Chicken Taco Salad!

I rarely post about our meals and my cooking because . . . 

I'm awful at meal planning, prep and meals in general.

Not kidding - I'd rather drive-thru or bake than cook a real meal.

But, Maddy and I are attempting to 

plan a few meals here and there.

We've found our favorite!

Chicken Taco Salad

It's the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Taco Salad!

It is so delish and so easy -- I really

have to have easy and fast and

this dish meets both of those requirements!

We make a few adjustments to the 

recipe as we don't always like

tomatoes and don't have avocados on 

hand.  We do use fresh corn on the cob!
 I don't think I could figure out avocados anyway!  
Isn't there a secret key or way to open avocados?
And then what do you do???

Chicken Taco Nachos

We even went a little further and

made Chicken Taco Nachos!

Wooo hoo - call us crazy!

 This is on the menu every single week!
And every time we prepare it,
Mr. Tennis says
BEST MEAL EVER!  
Go me!  :)

A Cooking Post!

As most of you know, I am not the best cook or meal planner!
I seriously lack in the that department.
But, I actually made a dinner on Sunday

that everyone loved.
I spent the evening patting myself on the back about it!

It was a copy-cat from The Pioneer Woman.
I watch her show whenever I'm on the treadmill
and always think --  "I could make that!"
And I finally did!

This photo and recipe is from her website and is known as
Chicken and Dressing One Pan supper!
It was delish!
And only one pan -- gotta like that!
Mr. Tennis could not stop raving about it,
so am sure I will put it on the menu again.
Even Maddy liked it --
well, she liked the chicken --
 the veggies not so much!
Here's the link to the recipe.
Thank you PW for this one!

We're Cooking in the Kitchen!

How was your weekend?
This past weekend we were cooking in the kitchen!

Mads and I are attempting to do more cooking
and baking -- we do love cookies, brownies, fudge, muffins, and  we've already
professed our love for Scotcheroos!

Although we didn't make these pancakes at home,
they are definitely on our list!
Can we make ours as cute as Village Inn?
I'm not so sure!

Who do those scrambled eggs remind you of???
Do you see it too?
I believe they were going for the
Trump comb-over look!
How scary is that!!

Maddy's all-time favorite lunch or dinner item --
Taco Crunch or Walking Tacos!
She likes hers with Doritos, but Fritos
are my chip of choice!

Taco Crunch --
it's what we make for dinner!
Every Taco Tuesday!

Hello Monday Again!

Well, hello Monday again!

Somehow Mondays sneak up on me 

and I'm never quite ready to

give up the weekend, are you?

It's been extremely chilly lately -- 

where are our normal halfway warm February temps?

Maddy in my alma mater sweatshirt - Bradley University!

Maddy and I spent the weekend running errands,

shopping at Target,

walking the pup, 

and throwing out clutter.

Plus -- I cooked! 

 Yes, I made an incredibly delish

slow cooker bbq chicken!

While the bbq chicken is probably easy-peasy for

most of you, I'm the first to admit

that cooking is not my strong suit - 

I need easy, very easy,

and it was that and very yummy!

Yay me!

Speaking of cooking, 

last weekend when I was with the littles,

I introduced them to the Pioneer Woman shows

on Netflix.  Janie and I oohed and aaahed

over the dishes she made.

How does Ree make it look so easy?

Aha, Janie reportedly was taking notes!

The other day she made herself a little snack - 

some chocolate hearts layered on tostitos!

She told her Dad she learned about it on Pioneer Woman!

Smart girl -- always pay attention when chocolate is involved

 (though I do not recall that specific recipe).

Marble cheesecake!

This week we are hoping for warmer temps,

looking forward to celebrating a birthday

and a day and half off school for Mads due

to school conferences.

Love a day off, don't you! 

A Tart and Brownie Sundaes!



Beef, Mushroom Onion Tart from Better Homes & Gardens (mine also looked this good!)



Took a little break from my usual holiday weekend of no-cooking and having fast/frozen food meals to actually prepare a meal!  Guess what -- it turned out yummy!!

I found the recipe in the Better Homes & Gardens Prizewinning Recipes book they recently sent me.  They said someone had requested the book be sent to me?  Hmmm-- wondering who that was??? 

Anyway, it was easy-peasy to  make and very delish! Even Maddy kind of liked it.  And what's really great about it, is that you could easily add all kinds of things, like green peppers, more mushrooms, sauce, etc. to it to make it even better.



Those who know me, know that I must have chocolate -- preferably at every meal! 

 So I also made brownie cupcakes!!  Add some vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce -- voila -- a delish brownie sundae!! 



My friend, Ina Garten, loaned me this photo.  My brownies were cupcakes and actually looked even better! There were none left or I would have taken a photo!



 I really outdid myself today, so am definitely taking Labor Day off tomorrow. 

Hoping for more cooking adventures soon.  Maddy and I may try to make chocolate dipped rice krispie treats on a stick!  Stay tuned!!!



Photo from Rice Krispies -- who else?!! 

Cooking -- Always an Adventure!

Miss M and I were on our own a bit this weekend as the Hub was out of town with cboo. They had a great time together and so did Maddy and I. Those of you who know me in real life, know that I not the best cook. Passable I suppose, but really nothing to rave about. Breakfast -- I can make a mean bowl of cereal! But really, I love a poached egg -- I could eat a poached every single day, but that does involve a bit more cooking than pouring the cereal into the bowl and adding milk, so generally grapefruit and cereal win out.

But, I really outdid myself yesterday. I made Erin's pot roast. OH MY GOSH!! It was so delicious! Too bad that cboo ran off to his apt for a Super Bowl Party (though I did make him my famous Mexican dip), but the roast was really, really yummy! Thanks Erin!! Will definitely be making it again!

Sometimes Maddy likes to help in the kitchen. Truth be told, she likes to sit on the counter and watch me or watch the Disne*y channel or Noggi*n and eat chips. Anyway, she has helped on occasion. Here she is helping me whip up some delicious treat. Our favorite thing to make together is cookies. And yes, I do eat the raw cookie dough -- it's delish. Lucky for me, Maddy doesn't like it ... yet!

No Booster Seat Needed!

In case you can't tell from the photos, Miss Maddy is a bit on the petite side. She really seems just the right size to me. Of course, I still think of her as my little snuggle-bunny! :) But, she's actually 7 years old now, around 45 inches tall and weighs about 39 pounds. In jeans, she wears a 5 slim with the adjustable buttons inside, and believe me, we have to adjust and tighten up those jeans. I don't think she's especially small, but it's when she's with her classmates that you might notice that she is quite a bit smaller than most her age. Some of her friends insist on picking her up and carrying her around. She does not really appreciate that at all, but she puts up with it, good-naturedly most of the time.

The other night we went out to eat at Red R*obin. The hostess showed us to our table and asked . . . of all things . . . "Does she need a booster seat?" OH. MY. GOSH!!! What a insult that was to Miss Maddy! The nerve of that lady -- asking if she needed a booster seat like a baby or something!! Maddy almost always has a smile on her face and a very sweet nature, but that made her a wee bit mad! Yikes! Happy to report that she did get over it. Ok, I admit it, I bribed her a little with a chocolate milkshake to get her smiling again, and we all enjoyed a nice meal. But, if you ever happen to meet Miss M, please, please, don't call her "little" or ask if she needs a booster seat! :)
She looks tall here, doesn't she! Ha - she's standing on a chair. More on our attempt at cooking together later!