Once upon a baby (shower pot luck food)

So, some awesome friends came to town to have a Beer and Diaper Baby Shower Pot Luck... you tell a girl that likes to cook and show off her "skills", she brings 3 dishes. It's what I do. ha. So, I scoured the internet for all sorts of recipes and couldn't figure out what to make... I came across this chicken fajita casserole recipe. Sounded good- who doesn't like chicken fajitas or casseroles? I basically followed the recipe, but ADDED sliced poblano pepper, black beans, corn, and rice. I also added garlic to the saute, then added the shredded chicken and put fajita seasoning, cumin, chili powder, and a little cayenne (I told you, I cannot follow a recipe).

If you want to make this, follow it exactly or make some changes, I like my way better because I am big on using seasonings- I don't do bland food, I want it to "burst" with flavor! Try plain non fat greek yogurt instead of the sour cream and no chips for a little bit healthier version.

Second dish I made was a loaded baked potato salad (I was on the way to the store when I found out they were making ribs, so I decided that I HAD to make a side dish for that... why? Because). Again, I google, google, google and found 2 different recipes that I mixed together (and I don't feel like finding them). When I cook something I haven't made I typically look at a BUNCH of recipes for it to figure out the ingredients and go from there to make it how I would want it- in case you care how I figure out my recipes. Thank God for Pinterest!

Loaded Baked Potato Salad:
INGREDIENTS:
5 lbs russet potatoes
1 ranch packet of your choice (I went regular)
1 cup of mayo
1 1/2 cups sour cream
bacon - your call on how much, I was in a time crunch so I got a biggish pack of REAL bacon bits
shredded cheese... maybe 1 cup?
green onions/chives- put as much as you'd like (I only had pre-dried kind)

DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oven to 425, wash potatoes, poke with a fork (generally I would've sprinkled with salt and olive oil, but I forgot)
Put them all onto a baking sheet and bake for about 1 1/2-2 hours until tender
(fun part) Let them cool and then peel and cube
If you opt to cook bacon- do that and crumble it
Mix mayo, sour cream, chives, bacon, ranch packet, and 1/2 cup cheese
Carefully add into the potatoes (so you don't make it mashed)
Sprinkle with remaining cheese
Let it sit in the fridge for awhile to absorb flavors
Serve chilled

To make this "healthier" use plain non fat greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and make a homemade mayo, like this one, or do 1/2 greek yogurt 1/2 mayo. There are also recipes online for homemade ranch seasoning mix.
(If you find that it's not enough wet ingredients add a little more mayo/sour cream and mix)

Third dish was Trix Krispies... I'll spare you the boring directions. Just use 1/4 cup butter, 1 pack of small marshmallows, 10 cups of trix and make them exactly like you would rice krispies.


ENJOY