My Husband's Favorite Dinner

Before I get to my recipe, I have to freak out for a minute. Bryan informed me this evening that over the course of the past three-ish days, he has found a total of five-ish (I think he is underestimating a bit) ticks on HIM and a few on our dogs. No sooner did he say this, that I demanded that he check Josie where he found three just tonight! Then he found one crawling on my wall!

This is by far one of my worst nightmares. I feel the need to sanitize my entire house somehow.

The current view of half of our backyard and the wooded area beyond the yard. 

The ticks are totally coming from the wooded area that lies right behind our lot line. When we bought this lot, the wooded area behind our lot was a huge selling point. (Especially because the chances of it being developed while we are living in this house are slim to none.) Now, I am rethinking it's appeal.

Josie hanging out on top of the dirt pile while Bryan works outside.

I guess the sudden increase in temps (finally) combined with Bryan working outside as much as possible to get our deck built (so we can then level our yard and put our fence in!), has brought this tick epidemic to light. Josie, being a beagle, loves to be outside, so Bryan has been taking her outside with him as much as possible.

Bleh. Meh.

On a happier note, I am happy to share with you my husband's favorite recipe. Every time I ask him what should be on the menu for the week, he immediately says "Dorito Chicken". As the name suggests, it's not the healthiest of meals, but it's quick, easy, has protein in it and tastes great. Serve it with a couple sides of vegetables and you're good to go.

(I didn't take a picture of it, so you'll have to use your imagination on it's looks.)

• 4 boneless chicken breasts (I pound mine out with a meat tenderizer to get them to cook faster)
• 2c crushed Doritos
• 1 can Rotel
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 c. grated cheese(we use taco flavored cheese)

Line casserole dish with Doritos. Mix Rotel and soups. Layer chicken then mixture. Top with grated cheese and bake at 375 degrees until cheese is melted approximately 30 minutes. You can serve it on top of rice or by itself. I usually serve it with a huge side of broccoli and mix it in with the extra sauce. 

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies on the Face of the Earth

The title does not lie.

I was at work last Friday and my co-worker said to me "There are cookies in the break room - you should go get one before they're gone." It was 8:30 in the morning, I nodded and went back to my email and decaf coffee. 20 minutes later I went down to the break room to fill my water bottle and saw said cookies sitting on the table and I have to admit they did look good. So I took one... And then another for the baby.

I brought them both back to my office, thinking I'd save them until lunch. However, they proved to be too tempting and I sunk my teeth into one minutes later.

Oh.
My.
God.

They were amazing. I immediately emailed one of our admins to see if she knew who brought them. After asking around, she let me know the wife of another co-worker made them. I immediately emailed said co-worker and begged him to get the recipe from his wife for me. I thought the chances of that happening were slim to none - if a woman asked my husband for a recipe at his place of employment, I would not get the message for weeks, if ever. However, my co-worker proved to be a model co-worker (or maybe scared of the wrath of a hungry pregnant woman?) and minutes later I got an email from his wife with the recipe.

I told Bryan about them over the weekend and Monday night after work, he begged me to make them for him. I did and they are just as amazing out of my over.

I have to admit - one thing that is not so fun about baking when pregnant is not being able to eat the raw dough. Cookie dough is my kryptonite. Seriously. I buy the cookie dough at Papa Murphys and sit in front of my TV and eat it like ice cream. I haven't had raw cookie dough in over five months. Four more to go.

Because I believe in spreading good things in the world, here is the recipe:

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies on the Face of the Earth

1 cup butter flavored Crisco

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 ½ cups flour
Chocolate chips... The person I got the recipe from sprinkled them on the top. For this batch, I mixed in a bag of mini-chocolate chips, but I think it may have been too much. I think next time I will try the sprinkling trick. 

Mix in that order, scoop onto cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 -10 minutes.

Katie's Berry-Banana-Oatmeal Smootie

I am not sure what my deal is, but 9 out of 10 mornings, I don't want to perform the physical act of chewing. This is particularly weird for me because I love to eat.

Let me rephrase.

I love to eat when someone else makes it for me.

Enter smoothies - my breakfast savior. One of my friends actually got me hooked on smoothies a few years ago, and I have slowly refined my smoothie recipe to a science - partly thanks to Pinterest.

Smoothies are great for the following reasons:

1. I have managed to squeeze four food groups into a single tumbler.
2. No chewing involved.
3. Time effective. 

I am always running out of the house in the morning, so I try (sometimes I am too tired) to put all my ingredients in my Bullet blender cup the night before, so all I need to do in the morning is put it on the blender and dump it in my tumbler. 

Without further ado - the Katie's Berry-Banana-Oatmeal Smoothie. 

• 5-6 "cubes" (see below) of vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 c. mixed berries (I buy the frozen ones)
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 3/4c. juice (I usually use orange juice because it's cheapest, but any juice will work)
• 1 scoop unflavored protein powder

Combine all of the ingredients, blend and enjoy!

Here are some time-saving tips for those who are always running late:

• Buy a large container of yogurt and freeze in an ice cube tray. After they're frozen, free from the tray and divide into separate "serving" baggies. This saves on mess and allows you to just throw them in the blender when you're ready. I use 5-6 cubes/smoothie, but you can play around with that depending on the size of your cubes.
• Divide fruit into separate serving baggies (with the yogurt cubes). Again - saves time and mess!

I've seen on Pinterest that the "new" thing for smoothies is to add oatmeal - as you can see, I do. I actually got this from the Abs Diet - which I try to incorporate into my diet... Most of the time... Well, I think about it anyway. :) 

Enjoy!