Kitchen Madness & Mice...Again...

Wow - twice in less than a week. I mean, what in the world is up with this craziness? I don't know, I can't really answer that. I like writing about food though, that definitely interests me, so I've got two more recipes that I tried this past week...so let's get on with that!

I signed myself up to get a daily recipe from Kraft & months ago I got a recipe for Creamy Baked Ziti. I printed it out, brought it home & haven't looked at it in months but about two weeks ago I stumbled upon it & decided that I'd take a stab at it. It was really simple & really delicious. You need:

1 package Ziti pasta
24-26 oz jar of marinara sauce
3/4 bar of cream cheese; cubed
2 cups mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sour cream

Cook your Ziti according to the package directions & strain. Preheat the oven to 350.

In a saucepan, you heat the marinara sauce & mix in the cream cheese, cooking until it is smooth & creamy. Mix the Ziti in with the marinara mixture.

Put down a layer of the Ziti mixture into your pan, top this with a very light layer of sour cream. I went really light on this because I was really kind of thinking that sour cream with a pasta dish seemed a little strange, but I try not to veer off course too much when cooking. I spread a very thin layer of sour cream & then topped it with Parmesan cheese & mozzarella cheese. Layer the remainder of the noodle mixture into the dish & top again with sour cream, Parmesan & mozzarella.

Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes & then enjoy!

Got all the ingredients...

Just a cooking....Looks a little funny at this point...

Just layering together my stuff....

Ready to go in the oven...I can't wait!

Yeah, this was looking absolutely delicious & it smells amazing too.

Time for supper!

 I really liked this dish & I'll most certainly make it again. It wasn't as amazing to me as the chicken enchiladas were, but it is for sure a keeper on the food rotation at my house. I found another recipe on Pintrest that was for some Cinnamon Sugar pretzels & they just sounded too good not to try, so tonight while my red beans & rice were cooking for supper, I whipped up those. All you need:

Pretzel twists (I used about half a bag)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup of vegetable oil

You pour your pretzels onto a roasting pan & preheat the oven to 300. Mix together the sugar, cinnamon & oil & then toss it onto those pretzels. You stir it together to mix it all over the pretzels, making sure it evenly coats them. Lastly, cook them at 300 for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to make sure everything gets evenly coated.

Yep - delicious!

I seriously had to step away from the bowl that I put these in. They are addicting & I would have probably sat in the chair watching "Four Weddings" & eating these things all night...so I just had to step away.

I have been battling a mouse - or more likely mice - for the past few weeks. They aren't in my kitchen or bathroom; I keep finding them in the living room. I've killed 3, so I'm really getting worried. This seems to be a major problem for me here in this house & I'm eager to find a solution. I started my morning using the Swiffer to mop blood off my floor. It was all very much like a clandestine murder clean-up, only the victim weighed about a pound. After some investigation, my Mom & I discovered something called Fresh Cab online & after reading rave reviews, we ordered some. Supposedly you sit the bags of Fresh Cab out in your home & the smell (which humans can't smell) will repel the mice from ever coming into your house. I am hoping & praying this is the truth...because I am getting tired of writing about killing mice on my blog. So, until next time...I'm about to go get some sleep, just in case I have to clean up another murder scene tomorrow morning. 

Football Anticipation & Food Review.....

So, I've been told by several people (namely, Miss Abbie Odom) that I don't update my blog enough. I wasn't intending to update it today but here I am....now how did I get here? You see, I went to town hunting an Air Force blue dress at Belks for the first football game of the season - which I will be in just 2 short weeks - hallelujah! I do love some football. I also love Colorado Springs, the whole spirit of the Air Force Academy & most importantly, I love spending time with my wonderful family! It must have been divine intervention because the first dress I found was blue, in my size & it fit like a dream - which any girl can tell  you really is a miracle. You almost never go into a store looking for one particular item & actually find it like that. To make things even better, it was on sale. That's right - I got a $66 dress for just $21. Don't say the Lord isn't still working miracles, because he is! I also went hunting for some certain Halloween decorations; which I didn't find, and I also bought groceries. I managed to drag everything inside before the weather decided to start up. I got hooked on Titanic, which was on HBO & so I was watching that...but the weather conspired against me & the torrential downpour outside killed the satellite. Which is really okay - I've only seen Titanic about 15 times. The ending doesn't change: the boat sinks, Rose won't scoot over & let Jack on the piece of wood, tears ensue... Seriously Rose, help Jack out. Alas...with that entertainment option gone, I decided that I'd blog. And that is where I'm at now, sitting at my computer with my semi-terrified dog (he hates bad weather) sitting at my feet while I type.

I stole this from Lindsey - because I'm ready to be in Colorado Springs again.

I decided I'd share a recipe that I cooked earlier this week. It was super easy & absolutely delicious. I found the recipe on, where else? Pintrest! I know some people have had bad luck with stuff on Pintrest but thus far I haven't had any duds when it comes to recipes. Forgive the rambling, without any further ado, the recipe.

Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas with Green Chile Sour Cream Sauce

2 large cans of chicken

2 cups shredded cheese (your preference, I used cheddar)

3 Tbsp. flour

3 Tbsp. butter

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream

1 4 oz. can of green chile's (the smallest I could find was 7 oz. but it worked just fine)

5-6 soft shell tortillas

You start by combining your chicken with 1 cup of shredded cheese. Since I used canned chicken, I warmed it up in a skillet & mixed in some onion flakes, pepper & cumin, just to give it a little flavor. You don't have to do this. Completely up to you. Mix together the chicken & 1 cup of cheese. Fill the tortillas with the mixture & layer them in a greased 9x13 pan. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a saucepan, combine butter & flour, whisking until it forms a smooth paste. Slowly add 2 cups of chicken broth, stirring continuously so that the sauce doesn't stick or burn. This should start to form a creamy sauce. Add in the 1 cup sour cream, continuing to stir so that everything mixes well. You will want to add the sour cream a bit at a time so that everything mixes together well. Add in the can of chile's. Be sure not to let the sauce boil because you don't want the sour cream to curdle.

Pour the sauce over your enchiladas & sprinkle the other 1 cup of cheese on top of this. Bake in the oven for 22 minutes at 350 degrees. Use the broil setting for 2-3 minutes to crisp the cheese on top. Take out of the oven, let cool & then dig in! 

These are seriously so good & extremely easy! I took some pictures of my adventures in cooking - check them out below!

Got all the ingredients ready....

Chicken & cheese - that can never be wrong.

Mixing up the sauce - I probably should have used my bigger pan, but it turned out fine.

Ready to go in the oven!

Once it came out of the oven - it made the whole house smell delicious!

Yes please - I'll have a big bite!

Well, there you go. You should probably get out to the supermarket as soon as possible & get the ingredients to make these bad boys, because they are so absolutely yummy! I've got some other recipes to try & I'm thinking to buff up my blog, so that it gets updated a little more frequently, I might keep adding in posts about the things I cook up! That being said, I think I'm actually going to go make sure I have all the ingredients I need to make some Creamy Baked Ziti & see how that turns out. Then my precious dog & I are going to spend this rainy Saturday evening watching "The Hunger Games". 

Taking a nap on this rainy Saturday afternoon....