Creamy Italian chicken

Ok, so this might not be the prettiest looking dish but MY GOODNESS is it tasty! I have been making it for years and it's just such a staple in our house that I kinda forgot about it. Make sense? It's a slow cooker recipe I got from my favorite cook book "Fix it and Forget it" you may even know it already or a version of it. I'm telling you it is delish.. The sauce is just so..so.. Just make it and you'll see. I could just sit at the crock pot and eat the sauce with a spoon.. Oh wait I HAVE done that. Hope you try it and love it! We have it with steamed rice but you can have it over noodles or pasta or whatever really. I eat it by it's self too.

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 envelope dry Italian salad dressing mix
1/4 C water
8-oz pkg cream cheese ( softened)
10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup
4 oz can mushrooms stems and pieces drained. ( I don't always add these..)

Instructions
1. Place chicken in slow cooker
2. Combine salad dressing mix and water. Pour over chicken.
3. Cover. Cook on LOW for 3 hours.
4. Combine cheese and soup until blended. Stir in mushrooms. Pour over chicken.
5. Cover. Cook on LOW for 1 hour.
I like to take a wooden spoon and break up the chicken into pieces before serving. Whatever you prefer!
Enjoy!!

Scrambled egg muffins

I am the kind of person who needs variety when it comes to food. For the last year I have been eating a variation of scrambled egg whites with veggies, cheese and turkey or ham. I credit it to part of my weight loss.. I really believe starting my day out eating healthy determines how I eat and FEEL the rest of the day! I've recently started making these "egg muffins". They are so easy and SO yummy!! PLUS I can take a couple and eat them in the car.. which is awesome cause I am in a crazy hurried rush every morning these days!! I found this particular recipe and changed it up but you can put whatever you want in them! That's the beauty! So many variations! Hope you enjoy!
P.S. I've read you can freeze them and take them out as needed but I haven't tried it yet!

Ingredients:
1/2 pound bulk pork sausage or substitute with diced ham or turkey and eyeball it:)
12 eggs ( I do half egg whites myself )
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped red pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup shredded Cheese.. I use whatever I have on hand! This time it was mozzarella! Yum:))

Directions:
In a skillet, cook the sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. In a bowl, beat eggs, Add onion, green pepper, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Stir in sausage and cheese. Or whatever meat you prefer.
Spoon by 1/3 cupfuls into greased muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, take out and sprinkle more cheese on top, pop bake in the oven till cheese is melted and a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Crock pot turkey white bean pumpkin chili ( skinnytaste.com)

Oh.my.gosh. My house smells so amazing from this chili!! I am so excited to pass this one on! Again from one of my favorite blogs...skinnytaste.com. A must make this fall! I always do chili on Halloween night so I'm thinking this might be the one this year! The pumpkin gives it such a velvety taste! Not sweet or weird I promise! It literally tastes like fall!:) thanks skinnytaste!!

Ingredients
cooking spray (I use my misto)
2 lb 99% lean ground turkey
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp chili powder, to taste
2 bay leaves
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 (15 oz cans) of white northern or navy beans, rinsed and drained
15 oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
4.5 oz canned chopped green chile
2 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth
fat free sour cream for topping (optional)
chopped cilantro and chives for topping (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1.Heat a large pan with oil and brown your turkey meat, add to crock pot.
2.add more oil to pan and sauté onions and garlic for 3-5 min. Add cumin sauté another minute. Add to crock pot
3. Add pumpkin purée, beans,chili powder, chicken broth, oregano and bay leaves. Set slow cooker on low for 8 hrs. Or on high for 4 hrs
4. After it's done remove the bay leaves and add salt and pepper to your liking..then garnish with cilantro, chives, sour cream, salsa. You could crumble up tortilla chips and put on top for some crunch!:) yum!!

Steak,onion and mushroom sandwich. adapted from skinnytaste.com

I have been doing a LOT of cooking lately but not a whole lot of blogging:( Not that I don't want to, but sitting down to write anything other than a grocery list or two seems nearly impossible with my life the way it is!! I really wanted to share this AWESOME sandwich that I have adapted from a wonderful website called skinnytaste.com. Her name is Gina and she has some great low cal low fat recipes and she includes weight watchers points! This recipe is sooo delish and has fast become one of my staples! It is so easy and so tasty and is pretty versatile since you can opt to just have it over rice or noodles or probably on top of a salad if you wanted! We have it on French bread because I'm a carb lover and it is just perfect.. I have made a few slight changes to her recipe based on my tastes but it's pretty much the same! Enjoy!!

Ingredients
1/2 lb thin cut beef round sandwich steaks
1/2 large onion, sliced into rings
1/2 tsp olive oil
8 oz sliced mushrooms
4 seconds cooking spray
Salt
garlic powder to taste
Dash of worcestershire sauce
Montreal steak seasoning
12 oz French bread or baguette, cut into 4 pieces ( hollow out the insides a bit to reduce carb intake)
4 slices reduced-fat cheese slices (I used Sargento provolone)

Directions:
Slice beef into thin strips. Season with salt, garlic powder, worcestershire and Montreal steak seasoning to taste. Heat a large skillet over high heat. When the skillet is hot, spray with cooking spray and add half of the beef. Cook one minute, then turn steak and cook an additional 30 seconds. Set aside in a large dish.
Spray the skillet again and when it gets hot add the remaining steak, cooking one minute, then turning and cooking 30 seconds more. Add remaining steak to the dish. Return skillet to heat and spray once again with cooking spray; add onions and season with salt. Cook one minute, then turn and cook onions an additional 30 seconds or until onions are golden.

Preheat oven to 425° or set your broiler to low.

Once the steak is cooked and ready, cut bread into 4 pieces .Divide steak and mushrooms evenly between four sandwiches and place a slice of cheese on each one. Place sandwiches on a cookie sheet and heat in the oven or broiler until the cheese melts; 2 - 3 minutes.

Delicious eggplant dish

DO NOT let the main ingredient in this dish fool you! If you think you can't stand eggplant then I beg of you, PLEASE don't completely write off this recipe!! My mom's best friend Candy, who is honestly the best home cook I've ever known, came up with this dish. The first time I took a bite I like went into an alternate universe of deliciousness..my husband who isn't a fan of anything eggplant loved it and was soon asking for seconds.. Then thirds.. The combination of the onions and garlic with the seasoned eggplant..and the cheese.. Oh yum. Promise. Now if you reeeaaally can't do eggplant then I would suggest pounding out some thiny cut chicken cutlets and use those instead of the eggplant. I haven't tried it but I'm sure it would be mighty tasty!!!


1 med size eggplant, peeled and cut across into 1/4 in slices
Kosher salt
Pepper
Olive oil
1 1/2 C Italian style bread crumbs
3 beaten eggs
1 1/2 C flour
2 large yellow onions, sliced thin
LOTS of minced garlic! ( I use3-4 BIG cloves!)
8-10 Roma tomatoes, sliced across
3 C shredded Monterey jack cheese

..Heat oven to 350
..First you want to get any extra water out of the eggplant by putting them in a colander with some salt sprinkled on top. Let them sit for about 30 min. While they are sitting get started on the onions and garlic.
. Heat up some olive oil in a large pan and add in the onions and garlic. Sauté until soft. Spread out in a large casserole dish.( 9 by 13)
. Once the onions and garlic are all set then start getting your eggplant ready.
. Heat up the same pan you used for the onions and garlic and add about 1/4 C olive oil.. Or use your own judgement on how much oil you think they need.
. First dip the eggplant in the flour, then the egg then the bread crumbs. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Do this with all the eggplant, I usually have like 3-4 going at a time, then put on paper towels dabbing off any excess oil, then transfer each piece to the casserole dish on top of the onions and garlic. Continue until all the eggplant is fried.
. Once on top of the onions and garlic Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Then neatly put all the tomato slices on top of the eggplant, so all you see is the tomatoes on top. Sprinkle a little more salt and pepper on top.
Put in oven for 45 min.
. After 45 min, take out of the oven and sprinkle with cheese, stick back in oven for another 15 min.
Once bubbly and melty and yummy looking take out and let sit for about 10 min.
Enjoy!

Chalk paint memories

So yesterday my kids were full of something..I guess that's pretty normal but it seemed like they had an extra shot of whatever it is that makes them act like wild animals. So since the weather has cooled down a bit and we can actually go OUT, we have been celebrating by getting out the water table with lots of soap to make tons of soap suds!! It started out pretty innocent, the normal kind of stuff...splashing around and making "soap sud sculptures" THEN the sidewalk chalk came out and got together with the wet pavement and TA DA!! we made chalk paint! And it was EVERYWHERE!.. all over the sidewalk of course, then they figured out it was pretty fun to paint themselves, each other, their baby brother AND of coarse ME! Pretty soon just about everything was covered in this mixture of soap, water and chalk paint! Needless to say they were thinking this was pretty awesome and didn't seem to mind the fact that they were absolutely covered in this stuff. After about an hour we looked at each other and laughed our crazy heads off... I wish I had some "after" pics to share but my hands were covered in this stuff so, I didn't want to even touch my camera! Well thankfully we have a shower downstairs so we all hopped in ( even the baby!) and cleaned up and that was the end of it.. There truly is NEVER a dull moment and if there was I guess my life AND my clothes wouldn't be full of "chalk-paint" memories!

Boys

Who would have thought having three boys would be THIS much fun? As the years tick by and they grow with every passing second, I sometimes have to remind myself of just how much FUN it can be! That is IF I let it. Fun in my book didn't used to be things like: getting dirty, making a HUGE mess, tearing apart the house, wrestling, jumping off furniture, looking for bugs, sword fighting, building forts (maybe I did always think that was fun!) and about a million other things these guys love to do. I always pictured myself having at least ONE girl! Someone to re-live my childhood with! You know, playing with my little ponies and strawberry shortcake and cabbage patch kids! These days it's all about Star Wars and transformers and Super Hero's! Guess what? That has become normal to me now! Who would have thought!! I've also come to accept the MANY..... let's just call them minor inconveniences, one may have when they have boys. I mean SO what if I have guests and they walk through the door only to be blocked by a GIANT fort made out of blankets AND my nice couch pillows! Fine by me if they see a battle field made up of action figures as they attempt to walk up the stairs....It's no big deal to me anymore if our backyard is no longer the picture of perfection but instead a place where little boys dig and build and explore. I am finally getting used to being tackled to the ground when I ask for a hug and am happy to tackle them right back! Joy for me can't be held in the palm of hand that doesn't have at least A LITTLE dirt under the fingernails! I can't wait to sleep under the stars with my boys while on one of the many camping trips we will undoubtably be going on. And I am ready and willing to wake up early and venture off to the many sporting events we will be planning our lives around in a few years. It might not be what I had pictured but it's what God has so graciously given me! I am blessed beyond belief for not only the grace of God, but that he has entrusted ME to be the mom to these precious little boys because he knew that I would come to love it the way I do! And, you know... who's to say that if we had three little girls they wouldn't be doing all these same things? Well .. I guess I'll never know, and I'm alright with that!

Crock pot chicken and potatoes

With fall approaching I have been craving pretty much anything and everything comfort food! This little diddy hits all the bases for me! Warm, inviting, smells your house up like thanksgiving! Plus it's delicious!! All you need for a complete meal is a salad or a veggie and viola! Dinner is done!

Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1tbs olive oil
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut in cubes
1/2 yellow onion cut up
1 can chicken broth

Rub for chicken:
1/2 tbs poultry seasoning
1/2 tbs rubbed sage
1/2 tbs marjoram
1/2 tbs garlic salt
1 tbs canadian chicken seasoning, or some kind of chicken seasoning
1 tbs Italian dressing seasoning

Once you combine all your seasonings in a small bowl put your chicken breasts on a plate and give them
A nice rub in a few tsp of the mix. Both sides of the chicken.
Heat a pan on high heat and add the olive oil, then brown both sides of the chicken, about a minute on each side.
Once they look nice and golden transfer them to your crock pot.
Add the rest of the ingredients and sprinkle a few TBS of the seasoning mixture on top, add salt and pepper if you like.
Set slow cooker to low and wait about 5-6 hours or until the potatoes are soft and the chicken is tender.

Why peas and cutes?

So, the name. First of all trying to find a name I love and have it not be taken already was a challenge. I originally wanted "my peas and cues"....taken. Then I tried a few variations of it, all taken. Blahhhh. THEN I thought peas and cutes! Peas because it can be for the letter "P" since this a blog and all.. And I wanted it spelled like PEA cause I plan to share lots of recipes with y'all. Clever?? I thought it was a lite! The cute well.. I am a tad parcial but my boys are pretty darn cute if I do say so.. And I will be sharing a lot of them with you too! I love taking pictures of them, don't we all love taking pics of our kids!?? So undoubtabley I will be Sharing those too! Sooo that's where the name came From! If you are reading this then first of all thank you! And second I hope you find my posts slightly amusing or perhaps somewhat interesting if anything! I Cannot wait to blah blah my life away!!!