Brandon's Birthday Scavenger Hunt + A Recipe!

Saturday afternoon Brandon came home from a 4 day trip. I had a very special dinner planned for him that night, as I hadn't got to do some serious cooking in a while! This recipe...was serious cooking. If you saw it on my Instagram you'll see where I mentioned that I have some pointers to make it easier. So, here is the amazing dish-followed by some tips! Recipe via Skinny Taste

Cheesy Jalapeno Popper Bake Stuff Chicken & Mexi Salad

Prepped & Ready to bake

All done!

Ingredients:

2 slices center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled

3 jalapeños, chopped (remove seeds for milder)

3 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

4 oz reduced fat shredded cheddar jack (Sargento)

2 tbsp chopped scallions

8 thin sliced skinless chicken breast cutlets, 3 oz each

1/2 cup Italian seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs

1 1/2 juicy limes, juice of

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and fresh pepper

olive oil non-stick spray

Directions:

1. Wash and dry chicken cutlets, season with salt and pepper.  

2. Preheat oven to 450°. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.3. Combine cream cheese, cheddar, scallions, jalapeño and bacon crumbles in a medium bowl.
5. Loosely roll each one, secure the ends with toothpicks to prevent the cheese from oozing out.
6. Place breadcrumbs in a bowl; in a second bowl combine olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.
7. Dip chicken in lime-oil mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down on a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken. 

4. Lay chicken cutlets on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of cream cheese mixture on each cutlet. 

8. When finished, lightly spray the top of the chicken with oil spray.

9. Bake 22-25 minutes, serve immediately.

Here are my tips:

1. I did not use bacon-I don't cook things that are going to fight back {pop me}-ouch. Instead I used a handful of bacon bits!

2. I like a little kick-but this had a LOT of kick. I pitted and chopped 3 jalapenos. If you like a smidge of a kick I'd use 1 1/2 jalapenos. I think baking it really spreads the flavor.

3. RINSE & DRY THE CHICKEN BREAST. This is a huge factor because when you dry the chicken cutlets it makes them 10 times easier to handle and roll!

4. What the heck are scallions? I used 2 tbsp chopped onion.

5. I made 6 total-here's my adjustments to the ingredients:

6 thin sliced chicken breasts

2 oz cream cheese

2 oz shredded cheddar jack

1 lime-juiced

If you have a fancy at home date night-this meal is perfect. This definitely is not a monday night dinner.

Mexi Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

Lettuce

Baby Spinach

1 can mexicorn

1 can black beans {drained & rinsed}

1/2 can rotel {drained}

2 green onions {chopped}

1 green pepper {chopped}

Sliced black olives

Ranch dressing

Directions:

-Prep this meal ahead of time by adding the mexicorn, black beans, and rotel in a container and chilling in the fridge for 2ish hours.

1. Lay out a bed of lettuce and baby spinach

2. Pour a small amount of ranch

3.Top with a small layer of the chilled corn and bean mexican mixture

4. Top with remaining vegetables

I struggled with deciding what would be the best side for this meal. This was a perfect fit because the salad cooled off my flaming mouth!

If you have any questions about this recipe, let me know! It is definitely one of the more difficult ones I've ever done. I felt like a chef after! ;)

Brandon's Birthday Scavenger Hunt!

Sunday I started out the day at 6:15 am getting ready for my big surprise day for my Birthday Boy! Luckily...he was so tired-he didn't care why I was up that early and continued to sleep till it was time for me to wake him up!

I woke him up with a little booklet that rhymed explaining the day. 

It read:

I heard that someone has a birthday coming up...

And I heard it's this Tuesday, no way! Shut up!

Birthday's on Tuesday's are lame

So let's play a little game...

Scavenger Hunt's are familiar to you

Give me a kiss and I'll hand over the first clue.

CLUE 1:

We’ll start today like any other

only you don’t have to go much futher

Breakfast in bed that I hope isn’t awful

 I’ll go get your protein waffles!

These were extremely delicious and easy to make.

First time I ever made waffles and it was tons easier then pancakes!

 CLUE 2:

Time to get up and get dressed

because we always need to look out best

Gotta go hang out with Ron & Chad

 because clue 3 is with mom and dad

 So... since I was already ready for the day-while Brandon was getting ready I locked him in the bathroom and packed up the car for the day! Then we were off to church. Mom teased him the whole church service with the clue, then right before we were walking out-she gave it to him. :)

CLUE 3:

Now it’s off to Nashville for the day

 so the two of us can frolic and play

And at the park you will be told

of more surprises about to unfold

We headed to Nashville to Centennial Park. Wow. That park is beautiful. You can definitely see the work God did with that place. Running paths, a pond, a huge field for playing, trees with tons of shade. Sunday was a perfect day to be outside!

Pond and a fish :)

A small picnic packed with sparking pink Moscato!

Silly birthday boy.

CLUE 4:

It’s no secret the way to your heart is through food

 I hope this Chinese choice gets you in the mood

Time to go and fill that belly up

 now come on, let’s go, get up!

Thanks to Brandon's momma for this treat and idea! She gave us a PF Changs giftcard for our one year anniversary. It was so yummy!

CLUE 5:

Now that we’re about to pop

 time to get on to our next stop

This whole time I’ve kept you guessing

 now let’s go see what to expect when you’re expecting!

 CLUE 6:

Time for you to sit on the passenger’s side

 just chill and relax on this homeward ride.

It won’t be long before you’ll have a cone

 from a place we both love to visit called Cold Stone.

Due to the fact that Brandon had been gone for a week and since this was his day to celebrate his birthday-we agreed that going home to spend time with Jax was a better way to spend the afternoon. So we scooped him up and went to mom and dad's patio for the afternoon. Relaxing night on the patio :) But don't think we aren't doing clue 5 & 6... those have been pushed off to a date night in two weekends! 

Got hung up in a little bit of traffic on the way home and snapped a quick photo. 

Nashville, I love you!