Oven Chicken Fajitas

Todd loved these, they have a little bit of a kick, but not so bad I couldn't stomach them.

 We will definitely make these again, for Todd, some time! 

SEASONING
1 Tbsp chili powder 
½ Tbsp paprika 
½ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp garlic powder 
¼ tsp cumin
⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt 
1 Tbsp corn starch 

FAJITAS
2 small (or 1 lg.) onion
2 medium green bell peppers 
1 medium red bell pepper (I didn't have red bell pepper so I used the peelings from a few large carrots)
1 lb. chicken breast
2 Tbsp vegetable oil 

lime 
tortillas 
sour cream (optional)
bunch cilantro (optional) 

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients for the seasoning in a small bowl and set aside
 
Cut the onion and bell peppers into ¼ to ½ inch wide strips. Place them in a large 9×13 inch casserole dish. Slice the chicken breast into similarly thin strips and add the strips to the casserole dish with the vegetables.
Sprinkle the seasoning over the meat and vegetables. Drizzle the vegetable oil over everything and then mix the ingredients until everything is well coated in oil and seasoning. (this was kind of a pain, when we do this again I might just place everything in either a mixing bowl or a big ziplock bag first)
Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, stirring once or twice. If you like lime squeeze the juice from half of the lime over top of the meat and vegetables after it comes out of the oven.

Almond Cookies

Holy Yum are these good! I LOVE all things almond and these do not disappoint!

Cookies
1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 teaspoons water (I added more water to give them a 'lighter' glaze)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl blend the butter, sugar, and almond extract, you'll know you're doing it right if it smells heavenly. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture 2 Tablespoons at a time to the butter mixture until completely combined. I found this step odd, but I did it anyway.
Roll into small balls and flatten slightly. Cook for 7 minutes (they will not look done) on a lightly greased pan. Cool cookies until they are just warm and place sliced almonds on top of each cookie.
For the glaze: Combine powdered sugar, almond extract, and water. Drizzle a spoonful of glaze on top of the almonds and cookie. ENJOY! So stinken good! I thought about adding a bit of lime juice to the glaze to maybe give it even more of a kick, but we didn't so maybe next time! 

Kashina's Tater Tot Casserole

I don't call it 'Kashina's' because I necessarily love the dish, more because it is a mess of things I threw together when I couldn't find the original recipe three weeks after deciding I was going to make it. Todd really liked it though.

Tater Tots (I didn't measure, just enough to cover the bottom of the dish twice)
1 lbs Ground Beef
1/2 C Onion, diced
1 Can Corn
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup (I am sure you could use any cream soup)
3/4 C Milk

Cheese to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven via instructions for tater tots, mine was 400 degrees. Brown hamburger with onion, drain. Drain corn and add to hamburger, add can of soup then add milk. (I actually just filled the can to 3/4 full). Stir together on low heat until milk is fully incorporated and mixture is warm to hot. Place a layer of tater tots in a 9x9 or 9x13 baking dish (you will have extra meat if you use a 9x9) then place a layer of meat mixture, then top with another layer of tots. Place in oven, uncovered for 22-24 minutes. Take out of oven cover with as much or as little cheese as you like, place it back in until cheese is melted and bubbly. Around 10 minutes. Enjoy. Kind of a fast food approach to a shepherds pie. You could probably add a layer of tender carrots in there to make it more Shepherd pie-ish.

Skor Cake

Nonna Roe's Lasagna

Loaded Potato and BBQ Chicken Casserole

2 lbs boneless chicken breasts cubed (1")
6-8 medium potatoes, cubed 1/2 "

1/3 C olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp black pepper
1/2  Tbsp paprika
2 Tbsp brown sugar
6 Tbsp favorite bbq sauce

Topping:
2 C fiesta blend cheese
1 C crumbled bacon
1 C diced green onion

TRADITIONAL METHOD
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, brown sugar, and bbq sauce. Add the cubed potatoes and stir to coat. Using a slotted spoon take out potatoes and put them in baking dish. Save the rest of the sauce. Bake potatoes for 40-45 minutes stirring often/ 10-15 minutes, until cooked and crispy and browned. While the potatoes are cooking add the cubed chicken to the left over sauce mixture and coat thoroughly, in a seperate bowl mix cheese bacon and green onion. Once the potatoes are cooked reduced heat to 400, add a chicken layer and then spread the cheese, bacon and green onion mixture over the chicken. Cook for 15 minutes until chicken is cooked and cheese is nice and bubbly.

KASHINA's METHOD/ SUGGESTIONS

I found that the heat was too high for the potatoes and the chicken wasn't cooked after 15 minutes.
Cook potatoes at 400, or at the most 450 degrees.
Cook the chicken for 10 minutes before putting on the cheese and bacon mixture, then cook another 10 minutes with the cheese mixture on.

Todd even liked this dish! enjoy!

Grandma Stone's Hot Fudge

Growing up Grandma Stone always had a jar of chocolate fudge on hand. My dad would be uber unimpressed if we got there and there wasn't any chocolate for his ice cream. The recipe is really simple and one of two of hers that I am going to try. I LOVED this recipe and the only thing I changed was the chocolate, I like milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet. Todd wouldn't try it, Corbyn didn't like it (which I thought was odd, my chocoholic little guy didn't like it??), and Kason loved it! So we are about 50/50 at our house.

Ingredients

1 ½ Cups Sugar

2 Cups Heavy Cream

5 Squares of Semi Sweet Bakers Chocolate (I used 5oz of milk chocolate)

pinch of salt

Method

Cook on high until everything is dissolved, then turn heat down to medium and stir while boiling for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.  (Mine didn't thinken up until I took it off the heat). You can either enjoy this warm, or put it in a mason jar and keep it in the fridge. Enjoy!