Mexican Lasagna

 Heartwarming. Cheesy. Gooey. Flavorful. Easy as all get out to make. There are few components of this meal that I easily swapped out to try and make a tad healthier. I created the original recipe for this Mexican Lasagna when I lived in Nashville and it was pretty gluttonous, so this time around I tried to lighten the Mexican Lasagna recipe up a little bit! What I love most is how easy it is to make, how delicious it is with a pretty unique flavors combo's, and you can always make ahead and bake later.

 For this recipe I used whole corn tortillas from the farmers market instead of flour tortillas and my fave, green Chile sauce!! I would say what the hardest part of this recipe is.... but realistically there isn't a hard part. The most labor intensive process is cooking and shredding the chicken! Like me, I assume most people are short on time so I cooked the chicken in the crock pot, this made the cooking and shredding aspect a breeze!

To make the chicken creamy I mixed it with a 1/2 a block of fat free cream cheese and low sodium taco seasoning. I typically don't use packaged seasoning, but like I said I was short on time, no judgements y'all!! Trust me... you're going to LOVE this Mexican Lasagna, only thing missing is some margaritas!

Here's how I made them:

Red Velvet and Cinnamon Crepes

I know, I know Red Velvet is typically a Christmas flavor but when you have a whole bowl of crepe batter and you want to change thangs up you get a little creative! A few months ago I found this Red Velvet elixir at Homegoods on clearance and hopped to it,  I've never used it so I figured why not the cinnamon crepes were already done! 

It honestly took me 4 years to grow the courage to even attempt crepes! They always seemed so hard and out of my scope of cooking, I mean they're crepes... they're French cuisine. Ray Ray from Cincinnati finally decided to tackle these and make Red Velvet and Cinnamon Crepes, honestly they came out a complete success **Trophies**! 

The first time I tried to make crepes I actually used boxed pancake mix (which I never use anymore) thinking it was about the same. NAH. It's not. Here's a few tips for success when making homemade crepes: 

- Use a good Teflon coated pan, I've used cast iron and they are really hard to flip and you typically will have to grease or butter that type of pan. 

- Once you pour your batter quickly begin to swirl it around your pan, otherwise it'll all stay in the middle and have the consistency of a pancake and be too thick. 

- Slowly add in flour to avoid clumps in your batter. Don't worry, mine had a few tiny clumps... it adds character! 

- Make sure your pan in the right temperature! These crepes are THIN and will burn asap if they temp isn't right. I used medium heat, anything hotter will burn the edges and not cook evenly. 

 Here's how I made them:

Pumpkin Spice Apple Cider

For the love of pumpkin spice!! This recipe is sweet, creamy, and can be made ahead! Perfect for your tailgate party when you can't make it to the game OR pre-game when it's a tad chilly outside! Seriously nothing is better than pumpkin spice Apple cider ever! 

Pumpkin is packed filled of nutrients and you'll get all of it when you mix fresh pumpkin purée with yummy apply cider! The pumpkin spice Apple cider can actually be made spiked or non-spiked for the kiddies. 

For all the grown folks you can add a shot of pumpkin spice vodka or spiced rum for a lil extra kick to your party! Hope you guys enjoy this pumpkin spice Apple cider as much as I did! Make sure to check out my 6 Health Benefits of Pumpkin post and Pumpkin Spice Biscuits post! 

Here's how I made it: 

Pumpkin Spice Biscuits

These biscuits are the bee's knees... 

For real these biscuits were by far the BEST biscuits I've ever made or tasted. No BS. Surprisingly they weren't as difficult to make, sometimes adventuring into scratchmade things I get nervous! They had a beautiful color, super soft, a hint of pumpkin pie spice, and tons of sweet salty flavor! 

Since I was actually hungry and not just creating a recipe I went ahead and made a quick BAE sandwich. For those of you who don't know, the culinary meaning of BAE is bacon and eggs.  

This would be the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving breakfast or brunch!

Here's how I made them!!