Cafe Rio Chicken

I found this yummy recipe here.

Ingredients:
2 lbs. chicken breasts
4 oz. Zesty Italian dressing
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 packet of ranch dressing mixed with 1/2 cup of water
1/2 Tablespoon of chili powder
1/2 Tablespoon ground cumin

Place ALL ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.
Shred chicken with a fork and serve. (w/ salads, sandwiches, burritos, tacos, etc.)

FREEZES WELL!

Cheeseburger Pockets

Tonight was the first time that I tried these cheeseburger pockets and they were a hit! My boys used the words "Awesome"!

Ingredients:

                                           1/2 pound ground beef

                                           1 Tablespoon chopped onion

                                           1/2 teaspoon salt

                                           1/8 teaspoon pepper

                                           1 tube (12 oz) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

                                           5 slices American cheese

Directions:

1.  In a large skillet, cook the beef, onion, salt and pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer    pink; drain and cool.

2.  Place two biscuits overlapping on a floured surface; roll out into a 5-in. oval. Place 3 tablespoons meat mixture on one side. Fold a cheese slice to fit over meat mixture. Fold dough over filling; press edges with a fork to seal. Repeat with remaining biscuits, meat mixture and cheese.

3. Place on a greased baking sheet. Prick tops with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 5 servings.

Pricking the tips of the pockets help the steam escape during baking. If you don't do this, the pockets with puff up and may break open.

Addiction

Remember my post the other day about coffee and flavored creamer. Well I was kidding! Today you should have seen the look on the ladies face at the grocery store when all I bought were these 8-32 oz. bottlers of flavored creamer!

Today I was so proud of myself! Someone suggested to me that I include photos with my posts. So, today I decided to photograph while I made our dinner. I was making Taco Soup for dinner. Photographed all the steps and then sat done to blog about it only to find that I already posted the wonderful Taco Soup recipe! So, instead of posting a new one I just updated the one I had with some fun photos. Feel free to go check it out here. While eating dinner my little guy (who on this blog I will refer to as Trooper) proudly stated "Mom this is AWESOME!"

Learned a valuable lesson today. One I already knew, but was reminded of oh how true it is. I keep a Day Planner for a reason... so that I don't forget anything. Keeping track of 5 people's busy schedule is a job and if I don't write things down well I forget. My middle son (who on this blog I will refer to as Storm) had a dentist appointment. It was a last minute appointment scheduled and I was reminded of it yesterday afternoon, however I did not write it down in my Day Planner. So, at 5 minutes past the scheduled appointment time I got a phone call asking me where I was. Shoot! Oh well, guess it only goes to show that I too am human.

Flavored Creamers

Coffee.

Flavored creamer.

I need my coffee in the morning. Keeping up after 3 boys, making sure everyone is where then need to be when they need to be means that my morning needs to start off right. For that to happen I need to have my day start with coffee. Not just any coffee either. I need good coffee. Some may call me a coffee snob, but hey you do what you have to do and for me that is a good cup of coffee with some yummy flavored creamer.

I have my favorites. Peppermint Mocha, Vanilla Carmel, and Pumpkin Spice. My refrigerator ALWAYS has at least 2 of the 3 previously listed creamers. I go through creamers like some may go through milk, so you can imagine my excitement when today at the grocery store I found this...

BIG bottles of Peppermint Mocha! I was overjoyed, delighted, ecstatic! Its the little things in life I guess. :)

Morning Routine

I decided this year that I needed to come up with some sort of organization for our morning routine on school days to help make things run perfect a little less chaotic. I am a night person and not at all a morning person. I enjoying sleeping till the last possible minute in the morning. My coffee pot is set the night before, so that it is waiting on me when I wake up and not me waiting on the coffee pot.

My kids are starting to be like their mother and father, they too like their sleep. I decided this year since we were going to have two in school that I needed to come up with some things to help keep us organized, so this is one thing that I came up with...

I went to Target and purchased two of these 6-shelf closet organizers, one for each boy in school. I then labeled them. The top one is for the current sport, which happens to be soccer at moment.

I printed the labels out on my computer and then laminated them. On a side note-LOVE my laminator and highly recommend getting one. Found mine at amazon.com on sale. Since I used this clips I can easily change my labels. So, when basketball starts in December I will change my soccer label to basketball.

I then labeled the remaining 5 shelves with the days of the week...

In the soccer shelf I have the boys keep their soccer shorts, jerseys, soccer socks, shin guards, and under-armor. Then on Sunday evenings before going to bed the boys and I check the weather...will they need shorts or pants. Next we look at their school schedule...which day this week is gym? Have to make sure they wear gym appropriate clothes that day. Then we go through and pick out outfits for the whole week and put them in the right shelf. I am sure that they put in socks, under shirts, underwear...EVERYTHING! 

Then every morning when they wake up they can make their bed, brush their teeth, get dressed, and then come down stairs. I don't have to do a thing. I don't have to tell anyone to go change because they don't match or change because they can't WEAR that to school! 

This is a HUGE help to our more routine. What is helpful to yours?

Buffalo Chicken Tenders

For the blue cheese dip:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
6 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

For the sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon hot sauce (we like Frank's)
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar

For the chicken:
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 egg
1-1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Canola oil cooking spray
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into strips

8 celery stalks, sliced into sticks

1. In a medium bowl, use a fork to stir together the ingredients for the blue cheese dip, mashing the cheese crumbles into small lumps as you work. Refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Make the sauce by melting the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the hot sauce and the vinegar. Set the sauce aside.

3. Heat the oven to 450. Arrange three shallow bowls for dredging the chicken. Put the flour in the first bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and the egg in the second, and stir together the bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in the third. Lightly coat two baking sheets with cooking spray.

4. Coat each chicken strip by dredging it first in the flour and then in the buttermilk mixture. Press each piece into the bread crumbs, then transfer the strips to a baking sheet. Space the pieces on the sheet so that they don't touch. Lightly spray the strips with oil.

5. Bake the strips for 10 minutes. Flip each piece and spray them again. Return the strips to the oven and cook them until they're golden on the outside and no longer pink on the inside, about 10 minutes longer.

6. Brush each baked strip on both sides with the sauce (apply it generously for grown-ups, less so for kids who prefer a milder version). Serve the strips with the blue cheese dip and celery sticks on the side.

I found this recipe in my October issue of Family Fun.