This Santa Fe Cream Cheese Chicken Casserole is almost a staple in our dinner rotations. Creamy, cheesy with a kick.

Ingredients:
1 lb. of chicken
½ onion
15 oz. (1 can) of tomato sauce
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
4 oz. cream cheese
4 eight-inch flour tortilla
15 oz. (1 can) of kidney beans or black beans

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375°
2. Lightly season chicken with salt, pepper and cumin
3. Sauté chicken over medium-high heat with 1 tsp. of oil
4. Remove chicken from heat and allow to cool.
5. Without cleaning chicken pan, add diced onions and 1 tsp. of oil
6. Cook onion over medium-low heat until onions become translucent
7.  Pour entire can of tomato sauce and pinch of salt on top of onions in pan, stir, and allow ingredients to simmer for 5             minutes on medium heat
8. Gradually stir in cream cheese (careful not to add too much at once, as it will curdle)
Picture
Before and After: Sauce without and with cream cheese added.
9. Remove from heat
10. Drain kidney beans and add to sauce
11. In a nonstick round baking dish or a cast-iron skillet, you will begin to build your layers.
12. First, place one tortilla in the bottom of the dish, then add chicken topped with sauce, placing another tortilla on top.         Repeat until dish is full, ending with layer of sauce.
13. Top with cheese.
14. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown.
15. Enjoy!
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Boyfriend tried it with homegrown jalapeños for an extra kick!
 
Summertime means watermelon. And what better way to represent watermelon than with this cute little treat?

Ingredients
1 pckg. of red Jello (we used cherry)
9 Kiwis
Poppy seeds
Yields 18 "watermelon" slices

Directions
1. Slice kiwis into halves.
2. Remove fruit from skin. (This task is pretty daunting. Boyfriend and I used forks, peelers and spoons, but ultimately found digging the kiwi out with our fingers works best. Maybe there's a better way, but we didn't find it. Don't worry, we washed our hands and the skins! But, I wouldn't recommend this as a task to do with children, unless they are patient, goggle-wearing children.)
3. Fill the slices with already mixed, but not yet solid, Jello.
4. Refrigerate until Jello solidifies.
5. Pinch poppyseeds over "watermelon" slices until you get desired effect.

6. Enjoy and dream of summer!
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How cute!
 
For my sister's bridal shower, we had a French theme to celebrate not only her upcoming marriage, but also her honeymoon trip to Paris, France. Because what's more French than croissants?

Ingredients
1/2 lb. Thinly sliced ham
1/2 c. Shredded cheese (we used cheddar)
1/4 c. Honey mustard, optional (we used homemade!)
1 pckg. Crescent rolls
1 Egg
Yields 8 croissants (can easily be adjusted for more)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Dice ham
3. Place crescent rolls in nonstick muffin tin. See below picture for how.

4. Fill rolls with ham, cheese and drizzle honey mustard on top, if desired.
5. Fold ends of crescent rolls into the center. Note that some of the ham and cheese will not be completely covered by the rolls' ends, but that's fine.

Picture
Looks yummy already!
6. Beat an egg in a bowl with 1 tbsp. of water.
7. Using a brush, wash the rolls with your egg mixture.
8. Cook until golden brown. Aprx. 8 minutes.
9. Enjoy and dream of Paris!