Skip to main content

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?


Comments

Yum, I am all about delicious dips so I will have to make this next time we have a party to go to! I feel like I have not been home enough lately to really connect with my kitchen and experiment with recipes but hopefully that will change this fall! I did make chicken enchilada soup in my crockpot this weekend but I feel pretty 'meh' about it. It was a low calorie recipe which is completely apparent.

I also totally understand your need to be home in your pjs at 7:30... especially when you have such early mornings for your training. Friday nights are tough for me because of my long weeks/inability to sleep as many hours as I'd like, and then Saturday nights can be tough as I am up at 5:30-5:45 on Saturdays for run club... so I am usually yawning/battling to stay awake!
Marlys said…
That dip looks great! I don't think we will be doing much more entertaining at the lake this year, but I definitely will keep it for the next event!
All the food looked great, by the way, and I'm happy that Ryan liked the "pie". I have made spaghetti pie but that recipe looked awesome, as I'm sure you used your own basil, right?
marybeth said…
Abby, this recipe looks so good, question: the cream cheese, is that supposed to be 2-8 oz pkgs?

Popular posts from this blog

What is your color?

Green My favorite color ever! I have to control myself to not purchase too many green things. If I had no control, my house would be green. My kitchen would be lime-themed. With greenery everywhere. My bathrooms would be green. My bedroom would be green. You would all feel nauseated-green after entering my home. (So I don't have a green-themed home) Many things I love are green, such as: Spinach (I eat it a minimum twice a day usually) My weding color was green. (clover green) Limes (I have at least one time a day) Grass. I love the feel of grass, especially since I see it so rarely in AZ (except in my neighborhood that has amazing landscapers with grass-galore) Palm trees. Any tree. Christmas trees. I love Christmas Green Beer. I think the green beer on St. Patty's Day tastes better. My favorite color of eyes. When I was in 9th grade, I so badly wanted to get green contacts. But they made me keep my brown eyes. Diet Mountain Dew (my guilty pleasure) Granny Smith

Currently - May edition

   I haven't blogged much - but the last time I did one of these, Maddy was 9 months old. It's really fun looking back on the things that were "stressors" to me at that time. Prior to that - my currently post was a pregnancy edition.  So here goes May 2022. Maddy is almost a 15-month old and summer has set ablaze here in Tucson.   Reading :  I really wish I had a better answer for this one, but I have not been the best about reading lately. The only book I'm reading is "How to talk to your kids so they'll listen and listen so they'll talk". It is really good. Most of the book is geared more to school-aged kids, in my opinion. But it highlights some great communication skills with children to help them trust you as a parent to be open and honest. Eating: All the smoothies. It has been getting really hot here - and every day when we get home from our stroller run I make a smoothie for Maddy with whole milk, Fage, and fruit - and then a smoothie for

8 Months

 Well, I missed month 1-8. But it is never too late to begin, right? Here is a recap of Maddy at 8 months. (I'm totally stealing this idea from my sister, Lisa. I thought it was so neat that she recaps her son's favorites and happenings every month)   How am I sleeping? Better than I was - but not as good as my peers. It also depends on if I'm teething. Last week, her 2nd tooth was poking through - so she was awake 3 times.  No matter how much I let her cry it out, I cannot seem to cut down her feedings. When I go in there - she is literally pulling at my shirt with her mouth wide open. So clearly she's hungry.  She eats 2 times/night and luckily goes right back to sleep. It is what it is. What am I eating? While we have had breastfeeding and bottle refusal struggles - I am so glad that taking to food as been relatively smooth. We are doing baby led weaning, and Maddy really enjoys most every food I've given her.  Her favorite foods are scrambled eggs, apples, and c