White Chicken Chili

I have been in a soup-making mood. This white chicken chili is so good. I got the recipe from a girl i visit teach but I kind of changed some of it and made it into my own recipe. I made it for a group of friends this past weekend and there were no leftovers!

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients

• Around 5 or 6 chicken tenders (shred them after cooked)
• 1/2 of an onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cans great northern beans, rinsed except for one can
• 1 can corn, rinsed
• around 1 C chicken broth (you can add more if you would like)
• 3 cans chopped green chilies
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, i did not use it)
• 2 cup sour cream ( i try to use low fat)
• 1 C milk OR 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (i prefer the milk b/c it's less fat)
• Directions

• In a large saucepan, saute the chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is cooked.
• In a soup pot add cooked chicken (i shred it at this point) with the beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
• Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and milk until warmed through

Pumpkin Delight!

For all the Halloween parties we attended/had I could not pass up making the notorious pumpkin crumble/cake/treat/delight. My college roommates and I would make this treat for each other's birthdays. What a treat it was to come home to the wonderful smell of pumpkin delight.

This is what is looks like pre-cooked.

People who do not even like pumpkin enjoy this dessert.

Here is the recipe:

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Grease 13 x 9 in pan

Yellow cake mix—remove one cup—set aside in separate bowl.

Bottom layer of cake:

In a large bowl—>

beat remaining cake mix,

½ cup melted butter (I usually do around 1/3 cup)

1 egg

—>press into pan as crust

Middle of cake:

Pumpkin—(1 lb. 13 oz--use LIbby's)

Mix pumpkin filling,

3 eggs,

1 cup sugar,

2/3 cup evaporated milk,

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Poor over crust

Topping:

Combine reserved cake mix with

½ cup sugar,

¼ cup melted butter

—>crumble over top of middle pumpkin part.

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until golden brown on top

This cake is good warm and it is also very good cold. I like to cool it in the fridge and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Funny video about BYU Provo Girls

1 Year of Weddedness

September 25 was our 1 year anniversary. For our wedding, a family gave us a free stay at the Anniversary Inn. So, on Thursday night Andrew and I drove up to Logan to stay at the Anniversary Inn there. We obviously chose the most expensive room. Who wouldn't when you don't have to pay for it!

We stayed in La Hacienda. Oh it was gorgeous. It was the best day ever. It was a hugeee room with a hammock and a fountain and a bathtub with a plasma screen tv in front of it! We went to The Firehouse Pizzeria (one of my all time favorites) We went all out and ordered whatever we wanted. It felt good.

The next day we slept in and were just lazy until we had to check out at noon. Then we did a session at the Logan temple.

It was my favorite anniversary.

THen I got to see my favorite Laura!!!

Chicken Crescent Rolls

let's be realistic, I am not meant to be a blogger. I am a lot better looking at blogs than updating mine. But just because I am not good at something does not mean i will not do it.

So, here is a recipe I just tried tonight. I am into and trying to find simple recipes b/c working full time, church calling, trying to stay fit and being married (not in any particular order) kind of take up a lot of my time. Andrew and I really liked this recipe!! I mean we really liked it. It did not take long at all!

Here is the recipe for Chicken Crescent Rolls:

• 2 whole Chicken Breasts
• 1 can (8 Oz. Can) Crescent Rolls ( I used reduced fat ones)
• 1 cup Cheddar Cheese (or any other kind you want)
• 2 ounces Cream Cheese, softened (reduced fat)
• ¼ cups Diced White Onion ( optional, I didn't have any so i didn't use any!)
• 2 Tablespoons Milk
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• ¼ teaspoons Seasoned Salt
• Pepper To Taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil the chicken in water until fully cook, then take 2 forks and shred it.

Combine the cream cheese, onion, milk, 1 tablespoon of butter (softened), and seasoned salt and mix well. Add the chicken and shredded cheese and mix until chicken is well coated. Add pepper to taste.

Prepare the crescent rolls to make four squares. Fill each square with the chicken-cheese mixture. Bring all four corners together over chicken-cheese mixture and pinch until closed.

Melt the remaining 1 tablespoons of butter and spread over the crescents rolls.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown in a coated brownie pan.

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen, THe Pioneer Woman

I forgot to take a picture while I was making it and when it was done. So here are our leftovers in our cheap plastic container.

Poppyseed Chicken

As a lot of you already know, I love look at recipes and then try them. So, last night I decided to try this "Poppyseed Chicken" I did not want to cook an entire casserole of it (in case we did not like it) So i used a brownie sqaure pan instead. So i will put how much i used on the side in case you want to make yours small too.

5 cups chicken breasts, cooked and cubed I used about 8 chicken tenderloins

1 cup sour cream I used 1/2 C

2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup I used 3/4 of one can

2 cups crushed Ritz crackers (about 1 1/2 rolls of crackers) i used 1/2 of a sleeve

1/2 cup melted butter i used 2 tbsp (i never use the amt of butter recipe calls for except in cookies. and all my things still taste good)

1 T poppy seed

Additional/Optional ingredients:

1 tsp Worchestire sauce

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp minced garlic

1 T lemon juice i added lemon juice and pepper

1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil raw chicken breasts with salt and pepper until done. I like to boil it with half an onion cut into large chunks to give it more flavor. Let chicken cool slightly and cut into one inch cubes. Place cubed chicken in a 9X13 casserole dish.

Stir together the condensed soup and sour cream. If you wish to add the additional flavorings stir in the worchestire, celery salt, garlic, lemon juice, and pepper to the soup and sour cream mixture. Pour over the chicken.

In a separate bowl, stir together the crushed crackers, poppy seeds and melted butter. Sprinkle over the chicken and sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top of the casserole is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Serve plain or over rice. We like to eat it with steamed broccoli and we mix it all together.

I did not serve it over anything. We had green beans as a side dish. It turned out to be really good! Def a keeper.

i got this recipe from here.

We Tri

Triathlons. Triathlons are like drugs, they are addicting. Once you have done one, you keep going back to get that original high. But unlike drugs, triathlons are GOOD for you and you can always get that original high.

Now that Andrew and I are married and wanted to remain active, we decided to do one together.

So, a few weekends ago we drove down to beautiful St. George to compete in the St. George Tri.

First of all, St. George is so warm, it has palm trees, and it has red cliffs. I love it. We got there at dinner time but that morning I had made us a pasta dish. SO, we took our cooler to a park near the tabernacle and ate while watching the sunset and people. Then we picked up our packets and race numbers. While picking them up, we found out the water temperature was around 55-60 degrees. That's a pretty decent on the chily side for outside but that temperature to swim in is hypothermia temperature (no joke). So last minute, we rented a wetsuit for Andrew, his life was worth the $40 to me. Luckily, MaShay let me borrow hers (thanks MaShay).

We finally got to the Anjuli's house later that night. Her family was so nice to let us stay there, even when they had other guests (the guests were Meegan and Parker Mangum, we knew them from condo row, so it was a nice reunion).

We had to bike a mile in to actually get to the transition area so thats my wesuit underneath it all.

The race started later than every other triathlon i had done because of weather conditions (it tends to be really windy and the water temperature). ANyways, Andrew's heat started 20 minutes before mine. So I got to watch him swim and he actually finished his swim right as my heat was about to leave so we got to say hi then. We then saw each other on the bike and the run! It was so cool.

Sutton: 1:35:44 2nd in age group 20-24

Andrew: 1:34:51 21st in age group 25-29

We were both very happy with our results considering how little training we did (at least compared to when before I was married). It was so much fun!!

After the race we enjoyed some free food and seeing people I knew from the BYU Tri team.

After we cleaned up, we did a session at the St. George temple. It was beautiful!! Then we ate with the Tuscano family, some of the best enchiladas ever. Then we went to Dairy Queen! It's a tradition for me to go to Dairy Queen after a race that I plan to keep alive for the rest of my life.

Moral of the story: I love warm weather, triathlons, ice cream, the temple, and my husband.

Weddings

This weekend was filled with weddings!! Thursday night we went to Jordan Booth's reception. We saw a lot of people from BYU 61st ward. IT was a nice reunion! Then Friday night we went to Cierra's reception (a friend from work), she ended up marrying someone else from work. The food was amazing. Then Saturday morning we went back up to This Is The Place Park and saw Cierra and Ben's wedding. Luckily, it was a beautiful day outside. It was a small beautiful wedding. Then there was a luncheon that had a 3 course meal. It was very tasty.

The train that took us to the reception.

He is handsome

Then, Andrew and I drove to Provo to visit some of his old roommates. One of them just had a baby in January. He was very cute!

They matched.

He fell asleep in my arms. He liked me, and his bottle.

I got to see Megan Kings at her reception. She looked stunning and I can't believe we had not seen each other since we left the Dominican Republic! I do not know what I would have done without her and Missy. We had a blast!

graveyard shift

Right now I am working a 12 hr graveyard shift. You can go ahead and feel sorry for me but it's not so bad (I am only 3 hrs into it) Night shifts are a little easier in that there is not as much to do but you do have to keep yourself awake.

Andrew left me this weekend... for a guys trip (his dad and bro) to Moab. That's one of the main factors why I am working a night shift--my boss wanted me to and I get scared sleeping all alone in my crazy neighborhood. I'll tell you about my nueva mexico/bronx neighborhood some other time.

Last monday on the one beautiful day of April Andrew picked me up from work and we went mountain biking in Immigration canyon and then to the U because this is all right behind my work. It was so beautiful and so much fun! We saw a snake. Those of you who know me well know that I bruise really easily. Well my legs were black and blue after this bike ride b/c of the stupid metal pedals. Also b/c I had a bad fall on my road bike the week before. whoops.

Anyways, we are planning on hiking/biking the hundreds of trails to choose from. I am excited!

Ha. That's my husband. He can be weird.

If I HAD to live in Utah for a while (other than right now) I would live in Federal Heights. And yes I know you have to be a millionaire or more to do this. We're getting close.

snakkeee

Helmets are not flattering. but if i did not wear one I could really hurt myself and i would owe my dad $15.

Grayson plays lacrosse for BYU. Andrew and I made an effort to go to most of them (my parents bought us season tickets---thanks mom and dad) He played really well. He got pretty good playing time, especially for being a freshman! Whenever he got on the field, ANdrew and I would cheer really loudly. We are funny.

I think Andrew felt bad for leaving me so he had flowers waiting for me in a blender when I got home from work and he had already left. How sweet. (don't worry mom I cut the stems some and made it look good. I'll take another picture.

Kristen's wedding

Last week I went home for my best friend's wedding, Kristen Fitzgerald. Kristen and I met when we were barely 2. My mom was her mom's visiting teacher. We did EVERYTHING together. Our families have stayed really close despite them moving when we were 8. I hadn't seen Kristen in 2 years because I was at BYU-Hawaii when she left for her mission to Indonesia. Her sister Whitney and I got married while she was gone, much to her dismay (I wasn't planning on it). Luckily, I was able to make hers.

My wonderful mom and I.

My mom made her dress!! Those cupcakes were really good.

Dancing with her new husband.

All the bridesmaids. My mom did the flowers too and I found the cute hot pink sweaters.

My best friends, Kristen and Whitney.

And my other best friend, Avery.

It was a treat to go home. I love spending time with my family! My mom, Avery and I baked, ate, shopped, and relaxed (once the wedding was over). I missed my dad though, he was on a business trip in Australia and Hawaii, so don't feel bad for him. It was hard to come back to cold gloomy Utah but I really missed Andrew, so it was worth it.