Crock Pot: Cooking Made Easy

I love my Crock Pot.

I love my Crock Pot.

I literally don't think I could say it enough. I LOVE my Crock Pot! It's seriously one of the best inventions that man-kind has ever come up with. Today I made Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili, and it was fantastic!

Hubster and I got home from work around 6:30, and I went straight to the crock pot to check it out. I have this irrational fear that one day I'm going to come home, and there's going to be a gross looking blob of mush in the crock pot instead of some delicious, delectable dinner. I seriously fret over it all day. So when I open the front door, and I'm greeted by this wonderful smell, I instantly relax and feel totally relieved. Such was the case tonight.

Because I'm fairly new to this blogging thing, and I don't have a card reader for my current camera, pictures were not taken tonight. However, it looked just like the pictures in the blog where the recipe is originally posted. You must try this. Seriously. You can click the hyper link posted above to get the recipe, or you can keep reading, because I'm posting it on here as well. All recipe credit goes to Rita May of Rita's Recipes. (Thank you, Rita for this amazingness.)

Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

2 chicken breasts, still frozen
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can corn kernels, do not drain
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
1 T cumin
1 t chili powder
1 t onion powder
1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese

Put the chicken in the crock pot.
Top with the tomatoes, corn, drained and rinsed beans,
ranch dressing, cumin, onion and chili powders,
stir to combine then top with the cream cheese.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring one or twice
 to blend in the cheese.
Shred the chicken into large pieces
and serve over rice.
Serves 4 (unless you're my hubs, and you eat abnormally large servings for such a skinny man.)

We served this over jasmine rice, and it was fantastic. Hubs and I went on a mission trip to Peru a few summers ago, and now we get really nostalgic when we eat anything with jasmine rice. This means we have it frequently. Plus, jasmine rice is really tasty!

Here's your daily dose of puppy. This is my baby Guster. He was approximately 2.5 months old when this picture was taken. Although he's still very cute, he is definitely not this tiny. Love him bunches!

Have a great night!

-Alyssa

Hello, my name is Alyssa and I'm a newlywed.

It's been a little over a month since my husband and I tied the knot. (Cue birds chirping, and whimsical, happy music). The wedding was amazing. Literally, it was perfect. I wish I could relive it every day. The honeymoon was relaxing and much needed. Then we got back home, and the real world smacked us in the face. (Cut birds chirping, and whimsical, happy music). No, it didn't just smack us in the face. It practically knocked us out with this well-aimed, perfectly formed right hook. We had to learn how to budget with both of our incomes. I was in the middle of transitioning to a new job, and although that was awesome, it was stressful. We're in the process of closing on a house. We didn't know how to cook. Essentially, we wrote the book on what not to do when you're a newlywed. Thus, I have comprised a list for all you future newlyweds so that you will know what to expect when in this situation.

Things You Should Know:

1. Don't spend all of your money in one place. (i.e. the wedding/wedding party) (Not that you shouldn't get gifts for your wedding party, just budget your money wisely.)
2. Don't start a new job the week after you get married when you won't be getting your first paycheck until you've worked there for a month. (Again, this goes back to budgeting.)
3. By all means, if you're able to buy a house right after getting married, go for it. Just know that it is going to add stress and chaos during this already stressful and chaotic time in your life.
4. Learn how to cook. Pinterest (follow me on there- Alyssa Wildschuetz ) has been my go-to cookbook for the past month and a half or so. There are tons of easy, quick and delicious recipes on that website.
5. Register for and/or invest in a crock pot if you don't already have one. It's a life saver. In fact, I have Crock Pot Chicken Chili in the crock pot at home as I'm typing this, and I'm so excited about it.
6. Learn how to budget. This includes, but is not limited to, rent/mortgage payments, electricity bills, phone bills, cable bills, insurance, groceries, gas, etc. You get the point. Work it out. If you have to guesstimate on what each payment will be, always overshoot it. This is clearly one of the most important things to learn as a newlywed because, as you can see, most of these bullet points could be avoided via thorough budgeting.
7. Have patience. Things will get better. Your finances will balance out.  You may eat ramen for a few days, but I promise, things do get better.

I could definitely add more to the list, but quite frankly, I'm tired of griping about all of this. This blog isn't intended to be completely boring. I'm hoping to use this as a way to share my new, and sometimes ridiculous experiences with the blogging community. There will be recipes, craft ideas, funny stories, pictures of my puppies, etc. If that doesn't sound interesting to you, you probably won't enjoy this blog. :)

P.S. Stay tuned to see how tonight's dinner goes!

-Alyssa