Homemade Chicken Enchiladas

We love Mexican food in our house!

This chicken enchilada recipe I've been making and tweaking for years, it is so yummy!

This is what you'll need:

/one pound or two cups of cooked (boiled) chicken pulled apart/ one small can of diced green chilies/ 2 cups of chicken broth/ 3 tablespoons of butter/ 3 tablespoons of flour/ one cup of fat free sour cream/ 2 cups of cheese divided (I used a Mexican blend)/ 10 large wraps of your choice

This is optional but oh so delicious:

I add a can of Rotel tomatoes to our enchiladas as well as a can of black beans rinsed

First I combine all the ingredients for the "inside" of my enchiladas.

I have the boiled chicken pulled apart, one cup of cheese, rinsed black beans, and Rotel.

Next I fill my wraps. 

I used about half a cup per wrap.

I place the filled enchiladas in a lightly sprayed casserole dish.

Now for the delicious sauce!

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan.

Once the butter is melted, add 3 tablespoons of flour.

This will be super thick. Keep mixing this for about a minute.

Next add the chicken broth and with a whisk stir well.

About two minutes or so.

Once all the way mixed add the sour cream and green chilies. 

Keep the temp on a low simmer here.

(If this boils you stand a chance of the sour cream becoming chunky, gross!)

Pour sauce over enchiladas.

It will look like a lot of liquid, it will cook down.

Add remaining cup of cheese.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Once cooked, allow to sit for about 5 minutes.

This recipe is delicious and one of our favorites. 

I like to add a bit of salsa on top.

So good!!

Chicken & Dumplings {Crock Pot} Style

Gotta love some home cookin'

I don't make these often but they are great.

Chicken and dumplings.

A southern staple and winter warmer.

I make ours with greens beans with potatoes, fried okra, and drop biscuits--

delicious! 

ingredients:
-at least one pound of chicken (can be breast or tenders
-chicken broth
-2 cans of cream of chicken with herbs
-half an onion sliced
-about a cup of celery chopped (optional but great flavor)
-small can of biscuits
-salt and pepper

I use my Crock Pot for these and it is so simple.

Put your chicken in the bottom. I used 1.17 pounds.

Next I used my salt and pepper grinders and covered the chicken pretty well. Then I added about half an onion and about one cup or so of chopped celery.

I'm all about store brands and saving but this soup is amazing to cook with.

Add two can directly on top of the chicken, onions, and celery.

Then I fill up one and half cans of chicken broth and pour into the crock pot and stir.

It will still be thick but that will cook out.

I put mine on high for 6 hours. I've done low for 8 and it is just as good.

After I got home I stirred the crock pot goodness. The chicken just starts falling apart and it smells amazing. 

If any large pieces of chicken are left I will take it out and shred it then put it back in.

Now for the dumplings!!

I've made from scratch dumplings and I've used these. Honestly, no difference in taste but major time difference. I used the smaller can of the Grands "Butter Tasting" biscuits by Pillsbury.
Crack your crock pot back up to high if it isn't already.

Next open the biscuits and separate them and you will cut them into little pieces. About 8 pieces per biscuit.
I like to use my pizza cutter for this part. Once they are cut put them into the crock pot and stir.

The longer they are in the crock pot the more cooked they will get. Some people like "doughy"  dumplings, I prefer mine a bit more cooked. I left our dumplings in the crock pot for almost 2 hours while stirring about every half hour. If you are big on spices you can toss in a bit of basil into the mix.

That is it for simple and delicious chicken and dumplings.
These are so yummy and fool proof!

Kitchen & Cooking {the basics}

I love to cook.

Trying new recipes are among one of my favorite things to do but it hasn't always been this way. Before Drew and I dated I went to school full time and worked at a golf course full time. I pretty much lived on Lean Cuisines and Smart One with unhealthy amounts of hot dogs from the golf course. 

Then came Pintrest.

Pintrest sparked my interest in cooking and once Drew and I started dating I really started appreciating being able to cook and not always go out. When I first started cooking I had very few "supplies" and really didn't know what I was doing. After plenty of recipe fails I've slowly got the hang of how to cook. Now I still have my oops moments but they aren't nearly as frequent as they use to be.

The basics I would consider are:

-Olive Oil, this is great for veggies, grilling, and more. I love having it in this easy pour bottle and close to the stove.

-Salt and Pepper Grinder, I swear by these! Fresh salt and pepper add so much to all recipes and I also love some fresh pepper on our salads. Not to mention these last forever, I seriously by a set maybe twice a year and we use these on a daily basis!

-Italian Grinder, I found this at my local Food City on sale this past fall and it is by far one of my most reached for spice. It has all the yummy Italian spices in one place that gets freshly grinds on demand. We love Italian food and this grinder helps keep dinner delicious with a few simple turns of the wrist.

We have a ridiculous spice cabinet that could probable use my attention but these are the other "non-basic" spices that we use most often and are great to keep around for cooking:

basil, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, veggie spice, Lawry's seasoned salt, and rosemary

If it wasn't for my parents for getting this for an amazing wedding gift we wouldn't have one but this Kitchen Aid mixer is everything and more. We mix meat loaf, sausage/meatballs, cookie dough, icing, sauce, pizza dough, fresh bread, etc with this sweet mixer. It is very user friendly and really helps create some amazing dishes. Also, you can notice my Pioneer Woman cook book that I would also suggest to any cook with any ability! Finally, again it was a wedding gift, but a good set of knives. Drew insisted on this when we were registering and I didn't object but I was thinking, "the ones we have cut." Well after using nice knives I can tell such a difference. Worth the investment!

I hope you have had a great day and a great week.

Please follow Sugar, Spice, & Newlywed Life on Bloglovin and Instagram!

Our Weekend and Beer Pizza Crust

This has been a great weekend!

Friday Drew texted me at school and said we would be leaving for Nashville as

soon as I got home from school. We needed to pick up his truck and he had the great idea to

spend the night there and finish Christmas shopping the next day.

Once we got there a little after 9 we were starving.

We stayed downtown and the girl at the front desk said a great place was just

across the street with over 150 drafts. That was all we needed to know.

The place was called Flying Saucer and it was amazing.

The food was outstanding, the service great, and the beer selection was over 4 pages. 

We will definitely be going back!

In the morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and headed out to shop. We 

got majority of the stuff at a Marshalls that was 10 minutes from where we stayed.

#jackpot

Then we grabbed a Starbucks and headed home.

Nashville is just under 3 hours from our home, not bad.

I have a pet peeve about whenever we leave for a trip, one night or more, the house HAS

to be left in perfect condition. Well the house was no means a mess when we left but my OCD kicked in by the time we got home and I've cleaned top to bottom. 

Then got in the Christmas spirit and enjoyed wrapping gifts.

I have big plans to decorate them but this will do in the mean time. 

So for dinner we wanted homemade pizza.

I keep coming across beer crust recipes online so we decided to try one.

Beer Crust Pizza Recipe

 Once the simple dough was rolled out and placed on the pan I brushed it with olive oil

I've learned if you sprinkle the bottom of the pan with cornmill it helps get the crust extra yummy!

We love toppings! 

Today we had green and yellow bell pepper, banana peppers, onion, sausage, and turkey pepperoni.

Final product was a pretty pizza.

Honestly, I liked it but did not love it.

I feel it tasted too much like "dough" and needed a better sauce but by no means was it bad.

Now I need to cozy up next to this fur ball and get busy with some lesson plans and grading papers!

Chicken Quesadilas

Drew has been wanting these delicious little slices for a few weeks now.

Last night we happened to have all the needed goods so decided to have 

these for dinner. (Once again throw out the planned menu)

So here ya go, chicken quesadilas--they won't disappoint!

You will need one pound of boneless skinless chicken, two bell peppers sliced (I used one red and one green), one small onion sliced, wraps of your choice, Monterrey Jack cheese.

I use two separate pans. In one I saute the peppers and onion together with just a small amount of olive oil. I also put a few grinds of fresh pepper on them. In the other pan with a small amount of olive oil goes the chicken. We have cut it up first in the past a few times but it seems to dry out so we cook it whole then cut it up. We add fresh sea salt, cracked pepper, and a touch of crushed red pepper, garlic powder, and anything else we think might go good. 

Cook the chicken till done all the way through and the veggies till good and tender.

While the chicken and veggies finish cooking I sliced up the cheese good and thin. 

While having a sample of course.

After the chicken is cooked we sliced it up and added it with the veggies.

Warm up the tortillas. 

I lightly sprayed the pan first, not sure if it even matters to do that. 

Once the wrap is warm and slightly golden I added the cheese.

Then add the veggies and chicken.

Fold over and cook till melted on both sides.

Then enjoy! I dip mine in fresh salsa. So yummy! 

Maybe with a margarita or Corona?! 

Taco Soup

Here at the Irons Home we love soup.

Generally it is easy to make and the leftovers are even better.

As a bonus, most are pretty healthy too!

This is one of our favorites!

You will need:

1 can of corn, 4 cans of chili beans, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 pkg of taco mix, 1 pound of either ground turkey or lean beef, and 1 small onion chopped 

First, I cook up the meat. I prefer to use turkey.

It is lean and much better for us and you would never tell a difference!

As it cooks I add in the onion.

Once the meat is cooked add in all the "cans" and stir and add the taco mix with the water it calls for on the package. Let simmer for a short bit and that is it!

You could also cook the meat and toss everything into a crock pot and let it simmer all day on low. 

The house will smell amazing and the leftovers get better each day!

We like to top the soup with tortilla chips and some shredded cheese.

Yummy, easy, and a favorite of ours!