Santa Fe Chicken

 Looking for an easy, flavor-packed dinner that basically makes itself? This Santa Fe Chicken recipe is the answer. With tender chicken, black beans, corn, and zesty spices simmered together, it’s the kind of meal that works for busy weeknights and lazy weekends.

You know those days where you stare into the fridge like it’s going to whisper dinner ideas into your ear? Yeah… my fridge is a liar. It just stares back at me with a shrunken orange, two pickles, and a takeout container I'm afraid to open. No dreams coming true here. 

Enter Santa Fe Chicken. It's one of those magical meals that makes you look like you have your life together, when really—you just dumped some things in a slow cooker and walked away. Honestly, it feels like cheating.

And it's super versatile. Serve this over rice. Stuff it into tortillas. Scoop it with chips. Or, if the day’s really gone off the rails, just eat it straight from the slow cooker with a fork while crying on the couch. (I won’t tell.)

Basically, it’s dinner without the drama. And if that’s not a life goal, I don’t know what is.

Author: Georganne Bell

Santa Fe Chicken

This easy slow cooker Santa Fe Chicken recipe combines tender chicken, beans, corn, and spices with a creamy finish for a family-friendly dinner everyone will love.

Ingredients

• 1–2 pounds chicken
• 1 (14.5 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes (don’t even drain it—just let that juice live its best life)
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup corn (frozen, canned, or liberated from a cob with questionable knife skills)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning
• 2 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• Optional toppings: sour cream or cheese flavored tortilla chips

Instructions

1. Plop your chicken in a slow cooker. (Yes, raw. Yes, it feels wrong. Yes, it’s fine.)
2. Pour in the tomatoes, beans, corn, onion powder, garlic powder, and Creole seasoning. Give it a half-hearted stir (or don’t—this recipe could not care less).
3. Cook on low 6–8 hours, high 3–4 hours. (Translation: toss it in and forget it until dinner magically exists.)
4. About 30 minutes before serving, drop in the cream cheese. Let it melt into silky, glorious sauce territory.
5. Shred the chicken with forks.
6. Serve over rice. Garnish with shredded cheese and tortilla chips if desired.

Chewy Almond Granola

This chewy almond granola is perfect for breakfasts, road trips, stress eating, or just standing in the kitchen eating handfuls at midnight. It’s soft, satisfying, and just fancy enough to gift—if you can part with it.

Let me tell you about Emily. She's the kind of person who brings granola to a family gathering like it's no big deal—just a little something she "threw together" between campaigning for policy changes and teaching her Saint Bernard to shake hands with both paws. Meanwhile, you're over here barely keeping your plants or dignity alive.

She is part activist, part fashion icon, and part magical breakfast elf. And every single family vacation we've ever taken together, she brings this granola. It doesn't matter if she’s officially “on breakfast duty” or not. It doesn’t matter if we’re in a cabin, a condo, or camping on a questionable beach...the granola shows up like it's a part of the family.

And not just any granola. 

This granola.

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Soft and chewy, full of warm spices and buttery oats, with just enough sweet cranberry sass and melty white chocolate to make you feel like you’ve got your life together (even if you don’t).

Okay, full disclosure: I wasn’t planning to make cookies today. I was going to be productive. I had a list. There were goals. But then the cranberries looked at me with those little raisin-ey eyes and whispered, “What if… you didn’t?”

So I didn’t.

And thank goodness, because these cookies turned out to be exactly the kind of magical kitchen accident that deserves its own parade. They’re soft. They’re chewy. They’re the perfect mix of tart and sweet, hearty and delicate. Basically, they’re the cookie equivalent of wrapping up in a fluffy blanket, lighting a candle, and deciding you can survive this week after all.

Carrot-Spice Cake Balls

 Soft spice cake meets cream cheese bliss, dipped in dreamy white chocolate and decked out for spring.

You know how some people wake up in the morning, stretch their arms out wide, and say things like, “Let’s go for a run!” or “What a perfect day to organize the garage!”?

Yeah, I’m not one of those people.

But I am the kind of person who wakes up, stretches both arms toward the sky, and says…
“Let’s put vegetables in dessert and cover it in chocolate!!”

And that, my friendly kitchen sidekicks, is how these Carrot-Spice Cake Balls were born.

Before you ask, yes — there are real carrots in here. And no, you can’t see them after we roll them into little cake balls and dip them in melty white chocolate magic. It’s like carrot cake got dressed up for a spring party and invited sprinkles to DJ.

And guess what? 

You’re totally invited too. 

So grab your aprons (or your superhero capes), and let’s turn a boring ol’ cake mix into edible springtime happiness.

Decadent Fudgy Brownies - From Scratch!

Thick and fudgy homemade brownies with a crinkly top—better than boxed mix and easy to make from scratch!

Brownies are a little bit of a contention point in our house. My husband is absolutely positive that the best brownies in the entire world are the kind you make from a pouch. I tell him that the very best brownies in the entire world are the kind you eat. With your mouth. Because brownies are never wrong. Unless they are Brussels sprouts masquerading as brownies. And if that's the case, we have bigger problems in this world than I thought.

These brownies are just like the kind you make from the pouch you get at the grocery store. Except better. They are every bit as chocolatey and fudgy, but they are also a little thicker so you get a good solid mouthful every time you bite into it. And... they can actually be picked up without your hands taking a brownie bath. (Not that there is anything wrong with a brownie bath.)

Easy Homemade Granola Clusters

This easy homemade crunchy granola cluster recipe will make your house smell like cinnamon and joy. It’s sweet, toasty, and exactly the kind of snack you deserve—no judgment, no dishes, and no regrets.

Look, I don’t want to be dramatic... but this granola walked into my kitchen, made my house smell like a cozy fall candle, and reminded me that I can, in fact, do hard things. Like make breakfast. Or survive October.

Okay, slightly dramatic. 

But hear me out.

It’s October. The month where every calendar square is filled with field trips, school carnivals, themed snack sign-ups, and “optional” costume parades. I haven’t seen the bottom of my laundry basket since Labor Day, and I’m still pretending we have time to visit a pumpkin patch before Halloween. (Spoiler alert: We don’t.)

And then these granola clusters came into my life.