Fast Dinner: Tostadas (or Chalupas if you're Hispanic like me)

Ingredients:

• however many corn tortillas you want
• 1 can of refried beans
• shredded cheddar cheese
• lettuce
• jalapenos (optional unless again, you're Hispanic like me and my pseudo-Hispanic husband)
• taco seasoned ground beef or turkey or chopped up chicken breasts cooked to your liking (we usually just go meatless but they can be great with meat!)
• sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place corn tortillas on cookie sheets spread apart so they aren't touching. Cook in oven for about 15-20 minutes (just until they look almost a dark brown or burned). This part is not an exact science, you just kind of keep an eye on them. You want them crispy, not chewy. So if you're first run is chewy, leave them in for a few more minutes next time. Heat refried beans in pot for a few minutes (sometimes we add a little water to the beans to make them more spreadable). Next layer a thin layer of refried beans on each shell. Sprinkle some cheese on top, lettuce, meat (if desired), jalapeños, and garnish with sour cream.

This is a great meal to get in some protein and it's fast! I ate these all the time growing up when my mom was in a rush and needed to get dinner on the table. Adding meat makes them more hearty but they're great without it! I will say that if we go meat-less I eat about 5-6 of them (I don't know if that's normal, but hey they're good!)

Delicious and Easy Cajun Oven Fries

These are absolutely one of my favorite sides. Sorry the picture has some corn in the picture, but that was another fabulous side I'll post later! We have these with ribs, hamburgers, steaks, you name it! Because I've found this fast recipe we no longer buy frozen fries. So good and they pack a little heat so try them! If you're not a fan of the heat, just skip the cayenne pepper. Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

• 2-4 medium thin-skinned Russet potatoes
• 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil (I just pour it from an oil thingy and guess)
• 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce (I just sprinkle cayenne pepper powder)
• 1 teaspoon paprika (again I just sprinkle)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut potatoes into wedges. The easiest way to do this is to cut a potato in half length-wise and then cut each half into thirds. Place potato wedges on a large cookie sheet (with edges that lip up to keep liquid from draining into oven). Sprinkle all ingredients over the potatoes and then toss the potatoes to cover all sides. Cook in the oven turning them once after ten minutes.

These are my favorite! I hope you enjoy!

Quick Catch Up Post

It's raining today in the Austin area and I'm THRILLED! There's nothing like dark clouds and thunder rolling in to a hot, steamy Texas day. I'm a big rain fan and I love how it just calms everything with its presence.

Life in our house has been very busy to say the least. Tony is busy at work designing roads and managing a pretty big project until all hours of the night. My morning sickness knew exactly when to say goodbye to our house, because Tony is not around so much right now to run the house and take care of me. Yay God for timing!

School is just around the corner and I've been busy unpacking, organizing, and editing my room. I'm staying away from the heavy things but still managing to get stuff done. This year will be a big change to the three previous ones and I know God will provide me with the energy, attitude, and endurance to face it like a champ.

Einstein is recovering nicely from a surgery he had last week. He went in for a routine teeth cleaning and we had the doctor look at a spot on his cheek that wasn't healing like it should. The doctor thought it could have been a number of not so good things, cancer being one of them, so he removed it and this left Einstein out of commission for a few days. Poor little guy was a trooper though! He's now back to his lively, neighborhood running, dog chasing self! We had quite a scare there for a second because he means the world to us!

We go for our 20 week check up on Friday to see Baby E. We always just pray for a healthy, happy baby but we may find out what we're having that day. We shall see!!

In the next few weeks I'm hoping to get back to trying out new recipes and posting them on here so stay tuned!

Yummy Chicken Spaghetti!

My first food post in a loooong time!

This recipe was given to me by our good friends Jon and Amy. They had us over for dinner one night when we first moved to the Austin area and wow'd me with this dish. Tony loves it and I've shared it with a few people at work who have worked it into their monthly rotation. It is really easy and can be tweaked to your liking. Here's what you'll need.

Ingredients

• 3-4 chicken breasts, cooked on grill or your way of preference (you can use frozen ones you buy chopped up already or a can of chicken breasts). They need to be chopped into small pieces.
• 1 can Rotel (we go for the extra hot stuff but up to you)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 block of the small Velveeta, diced
• 1 package of spaghetti noodles

Directions

Cook noodles and drain. Combine cooked chicken and noodles with Rotel, both soups, and diced cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly.

We usually serve this with a salad, corn, and yummy garlic bread. I've found this is a great make ahead meal to take in a tin casserole dish to someone who just had a baby or surgery. If you make it, let me know how it goes! =)