The way to a mans heart is through his stomach..

Adam was a very picky eater when we first started dating and it stayed that way through the beginning of our marriage.. He didn't become more open to foods until he moved to Korea and there he started to try things. Adam was so picky but the reason he was picky was because he THOUGHT he didn't like things. How can you dislike something you have never tried??

Thankfully he has changed a lot and isn't as picky but his love for Chicken Alfredo has stayed the same. So a very regular meal in our house is, Chicken Alfredo.

I found this recipe at Plain Chicken one afternoon a few years ago while I was searching Pinterest for new dinner meals. I knew I had to make it and it became Adams favorite meal I cook. As time went on I made a few tweaks to it. This feeds our family of 4 and we ALWAYS have leftovers.

Cheese Bread, Banana Pudding, and the amazing Chicken Alfredo!!

Chicken Alfredo Recipe
- 1 box of Penne Pasta
- 2 containers of Alfredo Sauce(you can either make your own or I just buy the alfredo sauce by the spaghetti sauce, so whichever you prefer)
- 1 small container of Sour Cream
- 1 small container of Ricotta Cheese
- cooked Chicken(you can use as much or as little as you'd like)
- 1 Egg (sometimes I put this in and sometimes I don't it really doesn't make a difference)
- 3 cups of shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Optional
- Minced garlic or garlic powder
- Parsley
- Pepper

Pre-Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Follow the directions on the penne box on how to cook it, while the penne is cooking shred the chicken. Drain the penne once its done cooking and mix together the penne, cooked chicken, Alfredo sauce, sour cream, ricotta cheese, egg, and 1/2 a cup of mozzarella cheese. You can also mix in some garlic, parsley, and pepper but that is all up to you. I only put a small amount of garlic, most of the time I forget to put Parsley in, and I just sprinkle some pepper on top before it goes in the oven. Spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray and pour the mixture in the pan the top with the rest of the Mozzarella cheese. Place in the oven and cook for 25-35 minutes depending on your oven. I normally cook it for 25 minutes and if its not done cooking I will continue cooking it for 5 minutes until it looks finished. It will be bubbling and browning a little on the top. Let it sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

ENJOY!!

My First VoxBox!!

A few days ago I signed into my influenster account just to see if anything had changed. Sure enough I had a surprise waiting for me! A VoxBox was on its way and in that box was Reese's spread. Funny thing is 2 days prior Brett saw a commercial about the Reese's spread and asked me if we could get some. So it was perfect! We had never tried this before and I didn't see it as something that could go on food too often.

So Monday rolled around and I was so excited to see if it was in the mail! Since it was like -4 degrees Fahrenheit out, I decided I'd wait until my husband came home for lunch and he could go out to see if it was in the mail. He walked in and I KNOW what he was thinking.... "What did she buy now?" Before he could even ask I blurted out "IT WAS FREE!!!" Then I grabbed my camera and started snapping away. Brynna was also my little taste tester.




My very first thought was this box is MUCH smaller than I expected but I have seen the product before at the store and its not that big of an item, so the box was a perfect size for the container inside it.

Then it was time for Brynna to figure out what was inside of this box. Once she realized what it was she was so excited to give it a try! We picked out a few different items to try with the Reese's Spread, but the main way Brynna wanted to eat it was on her finger right out of the container... Go big or go home..

Each one is a graham cracker with Reese's Spread.
The top left has marshmallows, top right plain,
bottom left has apples, bottom right has banana's.

We created a few of our very own masterpieces that were very tasty. Originally Brynna only wanted to lick the Reese's spread off her finger but then I pulled out the crackers and she was pretty pumped about eating it on crackers. She wasn't too pumped about trying the fruit with the reese's spread but I told her she had to take at least one bite. I looked away for a few seconds and she ate the WHOLE thing! I asked her which one was her favorite and I'm sure you already know... The one with the marshmallows was her favorite! I didn't put all the marshmallows back up and sure enough she ran off with all of them.

Even though my daughter helped me with the review my son came home from school that afternoon and when he saw the "Reese's stuff" he said, "YAY! You got it!" He had to have some and he loved it. I may surprise him with some in his lunch box every once in awhile. The Reese's spread wouldn't be something we will eat every day but every once in awhile is okay. It is very sweet, like a Reese's(DUH...) and it is kind of gritty so if you only like smooth peanut butter then this probably won't be for you. For our next big get together I may try and make a dessert with the Reese's spread. Personally it was very sweet for my husband and I but my daughter and son LOVED it.

This evening I decided to go ahead and make some no bake cookies with the Reese's spread. We had all the ingredients it called for so I gave it a go. Brett LOVED the cookies! When he comes to ask for another cookie he says, "Can I have another one of those delicious cookies?" It's hilarious. So they were a huge hit with the kids. To me I could taste more of the honey, so next time I will probably not add so much honey BUT with the recipe they weren't nearly as sweet as I expected them to be.

No bake Reese's Spread Cookies
- 1 cup oatmeal(I just used old fashioned oatmeal)
- 1/4 cup Reese's Spread
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

In a bowl mix all the ingredients together, roll into a bite size balls, refrigerate for about 10 minutes(honestly I ate one before I even put them in the fridge and it was fine haha). This recipe makes about 12 cookies. If I were to make these again, I'd probably do 1/3 cup of Reese's Spread

*I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes but all opinions are 100% my own.

The Perfect Christmas Breakfast!

What do you cook Christmas morning? Normally we have no time to cook breakfast and last minute I'm throwing together some pancakes, eggs, and bacon. What I hate about doing that is during that time I could be helping the kids open their boxes the toys are in. Putting up their clothes. Or getting prepared for Christmas lunch. So this year I stumbled upon a breakfast recipe and at first I never made it because I kept forgetting to buy the ingredients. Well I found it again when I was skimming through all my awesome pinterest pins and finally decided I HAD to make it! I am SO thankful I did. It is AMAZING!

I found this recipe at Tomatoes on the Vines. I did change up the ingredients a tiny bit but it is good either way.

First Ingredients:
- 2 Kings Hawaiian Sweet Round Bread.
- 8oz cream cheese softened
- 7 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups mik
- 2/3 cup half & half cream
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar(sometimes I forget to add this and its still amazing)

Ingredients for the following morning:
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cups of milk
- 1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions:
- Lightly grease your pan(I use a 9x13 but you can use slightly bigger or smaller)
- I just tore apart the round bread and placed it in the pan
- In a large bowl beat the cream cheese(the first time I didn't have a mixer because we had just moved and didn't have our stuff yet so I used a fork, it was painful but it got the job done. The cream cheese was still a little clumpy but the end results turned out great.
- After that start to mix in the eggs, milk, cream, syrup, and vanilla.
- Pour over the bread, cover, and let it sit in the fridge over night.

- The next morning preheat the oven to 350°F and pull the French toast from the fridge
- Mix 2 more eggs, the milk, and maple syrup and pour over the soufflé again. This helps get the top part covered also and make it a little more moist.
- Bake uncovered for about 50 minutes. Depending on your oven it may not take that long or it may take longer. My oven I have to cook this for about an hour.
- Once it is done cooking you can either eat it plain or you can pour the powdered sugar and a little more syrup over it. It's all up to you :)

ENJOY!


These are our camping plates
and silverware haha

What to Cook Wednesdays

I have decided Wednesday's will now be my recipe blog :) It's always nice to find new recipes right? Lately I have been a crock pot queen! I think I use it 2-3 times a week! I don't know if yall have ever heard of crock pot liners but if you love cooking in your crock pot as much as I do they are a miracle. They have them at the local grocery stores but I can never remember to look for them. So I'm always stuck soaking and scrubbing my crock pot... One day I will remember to write it on my grocery list and I will probably grab like 5 boxes at once.

Anyways I had been trying to figure out what to post as my first "What to Cook Wednesday". I finally decided I will do a crock pot meal and I will do our favorite crock pot meal. Chili. Not any Chili... TACO CHILI! Oh my goodness its seriously AMAZING! I'm not even lying. It may not be the HEALTHIEST chili but its really good. I got this recipe from The Patriotic Peacock. I honestly don't remember who recommended this recipe to me but I'm so glad I tried it.

We use about a pound of ground beef. Sometimes I use a pound in the rolls and sometimes I buy a little more than a pound in the packages. I just use what I have. But here are the ingredients

- A pound of cooked ground beef
- One packet of dry ranch dressing mix
- One packet of taco seasoning
- A large can of crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
- A regular can of diced tomatoes (14.5oz)
- A can of black beans
- A can of kidney beans(I switch off from light and dark kidney beans so get whatever you prefer)
- A can of corn

This is more than enough for my family of 4. My son normally has seconds and so does my husband, sometimes thirds..... I'm not judging you babe :) but we always have left overs. I always cook a side of corn bread and then we also sometimes may add some fritos if we have them. If you'd like you can also add some onions to the mix. If you double the recipe you could probably do half ground beef and half ground turkey. As toppings you can do cheese or sour cream. Whatever you prefer. Anyone else have a chili recipe they'd like to share? I may give it a try one night for dinner..