My 3 Favorite Dinner Recipes

It all starts with this Cafe Rio Chicken recipe:

5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (to have enough chicken for these 3 meals I use 6 chicken breasts), thawed
8 oz Italian Salad Dressing
1 TBSP Cumin
1 TBSP Chili Powder
3 cloves minced garlic

Mix the dressing and spices. Place half of the chicken in the crockpot, pour half of the dressing mixture over it, then place the rest of the chicken topped with the rest of the dressing mixture. Cook on low for 4 hours. Use forks to shred the chicken and continue cooking for 1 more hour.

Meal number 1:
For the first meal we make Cafe Rio burritos. Take a tortilla, add in some sour cream, salsa, rice, beans if you want, and chicken. Drizzle with the Creamy Lime Cilantro Ranch dressing. Yum!

Creamy Lime Cilantro Dressing:
1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
1C mayo
1/2 C milk
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa
hot sauce optional

Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender. Juice the lime in there too, you should get about 2T juice. Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend. Sample it and add hot sauce to taste if desired. Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken.

Meal number 2:
Chipotle Chicken Pizza - this is my all time favorite pizza they have at Califonia Pizza kitchen - I figured out how to make it at home. I LOVE it!

Make your favorite pizza crust. I have a really easy one - that only takes 2o minutes from start to ready-to-put-in-the-oven

Pizza Dough recipe:
1 TBSP yeast
1 cup warm water
1 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP oil
2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
Mix together yeast, water, sugar, oil, and salt. Mix in flour to make dough easy to handle (may need to add a bit more than 2 1/2 cups). Knead for 5 minutes (I do it in my Kitchen-aid). Let sit for 10 minutes. Roll out dough (or just press it in like I do) and place on a greased pizza pan sprinkled with cornmeal. Top with desired toppings.

Chipotle Chicken pizza topping:
2 TBSP EVOO
1/2 cup white or red onion, finely diced
2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped (3 will make it pretty spicy) (they come in a can)
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup drained black beans
2 cups Cafe Rio chicken
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Heat EVOO in skillet over medium heat. Add onion, chipotle peppers, corn, and beans. Cook for 5 minutes, until softened. Stir in Cafe Rio chicken and cilantro until heated through.

Pour mixture on top of crust. Top with desired cheese (mozzerella, pepper jack, etc).

Bake on lower rack at 450 degrees for 15 minutes or until bottom and sides of crust are getting brown.

Slice pizza and serve with the Creamy Cilantro Lime dressing as a dipping sauce. Or just drizzle the dressing over the pizza. I prefer the dipping method b/c you get some on each bite. Yum!

Meal number 3:
Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
(from Our Best Bites)
3 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup green salsa (you should have leftovers from making the dressing)
1 TBSP fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t garlic
3 TBSP chopped cilantro
2 TBSP sliced green onions
2 cups shredded cooked chicken (Cafe Rio Chicken)
1 cup grated cheese
flour tortillas (Our Best Bites recipe calls for corn tortillas - but I just use flour)

Heat oven to 425. Lightly coat baking sheet with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

Add about 1/3 cup (more or less depending on how thick you want them) mixture to the center of the tortilla. Wrap up tightly. Place on greased baking sheet, seam side down, and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray tops lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle some salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends starts to get golden brown.

Dip them in salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or Creamy Lime Cilantro Dressing. Yum!!!!

I typcially make the first recipe at the beginning of the week and then do the other 2 every two days to space out the similar flavors of the meals. Really though - I could eat Mexican food everyday of the week. I should alternate beef tacos and taco soup in between these chicken taco dishes! I think my girls might gang up on me though!!!

Yummy Dessert Recipes

Peanut Butter-Toffee Cheesecake Brownies
(from Pillsbury - 44th Pillsbury Bake-off Contest Finalist Recipe)

INGREDIENTS
1 box (19.5 oz) Pillsbury® Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix
1/2 cup Crisco® Pure Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup water
2 EGGLAND’S BEST eggs
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz) Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter
1 bag (8 oz) Heath® milk chocolate toffee bits
1 cup Hershey's® milk chocolate baking chips
3 tablespoons whipping cream

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray 13x9-inch pan with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray.
2. In medium bowl, stir brownie mix, oil, water and eggs 50 strokes with spoon. Spread batter in pan; set aside.
3. In large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add milk and peanut butter; beat until smooth. Stir in 1 cup of the toffee bits. Spoon mixture over batter; spread evenly.
4. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until cheesecake layer is set and edges are light golden brown. Cool on cooling rack 30 minutes. Refrigerate 40 minutes.
5. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and cream uncovered on High 40 to 60 seconds or until chips are melted; stir until smooth. Spread over cheesecake layer. Sprinkle with remaining toffee bits. Cool completely, about 1 hour. For brownies, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.

Store covered in refrigerator.
(I used a Betty Crocker brownie mix and just made it according to the package directions - it worked just fine)

Chocolate Eclair Squares
2 pkg. (3.4 oz each) Jell-O vanilla instant pudding
2 cups cold milk
1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed
64 Nilla Wafers (I had to use more than 64)
2 squares Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Beat pudding mixes and milk in large bowl with whisk for 2 min. Stir in Cool Whip.

Arrange 16 wafers on bottom of 8 inch square dish; cover with 1/3 of pudding mixture. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining wafers. Refridgerate 4 hours.

Microwave chocolate in microwavable bowl on High 1 minute or until melted when stirred. Drizzle over dessert.

I wasn't a huge fan of the drizzled chocolate, next time I will make this frosting instead:

Eclair Frosting:
1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
3 TBSP margerine
3 TBSP milk
2 TBSP light karo syrup
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Place the first 4 ingredients in a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup and cook on low for about 3-4 minutes, until the chocolate chips are soft. Then stir in powdered sugar until smooth. Once it has cooled down a little spread on top of wafers.

Spring Break - Loved it!

I always look forward to breaks from school. Not just from preschool, but days my girls have off as well. The older girls only got 2 days off, but Alli and I had the whole week off. It was nice and relaxing, but also productive and fun.


During the Priesthood Session of Conference, my sister Stephanie and I have a baking day. We spend the month prior to conference finding recipes and deciding which ones to try. This year our baking day fell on the day before Easter, so Steph and I decided to make all the desserts for the Easter party at my parents. Therefore we made a TON of recipes. Much more than we normally would. This year was a tad different b/c of the Healthy Living Challenge I'm participating in. For the last month I haven't been able to have any desserts/candy/sweets etc. We were given one free day - so we could all enjoy Easter, but that meant no finger licking, no spatula licking, and no fingers in the bowl for me on baking day. Plus no trying of the desserts that were eaten right after they came out of the oven. But I did enjoy trying the desserts the next day....

Steph adding some chocolate to her strawberry cheesecake dessert:

All the things we made:

layered strawberry cheesecake, Eclair squares, Chocolate truffles, Molten lava cookies

chocolate cake, peanut butter-toffee cheesecake brownies, Baby Ruth bars

My favorites were the pb-toffee cheesecake brownies, the Eclair squares, and the truffles - though the truffles were very rich. BUT I didn't try the strawberry or molten lava cookies...so maybe those would have been the best!

Monday we met up with friends at the Fun Center. Here are 6 of the kids on the Frog Hopper. Click on it to see all their fun expressions!

Tuesday we went to the Science Center. Friends were there as well, but we only saw them in passing a few times. We had never been there before, so it was fun to check it out. Our two favorite exhibits were

1) The cool mirror

and 2) the butterfly garden

Konrad had a new friend for a little bit...Samantha put together this ant puzzle

The next day the big girls had to go back to school...Allison and I spent the next few days cleaning the house and running errands. I remembered that it is a good thing I work 1/2 a day everyday - I would spend too much money otherwise! And it's a good thing we have preschool in the afternoons b/c Alli would watch Barbie's 3 Musketeers and/or High School Musical waaaayyy too much.

I took this picture of Alli one day - she reminds me of a cat. She always finds a sunny spot to lay in....

The girls all started swimming lessons this past week as well. So now they are each doing 2 things (Sam in gymnastics, Allison is doing a tap/ballet class, and Kimber is doing a hip hop/jazz class (oh and piano - so I guess she is doing 3 things)) - which I really don't like - but I need them in swimming lessons to get ready for a summer of swimming! We are busier than ever in the afternoons, but that is better than having down time everyday (at least in my book). :) I always have a hard time sticking to the 1 activity at a time per child when we hit the spring....

Yesterday we went on our first family bike ride. We borrowed a friends bike trailer for Allison to sit in and the rest of us rode. We also went with friends - so we had 9 people on bikes and 2 in trailers. All girls, except for the two dads. I should have brought my camera! It was a lot of fun. I've decided we need to buy a trailer for this summer - even if Allison learns to ride I don't know if she could go for as long. So if anyone wants to get rid of their trailer for the summer let me know :) (or if you hear of someone selling one).

Throw in an afternoon at the temple, a date night, a volleyball game (that we won!!!), and an evening of BINGO and you have a fun filled week!

We're all ready for real life again though....bring it on! :)

Easter

Our Easter celebrations started a few days before Easter when my sister Michelle and her girls were in town. Shell, Steph, and I, with all our kids of course, colored eggs.

This is when having a preschool in your house come in handy....little kids table and chairs, paint shirts, and lots of newspapers to protect everything!

Konrad hung out with Kenzie most the time....

Kimber was a tad upset at Konrad and I, so it took some coaxing to get her to come and join us. It was one of those "I'm mad at the world" fits....

My mom's birthday was the day after this, so we decided to take a new picture of all the grand kids. I think this is the best we've ever gotten of all of them:

Kenzie, Kimber, Kenna, Sam

Jack, Jordan, Natalie, and Allison

Easter morning Kimber woke up bright and early (well she came out of her room at 7:00, that's early in our house) and she tip toed around - trying to make enough noise to wake up her sisters without being obvious about it. You know, shutting multiple doors (shutting her door on the way to the bathroom, shutting the bathroom door, shutting her door again, etc), flushing the toilet, etc. We finally got Alli up around 7:45 and then headed downstairs to see what the Easter bunny brought. The girls had fun searching for eggs and their baskets.

Here they are with their baskets and some of the eggs:

We watched the first session of conference and then headed over to the Crabtree's for brunch. We had the best strawberry stuffed french toast EVER! I am still wanting more! We watched the second session with them.

After General Conference we headed over to my parents for the annual Easter Party.

Here is most of the group waiting to head out for the anticipated money-filled egg hunt. My dad is explaining the rules....

Samantha looking as cute as ever....

Allison found an egg

Kimber and Sam

The Egg Roll. My cousin Julie introduced us to a new game. The Egg Roll. You roll two hard boiled eggs at each other and only one of them will crack. The winning egg (the one that didn't crack) moves on to the next round. Ending with on champion egg.

Jack and Allison getting ready to compete:

Grandpa Clay and Samantha:

The winner with her egg - Go Steph!

A trip to Grandpa's wouldn't be complete without a wrestling match, horsey rides, hide and seek, and a screaming game of tag...

I love holidays!