Crockpot ‘Best Chicken You’ll Ever Have’

I love daylight savings time. I love when it stays light later into the evening and on the other side, I love when it gets light earlier in the morning. I wasn’t thinking this love would last once we had Gabs, since I heard that kids don’t adjust quite as smoothly as adults (who don’t always adjust so swimmingly either..) but she must have the same love as I do, because she’s still sleeping the same! I think it’s because she was sick during the time change, so she wasn’t sleeping normally anyway.

All she wanted to do was lay on the couch and cuddle with Violet- it was sadly adorable.

Either way, we’re adjusted, back to healthy and luuurvin’ it.

So, even though there’s more daylight in the evenings now, that doesn’t always mean you want to spend more time on dinner. I found this recipe online, and though it may not be healthy- IT IS MY FAVORITE. I’m getting used to taking pictures of my recipes again, so if you want to be sold on the recipe, visit the original site and don’t be repulsed by my gross ones!

These are the leftovers on a sandwich. We had it by itself for dinner the night before, but ate it too fast to take pictures.

You must make it and watch your family devour it before your very eyes (even the picky ones) and then proclaim their undying love for you afterwards.

Then the next day, put the leftovers in a sandwich and hear it all over again.

Meanwhile, you’re just excited because you spent literally $1.54 per serving and 4 minutes in prep time (that’s being generous.)

Joey and I have a friend from college who told us about what his mom would do each evening at dinner. She’d serve a wonderful meal to her family of all boys- and tell them how much each serving cost to make while serving it. It became almost a fun game to see how delicious/cheap she could make her meals- and a great way to keep yourself in check when planning meals!

~Enjoy! M

P.S. yeah, it’s not healthy or technically low in fat. BUT. Whenever I make a meal that might not be waist-friendly, I just serve my portion over a big handful of chopped romaine. Honestly, I’ve found that pretty much any dinner tastes good over crunchy lettuce.

Crockpot ‘Best Chicken You’ll Ever Have’

serves 4

recipe from littleblackraincloud.com

ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, frozen or thawed. (adjust cooking time if frozen)

1 box chicken flavored stuffing mix

1/2 cup sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/4 cup water

Directions:

Place chicken in bottom of crockpot. Open up stuffing mix and dump it on, right on top of the chicken.

Next, mix your sour cream, cream soup, and water in a bowl, and dump it on top of the stuffing.

Lid on, and 4 hours at low (thawed chicken) or 4 hours on high (frozen chicken).

Bourbon Street Chicken

Good morning! This post is being written from my iPhone, because we have been experiencing technical difficulties as of late with our Internet. Hence, hardly any posts from me this week! I am up to my ears in frustration with anything computer related these past few days- I decided to finally back up all my pictures since 2007 because my laptop is on its last legs and every picture I’ve ever taken is on that computer.

35,000 pictures later…. I’m ready to pull my hair out! 35,000!? That’s roughly 5,000 pics a year?! In my defense, I went to college, Europe, got married, started a blog, went to Israel, other vacations/weddings, and had a baby in those years… But still. That would account for MAYBE 1/8 of those pics.

The shame… So I’ve spent hours mass-deleting ridiculous pictures that my ‘teen self’ thought necessary to take.

I’ve vowed never to take another stupid picture. Only super cute ones like this.

In the midst of all this, our Internet went down! Ayiyi.

In an effort to maintain positivity, my little sis is here for the weekend and we have decided to not watch tv all weekend and busy ourselves by being outside and cooking delicious food.

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and one look at the picture already had me drooling and fumbling for the ingredients- it’s called Bourbon Street Chicken, but there’s no bourbon in the recipe. It’s an easy peasy crockpot dinner, probably our new favorite!

I served this tangy chicken over some white rice with grilled zucchini on the side- and drizzled the leftover juice on the zucch’s as well. Click here for the recipe!

This… Was a winner.

I only took two pictures of this… You know why 🙂

~M

Teppanyaki at Home

My hubby gave me a break from cooking this weekend cuz I was feeling a bit under the weather. And let me just say, when he cooks- he goes all the way. I plan on picking up the cooking tomorrow morning with some of M’s English Muffin French Toast….makes getting out of bed early look worth it! I’ll let ya know how it goes 🙂

Anyways, I was spoiled with eggs and toast on Saturday and yesterday he first tackled my messy kitchen and then made some teppanyaki for lunch! So. Good. He was kind enough to share his recipe and techniques so you all can have a shot at making it!

Here’s a glimpse of the dish:

Mmmm…all those veggies make my mouth water!

It’s a great way to make a $60 restaurant dinner for under $15 at home 🙂

Enjoy!

~K

Teppanyaki

Ingredients:

steak or chicken ( we bought whatever was on sale, and the normal serving for two in your household)

3 zucchini squash, sliced

1 c mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 large carrot, roughly chopped

House of Tsang Szechuan Spicy Stir-Fry Sauce (this is the sauce we chose because we like spicy spicy. There are milder versions)

Ingredients

Chop all ingredients to about the same size.

In a large frying pan or wok, heat the oil on High. If you choose to do chicken and steak together like they do in the restaurants, cook the chicken first so it’s done all the way through. Then cook the steak to your liking. When your meat is just about done, add enough sauce so that it coats all the meat. Remove meat from pan and cover to keep hot. Do not rinse pan!

Now, add a bit more oil to the pan before adding all the vegetables. Stir often while letting vegetables caramelize for about 5 minutes or so until veggies are done. Again, when they are nearly done, add enough sauce to coat the veggies.

Serve piping hot.

Feeds 2 1/2 people. (Curtis usually has seconds, I don’t. Hence, the 1/2. :D)

White Cheese Chicken Lasagna with Spinach and Mushrooms

I made this lasagna three times in the past two days.

I have always been a red sauce girl myself- classic lasagna is one of the most soul-comforting foods out there, in my book! However, my husband is a white sauce only type guy. So that threw me through a loop the first few weeks of our marriage- because staples in my house growing up were spaghetti with marinara (red sauce) and lasagna (red sauce) and mom’s chili (red sauce). There I was, all excited that I had a handful of good dinners planned for my hubby, and all the sudden I have to throw 3 of 5 weekday ideas down the drain!! Now, Joey would have eaten anything I made him- but who wants to spend time making a dinner you know won’t be a hit? Not me.

So I cautiously entered the world of white sauce.

And was pleasantly surprised! I still prefer red sauce, but I have found a few recipes for white sauce dinners that are contenders for “The Weekday Dinner Rotation”  we are bound to rely on when our house is full of kids. Did any of you guys have that growing up? The rotation of 5 weekday meals that you knew you’d have because mom is busy and there are 5 kids in the house who are picky and there are only 5 known meals that will satisfy everyone in the house? Yup, totally preparing for that already. My mom had an awesome rotation, so I need to come up with some good stuff here.

This white cheese lasagna is a cinch to make, and definitely a crowd pleaser. (Which is why I made it three times in two days.) I made two small lasagnas for Joey and I, one to freeze and one to eat, but then we had his brothers and a friend over for dinner so we ended up making both! And the next day I made another one to bring to my dear cousin who just had a beautiful baby girl! Who, by the way, I got to hold last night AND feed her a bottle! Totally precious. Again, February… HURRY UP!

Anyways, if you’re looking for dinner ideas that are sure to please even the pickiest eaters in your house, here ya go!

(Sorry the lighting is atrocious in our kitchen after 4:30 pm. That’s why it looks more like yellow lasagna than a white cheese lasagna- bear with me!)

~M

White Cheese Lasagna with Spinach and Mushrooms

adapted lightly from Lisa Humpf

serves 12

ingredients

9 lasagna noodles                                                   1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1/2 cup butter                                                          1 tsp dried basil

1 onion, chopped                                                    1 tsp dried oregano

1 tablespoon minced garlic                                 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 cup all purpose flour                                     1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

1 tsp salt                                                                      2 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat

2 cups chicken broth                                              2 cups fresh spinach

1 1/2 cup milk                                                            1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (or dried)

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided       1/4 cup parmesan ( I used romano) for topping

8 baby mushrooms, sliced

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8-10 minutes. Drain, and rinse with cold water, then set aside.

If you are using fresh chicken, cook breasts in olive oil or butter and season with salt and pepper until cooked through- do not overcook the chicken (it will cook more in the oven!) Slice, and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic in the butter until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in flour and salt, and simmer until bubbly. Mix in the broth and milk, and boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Stir in 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Season with basil, oregano, and black pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.

Spread 1/3 of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x 13 inch baking dish. Later with 1/3 of the noodles, the ricotta, spinach, mushrooms, and the chicken. Arrange 1/3 of the noodles over the chicken, and layer with 1/3 of the sauce mixture, spinach, mushrooms, chicken, and the remaining 2 cups of mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Arrange remaining noodles over the cheese, and spread remaining sauce evenly over the noodles. SPrinkle with 1/4 cup Romano cheese or Parmesan and parsley.

Bake for 35-40 minutes in the preheated oven.

Melt the butter

Honey Mustard Chicken

This is a recipe that I basically forced my friend to give me after he made it for Curtis and I one night. I have made it so many times since then- it’s delicious, and one of those dinners that makes you look like you went to culinary school.

Maybe I’m easily impressed. It is so. Stinkin. Good.

I made it tonight because by some miracle I had all of the ingredients in my pantry!!? Which isn’t that weird I guess, but whole grain honey mustard isn’t something I ‘just grab’ at the grocery store. Must’ve been hiding back there behind the three containers of taco seasoning I ‘just grabbed’ at the the grocery store. My radar for what I think I’m out of is seriously out of whack.

Also, I love how fast of a recipe it is- some nights ( I know I’m not the only one) I’m hungry but I just don’t feel like cooking. And I don’t feel like using what little energy I have to go out and get something. This is one of those recipes that requires less energy than getting in the car to get fast food, but not so much that you collapse midway through prepping this wonderful home-cooked meal.

You’re welcome.

YUM!

It’s delectable! Took an even shorter amount of time because I used canned green beans as a side. Curtis, for some reason hates fresh green beans (?) so that actually helped my ‘quick meal’ go even quicker 🙂

Takes 37 minutes, that’s it. (30 of which is oven time.)

Make this. You won’t be sorry!

All credit for this recipe goes to Tim. 🙂

Enjoy!

~K

Honey Mustard Chicken

6 chicken thighs, bone-in skin-on

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup whole grain Dijon Mustard

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons chopped basil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 375. Heat oil in frying pan to medium heat. Mix salt, pepper, and flour and coat chicken.  Add chicken to the frying pan and brown on all sides. Remove chicken, and place in a baking dish. Mix mustard and honey together, add basil and salt and pepper. Stir everything together, then pour over the chicken. Bake for 30 minutes. Halfway through, turn and baste the chicken.

Serves 4! Although, you can see from my picture I used 3 chicken LEGS instead of 6 thighs- ended up with leftovers, so I would say 3 legs or 6 thighs serve the same. 🙂

Entering Soup Season….Finally!

I don’t know what makes it ‘soup season’ for me. Maybe just the shift from August to September does it for me, I don’t know! It’s still hot here but I just love soups. They are flavorful, comforting meals that can be ‘souper’ (hehe, sorry, I had to) healthy and fast while also filling you up and giving you leftovers. Which, as we all know just get better the second day. Why is that? Anyone know?

I accidentally (?) took a really long nap yesterday and woke up around the time Curtis was ready to eat, and I had nothing to offer. He, being the kind soul that he is, said (and I quote) ‘I’ll run to the store and grab something real quick.’ I was thinking more along the lines of rotisserie chicken or something, and he comes home with 5 bags of groceries, all ready to cook a hot meal! I love this man. When I saw he was making my favorite soup, I begged him to let me take notes so I could share the recipe.

Look at him 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently the man has been watching Julie & Julia over my shoulder because he immediately busts out the famous ‘Julia Child’ voice. ‘Add the sah-ha-halt….and the peppah…’ Hilarious.

Basically, you dump all the veggies in a stock pot with low sodium chicken broth and bring to a boil while you cut and cook the chicken. Once the chicken is done, add it to the soup and let it simmer another ten minutes or so! Best meal ever on a night when you A) took too long a nap B) have no time to spend chopping a buncha stuff C) still want a hot meal that isn’t fast food.

The result is a wonderful soup/stew that just warms your tummy and makes you feel like you just had the day off rather than a really long hard workday 🙂

Chock full of yumminess!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.s. I asked Curtis for the name of this recipe, and he said,’ Soup.’

So, there ya go.

-K

Soup

3/4 small bag petite frozen white corn

1/2 bag frozen winter medley (cauliflower and broccoli)

2 cans green beans (drained)

2 cans sliced white potatoes (drained)

1 can diced garlic basil oregano tomatoes (NOT DRAINED)

1 can water chestnuts

48 oz low sodium chicken broth

3 pieces boneless skinless chicken breasts

Combine all vegetables in a stock pot with most of the chicken broth, leaving about 1 1/2 cups chicken broth for later. While the veggies are heating up (bring it to a boil) cut the chicken into pieces and cook with salt and pepper in a saute pan. Once the chicken is cooked all the way through, add the remaining chicken broth and cover on medium heat. Let sit for 3-4 minutes then add to stock pot. Let that simmer for about 10 minutes then serve with garlic bread or crusty French bread.

**I have not tried making this soup ever, but using fresh veggies would be amazing also! The reason this soup is so great, though, is that it’s so quick and using fresh would take longer, but taste phenomenal. So that part is up to you, but just take into account that it would take quite a bit longer**

This recipe could feed probably 3-4 people (taking into account that people will be having seconds, cuz they will.)

…..or it feeds two, leaving leftovers for a few happy days 🙂

Lemon Spinach Pesto

It’s finally summmmerrr!!! Ah, how I love summers! Even though technically summer starts on the 21st, who really waits for the official day? No one I know. Bring on the BBQ’s, arnold palmers by the pool, tan skin, summer salads,vacations, and cute little baby nieces in their frilly bathing suits. I love every minute of it! Also, did I tell you guys that Joey and I are going to be going on a Bible tour of Israel for the next two weeks?

We are so excited we can hardly stand it! We’ve been looking forward to this trip for over a year now, and it’s a little crazy to think that we leave on Sunday already. Please keep us in your prayers! I’m not sure what we’ll be eating in Israel, but as long as it involves lots of hummus or this, I’m pretty excited for it.

In the meantime, lets focus on American food. After all of the Oreo cake and pretzel m&m’s, we were pretty sugared out and ready for some protein. And it’s summer, so let’s make it brightly colored, shall we?

 

I love anything lemon-y. It’s so light and flavorful, and citrus screams summertime! We eat a lot of chicken in our house- I’m getting better at learning how to cook beef in different ways (since we live on a dairy), but I’m much more familiar with chicken because my mom always cooked it for us. Chicken is great because it can stand up to so many different flavors, preparations, and sauces. So, even if you have chicken every.single.night, it can feel like a completely different meal if you change up the flavors! Sounds good to me.

 

This particular recipe is one of my very favorites, and its so fast! I might even be able to beat out K’s 11 minute meal. Depends on how long it takes your chicken to cook… so cook it fast and I can call it the 10.5 minute meal! In all seriousness, the only time consuming part is cooking the chicken- I just pan-fried it on the stovetop with a little garlic salt and pepper and EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).

The best part of the meal takes about 3 minutes, and can be done while the chicken is on the stove! Just dump some lemon zest & juice, parmesan, spinach, EVOO, and pine nuts in a food processor and let ‘er rip! This is what I love to make when I want a good, fast healthy meal, and with little time spent in a hot kitchen.

Pretty much the greenest sauce you ever did see, huh? I know its scary, you’ve never had a sauce that green. Your kids might freak out a little bit (or your husband might request a more normal looking sauce with his chicken…ahem.) but rest assured, this is so refreshing and the flavors are all there! Its a slighty cheesy, creamy, fresh, and lemony accent to that chicken … and goes along perfectly with some crusty bread and steamed veggies.

This sauce is so good, you’ll end up dipping your fingers everything on your plate in it. Not that I did that, or anything.

~M

Lemon Spinach Pesto

serves 4-5

2 cups fresh spinach

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

2 TBSP lemon juice

1-2 tsp lemon zest

1/3 cup + 2 tsp olive oil

salt & pepper

1/3 cup fresh parmesan, grated

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees- toast pine nuts for 5-10 minutes, watch closely. Cooking times may vary with your oven!

Add all ingredients to blender or food processor, and puree until smooth and creamy. Add more olive oil to get your desired consistency.

Refrigerate, and eat with your chicken! And vegetables… and bread….

Enjoy!

Sesame Peanut Chicken Pasta

I have a fear of weird ingredients.

If I can’t pronounce the ingredient, I usually end up kind of… ignoring it. Or, if I think I have a close substitute for what the recipe calls for, I just sub it out. ( Sesame oil vs. olive oil? Eh, same thing.) Usually, it ends up working out okay and we still enjoy the meal. But I am always a little disappointed, thinking maybe if I had just followed the recipe, it would be all I had hoped for.

Those ‘eh, its all the same’ days are behind me now, because of this recipe. I had this sesame peanut pasta a few weeks ago when I was in Michigan for that wedding. My Aunt Jodi whipped this up for dinner one night during that wedding week, and I hadn’t arrived yet so my first taste was having it cold for lunch the next day. Every single bite had me spellbound. Incredulous. Very protective over my own portion. Spurned cousins had to go dish up their own plate because this girl was not sharing. Every single ‘weird’ ingredient is there for a good reason!! It makes the dish complete- and if you decide to forgo the foreign spice here, or the nut oil there, your final product will be missing a little something.  I was ready to go to any store I needed to get the ingredients for this!! So I asked my aunt for the recipe, and encountered a little problem.

My aunt warned me when we sent this email to me that 1.) She doesn’t measure. Ever. 2.) Her recipes are based on what she has in the kitchen, so they come out different everytime. 3.) Sometimes they turn out awful- especially if she is a little too liberal in her substitutions, see #2. (I seriously doubt #3, because I’ve never witnessed an awful anything come out of her kitchen.)

You can imagine this made me a little worried, because I am the type of person that follows the recipe precisely. (except the weird ingredients, before.) I need exact measurements!! So what you have here is a precisely followed, loosely described recipe that will rock your socks off. And its good hot OR cold. And for breakfast.

(disregard how I splatter ever ingredient all over my stovetop. That’s not a worm in the grate there, promise )

Get cookin! It’s so easy, don’t let the Asian ingredients intimidate you.

~M

Sesame Peanut Chicken Pasta

serves 6-8. Or 2, with lots of leftovers. 🙂

Boil 1 pound of pasta (we used WW spaghetti)

In a hot skillet, add 1-2 Tbsp of vegetable oil. Add one thinly sliced onion. Saute until translucent. If you are using raw chicken, at this point, add boneless chicken, cut into chunks. (My aunt suggested thighs, but all we had was breasts and it worked well too!) Continue to cook until the chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from pan.

Add to the onions & drippings:

3-4 Tbsp Sesame oil

2-3 cloves garlic

1 Tsp. fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1/2-2/3 cup Peanut butter

3 Tbsp honey

1-2 Tbsp. mirin or soy sauce (I used soy)

1/2 cup roughly chopped peanuts

1 Tbsp red pepper flakes

Bring together over medium heat, and add water to thin a bit. (I probably added about 2/3 to 1 cup). Toss in 1 bunch of chopped green onion, and a 1/2 head of shredded cabbage. My aunt used green, I used red because it’s what I had. It tasted great, but the color had Joey a little hesitant for a while. He got over it and ended up addmitting that he loved the cabbage 🙂

Saute for a few minutes with the lid on. This helps to wilt the cabbage faster. Now is the time to add the chicken back in and stir it all up! Now you can add a little more water or chicken stock to make sure its nice and saucy. Pour over the cooked noodles and mix it all together! Eat immediately, or chill and eat later. Or do both, like we did. If you like it hot, add a little more crushed red pepper flakes on top.