Cheesy Bacon and Bean Quesadilla

These were a fabulous quick and easy week night meal. I was able to have everything ready before hand and threw it on the skillet and then on to the table in under 10 minutes. I served it up with a salad for a filling supper for my kids and I!

Cheesy Bacon and Bean Quesadilla
(recipe found at www.bettycrocker.com)

8 (8" each) flour tortillas
1 cup refried beans
2 cups shredded mexican cheese blend
1/2 pound bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled
2 scallions, chopped
butter, melted
1 cup sour cream
1 cup salsa

Top half of each tortilla with beans, cheese, bacon and scallions. Fold tortilla over filling; press down to seal. Lightly brush melted butter on both sides of each filled tortilla. Heat 12" nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook 2 filled tortillas at a time, 3-4 minutes, turning once, until golden brown and heat through. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

Pickle Dip

I seem to have a really hard time getting pictures of the food that I take to parties... I think that it is usually because I am trying to do way to many things at one time, right before a party. I mean, get dressed, finish my creation that I am bringing, pick up the babysitter, usually try to get something in the kiddos bellies before I leave and the list goes on and on! :) I definitely need to find a way to be better organized with this part of partying it up, but if all I am missing is a picture of the food that I am bringing - dang it, I'm doing pretty well!

So, I love pickles!! Dill pickle chips? Right up my alley... Dill pickle sunflower seeds? Love 'em! When I found this dip I couldn't wait to try it. It was super yummy, if you like pickles! Easy to throw together, with not a lot of ingredients... it was great!

Pickle Dip
(recipe found on pinterest via homemadebyharper.wordpress.com)

2 (8 ounces) packages cream cheese
16 ounces sour cream
32 ounces jar of jalapeno babies, finely chopped
1/4 to 1/2 cup pickle juice
garlic salt to taste

Mix sour cream and cream cheese together. Add pickles and pickle juice to mixture. Add garlic salt to taste. Enjoy with your favorite potato chips!

Slutty Brownies

These are a little something that caught my eye on pinterest... The name was a little crazy and the recipe - even wilder! :) Pile all that goodness into a treat on a plate? That was definitely right up my alley! Took these to a party that I went to (I couldn't trust myself with them at home) and they went super fast. Definitely one that everyone enjoyed!

Slutty Brownies
(recipe found on pinterest via whatsgabycooking.com)

Brownie Layer:
10 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3/4 up cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2 cup flour

Oreo Layer:
1 package oreos

Cookie Dough Layer
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips

In brownie layer begin with a medium sauce pan, melting butter over medium high heat. Add sugar and cocoa powder once butter is melted. Whisk to combine and remove from heat. Add salt, vanilla and eggs and whisk continuously until the eggs are combined. Add flour and continue to mix until combined. Set batter aside.

In cookie dough layer cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, scraping bowl often. Add flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and mix on low until everything is combined. Fold in chocolate chips and set dough aside.

Preheat oven to 350 and line bottom of a 9x9 pan with tin foil and spray tin foil with baking spray. Begin with cookie dough. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Layer oreos on top of cookie dough in a single layer, pressing into cookie dough as you go. Pour brownie mix over top of oreo layer and spread to evenly top. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Test for doneness with a knife in center of brownies. When knife comes out clean let brownies rest before serving.

Raspberry Peach Smoothie

This was a yummy breakfast treat! The kids have usually eaten by the time I get a chance for my own breakfast, but they had to try a taste of this one when I made it and they thought it was super good too! :)

Raspberry Peach Smoothie
(recipe found on pinterest via www.bluediamond.com)

1 cup almond milk
1 cup frozen, unsweetened peaches, partially thawed
1 packet no calorie sweetener, optional (I used a small amount of sugar)
1 cup frozen, unsweetened raspberries, partially thawed

Blend almond milk, peaches and sweetener until smooth. Pour a little more than half into another container. Blend raspberries with peach smoothie remaining in blender until smooth. Pulse blender and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water, if necessary, to help blend. Pour both flavors into glass at the same time; swirl with a straw. I skipped the swirling step and just added all ingredients into the blender at the same time.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

This was a thick and hearty soup, which is nice on a cold winter day! I paired it with my garlic bread and it made for a perfect supper for us... And it was low calorie, so that was even better!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup
(recipe found on www.skinnytaste.com)

1/4 cup flour
2 cups water
4 cups skim milk
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
8 ounces sliced baby portabella mushrooms
2 chicken boullions
fresh ground pepper
pinch of thyme
10 ounces frozen mixed vegetables
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
16 ounces chicken breast, cubed
salt to taste

Create a slurry combining flour and 1/2 cup cold water. Whisk until well blended and set aside. Pour remaining water and milk into a large pot and slowly bring to a boil. Add celery, onion, mushrooms, boullion, pepper, thyme and frozen vegetables and return to a boil. Partially cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Remove lid and add potatoes. Continue to boil until potatoes are soft, about 5 more minutes. Add chicken and slowly add slurry, stirring well as you add it. Cook another 2-3 minutes or until soup thickens, add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves: 9
Points: 3 per 1 cup

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps

These are so tasty that I have made them a couple of times in the past few weeks. The first time we had them with chicken as the recipe calls for and the next time I used some leftover diced pork that I had. They were fantastic either way and the kids LOVED them... Very easy to throw together and served up with a salad made a fantastic light supper for us.

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps
(recipe found on pinterest via www.melskitchencafe.com)

1 cup cooked rice, warmed or at room temperature
1 cup shredded chicken
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 green or red onion, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups shredded cheese
6 flour tortilla shells
sour cream

Mix rice together with chili powder, cumin and garlic salt. Add remaining ingredients to rice mixture, except cheese, tortilla shells and sour cream. Sprinkle cheese over tortilla and arrange chicken and rice mixture in middle of tortilla. Roll stuffed shells, leaving edges open and slightly flatten with hand and spray with cooking spray on both sides. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat for 1 minutes. Place wraps seam side down on griddle and allow to cook 1-2 minutes or until tortillas are browned and crispy. Flip and repeat on remaining side.

Best Ever Brownies and the SRC

Yay! It's Secret Recipe Club time again!! I got assigned the blog teaandscones.wordpress.com and Margaret's blog was very interesting to page through... So many options, with so much variety! Definitely a little something for everyone! :) She is involved in quite a few cooking clubs, which keeps the ideas flowing and makes for something new around every corner...

Once again, as is normal when I get an SRC blog to look through, I found several recipes that I wanted to try... From a couple different types of chicken fingers (my kids would love!) to a fun drink and the brownies that I picked for my post today there were a lot of fun recipes. I'm also going back really soon to try the chocolate blueberry ice cream that she talks about... Um, yum! :)

These brownies were ooey, gooey and delicious... They tasted wonderful paired up with some ice cream! We had them as an afternoon treat this weekend with the kids and they devoured their pieces as well... These are a bit more time consuming then my normal brownie mix, but definitely worth the time! :) Thanks for the fabulous recipe Margaret!

Best Ever Brownies
(recipe found at teaandscones.wordpress.com)

1 1/4 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares, coarsely chopped
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate squares, coarsely chopped (I ended up using semisweet)
2 cups sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour and salt together and set aside. In a saucepan melt together butter and chocolates. Add 1 cup sugar to melted mixture and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add vanilla. At this point she said to pour it into a large bowl. I just left it in the saucepan, off of the heat, and mixed it all up in there... Seemed to work for me and less pans! :) Pour remaining 1 cup sugar into bowl of a mixer and add eggs. Hand whisk just until combined. Pour half of sugar mixture into chocolate mixture, slowly and stirring constantly to avoid eggs setting from the heat. Using mixer with whisk attachment, whisk eggs until doubled in size and pale, about 3 minutes. Slowly stir into chocolate mixer. When eggs are just about incorporated, add flour mixture and fold in until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into 9" square baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is dark and cracked and the inside is barely set and gooey. Cool on rack.