Summer Crock-Pot Enchilada Chicken

I haven't really been cooking much - and not cooking much or cooking anything new means no new blog posts... till yesterday.

I was working from home and decided that in the blinding heat we're enjoying here in Boston, that I didn't want to cook dinner but I did want a tasty meal. Ah ha! Enter crock-pot. You can plug it in and let it chug all day - without giving off too much heat. So I investigated the cabinets and came up with a healthy and tasty treat - Enchilada chicken. Easy to make, easy to cook and very very tasty.

Crock-pot Enchilada Chicken
Makes 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 can pinto beans, drained
• 1 can stewed tomatos
• 1 can of enchilada sauce (or make your own)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp mexican chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin (or a little more if you like it)
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt

Steps:

1. Add the chicken into the crock-pot, then add the spices listed.
2. Next pour in the stewed tomatos and the beans and the enchilada sauce.
3. Mix it all together, pop the top on and let it sit on low for 8 hours. 
4. Do not open. 
5. In the last hour of cooking, pop the top off of the mixture and turn it up to high. This will help to evaporate out the extra liquid and thicken the sauce without having to add flour. 
6. Either use in enchiladas - or we poured this mixture over rice. Very tasty. 
7. We topped them with a little low fat cheese and a little sour cream.
8. Enjoy!

Mexican Crock Pot Chicken

I'm a novice crock-potter. I've had more failures than successes with this sucker but I'm determined to figure out how to make it work for me. I am a expert at making chicken soup so I thought, how different can that be from using a crock pot. GENIUS MOMENT! We've come to find in our house that we both really love pulled chicken... pulled chicken, crock pot, soup BINGO. This recipe is inspired by recipe I found in my new favorite cookbook, The Southern Living Cook Book. No, I'm not making any money off of promoting this sucker, I just have found it to be a great resource for inspirations for new recipes and easy recipes. Check it out and I'd love to know what you think.

Also, I'll make one last request of you fine reader - with my novice status of crock potting, I'd love to see your recipes and test them out! Please comment on this post and share a recipe or link to your blog with a recipe. Thank you!

ANYWAYS... on to the recipe for my Mexican Crock Pot Chicken

Mexican Crock Pot Chicken
(this is about 4 servings worth, add more chicken and the servings increased, there is certianly room for it in the broth.)

Ingredients
(This recipe is for 4 servings approx, adjust meat and liquid for more servings)

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 can petite cut tomatoes - drain the juice
• 1-2 tsp of sea salt (to taste)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 can pinto beans - with juice
• 20 oz of chicken stock (if you add more chicken breast, add more stock - just make sure the chicken is covered)
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 chicken sausage - spicey
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup frozen peppers

Steps

1. Plug in your crock pot and turn it on to High. I have a 6 quart cooker as an FYI for the amount of liquid. The amounts listed above are suggestive - just make sure you have enough liquid to cover the chicken breasts and the sausage. 
2. Add your beans to the bottom of the pot and then add the garlic. 
3. Plop the chicken on top and mix in the remaining ingredients, except for the peppers and corn. 
4. Cover the pot and let it cook for 4 hours. 
5. Add the veggies and cook for an hour.
6. Pull out the chicken and pull it apart with a fork so it's shredded. I added it back into the pot and turned it down to warm.
7. You're ready to eat! Serve on top of some rice and maybe top with a little cheese.

My Grandma's Chicken Soup

It's getting colder outside and that means it's almost cold season. What cure's any common cold? Homemade Chicken soup. It's true. Well, it always has for me. Especially when cooking my grandma's recipe which I will share with you. This recipe not only makes you FEEL better but the smell of the soup cooking in the house is absolutely amazing. If one of those scented candle companies could bottle up this scent and make a candle, I would buy all of them. No joke. Anyways...

In my house, when my mom would make the soup, she always made a ton so we could eat some of it that day and then freeze the rest for consumption sometime during the winter. We always had a special process for eating it that day - make the stock and separate some out to freeze, remove the chicken and veggies, set aside, make some egg noodles, pour some soup into a bowl, add the veggies and chicken you want and microwave that sucker for 2-3 minutes, add your noodles and eat it!


My Grandma's Chicken Soup Recipe
Ingredients:

• Chicken - there are a few ways to add chicken, I hate touching chicken bones so I usually use 4 chicken breasts but it takes a bit longer for the stock to cook this way. The traditional recipe calls for 1 large chicken or 3-4 large chicken breasts with bone-in.
• Water - amount TBD
• 2 onions
• 3 celery stalks with tops on
• 2-3 large carrots
• 2 parsnips (optional)
• 1 bullion cube - make sure it's the Kosher kind, less salt and taste better
• sea or kosher salt
• egg noodles if you're eating it that day

Steps:

1. In a big pot, add in the chicken. Cover the chicken in water and then pour in any additional water for the amount of soup you'd like to make. Remember, the soup will reduce down by at least 1/4 during the cooking process. It's not an exact science. Cover the pot.
2. Bring the water up to a boil (takes approx 20 minutes). During this boiling process, you're going to need to keep an eye on it and skim off any of the foamy stuff that is created.
3. After the skimming is completed, cut the onions and celery in half and add them to the pot, add in the bullion cube and a pinch of salt (1/2 teaspoon)
4. Bring the mixture up to a boil again and then turn the heat down so its simmering. Let it simmer for 45 min. I alternate cover on, cover off at this point, checking in on the soup every 15 min or so, stirring occasionally as well.
5. Add in the carrots and parsnips and simmer again for another 40 minutes. Taste it as well to see if you need a bit more salt. 
6. At this point, snag one of the chickens and see if its cooked. You don't want to overcook the chicken and dry it out. If the chicken is done, grab them and save them for eating later. It's my favorite kind of chicken to use in a pot pie.
7. You can cook the soup for a few more minutes to reduce it down and bring out more of the chicken flavor if you want. 
8. Once it's done, let it cool and skim off the fat before serving or freezing.
9. Yum!

The Best Chicken Pot Pie

Yep. You read that correctly. This recipe is the BEST chicken pot pie recipe you will ever see. And if you find one that is better, please let me know and we'll have a pot - pie - off!

I don't think I need to say more than that. Except it's now getting a bit colder out and I wanted pot pie so I made it. You make all the elements from scratch if you want or you can sub in pre-made items. I've done both depending on the amount of time I have available. Below is my standard recipe. I also buy as much as I can that is low sodium or unsalted, I find adding my own salt to my taste preferences makes a HUGE difference.

Chicken Pot Pie
INGREDIENTS:

• 2 sticks of butter - unsalted
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour (this gives it a nice texture and I like it better than white AP)
• Salt - to taste
• 1 quart chicken stock - low sodium
• 1 cube chicken stock - the kosher kind usually tastes better
• 1 cup hot water (to dissolve the chicken stock cube)
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp oregano 
• Sea salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups (approx.) shredded, grilled chicken - with a little salt and pepper seasoned but nothing else
• 5 small potatoes, chopped and cooked (sometimes I use 2 sweet potatoes)
• 1 1/2 cup of sweet peas, cooked
• 1 1/2 cup of sliced carrots, cooked
• 2 sheets of pastry dough, defrosted
• Butter to grease pan

STEPS:
1. Preheat oven to 400degrees F
2. Heat/cook your peas, carrots, chicken and potatoes. A quick trick to quickly steam the veggies is to pop them each individually into a bowl and add a little water to the bottom of the bowl. Then cover the veggies with a wet paper towel. Pop them into the microwave for about 2 minutes for the peas and carrots, and about 5 - 6 minutes for the potatoes.
3. In a stock pot, pour in the chicken stock and the chicken stock cube disolved in a cup of hot water. Set this to a high simmer. This should be hot when you start the next step.
4. In a sauce pan - melt the butter down on the slower side so the fats don't separate too much. Whisk in the flour slowly to make a roux. Once the mixture is set, whisk it into the stock mixture.

5. Once the roux and stock are completely mixed, add in the veggies and chicken. Mix thoroughly and add in the spices - salt and pepper to your own taste. Let this lovely concoction heat together for a few minutes while you prep your pot pie vessel.
6. I butter the bottom and sides, then take the first piece of pastry dough and cover the bottom and sides. 7. Then I pour in the filling - as much as will fit. There is always a little leftover for those who are waiting patiently :-) then I cover the entire thing with the last sheet of dough. Poke a few small fork holes in the top just to let the air out. You can do a light egg-wash across the top if you'd like.
8. Then I pop this sucker into the oven until the pastry dough turns a golden brown - around 10- 20 minutes depending on your oven.
9. Let it cook for about 15 minutes before you serve.
The filling also freezes well also.

Chicken Tagine

Let's talk about crock pots for a moment. I have a love-hate with them. Almost everything I've made in the crock pot hasn't turned out how I wanted it. Not always bad, but not how I thought it should tasted based on the recipe provided. Or maybe i should ACTUALLY FOLLOW the recipe for once. Either way, I will conquer the crock pot but I may stick to soups for awhile.

My latest attempt at the slow-cooker is this recipe from how2heroes.com

It was pretty tasty - we didn't include the eggplant because neither one of us is a big fan, and we added a few extra carrots. BUT don't forget to include the lemon juice. I think that was my biggest mistake. Either way, tasty stuff.

Chicken a la King

It's been hot - we haven't been cooking. It's been too darn hot... until last night! YAY!

Matt and I were chatting this past weekend about dishes we loved as kids, what mom used to make and what we loved out of the "meal rotation." So that's where Chicken a la King came up. Matt has mentioned it a few times as a dish he loved and it sounded pretty easy so we gave his mom a call, got the recipe. We didn't eat this exact dish in my house but we did eat a few things that were very similar. It's very easy to make, not too terrible for you and you can substitute very easily based on what you have in the house and your tastes. You could swap out the peas for celery or carrots. I'm not sure peppers would be a good flavor but why not try!

Chicken a la King
This recipe is for 2 people

Ingredients:

• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup of peas
• 1 cup of chopped broccoli
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 lb chicken breast or turkey breast (diced into large chunks)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 package of No Yolks noodles - extra broad (or you could use rice as well)
• 1/2 packet of turkey gravy (the dried stuff - this is optional)
• 1 tsp of olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan

Steps:

1. Dice up your chicken/turkey and your veggies so they are ready to be added
2. In a large sauce pan, add the olive oil to cover the bottom. Season the meat a little and then plop the meat into the hot pan. Add in the soups one at a time, then the peas, broccoli, gravy and lastly the milk. 
3. Once everything is mixed together, let it simmer for 30 min or until the meat is cooked. In the meantime, cook up those noodles!
4. After abou 30/45 min, take a quick taste and make sure it doesn't need any additional seasoning.
5. Serve the mixture over the noodles and enjoy!

Tasty Photo Alert - General Tso's Chicken

Matt made dinner. How tasty does that look! Next time we're going to add pineapple and brocoli. Yum! I was curious to find out why they call it General Tso's Chicken and who the general it - according to wikipedia no one knows where the dish came from, or why it was named after the general. Oh well. It's still tasty. 

Once Matt prefects his recipe, he'll need to share but right now I wanted to share the tastiness of this photo.

Stove-top General Tso's Chicken with white rice:

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Hola! It's enchilada time! We needed a quick and filling dinner recipe and enchiladas are easy and delicious so they fit the bill. Plus we had all the ingredients in the house so... wahhhla! Dinner! Here's my quick and easy recipe. Feel free to share yours! Would love to know how you tweak them differently. Not the greatest photos this time around but you get the picture... either way, it's tasty.

Super duper easy. Ready? Get set... GO!

Super Duper Easy Baked Enchiladas

• 1/2 lb chicken - diced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp onion powder
• salt and pepper to season chicken
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup (or small can) of green chilies
• 1 small can of refried beans - fat free
• 2 cups enchilada sauce
• 4 tortillas - 8 inch size - flour or corn which ever is your preference
• 1/2 cup cheese

STEPS:

1. Dice up the chicken and season it with the spices
2. Heat up the oil in the pan and saute the chicken till its almost done
3. Add the green chilies and sautee for another 2 minutes
4. Add the refried beans and mix till heated. Remove from heat.
5. Take an 9x9 pan that you can bake and coat the bottom of the pan with enchilada sauce
6. Take one tortilla and on one side of the pan - fill with a few good spoonfuls of filling and fold over, then on to the next tortilla - we usually make about four and then use the rest of the filling to pour over the top. Then pour the rest of the sauce over the top and sides and top with cheese.
7. Bake for about 30-40 minutes at 350degrees.
8. Serve those suckers up!

Pan-Seared Stove-Top Chicken and Mashed Potatoes

The big question in our household is lumps or no lumps. I don't care either way, Matt has a strong preference for no lumps. My challenge - make mashed potatoes with no milk (we ran out and we are too lazy to go get some) and chicken... chicken... basic, tasty chicken. I accept the challenge!

Let's check out the cabinet - since I'm in the middle of moving, half of my spices (well, most of my spices) are still in my other apartment which mean's we are working with a limited selection. BUT I did find a few things to work with.

Both of these recipes are very simple and can be adjusted to your tastes - used with standard household items and can be made in 20 minutes or less... ready... go!

(I'm also striving to have as may hyphenated statements as possible in this blog post, starting with the title)

Pan-Seared Stove-top Sauteed Chicken

• Chicken breasts - thin-sliced ones, 1 package
• 2 cups AP flour - or enough to dredge the chicken
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp Steak grilling spice (weird I know but remember i'm working with what's here)
• 1 tsp oregano
• Olive oil

STEPS:

1. First off - cut up the chicken so it's in about 2-3 bite pieces

2. In a separate bowl - mix together the flour, salt, pepper, cumin, grilling spice, oregano

3. Drop each piece of chicken into the flour mixture and cover completely, set aside until you've dredged all the chicken pieces

4. In a large skillet - heat up the oil on medium heat and pop the chicken into the dish then DON'T TOUCH IT! Let it cook till the edges start to get a little white then flip those suckers over... cook until they are done!

Matt's Favorite Mashed Potatoes
On average - it's 1.5 potatoes per person...

• 3 potatoes
• 1 stick of butter
• chunk of Velvetta
• salt
• pepper
• elbow grease... lots of it :-)

STEPS:

1. Slice up the potatoes into smaller chunks - the cook faster and are easier to mash this way. I left the skin's on since that's how Matt likes them. They are Matt's favorite.

2. Boil till they are soft and done - after you drain the water, pop the potatoes back into the pot you cooked them in and heat them up for about a minute to cook-off any extra water

3. At this point, cut in the butter and add in the Velvetta - (you could also add about a tablespoon of milk and reduce the butter also)

4. Mash, mash, mash, mash, mash till they are the consistency you like

5. Serve!

I told you they were easy recipes.

Funny Man's Buffalo Chili Chicken Pizza

My other half Matt and I have different eating habits. Not a bad thing, but just different. I do a lot of experimenting with my cooking while he's got his tried and true recipes he sticks with. One of my favorites is the Pan-Seared Chili Chicken. He whipped up some for dinner the other night and we were left with a few extra pieces that we just couldn't stuff into your full bellies... leftovers!

PAN-SEARED CHILI CHICKEN
By Matt Coan

Ingredients: 
3 chicken breasts
1/2 stick of butter
2 tablespoons McCormick Chili Spice

Steps:
1. Get a large frying pan
2. Heat it up and melt a half stick of butter in it
3. Add two table spoons of McCormick Chili Spice to the works
4. Add 3 chicken breasts (preferably from Trader Joe's b/c they taste great)
5. Cook until Golden Brown
6. Serve over instant mashed potatoes

What to do with Chili Chicken - why not make Buffalo Chicken Pizza! Glorious. I'm not a huge buffalo-flavor fan but Matt does have an awesome recipe in his arsenal for that as well. Cooking together - how wonderfully romantic. HA! Ok here we go... this is by far the best pizza I've (and we've) ever made. Ever. Period.

BUFFALO CHICKEN PIZZA

Ingredients:
Leftover chili chicken - we used 2 pieces which was enough
Pizza dough (homemade or store bought)
Pepperoni - enough to cover the bottom of the pizza
1/2 package of Low-moisture Mozzarella
Salt and pepper to taste
Ranch Dressing - to dip (you could do blue cheese as well if you like)
Buffalo Sauce:
   - Franks Red Hot Sauce
   - Philadelphia cream cheese - 1/2 8oz package

Steps:

1. Prep your pizza dough - if it's store bought:

   - Snag a medium sized bowl and coat with olive oil - lightly

   - Remove from package and place into a bowl

   - Cover with damp cloth and place in warm place for about 15 minutes to let rise

2. Chop up your chicken into bit-sized bits

3. In a small sauce pan - heat up the philly cream cheese & the franks red hot till they are mixed together

4. Add the chicken and stir till covered

5. Snag your dough and stretch out onto cooking surface

6. Cover the with a light layer of cheese

7. Top with layer of pepperoni then the chicken mixture

8. Top with cheese, salt and pepper

9. Pop into the oven for about 20 minutes - we like ours a little crispier so we left it in for about 30

10. Let the pizza rest for about 5 minutes before you slice it up

We also liked to dip ours in Ranch Dressing. Who doesn't love Ranch Dressing?

PLUG TIME!!!
Matt has a blog too! Check it out - stand-up comedian and IT professional shares his thoughts on life... http://halfassedramblings.blogspot.com/