Chicken Quesadillas

Pretty soon (fingers crossed) I will be adding photos to these recipes! It's honestly the last thing on my mind as I'm trying to get a 2 year old fed while making plates for daddy and then mommy is the last one to eat, by then I'm usually starved and snarf everything down before I think "Crap! I forgot to take a picture!!"  I think I will make it my New Year's resolution to try to take photos of the food!

Last night, I made chicken quesadillas which Charlie loves.  They are oh so very simple!  You can pretty much toss anything in there that you want but here is how I make them:

Charlie's Version:
Chicken, fried in a pan of butter, seasoned with salt, garlic salt, and pepper then chopped up into smallish pieces
Onions (I use yellow)
Black Olives
Monterey Jack Cheese
Salsa, hot sauce, taco sauce, or whatever he feels like dipping it in

My version:
Chicken, prepared same as above
Bacon, pieces or in a pinch I use bacon bits
Fresh Tomatoes, cut into smallish chunks
Monterey Jack Cheese
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Tommy's version:
Chicken or turkey (he likes lunch meat better than the chunks)
Cheddar Cheese
Bacon or bacon bits

Sauté the harder ingredients like onions and black olives in a bit of butter, add the chicken at the end just so its warmed.  Heat a griddle to medium high and spray with Pam.  Fill one side of a flour tortilla (we use 10 inch tortillas) with stuffing mixture top with cheese and fold over.  (Sometimes I heat these in the microwave for 10 seconds or so just to get the cheese good and melty!) Heat on the griddle until nice and crispy on both sides.  Slice it up with a pizza cutter, serve with dipping sauce and viola! Simple, quick, yummy meal!

Sugar Cookie Bars

I made these Sugar Cookie Bars for Charlie and his friends on Saturday night for the UFC pay-per-view fights.  They loved them and the frosting is by far the best frosting I've ever made, it was SO fluffy. 

Sugar Cookie Bars

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 13 x 18 inch sheet pan and line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixture, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each. Add the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 2 addition, mixing until just combined.

Press the cookie dough into a deep cookie sheet either greased or lined with parchment paper.  Spread evenly (I used a small rolling pin for this). Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool completely.

Buttercream frosting

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup butter, softened

4 cups confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the shortening and butter until combined and smooth. Add vanilla, powdered sugar, and milk and mix slowly until all combined. I then turned the mixer on the highest setting and whipped it for approximately 3 minutes and it turned out so light and fluffy, it was amazing.  Feel free to add food coloring, a few drops is all it takes.

Spread onto cooled cookies. Slice into bars and serve.

Adapted from: Completely Delicious

My First Post! Getting to know ME!

Hi All! (Actually, there is no "all" yet because I haven't given anyone the link to this blog yet!)  I just wanted to let you guys know a little about me to start off with. 

My name is Jessie, I'm 27 years old.  I'm married to a wonderful man and we have a perfect son named Tommy.  He will be 2 in March so between working and parenting and making sure dinner is on the table, I'm a very busy girl! 

I went to college at the University of Kansas and majored in English...obviously that wasn't my brightest decision, considering I work for the engineering department of an oil and pipeline company and I do bookkeeping on the side for several businesses.  See how those have absolutely nothing to do with English...yeah, me too.  You might also notice that I do not write with any sort of correct grammar or punctuation...I know, I know. I sometimes make up my own words and I'm also pretty random and tend to bounce around a bit, please bear with me! :)   Throughout college I worked in a local grocery store, decorated cakes for Baskin Robbins, and bartended.  I've kept that busy lifestyle as you can tell only now I tend to keep myself busy with cooking or doing other "housewifely" tasks.  Growing up, we had Sunday dinners at Grandma's farm, we had fresh eggs for breakfast on Christmas morning out of the chicken coop, and both my great-grandma and grandma never really measured anything, they just kind of dumped stuff in based on how full their hand was or how heavy it felt.  My family is really into antiques.  Growing up in Lawrence, Kansas with college kids swarming constantly, I felt I was WAY too cool for all of that country life and antiques.  Well, I still hate antiques for the most part, they're beginning to grow on me in some ways though (Mom, I know you're reading this and this is NOT an invitation to start giving me junk, not at all) and I yearn for the much more simple life of the country.

My husband's family is Polish and he was also in the military and stationed overseas in Japan and Germany for several years.  He traveled extensively while in the military and has a bit of a sophisticated palate when it comes to food.  When I met him I didn’t realize WeinerSchnitzel was actually a food…I thought it was just a joke. I was definitely wrong and it’s now something we eat frequently.  I’ve learned to make Gwumpkie (“Little Doves” or stuffed cabbage rolls), Nalesniki (Polish crepes aka. Massive failure), Yaki Soba (stir-fried noodles with vegetables) and Schnitzel (breaded fried meat—think chicken fried steak).  I’m proud of myself for expanding my horizons!

Lately I’ve been on a kick of trying to do everything the old fashioned way…sort of.  I’ve been making my own bread (with a bread machine because sometimes I cheat), I’ve been sewing and I’m not half bad!  I’ve just, creepily-I might add, been longing for the old days where people depended on themselves and family to survive.  I’m pretty sure I was born in the wrong era because something about accomplishing making a fantastic dinner from scratch and having your guests compliment you and ask you where you bought it…it makes you happy. 

I guess that’s enough rambling for now.  Hopefully this blog thing goes well!  Please, please, please feel free to email me if you have questions, recipes to share, recipes you’re wanting, ideas, complaints, compliments…anything. I would LOVE to have feedback!! The address is  hobbyforahousewife@gmail.com

Thanks-
Jessie