Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
03 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in appetizers, at least one kid ate it, chicken, Cooking for 2, freezes well, leftovers, Mexican
Oh holy cow. These are AMAZING. You can find the original recipe here. I’m going to also type out the recipe just in case the link doesn’t work at some point. That would be HORRIBLE if that ever happened. My only change is that I didn’t add the cilantro and green onions simply because I was cooking with four kids at my feet and completely spaced them. I did buy them.
This time I used leftover chicken I had in the fridge. Next time, I’ll be using the skinny crockpot chicken. A friend of mine has already made them using this chicken and also said they were amazing.
I also LOVE that you can put these all together, bake about how many you think you will eat, and then FREEZE the rest for another meal!!! Only one of my children tried this. She liked it, but only got half way through with it before deciding it was just a bit too spicy.
- 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup green salsa
- 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (juice from half a lime)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
- 2 Tbsp sliced green onions
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 1 cup shredded Mexican flavored cheese
- small flour or corn tortillas
- kosher salt
- cooking spray
Easy Chicken Taco Soup
04 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in crockpot, freezes well, leftovers, soup
OK, you know how Sonya’s Skinny Chicken recipe is so delicious and easy and can feed an army? Or, if you’re just feeding your own family, how it leaves lots of yummy leftovers?
Well, last night, I used leftover Skinny Chicken to make a quick, easy Taco Soup that I’ll be making again for sure. I just made this for Matt and me because it was one of those nights when baseball practice meant we weren’t all home at dinnertime, etc. so Matt and I ate later than the kids. It’s fine anyway, because they all hate soup and I didn’t have the energy to fight them on it last night.
So here’s what I did, and feel free to adjust as needed based on how much you have leftover:
5(ish) cups leftover skinny chicken (this was a lot of the broth that’s left in the crockpot + some of the shredded chicken)
about 2 cooked, chopped chicken breasts (leftover from dinner the night before – I just threw it in so it wouldn’t go to waste, but it’s not necessary if you have plenty of chicken leftover in the salsa mixture)
3 sliced green onions
16 oz. chicken broth (you can use a can or bouillion or whatever you want)
half a bag of frozen, fire-roasted corn (regular frozen corn would be fine, too, but I had this kind from Trader Joe’s and it’s just perfect for soups like this)
beans (I didn’t add them this time, but that would have been really good)
Just heat it on the stovetop until hot. That’s it! This amount made about 5 or 6 good-size bowls of soup.
I served it with a cheese quesadilla. In the soup you can add crushed tortilla chips, avocado, diced tomato, sour cream, cilantro…whatever you like!
Breakfast Pockets
30 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in at least one kid ate it, breakfast, brinner (breakfast for dinner), freezes well, sandwiches
I made these for dinner last night, and they were REALLY good! A bit time-consuming, but since it makes a lot (we had several pockets leftover for the freezer, which means Luke will get a hot breakfast on a school day in the weeks to come, which will make him really happy!) I was okay with that.
You do make a bread dough, but it was really easy and totally worked. In fact, now that I have this dough recipe, I’m thinking of all kinds of stuff to fill these pockets with! It makes a light, not-tough bread that’s perfect for filling with something, and dough that was very easy to work with.
I mostly followed the original recipe, found here. My only change was to use crumbled bacon instead of sausage, since that’s what I had on hand (and what we prefer). I just sprinkled it over the top of the egg filling when I had it on the dough already, so it stayed crispy. That meant that instead of frying the sausage with the onion, I just needed to saute the onion in a tiny bit of butter before I added the egg and hash browns later.
A note about the filling: instead of frozen hash browns, thawed, I just bought Simply Potatoes hash browns (I used the southwest seasoned ones – these are found in the refrigerated section of the grocery near eggs). And, next time, I will omit the hash browns completely. We just don’t eat a lot of potatoes around here, and Luke even commented that he loved them, but next time he’d like no hash browns. To me, it was just filler. I’ll add a couple more eggs to make up the difference in volume.
Dough
1 1/2 Tbl yeast (2 packets)
1/2 c warm water (110 degrees – I microwaved for about 30 seconds)
3/4 c evaporated milk (110 degrees – again, microwave, but only about 20 seconds because it’s not as cold as the water to start with)
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/4 c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 c flour
Filling
1 lb bulk sausage (or bacon, as described above)
1/2 c onion, chopped
1 1/2 c hash brown potatoes (thawed or use Simply Potatoes)
7 large eggs
3 Tbl milk
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 1/2 c cheddar cheese, shredded
Dough:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the water.
Add milk, oil, sugar, egg, salt, and 2 cups flour; whisk until smooth.
Add enough flour until it makes a soft dough but do not knead. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Filling:
Cook the sausage and onion over medium heat until browned. Drain. Whisk the eggs, milk and spices together in a bowl. Add the hash browns and egg mixture to the pan. Cook and stir until set. Sprinkle with cheese and keep warm.
Assembly:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Punch down the dough and cut into 16 equal pieces.
Roll or stretch each piece into 7 in circle on a floured surface. Top with 1/3 c filling, fold, and pinch shut (I didn’t have any problems with filling oozing out while baking, and I just pinched them closed with my fingers). Bake for 15-20 minutes.
To freeze:
Allow to cool completely. Once cooled, place in the freezer on the baking sheet until frozen. Store in a ziploc bag in the freezer for 3-6 months. To reheat, place on a paper towel and microwave for 1 1/2-2 minutes.
7Up Biscuits
14 Feb 2012 2 Comments
in at least one kid ate it, bread/muffins, freezes well
By now, most of you have probably seen/tried these because they’ve been all over Pinterest forever. I’ve made them numerous times, and I know Sonya has, too. They’re simply the best, easiest biscuit can you make at home. Big thanks to Plain Chicken for posting the recipe!
And I feel like I’ve let you down for not sharing these on here earlier…my apologies, dear readers, if you haven’t seen these until now and I’ve been keeping them from you!
You’ll notice in the picture on the original post linked above that she actually makes hers look like biscuits. I don’t bother…they’re gone so fast it doesn’t matter what shape they are. If we had company, maybe I’d try a little harder…
2 cups Bisquick (I use the Heart-Healthy kind, like it’s really any better)
1/2 cup sour cream (I’ve used both full-fat and light, and haven’t noticed a difference)
1/2 cup 7-up, Sprite or Sierra Mist (DO NOT use diet…in fact, you’re not supposed to bake with diet soda ever)
1/4 cup melted butter
Preheat oven to 450.
Cut sour cream into Bisquick and add 7-Up. Makes a very soft dough. You can add a bit more Bisquick if needed to make them less sticky, but be careful not to overdo it, or they’ll get tough.
Sprinkle additional Bisquick on board or table and pat dough out. If you want, cut dough into circles. If you don’t care, just use a knife to cut the dough into large pieces.
Melt 1/4 cup butter in a 9 inch square pan. Place cut biscuits in pan and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. These also freeze well!
Here’s what they look like going in the oven:
yes, i know it looks like one big mound of dough, but they actually are separate pieces all shoved in there together.
And coming out:
perfectly browned and they bake evenly all the way through with no problem, even though the pan is really full.
even though they look in the pan like they aren't separate biscuits, they come apart easily after they're baked.
I DARE YOU to eat just one of these.
Pesto chicken stuffed shells
14 Dec 2011 1 Comment
in chicken, company's coming!, Cooking for 2, freezes well, Pasta
I found this recipe on my new obsession, pinterest. I’ll be honest, I thought this was good. Kirk thought is was great. I, personally, like the other chicken pesto recipe on here a little better. But, since Kirk liked this better, I thought I would save it here and still make it on occasion because I did like it. The kids, not at all. Ugh.
12-16 jumbo pasta shells
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup freshly grated parmesan + 1/4 cup for topping
3 tablespoons prepared pesto
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 cloves garlic, minced
In a large pot, boil water and prepare pasta shells as directed on package. Cook pasta shells only until al dente. The pasta will finish cooking when the dish is baked. Drain the pasta shells and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients, except the 1/4 cup of cheese for the topping. Fill the pasta shells with the filling and place in a baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese over filled shells.
Preheat oven to 350 and bake shells uncovered for 30 minutes or until shells are bubbling hot and cheese melts.
2 things I do love about this dish….
1. I made it in a 9×9 so there wasn’t a TON of leftovers. I can only do leftovers for one meal, can’t do the same meal a third time. Yuck.
2. You can make this ahead/freeze it. To freeze prepare as directed in oven and freezer proof baking dish. When ready to eat, defrost. Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 35-40 minutes. Because of this, I will probably double the recipe next time and make an extra meal!
Smashed Meatball Sandwiches
23 Sep 2011 1 Comment
in at least one kid ate it, beef, freezes well, sandwiches
A while back I made a GIANT batch of these meatballs (I’m talking 3+ pounds), taking some to a friend and making extra to stick in the freezer.
After I rolled about a million meatballs, but before I started stuffing them with cheese, I thought about cooking some up for sandwiches. And a round meatball on a sandwich + a kid = huge mess, so I got the idea to smash them down a bit.
So here’s how it all goes:
1 lb. lean ground beef (or turkey or chicken)
1/2 cup Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs (I use Panko)
1 egg
spaghetti sauce
rolls
cheese slices
Mix the first 3 ingredients together well and roll into a dozen or so meatballs.
Put in a non-stick skillet…no need for oil or anything, even with extra lean ground beef (with ground turkey or chicken you will probably need just a little bit to keep them from sticking). Let them cook over medium heat for a few minutes as a whole meatball, and just before flipping them over, smash them down a little. Flip, cook through, and remove from heat. Heat some spaghetti sauce and pour over the meatballs (if you just put the sauce in the pan you’ve just used, it’s going to pop and splatter a lot, so be ready for a mess if you go that route).
Serve on rolls – whatever you prefer, but they are best when toasted on a griddle for a few minutes – and add a slice of provolone or mozzarella.
Because I froze these and was making an original batch of the meatballs for us, too, I used some of the sauce from that pan to put over the smashed meatballs and froze them that way.
These were really good…Luke devoured, and the other 2 ate moderately well, especially when I described them more as tiny burgers instead of meatballs!
Mini Lasagna Cups
08 Sep 2011 1 Comment
in at least one kid ate it, beef, freezes well, hidden vegetables
When I spied these floating around Pinterest, I knew I had to try them!
Original here (lots o’ great recipes on this site!). I made a few small changes, noted here in the recipe.
1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb sausage
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I like Ragu Sweet Tomato and Basil)
1/2 – 3/4 cup pureed carrots (I didn’t do this, but I will next time…it will be undetectable)
1 1/2 cups part skim ricotta cheese OR cottage cheese (next time I’m using cottage cheese)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
24 wonton wrappers
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used shredded Italian blend)
3 slices provolone cheese (optional – you can just use shredded on both layers, but I’m obsessed with provolone and always have it in the house, so I used some in the first layer)
Preheat oven to 375.
Brown the meat together in a pan and drain well. Mix in the jar of spaghetti sauce, and divide into 3 portions. Freeze 2 of the portions for dinner another night.
In a large bowl, combine the ricotta or cottage cheese with the salt and pepper.
Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray (I like to use a Misto with olive oil), and arrange a wonton wrapper in each cup. Take half the ricotta mixture and divide it among the 12 cups. Top with half of the meat sauce, and a 1/4 of a slice of provolone cheese. Place another wonton wrapper over the cheese, and repeat the layers by adding the remaining ricotta cheese, meat sauce, and top with shredded cheese (because I used provolone on the first layer, I only used about 3/4 cup on the top of these).
Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the wonton wrappers are golden. Cool in the muffin tin for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Makes 12 mini lasagnas.
The kids each ate one; surprisingly, Bennett, our best eater, wasn’t a big fan. Jack Henry did ok, and Luke devoured his but didn’t ask for more. And we still had 4 leftover, which will make a great lunch for Matt and me tomorrow! I really liked this. Much simpler than a pan of lasagna, and just kinda different and fun. We’ll be making them again!
Strawberry-Kiwi Jam
06 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in at least one kid ate it, breakfast, freezes well, fruit
I found this recipe in my taste of home magazine. My grandma makes awesome strawberry jam, but we just aren’t there enough to get it! So, I knew I needed to try this recipe as my kids and hubby love that jelly. Kayla and Kirk have both tried this and loved it. This does have a TON of sugar in it, but I did follow the recipe to the exact measurements.
6 cups fresh strawberries (cut up – most I just cut in half)
3 chopped kiwi fruit
1 tblspn lemon juice
1 tblspn chopped crystallized ginger
1 pkg powdered fruit pectin
5 cups sugar
The recipe says to mash the strawberries with the kiwi fruit. I ran it through our food processor. Then, combine that in a dutch oven with the lemon juice, ginger(again I chopped in the food processor), and fruit pectin. Bring to a full roiling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar and return to a full boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim off foam. Ladle into freezer containers and cool to room temperature. Let stand for 24 hours. Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 12 months.
**Next up – blueberry jam. Follow the same above except use 8 cups blueberries, 2 tblspn lemon juice and no ginger. Add 7 cups sugar.
*** The strawberry jam said it made 5 cups. I actually was able to fill 7 jelly jars (8oz).
Chewy Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies
12 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in dessert, freezes well, there's chocolate in this!
These are so, so easy. And really good. And they freeze and thaw amazingly well, also.
This was a recipe I cut out from the old Kraft magazine; when I searched online to be able to link to the original, I saw that they had made a change to the recipe, adding an egg to make the dough easier to mix. I didn’t really have a problem with mixing it, though it did make a very stiff dough. So, after making them once and loving them, I tried making them with the extra egg. Do NOT do it. The dough becomes a complete mess, and I don’t think the cookies are nearly as good. Stick with one!
We had these one evening with ice cream, but they’re great on their own, too.
1 pkg Devil’s Food cake mix
4 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
Preheat oven to 375. Beat cream cheese, peanut butter and eggs in large bowl with mixer on low speed 1 min. Add dry cake mix; beat on medium speed 1 min. or until mixture pulls away from side of bowl and forms soft dough. (See Tip.)
Shape into 44 (1-inch) balls. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets. Flatten each ball, in criss-cross pattern, with tines of fork dipped in sugar. (Note: this makes me think of my mom, making her peanut butter cookie recipe when I was a kid!)
Bake 7 to 8 min. or just until edges of cookies are set. (Do not overbake.) Cool on baking sheet 2 min. Remove to wire rack; cool completely.
Slow-Cooker Pulled Chicken Tacos
22 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in at least one kid ate it, chicken, company's coming!, crockpot, freezes well, Mexican
This is very similar to Sonya’s Skinny Chicken recipe…depending upon what you have on hand, this is another option! We ate these tonight and they were very good. After it cooks, there’s a little less juice than there is with the skinny chicken recipe. From Dierbergs‘ monthly recipe book.
2-3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast (original called for 1 1/2 lbs of breast + 1 1/2 lbs of boneless thighs, but I used all chicken breast)
1 can (10 oz) petite diced tomatoes with green chiles (I put this through the food processor…chunky foods do not go over well here, and in an effort to promote trying new tastes, I’ll puree something like this!)
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (I forgot this step…oops! Would have been good, though.)
Minced fresh parsley or cilantro, optional
20 flour tortillas
Toppings for tacos: cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced green onions, etc.
Place chicken in a slow cooker that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray (I didn’t do this, and it wasn’t really a mess). In a small bowl, combine tomatoes, garlic and seasonings. Pour over chicken. Cook until chicken is tender, about 6-8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.
Remove chicken to cutting board and shred with 2 forks. Return shredded chicken and any juices on the board to cooker and stir to combine. Stir in lime juice and cilantro/parsley. Serve on tortillas and with toppings.
This freezes easily for a quick dinner, too!
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
