Mom's Fruit Salad

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I am about to share something that will change your life.  And the best part is, it is incredibly easy.  My mom's fruit salad.

For those of you who have been following me for a little while know that my mom passed away in early May last year.  It's been a very reflective past couple weeks.  All within ten days time there was the first anniversary of my mom's death and then Mother's Day shortly after.  Granted it was my second Mother's Day without my mom, it didn't make the time any less painful, no that's not the right word, I'm not sure there is a word for it.  There were a lot of firsts this year--Caden's 2nd birthday celebrated without her, my birthday, her birthday, finding out we were expecting our 2nd child, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then all those little things in life where she would have been my first phone call.  I miss her dearly, but I am so glad I have little things like her fruit salad to remember the good times.  Sorry, I didn't intend for this to be a bummer of a post, but at the same time, I felt like I needed to take a moment to remember her, especially with Addyson's birth coming so soon.  My sister went on the hospital tour with me just yesterday and the sweet nurse kept saying things like, your husband and/or mom will likely be there in the room with you.  It's things like that when I think life just isn't fair--how much I wish she could be here for this.  I know she'll be there watching the whole thing--I am certain I will feel her presence there with me.

Anyhow, sorry for the sappy part!  On to the good part!  My mom always made this fruit salad for every holiday.  I am not certain why she didn't make it at least once a month.  Maybe the high calorie content.  But then again, my mom was one who would skip dinner to eat dessert!  I am very much her daughter!  In fact, in all my years, I never once thought to serve this over ice cream until my sister-in-law recommended it.  Let me tell you, I think that might be the only perfect way to enjoy this dessert!  Yes, I said dessert.  This is not a healthy fruit salad, but it sure is delicious.

There is one magical ingredient that makes this recipe.  I had people guessing all sorts of things.  Pudding, no.  Sugar, no.  Well, kind of sugar!  It's peach pie filling!  You can get canned or make your own pie filling.  Whatever you want to do.  Like I said, definitely not healthy!  Basically you can put anything in this recipe and it is delicious.  Here is the traditional recipe we always used, but feel free to use whatever you want!  I am tempted to put in some blueberries and raspberries next time!  I don't think you can go wrong with any fruit!  I hope you enjoy it as much as my family has over the years!

Mom's Fruit Salad Recipe

 

1 can peach pie filling

1 cup of mandarin oranges (or a can)

1 pound of fresh strawberries quartered (or 1 bag frozen)

1 cup of pineapple chunks (or 1 large can)

Filling My Freezer

Amidst the contractions this morning, I labored away in the kitchen with the help of my sweet husband.  I've been having contractions on and off for a little while now.  Yes, this is normal.  I didn't experience this with my first, but this little girl has been nothing but trouble!  We made 5 different meals to store away.  None of these recipes are my own, and you will be taken to the link for the recipe and directions below each picture.  I browsed Pinterest to find some recipes I thought would freeze well.  By the way, I'd love for you to follow me on Pinterest or Facebook!  Here are the winners for my freezer.  You will also find the grocery list at the end of the post.  For more, you can also get my Freezer Cooking E-Book here!

 

This first one, Honey Sesame Crockpot Chicken came from Kitchen Meets Girl.  On her blog, she makes it fresh.  I simply put all of the ingredients in my gallon freezer bag.  When I am ready to cook, I will defrost slightly, and then dump the contents into my crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours.  I'll serve it with some brown rice and a salad.

 

 

This one looked too good to resist.  This recipe is from The Kitchen Life of a Navy Wife, and I believe she adapted it from a magazine she cites on her blog.  I have to admit, I am always looking for something different to do with ground beef.  We tend to eat a lot of chicken around my house.  I split the recipe into two 8x8 pans.  That will easily feed me, my husband, and my 3 year old.  I was quite happy to have 1 recipe put two meals in my freezer!

 

I love White Chicken Chili, and I've never made my own.  I am hoping this one is a hit at my house. This is adapted from Gimme Some Oven.  She makes it fresh.  I decided to take all the ingredients except the milk and masa harina and put it in the gallon bag.  I will add those ingredients the day of cooking, during the last 10 minutes just to thicken up the mixture like she says.  I plan on cooking mine in the crockpot on low for 4-6 hours after defrosting slightly.  I will serve with chips, avocado, and cheese.

 

These next two recipes are both from Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms.  These were already freezer meals ready to go.  For the Stuffed Shells, the only change I made was putting the spinach into the cheese filling mixture.  I feel like I'll have better luck getting everyone in my house, including me to eat the spinach.  Truth be told, my husband is the vegetable eater in our home.  I have to make a large effort to get myself to eat veggies!  This one made a 9x13, and two 8x8's for me.  So I ended up getting 3 meals from this recipe!  Also, I just used seasoned shredded chicken breasts instead of a rotisserie chicken.

 As I previously said, this is also from Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms.  Now her picture looks a whole lot better than mine!  I used white corn tortillas--and corn tortillas have a tendency to break apart easily.  I followed her directions exactly.  I flash froze them and then put them in a large gallon baggie to be taken out and eaten a few at a time.


Since I know many of you replicate my entire freezer cooking day, I have included the grocery list for you as I normally do.  The only extra step is going to retrieve the recipe from the blogs I've linked to.  Happy cooking!

Grocery List

 

Meats

15-16 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6 whole, the rest shredded)

1 rotisserie chickens

2 lbs ground beef, cooked and drained

 

Seasonings

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water

4 cups chicken broth

cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

pinch of white pepper

2 Tbsp. masa harina (optional thickener)

3/4 teaspoon chicken bouillion powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

1 packet taco seasoning

2 cups biscuit mix

 

 

Condiments

3/4 cup honey

1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

sesame seeds

4 oz. mayo

 

Produce

1 large white onion, diced

1 yellow onion

10 cloves garlic, minced

3 jalapeno, chopped (you can remove the seeds for less heat)

1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (juice from half a lime)
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp sliced green onions

2 tomatoes

1 green bell pepper

 

Canned/Packaged

2 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chiles

2 cans white beans (I used Great Northern)

12 oz. jumbo shells

1/4 cup green salsa

small flour or corn tortillas

 

Dairy

1 cup whole milk
2 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 1/2 cups Italian cheese, shredded

1 cup shredded Mexican flavored cheese

8 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
2 large eggs

2 pints heavy cream

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 lbs. ricotta cheese, part-skim

4 oz sour cream

 

Frozen

10 oz. bag spinach

 

 

 

 



Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole

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Well, there's only 5 more weeks before Addyson's expected arrival.  I certainly feel like it.  I am incredibly tired and all I want to do is sleep!  However, night-time sleep is evading me!  It's rather infuriating!  I toss and turn all night long trying to get comfortable.  I think it may be time for some medicinal intervention!

I am trying to get the freezer stocked for our family for when little miss gets here.  I plan on doing a full-scale freezer cooking day sometime next week, but it's fairly easy for me to make dinner plus a little extra to throw in the freezer at least once a week.  I'm also trying to make sure that I am using as little processed food as possible.  It can be challenging, processed food is very convenient.  I'm just convinced that so many issues such as cancer and ADD/ADHD are partly a result of our reliance on processed food.  I'm not an expert by any means, that's just my opinion.

This week I made a Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole.  The only pre-packaged ingredients were the cheese, sour cream and wild rice.  I know you can get wild rice that isn't boxed, but after looking at the ingredient list and being satisfied that I could pronounce everything on the list, I took the easy route.  Everything else was fresh and organic.  The complete recipe is listed at the bottom of the page.

First, I sautéed about 4 stalks of celery and 1 small onion in some butter, salt and pepper.  While those were going, I pulled chicken from a rotisserie chicken from my local deli.  Once the onions were translucent, I pulled those off the heat and mixed it with my chicken.

 

While that was going, I cooked 2 boxes of wild rice.  Once that was done, I added 2 packages of my homemade cream of chicken soup and about 1 cup of cheese.  You can get my cream of chicken soup recipe here!

 
 


After that, I mixed the chicken mixture to my rice mixture and added 1 cup of sour cream and stirred thoroughly.  This mixture filled a full 9 x 13 pan and then a smaller 9 x 9 pan to go in my freezer.  I'll admit, the mixture looks kind of gross, but once you take a bite, you'll forget about the presentation!

And here is the finished product out of the oven!  Before I put it in the oven, I crushed some buttery crackers and sprinkled them on top.  I must say, it was absolutely delicious and even my 3 year old cleaned his plate!  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole

 

1 rotisserie chicken

butter

4 stalks of celery

1 small onion

2 boxes of wild rice

2 packages of homemade cream of chicken soup

1 cup of sour cream

crushed buttery crackers

Chicken Enchiladas!

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I am so excited to share my Chicken Enchilada recipe with you.  It was a HUGE HIT at our house!  Even my 3 year old liked it--not too spicy.  But of course, you can spice it up if you want!  If you enjoyed this, I'd love for you to check out my e-cookbook!

 

I have put step by step instructions in between pictures, but the full recipe is listed at the end of the post!  I doubled my recipe so I could throw an extra in the freezer for when Addyson arrives, but all instructions listed here are for one dish of enchiladas!

 

 

I started by making my own taco seasoning.  Of course you can use packaged seasoning, but I am trying to get away from using processed foods.  You just never know what exactly goes into those things!  This recipe makes plenty, so you will have some more for another recipe or two.  I just saved mine in a tupperware and threw it in the spice cabinet.  Just mix the following ingredients into a bowl:

 

1tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp black pepper



 

Next you'll want to cook your chicken.  A lot of people boil their chicken, and that's fine.  My personal opinion is that the chicken tastes a lot better if cooked in a skillet with seasoning.  I don't add oil or butter, the juices of the chicken are sufficient.  I placed about 2 pounds of chicken in the pan with salt, pepper, taco seasoning, and some fresh garlic.  I covered and let cook about 4-5 minutes over medium heat on each side.  Or at least until the juices run clear.  The smell is quite heavenly!

 

Meanwhile, you need to prep your filling for the enchiladas.  A little of this will also get smeared onto the bottom of your cooking dish.  I always keeps some homemade cream of chicken soup on hand.  You can get my recipe HERE!  You can use the canned stuff, but again, what is really in there?  I challenge you to read the ingredient list!  You will heat 10 ounces of cream of chicken soup, about a cup of sour cream, and a pinch of chili powder.  Keep that warm.

 

Somehow, I missed taking a picture of my green chile enchilada sauce.  Oh well!  It's very simple and quick.  Just melt 1/4 cup of butter in a saucepan, and then add an equal amount of flour, stirring constantly over medium heat.  Add in 2 cups of chicken broth (make your own, or buy the organic stuff) slowly, again, stirring constantly.  Add in a cup of sour cream and about 4 ounces of diced green chiles.  Allow sauce to thicken, but do not boil.  If sauce does not thicken, add more flour.  Take a little taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.

 

 Now, this is the coolest part!  Take all your chicken, and throw it in your Kitchenaid mixer or similar mixer and turn it on low-medium for about a minute.  And ta-da!!!  You have beautifully schredded chicken.  Now you'll want to dice and cook 1 small onion in 1 tbsp. of butter over low-medium heat.  Once the onions are softened, add the chicken, about 1 tbsp. of taco seasoning, some green chopped green onions, a cup of water, and then squeeze the juice from 1 lime over the mixture.  Allow this to simmer for about 10 minutes.  Do a little taste test, and add salt and pepper to your liking.

 Now you get to fill your tortillas.  If you want to stay true to a non-processed recipe, then go to a Mexican food store nearby and purchase some tortillas.  I like to use corn, but you can use flour if you'd rather.  First, take some of the enchilada filling mixture and put a thin layer in the bottom of your baking dish.  Then, smear some inside each tortilla, add a scoop of the chicken mixture, and top with some cheese.  Roll it up and place it seam side down in your pan.  Repeat the process until your run out of something!  Seriously!  It's that good, you might as well fill up another small dish if you still have the ingredients remaining.  Pour your enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, top with cheese and black olives!  YUMMY!

Green Chile Enchilada Ingredient List

 

Taco Seasoning

 1tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

 

Enchilada Sauce

1/4 cup of butter

1/4 cup of flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream

4 ounces green chiles diced

 

Enchilada Filling, etc.

2 pounds chicken

10 ounces cream of chicken

1 generous cup of sour cream

1/4 tsp chili powder

1 tbsp. butter

1 onion

4 ounces green chiles diced

1 bunch green onions diced

lime juice

tortillas of your choosing

black olives

 

 



Our Family is Growing

Wow, it's been quite a whirlwind of activity at our house.  Definitely not on the blog, though!  I think I've realized my limitations.  I can't work full-time, be a mommy, and be a blogger.  At least not all at once.  Fortunately, my job as a teacher allows me to have the summers to blog.  I really do enjoy sharing my life with others.  I like to share ideas that may help people.  It's fun, it makes me feel good.

All that being said, my doctor has advised me not to return to work for the last six weeks.  I can't say I was really all that disappointed.  It's been a very ROUGH year at school.  There are a million reasons why--most too personal to get into where the whole world can read my thoughts! 

It's also been a rough year for me health-wise.  We found out we were expecting a surprise baby in early October.  We definitely weren't planning to get pregnant.  In fact, I left the test sitting on the kitchen counter and when my husband came home, he asked me, "who's is this?"  LOL!  I laughed so hard I nearly cried!

I was expecting a smooth pregnancy again.  My mom had really easy pregnancies both times around and Caden was picture perfect.  I had absolutely zero problems with him.  I was never even sick or nauseated.  Had a great, quick delivery.  It was wonderful.  This pregnancy, not so much.  Where do I begin?  I was sick multiple times a day from week 8 to week 16.  Zofran did nothing for me, but Phenergan finally did the trick.  I lost about 10 pounds total in those awful two months.  At about 10 weeks I was rushed to the hospital for tachycardia.  Basically, my heart was beating at about 150 beats per minute for no apparent reason.  Turns out I ended up with hyperthyroidism.  That all got under control and then a little later on I caught a stomach bug that started giving me contractions.  Not a huge deal, but scary still.  And then at 31 weeks, I was teaching a small group of students in my classroom when I lost vision in my left eye and my face went numb on that side.  I seriously thought I was having a stroke.  My blood pressure was somewhere around 170 over 90.  Not good by any means!  I was tested for preeclampsia, which was thankfully negative.  Basically, I was told I had an atypical migraine brought on by stress.  At that point, the decision was made for me not to return to work.  And here we are today, at 33 weeks pregnant and praying the next 7 weeks are uneventful!  As you can tell, I am definitely growing!  Can't wait to see how big I get!  LOL!

Now in the chaos of all of that, we found out we were having a baby girl!  Her name is Addyson Celia.  Celia was my mother's middle name and Cecilia was my great grandmother's first name.

We had a small gender reveal party.  Of course I cheated!  I knew all along it was a girl--how was I supposed to go to the doctor and have that much self-control and ask her to put the gender in an envelope!  HA!  Everyone had already decided that it was a girl anyway.  I had figured it was--the sickness, how different everything was, and her heart rate was in the 160's.  I know, old-wive's tales...but still!  However, the Chinese gender calendar that was right for my little Caden, said this one would be a boy, too!

We have been having so much fun decorating her room!  I knew I wanted the walls to be grey.  And forgive me, but, do you know how many "shades of grey" there are?!?  I neither admit nor deny having read the books!  LOL!  But seriously, I never knew how many variations of grey there are.  I know I tried at least 5 different colors if not more!  We also have made the choice to rip up most of the carpet in our house.  I harbors so much filth, especially when you have kids and animals.  We put down laminate hard wood floors.



























At first I wanted to do a yellow and grey room.  That's fairly popular right now.  But then I remembered this picture that my mom had taken and I have held onto it, hoping that I would get to hang in my future daughter's room one day!  My prayers were answered.  That however, posed bedding challenges.  I basically HATED everything I saw in the stores.  So, with my sister's help, I started looking for custom bedding.  The prices were honestly not that terrible.  I've known people who've spent close to $700-800 on custom bedding, so I feel like I got a pretty fair deal.  I got her bedding from ModernPeaPod.  I was highly impressed!  The customer service was absolutely phenomenal.  You can see the picture that I'm talking about to the right of the crib, above the glider.  The script above her bed, I ordered from an Etsy shop, JustTheFrosting.  I feel like it put just the right finishing touch!  Ignore the roll of masking tape left on the dresser.  Leave it to me to leave something in the picture that adds "character!"

I received these darling wall art pictures from an Etsy store as well, FieldandFlower. 

And then one of my dear friends made this darling "A" for Addyson's room! 

I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I've been up to these past few months.  I hope to share some more freezer meals with all of you soon as I begin preparing for those lovely first few weeks home when you are basically a zombie! 

Supper Club

I am so excited to share about the Supper Club I joined in my area!  I'll tell you a little about my club, but really, I want this to be about how you can start your own Supper Club.

The club I joined has 9 people currently and we meet once a month.  So, I prepare 9 of one meal and then we meet up in a parking lot and divy everything up and I come home with 9 different meals for the month.  This past month I made Chipotle Lime Chicken, one of my personal favorites!

What is a Supper Club?

That's a great question!  A SupperClub is a group of people who meet at a designated time to swap meals so that everyone gets one meal from each person, resulting in lots of different meals for the time period.

How Many People are Required?  How Often Do You Meet?

You can do as few or as many as you want.  If you do a smaller group, say 3-5, I would suggest meeting up weekly or bi-weekly.  If you have 6-10 people in your group, it would be good to meet bi-weekly or monthly.  I would not have over 10 people of a group since you will need to prepare the same amount of meals as the number of people in your group.  It's pretty cumbersome to make more than 10 of something.

Why Should I Do This?

First off, it's highly cost-effective.  I made all 9 of my meals for about $65 and I made a pretty nice meal.  There are cheaper meals I could have made--the one I made is a fairly expensive meal.  If you figure that up, I spent $7.22 per meal, with 4-5 servings each.  My $65 gave me a return of 9 different meals.  There's no way I could have made the same 9 meals for $65.  It's simply because you can buy in bulk when you're making multiples of the same thing, especially if you have a membership at a bulk store! 

Secondly, you are not only helping out your family, but other familes too!  Not only do you have meals in your freezer for your family, but I have been able to give meals to other families who need it as well.  There's nothing like being able to pull something out of your freezer and run over to your friend's house who just had a baby, or maybe someone you know who has been very sick and their family could use a meal. 

One idea I've had for when I start my own Supper Club is doing it through my church and having everyone make one extra meal for a family in need that month.  Such a small time and cost investment on each person's part, but what a huge impact this could have for a family!

Some Considerations

This probably isn't meant for people with special food restrictions, unless you can find a group of people who all share the same restrictions.  So, for instance, vegetarians or people who enjoy a gluten-free diet would need to make sure that they are specific about their recipe guidelines.

You'll need to purchase containers to freeze your meals in and you won't get them back.  I have a friend who orders some great foil casserole containers online for a decent price.  I currently do everything is freezer bags since I do crockpot meals.

I highly recommend only using meals that are tried and true for you.  This isn't for first time Pintrest recipes!  You aren't just disappointing your family if it's not great, but several other families as well!


I'd love to hear about Supper Clubs going on in your area!

Creamy Ravioli Dinner

Hi friends!  Sorry I have been absent around here.  I have been working on getting my e-book ready and getting my school year going.  This year is honestly exhausting me, I have a lot of needy kids.  Some need lots of extra help, some need lots of love because of home life, and then there's a few that just need extra attention because of behavior.  I love my job, but it does wear me out.

Since my cookbook is about to be published, I thought I might do a new segment on my blog.  A review of meals that ACTUALLY take less than 15 minutes prep time to make.  I don't mind prepping something for 10 minutes if it takes 30-45 minutes to cook.  I just don't have time with a 2 year old running around to do ANYTHING that takes more than 15 minutes of my time where he can't have my full attention.  I will also try to include a freezer version when possible.

So, Monday night, I was perusing Pinterest trying to find something that I could make really fast and something that my 2 year old would eat.  That's a task, in and of itself!  I found a great pin, but it was just a picture, but the idea is so easy, I didn't need more than that.  You can find the pin HERE.  My husband loved the sauce, as did my toddler.  It was cheap, easy, and yummy!

So, here is the recipe for an on the spot dinner:

Creamy Ravioli Dinner

1 package of your choice of ravioli

1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce

1/2 a container of Italian style cream chesse

Directions:  Cook ravioli according to package.  (Mine took 10 minutes total).

Stir in cream cheese to pasta sauce and mix well.  Serve over ravioli.

Since the ravioli is already frozen, this makes a great "freezer meal".  All you have to do is keep the ravioli and pasta sauce on hand.  Those things keep very well.  Then, purchase the cream cheese the week you plan to make this meal.

Enjoy!