5 Easy Chicken Recipes

About a year ago I made a glorious discovery: Canned Chicken. 

That might sound gross, but hear me out! 

I am a bit of a germaphobe (Thanks Dad) and will do anything I can to avoid dealing with raw meat. Every time I have to, I practically hose my kitchen down with Lysol afterwards. 

Also, I am the laziest cook in the world. When I see a recipe that has more than 5 ingredients or steps, the phrase "Aint nobody got time for that" comes to mind. 

So canned chicken is my new best friend!

 

The pros include: 

• Time saving: you don't have to thaw or cut!
• Peace of mind: Its already cooked so no worrying there!
• Cheap: The cans in this photo cost less than $10 at Sam's Club 

Now lets get to the good stuff:

Chicken Tacos

We make these using a YUMMY Taco Bell sauce. One can makes about 5 fairly large tacos.

White Sauce Enchiladas

We use two cans for a pan of these DELICIOUS enchiladas. Since putting the enchiladas together takes a bit of time, its nice to not worry about cooking chicken. This is also my go-to recipe to deliver to a visiting teaching sister.

Buffalo Wing Dip

This is hands down, Jason's favorite thing that I make. This uses two cans of chicken and reheats REALLY well...not that it will last long! We've also started substituting the Buffalo sauce for just plain BBQ sauce (I'm not a spicy food person) and we like it even more!

Chicken Salad Crescents

This is a new recipe I tried a few weeks ago and its quickly become a favorite. Just one can is needed, and a little goes a long way.

Chicken Pasta Bake

This recipe also uses two cans of chicken and makes the dish a lot better. I had to fiddle with it because the original recipe didn't have a protein. 

There you have it! 5 Super quick and easy recipes that are all favorites around our place. I promise you won't be disappointed.  

7 Month Update

Today Marlene is 7 months old! Time is sure flying and we are still learning new things 
each day about our little girl. 

Right now we are having fun baby-proofing our apartment. Over the past month we've had to block off a lot of cords and electronics. From the minute she wakes up in the morning Marley is in constant motion. She's getting into everything! 

Its also fun to watch Marlene's interests change. She goes through fazes where she really likes to play with certain toys. One of my favorite things to do is just watch her play on the floor and see the little wheels turning in her head.

 At her 6 month check up a few weeks ago Marley was 15 pounds 6 oz, and measured 26 inches long. Last appointment (July 3rd) she was 14 pounds 13 oz, and 25.75 inches long. The doctor said that this is the age where the weight gain kind of slows down because they are moving so much. I don't have a problem believing that!

Here's how things are going right now:

Marlene Likes 
Looking at books
Sleeping on her tummy
Being outside
Shopping with Mommy
Getting into trouble Scooting around 
Feeling different textures
Being rocked to sleep
Playing with Daddy
Watching Bubble Guppies
Listening to singing 
Staring people down while they're eating
Splashing Mommy during baths
Eating cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes, and pears 

Marlene Doesn't Like
Being swaddled
 Getting shots
Being surprised by loud noises
When the walker gets stuck in a corner
Avocados
 
Every day is an adventure with this little girl. I've especially had fun trying to put her to sleep without being swaddled. We've almost got the hang of things, but sometimes it takes a few tries to put her to sleep now. I'm just grateful that its working, because she's getting to big and it is just too hot to keep on swaddling. 

We sure love our happy girl! I'm really excited to have her get pictures taken later in September.

Postal Pix

I don't know about you, but I have a MILLION pictures on my phone. In my unbiased opinion, I have the cutest baby in the world so I am constantly taking pictures of her. 

I've been looking for a way to get them printed, and I stumbled upon this awesome app called Postal Pix. Its FREE for iPhone or Android, and they'll print your phone pictures for as little as $0.29!

I paid using PayPal and was able to also get some of my Instagrams printed as well. The shipping was like a dollar, and I'm very happy with the finished product. 

 Also, I had some problems with my photos uploading at first and they were VERY helpful. They even gave me 5 free pictures because of the trouble. 

I'll be using this app A LOT, and now I can clear some memory on my phone! 

Adventures in Baby Proofing

Our sweet little Marlene has become quite a little rascal. She isn't officially crawling yet, but she can scoot her way towards anything she wants bad enough. And the one thing she loves to do is get into our TV stand. 

I've caught her turning on the DVD player, sticking her hands inside the VCR, and opening Daddy's XBOX. I guess she had to find something new to explore since we blocked off the air conditioner and power cords. 

Because I don't enjoy spending 90% of my day directing Marlene away from our electronics, the baby proofing had to go to the next level. 

Our TV stand is from IKEA and doesn't have doors. So my awesome husband who is a genius, bought all the supplies to make some! We were able to install these 
doors for about $10.

This project took my poor husband about 3 hours, not counting spray painting the day before. I'm so grateful he is a patient man who really thinks things through and is 
a good problem solver. 

Our electronics are safe for now...

Chicken Salad Crescents

Pinterest has done it again! I love it when I try a new recipe that actually works. 

This was my inspiration:

Find the original recipe HERE

I did mine a little differently to make it faster and easier, 

but the ingredients are basically the same. 

Here's what you need: 

1 13oz can of chicken

1 tsp worchest. sauce

1 tsp salt

1tsp pepper

3/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup shredded cheese (we used fiesta blend)

2 cans of  crescent rolls (16 total)

Directions:

1. Drain canned chicken, pour into medium sized bow and shred.

2. Mix in all other ingredients (except crescent rolls) and stir.

3. Take a spoonful of chicken salad and roll into a crescent roll. The best way to do this is put the salad on the large end of the dough, then fold in half. Pinch together the sides and fold the little "tail" of dough around the top.

4. Sprinkle some cheese on top, then bake at 375 for 18 minutes.  

These turned out super yummy and I'll definitely make them again. (The hubby gobbled them down, I'm lucky I still got pictures!) One thing you need to know though, is that these aren't very filling by themselves. They would definitely work as party food though.    

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Today my brother Nathan turns 15! I can't believe it, and I still feel like he should be that curly-haired baby playing with Thomas trains. 

As you can tell by these pictures, we've had some fun times. Even with our 11 year age difference, I consider my brother to be one of my best friends and the coolest kid around. 

Happy Birthday Nathan!

6 Month Update

 

(my favorite photos from the past month)

Hard to believe our baby girl is 6 months old! Over the past month she has changed so much. She is SO close to crawling, wearing size 3 diapers, loves eating cereal, and we're having fun introducing her to new foods. 

 
Also, yesterday we realized she has cut her first tooth. We were wondering what was up with her because she wasn't sleeping well and had been extra cranky. Last night I let Marlene chew on my finger and that's when I felt a little tooth. 

In the last few weeks we noticed Marlene starting to "scoot" around but she wasn't strong enough to push up on her hands and knees. Now, we catch her rocking back and forth on her hands and knees and she has face-planted a few times. She will 
definitely be crawling before August is over. 

Another development this month is that she got her first bruise! I noticed a tiny little bruise on her forehead last week. We think it was either from one of her many face-plants, or from bonking her head on the crib. (She has become a WILD sleeper!!) 

Here's how other things are going:

Marlene Likes:

Playing on the floor

Rolling around on the floor

Scooting on the floor

Dropping her toys on the ground out of the stroller

Eating in the high chair
Noisy/Busy places

Babbling VERY loudly

Shopping with Mommy

Sitting in the walker...almost able to push off

Marlene Doesn't Like:
Getting overheated
Sitting in the swing very long
Face-planting while attempting to crawl
Getting pinned in a corner of the crib
Laying flat...all she wants to do is sit up

We sure love our crazy girl! She's starting to grow up so fast it makes me emotional sometimes. I keep thinking back to this time last year when she was still in my tummy and we didn't even know we were having a girl. Time sure flies!