"Mexican" Chicken Chili

I had a lot of leftover shredded chicken from chicken tacos and decided some "Mexican" chicken chili would take care of it. I love this because it has lots of fiber and protein and it meant not cooking for a few days in the hotel. This was a super easy slow cooker dinner that made lots of leftovers and was a big hit.

1 can Rotel tomatoes with chiles
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed
1 can sweet corn, whole kernel
1 pack of taco seasoning (or homemade!)
3 chicken breasts, shredded (I used leftover chicken from chicken tacos earlier in the week. I cooked the chicken in the slow cooker with a jar of salsa verde on high for 3 hours)

Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker except for the chicken and cook on low for 8 hours. Stir in the shredded chicken and let it cook for about 15 more minutes. Easy as that!

Red Wine Beef Tips

Our one-month mark of island life came and went so quickly I barely realized it. I can't believe we've been here for a month already - it still feels like a vacation despite the fact that we're both fully immersed in work. While we've settled into work life, we are unfortunately still unsettled in home life, meaning we are still living in a hotel. We have been told that we can move into our house at the beginning of next month, so we are excitedly counting down the days. By the time we are able to move in and have our household good delivered, we will have been living in hotels for 7 months, and 5 of those were mandatory. I'll just say that is far too long to be living out of boxes and suitcases.

Thus, my quest for making real food in a hotel room continues, but I thankfully have a crock pot at the very least now. When I was living the bachelorette life, salads and soup were really easy fixes when there was no time (or let's be real, motivation) for cooking. But my husband isn't playing that game, and I'm always looking for something meaty to make so he's not looking for snacks two hours after dinner.  Last night I made red wine beef tips over brown rice, and it was really delicious. Downside: our tiny hotel room still smells like onion? We had this with a side of steamed broccoli, and there were lots of leftovers!

2 pounds of stew meat

1 medium shallot, thinly diced

5 cloves garlic, thinly diced

salt and pepper

1 tsp herbes de provence

10 oz. red wine, or as I prefer to not waste good wine, red cooking wine

Put the meat in the slow cooker and top it with shallot, garlic, salt, pepper, and herbes de provence. Pour the red wine over it and cook it on high for 4 hours or low for 8. We ate it over some brown rice, which I made in the Pasta Boat in the microwave. Super easy, hotel room friendly, and definitely delicious! 

Hawaii Life

Well, we've made it to Hawaii! We spent our first four days here at the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club, and it was nothing short of amazing. The beach was breathtakingly beautiful and the weather was phenomenal. I've never lived near a beach before, so I am pretty much in awe of every beach I see, but I think it's fair to say this is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. If any military friends are planning a trip out here or are PCSing and want a vacation spot, the Marriott Ko Olina gives a great military discount!

Ko Olina sunset

beautiful view at Ko Olina

Luke reported to MCB Hawaii on Thursday, and he was given a quick reality check as to how much work he has ahead of him. He was originally told he'd be in a liaison platoon for a few weeks, but he's now taking over as a guns platoon commander. He is really excited, but he has all of about 3 days to learn every aspect of his job before the LT he's taking over for PCSes. So it will be a good learning experience for him and he will likely be forced to use the organizational skills I've been gently suggesting for the last 7 years. He was also hailed the day he checked in, so we got to meet everyone and I got to meet some wives which made me feel a lot less overwhelmed and lonely!

After the Hail & Bail

I met with my internship site supervisor and principal on Friday, and I am incredibly excited to start working tomorrow. For those of you that are thinking, "Shouldn't you have a real job by now?" basically I am doing another internship so that I can be licensed/certified to be either a mental heath counselor or a school counselor. The licensing process for counselors is terribly inconsistent across states, particularly the states in which we might live, so this is not ideal, but is pretty much necessary. In Hawaii, there are lots and lots and lots of substance abuse counseling jobs, but I know my limits, and that is one of them. I really disliked substance abuse counseling in my first clinical internship, and I know I would burn out very quickly if I were to do that, so I am taking this time to expand my scope of practice so that I can get a job that I will love going to every day. My site is a local middle school in Kailua, and I think it is going to be a really positive experience. Because I am already nationally certified, they are giving me a huge caseload and a lot of responsibilities, and I am thankful for that. I am really looking forward to working with the kids and hopefully making a difference.

Luke and I are really loving living in Hawaii so far, after 9 days of experience. He had a 96 this weekend, so we had a chance to explore a little and get to know our surroundings. Kailua is one of the towns right outside of the base, and it has a small town feel despite there being a lot of military and tourists. We also got to spend some time today at one of the beaches on base, and I have decided this is not going to be a bad place to endure a deployment. For the time being, we are getting TLA and living in the hotel on base. We ask for prayers that we will either be offered base housing very soon or that we would find a place to live off base. Options are limited right now, and we really want to get it handled before Luke leaves in the near-ish future.

Pyramid Rock Beach on base

Broccoli Cheddar Soup in a Bread Bowl

In our present lack of Panera, I've been settling for Atlanta Bread Company. As a Georgia native, I want to have allegiances to ABC, but it just doesn't stack up to Panera, particularly in their lack of mac and cheese and the fact that they don't have broccoli cheddar soup every day. I can't handle the anxiety and potential disappointment of going to a restaurant and not knowing if they're going to have what I want. But, if this is my biggest problem, I consider myself very lucky. I have been craving broccoli cheddar soup AND a bread bowl, and I have a long workout planned for tomorrow so I thought I'd give this a whirl. It also helped that I only had to buy one ingredient.

For the bread bowl:

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 tbsp yeast

3 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp white vinegar

1 tbsp salt

1/3 cup olive oil

6 cups flour

Mix the water, yeast, sugar, and vinegar and let it sit for about 5 minutes, or until it's bubbly. Add the salt and olive oil. Add one cup of flour at a time. I can usually mix 3 cups of flour with a fork before I have to start kneading it by hand. Knead the entire mixture for about 5 minutes, adding a little olive oil at a time if needed. Put the dough into a bowl, cover it with damp towel, and let it sit for half an hour. 

Divide the dough into six balls (more or less depending on how big you want your bread bowls) and put them on a greased baking sheet. Bake them at 375 for about 25 minutes. When they're done, cut a circle out of the top and scoop out it for the bowl. 

For the soup:

2 cups water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 bag 16-oz broccoli florets
2 cups mild cheddar cheese, shredded
1 1/2 cups fat free half & half
3 tbsp cornstarch
salt to taste

Bring the water and bouillon cubes to a boil and stir to combine. Heat the broccoli and 3/4 cup of water in the microwave for 6 minutes. Turn the temperature to low heat. Add about 1/4 of the broccoli to the broth and mash it with a potato masher. Add the rest of the broccoli (with the water), the cheese, and the half & half. Stir until the cheese melts. I added the cornstarch to thicken it up a bit since the fat free half & half isn't as thick as regular. Mix in a bit of salt too and let it simmer on low heat for a few minutes.

Ladle it into that hunk of carbs and enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan

Luke is on duty tonight, so I wanted to surprise him with his favorite dinner. Delivering dinner to the Marine barracks felt very reminiscent of Bancroft Hall duty nights. That time really seems like it was so long ago even though it was less than 2 years ago.

I don't normally make this in the crock pot, but I thought I'd give it a try to see how it turned out. Unfortunately, it's one of those annoying recipes that cooks for either 6 hours on low (not a full workday...) or 3 hours on high. But it turned out great, so I think I will make it this way again.

Sauce:
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup white wine or white cooking wine
1/2 large zucchini, diced
1 lb fresh mushrooms, diced

Chicken:
2 lbs chicken breast
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 egg, beaten
t tbsp olive oil
sliced mozzarella cheese

Also some spaghetti

For the sauce, blend all ingredients except for the zucchini and mushrooms. I used a blender because I didn't bring my food processor for hotel living life, and it worked fine, but a food processor would probably be better. Stir in the zucchini and mushrooms and set aside.

Coat the bottom of the crock pot with olive oil. In one shallow dish, beat the egg. In another shallow dish, combine the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Coat the chicken in egg first, and then coat it in the bread crumbs. Put the chicken in the crock pot. Top the chicken with sliced mozzarella. Pour the sauce over the chicken and cook it on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. Serve it on top of spaghetti.

Hello, Fiber! Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I spent Sunday-Friday of last week in Lynchburg, Virginia for a week-long "intensive" class, and it definitely lived up to the name. I spent about 14 hours per day either in class or doing work for the class, so needless to say, I am exhausted. I also got a great reminder of how amazing Fall is on the east coast. I got to see some beautiful mountains with awesome colors and so much foliage! I have almost forgotten about foliage here in Fort Sill where trees are sparse, and it's so windy and dry that even if the trees had dead leaves, they would have blown away long ago. I am a true lover of all Fall things, and pumpkin tops the list for sure. When we were living in Quantico, I made about 6 batches of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so I figured the only way to make these better would be to add pumpkin. Also, I am an old lady who loves meeting my daily fiber intake, and the pumpkin and oatmeal in these definitely contribute to that goal : )

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup (yikes, I know) butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup pureed pumpkin
2 cups oats
1 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add vanilla and egg to wet ingredients. Whisk pumpkin into wet ingredients. Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Add the oats 1/2 cup at a time. Lastly, mix in the chocolate chips. Bake these at 350 for 14-15 minutes.

I made one large pan (about 15 cookies) and had enough dough left over to probably make about 30 more cookies. I should also mention this tastes great as cookie dough...

Pumpkin Monkey Bread

For a couple of weeks, I have been really jealous of my friends who were posting on Facebook and tweeting about wearing boots and scarves and sipping pumpkin spice lattes because Fall continued to escape us here in Fort Sill. Last week, the temperatures were still in the 80s. That is not Fall. Then suddenly, it was 50 degrees for no explainable reason, and though I know it's going to be back in the 80s next week, I am embracing these 5 days of 40-50 degree weather and diving in head first to a new pumpkin recipe.

I made this pumpkin monkey bread for Sunday school this week. It's amazing how some lessons and sermons seem like they're so specifically meant for me. We've been in 1 Peter for a few weeks now, and today were talking about how husbands and wives should relate to one another. If I'm being completely honest, Fort Sill has not been great for me. We are fine, but I've just really felt like I was in a funk since we got here. I am frustrated with the licensing process (5-6 weeks for application review?? try 9 weeks and still going...) and feeling like I'm just not contributing a lot. This week at Sunday school, I was really struck with some ways I could be focusing my attention rather than desperately trying to get where I think I should be in my career. We talked about the ways that husbands and wives can pray for each other in order to encourage growth, and I'll definitely be spending some extra time in prayer to do this.

So this is what I made. It was pretty time consuming. I made it last night because I didn't want to get up at 5 am to make this before heading to church.

For the dough:
3 1/4 cup flour, plus some extra for kneading
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup warm milk
1/4 cup warm water
1 can pumpkin
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

For the coating:
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
3/4 stick butter, melted

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, milk, water, pumpkin, and yeast. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the pumpkin mixture into it, combining it with a wooden spoon.

After it's well combined, knead it on a floured surface for about 8 minutes. Spray a clean bowl with non-stick spray, put the dough in, and cover it to rise for an hour.

After the dough has risen for an hour, tear it into bite-size pieces. Melt the butter for the coating in a small bowl, and in another small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. When I tore the dough into pieces, it was still really sticky, so floured hands are helpful. Roll the dough in the butter and then roll it in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Place it in a baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Typically, I'd make this in a bundt pan, but since I didn't bring one of those to Oklahoma, I made it in a cake pan. Tastes the same.  I had some extra cinnamon/sugar, so I sprinkled it on top. You can never  have too much cinnamon and sugar. After all the pieces have been coated and placed in the pan, cover it and let it rise for another hour. About 30 minutes into this hour, turn the oven on to 350 degrees, and let the pan sit on top of the oven to finish rising another half hour. This will help with the tenderness of the dough.

After it has risen for an hour, bake it at 350 for about 30 minutes. Let it sit for about 30 minutes before turning it onto a serving dish. So delicious!