I've been busy...

As you can probably tell by the lack of posts. So, today I think I'll spoil you. You're welcome.

A recipe:

Sour Cream Cheese Potatoes

This is my Grandma's recipe. She is an amazing cook, so hers taste 10 times better than mine, and mine are really good!

8 (approx.) Sliced, boiled potatoes
1 c. Butter
½ c. Chopped Onion
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 pt. Sour Cream

1 c. Corn Flakes (or potato chips)
3 T. Melted Butter
1 c. Cheese

Slice potatoes, boil for 15-20 minutes and drain. Meanwhile, melt butter, onions, cream of chicken soup and sour cream. Add to potatoes. Combine melted butter with Corn Flakes. Top potato mixture with grated cheese and Corn Flakes. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

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A Garden Update:

The garden is flourishing. We are so lucky to begin our gardening experience in Pittsburgh. This weather makes gardening easy.
This is our beans. One day they were tiny little sprouts, the next day they were full fledged leafy plants!
We love our garden and yard. It is so rewarding to us. Which sounds totally dorky, but I don't care. There is just something about planting a seed and watching it grow.

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A Project:

More darling little Kidlets! I made these for Brinkley's room. She has one of those cubical shelves (that she and I built together! How cute is that?) and I'm going to hang these little cuties above the shelf. I'll be sure to post pictures when I get that project all done.

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A Cutie:

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And a little Inspiration:

These were our shoes on Sunday after church. What a cute little family of shoes. Dad, mom, baby. I love it.

But if you really want to be inspired, you should check out these photographers:

Green Island Studios
Bloom, Grow, Love
Dripstick
Futurowoman Fotographie

Tortillas!

We had some friends over for dinner today. I thought since we were having company, I would go
all out and make shredded pork tacos on homemade tortillas! Ooooh boy!
I should have been born in Mexico!

Well, the pork is a whole bad story of it's own that I'm not going to tell because I am still getting
over the embarrassment of it (let's just say the very kind and empathetic guests had a similar
story with a 23 pound turkey and leave it at that).

Anyway, the tortillas were GREAT! I got the recipe off my friend
Lisa's 'Finer Things Club' recipe blog.
Lisa is one of those amazing people who can do everything including cook amazing food.
She had us over once when she made these tortillas and I fell in love.
I'd just post the recipe here, but that's copying. So, you'll just have to snag it off of her blog!

They are pretty darn easy too. The hardest part is trying to roll them out in nice circles. Most of mine ended up like rounded pointy squarish things.

Try them, you'll love them. I promise.




ooooh! Look at that bubbly goodness.



Nice and toasty!

And there is the finished product. Complete on a nice styrofoam plate. Classy!
They look good enough to eat, don't they? I could eat the whole plate right now.

And I'd totally eat one, but I'm saving them for fajitas later in the week...

Okay, maybe I'll just have one.

Spinach-Bacon Quiche

My friend Sarah gave me this recipe and man, is it yummy!
Thanks Sarah!

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
6 slices of bacon, chopped
8-10 eggs
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 c. chopped spinach (I use the frozen kind - prechopped!)
2/3 c. grated cheddar cheese
1/2 c. grated mozzarella cheese

2 crusts (recipe for an easy potato crust below. But I usually just buy them because I'm lazy)

Directions:
Saute onion an bacon. Set aside. In large bowl mix eggs, sour cream, milk, salt and pepper. Add onion mixture. Add chopped spinach and cheese. Pour into crust. Bake at 325 degrees (F) for at least 1 hour.

**Optional Crust: grate 1-2 potatoes and spread in greased pie tin. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

These will be the easiest muffins you will ever make in your whole life.
Please don't laugh when you read the ingredients because they really are tasty! I think they taste like fall time.

Ingredients:
1 can pure pumpkin
1 box spice cake mix

Directions:
Mix the pumpkin and cake mix together in a bowl. Mixture will be thick! Do your best to get all the cake mix clumps out.

Spoon into greased muffin tin.

Bake at 400 Degrees for 20 minutes.

You can also use chocolate cake mix. It's pretty good too, I just think the spice and pumpkin flavors match better. If you want an extra tasty treat, put a little cream cheese frosting on top! Yum yum!

Mango Salsa Chicken

Mango Salsa Chicken
This is super quick, easy and soooo yummy!

Directions
Season your chicken breasts with any seasonings you like (I did garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin and dried cilantro)

Cook your chicken until the juices run clear (I cooked mine in our George Forman Grill, but you can pan fry it or bake it too!)

Serve on top of lettuce or spinach leaves and top with Mango Salsa (recipe below).

Mango Salsa Recipe

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and diced (about 1 1/2 cup)
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 Jalapeño chile, minced (include ribs and seeds for a hotter taste if desired)
1 small cucumber, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
1/2 red bell pepper, diced

3 Tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If the salsa ends up being a little too hot or acidic for your taste, you can temper it by adding some diced avocado.

Recipe - Corn and Sweet Potato Soup

Corn & Sweet Potato Soup

If you have been looking for a yummy authentic Mexican tasting soup... Look no further! (Because I know that's all our deepest desire)
I got this recipe from my friend Amorette and it is simply awesome. And healthy too!
Thanks Amorette!

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 small red chile, seeded and finely chopped (I usually use half of 1 serrano chile because they're easier to find. They're also very spicy.)

7 1/2 cups vegetable stock (Chicken broth works great too. I can't remember if I adjust the broth amount or not.)

2 tsp cumin

1 medium sweet potato, diced (I always double the amount of sweet potato to make the soup thicker.)

1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 lb corn kernels (I just use frozen corn.)

salt & black pepper

lime wedges, to serve

1. Heat oil in a heavy pan and fry onion for 5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and chili and fry for an additional 2 minutes.

2. Add 3 cups of the vegetable stock & simmer for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the cumin & diced potato to the stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Season and stir again.

4. Add the pepper, corn, and remaining stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Process half of the soup until smooth and stir into the chunky soup. Season and serve with lime wedges for squeezing over (the lime is a MUST! It makes the soup that much more delectable)

(You can also sprinkle broken-up tortilla chips, chopped avocado and cilantro on top of the soup.)