Name: Mexican Chicken Stuffed Shells
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 24
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 24 jumbo pasta shells; 2 teaspoons minced garlic; 2 cups chopped, cooked chicken; 8 ounces cream cheese; 1 - 14.75 ounce container salsa, divided; 1 - 15 ounce can corn, drained; 1 - 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed; salt and pepper; 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese; 1 - 8 ounce container guacamole

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"What's for dinner?"

We hear that question without fail every single day right after school. Most of the time we haven't even pulled out of the parking lot yet.

Our kids are definitely in the "hungry all the time" stage. All the sports and activities has them burning off the food that they are consuming. So, I have to have something ready for them to eat after school that can hold them off until dinner is ready.

Most days we tell them fruit or veggies, but then there are days when I have have fun and make things like these Blackberry Brie Bites for them to munch on while doing homework. That is if I don't get to them first. Mmmmm those Brie Bites are so good!!!

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Can you tell that I just love fall so very much.

This past week we had one day that rained all day, and then it was extremely hot and muggy after the rain stopped. We had to close all our windows and start the air back up to get rid of the humidity in the house.

Can you imagine our surprise when we got up the next morning and walked outside? It was crisp and chilly! There might have been a few happy steps as we headed to the car. I would say happy dancing, but it's way too early for dancing when we head to the gym at 5:30 am.

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The beginning of fall signals the start of all things football. Now I'm actually not a big football fan...I'm really only into it for the food. If there is good food, I can watch any game my husband wants to have on the TV.

From now until the Super Bowl, you will find our television on every Sunday afternoon. Of course there really will not be anyone watching the game. You see my husband falls asleep while watching, then I get bored and usually end up in the kitchen baking more Homemade Chocolate Chip Brownies. The boys disappear to play their video games, and our daughter will go paint her nails or chat with a friend on her phone.

While I wait for my treats to bake, I will try to change the channel only to get a rousing, "Hey, I was watching that game" from my hubby. I'm not quite sure how he knows I'm changing the channel when he is clearly asleep.

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I have realized that I am never going to remember science now that I am out of school.

You would think that by the time I was quizzing our third child that some of this science would have stuck. I mean this is the third time I have gone over the same material. But nope, all that cell and plant information has still not stayed in my brain.

We had a good laugh the other night when I was trying to quiz my youngest son for his science test. Now don't get me wrong, as soon as I read the information again it all came back to me. Let's just say if he had been quizzing me, I would have been in trouble.

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Mexican Chicken Stuffed Shells

Mexican Chicken Stuffed Shells is an easy but delicious meal to serve on busy nights. Cheesy goodness is always a winner in our house.

This delicious dinner is fast and easy to make using pre made items from the grocery store. Plus, melty cheesy dinners always get thumbs up at our dinner table!

Is it evident that I have a thing for pasta? Yeah, I thought so.

I usually choose pasta when I am in charge of dinner prep. Something about it that yells comfort food to me: add a bunch of cheese and meat, and who can resist it? I think more of this chicken pasta bake needs to happen regularly. Or some Alfredo ravioli...I'm good with either every week.

Mexican food is a very close second to pasta in my list of meal favorites, so it was a no-brainer to combine these ingredients.

My first thought when the box with salsa and guacamole came was to go to town on it with a bag of chips. (I seriously have no restraint when it comes to guacamole...I could probably eat my body weight in guac, but I still want more.) Snacking on it would have been a great option, but I decided to see what kind of fun dinner I could create, incorporating the fresh salsa and guacamole.

Of course, pasta was the first thing that came to mind. Surprise, surprise! Mashing my two favorite food tastes into one fantastic dish = a happy camper right here.

I am all about easy convenience dinners during our kid's sports season, so I loved that I could use the PeakFection salsa and guacamole straight from the container for my meal. I also picked up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, so I didn't have to cook it. Lazy dinner maker...yeah, that's me. But I prefer to call it thoughtful planning.

Here are a few easy tips when making shells.
1. Boil according to the package directions, but take off a few minutes of boiling time. The shells go into the oven with the filling, so we don't want to overcook them too much. I think I boiled mine for about 10 minutes.
2. Drain them, immediately pull them apart, and put them on a wire rack. You don't want to leave them all together in a pan...one big lump of shells is no fun to get apart. The shells will be hot, but keep running your fingers under cold water while you separate the shells from each other.
3. You can also cook the shells the night before. Just drain them and separate them on the wire rack until cool. Place in a container and drizzle with oil. I closed up my container and shook it to get the oil all over the noodles. Refrigerate until needed.

While the shells are cooling, heat your chicken, garlic, and cream cheese until creamy. Stir in a little bit of salsa, some corn, and some beans, and then you are ready to fill those shells. Add a little salsa to the pan so the shells don't stick. Fill each one and place it in the pan. Then pour more salsa over everything and top it with cheese. Twenty minutes in the oven, and dinner is ready. You can serve these shells with guacamole on the side. I enjoyed my shells with a huge helping!

Recipe

Mexican Chicken Stuffed Shells

Yield: 24 stuffed shells

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Stuffed shells can be an easy dinner option when you use pre packaged and pre made items from the grocery store. The salsa and cream cheese chicken is a delicious filling for these shells. Enjoy a cheesy dinner in under 40 minutes.

Ingredients

24 jumbo pasta shells
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken
8 ounces cream cheese
1 - 14.75 ounce container salsa, divided
1 - 15 ounce can corn, drained
1 - 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
1 - 8 ounce container guacamole

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread ½ cup salsa in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
Boil the pasta shells for 10 minutes. Drain and place on a wire rack to prevent them from sticking together.
Heat the chicken, garlic, and cream cheese in a skillet over medium heat until creamy.
Stir in ½ cup salsa, corn, and beans. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Fill the shells and place them in the prepared pan. Spoon the remaining salsa over the shells, then top with cheese.
Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and broil for 2-3 minutes, if desired. Serve immediately with guacamole.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 3
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 540Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 87mgSodium: 1025mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 10gSugar: 7gProtein: 27g

Nutrition facts are an estimate and are not guaranteed to be accurate. If you need special diet advice, please see a registered dietician.

More delicious Mexican-inspired meals that you can top with salsa and guacamole:

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It is that time of year when everyone is trying to get back into a good routine with school, sports schedules, and dinner times. We are constantly on the go running between different soccer, volleyball, and dance practices.

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Earlier this year I had a chance to try a sample of Brownie Brittle. Let's just say that little bag of goodness did not last long enough in my hands. My kids were climbing all over me trying to get the last piece. Our family was definitely a fan from that very first bag.

This past May I attended the BlogHer Food conference in May where one of the vendors was Brownie Brittle. I kept making my way around the vendor floor to snag more bags of the crispy brownie wafers. My logic was that I was making sure I had enough samples to take home for each of my children. I'm such a giver you know.

In reality, it was for my own snacking pleasure because a few of those sample bags may have disappeared on the flight home.

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Yesterday morning we got up early to go to the gym, and it was 57 degrees out!

People, it is still August!!! It isn't supposed to be that chilly around here yet!

I have decided that it must be mother nature's way of telling me that it is time to pull out the pumpkin. Woo hoo! I am all over that. Fall is definitely my favorite time of year. Cooler temps, changing leaves, bonfires...and PUMPKIN!!!

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I Am Second

I am second...and liking it.

It's so easy to have God as #1 on a Sunday, but Monday comes and guess who takes over that position? I jump in and say my life is numero uno.

We all have things going on in our life. Family, health, and job issues plague us every single day. If we let those take over our thought process, God gets pushed out of the way.

God loves each and every one of us with a fierce love. He wants the best for us, and He is able to do anything for us. His only request is for us to put Him as the first thing in our lives.

Psalm 136:26 Give thanks to the God of Heaven. His love endures forever.

Do you know how hard that is?

I don't know about you, but I have control issues. I want to keep my hands in everything. My head knows the phrase "let go and let God", but my heart doesn't always follow. My kids, my husband, my finances, my job...all these things I try to control by my actions. One way I have been convicted of this in the past few months has been with this blog. A year and a half ago my husband left a great paying job to become a full time pastor at our church. Scary? Yes. Exciting? Yes. Fearful? Yes. Challenged? Yes. In my heart I knew I could turn my hobby blog into something more substantial to help out with our finances. So over the past 1 and a ½ years I have put my heart and soul into this "job". And I absolutely love it!!!!

There have been so many awesome opportunities, and God has blessed our family in so many ways.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

The problem...

I have slowly pushed God into that second place. Somedays He was even in fifth place.

Oh, it didn't start out that way. I mean to take a step of faith like leaving a good paying job to go into ministry requires a lot of faith and trust in our God. A faith in our loving God that He will provide.

I didn't ever doubt that! But...slowly in a year's time I started to rely on myself to earn and get those job opportunities. And those jobs did keep coming. But I wasn't happy.

One thing I realized is that I needed to take a step back in blog areas.

One of my biggest traffic days as a blogger is Sunday. I have always tried to capitalize on that by posting a new recipe Sunday mornings. My goal was to have this post written by Saturday night, but that goal slowly evaporated. I am perpetually late to everything, so come Sunday morning I was still trying to finish writing a blog post and trying to get ready for church.

Talk about a conflict of interest!!!!

My heart attitude was wrong, and the focus had become all about me and what I could do. I wasn't focused on worship or listening to the Word those days. All my mind was consumed with was making sure things were shared, so I could see a good page view day.

It was a very good day when I realized I needed to put God back on that throne of #1. I knew God was speaking to my heart about NOT posting on Sundays. So, I changed up my posting schedule. For the past few months Saturday has been my new recipe day. No, it isn't as good as posting on a Sunday, but I know that I obeyed the tug in my heart to change things. I believe that God will honor that. It might not be how I would choose, but you know what, I'm ok with that.

If you get my email newsletter, it does come out a day late, so hopefully everyone looks at the date and realizes it isn't a Sunday post. I know it isn't something that anyone probably even noticed, but for some reason I felt that familiar tug to share my thought process with you.

Giving God back control has been a game changer for me. I feel happier! I know God is able to fulfill my heart desires to provide for my family. So traffic, shmaffic!!! I can honestly say I don't care if it tanks over a Sunday because there is no new recipe. I Am Second!!!! And putting God as #1 in my heart and life is how I want to live.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

Allowing God to work in our lives can be scary. But He is able, and He won't fail. Sometimes it isn't how we would do it or how we think it should look, but when we let go, God can do amazing things with us. Serving God with your whole heart, mind, and soul will bring peace and joy. Just remember to lean on Him during those times of weakness and ask for His guidance and forgiveness when we mess up.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Philippians 2:13 For it is God who is producing in you both the desire and the ability to do what pleases Him.

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I don't know about your school year, but ours is always extremely busy the first month and a half. Our two boys are playing soccer, and our daughter is playing volleyball and learning tap dance.

Talk about a crazy schedule trying to juggle all those practices and games with our work and life schedule. I'm still trying to figure out where homework is going to fit in.

Even with the craziness of the sports schedule, we still try to sit down for dinner as a family as much as possible. That family time is very important to us.

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