my mexican kick...

i'm an avid fan of mexican food so i thought my next dish to try would be chicken empanadas. i saw the recipe on foodnetwork and it looked delicious! It is definitely a dish you should prep for unless you have four free hours to make it in one day. I tweeked the recipe a bit so i will post the edited version. :)

You Will Need:
3 cups chopped chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store)
1 8 oz. package of kraft mexican shredded cheese
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped tomato
1 half of a jalapeno (seeded and chopped)
1 tbspn cumin
1 1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn pepper
2 (15 oz) refrigerated pie crusts
water


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Start off by mixing your chicken and your next eight ingredients. It should be a thick consistency but not too thick.

Then roll out your pie crust and cut out circles with a 3 in. cookie cutter. Repeat with your remaining pie crusts. I only used three pie crusts but i wound up throwing away some left over mixture. It's up to you to decide. You can always freeze any extra mixture. After you have cut out your rounds place one heaping teaspoon in the center of your round.

After you have done that gently fold over your round and seal closed with a fork. It makes quite a bit of empanadas so i wound up using two sheet pans.

Bake in the oven for fifteen to twenty minutes or until golden brown.

ENJOY!

put a little guac in your guacamole

So about a year ago i had this legend... wait for it... ARY guacamole at a friends house. First of all if you didn't know im obsessed with mexican food and guacamole tends to be a favorite of mine. I just had to have the recipe. It's extremely simple and literally takes no time what so ever, and it's freaking delicious. What more could you ask for? Anyways since i'm making it for a girl's night out i thought i would post the recipe and directions. Why not right?

You will need:

6 avocados

1 red onion

2 large tomatoes

1 lime

1 package of spicy guacamole seasoning

1 package of mild guacamole seasoning


First, begin by slicing your avocados in half and scooping them out into a large bowl. If you've never worked with avocado, the trick is to take a large spoon and just scoop them out. Save four of the cores of your avocados and set aside for later. Take a potato masher and have at it. I like it not completely smooth but a little chunky. Go ahead and stir in your packets of guacamole seasoning.
Next, chop your tomatoes. I generally go by look but for an exact measurement I wind up using about 1 and a half tomatoes. I'm not a huge fan of onion so I generally only chop up half of it. If you really like onion feel free to use the entire onion. Stir them both into your dip.
Lastly, add the juice from the entire lime and stir well. Add the cores you saved into your dip. They will let the guacamole retain it's green color and not turn brown. ENJOY. :)

"And I was like Baby, baby, baby ooh..."

During this summer i babysat or "nannied" five lovely children. You probably think i'm insane. Don't worry, i'm pretty sure I am. :) Only Kidding, i love my kiddos. HOWEVER, there are some very trying and stressful days. I have a thirteen year old sister, so as you can imagine the amount of teeny-bopper music is endless. (wow, i feel old calling it that, if you remember NSYNC, i was their biggest fan) Justin Bieber, if any of you have heard about is the next teen superstar. Before you judge me you should know his music is quite catchy and can be put to good use. During days when every child is upset and cranky and whatever other mood you can possibly imagine i've discovered the song "Baby" immediately cheers everyone up. I played the song today and thought i would post about it because the kids are just well... adorable. 

Wrap me in a bolt of lightning...

I was recently given an AWESOME freezer stencil shirt with a stylish pair of raybans on it. I love the shirt and instantly felt it was necessary to make one! As it turns out about two months ago i purchased The Carnival of Madness concert tickets. (Shinedown, Puddle of Mudd, 10 Years, Chevelle, and Sevendust) Shinedown happens to be one of my favorite bands and as i never have anything to wear as it is, I decided why not make a cool shirt with song lyrics from my favorite song? "Call Me" is by far my favorite song. (sample it on itunes if you're curious) and so i went with the first two lines "Wrap me in a bolt of lightning, send me on my way still smiling". I am in fact an avid user of the website picnik so i typed in my lyrics and chose a pretty cool font. 

My friend Jen also thought it would be a cool idea to put a lightning bolt behind the words. Once again, i printed it off of picnik. :) After printing everything out, we traced it onto freezer paper.

Then the real fun began... NOT. You take an X-acto knife and cut out all the tiny letters. If i had thought about this better i probably would have chosen an easier font. After everything is cut out you simply iron on the paper and paint away. Luckily, i had Jen to help.

After painting let dry for 4 hours. and VOILA! Here's my finished product.

The Beginning

Bear with me, i'm very new to the whole blog scene. I wanted somewhere special to document my cooking adventures and well... anything else interesting that happens. Stay Tuned!