Salsa Chicken

I'd heard a few things about this magical "salsa chicken" recipe on Pinterest and a few blogs. Every one raved about how wonderful it tasted and how super easy it was to prepare. Well, with those few words I knew I had to give it a try. I took the basic recipe found online and add my own twist on it to satisfy my hubby's black hole of a stomach. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients

 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning

 1 cup sour cream

2 ears of cooked corn on the cob (or a can)

1 can black beans

Directions 

Mix soup, salsa and taco seasoning in the bottom of your crockpot.  

Sink chicken breasts into the mixture, covering completely.  

Cook on low for 5 – 6 hours depending on size of chicken breasts.

Remove chicken, shred and return to the crock pot.  

Add sour cream, corn (sliced off of cob), and black beans.

Mix well.  

Heat until everything is warmed through.  

Enjoy!

This tastes yummy with Tostito chips or with a bowl of rice!

Friday's Letters [09.28]

Happy Friday!

Dear spiders, What is going on?! It seems like every time I open a door to our house you sneak in. I know you're good for killing other bugs, but I have a hard time remembering hat when I see you scurrying across our kitchen floor. How about y'all just vamoosh?

Dear slow drivers on one-lane roads, I totally get and respect the speed limit. It's there for a reason. Meaning you should be going at least that speed! It makes for a super frustrating drive to work when I get stuck behind you and cannot pass you.
 
Dear readers, Have you heard of the Matched series by Ally Condie? I started yesterday and was hooked from page one! There are only two books in the series so far, but the third one is coming out in November-score! It's a cross between The Giver books and The Hunger Games. Don't expect to get much done once you start reading. . .

Dear school techie people, Whose brilliant idea was it to schedule a maintenance over the weekend?? Don't y'all know that's when teachers actually have time to catch up on work?! I SUPER appreciate all the awesome y'all do for us, but that is really putting a damper on my weekend to-do list.

Dear iPhone 5 owners, What do ya think? Is it worth the plunge? I'm due for an upgrade, but after all the stuff I heard last weekend about the maps and stuff I want to check to see if it's worth it.

New Neighbors?

David and I were very saddened to learn of something this past weekend-there is a "for sale" sign up on the farm. What farm? The farm that meets up to our backyard and provides us with this these lovelies:

We don't know any details for sure, but we can infer from the placement of the sign and the wording on it that the farmer is cashing in. We knew it would only be a matter of time and that the likelihood of us keeping the cows as neighbors was very low. It still bothers me though.

We don't know what's coming, but we can take a few guesses. The farm is on a fairly busy road so it could be shops or it could be another neighborhood. We'd much rather it be a neighborhood, but there are already so many around us that are undeveloped (thank you failing economy) that it seems silly to start a new one. What do I know, though, I'm only a simple teacher.

For now the cows are still there and Daisy is still deliriously happy to chase them along the fence. Until we see a SOLD sign we're going to enjoy our time with the little buggers!

Friday's Letters [09.21]

Happy Friday one and all!

Dear cooler mornings, Welcome! I love being able to let the dog out in the morning and not immediately start sweating from the mugginess. I hope you stick around for a while before the beast of actually COLD mornings shows up.

Dear iPhone 5, As excited as I am for your arrival, I'm going to let you do your thing for a bit before I jump the gun. I figured I'll wait until all the cool techie kids figure out what you can do (and if anything is wrong with you) before I bite the bullet and upgrade. I would appreciate it if you were totally awesome with no issues though, because then I could possibly convince my husband to join the 21st Century and get a smart phone!

Dear neighborhood yard sale, Last year you blew us out of the water with all the stellar things you provided for us. I mean a solid oak dining room table for $50?! You can't beat that! Please don't fail us!

Dear students, I know it seems that someone dies in every single story we read in class. That's because someone does. I know that sounds morbid, but would y'all really be interested in the story if everything was happy-go-lucky with no conflict? Nope. Y'all would be fussing about it being boring. Enjoy the fact that it's fiction and just go with it:-)

Where In The World??

Since we've been married David and I have been fortunate enough to get to go on a few trips (blogged about here, here, and here). Growing up in such a large family it was difficult to take vacations. I mean can you blame my parents? Who wants to take five kids four years apart in age anywhere?! So one thing David and I talked about from the beginning of our marriage is taking trips and seeing new things. A few places on my radar these days:

Savannah, GA

I have always wanted to visit this historical Southern city! I've seen a few Living Social getaways in recent weeks. Perhaps I can convince the hubby it's worth the splurge. . .

Hilton Head, SC

I've never been hear, but have heard wonderful things about the views and beaches!

Ireland

I highly doubt this one is going to happen anytime soon, but a girl can dream right?

Greece

Ditto above caption

The Bahamas

I went on a cruise with my best friend in high school, but now I want to go back with David!

New York City

I went in high school, but think it would be a blast to go back as an adult. David has never been and I think it would be a blast to go together! 

Alaska

A good friend of mine at work heads out there once a year, and her stories have me hooked! Never thought this beach bum would want to go, but there is a first time for everything:-)

 Las Vegas
It just seems like a fun place to go with a great group of friends!

Where would YOU go if you could go anywhere??

A Wolfpack Win!

Happy Monday, folks! I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but it is dreadfully dreary here in North Cackalacki. Instead of dwelling on the details of yucky weather I'm going to reminiscence about our fabulous trip to Raleigh for a Wolfpack win!

We had grand intentions of rising bright and early on Saturday morning and accomplishing things around the house before we left for the game. I should put a large emphasis on "intentions" because our lazy bums slept in until 9:15! That is unheard of in the Mobley household, but was much needed after a long week that had both of us working late into the evening each day. When we finally did get out of bed we greeted the day with our usual Saturday breakfast of eggs and bacon before lounging around for a bit more.

When we finally did get our behinds in gear we set out for Raleighwood! It was a quick drive for me thanks to the nap I took between Winston-Salem and Mebane. I don't think David could say the same about the trip;-). We met his parents at their hotel and then we were off to tailgate! For those of you not familiar with football in the South, tailgating is half the experience. Getting out there hours early to sit, talk, drink, eat, play a few games, and just enjoy each other's company is what it's all about. We had quite the spread of food and were sure to pig out on ALL of it before entering the game for kickoff.

 Go Pack!

The Wolfpack dominated from the 6:00 kick-off until the bitter end! The final score was 31-7, with South Alabama scoring those 7 points at the end of the 4th Quarter when our second-string quarterback came in. It was a bit of a blow out, but fun for us fans! We ended up leaving halfway through the 4th Quarter thanks to a nasty headache coming on, but we were able to beat a lot of the traffic back. My sweet husband then loaded up on coffee and we hit the road again. As soon as he hit cruise control I was out like a light. Seems like I owe him quite a few turns at driving. . .

It was a great day had by all and we are excited to head back to Raleigh to cheer on the Wolfpack again!

Death By Chicken

My sweet Momma introduced me to this recipe years ago, and I somehow managed to forget about it. Fast forward to about a month ago when it jumped back into my mind. I made it once and we have had it once a week every week since! It is easy and yummy-my two requirements for supper:-) Let me know what you think. . .

Ingredients

6 pieces of uncooked bacon

1 cup rice

4 slices of uncooked chicken

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 soup can of water

1 tsp. oregano

garlic salt

paprika

salt

pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 300.

Line a 9x13 pan with pieces of bacon. 

Pour rice over chicken.

Put chicken over rice.

Sprinkle chicken with paprika, salt, and pepper.

Whisk together soup and water.

Add a little garlic salt and oregano.

Pour mixture over chicken.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 2 hours.

Enjoy!

 

Friday's Letters [09.14]

It's another fabulous Friday to link up with Adventures of Newlyweds!

Dear Friday, Thank you for finally arriving. For whatever reason this week just crept by and I was convinced you were never arriving. I do appreciate your appearance and hope you stick around a while.

Dear caffeine, It's not you, it's me. Our love affair has gone too long and I really think it is time to nip it in the bud. Don't get me wrong, I greatly appreciate all that you have done for me through the years, but I think it's time to part ways. Please don't be mad.

Dear Raleighwood, Are you ready?? We will be arriving in time to see NC State (hopefully) whoop up on some South Alabama booty! Can't wait to be back again!

Dear Davido, Thank you for picking up my slack at home this week when my schedule hasn't really allowed me much time to be a wife. I promise I will jump back into the swing of things next week! Can't wait for date night tonight. . . that is if we can ever make a decision about where to eat!

Dear Triplets, Happy (almost) Birthday! Congrats on making it through your teen years and into your twenties!

A Message To 13-Year-Old Me

I have the true pleasure of teaching everyone's least favorite age each and every day. When I tell people I teach middle school I usually get a response of, "why?"". Gee talk about an uplifting motivator. The truth is I love it. It can be a challenge, but what rewarding task isn't? Working with these kiddos often has me reflecting back to my own teen years and the angst I felt the need to put my parents through. A few things I wish I could tell myself then. . .

*keep reading*

Who cares if it's not the "cool" thing to do? You enjoy it and are really good at it. Don't let other people stop you from doing what you like!

*it's okay if your butt doesn't fall out of your shorts*

Unfortunately, I think this is a trend that just won't die. I wish I could tell my former self (and all the young girls I teach!) that the booty hanging out of the shorts is not attractive, so please don't do it!

*high school isn't as scary as everyone makes it seem*

With all the big talk from your 8th grade teachers, heading to high school about gave you an anxiety attack. Just breathe. They'll give you a map and after a day or two it won't even matter anymore. Now, college on the other hand is definitely going to throw you for a loop or two. . . 

*the drama isn't worth it

I know it seems exciting now, but stay away from the drama. It will only cause pain and issues later.

*nothing can shock you*

After some of the people you meet and things you encounter you begin to think that nothing can shock you, think again! Life will continue to throw your curve balls and you will continue to learn from them and grow.

If you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself??

Fun at the Fair

I have always been a sucker for a good fair or festival. Whenever I hear of one heading to town I begin the begging and pleading to my hubby to attend. He usually grudgingly goes along with it, and then ends up having fun. This past weekend we hit up the local county fair! It seemed a little early in the season for it, but I think that's just because I was spoiled by the North Carolina State Fair when we lived in Raleigh. We decided to give the 'ol county fair a go and headed there on Friday evening.

We arrived pretty early since we were both hungry and had been saving room for fair food. The question then became, what to eat?? While we were deciding we decided to peruse the animal exhibits. I always love seeing the adorable farm animals, and since it was the first night most of them were still in good moods! Here is a glimpse at some of the animals we saw:

Some of the adorable animals, minus the ostrich. It wasn't so much adorable as it was terrifying!

A local high school also had a "duck slide" set up for the baby ducks. They would put them at the top of a slide with water running down it and the ducks would slide down! It was absolutely precious. It was made even better by the fact that the ducks would then climb back up a ramp to do it again. I was melting inside!

By that point our tummies were grumbling and the fairway was beginning to smell yummy. I was in the mood for a roasted turkey leg, so I scouted one out as soon as I could. We then decided to split a plate of "ribbon fries" coated in nacho cheese and bacon. Yeaaaa we went all out with our food choices that evening. You can't go to the fair without getting some sort of fried doughy deliciousness. After a lap around the place we went with a red velvet funnel cake with cream cheese frosting drizzled on it. Nom nom nom. It was worth every overpriced dollar!

We ended up taking a few more laps around the fairground trying to walk off all our food. We sat down for a circus that reminded us a bit of the one in Water For Elephants. It was humorously pathetic, but you didn't want to walk away for fear their feelings would be hurt! We watched a few people lose some money on silly games and get sick on rides before deciding to head out. On the way out of the gates a delicious smell caught my nose-fried Oreos. I wanted one, but of course you can't buy just one, so we ended up with five. Five fried Oreos later and we were officially rolling on out of there.

 Left: Turkey leg and ribbon fries

Right: The remnants of the fried Oreos

All in all it was great fun and I can't wait to head to the State Fair next month!

Crockpot Beer Chicken

Any recipe that can be easily tossed in the crock pot and ready for us after work automatically wins points in my book. Add beer to the recipe and it will definitely get a try in our house. I originally saw this recipe on Pinterest, but adapted it based on our tastes and preferences. We've already had it multiple times since I originally made it. Let me know what y'all think!

Ingredients

10 chicken drumsticks

2 cans of beer (I used Coors Lite)

1 tsp. Garlic Powder

1 tsp. Basil

1 tsp. Paprika

1 tsp. Black Pepper

1 tsp. Salt

Directions

Put all ingredients in the crock pot.

Cook for 8-10 hours.

Enjoy!

I told you it was easy. Now you have no excuse not to make this and discover a new favorite:-)

Friday's Letters [09.07]

Happy Friday one and all!!

Dear County Fair, I am super excited to visit you this weekend. My only other fair experience has been the North Carolina State Fair, so my expectations of fair food and carnies are pretty high. 

Dear NC State football, Was last weekend a joke? I was so bored by the end of the HOUR LONG first quarter I could barely watch. Let's pick it up this week and show Connecticut who's boss.

Dear weekend, Thank you for arriving in such a timely manner. Want to talk to your fellow weekend friends about extending every weekend into a three-day weekend? I think the entire world would appreciate your sacrifice.

Dear body, You need to step up your game. This being absolutely exhausted all the time stuff has got to go! We're almost two full weeks into the swing of things, pick it up!

Thankful Thursday-For You

And I wonder, would I give my life
Could I make that sacrifice
If it came down to it
Could I take the bullet, I would
Yes I would, for you

-Keith Urban

I have much to be thankful for this week, as I do every week. Here is a list of all I am thanking God for today!

football season

It's backkkkkkkkk!

my hubby
His patience and support in the first few weeks of school have been absolutely incredible. I am so thankful for him!


my students
Their senses of humor and positive outlooks on life remind me not to take things so seriously.

co-workers
If it were not for these fabulous people my life would be a heck of a lot crazier! I'm so thankful for their support and realistic attitudes about life.

4 day work weeks
I think we can all get on board with this one! 

What are you thankful for this week?? 

A Glimpse Into The Future. . .

This post is a week late, but I figured better late than never, right? A few weeks ago our next door neighbors approached us about the possibility of watching their kids while they went away for the weekend. We love their kids and knew they wanted to celebrate their wedding anniversary, so we figured, "what the heck?". If nothing else it would be great practice for when we have our own little brood running around. Did I mention there are four of them? What about the part about them being all girls? More fun for me and it would give my manly man a glimpse into what it would be like to have little princesses and not baseball players.

We headed over there Friday evening to kick off the weekend. Our greatest dilemma of that night was trying to figure out what we could eat for supper that would please the majority of them. Pizza ended up winning that round, though not every one of them liked it. Little Miss Taylor was not a fan and dined on a feat of mini corn dogs that evening. The baby was in bed by eight and all was well. In fact before we embarked on this adventure, David and I drafted a plan. I would take baby duty and he would entertain Taylor (4 years old) and Hayley (4th grade) while we would both make sure Nicole  (11th grade) stayed alive over the course of the weekend.

The weekend continued smoothly with Hayley's soccer practice on Saturday and naps for ALL (well, Maggie, Taylor, and yours truly) on Saturday afternoon. We kept the fun going with a late afternoon trip to the pool. We knew that unless they were tired, bed times would not go so well. We rounded out Saturday evening with my attempt at introducing them to a new meal. In their defense they all did try it, but alas it was not a victory. Note to self: learn to like mini corn dogs because all kids love 'em.

David made my life very easy by taking care of everything Sunday after church so I could prepare for the start of school, which was taking place the following day.

All in all it was a fabulous weekend and a great experience. The girls behaved wonderfully and we learned a lot about each other as parents. Any one else need a pair of sitters for the weekend?? :-)

Baked Okra

A few weeks ago our fabulous CSA box included a bag of okra. I have always enjoyed fried okra (what good Southern girl doesn't??), but wasn't in the mood to destroy my kitchen. Instead I decided to bake the okra much like I was the chicken. Here is what I came up with:

Ingredients

cut okra

Italian bread crumbs

2 eggs

pinch of paprika

sprinkle of salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.

In a ziploc bag combine crumbs and spices.

Coat cut okra in egg.

Toss covered okra in crumb mixture until evenly coated.

Line baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up.

Spread okra in a single layer on baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes (or until browned).

Enjoy!

Anyone else have any other good okra recipes??