Indy Fun times

So while we were down in Indy....we decided to eat at my fave.......HA WAFFLE HOUSE. Omg I love a waffle house. Who doesn't love a waffle house? It's so good and costs like $7 for everything. (ok not quite $7 but a good deal EVEN SO.) I do love me a Waffle House. I also love me a cheesy eggs meal with cinnamon raisin bread toast and random tomatoes. Mmmmm toast. I barely ever eat toast.

 First of all, Waffle House has their own sauce? IDK what it tastes like because we threw it in my purse and are going to eat it later. One of the ingredients is chipotle sooooo

 Again. I really like the cheesy eggs. Jerms had.....IDK what? But he likes the hashbrowns smothered and whatnot.

This is how expensive all breakfast places should be. If you aren't smothering things in expensive avocado idk why anything would cost more than $8 for a breakfast....i'm looking at you IHOP. 

Also Waffle House reminds me of a diner. It's like, diner adjacent. Plus, don't forget Waffle House has the FEMA index where Fema assesses the damage based on what level WH is working at....

Dorito Pieeeeeeee

Ok so as previously mentioned, I am trying to broaden the whole household's horizons by making things that they have never eaten before. I have relaxed some of my meal policies a smidge in that one of the kids will take upwards of an hour deconstructing things I make in order to see all of the ingredients and then ignoring half of them and some falling on the floor or perhaps in a pocket or shirt sleeve. (I'm wise to the old " I have to use the bathroom" trick during mealtimes.) This then causes me to be...slightly cranky and very yelly at best. Anyways.... at Jerms' insistence I have started offering some meals like hotdogs or whatever with fruit/veggies as a side. UNLESS IT CAN ALL BE IN ONE DISH BUT AGAIN SAME PROBLEMS PERSIST.
So. I tried something new to everyone yet that did not include veggies (except onions and like, one drop of salsa). BEHOLD DORITO PIE.


Soooo, firstly a can of crescent rolls makes the crust. I know you don't have to use spray on the pan but I did anyways and I was NOT DISAPPOINTED. It actually came out of the pan in whole slices.
So. Rolls, then crunched doritos (or if you are fancy like me, a family size bag of great value nacho chips). Then mixing your one drop of salsa with sour cream together. So. Rolls, Doritos, meat mixture (which I didn't take a picture of but was ground turkey, an onion and taco seasoning) then sour cream salsa mixture...

 Then shredded cheddar jack (which I buy at costco. Mmmm so much cheese)

 More crunched doritos with about 3/4 stick of melted butter on top. Oven at 400 for 20 minutes and then...

 TADAAAAAAAAAA Dorito Pie

 Oh hey, here's the photo of the ground turkey...why are you down here? Well....it's a lot of work for me to move it so pretend its at the top before the cheese part....

This was delicious, not really healthy and the kids got to eat a boatload of nacho chips when I was done cooking, which was, honestly, their favorite part because I had taken away all chips and snacks last week due to making me crazy asking for them all the time. 

Now...I used THIS RECIPE from Centsless Meals...  I actually like 99% followed it (I know right? WHO EVEN AM I?????)

Tuscan Chick-Can

Soooo I’ve been *kind of* cooking up a storm over here (well, as much as my hot second floor kitchen allows). The other day I was cruising recipes for this garlicky pasta thing from Macaroni Grill I remember eating like.....17(?) years ago? And I found this Tuscan Chicken Pasta recipe. Or Tuscan Chicken Mac n Cheese? Idk it looked good, I became obsessed with making it and forced it on all of the children and Jerms. 

SO SO GOOD

So first off, you pound the chicken. I had my virtually 9 year old do that in some ziplock baggies (mom, this is terrible, I don’t even know what to do). My 12 yo grated cheese and my 11 yo.....stayed far away because..::he’s cranky. 

So I saw many iterations of this recipe using stove top, one pot etc. I looked for an INSTANT POT one because I HAVE AN INSTANT POT AND IT IS AWESOME. Also I like to call it the insta pot so be forewarned. 

So. Chicken gets smashed and covered with salt, pepper and paprika and then browned on the sauté setting. 

Next you are putting in like fifty three spices (ok like four) which I actually put into a mug so I could pour them in at once. Do you think I took a photo of that? No I did not. 

I want you to also know that I watched that chicken like a hawk and I did not overlook the chicken breasts. WHAT?! 

Behold. Pasta. Sun dried tomatoes, a garlicky cheesy sauce, chicken, spinach. Mmmmmm my tummy was HAPPY. 5/5 people liked it *mostly*. One kid had two bowls. One kid had one bowl eaten quickly. One kid had one bowl eaten over and hour but carefully avoiding the EXPENSIVE SUN DRIED TOMATOES. Ha! Mmmm