Cheesey Chicken & Beef Nachos

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of these, but they turned out AMAZING. This recipe makes a TON of food.

You will need...
1. 1 lb. Velveeta
2. 8 oz. sour cream
3. 1 cup shredded cheddar
4. 2 cans Rotel tomatoes.
5. 5 chicken breasts
6. 2.5 lbs lean ground beef
7. 2 small onions or 1 large onion
8. 1 tbsp olive oil
9. 2 packets El Paso fajita seasoning
10. 1 packet El Paso taco seasoning
11.  32 oz. El Paso refried beans
12. Salsa
13. jalapenos
14. 2 bags tortilla chips

Cheese Sauce Directions...
1. Cut Velveeta into 1 in cubes and put in large glass microwavable bowl.
2. Mix in shredded cheddar, sour cream, and 2 cans of Rotel tomatoes.
3. Microwave on high for 20 min, stirring every 5 min.

Chicken Directions...
1. Chop chicken into bite size pieces and set aside.
2. Chop 2 onions into 1 in pieces and saute  in 1tbsp olive oil until almost translucent.
3. Add  chicken and cook thoroughly.
5. Add 2 packets of fajita seasoning, 1/2 cup water, stir, and let simmer until liquid is gone.
4.  Put in dish, cover in aluminum foil, and set aside (in a warming drawer if you have one)
**If working with a smaller frying pan, you may have to saute chicken and onions in 2 batches.
 
Beef Directions...
1. Brown beef until cooked thoroughly
2. Add taco seasoning, 1/2 cup water, stir, and simmer until liquid is gone.
3. Set aside in dish covered in aluminum foil (in warming drawer if you have one)

Now, heat the refried beans according to the directions on the can, pull out the chips, salsa, jalapenos, chicken, beef, and cheese sauce. Put it all in a buffet style line and let everyone fix their plates.

Ranch Chicken Mac Casserole

 
Recently for dinner I made this casserole and it was delicious! I basically just threw together what I had in my pantry and voila, a yummy and delicious meal.




Ingredients:
1 box Kraft Mac & Cheese
1/2 cup milk
1 stick butter
1 packet dry ranch rip mix
2 chicken breasts
2 cups frozen broccoli
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp sea salt
1 sleeve crackers (I used Keebler Wheat Toasteds)

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 450
2. Prepare Mac & Cheese as directed on box. When adding milk, cheese, and butter to noodles, also add 1 packet dry ranch dip and mix together.
3. Cut chicken into bite sized chunks and sautee with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt.
4. Once chicken is no longer pink, add broccoli and sautee with chicken until thawed.
5. Pour chicken/broccoli mixture into Mac&Cheese and mix together.
6. Grease an 8x8 inch glass casserole dish and pour in mixture.
7. Crush cracker crumbs and evenly distribute on top.
8. Melt remaining 1/2 stick of butter and pour on top of cracker crumbs.
9. Bake at 450 for 15 min or until crackers are browned.

Harry Potter World

For our one year anniversary, Jared and I celebrated by taking a trip to Harry Potter World in Orlando, FL. Though it was completely different than our honeymoon to Jamaica, it was so much fun! We stayed at the Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando on International Boulevard.

The outside of our hotel.

Our room. Each had flat screen TVs.

 This hotel was in a great location and was a great price! It was right across the street from Pointe Orlando, which is this neat outside "mall" with tons of great restaurants. During the day we would eat lunch at City Walk or in the park and then for dinner we would walk across the street to Pointe Orlando. Our favorite restaurant (besides Emeril's) was the place we ate our first night in town - The Funky Monkey Wine Company. 

Dinner at Funky Monkey Wine Co.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had a GREAT wine selection.We started out with a glass of 2009 Gaga "Blanc." It is comparable to a chardonnay and was delicious.We drank this with our appetizer of roasted red pepper, black bean, and spinach artichoke hummus and with our dinner of sushi. For dessert we shared a banana bread pudding which was to die for, and each had a glass of a 20 year old Fronseca Porto from Portugal.  

The rest of our trip was just as wonderful as this first night. We spent the next morning in Harry Potter World with breakfast at the Three Broomsticks and did the rest of Islands of Adventure in the afternoon.  BTW - Butterbeer is AMAZING! It is like a cream soda on steroids with a salted caramel butterscotch foam of goodness of top.

HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!

In front of Hogwarts.

Waiting to get on the Flight of the Hippogriff.

Jared :)

Me :)

That night was our anniversary and we went to this neat little mexican restaurant where we listened to live music afterwards. 

At the mexican restaurant.

The next day we went to Universal Studios. Honestly, I could have done without going here at all. The only good ride was the Mummy, and everything else was kind of lame. That night we had reservations at Emeril's Orlando to celebrate our anniversary and it was incredible. We started out with a glass of champagne and fried calamari with olive salad. With dinner we had red wine and Jared had lamb with asparagus, fried sweet bread, and mashed potatoes and I had polenta stuffed quail with bacon braised swiss chard and pearl onions. For dessert Jared had Godiva white chocolate bread pudding and I had a vanilla bean creme brulee. Everything about this dinner was fabulous. We had SO much fun. The next day we went back to Harry Potter World to do our favorite rides again. Wednesday came too quickly and we headed back to our puppy in Huntsville.

Whats New?

Since I last posted, Jared got a job as a Staff Accountant/Contract Administrator at GATR Technologies in Huntsville, AL, I finished my Occupational Therapy coursework,  began my clinical rotations, and we moved from our tiny two bedroom apartment in Birmingham, AL to my parents old house in Huntsville, AL. The move itself was quite an adventure, but we are now settled into our four bedroom “mansion” (in comparison to our previous digs) and love calling it home. I thoroughly enjoy being able to decorate and DIY my house and furniture freely. Since we have been here I have re-done the kitchen, learned to sew curtains and towels, upholstered a headboard and two antique chairs, painted/restored a couple of pieces of furniture, and cooked up a few new recipes (individual  posts on each of these projects to come). Last night we went to Mellow Mushroom with my parents and sat at Ali’s (my youngest sister) table, and after dinner, my parents came over to our house for grilled peaches. Needless to say, we absolutely love living in the same town as my family.

Blog Fail

For those of you who know me, you know that I am fairly scatter brained and I tend to flit from one project to the next. I was thinking about my blog today and I realized that I have not posted in almost a year. This means that I have officially failed at blogging. However, I have recently begun thinking about blogging in a different light - blogging for a digital scrapbook. I absolutely love this idea. I would love to document our life together as we grow as a family. Yes it is still just Jared (my husband), Max (our sweet pup), and me, but it won't be forever.  So, late on this Saturday night, I vow to be the best digital scrapbooker I can be (whatever that means). Tomorrow (yes I realize that I am procrastinating) I will begin to try and catch up on a years worth of posting.

News on the Job Front

For those of you who don't know, Jared has been working at Wells Fargo in the HART department through a temp agency called Savela Solutions. The way this particular temp agency works is that they interviewed and hired Jared, and then contracted him out to Wells Fargo. Because Jared has not been a Wells Fargo employee, he has lost a percentage of his paycheck to Savela and he has not had access to the Wells Fargo benefits. Well, yesterday in an 8:15 am meeting (early, ick), Jared got an offer from Wells Fargo to become a full-time Wells Fargo employee. This will not change anything he does at work (he stays in the same cubicle on the same team doing the same things), but it does mean that he will gain access to the awsome Wells Fargo health benefits and he will also receive a pay increase as well. Needless to say, we are very excited and I am a very proud wife. Just wanted to share this bit of good news!

The Beginning

Because our closest family lives an hour and a half away, I have decided to start a blog so that everyone can keep up with the goings on in the life of the Easterling family. Jared and I have been married for about 3 and a half weeks and needless to say, we feel very blessed to be so happy. We had a wonderful wedding in Huntsville, AL and then a wonderful honeymoon at the Sandals resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I am still picking our our favorite pictures from the wedding, but do have some from Jamaica to share!

On the plane, Jared was scared.

Jamaican "Walmart"

In the Sandal's lounge at the airport.

The stairs up to our villa.

The "mini" bar in our room.

Our balcony.

Our first day.

At the pool.

Swim up bar.

Happy people :)

Glass bottom boat tour

He mixed my drink on top of his head.

Our 2nd night at dinner.

Our 2nd day at the pool.

Our 3rd night.

Before the party boat.

On the party boat.

Our 4th night at dinner.

In love

Our 5th and last night :(

We were sad to leave the island of Jamaica but happy to get back and be married:) We have been enjoying our time in Birmingham, but wish we didn't have to work or go to school (doesn't everyone?) This past weekend Jared's mom, step-father, and grandmother brought us a bedroom suit, a coffee table, and two end tables so our apartment is finally coming together. We are still finishing a few things around the house, but I hope to post some pictures of our apartment soon. We had a great weekend with family and will be heading to Hattiesburg, MS for Labor Day to see the rest of Jared's family. Thats all for now, but I will keep you updated!