A Little Chicken In Your Enchilada!

So I have finally got back on the Pinterest band wagon. I took a few months off because it seriously was addicting, so now I am pacing myself when it comes to pinning. But what brought me back to the pinning world was an enchilada recipe. Before we went clean I had an amazing recipe but it had a bunch of processed crap in it and it definitely was no where near healthy - so I knew I needed to find another recipe, and fast!

Well it didn't take me long at all and that is what I love the most about Pinterest - everything is right there at my fingertips! I found this recipe on http://www.fannetasticfood.com so all the credit goes to them.

Here are the ingredients:

• 3 C cooked chicken, hand torn

• ½ C canned chopped green chilies

• ¾ C nonfat plain yogurt

• Juice from 1 fresh lime

• ½ tsp. cracked pepper

• 1 tsp. cumin

• 2 C enchilada sauce (see recipe below)

• 10 large white or yellow corn tortillas (or wheat tortillas — not gluten-free)

• Extra virgin olive oil or cooking spray, as needed

• ¾ C shredded sharp cheddar cheese

• 2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

1) In a large bowl, mix together the cooked chicken, chopped green chilies, yogurt, lime juice, cracked pepper, and cumin. Set aside.

2) Make your enchilada sauce, recipe and directions below

Enchalada Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil

• 1 small onion, peeled, diced finely

• 1 tsp. chili powder

• 1 tsp. cumin

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 28-oz. can crushed fire roasted tomatoes

• 1 tsp. sugar

• 1 splash of balsamic vinegar

• 1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped


Enchilada Sauce Instructions: Heat the olive oil for one minute in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add in the onion, garlic, and spices; sauté for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, and cilantro; stir and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook 20 minutes.

3) Lightly oil/cooking spray a 13 x 9″ baking dish. Spread a thin layer of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of the dish.

4) Set the first tortillas into the baking dish. Spoon one tenth of the chicken mixture into the center of the tortilla and roll it up, placing the seam side down. Repeat for the remaining tortillas.

5) Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the tortillas and sprinkle with shredded cheese and cilantro.

6) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until cheese is melted, sauce is bubbling, and enchiladas are hot.

7) Serve warm with salsa, hot sauce, or guacamole, if desired.

I totally forgot to take a picture of my own but here is the picture from the recipe's original website. Mine looked pretty close, maybe not as delicious but they were pretty darn good!

Hope you all enjoy!

Rearranging My Priorities...

First I want to thank everyone for the support I receive on a daily basis about my blog. It truly makes my heart smile to know that people actually read this thing! I absolutely love writing this blog and I what I love even more is that I can look back at any point and see what I was working on or what our family was doing six months or even a year ago. Its like my blog-scrapbook!

With all that being said - things have been super busy around the Hart house lately. I guess summer vacation will do that. We definitely have been on the go, trying to keep the kids happy during these summer months. But I must honestly say that I am happy I took a break from writing a post everyday. When I first started this blog I felt the need to write something every single day - except weekends. Why I thought I needed to spend that much time doing something that was just hobby, I have no idea! But I did and I kept it up for quite sometime and then I burnt myself out. It was extremely hard to find something to write about every. single. day! It was quite exhausting and as you can tell, my posts began to dwindle.

My mornings were consumed with writing my post and it came to the point where I was more worried about what I was going to write about than what my kids were eating for breakfast. Finally I realized that this blog wasn't my job and it was no where near as important as my family. When telling my kids "wait one more minute" seemed the normal in my morning routine, I knew that the time had come for me to take a step back and rearrange my priorities.

So now I am letting you all know that I am still here and alive but just taking a more relaxed approach to this blogging thing. I cant promise that I will post every day but I will post when I have the time and when that time isn't taken away from my family.

Thanks again to my loyal readers - even if I am only talking to the four of you! I love my blog and I do love sharing my loves with all of you. So again I apologize for my brief absence but I hope all of you understand where I am coming from!

See you all soon - love to you all!

My Ten Minute Project!

So I decided to dress up my lonely kitchen window! It has needed some love for quite some time now and since I had extra fabric hanging around, I thought - why not put it to use! 

Now this would be my very first valance type window cover and I think I did a pretty good job. It may not be perfect but it works for me. 

If you haven't been in my kitchen, it's a bunch of brightness so I knew I wanted a bold pattern for the window. So I decided to use a yellow and white chevron pattern. 

I measured the window and was beyond happy that I had enough fabric!! 

And can I tell you how easy it was! Super easy! 

I then used sticky Velcro to put up. Not the most professional way but its up there!!! And I love it!! 

It literally took me about ten minutes from beginning to end. 

What spur of the moment project have you tackled lately?

Knitting and Cooking!

While you are all sweating your booty's away - I am knitting my finger tips to the bone! It is that time of year folks. Fall will be here before you know it and it takes a lot more time to knit an item than to sew it. I cant wait to add some new products to my Etsy shop within the next few weeks.

SO with that being said I HAVE to share a recipe with you guys. This is so easy you will do a little dance in your kitchen. I am always trying to find recipes that do not take long at all. Our kitchen is tiny - so I try not to spend too much time in there cooking! Sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't.

So my husband and I wanted steak the other night but we weren't too enthused about standing out in the heat over a hot grill - that's when I decided to take a risk. I was watching The Chew the other afternoon (its a cooking talk show on ABC at 1pm - if you aren't home then, I suggest recording it just for the recipes...they are divine!) and saw an amazing steak that they seasoned and pan-seared. Now first I must tell you that my husband was very skeptical about cooking a steak inside. He is definitely an advocate for cooking meat on the grill but I told him to trust me. If I could get it to look as good or close to the steak on The Chew, we were golden!!!

So here are the ingredients:

STEAK:
4 NY Strip Steaks
3 tablespoons Canola Oil (I used veggie)

RUB:
2 tablespoons ground Coriander
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon Chipotle powder
1 tablespoon Sweet Paprika
1 tablespoon Kosher salt

COMPOUND BUTTER:
1/2 pound Unsalted Butter (softened)
1/4 cup Chopped Cilantro
1 Garlic Clove
1 small Shallot
Juice and zest of 1 Lime
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
For the Rub: In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the rub ingredients and set aside. Preheat a large cast iron sauté pan (I used a skillet) over medium heat.

Instructions:
Drizzle some oil onto the steaks. Season the steaks on both sides with the rub, being pretty liberal with it. Cook for about 3 minutes per side for medium rare. I cooked mine longer - my husband and I like well done steaks. Then remove to a plate to rest for about 5 minutes.

Compound Butter:
Now before I give this to y'all, I didn't make this with my steaks. My husband isn't a sauce-on-a-steak kind of guy, so I left this part out, but it sounds amazing!!!

While the steaks are cooking mix together your softened butter, cilantro, garlic, shallot lime zest/juice, and salt and pepper in a food processor or mixer until well blended.

Add a spoonful of compound butter on top of each steak before serving!

I made some black eyed peas and green beans with ours and it was delish!!!

Happy Independence Day!

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, imagination and unbeatable determination to do the job at hand - Harry S. Truman


I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July! Stay safe and remember all those who sacrificed so much for us to have the freedom we have today!

GOD BLESS AMERICA~

Red Light Special!

So there is some big news in the Hart house! Oh and no we aren't pregnant!! We actually found a table that fits our entire family and MORE! I have been searching for a cheap table and chairs for forever that would accommodate all five of us and then some. Finally this week I was able to make that happen thanks to Craigslist. I love that little piece of heaven! I would have to say that half of the furniture in our house is from there.

SO back to my table! I love this thing! I found this table and bench last week for under $50 and I immediately called the lady and told her that I wanted it. The next day we went and picked it up! The only bad thing was - it didn't come with chairs. Not a problem! I searched for kitchen chairs the following day and found four chairs for under $40. So for everything, we spent less than $85!! Here is a picture of the kids enjoying the new table.

Here are the chairs I scored off of Craigslist. The second one from the left bit the dust once I examined each one. The wood was split in several areas. I am not sure why I didn't notice it when I picked them up, but oh well! It was still a good deal!

 I used Krylon Dual spray paint for the chairs. I decided not to sand them down and I just sprayed right over the finish. My kids seem to ruin almost every kitchen table and chairs set, so I wasn't going to put too much time into these chairs. So I bought the dual paint with primer and it worked perfectly!

Here are the three finished chairs! I love love them!!!

So there they are! I love love love them! And it just so happens that the chair we had is red. Coincidence? I think not!

I kinda like the mix match feel! I am eventually gonna paint the table legs. I am not feeling the natural wood look. Not sure where I will go with those but I will keep y'all updated!!

Time To Get Real!!

So I have put some thought into this whole Insanity thing and I have decided to document it on the blog! I know not everyone is going to want to hear about this workout journey, but it will be nice to be able to look back at where I started. I did take a before pic of me but I am still debating putting up here. It may take some convincing for me to do that!

But today was my day 2 of the workout and I seriously wanted to give up. I was crying about half way through and ended up screaming because my entire body was on fire!! I have never and I mean never, had a workout that pushed me that much. No elliptical or treadmill has or will ever make me workout that hard. Not only is it a cardio workout but it is strength training as well, just with using your own body. Other accessories are not required!

Here is a beautiful picture of me after the workout! My headband was drenched and the sweat was still coming through onto my face. It was intense!!!

That is my mean face, haha! Aren't you scared? I wouldn't be!

I am mentally prepared for this journey - maybe not physically, but I will get there.

I was hanging out with one of the best today, Katy, and she told me a way she got pumped up before a workout. If she didn't have the motivation or drive she would head over to YouTube and search "Insanity results." She would sit there and watch people transform from this workout. So I am going to show you guys one of my favorites that I have seen so far. It makes you want to turn on the TV and pop the DVD in!





I am telling you! This thing works and I cant wait to see how my body changes. I am going to take measurements tonight so that I know where I was and where I will be in 65 days.

I am so excited!

Confetti Fun!

So as I was browsing Pinterest last night I came across some clean eating confetti cupcakes that looked delish! Of course, as everyone would do - I clicked it!  I had to see what these cupcakes were made of and to see if I could create them for my family.

Once I clicked it I was taken to the website known as Dashing Dish. Can I tell you that I fell in love with this website! You have to sign up for a membership to view the recipes and everything else on the website so I decided to do some searching on the web to get a few reviews and it seems that I am not the only one who loves it. The membership is based on whatever you want to give. So you get to decide how much this website is worth to you!

Here are the cupcakes!

Picture from Dashingdish.com

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup - old fashioned oats or 1 1/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup - plain or vanilla protein powder or an additional 1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup - baking Stevia or 1 cup of sweetener of your choice
2 tsp - baking powder
1/2 tsp - baking soda
1/2 - salt
1 tsp - almond extract
1 tsp - butter extract or vanilla extract
1/2 cup - applesauce
1/2 cup - plain non-fat Greek yogurt
3 -  large white eggs
1/4 cup - unsweetened almond milk
2 tbs - rainbow sprinkles (optional)
1 (8oz) container light whipped topping (optional)

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 375 and line muffin pan with liners and spray
- Blend everything (except sprinkles and whipped topping) in a blender or food processor until batter is smooth. Stir in sprinkles if desired.
- Pour into liners and bake for 18-20 minutes. Let them cool completely and then top with whipped topping and remaining sprinkles. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Recipe from Dashingdish.com

My goal is to make these for this coming weekend!!! I will let you know how they turn out. But honestly if you are looking for a website that has some amazing recipes as well as "clean" recipes, this is the place to go! Donating some $$ once a month is worth getting some amazing ideas! I hope that you check it out. Go to www.dashingdish.com

A Side Of Honey Please

So last nights dinner was wicked awesome! I mean I hate to toot my own horn, TOOT TOOT!

Doesn't that look amazing??? Here is the recipe for you guys.

Honey Bourbon Chicken:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce
• 1/4 cup gluten free ketchup
• 1 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 tablespoon red pepper flakes

Directions:

Put all ingredients into slow cooker and mix. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker and cut into strips. In a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water and add to crock pot with the chicken.  Stir. Cook on high for 10 to 20 minutes. 

Recipe courtesy of onceamonthmom.com

I added some green beans to a wok and sautéed them with some honey, soy sauce and sesame seed oil. They turned out awesome!  

The Green Monster!

I cannot begin to describe my excitement that I have for my garden!! This thing is seriously out of control. We thought we would start out with a small simple one, but this thing has a mind of its own. I posted a few weeks ago about our garden progress and since then it has turned into a monster! So here are a few pictures from about a month ago...

I mean it looks like a nice, calm little garden but then add another four weeks and BAM!!!!

We planted some carrots last week and they have started sprouting up!

I mean, COME ON! This thing has turned crazy. It may have something to do with the crazy weather we are having. It hasn't been too hot and we have had tons of rain so maybe that it helping the monster!!! The cucumber plants have about 20 flowers which will eventually turn into cucumbers and the squash plant has about 10 flowers! We also have our first green pepper popping up!

Now onto the tomatoes...

Also since a few weeks ago we went from one tomato to nine!!! I am so pumped for this stuff to hurry up and grow! I cant wait to eat the first thing from our own garden.

Burgers And Carrots

So Friday night before the Tropical Storm came roaring through, we made some pretty amazing burgers on the grill. Neither my husband and I are huge fans of blue cheese but we decided that we would try it out. And boy it did not disappoint!!

It was absolutely amazing! Oh and those carrots right there are maple glazed!! Oh. My. Goodness!!!

So now that I showed this yummy deliciousness, here is the recipe for both the burgers and the carrots. 

Blue Cheese Pocket Burgers: Recipes from The Chew

Ingredients:

2 lbs of lean hamburger meat or really any meat of your choice.

1 cup of blue cheese crumbles

1 tbsp of cumin

1 tsp of pepper

1 tsp of salt

Directions:

1. Take the hamburger and pound into 1/4 inch thick patties and season each patty with cumin, pepper, and salt. 

2. Put about a tablespoon of blue cheese on half of the patties and then take the other half of the patties and cover the blue cheese covered patties. Firmly press the edges to make sure the blue cheese doesn't come out from the sides. 

3. Grill and eat!

Maple Glazed Carrots: Whole Food Market Cookbook

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 cinnamon stick or a tbsp (or to taste) of cinnamon

1/4 cup orange juice

2 oranges, peeled, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1 lb carrots cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Place the syrup, cinnamon, orange juice, and oranges in a pot and bring to a simmer.

2. Stir together the water and the cornstarch in a bowl, mix until smooth.

3. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the maple glaze and then continue to simmer over low heart for 30 to 45 minutes, until thickened. Cool glaze.

4. Boil carrots until firm-tender.

5. Combine the carrots, maple glaze, salt and pepper. Serve immediately!

I hope that you all enjoy this as much as my family did! It is the simple recipes that we all love the most.  

Get Your Juicing On!

Ok so first I want to apologize for slacking on the blog a bit. We have some house guests this week so things are a little off schedule. 

So over the past couple of weeks my sister has been juicing and she is loving it! I have given it some thought, but debated putting in the money to purchase a juicer and then not like it at all. But I must say that if my "picky eater" sister likes it - then I know I will (love ya sis!). 

I have been searching the web for some great juice recipes and this one website I found is fan-freakin-tastic!!! It is www.juicerecipes.com. They have recipes for weight loss, health benefits, and health conditions. Everything for everyone!!! Just reading the success stories on there made me even more excited!

Here are a few of the recipes that I found on that website! All credit goes to juicerecipes.com

Mean Green:

Ingredients

• Apples (granny smith) - 2 medium (3" dia)

• Celery - 4 stalk, large (11"-12" long)

• Cucumber - 1 cucumber (8-1/4")

• Ginger - 1 thumb (1" dia)

• Kale - 6 leaf (8-12")

• Lemon - 1/2 fruit (2-3/8" dia)

Green Lemonade:

Ingredients

• Apples - 2 medium (3" dia)

• Cucumber - 1 cucumber (8-1/4")

• Kale - 4 leaf (8-12")

• Lemon - 1 fruit (2-1/8" dia)

• Spinach - 2 cup

Green Breakfast:

Ingredients

• Apples (green) - 2 medium (3" dia)

• Carrots - 3 medium

• Cucumber - 1 cucumber (8-1/4")

• Grapes (green) - 15 grape

• Pepper (sweet green) - 1 medium (approx 2-3/4" long, 2-1/2" dia)

• Spinach - 2 cup

• Tomato - 1 medium whole (2-3/5" dia)

I am so excited!!! Oh and on this website they put all the health benefits in with each recipe! It is pretty sweet! 

I have also been researching some books on Amazon to purchase about juicing. I love the Web but there is something about having that recipe book in hand. So here is what I found...'

The reviews on this book were amazing! I mean of course you are going to have the ones that always have something bad to say, but this book pretty much has everything you need to know about juicing and some awesome recipes!

Um so the best thing about this book is...its FREE!!! It is 26 pages long with juice recipes and information. I checked out the reviews and they seem pretty good. I mean what else can I say but free!!! It is a Kindle Edition and they also have linkable videos to watch. That's a win win in my book!

This one is available in the Kindle edition as well as paperback. The Kindle one is only $7.99!! Love it! The reviews on this book again were amazing. It really makes it difficult to pick which one to grab. 

Oh and I must say this life style change is doing the Hart house some good! Our garden is growing out of control and we are still able to keep our budget down!  We have had our slips but we are no where near perfect! 

New!!

Good Monday morning to all! It is a little rainy here today but I am excited to start a new week. I wanted to let you know that I have added some new patterned pillows to my Etsy shop this morning!

I am so excited to expand my inventory in the shop! It feels good to get another pattern in there for everyone to see. For my blog readers I am giving y'all a chance to save a little bit of $$ with a new discount code!

To get...

off, use the coupon code: NEW25

This code is only available until June 15th so don't wait!!

Hump Day Recipe!

I honestly cant believe how many recipes you can find online for homemade granola bars! Put that into google search and the listings go on and on. Which one do I choose!?!

So to back up a little, since we started this clean eating journey, I have been in the search for a cheap and easy way to make granola bars for the family. We absolutely love them and we chow down on some Cliff bars - but those things aren't cheap at all! Thank goodness Target has them on sale all. the. time! Since we all love them, especially my kiddos, I have had to ration them out daily! The rule now in the Hart house is one granola bar a day. My kids would eat them for every meal and every snack!! Now don't get me wrong, I definitely could eat an entire box in one day as well. They are way too good!

So I think I have found one that has decent ingredients and I actually have all the ingredients in my cabinet except the cocoa nibs.

So here they are:

4 cups old fashioned oats (gluten-free if you prefer)
1/3 cup coconut oil*
1 cup raw honey*
4 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups almonds, chopped (a food processor works great for this)
1/2 cup cocoa nibs* (optional) - These are unsweetened bits of chopped cocoa that contain no sweeteners or other ingredients.

This recipe is courtesy of www.naturalnews.com. I have not made these yet but that is on my agenda today! So I should be back tomorrow with the news on how well they turned out!! 

But I am asking my readers for your help! If you have a good homemade granola recipe, please share!!! 
Trying to keep our budget down while clean eating is extremely hard but we are trying!! 

Hope you all have a good hump day!! 

Proud To Be An American!

Remember what this day is truly about. Don't forget to thank our Veterans and the people that continue to put their lives in danger to protect our freedom! God Bless America!!!!





Check out my Facebook page,  Uggs, Bugs, and Tutus Boutique,  and make sure you like or share to get a chance to win a free headband. Winner will be announced this evening!

No Black Thumb Here!

Happy Thursday to everyone!! First I want to give you all a small apology about not being on here as much! I promise I will be better. Things with my Etsy shop have been going crazy fast and I am trying to catch up! It is a good thing though, but I feel like my blog has taken the backseat and that will change!

I am excited to update everyone on our family garden and how this life style is slowly changing us! First can I tell you that my garden is growing like crazy!!!! I seriously was afraid that I might have a black thumb but it turns out, it is pretty green. Trust me, I was in complete shock. I was expecting everything to turn brown and die within days of being planted but the total opposite happened. They are growing!!! And growing fast!

My herb collection is growing wonderfully! My poor basil plant gets picked almost daily. I may need to give him a basil friend!

Ok! So the biggest surprise to me is my tomato plant. This thing it literally about 10 times bigger than it was when I first planted it. It just keeps growing! I may need a bigger wire! 

Oh and it is growing flowers which means tomatoes are next!!

And the garden is taking off! I couldn't be happier - well maybe once everything starts actually growing!

Oh and that small guy up there is Ty's turnip plant. He brought the seeds home from school and we decided to give it a shot and they have sprouted!!! Ty was so happy!

So there is my update! Hopefully within the next couple of months things will actually start growing. That will definitely put a smile on my face!

New Product!!

So yesterday was quite a busy day for me. Sewing and a photo shoot took up most of the day, but I am happy to say that there are new patterns now available in my Boutique on Etsy! I have also started making scarfs for little girls!!! My daughter Emma graciously decided to be my little model and she did great!!!!  I may be a bit biased but she is adorable...

She definitely makes that scarf look pretty darn cute!! Girls scarves are now available!! I cant wait to make more. Look for them soon!

Also I have decided to make a little survey for my blog readers and my Facebook fans on what you would like to see in my shop! I will be back tomorrow with that. 

Again head over to my Facebook page and "like" for a chance to win a free headband!! Winner will be picked Memorial Day! Don't miss out. 

The Harts 2013

Uggs, Bugs, & TuTus Boutique got its first two orders today and I am so excited to ship them out to my very first customers! Lets hope everything gets there in one piece.

So today is a bit calmer since my in laws are on their way back home. The kids definitely are missing them, as well as mommy and daddy, but July 4th will be here before we know it. So this weekend we had our family pictures done and I cant wait to share them with y'all. We have a family friend that takes amazing pictures and she is just beginning her business so check her out on Facebook @Jessica Van Nest.

Bergey's Dairy has been our go to place for the past few months so I thought it was fitting that we have our pictures done there and they turned out amazing!!!!

Here ya go!

Pawpaw and Mimi with their babies

The love of my life!

Sugars!

Me and my girls!

The Harts

She loves giving daddy sugars!

I am in LOVE with this picture!

Mimi and her little man

Pawpaw and his little brown eye girl

My men

Haha! Totally giving my blue steel look...too funny!

My sexy man!

Love that face!

My older babies!

All my babies

Couldn't ask for a better set of in laws :)

Little Bit!

Me and my honey!

The Hart men

She was not happy!

Anthony with his parents

The Harts 2013