Chicken Chili Recipe

I made the easiest Crock Pot Chicken Chili last week.  Everyone loved it so I figured I would post the recipe here!

CROCK POT CHICKEN CHILI

 

1 can Black Beans
1 can yellow of white corn, undrained
1 can Rotel, undrained (I used the mild Rotel and it was still plenty spicy)
1 package Ranch Dressing Mix
1 package Chicken Taco Mix (I use the low sodium)
1 8 oz package Cream Cheese
3 Chicken Breasts

 Drain and rinse the black beans.

Place chicken breasts in the Crock-Pot, then pour in beans, undrained can of corn, and undrained can of Rotel. 

 

Open Ranch and chicken taco mixes and pour over. Stir together. Place cream cheese on top. 

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  (You can cook on High for 4)

 

The cream cheese melts but needs to be stirred in really well. 

 

I took the chicken breasts out and put them in a Tupperware to shred them and then added them back in to the Crock Pot.  The chicken fell apart making it so easy to shred.

 

I served the chili over white rice and with tortilla chips.  We topped it with sour cream and shredded sharp cheddar.

 

 

**There was also plenty of leftovers so I added a little bit more of cream cheese the next night and it made a great dip!

Christmas in July

If you are a frequent reader you know that one of our family traditions is new pajamas every year for Christmas.  It's the gift we open Christmas Eve and then we all have a new set of jammies for Christmas morning and the rest of the winter season.

Have you all checked out Southern Tots on Facebook?  She posts some super cute stuff for the kiddos.  Tons and tons of things every night.

As cheesy as it is, I have been DYING for us all to have matching Christmas PJS.  Tonight she had a sale on coordinating sets.  I couldn't order fast enough!

Ready for it?  

PJ Pants for Moi

A set for Kellan.  Yes, the boys will be monogrammed.

 

A set for sweet Aidan.

 

And Adam gets his very own pair of Where's Waldo

Christmas stripe pants to match. 

Here's hoping these will be the pictures my boys are mortified to show their families years from now! Happy Christmas in July! 

Aidan Says...

A few months ago (I'm way behind on blogging), Aidan spent the weekend with his best buddy Ryland at friends of ours house in Waxhaw. He was only supposed to spend Friday night but the boys passed out early after a day at the pool Saturday so our friends just offered to keep him for Saturday night as well and we let him stay. 

When they brought him back on Sunday morning he was so excited to see us.  He hugged us for so long, kissed his brother until he started to cry and ran around with Scout for ten minutes.  Shortly after getting home, he and Adam took off to get us all some lunch.  Adam came home and said that while they were driving Aidan said

" I hardly recognize Charlotte anymore." 
As if he had moved away for years.

When they came home we sat on the sofa and ate our sandwiches around the coffee table.  We all started to laugh about something and when we stopped, the room was silent and Aidan lets out a huge sigh and says

"I really missed these days."


He was gone for two nights people!

Jack the Cat

I know what you are all thinking "April, the crazy cat lady strikes again!".  Except this time it was a family effort! Long story short, we were on our way to Shelby to ride go carts (part of Aidan's birthday week) and when we got in to town, the highway split and as we were veering off to our exit, this little kitten ran right across the highway!

We all did the "Ohhhh the poor thing is going to get hit" but continued on our journey.  Sadly, we got to the go cart park? only to find out they were not open that day! Only in Shelby.  So we did what we always do when things don't go our way, we looked at real estate.  Once we were done doing that we headed back to Charlotte and sure enough when we returned to the same spot on the highway you could see this little guy sitting in the grass just off the road.  We collectively (that is important to remember for the future) decided we couldn't leave the sweet thing and I got out of the car to get him.  Except, he basically just jumped right in the car.  "I AM SAVED" he said.  Well that part didn't happen but you get the point. 

We honestly did not think we would be keeping him for ourselves.  We know enough animal lovers that we knew we could find him a home.  But Aidan fell in love with him on the 1.5 ride home and after a couple of days of being with us, we realized he fit in pretty well around here.

Meet Jack.  The newest Harvey.  I thought that story was going to short.

Car ride to his new home.

 

Scout is in love. 

 

He smiles for pictures.

 

Another one from his first ever car ride.

He was sleeping with Aidan every night but Scout put the kibosh

on that and now he sleeps with him in the laundry room.

 

No animal in this house is allowed on furniture.  Adam must really like this one.

Mike's Pig Roast

Our good friend Mike turned the big 28 last month and his girlfriend (also our dear friend) Chelsea, threw him a birthday party. This year she decided she wanted to do a pig roast. 

 

This is the hole the guys dug to cook the pig in.  You dig it the day before and burn fire wood in the bottom. That creates coals to roast the pig. 

 

Then they took the pig out to the garage where they laid it atop chicken wire that we had lined with banana leaves and then aluminum foil. 

Adam injected it with a concoction of V8 Tropical Fruit Juice, Brown Sugar, Cider Vinegar and Pineapple Juice.



 

Then we rubbed the entire thing down with Brown Sugar and Kosher Salt.  Even Aidan got in on the fun. 

 

 

Kellan on the other hand, slept in his stroller. 

 

 

Once we were done rubbing the pig down we rolled him up in the chicken wire. He looked like he was in a banana leaf coffin.  After that the guys loaded him in to the hole and covered him with dirt.  We headed home for the night and literally prayed he would be cooked all the way through the next day. 

 

 

We had some things to do around the house the next morning but I whipped up a little birthday chalk board to display on the food table and we headed out. 

 

Aidan was at the pool with friends so it was just us and Kel.  Don't you love Adam's gas station sun glasses?  The man cannot keep a nice pair of sunglasses in one piece so he has to go with cheap ones now. 

Adam dug him out.

We were so anxious to see how the big guy had turned out.  Especially because there were close to 50 people standing around hoping to eat him!

 

They loaded him up and we crossed our fingers.

 

And Ta Da! He was perfect!

Who knew you could cook that much meat in the ground!

 

 

Then came the fun part. Adam and I "picked" the entire pig.  I guess that's what I get being married to a guy who has spent some time in the BBQ biz.

Then I could not eat a single bite and needed a shower so we headed home for a few hours to escape the heat, pick up our main man and sleep off the excitement from the day and previous night. 

We went back out later on that night and it was great to see tons of old friends and celebrate such an important person to us! 

It was a successful birthday celebration for sure!

 

Matching Pjs (Again)

I love any chance to match my boys but it's hard since they are so far apart in age.  I get crazy and spend stupid money on Etsy once in a while to have custom stuff made for them but it's always so worth it because they look so adorable!

 

Buuuuut...these are Carter's jammies my Mom picked up for them when she was at Costco.

I only put my boys in 100% cotton and you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find pajamas made of cotton.  She knows if she comes across some, to snag them for us!

 

   Anyways...aren't the boys cute? 

 

Happy Brothers! 

Teething Nights

One of two things could be happening here.  Kellan is teething and can't seem to get comfortable at night OR he knows we think that's the deal and he's taking advantage and just wants to hang out past bed time. 

Seriously though, his teeth haven't been really bad at all.  Lucky us.  BUT, for whatever reason at bedtime, he gets a little flush and I can tell his teeth are hurting him.  Probably not any more or less than they do all day but he's exhausted and the pain is more noticeable for him.  Those or my thoughts on it.  Obviously he didn't tell me that. Ha!

I load him up on Orajel and he loves to cuddle with his Daddy until he falls asleep.

That's Adam's time. 



 

Basically the majority of the pictures I take of him these days are fuzzy because he is always on the move! 

 

Had to show you how much he is drooling! It's out of control. 

 

These are from just the other night.  He was exhausted but just could not get to sleep. 

He was pretty pitiful. 

 

Until Aidan came and got in bed and got him to smile! 

 

Anyone else have a baby who gets flush without a fever during teething?  Aidan never did that so I don't know what's up.