Monterrey –I’m stuffed—Chicken!

Monterrey –I’m stuffed—Chicken!

Wednesday, I was browsing through pinned recipes on a few Pinterest boards… shocking, I know…. and came across this blog (All Things Simple).   The food looked scrumptious!  My mouth was watering just glancing at the screen.  I had already pulled out some chicken for dinner; all I needed was a ‘new’ recipe to go with it!  The further I read about her Family classics the more it convinced me.  I changed a few things but the method is entirely up to you.  So what is it you ask?  Well (Wednesday night) dinner is …. Drum roll please!  Mozzarella stuffed Monterrey Chicken Breast with Coconut oil infused Sweet Potatoes.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures during the cooking process because honestly I didn’t know how it would turn out and wanted my execution a success before my camera got caught in an unlikely crossfire. 

Look how deliciously juicy and scrumptious this is!  Click HERE to Print

Mozzarella stuffed Monterrey Chicken

4- boneless, skinless chicken breast

¼ cup BBQ sauce

¼ cup real bacon bits (package or real bacon)

1 cup Colby and Jack shredded cheese

1 - 14oz. can of Rotel tomatoes, drained

Sliced green onions

Montreal steak seasoning (which is basically salt, pepper, garlic)

Mozzarella cheese (I use the cheese sticks, I had them on hand)

coconut oil (or butter or olive oil)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prep chicken by rinsing and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut any fat or bristle left on the breast off.  You can cut the breast one of two ways.  Butterfly it to stuff the Mozzarella cheese in it, or what I chose to do since my breast where rather small.  Make a cut along the top of the breast down towards the bottom, but not slicing completely through.  Make another cut inside that cut, but along the side of the cut.  I know this doesn’t really make sense without visual aids, but just improvise, that is what I did ;-)  ((I will make an update once we have this again for dinner, and make sure to document every step))   

Put Foil in a baking dish, for easy clean up,  and brush each breast and bottom of pan with coconut oil.  ( you can use olive oil or butter, I am just trying to eat healthier).  Stuff the breast with Mozzarella Cheese.  Season the breast with the Steak seasoning, Cover with foil and cook on 400 degrees until no longer pink.  Approx 30 minutes. 

Once the chicken is done, pour out some of the juices.  Then top each chicken breast with the following 1 tbsp of BBQ sauce, ¼ cup cheese, ¼ cup Rotel tomatoes, green onions and 1 tbsp of bacon bits.  Place back in the oven uncovered until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.  Pull out of oven and Enjoy all the goodness.

Now for those incredible Sweet Potatoes!  

I wish you could lick the screen to know just how AMAZING these are!!!!  Click HERE to print

Sweet Potatoes infused with coconut oil

Ingredients:

8 medium sweet potatoes (5 lbs.) or one per person

Coconut oil (or butter or olive oil)

Kosher or sea salt

2 Tbsp cold Butter, cut into small pieces

2 Tbsp. light brown sugar

1/3 cup pecan pieces (optional: I didn’t add this on hand)

1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper

First things first, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wash and peel potatoes.  Cut the potatoes length wise, then cut the potato into  ½ inch slices.  Lay slices out onto 2 cookie sheets.  Melt some coconut oil and brush each side with the oil.  You could also just toss these with some coconut oil then place on sheet, whichever you prefer.  Season lightly with salt.

Cook both sheets until potatoes are tender, tossing the potatoes half way.  25-30 minutes.

While waiting on the potatoes to cook, combine butter (or more coconut oil) brown sugar, pecan pieces and cayenne pepper in a bowl.  Once potatoes are done. Sprinkle evenly on top of sweet potatoes.  Bake until the sugar is caramelized and crunchy, approx. 10 minutes.  Toss gently, then serve immediately, granted you can wait that long ;-)

I hope that all of you can test out these recipes and Please share your results and modifications to them.  I love to read feedback!  Till next time.  Keep Striving Towards Virtue!  (update on Blog name change coming soon)

Laura

 

Laundry Detergent

Homemade Laundry Detergent 

The time has come, finally! I've been waiting so long it seems to post my version of DIY laundry detergent, and since I just recently ran out of my 9 month stash I can now do that! :-) 

Some are completely skeptical when it comes to making your own laundry detergent.  I, for one, was one of those skeptics.  With only one income and two children, who tend to get in the weirdest things and get it on their clothes, I wash at LEAST 2 loads a day... that is on a decent day!  Washing that much, I went threw so much laundry detergent!  I adore the smell of Gain and the fabric softener. Along with the convenience of the liquid form made my life simpler, yet super expensive!  I had to find a way to cut the cost of $23.97 for a large tub every month or so, this not including the softener.  Just the detergent alone was nearing $200/year, that money we could definitely use else where. 

Then the DIY Laundry detergent fad hit.  I read tons upon tons of blogs boasting their recipes, the success or fail of the recipes, pros and cons... I wanted to be sure I wanted to try this.  I found "this" recipe and not only the Price per batch got me hooked but all the raving reviews inspired me.  Around $28-30/ per batch (set to last up to a YEAR) which that depends on how often one did laundry.  This was MUSIC to my ears, and too our wallet!

 Here is what you will need:

• 1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax- (Found in the detergent aisle)
• 1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- Found in the detergent aisle 
• 1 (3 lb) Container of Oxi-Clean- Found in the detergent aisle. (This is optional but I highly recommend adding it) 
• 3 (14.1 oz) Bars of Fels-Naptha Soap- Found in the detergent aisle (I was trying to find the pink version of Zote Soap for the scent but my store was out of it.  So instead I chose to just grab the Fels-Naptha, either is fine.)
• 1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda- Found in the cooking aisle (I got two of the 2-lb boxes, my store was out of the 4lb box.)

• 1-2 (55 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener- Found in the detergent aisle (This is 100% optional.  I use 2 bottles because my laundry detergent must smell good and I really like soft towels)
• A large container/bucket with lid works perfect. (In the Automotive/paint section of Walmart you can get 3-5 gallon buckets for less than $5)

Method:
 Step 1:  Grate your soap.  This is utterly the hardest part of making this detergent.  If you are blessed enough to have a food processor with a shredding blade, then the grating process will be a breeze. If not, break out the good ole Cheese grater! (I also forgot to take a picture of this step as I was watching the second half of the Capital One Bowl with UGA vs Nebraska...and was yelling at the tv too much... GO DAWGS!!  my apologies)

Step 2:  Once your grating is done, start layering in all your ingredients.  I use at least 4 'sets' of layers  I find this is essential to the mixing process.  It makes it much easier on you when you go to mix everything together.  

All ingredients mixed in a large bucket.

 Once all ingredients are mixed together, you are finished!  Now here is this BEST part of all.  You only need 2 tablespoons per load.  I would choose less if you are only washing one-two items of clothing.  Now if you chose to add the Purex Crystal softener,  this next part is a stroke of genius in itself.  I fill my empty Purex container full of the detergent.  ((This helps me to utilize my limited space in the laundry room effectively, and picking up a 5 gallon bucket for 2-tbsp of detergent is not how I want to strain my back while doing laundry.))    The top of the container has a measuring guide in place.  The middle line measures 2-tablespoons, exactly what you need for a large load. See Pure Genius!

Detergent in Purex container

The top measuring cap to the Purex container

 

 

Finished Product.  The bucket is 3/4 full.  I took out for the 2 containers

This recipe typically last around a year according to the original recipe and the average loads of laundry per week.  Since my family isn't average and nor is our laundry...this 'batch' normally last around 9 months for our mountains and mountains of laundry. The smell is clean and fresh, our towels are super soft and our wallets are fuller than before!  Either way, I will take this any day of the week over my old laundry detergent, and especially over it's price!



Note: if you prefer liquid over powder there are several really great recipes out there. Just research it...  Below I have posted links to two I find relatively easy  Although, I have not personally tried them, I prefer the DIY powder detergent form over the DIY liquid detergent :-)

•  Liquid laundry detergent
• Another Liquid Laundry Detergent 

***Happy New Year***

  I pray it is a Blessed one!

much love, 

 Laura  

UPDATE:

I am making a new batch this morning and have decided to tweak the above recipe.  Here are my changes:

• Instead of using Fels-Naptha, I prefer Zote. Instead of 3 bars of the fels Naptha, you just need 2 of the pink or white Zote. The zote in my opinion provides a more fresh smell.  Again just go with what you like the best.

• My next change would be the Purex softener beads.  The blue version has a much stronger smell and last much longer.
  
  
  Hope you all have a blessed day!