What? Sarah Cooked a Meal?!!!?

Lets face it I'm not a good cook it's not the first time I've talked about it. Well I have been taking a cooking class to try to fix this and it has helped a bit. Last night I tried my hand at a homemade soup and it actually turned out so good that I thought I would share the recipe.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

3 cups chicken stock

2 skinless, chicken breasts
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 tsp  chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
4-6 jalapeno peppers, minced
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups frozen corn
1/2 cup tomato paste
8 oz pepperjack cheese, divided
1 cup cilantro, chopped

Lime

Tortilla chips

In a large Dutch oven or stockpot, add chicken stock and heat over medium heat. Add chicken breasts, cumin, chili powder, and cayenne pepper. Simmer about 20-25 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and set aside. Add tomatoes, jalapenos, onion, and garlic to the pot. Simmer about 30 minutes, covered until tomatoes have begun to break down. Add black beans, corn, and tomato paste and stir to incorporate. Add  the pepperjack cheese and stir to melt. Return chicken to soup and cook about 20 more minutes until desired consistency. 

If soup isn't as thick as desired, you can add strips of flour tortillas. They will dissolve into the soup to thicken the broth. Add cilantro, reserving some to top individual bowls if desired. Ladle into serving bowls and top with crushed tortilla chips,squirt some lime juice and add reserved pepperjack cheese and cilantro if desired.

adapted from this amazing sites recipe.

Weekend Review: The Most Boring Weekend...

The weekend was seriously a bore... It was kind of nice though. My allergies have been acting up... WAY UP like cant sleep well, bloody noses, headaches and a million sneezes acting up. It's the worse cause I can not take most allergy medicines. ANYWAYS this post wont be full of complaints. I PROMISE you that's it. Friday I was spoiled. My visiting teachers came over and gave me lots of treats (my house was clean this time thank you!), then at work I was given even more treats.

And this is after Jon got into them if you notice half the cake is gone and
quite a few cookies and rolls are gone too.... ( I may have helped a bit)

We went to Applebee's for my favorite queso dip and it just so happens that my sister was working that night. Her and her Fiance both work there as servers and were on duty which explains why they were not answering our plees of friendship. When they got off we went to their house to watch a movie. Super fun but bad choice for my sneezing nose. They have 3 dogs who love attention and apparently I am quite allergic to them. One roll of toilet paper later the movie, 30 Minuets or Less was over and actually pretty good.
Saturday was spent lounging around. We have started watching DR. Who on Netflix and it pretty much consumes our free time now... For those of you who don't know what DR. Who is... Look it up British T.V. show and it is quite entertaining. We did decide to venture out into the real world and take advantage of the nice weather... AKA not 100 Degrees outside. We took Ruca to the Dog park finally and it was worth it... LOOK at this Sunset...

Sunday Was spent at church teaching my little ones, well little one. This week I only had one little nugget, and let me tell you it was NOT easy. This little man is ALL boy he loves to talk, hates to listen and can't sit still for the life of him. I use pictures a lot in my lessons and he kept saying "put that away, DON'T use those, I hate those" Seriously! So after going through everything I had we still had 45 minuets left... UHHHH So we went on a walk and I made a game up thinking that should take a big chunk of the time up... NOPE  When we got back there was still 30 minuets left. So I did what any good teacher does and I called for my Hubby. Jon is so adorable with little ones, especially crazy boys. That crazy little nugg just sat there staring at Jon until he finally walked over grabbed the chocolate I had been bribing  giving him and handed it to Jon. That was it, it was love.

I just have to share one quote from this silly little boys ramblings.... While talking about something COMPLETELY  unrelated he interrupts...

"When I grow up I'll be a HUMAN!" He was seriously so excited about this I just had to let him know that he is in fact a human right now, in which his reply was " Not a real Human. I'm just a small human But Ill be a BIG Human when I grow up"

So there you have it my oh so boring weekend that I some how managed to write a giant post about... Congrats if you made it through :)

Linking up with Sami, Molly and Brooke

Weekend Review

Hey Everyone! I am linking up here. I didn't take to many pictures of my self... aka none... But I had a fabulous weekend. My cousins little boy turned one this week so we spent a lot of our time with him. He is seriously the cutest little thing. My Sister and her Fiance make amazing cakes and they made Little Kody's first cake. Isn't it the cutest thing?

 Kody was not afraid to dig right in but right after was not very happy with the results... 

So maybe I took one picture I had just come from work and school all day so I'm a little gross...

Don't judge me :)

 Saturday we spent the day with some of our good friends from out of town. We had a BBQ and we were tasked with bringing the desert (my friends know that I a horrible cook so this is our permanent assignment around these parts). Jon wanted to do something different so we combined our baking powers and came up with this amazing cake...

Better Than Sex Cake

It is seriosuly so easy and incredibly delicious we found the recipe here... I don't know if it really was better than sex BUT it was pretty darn close....

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box Devil’s Food Cake
• 1 8-oz tub cool whip
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 bottle caramel ice cream topping
• 1 package Heath bar pieces (found in the baking aisle by the chocolate chips)

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook Devil’s food cake in a 9 x 13 inch pan, according to package directions and let it cool.
2. In a large bowl, combine caramel and sweetened condensed milk.
3. Using the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes in the cake every couple of inches. Alternatively, you can use a fork to poke holes.
4. Pour the caramel/sweetened condensed milk over the top of the cake so that it fills all of the holes.
5. Spread Cool Whip over the top of the cake.
6. Sprinkle Heath bar pieces on top.
7. Enjoy! PS: Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Your Looking at the Next Julia Childs

This semester I am being forced to take a cooking class. I have put it off as long as I possibly could but the time is now. Now why in the world would I be so afraid of a simple cooking class you ask? Well, I am forced to come to terms with my inability to cook. That's right this girl right here has absolutely no cooking skills. I can bake a BOMB cake and a MEAN cupcake but when it comes to dinner I over season and over cook. I can usually follow a recipe.... the first time and after that my meals just go down hill... Its a curse. Lately it has been getting worse too. My poor hubby has found this out the hard way. He has been forced fed dry chicken, under cooked pasta and burnt veggies many a night. Needless to say he is pretty excited about this class. To tell you the truth I am kinda stoked about it too. Although I have done everything short of changing my major to avoid this class I think a good lesson or two (or 12) will do our little family some good. Today is my first Lab... we actually get to cook its not just theory... I will be decked out in a real chefs coat that I picked up from the book store and all. So wish me luck I am about to embark on the adventure of a life time.... Who knows maybe I have some insane hidden talent (deep,deep down)

Pancakes...

Do you think if I eat these all the time ....

I can avoid looking like this....

Yeah I didnt think so either but maybe with these girls help I can....

Their website is awesome it is my new work out obsession!Here is their website... http://toneitup.com

They even have a great healthy pancake recipe... They are my work out match made in heaven!