Amazing Recipes!

Here are some amazing recipes that I tried out tonight. I was a little nervous to try 2 new recipes with company, but they did not fail me one bit!

The first one was " Slow- Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup" it was so easy! The soup definitely had a kick, but you can make it as spicy or as mild as you want using the enchilada sauce. (I bought the HOT) - By the way this recipe is from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
• 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups water
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 7 corn tortillas
• vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
3. Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

The second recipe that I tried tonight was "Annies Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips"
Yummmm!!! - The salsa was so much better then I thought it was going to be. The preserve I used was strawberry. If you are looking for something to take to a Super Bowl Party, look no further!!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 kiwis, peeled and diced
• 2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced
• 8 ounces raspberries
• 1 pound strawberries
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor
• 10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
• butter flavored cooking spray
• 2 cups cinnamon sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

Tomorrow morning I'm making "Apple Raisin French Toast Strata", I'll let you know how it turns out!

Update

We have been so busy it seems - last weekend went to San Antonio for our last little get away before Audrey is born. It was a blast! We had a great time on the road and an even better time staying on the riverwalk at The Hotel Contessa.

As soon as we got home we began painting the dining room and entry way in a red. It is taking us a while because of all the coats, but I'm anxious to see the final color. We also picked out a color for the playroom and am hoping to paint that room very soon!

I have been doing a lot of cooking recently and wanted to share a recipe with you. It is an "Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake" - I made it from scratch and it was amazing! -- The only thing I would change is double the icing recipe. Evan and I love a good amount of icing on our cakes and with the recipe it turns out a little thin. -- I brought this to a get together with some friends and it was a big hit!

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup water
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ICING
  
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 pinch salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a saucepan, melt 1 cup of butter. Stir in 1 cup water and 4 tablespoons cocoa powder. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, dissolve the baking soda in 1/2 cup of buttermilk. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the cooled cocoa mixture.
3. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the cocoa buttermilk mixture. Stir until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a to othpick inse rted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Ice the cake with Buttermilk Pecan Icing while it's still warm.
4. For the icing: In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter with 4 tablespoons cocoa. Stir in 1/3 cup buttermilk, and heat until almost boiling. Stir in con fectioners' sugar, vanilla, salt and pecans. Remove from heat. Mix well and pour over warm cake.
   

Last night we stayed in Pearland with some of ou r college friends who are also expecting! On our way there we passed by a Carter's children's store. I had never been to one before and tried to go last night but they were closed. So, today I made a point to find one close by. I didn't want to go to the outlet because I was afraid their selection would not be as good as the storey. I found one about 20 min away from our house and it was amazing! Sometimes I'm not too crazy about Carter's stuff because of all the animals or prints on t heir clothes, but I was really impressed with the store and found some great outfits for Audrey this sum mer. They have their summer shorts and onesies on sale for $5 each! So I picked up a few! They even had a great boys selection. Carter's definitely gets my vote!

Have a wonderful week!

Zion 2009

Evan's church back home in Amarillo is having their kickoff to the new year called Zion. Zion is when they have multiple pastors come in and speak every night for 4 nights straight. When Evan and I were dating I would always go to visit him in Amarillo during Zion and we always got to go together. Trinity Fellowship Church is now doing a webcast for Zion 2009. I encourage you to listen and watch them this week. It will get your year off to a great start!!
Zion 2009

Things we do together instead of watching TV.....

Every time we get together with friends and family everyone always talks about the shows that they watch on TV. Well, for those of you who don't know Evan and I never watch TV. Which is funny because we have some really nice TVs that never get used. After the holidays I was thinking about our life at home and things we do together instead of watching TV. One of the big things we do together is sit outside. We love to do this especially when it is cold because we have a chiminea.
The following pictures were taken right before the holidays.

Evan with his beer

Me with my coffee

Fun nights of great conversation and laughs :)

Audrey's Bedding is Here!

The week before Christmas I met with Vanessa to pick up her bedding. I was so thankful she was able to meet me because I was so anxious to see it. It looks amazing! I love how everything turned out! Vanessa did an amazing job and I would recommend her to anyone. She does custom baby bedding, traditional bedding, and accessories. She will even work with your own fabric if you do not like the ones she has listed on her site. Check her out at her website.

This is the inside of the Bumper

Side view
Another great thing about Jacquelyn Reese Baby
all monogramming/embroidery is included in the price.
Outside of the Bumpers

The curtain panels
(I'm still looking for a rod to hang them with. Everything is so picked over from Christmas.)

Crib skirt

Thank you again Vanessa!

The furniture is also in and assembled. Those are my next pictures to post!!!