Taco Chicken - One pan!

I make a yummy one pan dish that's called Taco Chicken.  When my kids were very small they called it taco soup so we sometimes refer to the dish as Taco Soup, but it's chicken, taco seasoning and rice and it's so easy.

 This is my dinner with some cheese on top.  I don't eat it with a fork, just with tortilla chips!

Here is what we need.  Below is a photo of the recipe.  I took this picture so I could shop at the store :D

This recipe calls for a green pepper.  I used to put the pepper in, but I would always pick it out and so would my kids - so I left it out today.  This doesn't list garlic, but a little garlic tastes good in EVERYTHING. 

I used three breasts of chicken today.  I have used four when I have more people to feed.  But these are from Costco and it was a lot of meat.  I cut the pieces small, but I wish I had cut them even a little smaller.  Because I eat this dish with chips I don't want to have to cut the chicken any smaller - AFTER cooking it. 
So you cook the chicken in a skillet.  I cooked mine in two batches.  With all the cooked chicken in the pan, add the can of chicken broth, a small can of tomato sauce and the taco seasoning.  Bring this to a boil then cover and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often. 

Add the can of drained corn and the green pepper.  Bring to a boil again and add the minute rice.

Stir well, turn off the heat.  Cover and let sit for 5-7 minutes.  Put some cheese on top and scoop it up with tortilla chips.  YUMMY!

Diaper and wipes holder and Baby Bib

I have several friends having babies and my favorite brother and sister in law just had TWIN boys. So I had to make one of these, in blue! 

Diaper Pouch Tutorial

I made my flap from material and I think I will put a button over the velcro before giving the pouch away.  Another tutorial I did recently was a Bapron  which I think is a contraction of baby apron which is really a bib that doesn't flip around.  I made one for a friend who LOVES it.  I need to make more blue ones as you can see.  I lined mine with plain white flannel. 

Bapron tutorial  is the original tutorial.  When I made the larger bib for a 1 1/2 year old child, I took the pattern in to Kinkos and enlarged it by 25%.  It worked well. 

Roll up bags - so easy!

I loved the pin for the roll up bags.  They are reversable if you want and they roll up very small for throwing in your purse, diaper bag or glove compartment.    The original pin can be found here:


roll up tote tutorial

On the first one I made I was trying to follow the directions for the directional fabric for the letters and I made the mistake of measuring or checking only once before cutting.  Never do this.  You have to measure twice, figure it out in your head and then you can cut.  So when I cut the 21" X 16" piece the keys would have been running up and down instead of right to left.  So....I improvised.  I had bought this fabric especially to make something for my daughter who is at BYU.  She loves books, reading and typewriters and the fabric reminded me of her.  So I modified the pattern and made a smaller bag.  But then I had to redeem myself so I made one the correct size and I was very happy with the outcome.

The smaller one ended up 10 1/4" X 11 1/2" and the larger bag is  15 1/4" X 14 1/2".  Here is a photo of the larger one rolled up.

Perhaps two things I did differently is that one, I lined with linen.  I have a couple bags I made reversible and I never flip them, so I didn't want to 'waste' the pretty expensive fabric.   Secondly, after ironing the handles I sewed the folded side first instead of the side with the two open ends.  I hope that makes sense, but it made for less folding and or puckering when sewing the handles. 

I will probably make several more because they are so easy!  Have fun with her nice tutorial!
Patricia

Parmesan Ranch Chicken - Disclaimer - it's my creation

At our house we LOVE Parmesan Chicken. That's what we call it.  But it has three ingredients so maybe we should be calling it Parmesan Ranch Chicken.  You take a couple of breasts of chicken and cut them into slices.  Then dip each slice into Ranch dressing - the kind out of the bottle, not the dry powder stuff.  After you dip it in the Ranch, making sure that it's not dripping with ranch, but instead just moist, then roll it in Parmesan cheese. 

Then take those cut up pieces and place them in a frying pan and cook them.  Don't add anything else.  Cook them until they are 165 degrees in the thickest part of the chicken.  See the USDA recommended internal temperatures for meat suggestions. 

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/is_it_done_yet/brochure_text/index.asp

I love this thing.  My sweet family got it for me for Christmas of 2010 and I use it ALL the time.  Get one!
This chicken is SO yummy.  Serve it with rice and veggies.