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Don't ask. 

I have no clue.

Dorito Chicken Casserole

I found this recipe on Pinterest this past week.  It was YUMMY!!!  I have leftovers, we'll be having them tomorrow night.  I'm not sure how they'll turn out....I'm nervous about the Dorito chips and that they'll be really soggy by now....but we'll see!  As you can see, I served it with rice and a nice tossed salad.

2 cups cooked chicken (I bought a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and just cleaned the chicken off the bones)
1 cup shredded sharp or Mexican cheese (or more, if you really like cheese)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes (canned tomatoes with mild green jalapenos)
1/2 packet taco seasoning (or more, to taste)
1 bag of Doritos

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl, except for Doritos.

In a greased 11x7 baking dish, put a layer of crushed Doritos (about 2 cups), followed by a layer of the chicken mixture.  Repeat once more (using another 2 cups of Doritos), ending with a layer of the chicken mixture.

Top with shredded cheese, cover and bake for 40-45 minutes til bubbly hot.  I took the foil off the last 10-15 minutes to brown the top of the casserole.

**I couldn't find the Ro-Tel tomatoes with jalapenos, they only had mild green chilies; my experience with them is that they generally aren't spicy, so I added about 1-2 Tbsp of Frank's Red Hot to the recipe.  It made it a bit spicier than Alyssa and Kurt liked; in the future, I'll either use less or none at all.  Maybe the combination of the tomatoes, the Doritos and the taco seasoning spices it up enough that I wouldn't even need to add the hot sauce at all.


This recipe was taken from this blog :)

Happy Birthday Kurt & Chris!!

We celebrated Kurt's 39th birthday today (Woohoo! That makes me 36!!  I like it!).  Well, we sort of celebrated it all weekend :)  Last night, he got to choose where we went for his birthday dinner.  He picked Buca di Beppo Italian restaurant, which was a new one for us.  We had never been there.  For those of you who've never been there before, it's family style.  We chose two different pasta dishes, plus a salad.  It was a fun experience!  The worst part of the night was when Kurt decided we should get wine.  Originally he ordered a carafe of White Zinfandel.  The waitress came back soon after ordering to tell us they didn't have Zinfandel in a carafe, that they only had a 1.5 liter bottle.  We said, 'No problem, that's fine!'  Next they show up with one of those big bottles of wine, a brand that I'm sure we've had in the past from the liquor store that probably didn't cost us more than $10.  Well, weren't we a bit shocked when the bill came and that bottle of wine was $45!!!!  I'm surprised Kurt didn't have a heart attack right then and there...LOL!!

Can you guess what's in this measuring bowl and what is was for???

If you guessed red beets, you were spot on :)  I have this delicious chocolate cake recipe from a friend from work and the recipe has pureed red beets in it!  Alyssa made cupcakes instead, with peanut butter icing (recipe also from my friend Jenn at work).

*Note Alyssa's new cupcake holder!  She's kind of obsessed with making cupcakes these days and was getting tired of having to use two of my Rubbermaid containers to put all 24 cupcakes in.  We went to Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday and found this nifty holder. (You can kinda see the lid in the background, it's actually collapsible, so if you only have one layer of cupcakes or a round cake that's not so high you can collapse the lid and it's not as big and bulky.)

She wrote out Happy Birthday Kurt & Chris on the cupcakes and we headed down to Fogelsville this afternoon to celebrate with Kurt's brother, Chris and family.  Tomorrow's Chris' birthday....lemme see....if Kurt's 39, that'll make Chris 36 tomorrow :)

Kieran and Alyssa hung out with the younger kids, while Chris, Fiona, Kurt and I went to Outback for a lovely dinner.  It was so much fun spending some time together with them.  I told Kieran we'll be back next Sunday to go out again.  Alyssa said, 'Nope, next time Kieran and I get to go out....and you guys have to stay home...LOL!!'

We came back to their house to sing Happy Birthday and enjoy cupcakes and ice cream.

I'm sure you can't see it in this picture, but I got candles that had flames the colors of the candles.  I was skeptical, but they actually were green, yellow, blue, purple and red!!

They were instructed that they had to only blow out their own candles!

Do they look 36 & 39?!?!?!?

Koins for Kids

Our church is celebrating its 290th anniversary this year.  Each month one of the Sunday School classes is doing something different in honor of the anniversary and will somehow tie 290 into it.  Alyssa and Sam's 7th & 8th grade class decided to collect 290 water bottles.  They've labeled the bottles and cut small coin slots in the top of each one.  They will distribute the water bottles to each member of the congregation at the beginning of this month so the members can save coins in them all month.  All the money that is collected during the month of March will be donated to the Easton Children's Home.  Great idea, huh!?!?

(This was our bottle washing session last weekend....and there were only 59 bottles here!)

Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

This is one of our favorite casseroles. I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe before!

2 bags frozen petite broccoli florets
2 cups (or more) shredded chicken (or just boil chicken on stove)
2 cans cream chicken soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1-2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Microwave broccoli, drain.  Arrange broccoli in greased 9x13 pan.  Layer chicken on top.

Combine soup, mayo, lemon juice and curry powder.  Mix well.  Pour over chicken.

Sprinkle top with cheese.  Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees.

Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a mug.  Add 1/2 cup bread crumbs and mix well.

About 15 minutes before done, remove foil.  Add bread crumb mixture on top and bake  for remaining time.

Delicious!!

**I often use extra chicken, and make a 1.5 batch of the sauce.  I then use a bigger dish.