Bacon Wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Cream Cheese and Jalapenos

 This is a delicious entree that is very hearty. It is simple to make as well. There are only five ingredients if you include the Tony Chachere’s you sprinkle over the top before you put it in the oven.

 

Recipe Ingredients

 All you need to get started is:

1. Package of boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2. Package of bacon
3. Jar of Jalapenos
4. Package of cream cheese

Fixing up the chicken is easy

Lay out the chicken breasts. For a more healthy portion I recommend using an electric knife and slicing the thick chicken breasts into two thinner pieces of breast each. This will also turn 3 servings into 6 more healthy servings. This is also a good idea if you are going to be serving a couple of additional side items or having salad (and/or dessert) with the meal.

 

Spread cream cheese on the chicken. I prefer to use diced jalapenos. That isn’t what I happened to have so I put the sliced jalapenos in a bowl and cut them up and then spooned them over the chicken. I think you get a better flavor using diced jalapenos and juice. Notice I don’t give exact measurements for the cream cheese and chicken. That’s because I didn’t get the recipe from anywhere. I just eyeball it. In fact, as you can see I hit it heavy because I don’t make it often and it is what I consider a delicious indulgence. You can go lighter and it will probably taste just as good and be twice as healthy. I know it will smell terrific.

Roll up the stuffed chicken and wrap it bacon

Roll up the stuffed chicken pieces. Use toothpicks to help hold it together as you find necessary. Wrap the delight in pieces of your favorite bacon. Sprinkle Tony Chachere’s on top. You can use ground pepper but Tony’s has the heat that complements the chicken without overpowering it with that black pepper flavor.  Bake in a 400 degree F oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. If you are doing a larger batch then bake for 1 hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Use your judgment. I just keep an eye on it.

Yummy!!

I wish you could scratch and sniff the monitor. Give this one a try. It’s very good!

Buddy’s First Christmas

 

Buddy - Christmas Eve 2008

Buddy’s next milestone will be his first birthday on April 7, 2009.

Buddy…The World’s Greatest Shorkie

My boo boo is growing up {tear}. What can you do? When we last visited the vet in July, he weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and I thought he was getting big then! He was only 3 lbs when I brought him home on May 31st. Now at 6 months old he is tipping the scales at a whopping 11lbs. and a 1/2 oz!

He has the tiniest button nose

For Those About To Rock

Who's The Fairest of Them All?

Toothy grin

 

His favorite thing is just to be by mom, even if it means assisting with a nap

Impromptu Road Trip

I had planned to do an iPhone Post but the WordPress app wouldn’t upload and now I can’t figure out how to delete the draft post. I took some pics with the iPhone camera but the WordPress app gave me an invalid image error when I tried to upload the post. So I don’t know. I am disappointed. What’s the point of the app if I can’t post on the go?

My friend Sue and I drove up to Grafton. Today was one of those days that was sunny, partly cloudy, dark, gray and rainy. Just depended what time it was and where you happened to be.

Halo effect produced using the Camerabag app for iPhone

The weather was fine when we got up to Grafton. This town lies on the river’s edge on a mountain side. Sue wanted to drive through some of the “neighborhoods.” I was a little relunctant. I told her I wasn’t really into the whole Deliverance experience. I said if it starts rockin’ the weird-shit-o-meter we are turnin’ around! Seriously though, it’s a gorgeous. The bluffs along the Mississippi are breathtaking. This area boasts some of the most spectacular views of the river valley.

We stopped for lunch but I won’t say where because it was awful and it tore up my stomach. Suffice it to say, I won’t be going back there. If for some reason I do (like I’m riding Sea-Doos on the river) I’ll make sure I only order one of the frozen appetizers that gets dropped into the fat fryer. Can’t really screw that up. We headed back down towards Alton and that’s when the weather turned stormy.

At first it was just a light sprinkling of rain

Roadside construction gets rained out

That turned into a pretty decent downpour. Apparently flooding this past spring/summer washed out parts of the road bed.

Gray day on the Mississippi

So we headed to Alton. About 8 or 9 years ago, we can’t even remember, Sue and I took a “haunted tour” of Alton and one of the stops was the McPike Mansion. We stopped by today and it looked exactly the same as I remembered it. Right down to the chairs out front.

McPike Mansion - Alton, IL

It was short a road trip. I wanted to get back to Buddy. He just had his neuter surgery on Tuesday so he is still recuperating. Doin’ good though. He is getting so big…11 lbs. and 1/2 oz.

Everybody Needs A Friend

Best Friends

Buddy (Shorkie Tzu) and Xena (German Shorthaired Pointer)

Finally….Baby Pictures!

It has taken me a while to get some pictures up of Buddy because he moves so fast. I can’t catch him with the digital camera. I picked up a cheapy 35mm disposbable and captured some cute moments. He’s pretty cute most of the time so it wasn’t too difficult.

He is almost 5 months old now so he is teething. I managed to rescue one baby molar. I think he must just eat them.

Since we live on the lake I got Buddy this spiffy lifejacket.

I thought it would be good to introduce him to the water. He did not think it was good.

He is usually a pretty good boy. Very well behaved. But sometimes when he wants to do something and I won’t let him, he gets frustrated. And he let’s me know.

My nephew Vincent really likes Buddy, except when he bites (chews) him and tries to hump him.  

All teething babies have to have their binky.

Some times he does things that are so charming. When he crawled in his bed and then peeked out at me I had to get a picture of that.

There have been times when I didn’t get that shot. For example, when I was cleaning the kitchen recently I didn’t realize I had left the bathroom door open. It was so quiet I thought to myself, “I wonder what my little boo boo is doing?” I turned around and the entire living room/dining room floor was COVERED with shredded toilet paper. I went in the bathroom and there was just an empty piece of cardboard on the roll.

I would have taken a picture but I was too busy bitching at the dog about how toilet paper costs money and he’s a bad boy. I know he didn’t understand but it made me feel better while I was cleaning it all up.

Buddy Boy

GOSH! I can’t believe it has been three weeks since I have been able to get on the computer!  Having a baby really changes your life. It has been very rewarding though. Buddy is now sleeping through the night and not having ‘accidents’ in his kennel anymore. He is also going potty on the potty pad. This makes me so happy! We are halfway through our puppy training class and he is doing such a good job.

P.S. It’s my birthday! I’m 29 again for the eighth time!

It’s A Boy!

Name: Buddy

DOB: 4/7/2008

Breed: Shorkie Tzu   (A Yorkie and Shih Tzu hybrid)

Personality: Mellow and laid back

Lifeplan: Wrap mommy around my paw (so far this plan is working flawlessly)

Paperboy

I am wanting to buy this game. Obviously it would be used since it is an old game for the Playstation. But I can’t find it on ebay or anywhere else. I also always try to check out shops that sell used video games but have yet to see it anywhere. It is the only version of Paperboy that was released for the playstation.

I do have Midway Arcade Treasures for the Playstation 2 which does have this game on it. But I still want to buy the PS Paperboy game.

Bathroom Shower Project

I have been trying to figure out a way to get my hot water to go further in the shower. I have hard water where I live so I can’t turn the water heater up to the highest setting. The hard water is fairly abusive to the elements in the water heater. One thing that I noticed was that my showerhead released a lot of water. The pressure seemed good but only because so much water was coming out. It wasn’t actually that the water was coming out at a high pressure.

I decided to check out some ”green” eco-friendly water conserving showerheads. I knew if less water came out then I could extend the amount of time I would have hot water. As it was I really didn’t have enough time to shave in the shower before the water ran cold. Electric trimmers will work in a pinch but you just don’t get the clean, close shave that makes for soft silky legs.

I ordered an Oxygenics® SkinCare Shower. It looked so sharp after I installed it. I’m really getting pretty handy around the house!

I purchased the low end model because I wanted to really make sure it was going to release the least amount of water. They do have some very nice adjustable stream showerheads for only ten to fifteen dollars more than I spent. Also, I purchased my showerhead through a resaler online that is located in Kansas City because I like to try to buy as local as I can. I am happy to report that I now have all the hot water I can handle. I have tried to stay in the shower just to see how long it will take for the water to run out but I start to prune up.

I only spent about $30.00 and it completely solved my problem and it’s good for the environment. Additionally, my skin and hair feel healthier. I’m not sure if it is because of the extra oxygen or what. All I know is that this project has turned out “all good.”