What We Ate Wednesday! (On Yellow Heart Art's Turf!)

This needs to be said.

I, Leonora Jennifer, have a mega girl crush on my home girl Amy.

Amy and I have been bloggie BFFs since the dawn of time (well, my definition of "the dawn of time" is January, but just go with it)

One time there was a lil etsy shop that had only 2 sales. This little etsy shop had big dreams, high hopes and a ton of anxiety. Some lovely lady came along and gave "the little shop that could" 2 more sales. Since then the lady and the shop owner have been homies for lyfe.

and this just in: These 2 gangstas get to party like rock stars in 2 weeks when I go to disney! Can ya tell I'm a wee bit stoked? I'm not sure how one party likes a rock star in a place where you legally can't die. (No, i'm serious, disney says you can not die on their property. They will drag you off their grounds and declare you dead there. Weird or awesome? You decide.)
Now that I left you with that incredibly unsettling yet completely random factoid please enjoy some more good eats where Amy guest blogs her "What We Ate Wednesday" Post over here on Yellow Heart Art's turf!

Personally I just think she feels bad for the bubs and wants me to attempt to cook an easy peasy dish for him. Apparently toasting some bread and throwing butter on it isn't a "gourmet meal" (who knew?) (sorry bub)

aaaand GO!

(OH HEY! Almost forgot. In case you missed it there is a giveaway goin' on here for FAH-REE cupcakes! eff are ee ee that spells F-R-E-E. Enter here!)

(Apparently I'm not done with the parenthesis game, if you wanna be the firs to know about our grand re-opening in Mid/late october as well as receive exclusive coupon codes and promos then sign up for our News Letter! Trust me, if you get one a month consider yourself lucky, thats really pushin' it for us ha)

(ok, Amy, you can really go now…)

Yo fellow Yellow Heart Art lovers!

Its me Amy from Buggie and Jellybean, my little nook of the internet where I share

my day to day life of raising Buggie and Bean, the little DIY's that fill my day, and snippets of my life as SAHMomma.

Hey look its me!

Today I am honored, privileged, blessed, overly excited, thrilled, and I ran out of adjectives to be guest blogging for Leo, while she gets her new digs together. Every Wednesday on my blog we have "What we ate Wednesday", see because I was not able to participate in "What I wore Wednesday" since my days consist of moving from one pair of sweat pants to another, I could share what we ate. Today I am sharing a super de duper easy crock pot recipe, Santa Fe Chicken.

Here is what you need:

- 1.5 lbs of chicken breast

- 15oz can of black beans

- 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes

- 8oz bag of frozen corn

- 1/4cup chopped fresh cilantro {or 2tbsp dried}

- 14.5 oz can chicken broth

- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 1 tsp onion powder

- salt

- package of yellow rice

For toppings:

- avocado

- sour cream

- shredded Mexican cheese

- a lime

Please over look my crusty crock pot, mkay.

Ready for this recipe, it might put you over the edge with all the steps, ha:

- combine all the ingredients minus the rice and toppings ingredients in the bottom of the crockpot, stir well.

- place chicken on top

- cover and set for either low 10hrs or high 6.

*PHEW* that was intense, hope it was not too advance.

Then with one hour left in the cooking, remove the chicken shredded and add it back in to the pot. Cook your rice based on the timing of the cooking.

Then to serve scoop some rice in a bowl, top with Santa Fe Chicken, some sour cream, cheese, avocado and a lime wedge.

And sit back and enjoy that meal you SLAVED all day over!

This recipe was adapted from Marta's from Haus of Girls.

Thanks for having me over today!

Other ways of getting me into your life are as follows:

The Twitter

My Pinterest Addiction

Come and Knock were I sell my goods.

And most favorite EVER, well besides my blog, INSTAGRAM @Bugandbeansmomma.

Hope to see you around!

Recipe Madness! Alli guests posts

Awright guys this is the FINAL WEEKEND Of our move.

it is go time baby!

I'm kinda bummed that sunday dinner for bub and I will probably be left over pizza for the 5th night in a row. Don't get me wrong, I love pizza and all, but I'm pretty sure if you cut me open right now I would bleed marinara sauce.

Can't wait till I'm all settled in so I can make have bub create this lovely dish that Alli from Life on LeRoy has shared with us today! Thank you Alli for guest posting for me while we get all settled in :)

Hi everyone, I'm Alli from the blog Life on LeRoy.

My blog is dedicated to sharing my simple, blessed life, my love for cooking, red wine, family and the little things in life that make it so beautiful.

I've got a supa fun recipe in store for you today!  It's a little time consuming but it's a lot of yummy!

I'll let you in on a little secret, although the measurements for the ingredients are listed below, I rarely (if ever) measure when I'm cooking.  That's just no fun to me!

Shells with Crispy Bacon and Spinach

Ingredients:

1 (12-ounce) package jumbo shells pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 pound bacon, cut into small pieces

2 pounds frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta

1 cup grated asiago cheese

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Sauce:

1 tablespoon butter

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup cream

2 cups grated asiago cheese, plus 1/4 cup

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

I like to prep all my ingredients right away.  I find it easier as I go along, to have them all ready.

For this recipe I minced the garlic and parsley.  I think an important part of cooking is having a great knife to work with.  I spent about $50 on mine and it's worth every penny.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

For the shells:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta.

Warm the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to a large bowl.

Add the spinach, ricotta cheese, asiago cheese, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir to combine. Stuff the shells with about 2 tablespoons of the spinach mixture each and place the stuffed shells in a large, buttered baking dish.

Your mixture should look something like this:  YUM!

Next, stuff the shells!  You'll want to cook the shells just until they are al-dente (cooked just long enough to still be firm, but not too soft).  That way they are easier to man-handle and stuff.

Now for the sauce:

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the cream and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to very low and add the 2 cups asiago cheese, parsley, and pepper. Stir until the cheese is dissolved. Pour the sauce over the shells.

Please note:  you will want to grab a spoon and drink the sauce, but I would advise against it - your stomach will not like you later!

Top with the remaining 1/4 cup asiago cheese. Bake until golden on top, about 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

(Big dork!  I know!)

I hope you enjoyed learning a new recipe!  These shells are delish and are great to have when you're having a large group over because they are so filling!

Thank you so much Leonora for letting me hang out on your blog while you are busy moving!

Hop on over to Life on LeRoy, grab a cup of coffee and get to know me better.  I look forward to it.

Guest Post: Crock Potin' It Up!

Whats up loves? You're going to see some familiar and new (to you!) faces sneak up on my blog these next few weeks. I have recruited some of my all time fav bloggers to guest post for me while bubs and I kill each other calmly move into our new digs.

So, I kinda feel bad for the Bubs. I am the worse "house girlfriend" ever.

I burn water.

I spill said burnt water all over the floor.

I have no clue how to fold a fitted sheet (so I just make a fort outta 'em instead--problem solved)

The most "domestic" thing I do is slap some cold cuts in between 2 slices of bread for my love to bring to work for lunch.

Enter Erika.

I'm convinced Erika is living a parallel life to me; the boys in our lives drive us absolutely crazy (but we love 'em, right Erika?), and if I owned a pup I'm pretty sure he would be just like this lil guy

Anyway, Erika is gonna attempt to domesticate homegirl. Crock pot it up love! (pssst if you keep readin' you might find an awesome coupon code from Erika for her Etsy Shop!)

Hi I'm Erika.

 I blog at about inspiring things and my puppy (pictured above) and sell pretties on Etsy.

And I'm here to talk about crock pots.

When I used to think crock pot I thought '50s housewife in an apron and gray pot roast.

While I'm totally down with the apron, I'm not so down with the gray pot roast, which is why I avoided my crock pot for a year after getting it for my wedding.

Until one of my friend's moms told me that a crock pot is not scary but amazing.  Crock pots don't need to be used for gray meat but in fact can be used to make lots of yummy things... and can make your life easier.

Repeat after me, "the crock pot is my friend."

Case in point: this delicious tortilla soup I'm going to give you the recipe for. It, like most crock pot recipes, requires NO skill, just a can opener and the ability to dump things inside a pot, which I'm assuming most of you can do. :)

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts (you can cook & shred them before or do as I do and just stick two frozen ones in there and cut 'em up later)

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 yellow onion

1 4 oz can of diced green peppers

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 cups of water

1 can of chicken broth

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup salsa

1 bay leaf

1 can black beans, rinsed & drained

1 can corn or 2 cups frozen corn (whatevs you have on hand is fine)

1 tbs chopped fresh cilantro (optional-- I just love cilantro.)

1 avocado (optional-- for garnish)

Don't let the long list of ingredients scare you. I promise it's easy.

Directions

Chop & mince as needed and then dump everything in the crock pot. Select LOW to cook the soup for 6 to 8 hours or HIGH for anything less than 4 hours.

Sit back and let the crock pot do its work. Eight hours later, check on it.

 Looks good.

Pour some in a bowl, garnish with avocado (cuz everything is better with avocado)

and handfuls and handfuls of tortilla chips.

Nom.

and no matter how cute your pup begs, remind him that soup is for humans.

Thanks for letting me stop by Leonora and help everyone embrace the crockpot. Speaking of crockpot, you can get 15% off in my Etsy shop with the word: CROCKPOT.  :D

and if you want to see more of me (well probably you want to see more of my puppy) I can be found on the Internet on my blog, in my shop or at 140 characters on Twitter as @erikalc. 

thank you so much Erika! (didja love her? come on, you totally do right? Did I do good picking my first guest blogger? HOLLA!)