cooking I mix a can of cream of chicken soup, a can of green enchilada sauce, and about 3 tablespoons of rotel together. Put it on the stove to warm and continue mixing together. Once the chicken is done cut it into bite size pieces and add to the mixture. Finally, I cut corn tortillas into fourths. I add a layer of the corn tortillas on the bottom of a casserole dish. Then pour the mixture onto of the tortillas. Next sprinkle a little cheese. I continue the layering steps until all the mixture is gone. I add one last layer of tortillas and cheese.

 Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes. Then uncover and cook for another 10 minutes. Pull out of the oven and cover with foil, let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Finally serve with chips. Sorry this isn't the best picture since everything including the plate is around the same color.
The best part of this meal is it is even better as leftovers.

Getting back into routine...

I am slowly getting back into the swing of things after being down with the flu for the week. Here is my meal plan for this week:
Saturday- Sloppy Joe's. As I was watching hours of tv when I was down with the flu I saw a commercial for sloppy joes and have been craving them ever since.
Sunday- Chicken enchilada casserole.
Monday- beef nachos
Tuesday- leftovers. The bible study I am attending this semester starts Tuesday night so leftovers will be the easiest.
Wednesday- leftovers.
Thursday- Taco and Bunko night at church.
Friday- baked potato and salad

MIA

Sorry I have been MIA this week. There has been no weekly plan due to my meals consisting if soup, Gatorade, and slushes from sonic. Unfortunately I have the flu. Hopefully, I'll be back to my normal self next week!

Catching up

I ended up not completely following my plan for this week. Just like with my lesson plans at school everything is flexible.
Tuesday afternoon a friend asked if I wanted to meet for dinner. I absolutely love spending time with friends and visiting so I just couldn't say no :) I had a great time!
Wednesday I had leftovers as planned. Thursday I went out with some friends from work. We try to get together once a month. We always have a wonderful time! I look forward to those afternoons/evenings!
Last week our school started a biggest losers contest. As of our first weigh in I am in second place with 2% lost. I am really excited and look forward to moving to first place :)
Later this weekend I will update with my meal plan for next week.

Scripture 2

As I stated earlier I am doing Beth Moore's challenge of memorizing two verses a month for this year.
My verse from January 1st is, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:18-19 This has been a great verse for the beginning of the year as I try to focus on what God has for me this year and not dwell on anything I didn't like from last year.
Here is my new verse for January 15th, "God can do anything, you know - far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply & gently within us." Ephesians 3:20 MSG
I don't refer to the Message often however there are a few verses that just make it clearer from there and this is one of them.

Sunday & Monday Dinner

Sunday was such a cold dreary day. I spent most of the day trying to finish a great book. I was wishing that it would snow outside so we could have snow day or two. It was a perfect day for chili. I let it cook for a while so it was even better.
Chili Recipe
1/2 lb of hamburger meat
2 cans of tomato sauce
1 can of chili beans
1/2 can of diced tomatoes
1 package of chili seasoning

Monday night I made taco salad. Super easy and yummy. As I was chopping the tomatoes and onions I thought I would share another favorite kitchen tool. My new cutting boards:

They came in 4 different colors. I use the red for meat, blue for chicken, green and yellow for fruit and veggies. In the picture I am showing you the bottom it has grippers so it won't slip around on the counter. I love that feature!

So here is how I do my taco salad. I cook the hamburger meat and add taco seasoning. Put the lettuce, meat, tomatoes, onions, beans, cheese, crushed chips, and dressing all together.
Ingredients:
1/2lb hamburger meat
1 roma tomato diced
1 green onion diced
cheese
baked nacho cheese chips
lite french dressing

It was definitely a success in the amount for one! I have just enough for one possibly two more meals.

Weekly Plan

Here is my plan for this week:
Sunday- Chili
Monday- Taco Salad
Tuesday- Potato Soup in the crockpot (new recipe)
Wednesday- Leftovers
Thursday- Dinner out with friends
Friday- Leftovers

Lasagna & Friday Night Changes

Last week I said I wanted to try one new recipe a week in my dutch oven. So as I was looking online for recipes I found a few for lasagna. I decided to try it. Again, I didn't like everything in the recipes so I created my own recipe. I made this for dinner Thursday night.

Lasagna noodles
1/2 lb ground beef
Jar of spaghetti sauce
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning

1. Brown meat in dutch oven.
2. Put cooked meat, sauce, and seasonings in mixing bowl. Combine
3. Layer noodles, meat sauce, and cheese
4. Cook in 425 degree oven for 30 minutes

It turned out good. The only thing I would do differently is add a little water. It dried out a little more than I like.

I made a salad and some garlic bread. It was a great dinner.

I planned a dinner for tonight but my plans were changed for the better. I had a wonderful evening with friends. We ate at panera and had a great time visiting and laughing. You know you have had a good time when your stomach hurts from laughing so much! Thanks for H and A for a fun evening!

Lemon Chicken & Rice

Tonight's dinner has been one of my favorites since I started doing this blog. I saw a recipe on pinterest for lemon chicken and rice. The picture looked great so I wrote down the ingredients and added them to my grocery list. I finally looked at the directions for cooking it and noticed they said to cook it in a crockpot. Well it was 5:15 so definitely too late for that. So I decided to just wing it and create my own recipe for it. Here it goes:

1 chicken breast
1 box of uncle ben's long grain and wild rice
a few carrot sticks chopped
a 1/4 of an onion chopped
1/2 a can of chicken broth
1 lemon

Cook the rice according to the box
Cook the chicken. I cut it into chunks before I started cooking it.
Squeeze all the juice from the lemon into half of the can of chicken broth.
About half way through the chicken being cooked add the chicken broth, lemon juice, onions, and carrots.
Finish the rice and chicken. Then add the chicken, onions, carrots, and all leftover broth into the rice. Mix together.

I cooked some greenbeans to eat as well. I don't like very many vegetables so I try to get them in where I can.

I think tonight's was a success. It was delicious and I have very little leftovers.

Monday Night Dinner - Taco Soup

I am a night behind but yesterday was so hard going back after two weeks off. I don't remember any other time going back after break being this difficult!  I am so thankful I had dinner ready in the crockpot. If I didn't have that ready I would have been very tempted to grab something on my way home.
Anyways, here is the world's easiest taco soup recipe and it is very yummy!! I make mine in the crockpot but you could make it over the stove.
1 and half cans of rotel
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of corn
1/2 lb of hamburger meat
2 tbs of taco seasoning
**It calls for black beans but I don't like black beans. However you can add them if you like them.
As I said yesterday I cooked the meat the night before. Monday morning I threw everything into the crockpot and turned it on low. Then it was ready when I got home from work.
Enjoy! :)

   

Back to Routine

Well after being off for two weeks, it is time to go back to work. :( I'm excited to see my students but it is always hard getting back into a normal routine. No more staying up late, sleeping in late, and taking long afternoon naps.
I always try to plan out my week and get everything ready but as the weeks got closer to Christmas break the less I planned. I am going to try to stick with the following to make my days easier, especially the mornings:

1. Planning out my dinners for the week. Done
2. Figuring out what I will wear for the week and hanging it on my bathroom door. This is a huge help in the morning. It allows me extra time to sleep :) Done
3.  Getting my lunch packed every night before I go to bed. Again more time saved in the morning. Done

Tomorrow night I plan on having a crockpot meal that will need to be put together in the morning. Therefore, I prepped as much as I could tonight. I cooked the meat and put it in the fridge. I set out all the ingredients that don't need to be in the fridge. All I have to do in the morning is dump it all in.

All the little things I do the night before save me a lot of time in the morning.
Tomorrow night I will share my recipe for crockpot Taco Soup.

Weekly Plan

This week I finally have to go back to work after being off for two weeks for Christmas. It has been a great break but it will be nice to get back into a routine. However, I will welcome any snowday we happen to have ;)
Here is my plan for this week. There are a few things that carried over from last week that I didn't make due to fun improtu dinners popping up during the break.
Sunday-leftovers. This is my shopping day as well.
Monday-Crockpot Taco Soup. I LOVE using my crockpot and try to use it at least once a week.
Tuesday- Lemon Chicken Rice. This is a new recipe. Hopefully it turns out well!
Wednesday- Leftovers. I work with the kids at church on Wednesday so it will always be a leftover night. I am really going to try to stick with having leftovers and not going to a drive-thru.
Thursday- Dutch oven Lasagna. I plan on trying to use my new dutch oven once a week. If anyone has good dutch oven recipes I am open to hear them. As I was googling for ideas all the ideas that I could find are for campfire dinners. That's not exactly what I had in mind...
Friday- Baked Potato & Salad
Saturday- Leftovers

The plan is to eat at home every night this week. However, if something comes up one of those nights it is fine. I always try to plan a meal or two that can be carried into the next week.

I hope everyone has a great first back into a normal routine after the holidays.

Chili

I am enjoying writing on here. It has been great hearing from friends about what they are doing or making after they read it here. I received an adorable video of a friend's little boy trying goulash for the first time. Then I received two emails one from my wonderful mentor and friend and another friend a college friend who is joining on Beth Moore's scripture memory team. I can't wait for us to share our verses with each other.

As planned last night I went to a movie and then dinner with some friends. We had a great time! We ate at Chuy's. If you haven't been you should try it.

Tonight I made chili. This is one of my absolute favorite things to make. Luckily, a few years ago I figured out how to make it for one. I brown 1/2 lb of hamburger meat. Then mix tomato sauce, one can of chili beans, and half a can of diced tomatoes with the cooked hamburger meat. For the seasoning I use McCormick's chili seasoning. Again this is a favorite. I usually have enough left for an extra two meals.

With tomorrow being close to the end of my Christmas break I have another dinner out with a friend planned. Once school starts back I will definitely be eating at home more since my schedule will be back on track.

2 dinner update

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fun safe New Year's Eve! I am not a huge fan of New Year's Eve so mine was fun but very relaxed. I went to a friend's house and we just hung out and tried to watch a movie. A word of wisdom do NOT rent 10 Years, it is not worth the money! We only watched about 15 minutes then turned it off.
I cannot believe it is 2013! I remember being a sophomore in high school and it celebrating the year 2000. I look forward to what this year will bring! No resolutions here because I always break them. ;)  I have decided to join Living Proof's Scripture Memory Team http://blog.lproof.org/  and try to memorize 24 verses this year. I think filling my heart and mind with God's word is better than any other resolution out there. Here is the first verse I am going to memorize:

This is a great verse for me as we move into a new year. It is a wonderful reminder to focus on this year and not worry about things I wish I did differently last year.


Now onto last night's dinner and tonight's dinner.
Last night I made a caesar salad. I use the salad kits. Another fast and easy thing to make. I had a late lunch with my brother, Matt and his fiance, Erin. I also knew that I would be having junk food later that night so I kept my dinner simple.

Tonight I just had leftovers. I usually eat through my leftovers quickly while school is in session because I take them for lunch. But since that hasn't been happening I have LOTS of leftovers. Tonight I had leftover tortilla soup.

Tomorrow night's dinner will be out to eat. It is the first time since I started the blog last week that I have had dinner out. I am looking forward to going out with friends!