Mexician Chicken

I don't think this is Mexican at all but that's what we call it at our house, this is a recipe EVERYONE loves here and with 9 people to please that is quite an accomplishment!!! It's not so much a "recipe" as a list of ingredients, remember I am cooking for a large family and you may need to cut your amounts down to work for your family, but nevertheless here it is.

chicken breasts (I use 3 large)
salsa of choice
black beans
cooked brown rice (I use6 servings of instant rice for this recipe)
shredded cheese (we like the cheddar/colby mix)
flower tortillas
sour cream

Ok so cook the chicken in the salsa until fully cooked, shred the chicken with 2 forks and place pack into the skillet with the salsa add the black beans and add a little water. Heat your tortillas, I just place them on the stove burner until the are warmed up. Now put some rice and chicken mixture on your tortilla, top with cheese and sour cream roll up and enjoy!!

Granola Bar Recipe 2

I love granola bars, and two years ago I posted my secret recipe here.

Buuuut that was 2 years and 3 kids ago, I need a easier, BIGGER recipe now, and this one is perfect!! I have made this several times and it is our new favorite! 

A simple recipe with simple ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. 

You AND your kids are going to love it!

1 c. melted butter

2 c. (1 16oz. jar) crunchy, natural peanut butter

1 c. honey

1 c. packed, brown sugar

4 tsp. vanilla

7 c. quick oats

1 c. coconut

1 c. chopped pecans or almonds

1 c. dried cranberries

1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl combine oats, coconut, nuts, and cranberries, set aside. Mix together melted butter, peanut butter, honey, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Poor over oat mixture and stir until everything is well mixed, add chocolate chips. Press into a greased jelly roll pan (12 1/2-inches x 17 1/2-inches x 1-inches).

Bake for 25 mins allow to cool completely before cutting into squares, store in fridge to maintain shape.

 Recipe adapted from morning health bars.

Crock Pot Lasagna & Taco Soup

Lasagna in the crock pot? YES! And it's delicious!! It was a huge hit with my family, I didn't hear one "ewww", "what is this" or my favorite "I don't like this". Not ONE!!

Crock Pot Lasagna

• 1 lb Italian sausage
• 2 jars (each 24 oz.) spaghetti sauce
• 2 cups water
• 1 lb. ricotta cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 16 ruffle-edged lasagna noodles (not no-boil noodles)
• 1 1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Brown the sausage, add spaghetti sauce and water, simmer for about 5 mins.
In another bowl, stir together the ricotta, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Spray inside of crock pot with cooking spray.  Spread a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of the slow-cooker. Cover the sauce with a single layer of uncooked lasagna noodles (about 3), breaking the noodles as needed to fit. Spread about 1/3 cup of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Top with about 2 cups of the sauce, then sprinkle with about 1 cup of the mozzarella and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan. Repeat the layers 3 more times.
I served this with homemade Italian bread and salad.

 Taco Soup

• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1 can Rotel
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 cans mixi-corn (the next time I make it I will use regular corn or 1 of each to cut down on the spiciness)
• 1 envelope or ranch dressing mix
• 1 pkg taco seasoning
• 1 lb ground beef (browned)

Toppings

•  corn chips 
• sour cream
• shredded cheddar cheese

Put everything into the crock pot except ground beef (and toppings) and cook on low for about 4 hours. Do not drain the beans, corn or tomatoes (yes I learned that the hard way).

After the soup has cooked add the ground beef and allow to cook for another 30 mins or so. 

Serve with toppings and enjoy!!

Make Your Own Ground Beef

We buy our meat at a little meat market that's about 45 mins away but we always run out of hamburger meat before anything else so when we do we make our own. This is how we do it.

 

First we buy discount pieces of beef, 

 then we cut it up in chunks and run it through the meat grinder attachment for our KitchenAid mixer.

grinder attachment available for about $50

We use our grinder to make our own sausage and to grind deer meat us as well so if you have a KitchenAid mixer it's worth the investment.

 And there you go! We divide it up in 2 lb packs and freeze it.

Wow it's been a while since I've posted! Life has been to say the least CrAzY!! 

We welcomed Jack Robert to our family April 29th and things haven't slowed down one bit since.

I have been working on getting my life/home/family more organized and have come across some great resources and I will be sharing that with you all soon! But for now enjoy this photo of our sweet little guy.

HomeMade Goodies

So here a few things I have done over the weekend. 

First up are a dozed baby wipes I made. The one's I made for Freddy are still holding up well but I needed more.

I make these with left-over flannel. I also had a remnant of terry cloth from I got from Joann's so made some with terry cloth backs, for extra scrubbing power.

 Here is the baby shower gifts I made, a Boppy Pillow cover, a burp cloth with baby Adin's initials, and a travel wipe case.

I really don't like using the dryer but when I do I needed something to help with static so I made some reusable dryer sheets.

 Here's as far as the star baby blanket got... I hate to admit defeat but this pattern was not only very difficult to follow but there was waaaaaaay too much counting...  

 I love a challenge but this is NOT the time in my life for it!! I needed to make something mindless for baby Jack, something with a calm relaxing rhythm. So I started this simple yet not boring pattern, of course changing it a bit to make it my "own".

 All in all a pretty productive weekend, I think! Thanks for reading!!

Help Wanted

I hate asking for help, especially when I feel like I/we got ourselves in the situation we need help with. But I am at a place where it's time to swallow my pride and ask for some help. I know some people think that us raising a large family has been our own choice and that we shouldn't have all these children if we can't handle them. Well let me clear a few things up, we were called by God to do this job and we our blessed to make this our life, that doesn't mean we can do it alone. Our family almost doubling this year was GOD'S plan for us - not mine!!! We don't have family to count on and I know some people will argue that is also our choice by moving away from and not nearer to our family but come on, they wouldn't be around to help us out anyways! I feel completely alone a lot and have no one to cry upon except God, sometimes I feel like he's not hearing me but I know he is. He has reminded me that His word says, commands us actually to help one another.

Hebrews 6:10
 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

Phil. 2:4
 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others

Luke 6:38 (not just about money)

 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

and of course Matthew 25 

So here I am with 6 children and 5 weeks from delivering another. Normally I have plenty of energy to do what's needed and then some but this pregnancy has been by far the most difficult for me, not only am I older but I have 6 other kids that need me... every single bit of me! I have found myself taking shortcuts with things I always felt were important and have had to let some things go completely. I know there are people out there that I have disappointed and let down and for that I apologize. I am doing the best I can and I fail... A LOT! So I am looking at the things in my life and forcing myself to give up the things I don't have the time or energy for right now. I will not commit to doing things I don't know for 100% sure I will be able to do, and I apologize in advance if I have to say "no" to an order or a request. Most importantly I WILL ASK FOR HELP when I need it and PLEASE if you offer to help someone always follow through with it, you probably don't know how much that person might be depending on you.