What do you do with expired flour tortilla shells?  I had some leftover flour shells from a dish we had made and I didn’t want them to go to waste, they were still good.  I wanted to find something and came up with homemade cinnamon sugar pita chips.

You have to try these, they were so good.

You will need

• cooking spray
• butter
• flour tortilla shells
• sugar
• cinnamon

1. preheat oven to 400°
2. spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray
3. lightly butter tortilla shells
4. sprinkle cinnamon & sugar onto shells
5. use a knife or pizza cutter to cut into small pieces
6. lay on cookie sheet and bake for 7 minutes (watch these as they can burn easily, you may need to adjust your time)
7. take out of oven and enjoy
8. 

What you see on the plate is only 2 burrito sized shells.  These are a quick yummy treat.

I am linking up at

These are so yummy and make a great snack to put out at functions.

I used some Christmas M&M’s that I got on clearance so that is why they are all red & green.

You will need:

mini pretzels

Hershey Kisses

M&M’s

Place a layer of pretzels on a cookie sheet.  Place one Hershey Kiss on top of each pretzel.  Carefully place sheet into an oven at 350º for just a few minutes, until the chocolate melts a bit.  Take the sheet out of the oven and smoosh an  M&M into the melted chocolate.  Wait a bit for them to cool and then enjoy!

Let’s make some super easy, super delicious chicken enchiladas.

You will need:

1/2 stick butter

1 onion, chopped

1 pound chicken breasts cut into chunks

1 can (4 ounces) diced green chilies, drained

3 ounces cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 fajita size flour tortillas

1/3 cup half and half

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Heat oven to 350°

Coat a 13×9 baking dish with nonstick spray

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat (is there anything yummier than the smell of butter melting?)

Add onion and cook for 5 minutes while stirring.

Add chicken and cook for 5 more minutes

It’s starting to look good

Turn off heat

Stir in chilies, cream cheese & salt

Oh, this looks and smells so good

Spoon 1/3 cup filling down the center of your tortilla

Roll & set seam side down in your baking dish

Pour half and half evenly over the tops of your enchiladas

Cover with cheese

Bake uncovered for 23 minutes or until top is golden brown

Cool slightly before serving

Yum, yum, yum.  Time to enjoy!

I always make a double batch because we enjoy them so much.  These also freeze really well.

This has to be one of the simplest things to cook.  You can adjust the amount you use and feed one person or a whole crowd.  We do this for dinner often at our house as a quick, cheap meal.

You will need:

frozen hashbrowns, eggs, an onion & cheese (I prefer cheddar)

Put some oil in your pan and heat it up.  Then dump in your hashbrowns and let them cook up.  I usually salt & pepper them while they are cooking.

While those are cooking you will chop up your onion.  You can use as little or as much as you like.  We happen to love onions so I am putting this whole one in.

Next, crack all of your eggs into a bowl.  Then use a fork to whip them together.

The hashbrowns are starting to look good.  I’m getting hungry now.

Time to pour in the eggs.

Mix the eggs right together with the hashbrowns.  Continue mixing the eggs together.

This is what it will look like after the eggs have cooked.  At this point I put the cheese in and stir it around until it melts.

Sorry for the smaller picture.  I don’t know what happened.  Anyway, now you are ready to enjoy your meal.  You can also add bacon, sausage or ham to your skillet.  Enjoy!

I have posted this over at www.raisinghomemakers.com

Check out what others are doing this week.

Let’s make some yummy Rice Krispy treats

You will need:

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

10 oz package of marshmallows

3 Tbs. butter

chocolate chips (optional)

baking dish and cooking spray

First you are going to melt the butter over a low heat.  Doesn’t that smell good?  I love the smell of butter as it is melting, heavenly it is.

Once the butter is melted go ahead and dump in your package of marshmallows.  You will want to stir constantly so they don’t burn.

Oh, that is looking good!

Once the marshmallows are melted you will turn off the fire.  You will dump in your Rice Krispies.  Stir these until they are completely coated with yummy marshmallow goodness. 

Then spray your dish with cooking spray so they don’t stick.

Now you are ready to scoop your treats out of the pot and into your baking dish.  Just leave these out on the counter until they are cool.

Time to enjoy!

(Optional) We decided to add some mini chocolate chips on the top.  You can also stir these in if you like.  Whatever makes you happy.

Now, wasn’t that simple.  I know you want to make a batch now.  Enjoy!

My goal in posting real recipes is simple.  I never really learned how to cook growing up.  My mom was a great cook and she enjoyed doing it so she never really wanted help in the kitchen.  While I appreciated that as a teenager I also feel like I was at a disadvantage when I married and moved out.  I was 19 when I married and didn’t know how to do much.  Lucky for me my hubby was a Marine and can eat just about anything so he always ate my mess ups with a smile on his face.

So anyway, back to my goal, I want to post simple things that even those who don’t know how to cook can make.  I like to post multiple pictures to show you the steps along the way.  I hope this is helpful to some of you.

Now, let’s make some easy chicken salad.

You will need whatever ingredients you like in your chicken salad.  We use mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, onions, salt, pepper & chicken in ours.  You will see I have a bag of cut up chicken in my picture.  This is because I made chicken breasts a couple of nights prior so I went ahead and made some extras that way they were ready to go for a quick chicken salad.

 Here is my brand new, thank you hunny, Wolfgang Puck food processor from HSN.  I got a fantastic deal on this and am so excited to finally own one.

 Just dump all (I mean all) of your ingredients into your food processor.  I didn’t cut up the chicken anymore than it was and I didn’t cut the pickles up at all. 

 Turn on your nifty food proccessor and watch as it cuts and mixes everything up.

 Yummy, yummy, yummy.  Add a slice of cheese if you like and you have a delicious, healthy sandwich for a whole lot cheaper than getting one out.

Note: If you do not have a food processor that is OK.  I made these sandwiches for years without one.  Just cut up all of your ingredients however small you like and mix in a big bowl.  It still tastes just as good.

Update on the clutter challenge.  I am still at only 1 item gotten rid of for the month.  Still 499 to go.  I better get busy.

I’ve linked this up at www.beautyandbedlam.com

This is a really simple meal that tastes delicious.  I found a version of this recipe on the Internet ages ago and tweaked it just a bit to fit our family. 

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

The things you will need are…. 1 pound chicken breasts, minced garlic, garlic salt, olive oil (not pictured), 1 small onion (not pictured), cornstarch, soy sauce, frozen broccoli and 3 packages of Ramen noodles (any flavor).  You can also substitute and use white or brown rice instead of noodles.

I like to use my Lodge dutch oven for this recipe.  You will want to warm up your pot and then add 1 1/2 TBS olive oil.  Then add your small chopped up onion.  You can use more or less onions depending on your families preferences.  Also add a spoon full of mined garlic.  You are going to want to stir often and just cook until the onions soften up a bit.  I usually cook for about 3 minutes.

While the onions are cooking you will want to cut up your chicken.  I like to cut mine into very small cubes.  They cook fast this way and also spread out further.  We only use 1 pound of chicken for a family of 4 including 2 teenage sons.  Add the chicken to the pot and cook until no longer pink.

Also, at this time you will want to start boiling a pot of water to cook your ramen in.

While the chicken is cooking you will want to prepare your sauce.  I like to use a large measuring cup and just add everything into it.  You will need 1 cup of cold water, 2 TBS soy sauce, a sprinkle of garlic salt & 1 TBS corn starch.  You will also need a wire whisk or fork to stir this in a few moments.

Once the chicken is done cooking you will add 1 small package or half a large package of frozen broccoli.  You just add this from frozen as you can see in the picture below.  Continue to cook your meal on a low heat and the broccoli will soften up.  At this point you might want to cover your pot because the broccoli will cook faster this way.

Next, you are going to cook your ramen noodles.  You will want to add all 3 packages to boiling water and cook for 3 minutes.  Do not use the flavor packets that come with the ramen.  Just discard those or save them for a future use.  Do not over cook your ramen.  It will turn slimy and gross.  Trust me on this one. 

Since the ramen is done go ahead and drain it and set it aside.  Now you are going to start your sauce.  Get your measuring cup and stir the sauce together.  Put it into a pot and bring to a boil.  You want to stir this sauce the entire time.  It takes several minutes.  You will know it’s ready when it turns a dark brown color and is thicker.

Once the sauce is done you will add your ramen into the pot and then pour the sauce right on top.  Stir this around really good to mix up the ramen and coat everything in the yummy sauce.

Last step is to serve it and enjoy.

I am linking this up at www.beautyandbedlam.com

I came across a new blog today.  While there I saw a post about these delicious looking candy corn cupcakes.  I am going to a huge party tomorrow and thought these would be a great dessert to bring.

I made 3 batches of them.  Let me just say that they are as tasty as they are cute. 

Instead of posting the whole recipe here, I thought I would just link to the other blog.  Check them out if you are interested in making them.

http://www.yesterdayontuesday.com/2010/10/candy-corn-cupcakes.html

photo and recipe courtesy of  yesterdayontuesday