Fail.

So, I fail as a "wanna-be-chef"

I'm sorry.

Not that anyone really ever reads this :)

But, I have started school, and alas, have not been able to update.

Or cook.

Hopefully I'll have time soon!

Chicken Tostadas

As I was walking through the grocery store, I came across some tostada shells, and I thought, man, I haven't had those in so long! I love me some tostadas. So, I decided to buy them, and make some yummy chicken tostadas. I homemade the refried beans as well, because I like black beans, and it was actually really easy! Here are the recipes for both! ENJOY!

Chicken Tostadas

Ingredients for chicken:

6-8 chicken breasts (frozen works great!)

1 T of chili powder

a squeeze of lemon juice

1 can green enchilada sauce

Other Ingredients for tostadas (use anything you want!):

Tostada shells (just flat corn tortilla chips is what they are)

Refried beans (recipe below)

cheese

guacamole

sour cream

onions

tomatoes

olives

lettuce

what to do:

1. Put it all into a crockpot, and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Take chicken out of liquid and shred. Put shredded chicken back into the crockpot and cook another hour. There's your chicken!

2. Spread beans on the shell, put some chicken on top, then top with whatever other toppings you feel like it! SO GOOD!

Refried Beans

Ingredients:

One can of black beans, rinsed and drained

about a half cup of water

2 large cloves of garlic

2 T olive oil

1 teaspoon paprika

1 T chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

what to do:

1. Put the black beans, water, garlic, paprika, and chili powder into a small pot on the stove over medium heat.

2. Let it get to a boil, cover and cook about 7-8 minutes

3. Blend or mash it with one of those hand mixers (pictured above) if you don't have one, then mash with a fork!

4. Salt and pepper as much as you want.

5. Put on your tostada!

tips to wanna-be-chefs:

I had never made homemade refried beans before and I just made that recipe up! They turned out wonderful, but you can do whatever seasonings you have available! :)

"Healthy" Lemon Cake!

This was really good! It was SUPER moist, and I substituted a whole bunch of stuff to make it healthier. Lemony, sweet, moist, and delicious. Enjoy!

Healthy Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 (4 serving) box lemon pudding mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 cup applesauce

1 cup water

for glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

juice from one lemon

what to do:

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 cake pan.

2. In a big bowl,throw in cake mix, lemon pudding, oil, eggs, applesauce and water. Blend until no chunks are left. It will be pretty runny, you will be able to pour it out of the bowl.

3. Pour batter into cake pan. Cook for 35 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

4. While it is in the oven make the glaze! Combine the powdered sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice, adding a little juice at a time, until the desired consistency is reached.

4. While still hot, poke holes into the cake with a toothpick. Then pour glaze all over the cake and let cool.

5. Serve and enjoy!

tips to wanna-be-chefs: If you don't want to make this healthier version, the real ingredients are 4 eggs and 1 cup of oil, no applesauce. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream! DELISH!

Party Queso Dip

We went to a party at Caroline and Jordan's house on Friday and I told caroline I would bring some kind of chips and dip. So, I decided to whip up some chili con queso seeing as I'm from TX and it's DELICIOUS!!!!

Party Queso Dip

Ingredients:

1 block of velveeta cheese (it may be a gross processed cheese, but it makes the BEST queso)

1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies; 10 oz)

2 small cans of diced green chilis (8 oz total)

1 pound breakfast sausage (JIMMY DEAN! I used mild, but you can use hot if you like heat)

1 yellow onion

what-to-do:

1. Cut the velveeta cheese into 1-inch blocks and throw into a crockpot

2. Dice the onion, and throw into a skillet along with the sausage and cook until sausage is brown.

3. Throw the cooked onion and sausage into the crockpot along with the cheese.

4. Throw the tomatoes and chilies into the crockpot (juice and all!)

5. Let cook about an hour, but make sure you stir it every 10 or so minutes.

Take to a party in the crockpot to keep it hot! YUM!

ENJOY!

15 minute Fettucini Alfredo

This is just easy and delicious. It is for a special occasion though. Beware of the fat it contains!

Fettucini Alfredo

Ingredients:

1 cube or stick of butter

2 cloves garlic

1 pound fettucini noodles

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 cups parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

what to do:

1. Cook fettucini noodles according to package directions. It's usually 12-15 minutes.

2. In a saucepan put the garlic in and cook on medium about 2 minutes. Add butter and cream, turn to medium-low and stir. Once that is bubbling, add parmesan cheese and mix. Add salt and pepper for taste. If your sauce is thick (mine was a little bit) add about 1/3 cup of the boiling pasta water.

3. Put the cheese sauce in a bowl, and add the fresh hot steamy noodles right after you drain them. Mix around. Add parmesan cheese on top and enjoy!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This was delicious. I was in the mood for potato soup today, and luckily for me we have TONS of potatoes! So, I went to my kitchen and started cooking.

YUM. Perfect for the cold weather!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

Potatoes (diced and peeled if you want. Also, I just eyed how many to use, I think it was about 4 potatoes.

1 yellow onion diced

3 T butter

3 T flour

2 cloves minced garlic

1.5 cup diced ham

2 cups chicken broth

4 cups milk

1 T ground mustard powder

salt and pepper to taste (I used a lot!)

1/4 cup ranch

3/4 cup sour cream

1 cup cheese

What to do:

1. Cook your potatoes. (Dice them first, then throw into boiling water with a lot of salt and cook about 10 minutes. Until fork tender, but not too soft!) Drain

2. In the same pot, put diced onions, garlic, and butter over medium heat and cook until onions are see through and soft.

3. Add the flour, and stir until its a thick bubbly mess :). Then, add the milk, chicken broth, and potatoes. As that is slowly coming to a boil, make sure you keep stirring. Add the ground mustard.

4. Add the cheese (make sure you slowly add it and stir the whole time, or the cheese won't melt into the soup.) Then add the ham, ranch and sour cream. Let come to a low simmer, and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until it has thickened up. Add lots of salt and pepper for taste! (I probably use too much! lol. but, I love salt and pepper)

5. Serve in a bowl and add some sour cream and cheese on top! Enjoy!

Tips to Wanna-be-chefs: If you want to use bacon instead of ham definitely do it! All you would do is cook it before the onions, and add the onions once the bacon is almost cooked! I used ham to make it healthier!

Also, I used fat free sour cream, and ranch, low fat cheese, and one percent milk so it wasn't too fatty!

Easy Crock Pot Chicken Taco Soup

This soup was so good! Amazing flavor, variety, and texture. I don't think it was too unhealthy either! No creamy things were added :)

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Soup

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, chopped (notice I always chop my onions, it's the only way I eat them!)

2 cloves garlic

1 can chili beans

1 can black beans

1 can corn (no salt added)

6 or so pieces of chicken (mine were tenderloins)

1 can tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes (petite cut)

1 small can green chilies

1 cup of chicken broth

about half of a taco seasoning packet (Just for thickening up the soup at the end)

What to do:

1. Turn the crockpot on, and put in onion, garlic,tomato sauce chili and black beans, corn, tomatoes, and chilies.

2. Add chicken and make sure its covered. Then add chicken broth and stir until well blended.

3. Cook. (On high cook about three hours, on low cook about 5)

4. Take chicken out and shred it with two forks, put chicken back in, stir in taco seasoning, and cook another hour.

5. Serve and enjoy!

Note: We topped ours with a little bit of tortilla chips. You could also top with sour cream or cheese!