Chicken Taco Chili

Let me start off by saying this made the entire house smell AMAZING the whole time it was cooking! This is seriously the easiest dish ever to make. I have never shredded chicken before, so I was interested to see how this was going to come out but it came out great. Ok so here is what you need:

Chicken Taco Chili
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
16 oz tomato sauce
28 oz diced tomatoes
Taco seasoning packet
3 boneless chicken breast

Lay the chicken down first into your crock pot. I then put half the pack of taco seasoning directly onto the chicken.

Add all the other ingredients (I cooked the corn on the side because my mom doesn't like corn)

Cook for 10 hours on low (I only cooked it about 8 hours it was completely done)

About 2 hours in I flipped the chicken breasts over and cooked them on that side for 2 hours. At that time I could tell the chicken was just about done and I took 2 forks and shredded it. (if you never shredded chicken before and want to know more leave a comment and I will further explain)

You can add cheese when you serve it. My dad and boyfriend did and they enjoyed it. Also on the side I took tortilla shells cut them in 4's put them on 2 cookie sheets drizzled some oil and salt on top. Pop them in the oven 400* for 5 mins and bam homemade tortilla chips!!

This dish seemed to be a big hit and stuck to your bones. Would be great on a cold night.

Happy cooking
<3 Heather

Cinnamon Roll Cake

This a must make breakfast! I made this this past Sunday for breakfast and it was a hit. The best way to eat it is straight from the oven when its hot. It sounds a little intense but I only post things that are easy to make so no excuses!!

Cinnamon Roll Cake
"cake"
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 Tbsp melted butter
"cinnamon roll"
2 sticks softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon
Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk
1tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350* Greased 9x13 pan

1. Making the "cake". Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs and vanilla. I used my trusty stand up mixer.
2. Once completely mixed slowly add melted butter. What I did was turn the standing mixer on and then spooned in the butter seemed to work perfect. Mix well and pour into your greased 9x13 pan
3. Making the "cinnamon roll". Mix 2 sticks of softened butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon until well combined. I used the same bowl I used for the cake, no need to dirty 2 bowls!
4. Cinnamon concoction is pretty thick so you want to try your hardest to spread it onto the cake in your pan. Then take a butter knife and swirl together the two. So pretty much just make sure the cinnamon is spread all over. It looks like a marble cake basically.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes. It will look undone because of the butter but trust me after 30 mins its completely done.
6. The last 5 minutes this is baking you are going to want to make your glaze. In a small bowl whisk together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.
7. The best part: when the cake comes out and its cooled slightly plate some for everyone and pour that sweet glaze on top and watch it melt.

This was an amazing breakfast and filled everyone up. After we ate I thought if you cut up some apples and put them in there that would taste really good. So next time I will have to try that. If anyone tries putting apples in this let me know how it turns out! Your house will smell AMAZING after baking this.

Happy baking
<3 Heather

Doggy cake

Ok so I know what your thinking, I thought this was about easy recipes to make? Well thats true, but we can't forget about our 4 legged friends! My dog Jack recently turned 5 and I wanted to make him something he could enjoy so I started my search. I came across this website with a recipe that didn't seem to hard to make. Here you go!

Peanut Butter Delight

1 cup white or whole wheat flour 
1 tsp baking soda 
1/4 cup peanut butter 
1/4 cup vegetable oil 
1 cup shredded carrots 
1 tsp vanilla 
1/3 cup honey 
1 egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)

Mix together flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

 Pour into a ring mold sprayed with a nonstick spray for 40 minutes. (I made them into cupcakes instead of a big cake because I only have a Yorkie-Poo so he is just a little guy)

Frost this cake with low fat cottage cheese and decorate with carrot pieces. Store in refrigerator. 

Also on this same website I found a Cinnamon dog safe frosting that I put on the cupcakes instead of the cottage cheese and carrot pieces. Heres that recipe:

Cinnamon Frosting:

Combine the following ingredients and blend thoroughly: 
12 ounces nonfat cream cheese (room temperature) 
3 tsp cinnamon 
1 tsp vanilla 
1 tsp honey

He really seemed to like his cupcakes. Because he's a smaller dog I broke it up into pieces in a bowl and let him chow down. I recommend not using a lot of frosting because he had a hard time swallowing all that frosting cause its pretty thick. Plus with cupcakes you can share with doggy friends and your dog can celebrate their birthday longer!

Your probably wondering what does it taste like. You know we had to try it! My boyfriend had a tiny piece of the cupcake and said it tasted like bland carrot cake and I had a taste of the frosting that really just tasted like nothing. But as long as the dog is happy I am happy.

Happy baking

<3 Heather

Lactose Free Milkshake

Ok, so to most everyone this is very easy but I wanted to share anyways. Pregnancy has left me lactose intolerant and I HATE it! I miss everything dairy especially ice cream and milkshakes. So today I went to the store and got what I needed to make a lactose free milkshake.

For my fellow lactose intolerant readers, I don't know if you already know this but Bryers makes the best lactose free ice cream in vanilla. To me it tastes exactly like normal ice cream you can't even tell the difference. So here is what I did:

Couple scoops of Bryers lactose free vanilla ice cream
about a cup of Lactaid milk (I personally think this tastes better then Silk but use what you like best)
5-7 frozen strawberries

Put it in the blender and there you go!!

Like I said, I know its nothing special but it's been about 5 months since I have been able to enjoy dairy and this hit the spot big time. Of course you can use any type of frozen fruit that you prefer. I enjoy the frozen better then fresh for two reasons. A: because where I live if I bought fresh strawberries by the time I got them home they would be rotten and B: it didn't make the milkshake chunky or soupy it was the perfect consistency.

<3 Heather