Cheesy Chicken Quesadillas

I have FINALLY found a recipe that everyone in the family loves equally. I actually want to make it again already even though it's not on my menu planner. It wasn't hard to make even though it was my first time making pan fried chicken. I could do it again in 20 minutes even though the first time took closer to an hour because I hadn't done it before. Trial and error, right?

List of ingredients I used:

4 chicken breasts

10 flour tortillas

Shredded Nacho Cheese (the mixed kind)

1 pkg Taco Seasoning

Sour Cream

10 tbsp Butter

1 tbsp Olive Oil

More Ingredients I would've used if my kids weren't so picky:

Chopped Onions

Chopped Peppers

Chopped Tomatoes

Pico de Gallo

Salsa

That list of ingredients looks scary, but it's not I promise. These are still really quick. Next time I make some I'll take pictures. 

Instructions (Read all the way down if you're adding ingredients):

1. Get all your ingredients you want in your tortillas out and accessible.

2. Put a teaspoon of olive oil into skillet on high heat. Let it sizzle then turn heat to med-high depending on thickness of chicken.

3. Add chicken to pan. Sprinkle with light taco seasoning for flavor. Let it cook on one side about 4 minutes depending on thickness, then flip and cook 4 minutes on the other side. I cut mine through the middle to see if it was done.

4. Remove chicken and dice or shred. I diced because it was quicker. Set aside.

5. If you're adding ingredients you need to saute your onions, peppers, and whatever else you want now so they'll be ready. Just put one more tbsp of olive oil in the pan you already used and cook until they brown a little.

6. After Step 5 is done, in a different skillet heat one tbsp of butter until it is sizzling. I set mine on 9 on my electric stove which goes to 11.

7. Lay one tortilla onto the sizzling butter. Watch it because this is when you'll start moving quickly.

8. Sprinkle cheese onto the tortilla then add chicken. Layer other ingredients as you wish, add more cheese on top, then lay another tortilla over it. 

9. It's time to flip if the bottom tortilla has browned. This s the tricky part. I used the widest spatula I had. Pick up the tortilla, use your other hand to put another tbsp of butter in the pan, let it sizzle for a second, then flip and drop the tortilla into the skillet. It's easier than it sounds because the cheese melts and kind of holds everything together.

10. Let the 2nd side brown, remove, and serve.

***If you're adding ingredients other than the basic ones I used, between Step 4 and 5 you need to saute your onions, peppers, and whatever else you want so they'll be ready.

I cut ours into 4 pieces each and served with Spanish rice and sour cream to dip them in. (We're sour cream junkies.) One quesadilla filled us up, including the hubby who is a bottomless pit. Both kids devoured them and B asked if we could have them again the next night. Since he is the pickiest kid ever that makes it a huge kitchen victory for me. If you try them I hope you emjoy them as much as we did.

Camping Like a Pro

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post. Things have been CRAZY at my house with traveling, festivals, moving, and everyday life. This weekend will be another busy one as well. We are going on my sons annual family Cub Scout camping trip.

My little Cub Scout trying on his uniform. He's 8 but he's so tiny. Still, isn't he adorable?

Ready for his 1st pack meeting in full gear. He really loves it.

I am really looking forward to it, just not the preparing for it. I decided to make myself a checklist for camping supplies. I'll admit I basically can't function without a list. I feel so frazzled, like I'm forgetting 110% of the things I should be taking with me. Anyway, this post is short and sweet. My checklist is here. Maybe if you need a good camping checklist split into categories it'll work for you. I already feel better about going home and getting all of it together.

Tension Rod Bakeware Storage

One day I PROMISE I will stop taking pictures with my phone and use a better camera. When I get it unpacked. 

I know I am not the only person who pulls out half of their pans to get to the one they need on the bottom. This is so frustrating. I have honestly decided not to cook certain things because the dishes were too much of a pain to get to. This is what I'm working with.

Left side of my bakeware cabinet.

Right side of my bakeware cabinet.

 I do have a few things that won't fit in here, but these are the main ones I use so I keep the others in a different cabinet. Isn't that a disgusting mess? Ugh. Since we're in the process of setting up the kitchen right now, I decided I would get this under control before we even got moved in. I just couldn't stand looking at it. I had seen an idea on Pinterest where someone (sorry I don't know who!) had used tension rods to separate their pots and pans. Since this makes it adjustable I decided it would be the best route for me to go. I found the best fit for me for the best price at Lowe's. I bought 10 to start off with. I will need more, but not for this particular cabinet and since we're unpacking I didn't want to have to store extras. We'll be making lots of trips to Lowe's soon so it's not a big deal. I set them up one at at time with specific widths for specific items. The original idea I saw used 2 rods per separation but one worked fine for me and cut my price in half. All I had to go was push them into place.


After I got my rods set up, I put my dishes back in. It looks SO much better and is much more manageable. Even my husband who is very helpful but doesn't care a thing about the kitchen was happy with it. I made sure to put my shorter things on one side so that I would have a little room in the front for a couple of extra dishes that didn't fit anywhere else.

Pulling things out without having to pull everything out is a win.

This project was a total success and will be repeated in other cabinets soon. It took me about an hour to completely finish this cabinet. It cost me less than $20 which was much cheaper than the expensive dividers I had originally been looking at.

Supplies:
8  - 18in-28in tension rods  - $2.27 each

My Juicing Journey - Day 4

 I was down even more weight when I woke up in the morning! Woohoo! And I felt even better than I did on Day 3. Seriously, I could keep this up. As a matter of fact I plan to have a juice at least 3 times a week after the actual fast is over. Maybe throw in an entire day of juicing every 2-3 weeks. On this day I started with the Berry-A-Peeling juice. I added 2 entire oranges and another 1/2 of a lime after I tasted it. Not because it tasted bad but because I thought those flavors would go good together and I needed as much juice as I could get. This drink didn't make very much. I hoped it would get me through work. I could make something different for dinner.

Even raw this looks like a yummy snack.

This juice was good enough to drink throughout the day. I just drank a glass, then 16-20 oz of water, then another glass of juice. I was still running to the bathroom like a crazy person due to all the liquid consumption but that's what I wanted. Water weight was disappearing.

Now this juice actually looks tasty.

Well, I did have something different for dinner. A salad. :/ Not because I gave in but I was physically feeling sick. Not sick from juicing either. Just plain cold or virus. I had been sneezing, getting chills, and getting a sore throat the last part of the day at work. Then I started feeling queasy. And I couldn't stand the thought of throwing up with nothing in my stomach. So I had a light salad with raw broccoli. Thank The Lord, because later that night I did get sick. I was still running a fever when I went to sleep.

My Juicing Journey - Day 3

I felt SO great when I woke up. Seriously. Woke up earlier, didn't drag getting out of bed, fit in my clothes better... YES! I mean, look at this happy face.

That is a happy girl right there.

I was down another 1.5 lbs when I weighed in the morning. Excuse me, what? I lost weight while I slept? Yes, yes I did. Hallelujah, it's a miracle. I stuck with the Fruity with a Twist recipe because it made so much and was delicious. I did add spinach to it again. A little more than I had previously added actually. Since I couldn't taste it the day before there was no reason not to. Just extra healthy. Let me just add that when I say "I" here, I really mean my hubby because he got it all ready, juiced it, and cleaned up the juicer for me. He is a winner. I can't say it enough. Well, once more wouldn't hurt...

That's the hubs for sure.

Anyway, the day went well. Just kept up my rotation of juice and water. It was by far the easiest day. The only time I even wanted food was when someone was eating right in front of me. And at that it was only junk. I won't lie, there was a Chips Ahoy Reese's cookie that looked more delicious than anything I'd ever seen. But I didn't give in and I was glad at the end of the day.

Total weight loss for the day = 1.6 lbs

Total = 5.2

My Juicing Journey - Day 2

First off, I felt wonderful at the beginning of Day 2. I was afraid that since I was feeling a little bad the night before I would be feeling awful but I didn't. I made the Fruity with a Twist drink again for breakfast. My awesome husband went to the store and got me oranges and strawberries since we had forgotten oranges in our original shopping trip and didn't get enough strawberries. (I have one recipe that uses a lot of those.) I modified this one since even the thought of celery still makes me sick but I need some greens, not just fruit. I put 2 handfuls of spinach in it. It tasted DELICIOUS. Basically like I was drinking orangey-berry-pineappley juice. I couldn't taste the spinach at all. In regular dishes I love spinach, but juiced by itself it's not too good. Mixed in with pineapple it was fine. This recipe made a lot of juice. As in I overflowed my juicers pitcher and had to clean up a huge mess this morning before I could leave for work. It was still a good thing because I needed enough to take to work with me. It definitely did the trick.

It tastes way better than it looks.

I tried to drink a glass of juice then a glass of water all day. Probably about 14 oz each since my cup I was using was 16 oz and I put ice in each drink. I know that you're supposed to drink it as soon as you juice it but that was not feasible for me while at work, so I didn't. I made my juice and put it in a big jug and took it that way. Didn't even have to write my name on it. Can you believe nobody tried to steal it out of the cooler? Haha. I was running to the bathroom all day due to the liquid consumption but that's okay. Makes me feel like it's doing the trick.

Mom had to take some whole fruits and veggies to work to try to eat those. She was too sick to juice again in the morning. She was going to try to eat raw and juice again the next morning. I hope she feels much better so she can. 

I never did make more juice bc this drink made a lot. Enough to last me all day. I felt different than at the end of Day 1 and I know it was due to the spinach I added to the drink. I didn't feel bad, but I could tell I was detoxing more. Temperature was a little higher, I got occasional chills, and I was sweating more. 

Total weight loss for the day = 1.4 lbs

Total = 3.6

My Juicing Journey - Day 1

Okay, this day starts full blast. I woke up at 9 and started juicing. I made the Berry-A-Peeling drink first today before I did anything else. It's all fruit and since my trial juice made me sick last night from the celery in it, I thought fruit would be safer. It wasn't bad. It had apples, limes, and strawberries in it. The lime taste hung around for a while after. I think next time I do this one I'll just use 1/2 of a lime. I cooked the kids and hubs blueberry muffins for breakfast. One of my favorite things. I stayed out of the kitchen while they ate. I wasn't hungry, I just wanted one because I like them.

1st thing. Hair not brushed or anything. But proof I did it.

My mom did the Beginner Green and she has been sick all day. It is mostly green with lots of celery and makes you detox pretty quickly apparently. She also did the Berry-A-Peeling but since she was already sick it didn't help. I don't drink anything but water anyway so mine wasn't as bad as her. She has to have her coffee every day. Hopefully she'll stick with it because she felt bad enough to stay in bed all day and ended the day throwing up. If she wakes up feeling better tomorrow she'll start with fruit juice instead of greens.

My 2nd drink was a Green Lemonade. It had way more green than the first as you can see. It didn't taste bad. It has apples, lemon, kale, spinach, and cucumber in it. I am not a fan of cucumber but it wasn't strong in the drink. It was strong in the aftertaste.

Looks gross but didn't taste bad.

At this point the day started to get a little rough. I was honestly not hungry but we were supposed to go to my hubby's grandparents house for dinner. I sat that one out. TJ made me the Fruity Punch with a Twist before he left. Somehow even though we marked it off the list we forgot oranges, so he threw some strawberries in instead. I didn't get a picture (ops) but it was the worst looking of all. Best tasting though.

 Even though I wasn't hungry I felt like I needed to eat something. I never did get sick but I did feel a little blah. Some people say doing this has them running to the bathroom, but I didn't. Other than from the juice and extra water consumption. While the family was gone to dinner, I folded laundry, cleaned the house, washed the dishes, and drank juice and water. At the end of the day I was craving food. Anything. I would've been happy with a Saltine Cracker. But I didn't give in and I went to bed full. I hope Day 2 is a little easier than Day 1 with the cravings.

Total weight loss for Day1 = 2.2 lbs