Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

AJ & I spent Thanksgiving in New Jersey with family. We ate dinner on Thursday with AJ's parent's, Michael, Josephine, Chris, Bobby, Tony & Janet. It was delicious! I made my annual Cranberry Salad and it was a hit! (Thank you for the fool proof receipe, Mom!)

We went to Long Island on Friday for AJ's cousin's wedding. It was so great seeing AJ's aunt & uncle and cousins... I wish we saw them more often! The wedding was absolutely beautiful and so much fun.

Congratulations to (Big) AJ and Vanessa!!

Slow-Cooker Hearty Beef Chili

Ingredients:
1-1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1 can (15 oz.) dark red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
1 can (15 oz.) light red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
1-1/2 cups mild salsa
1 can (16 oz.) no-salt added tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 onion, chopped
1 cup frozen corn, thawed, drained
1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:
Brown meat; drain. Add to slow cooker with remaining ingredients except cheese; stir. Cover with lid.
Cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours (or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours).
Stir just before serving. Serve topped with the cheese.

This was my first attempt at making chili and I am pretty proud of myself! Next time I make it I think I will add a little more tomato sauce because it needed more liquid. While the corn was different, I don't think I'll add as much next time.

Hey Strangers!

I think I'm going to start posting here more often.

I got a new job in October. An 8-5 job!! Now that I have a normal schedule, I can actually get back to being domestic... cooking, baking, cleaning, etc.

I have a couple of new recipes that AJ & I have tried so keep watching!

Our First House!

Since starting my new job in November, I have been VERY BAD at my quest to become domesticated! The hours I work at very hectic so while I haven't been cooking that much, we have done something completely domestic.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

After a few weeks of looking around Roanoke, we found "the one" in SW Roanoke City. We love it and are scheduled to close on March 6th. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

Easy Cranberry Salad

With the new job starting this week, I haven't cooked ANYTHING this week! I don't want to leave my readers (I mean reader, my mom.. haha) disappointed, here is a recipe that I inherited from my mom. :)

Ingredients:
1 large cherry Jello
1 can cranberry sauce
1 can crushed pineapple
2-3/4 cups Ginger Ale
1 cup chopped pecans
1 small can of mandarian oranges

Directions:
Bring Ginger Ale to boil then dissolve jello in hot Ginger Ale. Add cranberry sauce, pineapple, nuts, & oranges. Mix well and refridgerate.

You can also experiment by using different flavors of Jello like 1 small cherry & 1 small cranberry or 1 small raspberry... anything that you feel will taste yummy!

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 packet reduced sodium taco seasoning
1 16 oz jar salsa
1 can corn
1 can rinsed and drained black beans
1 cup reduced fat sour cream

Directions:
Mix soup, salsa, and taco seasoning together and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Before serving, shred the chicken, add corn, beans, and sour cream. Cook for a few more minutes until everything is heated through. Serve with tortilla chips or in a tortilla.


I also added some cooked white rice to this to thicken it up because I only had 2 chicken breasts and it was spectacular! It makes a ton so I froze the extra and we ate it another night. I posted this recipe somewhere else and got a lot of different ideas for things to add to it next time. It's really easy and tasty so I will be doing it again.

Buffalo Wing Dip

We first had this dip while we were visiting AJ's brother & his family in Cheektowaga, NY (outside of Buffalo) and loved it. We made it for an at home tailgate once before and decided to try it again. I've also seen this recipe with combining all the ingredients together and baking so I think we are going to try that next time. We made it for our Hokie indoor tailgate party on Saturday and it was gone by the end of the night!

Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese
1 can of chicken breast
small bottle of Franks Red Hot (or whatever you prefer)
1 jar of creamy bleu cheese
shredded mozzarella cheese
bread crumbs

Directions:
Spread the cream cheese in the bottom of a 9x9 pan. Crumble the chicken in a bowl and mix with the hot sauce. Spread the chicken over the cream cheese layer. Spread the bleu cheese over the chicken. Sprinkle mozz cheese over bleu cheese (thin layer). Thin layer of bread crumbs over that. Bake at 350 for 20 min. Serve with tortilla chips.


FYI, the fried chicken was so easy to make and turned out excellent. I got rave reviews from AJ & Mike. :)