Chicken Dorito Casserole

I tell people about this casserole, and they look at me like, really?  Yes. Really.  It's delicious.  I have converted two non-casserole-eating-people with this recipe. My husband will get very excited when he finds out this is for dinner.  Even Peamite Alpha requests it by name.

My mom's been making this casserole for years now.  I have no idea where she got the recipe, but I'm sure glad she did.

So, get your ingredients together, or a grocery list started so we can make this deliciousness.

Chicken Dorito Casserole

4 chicken breasts

1 medium onion

1 regular size bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 can whole kernal corn

1 3/4 cup chicken broth (made from boiling chicken) 

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes (I use Original, but put in whatever hotness you can stand!)

Boil the chicken until tender with the onion, salt, and pepper.  Cool.  Skin and debone (if necessary) and cut into bite size pieces.  Spread the chicken in the bottom of 11x13 in baking dish.  Crush the Doritos and spread over the chicken.  Next, spread the onions, corn, and cheese.

Heat the soups with the chicken broth and tomatoes.  Pour the mixture over the casserole.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes.

If there's any left, be glad, because it's even better the next day when all the flavors have melded together.  Enjoy!  Here's a picture of my little Peamite Bravo enjoying it:

How Do You Say?

How little kids say things are just so cute. The above video is of Peamite Bravo saying "lemonade."  I think she really likes the 'L' part of the word since she lalalalas every 'L' word she says.

We taught our kids from a very young age to say please and thank you.  In the next one, you can hear how PB says, "thank you" and "I love you, Dad."

Did you notice how she curled her tongue into a U shape at the beginning of the video?  Did you know that was genetic?  Yup, learned that in Biology - Thanks, Mrs. Webb!

Now, if there ever was a kid that loved popcorn, that would be mine.  She could eat the whole bag with no help.  You can even see how excited she gets about just at the mention of the word, as she calls it, "ca-corn"  I just noticed today that she pronounces a lot of 'P' words with a 'C'.  She loves pickles or "cickle".  She also loves black olives...which I discovered when I was picking the olives off of my Chicken Fajita pizza at Pizza Inn one day.  She was eating them off my plate as fast as I could get them to her.  When we go to the Inn now, we're sure to get her a little pile off of the salad bar to go along with her pizza.  Can you tell I don't have a picky eater?  Yay for that.

Think I'm gonna go pop some "ca-corn" now.

Living Room Tent

Peamite Alpha and Peamite Bravo were wanting to camp today.  PA had his backpack and a snack all ready to go.  PB was on his heels ready, too, although I'm sure she didn't have a clue as to what was going on, just wanted to play with brother.

While the kids were occupied, I set up a sheet tent for them.  It reminded me of my "fort" days with all the couch cushions, blankets and sheets arranged to make a fort for us to hide in.

It's been up all day, with the kids going in and out of it.  Here are the kids "camping" in their tent.

Peamite Alpha is telling me that he can see the TV through a little gap in the tent.  Peamite Bravo refuses to drink out of a sippy cup the correct way.  Notice how it's upside-down?  Yeah, that's my kid.

 

Peamite Alpha is saying "cheese" while holding a piece of cheese.  Peamite Bravo cutely scrunching up her face as she loudly cries, "CHEEEEESE."  

At least they're happy and occupied while I work on cakes for this week!

Springing

I guess that groundhog was right!  Spring is springing early!  Those tiny purple flowers are starting to pop up all over my yard.  That is one of my favorite parts of Spring...those adorable little flowers.  I also love that color green of brand new blades of grass peeking through the brown, dead grass.

Not only do I love Spring, but so do the kids.  The weather is so nice to play in.  Not too hot, not too cool.  The kids had fun running back and forth from the house to the trees.

 

I really love the action shot of the kids running.  It looks so fun!  Too bad it's not that enjoyable to me any more...I didn't have to worry about my abundant blessing when I was that young. ;)

Hey Mom, Look What I Can Do!

I started a new venture last year.  I love it most of the time.  Sometimes it's frustrating, but overall, it's fun and a learning experience.  I bake for people.  Cakes, cookies, pies, candy, and other goodies.  Mostly I decorate custom cakes, which is really why I started doing this.  I wanted to share some of my favorites with you.

Unfortunately, my waistline has taken a hit.  (Quality control!)  I was doing so great on my weight loss journey, but I slowly got away from my good practices, and slipped back into my old ways.  It's ok though, I'm getting back on the horse. or on the wagon. whatever.

And It Came Crashing Down

I slept in a bit today.  It was hard not to since it was so overcast out; it made for a nice, dark bedroom.  As I was drifting in and out of consciousness, I could hear heavy machinery working outside...seemed really close to our house.  When I got out of bed and looked out the front window, I saw why it sounded so close!  A whole crew of folks was working on cutting down a couple of dying oak trees that were a danger to power lines, passing traffic, etc., one of which was at the edge of our property.

 

The above picture is the tree on the edge of our property.  The guy in yellow is cutting a wedge out at the bottom so they can direct the way the tree falls.  They also had tied a cable around the top of the tree to help pull it down. (picture below)

I thought it was neat to see a giant oak tree come down.  Not something you see every day, so David grabbed Peamite Alpha and we watched as they prepared to bring the towering tree down.  Peamite Alpha asked me to take his picture as we watched.  He likes to do silly faces...I call this silly Cheeto face.

He said, "Let me see, let me see!" and just as I finished showing him the picture I had taken of him (which he was very proud of) the tree came crunching down.  

It sounded like a bunch of twigs and sticks snapping in two all at the same time with a final thump as it hit the ground.  It didn't sound like how a live tree does when it's cut...creeeeeaaking, snapping, thump.  This one crunched a lot, confirming to me that it was mostly dead. (The Princess Bride flashback...remember that scene? 

Miracle Max: He probably owes you money huh? I'll ask him.

Inigo Montoya: He's dead. He can't talk.
Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.
Inigo Montoya: What's that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change. 

ok...moving on.)

Peamite Alpha cried out for me to take another picture. "Mommy! Take another picture of me in front of this bush in front of the big tree." So, here is Peamite Alpha in front of the freshly fallen tree.

 Peamite Alpha was watching the crew cut up the tree...

and load limbs into trucks...

when he noticed one of the prisoner's pants (They were clearing debris and loading limbs onto the trucks.)

"Daddy! I have candy cane pants, too!"

He was referring to a pair of his Christmas pajama pants.

Loading Screen = Frustrating

Hello.  I'm still here.  I know I haven't posted anything lately, but it's not for lack of trying.  I have come by a few times to write, but I like to add pictures to go along with what I'm telling you.  See, the problem is, I can't upload my pictures...it just says "loading" for umpteen-gillion forevers, I get tired and frustrated, and say forget it.  I'm not that interesting anyway.

I only live about 4 or 5 miles out of the city limits, but apparently here, that is the friggin sticks, so therefore, no high speed internet.  We're doing the wireless internet thing for now, and pray that someone will install high speed internet out here asap!

So until then, my blog suffers because of this problem and my lack of patience.  I'm sorry, but like I said earlier, I'm not that interesting anyway, so you probably didn't even notice. :)

I've been staying busy baking, being a mom, a wife, and in the Lord's Army.

Peace out for now, and I'll try again another time.