Recent Kitchen Happenings

I must admit....I've been rocking some serious new dishes in the kitchen lately! From our pesto party last weekend to this weekend. I'm feeling "one with the food".

I made 3 new recipes over the weekend, and I have to say all are keepers! Especially the Chicken Enchilada Dip - which I will share below....

What a great Labor Day weekend! It had the perfect balance of fun and productivity!

Friday night Ryan worked until 1 am, so I had a girls' night. Went to dinner with my girlfriends Michelle and Heather, and then we went to the movie "If I Stay" -- which was the 1st book we read in our book club! Loved the movie. Most crying I've ever heard in a movie theater! I love my "date nights" with these girls, and we never seem to run out of things to talk about!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early at 4:30 for a Bike/Run brick workout. This was the biggest workout to date with this 70.3 training. We did 31.5 miles on the bike and 8 miles running. The 8 mile run actually went better than I expected. Had it not been in the 80's with the sun blaring, it would've been a breeze!

That afternoon I prepared my Chicken Enchilada Dip, relaxed by the pool with Ryan for a bit, and headed over to a friend's house for a BBQ/Pool Party! However, I was so tired/run down that we were home by 7:30.

#granny. (For the record, I was awake until 10. I just severely needed to be in my pajamas on the couch)

Sunday we went to mass, I made Peach Cobbler, we did some shopping, and ended the day with dinner at Ryan's Dad's house.

I felt like a true, classic, 1950's housewife cooking my fresh peaches from the market, in my Sunday church dress. (Disregard the bottle of wine in the background...which I was not drinking)

The end result! This was actually a pretty easy and fun recipe to make! And it was pretty dang delicious! I love peach cobbler. It's definitely not sugar free, though ;)

Monday Ryan and I were both back to work! That weekend was a whirl! I had an awesome Masters Swim practice at 5 am, and then off to work I went! Work was insanely busy. When I got home, I decided to de-stress by making a recipe that Ryan could heat up before he went into work the next day.

I didn't feel like going to the grocery store - so I opened my pantry and started pulling out what looked suitable. I paged through my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook, and decided on spaghetti pie.

This is the true way to my husband's heart. He loves pie, but he really really loves pasta. So they got married.

The pie is made up of spaghetti for a "crust", cottage cheese, spinach & basil, ground turkey meat sauce, and mozzarella cheese! He sent me a text before he went into work saying it was a winner. (Score!!)

And here's my recipes for the Chicken Enchilada Dip. This was seriously a winner. All 2 quarts were gone within the 1st hour of the party!! And it's pretty easy!

• 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
• 2 8 oz packages fat free cream cheese
• 1 can rotel (14 oz)
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can whole kernel corn
• 2 cups Mexican shredded cheese
• 2 Tbsp taco seasoning
• cilantro for garnish

1. Shred chicken, set aside.
2. Stir together black beans, corn, rotel, cream cheese, taco seasoning
3. Add in the shredded chicken. Place in a 2 quart dish.
4. Top with cheese & cilantro.
5. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.

What have you been cooking lately? Did you have a good Labor Day weekend?