Creative & Caffeinated

Creatively Living Through Hot Mess Motherhood

Crock-Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos + Cauliflower Rice

It’s taken me almost two weeks to get this on the blog (sorry!), but better late than never, right?

This recipe is so easy y’all — it’s seriously my new favorite. Juggling three kids means that if dinner is going to get on the table, it better be quick or it’s not happening! I’d love to say that I’m one of those moms that has this crazy, efficiently run house, but it’s just not the case. It’s just now how we operate (although I really am trying to work on that — stay tuned for future blog posts) and so I kind of just roll with the punches.

We ended the school year with the mother of all summer viruses, and got healthy just in time for their two-day summer “camp” at their same school. They get to do fun activities and crafts revolving around weekly themes, and it’s so fun to see what they’re going to bring home! Even better — I still get two days a week at home with just my littlest, and I can work, run errands, knock out laundry/chores much quicker than I can the other days of the week! It’s a win for everybody!

Pinterest is my go-to source when it comes to recipes, especially easy ones — and it rarely disappoints. Although, I usually end up looking at everything except what I went there for, and waste more time than I probably should. Anybody else have that problem??

Currently, I have two incredibly, overtired children so I’m trying to knock out this blog post and get this recipe up for anybody that loves mexican food and/or tacos as much as I do — we don’t need Taco Tuesday around here just to dig into this deliciousness!

 

Crock-Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos

adapted from Belle of the Kitchen

in the crockpot:

  • 2 pounds skinless, boneless, chicken breasts
  • 1 packet taco seasoning, low-sodium
  • 16 oz jar salsa — make sure there’s little to no sugar added! (side note: salsa verde would be really good with this recipe!)
  • 1/3 c chopped fresh cilantro
  • juice from 2 limes

toppings:

  • street corn from HEB
  • fresh made guacamole (either make it yourself, or cheat like me and buy from HEB)
  • cheese

Lay your chicken breasts on the bottom of your crockpot. I like to trim any fat first — I know it’s minimal, but I trim anyway. Sprinkle your whole package of taco seasoning on top, then cover with your jar of salsa, lime juice, and cilantro. (I told you this was easy!)

Place lid on top and cook on high for 4 hours (or low for 6-7).

Take your chicken out and shred in another bowl. I use two forks to do this, but I’ve also seen another method floating around that uses a mixer! Your chicken might be a little on the dry side, so add small amounts of juice leftover in the crockpot based on your tastes.

Serve with tortillas — corn or flour, or taco shells (if you’re into that).

You can top with whatever you please, but the way we did it was with street corn (holy wow) fresh from HEB, and fresh made guac. Seriously, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

That’s it. So simple, right?

Funny little sidenote about my cauliflower rice: I found a recipe (on Pinterest, of course) that sounded super easy. I started grabbing ingredients at HEB, and did a double take when I realized that the bone broth in the recipe was powder, not liquid. Whoops. So, I scratched the entire recipe, and created this one from scratch. I did pretty good, if I do say so myself!

Mexican Cauliflower Rice 

1 pkg riced cauliflower (fresh or frozen)

1 T EVOO

3.5 T tomato sauce

2 T organic bone broth (liquid)

3/4 tsp cumin

3/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1.5 tsp garlic powder

3/4 tsp onion powder

salt, to taste

Take a large skillet, and put it on medium-high heat. Add olive oil (EVOO) to the pan, then your rice. If you’re using frozen, follow the directions on the back of the package — I think it’s roughly 5-7 min before it’s cooked through.

You can combine the tomato sauce, bone broth, and spices in a separate bowl while the cauliflower is cooking to add once it’s done. Since I was experimenting, I added (and adjusted my recipe notes) as it cooked, and it turned out just fine.

Either way, once everything is added, give it a minute or two and add salt to taste.

Enjoy, y’all!

 

 

 

Giving Yourself Grace

Grace is one of my favorite words. I love all the different meanings it has, and that it gives me a happy, positive feeling when I say it, or read it, or hear it. I think on one level, it’s also because it reminds of Audrey Hepburn (who doesn’t love her?) and I like to think I strive to live my life politely, and with simple elegance.

But in today’s post I’m only referring to the act of grace — towards yourself. See, here’s the thing — in today’s world, we chase perfection. Something that simply does not exist. We think we need to do it all (especially if you’re a mom) and we’re constantly juggling all of these balls in the air. I have mountains of laundry, my to-do list is literally never completely checked off, my kids are constantly fighting over my attention, my husband often gets sidelined in order for me to accomplish all of these other things… and at the end of the day, it’s hard not to feel like a failure. Right?

As women, I feel like it’s so so important that we remind ourselves that we are human. There are only 24 hours in a day. Yes, there are chores to be done around the house, but they’ll still be there tomorrow. Our kids won’t stay little forever; they won’t care about our opinions and lavish us with kisses and hugs and snuggles forever. I don’t want to think about a day where my kids won’t want to snuggle up in bed with us at night, or a day where my son doesn’t run up to me when I pick him up from school and attach himself to my leg. I live for those moments. But I’ll admit, sometimes I let the “to-do’s” get in the way of those moments and I don’t appreciate them like I should.

I set a huge amount of goals up for myself at the beginning of this year. I created a vision board with 100% intention (something I used to scoff at) and I’ve tried to be as purposeful as possible about meeting those goals, or at least working toward them. I like to think I’ve done pretty good so far. But I have bad days. I have days where absolutely nothing goes according to plan, and it messes up my ability to check off those small goals that lead to big goals. In the past, I was guilty of throwing in the towel when I got off track because in my search for perfection, one bad day meant failure. I wasn’t willing to look at the bigger picture and see that one bad day only allows for failure if I let it. Not every day is going to go according to plan. Not every day is going to mean I eat all my meals, get in my workouts, check in to all my social media, keep my house clutter-free, keep my kitchen spotless (ha!), have all my laundry done (double ha!), and get everybody in bed on time while also snagging a decent amount of sleep for me. It’s just not going to happen.

I’ve enlisted the help of planners (yes, I have more than one), alarms on my phone to remind me to stay on task, a habit tracker to develop new habits, writing out my schedule, meal planning, personal development books, and devotionals. While that may seem excessive, it’s what is working for me. It’s keeping me in a more positive mindset, and letting me focus on my progress, instead of my idea of perfection.  I still fight it, because I have this grandiose idea of what my house should always look like, how effortlessly my day should flow, but I’m teaching myself to just let the perfection go. Why is that so hard, y’all? We give our children grace all the time. We give our husbands grace. Why is it so hard to do the same for ourselves? Why do we have to set the bar so high for ourselves, so that we constantly fall short?

I don’t have the answer for that. Perhaps it’s the lack of transparency on social media. Perhaps it’s all the picture perfect ideas on Pinterest, and the constant competition between moms to outdo each other. What I do know, is that we all could use a little grace. We deserve to slow the pace of our rushed, hurried lives and the frantic “I have to get it all done” mentality we’ve all adopted, and be human. Take that moment that could be used to do just one more chore, and snuggle with your kids tonight. Take that moment when you could be checking off just one more thing on your to-do list, and unplug with your partner. Don’t be so hard on yourself, and embrace the precious moments. Remember, tomorrow is a new day.

 

Choose Your Happy

Here it is. The obligatory first blog post.

I’m sitting here, with Harry Potter on in the background — it’s Hermione Granger weekend. Since when did this become a thing? I kind of like it. We could all learn a lot of from Hermione — embrace your true self even when other don’t, be brave, smart is sexy, true friendship is a treasure, stand up for what you believe in (right doesn’t always equal popular)… She’s a literary character that I would be proud for my daughter to look up to. Brutal honesty here — I look up to her. Those are qualities I’m striving to emulate in myself.

When I sat down and wrote out all my goals at the beginning of January, I was painfully real with myself. I listed all the things I wanted to accomplish, in every aspect of my life. I told myself that instead of letting excuses dictate my life, I was going to flip those excuses over and turn those excuses into my reasons for kicking ass. I don’t know about y’all, but excuses annoy me. Even when I would give them, it made me a little crazy. Deep down, I always knew that I was the biggest reason that I didn’t accomplish the things I wanted to. Occasionally, there was a good reason for failure, but more often than not, it was me. I wasn’t happy. And I can assure you, there wasn’t a lack of reasons to be happy. We moved to a small town that I’m in love with; I have three adorably gorgeous children. I have a super hunky, sweet, fun husband; I am blessed beyond measure. But I was in a bad funk, partly out of grief of losing my mom, partly out of anxiety and depression. And it was up to me, to get myself there — to being happy.

Did I hit those goals I wrote out for myself for the month of January?  Nope. Sure didn’t. And the old me would’ve sulked about it, and played the blame game, and gotten angry at myself for failing. I didn’t. I
chose to change the way I looked at the goals I fell short of, and I focused on the goals I did crush.  You know what happened then? I realized that I created a path that set me up for even more success this month. I work
ed out a few days every week instead of throwing in the towel when I missed a day (or two). I reminded myself that tomorrow is a new day when I forgot to do a devotional as part of my newly developing morning routine. I gave myself grace when I gave myself another hour of sleep when Baby Bear had a rough night, instead of getting up to enjoy coffee and quiet time before little feet hit the ground running. I focused on making my next meal a little healthier when I had to scarf down a pb & j with the kids because I didn’t plan better. And I’m happy about it. 

It’s a mindset, y’all. You think about it and go, well yeah, of course. But it’s a lot harder to apply when you’re not programmed that way. I grew up around a lot of negativity, which isn’t something I realized until my later years, so I unfortunately have to work to overturn those bad habits, because that’s exactly what they are — learned habits. I have to work at being positive. At being happy. It’s a complete mindset makeover. But, it’s so worth it. I’ve seen such a difference in my life since I made the conscious decision to embrace these new habits and mindset. To not only be happy in the midst of crappy circumstances (such a having sick kids for almost 5 weeks straight), but to be grateful for what I have and what I’m surrounded by versus what I don’t.

It’s part of my goals and vision board to devour personal development — so I’m readying a book called Happy on Purpose. I’m sure you’re reading this, rolling your eyes (because that’s 100% what I would’ve done the first time I tried Beachbody and they preached personal development all the time), but y’all — it works. It’s so, so helpful. Personal development is literally exactly what it says: it’s a form of developing your person into a better version of yourself. Release the stigma of self help, and embrace the happy! Anyway, Jennifer Sparks (the author) says right from the get go: “Happiness is absolutely your choice.” You have to make the choice to be happy, even when life feels like it’s falling apart around you. Nobody else can make that choice for you. Likewise, you also have to make the choice to love who you are. Nobody can do that for you either.

I’m going to wrap this up, because you know, with my affinity for words and my passion about this I could go on for awhile… So I’m going to leave you with these thoughts. Choose your happy. Love yourself. Embrace who you are. Embrace where you are. Share your passions. Remember that there’s nobody else in the world exactly like you, and celebrate that. Seek the silver lining.  Be brave. 

And if all else fails, ask “what would Hermione do?” Just kidding. (Not really…)