Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Crock Pot Veggie Burritos - V2.0

A very simple recipe that anyone can make!
 
My recipe. Makes an estimated 25-30 Servings (1/2 Cup Scoops)
2 Cups Brown Instant Rice
3 Cups Chicken Broth
2 Cups Salsa
3 Tblsp of Taco Seasoning
3 Peppers sliced thin
1/2 Red Onion Sliced Thin
2 Cans (15oz)  Black Beans
2 Cans (15 oz) Diced Tomatoes (Choose your own flavor.)
1 Can Diced Chilis (4oz)
I also added 4-5 Jalapenos and a couple Tblsp juice.

Place in order listed (stir together Rice/Broth/Salsa/Seasoning) in crockpot and cook approximately 6 hours.

I added 3 Tblsp of Taco Seasoning, but you can add a mixture of of Paprika, Cumin, and Red Pepper Flakes.

I used Spark to estimate the nutritional content of it. It is only based on the ingredients in the in the crockpot. Adding shells, cheese, guac, and sour cream adds the extra calories!


I use Mission 96% Fat Free Tortilla, Wholly Guacamole, Daisy Reduced Fat Sour Cream, and some Colby Jack cheese.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Baked Potato Soup

Last week I made Baked Potato Soup.               It's very simple.
  • 5 lbs russet potatoes, diced, NOT peeled
  • 5 tablespoons garlic
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 64 ounces chicken broth or stock
  • 16 ounces cream cheese
  • bacon, sour cream, chives or shredded cheese for garnish
Put the potatoes, garlic, onion, and chicken broth in a crockpot All. Day. Long. (8 hours)

You can put the mixture in the food processor, but I used my Cuisinart immersion blender to mix it. If you don't own an immersion Blender, well, there's no reason not too. I use it for EVERYTHING.

After getting the onion & potatoes pureed, mix in the 2 bricks of cream cheese. This recipe was originally reported as "amazing" on Pinterest because it didn't have a heavy cream or milk product in it. Um... ok. Cream Cheese = Milk Product in a Heavy Cream form. Ok.

The soup is amazingly bad for you. If you weren't able to tell by the one whole pound of cream cheese. 

The soup without fancy toppings is not that flavorable (I added pepper to the crock pot also). I would recommend the chives and bacon bits. This recipe would make a good Pot-Luck side dish. You could add less broth and make it more chunky. It was super easy (aside from making Jason scrub 5 pounds of potatoes, and dicing the potatoes... and using the immersion), and is a hearty meal for the winter. Next time I make this, I'll make half the amount, and keep it a little thicker. It'll make a good side dish with chicken or steak.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Homemade Wings


Who doesn't love wings? I never really cared for them, and they slowly grew on me. I still don't care for deep fried wings, and I don't like buffalo sauce (um, yea, so I'm really different!), but I do like chicken. And the husband LOVES wings, so alas I found a recipe I can make! Thank gawd for the Food Network!



Ingredients:
12 whole chicken wings
3 ounces unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Place a 6-quart saucepan with a steamer basket and 1-inch of water in the bottom, over high heat, cover and bring to a boil.

Remove the tips of the wings and discard or save for making stock. Using kitchen shears, or a knife, separate the wings at the joint. Place the wings into the steamer basket, cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the wings from the basket and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on a cooling rack set in a half sheet pan lined with paper towels and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.



Replace the paper towels with parchment paper. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook another 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown. 

While the chicken is roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl along with the garlic. Pour this along with hot sauce and salt into a bowl large enough to hold all of the chicken and stir to combine.

Remove the wings from the oven and transfer to the bowl and toss with the sauce. Serve warm.

Cliff Notes Version:
Get some wings. Cheat. Get the little drummies that are all ready to go! Don't waste time or energy cutting and snipping.
Steam wings for 10-minutes. This helps gets some fat off the wings.
Elevate wings and let drain & chill for 1-hour. Somehow, someway, this is an important step.
Bake wings 20-minutes. Flip 'em over, bake 20 more minutes.
Coat in butter & sauce.
Eat wings!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Chicken Fried Rice

Oh Yum! I found this recipe here. I made it tonight and it's amazing!

The Chicken Fried Rice starts with Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken.

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
Serves 2-3
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
3/4 cup sugar (I used brown).
3/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons water
Whisk together sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, pepper, and water. Pour sauce over chicken in slow cooker. Slow cook on low for four hours.

This is amazing by itself, over white rice, as a meal. Super yummy! :)

If that's not enough, you can make the below and add the chicken. That's what we did tonight!

Better-Than-Takeout Chicken Fried Rice
Serves 5-6
4 cups prepared rice (I will use less next time, maybe 2 cups.)
1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked (See above)
1 cup peas & carrots, frozen
1 small white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs (I wish I would have used 3-4)
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce (I used the soy sauce juice from the crock pot)
Prepare rice according to package instructions to yield 4 cups cooked rice.

Heat sesame oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add onion, garlic, peas, and carrots.

Stir fry until tender. Crack eggs into pan and scramble, mixing throughout vegetables.

Add rice, chicken, and soy sauce to pan. Mix well.

Serve! Eat! So yummy!!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Peppers (Makes 12 Peppers)

12 Green Peppers
40-ounces ground turkey
Worcestershire Sauce
Garlic (lots of garlic!!)
1 Chopped White Onion
1 Cup Colorful Peppers
1.5 cups of cooked rice (white, red, brown, whatever you prefer or have on hand)
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes (pick your own flavor)
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 15-ounce can black beans (rinsed & drained)
1 8-ounce can corn (if you prefer, rinsed & drained)
Sharp Cheddar Cheese


Boil the peppers for approximately 10 minutes or until soft.  Drain well.
 
Brown the turkey with 1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce and a couple cloves of garlic.
Add chopped peppers and onion and cook. Add more Worcestershire sauce for flavor. Pepper too.

Add can of diced tomatoes (do not drain), black beans, corn, tomato sauce, cooked rice and stir. Heat together for like 10 minutes.
Stuff peppers. (I used a foil lined loaf pan to keep the peppers upright.)
Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes at 375.
Enjoy!!

Brand New Cooking

I'm a pretty awesome cook. Totally awesome. If I do say so myself, and Jason agrees!!

I finally got new pots and pans! I'm totally excited for them too. I've already used 5 of them and look forward to using all of them. I made Stuffed Peppers and Steamed Broccoli.

I'm working hard to get back into eating right. It's hard. All the junk food calls to me!

I've found some new healthy recipes on pinterest.