Healthy and Yummy Chicken , Vegetable and Pasta Soup

If any of you live in an area where Bountiful Baskets is available, please try it! Check the website www.bountifulbaskets.org for availability in your area. It is a food co-op run by volunteers. I paid $15 for a basket of fruit and a basket of veggies. For $10 extra, they will guarantee all produce to be organic.  They also have add ons available. I was able to get 8 lbs. of fresh strawberries from California for $12! There is also fresh bread, herbs/spice packs, oranges, apricots, tomatoes, etc available. This is what I got this week:

Sorry about the quality of the photo! I wasn't thinking in blog mode!

I boiled chicken breasts so that it would be shredded chicken. I cut up some white potatoes, carrots and celery and cooked some pasta. I also got out a can of corn. Then I added it all to boiling water with Lipton onion soup mix. It was a little bland, so I added onion pepper salt and it was perfect! Very easy, healthy and so good!

Great Potluck Recipe - Pineapple & Pretzel Fluff

I had a potluck to go to and wanted to bring something different. I found a great recipe for Pineapple Pretzel Fluff on Allrecipes.com. It turned out great. I will definitely be making this again!

• 1 cup coarsely crushed pretzels
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• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
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• 1 cup sugar
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• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
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• 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
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• 1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
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• In a bowl, combine pretzels, butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees F for 7 minutes. Cool. 
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• Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and remaining sugar until creamy. Fold in pineapple and whipped topping; chill until serving.

• Break pretzel mixture into small pieces; stir into pineapple mixture.

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This dish was really great. I really loved dipping apples and grapes in it. I think I will be substituting strawberries for the pineapple as well.

Almond Milk

I have a really hard time getting my boys to eat vegetables, so I've been trying to find some healthy things to add to their diets.

When shopping for groceries, I decided to try Silk PureAlmond. To my surprise, it is really good. I bought the unsweetened, but they have vanilla and a couple other flavors as well.

First I poured some in my Fiber One Honey Clusters cereal. It was really good. The honey and almond flavors went well together.

Next, I tried some in a fruit smoothie. My boys drank it up and loved it. I added a banana, an orange, some ice and orange juice. Smoothies are a great treat and even better with the extra nutrients!

Today I tried to make some Jello Instant Pudding with the almond milk. It tasted great, but was a little liquidy. My boys drank it and loved it as well. I think next time I will try half milk and half almond milk so that it will thicken up a little bit more.

Tonight I tried to make chocolate almond milk. It was pretty good, but I added a little regular milk as well.

I am so happy that I finally tried this and will be trying the different flavors soon. 1 serving = 1 cup and only has 35 calories!

If you want to know what's so healthy about almond milk, click here!

Go to the silk facebook page and if you like the page, you can get a $.75 coupon. If you do a quick survey, you can get a $2.00 coupon!

There are a lot of recipes for smoothies and other ideas on allrecipes.com. If you find another use/recipe for almond milk, please share!

Don't miss out on my t-shirt/headband set giveaway from A Law Student's Journey. You can enter through March 31st!

Kid Friendly White Chicken Chili

This recipe was originally a Campbell's soup recipe, but I modified it to make it more kid friendly. It turned out great and was super easy to make!

1 tbsp Olive Oil
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cubed)
4 tsp chili powder (or less)
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 cup corn
2 cans white kidney beans (cannellini), rinsed and drained
Salt and Pepper to taste
Shredded Cheddar cheese (topping)
Sour Cream (topping)

1. Cook the chicken with the olive oil.
2. In saucepan, add Cream of Chicken soup, water, corn, white kidney beans.
3. Add chili powder. I used less than 4 tsp. Just add until it tastes right for you. Do the same with salt and pepper. I added a lot of pepper and a little bit of salt.
4. Add the cooked chicken.
5. Heat on medium for about 5 min.
6. Top with shredded cheese and/or sour cream

Onions and green pepper would also be good additions if your kids aren't super picky like mine!

You could double the recipe if you have a large family. This recipe feeds about 4 people.

That's it! Super cheap and easy, but tastes great!

Yummy Mexican Turkey Meatballs

This was my first attempt at making meatballs and they turned out really good! I found the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, but modified it a bit.

2 eggs
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tsp garlic paste (or fresh garlic cloves)
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
2 lb ground turkey ( I just used 1 package and it was fine 1.25 lb)
2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking pan with nonstick spray.

In large bowl mix eggs, bread crumbs, cilantro, garlic, oregano, 1 1/2 tsp of chili powder, salt, and cumin.

Add turkey and mix all ingredients together.

Form 2 inch meatballs and place on baking pan.

Combine oil and remaining chili powder and brush on meatballs.

Bake for 22-25 min

I wanted to have rice with the meatballs, so I decided to cook the rice and then added a bit of cream of onion soup and salt and pepper to taste. It turned out to be a great combination. I finally found something new to make that doesn't take all day to prepare!

Crockpot Potato Soup from La Force Be With You

This easy Crockpot Potato Soup is on my menu for this week! Check it out at:

La Force Be With You

Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This is a dish we used to make at the kids camp when I worked there. I make it for potlucks and parties and people love it!

You will need:

4 chicken breasts (boiled/shredded)
(or those yummy cans of chicken from Costco!)
1 package of corn tortillas
1 large can of green enchilada sauce
Shredded Cheese (Cheddar, Mexican, or any kind you wish)
(Optional: olives, chilies, etc.)

Pour enchilada sauce in a separate pan. Coat tortillas with sauce and lay them on the bottom of the casserole dish (about 6). Sprinkle a layer of cheese, then a layer of shredded chicken. Pour enchilada sauce throughout the casserole as well. Keep layering tortillas, cheese, chicken until you get the thickness you want. Cook at 350 degrees for about 20-30 min, until cheese is melted and starting to brown. Serve with sour cream or salsa.

Can he come for dinner???

Easy Crockpot Chicken

This is a great way to make a whole chicken if you are a lazy cooker like me!

You will need:
1 whole chicken
salt & pepper
Other seasonings (optional) i.e. paprika, seasoned salt, etc.
foil

Ball up 3 pieces of foil and put on the bottom of the Crockpot. Wash and prepare chicken as usual. Add seasoning and put chicken on top of the foil balls. Depending on the size of the chicken, it should take 4-6 hrs on low. The chicken will fall off the bone and stays moist. That's it, a super easy way to cook a chicken!

My buddy Rusty Chrome's Chickens...Aren't they cute?