{Recipe} Four Ingredient Caramel Corn

Hey there! Who needs a fun and simple treat that you can share with your Valentine? Everyone loves caramel corn right??? This takes like 5 minutes to make, you ready?

This post in in partnership with our friends at Jolly Time Pop Corn

Doesn't it look yummy? Well it is. Here's how you do it:

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 bag popped microwave popcorn

1-2 cups mini marshmallows

Directions:

Pop your popcorn according to the package directions. Pour into large bowl.

Melt the sugar and butter in a glass bowl in the microwave. 2 minutes.

Stir in the marshmallows. Heat for 1-2 minutes more until everything is all melty and awesome.

Pour over your popped popcorn and stir until everything is mixed well.

That's it! So easy and crazy delicious.

We don't do a lot of microwave popcorn these days because I've been on an air pop kick. Did you know that Jolly Time has an organic popping kernel? I'll definitely be picking up a bag on my next shopping trip! You can find it HERE.

Have a great day friends!

{RECIPE: Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese}

I'm sharing another simple crock pot recipe with you today! And this one is a CROWD PLEASER. My most requested dish all. the. times.

Ingredients:

1 lb Macaroni noodles

1 stick butter

1 lb Velveeta

8 oz bag sharp cheddar

1 qt. whole milk

Directions:

Cook noodles for half the time recommended on the package. Drain and dump in the crock pot. Cube butter and place in crock pot stirring to coat noodles. Cube Velveeta and place in crock pot. Pour cheddar in. Pour milk in. Stir well making sure everything is mixed up nicely. Cook on low for about 5 hours until melty. You'll want to stir it a few times during the cooking process.

We LOVE this as a side dish with BBQ or fried chicken. It's everyone's favorite!

*NOTE: don't try to lighten it up with low fat ingredients. It's just not the same. It's way fattening, but just go with it ;)

{RECIPE} Cheesy Chicken Chili...in the crockpot!

Hi there! I have a super simple recipe to share with you! This is a great go to for when you need something quick and healthy but don't feel like cooking. Virtually no effort is involved here. Yay!

Cheesy Chicken Chili
3-4 frozen chicken breasts
Jar of your fave salsa
2 cans chili beans
Cup of cheddar

Place chicken in crock pot and pour salsa on top. Cook on low for 7 hours. Shred and place back in crock. And beans and cheese and cook on low for another 30 minutes.

We like it over rice with a little extra cheese, green onions and sour cream. Also great as lunch the next day but I skip the rice and add a little avocado!

Enjoy!

{RECIPE: Gooey Butter Cookies}

Hi friends! I'm sharing a tasty treat with you today!

This is one of my go to cookie recipes and it couldn't be easier! I like recipes that are super simple with very few ingredients. Ain't nobody got time to measure out a million different random ingredients. These have 4 ingredients. You're welcome.

Gooey Butter Cookies:

1 stick of butter

1/4 tsp vanilla
1 egg

8oz. block cream cheese, room temp

1 box of your favorite cake mix {we like the funfetti mix with these cookies, but your favorite mix will be great too}

*optional powdered sugar for dipping

Directions:

Beat butter, vanilla, egg, and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Mix in dry cake mix. Chill dough for 30 minutes. Preheat over to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment {because who has time to wash a cookie sheet?}. I use a cookie scoop and drop them onto the cookie sheet as is. Using this method, I get 24 cookies. Optional method: You can drop them by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar and roll into balls. Then place on the cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Yields 2-3 dozen cookies depending on how big you make them.

They come out light and fluffy and cakey and AMAZINGLY delicious. 

Enjoy friends!

{Recipe: Salmon Tacos}

Hey there! I'm sharing a fun recipe with you all today!

A few weeks back, we re-upped our Costco membership. I picked up the back of frozen salmon filets and have had fun coming up with tasty recipes to use it up! Here is our favorite so far...

 I didn't take pics along the way, but this is a really simple meal to throw together so you shouldn't have any problem following along. This was just enough for my husband and I, but if you are feeding more people, plan accordingly :)

Ingredients:

1 Costco salmon fillet, thawed

olive oil

lime

salt/pepper

4 corn tortillas, fried cripsy

Costco spring salad mix

Cilantro salad dressing from Trader Joe's

avocado

tomato

queso fresco

Directions:

My husband fried up the tortillas while I cooked the salmon. Teamwork woot! Heat up a tbsp of olive oil in your skillet. Place the salmon filet in a shallow dish and squeeze some lime juice on one side. Season with salt and pepper. Place seasoned side down in the skillet. Season the side now facing up with the lime juice salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes on the first side, flip it over and cook 3 minutes on the second side or unitl cooked through.

While your salmon is cooling, toss some of the spring mix with the TJ's cilantro dressing. Cut up your avocado, tomato and cheese too. I cut the filet into 4 smaller pieces. Place fish in taco shell and add you toppings! Yum. They are SO good. We just had them with chips and salso, but you could serve them with rice, beans, etc...whatever you're family likes.

What are your favorite go-to meals from Costo ingredients? If you've blogged about them, leave the link in your comment. I need more ideas! 

Enjoy the tacos! Have a happy day!

{The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies. Seriously.}

I am giving you all my Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe today!!! 

This is hands down my most requested recipe. They're perfect. A little crispy, a little chewy, a little salty. Whole lot of yum. I know a lot of people claim their cookie recipe is the best, but they're wrong :P

***Disclaimer: They have coconut, but before you go saying, "I hate coconut, I would never make these"...let me tell you that I hate coconut too. I have major texture issues with the stuff and these cookies are AMAZING. Trust me.***

Optional Perfect Cookie Gadgets:

Parchment paper {who likes scrubbing cookie sheets, not me!}

Cookie scoop {I have one from William Sonoma. Love. Makes all the cookies the same size.}

Jelly roll pans {don't use air bake cookie sheets, they will flatten your cookies and that will be sad.}

 

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Directions:

Preheat to 375 and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

Cream your butter and sugars until fluffy (I use my Kitchen Aid). Beat in your eggs, then stir in the vanilla.

Mix your flour, soda and salt in another bowl. Stir mixture into the butter and sugar mixture in two batches.

Stir in the chocolate chips and coconut. Drop spoonfuls of dough on your parchment lined cookie sheet

Bake 12 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes and then put them on a cooling rack.

Please don't fear the coconut. These cookies are SO GOOD. Enjoy! 

{no bake oatmeal cookies}

Hi there! I'm sharing with you one of my favorite cookie recipes! This is a yummy no bake cookie that I generally have all the ingredients in my pantry for! Make sure you have a glass of milk nearby when they finish setting :)

No Bake Oatmeal Cookies:

2 cups sugar

1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)

4T cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

2 1/2 cups quick cook oats

1t vanilla

In a medium pot bring sugar, butter, cocoa, and milk to a boil. Hard boil for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the oats and vanilla. Mix well, and let the mixture cool for just a few minutes, then drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Sometimes I pop them in the fridge to speed up the setting process.

That's it! Easy peesy. Great after school treat for the little ones! Enjoy!

So honored to have my recipe featured on Yummly! Check out the feature HERE!!!

{our "fancy" Valentine's Day dinner}...recipe!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful day filled with hugs and chocolate! 

At one point {ok at like 5 o'clock}, I knew I needed to make a conscious effort to back away from the chocolate at eat some protein.

Here is what I cooked up for our Valentine's Day dinner.

See, the bow tie pasta makes it "fancy". That's how I do. Want the super simple yummy recipe? OK!

Italian Lemon Chicken with Bowtie Pasta

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp {half stick} of butter

8 chicken tenders, thawed

1 pkt dry Italian Seasonings Salad Dressing Mix {found by the salad dressing at the grocery store}

Juice of 2 lemons {if you have a tree like me...SCORE}

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 lb box of your fave bowtie pasta

Directions:

Bring pot of water to boil. Add some salt and your pasta and cook according to package directions. While your fancy bowties are cooking, melt butter in large skillet. Place chicken in pan. Sprinkle seasoning packet on top. Brown the chicken in butter and seasonings for a few minutes. Add lemon juice and broth and cook until chicken is done {takes about as long to cook the chicken as it does to make the pasta}. Drain pasta. Remove chicken from sauce and cut into bite size pieces. Add pasta and chicken back to sauce and toss to coat. Done! Easy peesy. Top with some grated parm if you like!

Serving suggestions:

I served our pasta with a green salad {any combo of fruit, nut, cheese, with your fave dressing}, and some garlic bread.

Enjoy!

{InstaFriday...our week in phone pics}

Happy Friday everyone! I am very excited for this weekend!!! Particularly because the weather is going to be beautiful and we have NOTHING to do!!! I see the beach and Disneyland in my future!

Here is a fun little recap our week via pics from my phone! I'm linking up with Jeanette from Life Rearranged!

Funny, I don't remember this rather large piece coming with the game. Hmmm.

I made a gift bag from wrapping paper!!! I saw this on Pinterest. Original pin HERE. Much more cost effective than buying those crazy expensive bags! Next time I will try it with brown wrapping paper and have some fun with my sewing machine. I love sewing on paper :)

Carter made me a bracelet. The best kind of handmade accessory if you ask me!

The view in La Jolla as we were driving home from the blogger meetup. San Diego is lovely.

As promised, this is my "after run" smoothie recipe. It's really more of a method than a recipe I guess, but here you go! Skim milk, a nonfat yogurt, and a banana. Break your banana in half and toss it in the blender. Add your yogurt. Take your milk and fill your yogurt cup up about 2/3 of the the way and pour the milk in the blender. Give it a whirl and VOILA...smoothie!

Today is the 100th day of school! The kids gets to wear hats and bring 100 of something. Carter chose 100 sour jelly beans! He inherited his father's love of the sour candy.

Here is the newest Sew Chatty creation! Pleated Pouches for your sunglasses/glasses {will fit your phone too}. I in the process of finishing the rest today. Aren't they cute!!!

Hope your week was a blast! Enjoy your weekend!

P.S...trying to get a few more new things listed in the shop today so if that happens there will be a shop update later. Stay tuned!

{recipe}…super simple guacamole!

Hi friends! I am sharing my super simple guacamole recipe with you today! I have been making this for several years now it is always a big hit! Only 5 ingredients…here we go!

The ingredients are very basic. I am a simple cook. I think simple food with few ingredients is the way to go! The secret ingredient here is the olive oil…yes I found a way to make avocados more fattening…you’re welcome!!!! It makes it so smooth and creamy…YUM. The lemon adds a great citrus flavor and the the salt just brings it all together. It’s so good. All you need is:

2 Avocados

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp finely chopped onion

2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Slice open avocados. Remove seeds and scrape out the yummy goodness into a bowl. Roll your lemon on the counter a few times to get the juices going, then squeeze the juice of one half into the bowl. Add 1/2 tsp salt. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil. Finely chop up the onion and throw that in too. Mix it all together and let it sit at least one hour in the fridge before serving! Enjoy :)

I doubled the recipe because I had 4 avocados that needed to get used. 

I am serving it tonight with this…

recipe via The Larson Lingo

and tomorrow night with this…

recipe via Joyful Mommas Kitchen

and of course it’s delicious like this for parties…

but right now I’m eating it like this…

Feel free to "pin" this tasty recipe for future use!

Have a happy day!

Elizabeth

{a home cooked meal}

It’s cooling off in southern CA {again} which means I’m craving stick to your ribs comfort food kind of meals. We had TONS of mashed potatoes leftover from Thanksgiving so I decided to make shepherds pie.

I had my mom send me the recipe she makes all the time, but it was a little labor intensive for me and since I’m lazy these days I needed a simpler option. I found a great recipe on the Kraft Foods site that I tweaked a bit. If you like simple cooking and haven’t checked out the Kraft Foods recipes…I highly recommend it! Simple and tasty is my kind of food. Here’s what I went with…

I think I’ll call this Easy Cheesy Shepherds Pie!

Ingredients:

1 lb lean groud beef

1 lb bag organic frozen mixed veggies, thawed

1 jar beef gravy (I used Heinz)

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes

1 cup cheddar cheese (I used sharp)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Brown the beef, drain off the fat. Add veggies and gravy to beef in the skillet and mix well. Place beef mixture in spayed casserole dish. Spread your leftover mashed potatoes on top of the saucy beef an veggies. Sprinkle about a cup of cheese over the top. Bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes until it’s bubbly and the cheese is all melted.

I served it with a green salad and garlic bread. My idea of the perfect salad includes a fruit, a nut and a cheese. Here I used romaine lettuce, bleu cheese, dried cranberries, and walnuts. The fruit, nut, cheese salad method gives you lots of tasty options! 

Typically I bake cookies or something when the college group comes over, but Trader Joe’s has all of their yummy Christmas treats right now so once again, I took the easy way out! Thanks Trader Joe’s!!!

Hope you have a happy day and enjoy this yummy meal!

Elizabeth

{PinterTEST Kitchen}

Hi there and happy Wednesday to you all! I hosted Bunco at my house last night and tested out a cookie recipe I found on Pinterest!

In an effort to “pin less and do more” I actually MADE something I pinned! Yayee me!

RECIPE HERE

Y’all…these cookies are AMAZING! Everyone loved them! I intended to sprinkle with powdered sugar like the recipe stated, but I was out. Boo. They are super easy to make. The only irritating factor was unwrapping like a thousand Rolos. I will definitely be making them again!

I’m linking up with Jess!

What have you pinned and actually made lately??? Was it a success or major fail???

Have a happy day!

Elizabeth

{a week in phone pics} InstaFriday!

We had a very exciting (mmmkay not so much) week! Here are some highlights from our everyday…

I crocheted a few coffee cuffs and stuck a fabric ruffle on them. Love.

My dining room table looked like this for about a week…it’s folded and put away now. Pinky promise.

Someone gets to be “Dark Vader” for Halloween and is VERY excited about it! Thank you Target for your very cost effective costumes :)

I finished this lovely cowl/circle scarf thingy. It was really fun to make. It’s GINORMOUS. I’m going to need some snow stat. Too bad I live in Orange County! You can find the tutorial HERE.

Our Trader Joes has an awesome drawing board and the little man got artsy with a stegosaurus! Lots of spikes…

This was a very tasty and healthy lite lunch (not a great pic…sorry!). I had it everyday this week! Here’s what I did…made 2 cups of brown rice in my rice cooker (to make it not so bland I added some olive oil, salt, garlic, and basil-the frozen kind from TJ’s), added the zest and juice of a lemon, about 8 chopped cherry tomatoes, 10 sliced kalamata olives, a can of tuna in oil (drained),  and a few tsps of capers. Makes about 4 1 cup servings. YUM. I plan on having it for lunch again next week too!

Saved the best for last. My kid is awesome. For reals. He got real quiet in his room the other night and when we went to check on him, he surprised us with this “Happy Mom & Dad Day” party! Complete with fake food and a twirly light show. Love him! October 17th is officially Mom & Dad day at our house!

What did you do this week? Hope you made some memories. Go link up with Jeanette!

Elizabeth