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!

Crock Pot Roast Beef and Homemade Bread

Ah Sunday, what a fantastic day to spend in the kitchen. Probably one of my most favorite things to do is hop into the kitchen, crank up the Patriot's game, throw-on my Pancake! apron and cook up a storm! This past Sunday was even better though... we are a two football team household, Matt is a die-hard Brown's fan and I, as previously mentioned love the Patriots. The Brown's weren't playing Sunday which free's Matt up! Yay! Which also means he decided to take on the crock pot. Oh and I'm so glad he did! The man know's how to cook-up a mean piece of beef.  It's a very easy recipe that you could do with any piece of beef. We happened to snag a nice looking piece about 2-3lbs at the food store that morning. Fantastic. Unfortunately, we where too hungry before I snagged a photo of the final meat but I'm sure you can imagine how tasty it looked.

Easy Crock Pot Roast Beef
2-3lbs would feed about 4 ppl, it does shrink a bit while it cooks

Ingredients
Big hunk of meat - we used a 2lb piece of roast beef
1 cup (or at least 1/2 inch covering the bottom of pot) of soy sauce. (I have a large crock pot so we added a bit more sauce to ensure the bottom was covered.)
1 tsp salt and pepper covering both sides of meat
1 tsp of garlic salt
1 tsp of grilling spices
1 tablespoon flour (For gravy)

Steps

1. Turn your crock pot on high
2. Salt and pepper each side of the meat
3. Plop the meat into the crock pot
4. Add in the soy sauce - ensure that it covers the bottom of the pot, and about 1/2 inch up the side of the meat
5. Sprinkle in the garlic salt and grilling spices on top of the meat
6. Cover and DON'T TOUCH IT for at least 4 hours
7. Feel free to open and check starting at around 4.5 hours and cook until done. It should turn gray. 
8. After it's done, pull the meat out and set it aside to rest. If you cut into it right away, you'll let all the juices out. Letting it rest lets the juices soak into the meat.
9. Add the flour to the juices left in the crock pot. Mix to make a nice rich gravy. Add more or less flour depending on how thick you want your gravy.

While he tackled the beef, I decided that it was finally time to take on some homemade bread. I haven't perfected my recipe yet - but I'll share a few photos with you of my first pass. If you have an easy to make bread recipe, I'd love to check it out!

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!

Meat Logs

Have you ever tried to eat a meatball sub and lost a ball? Or had a meatball sub and had the meatballs all sliced up so they aren't even close to being ball-shaped anymore? I have. It stinks. At this point, I had a great idea - meat logs! How come no one ever tried it before? I have no idea but I think it's pretty genius. Just shape the meat into a log that fits into the bun for your sandwich and you'll never lose a ball again!

HA! Way too many dirty jokes I could include in there but I'll steer clear... with that said, meat logs!

Meat Logs

Recipe makes 4 logs - serves 2 very hungry people

INGREDIENTS

• 1 package of ground meat (we used beef)
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/3 cup italian flavored breadcrumbs
• 1 good squirt of ketchup
• 1 good squirt of mustard (we used the grainy kind)
• Tomato sauce - about a cup or two depending on how much you like on your sandwich
• Franks Red Hot Sauce
• Bun - that can handle the meat log!
• Cheese (optional)
• 1 tablespoon oil for the pan to cook the logs

STEPS

Mix the spices, ketchup, mustard, bread crumbs and meat together in a bowl till well combined

Prep the buns - make sure they are sliced, and I add a little cheese to the bottom of the bun also

Form the meat into logs that will fit into your bun, we ended up doing two logs per bun since the longer logs wouldn't fit into the pan that we cooked them in

Add the oil into the pan and turn it on to medium

Add the logs one by one into the pan

Brown the outside of the logs by rolling them around in the pan

Add a few drops of Franks to each log at this point, this will sear the Franks to the outside of the log.

Cook the logs till they are cooked through

Cover with tomato sauce and let cook for about 1 minute to heat up the sauce

Plop the meat logs into the bun and top with a bit more cheese

Enjoy! Yum.

Easy and Quick Potato, Broccoli & Cheese Soup

I'm a little bit of a recipe hoarder and was rifling through a BIG binder of recipes I've collected over the years looking for an apple crisp recipe. I'm sure you all have a folder, drawer or box that you keep recipes in also, one you've been meaning to organize and throw out recipes you don't like. yeah, I've been meaning to do that also. I didn't find the one I was looking for but I did find this one for a tasty potato, broccoli and cheddar soup that, with a few tweaks, is not that bad for you. Also - the ingredient amounts are suggestions, based on your preference, feel free to tweak. Making soup is not an exact science.

Easy (and quick) Potato, Broccoli, Cheese Soup
4 servings worth (feeds 4 very hungry people)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chicken stock (low sodium)
• OR
• 1 bullion cube of chicken stock and 4 cups water
• 4 cups broccoli - diced
• 1 cup carrots - diced
• 1 cup celery - diced
• 2 - 2 1/2 cups frozen potato hash/homefries
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 1 cup milk
• 7 oz of cheese (I used low-fat cheddar chunks)

Steps:

1. Get a nice big pot, put the sucker on the stove and add in your liquid (chicken stock or water and bullion cube)
2. Add in the broccoli, carrots, celery, potatoes, salt and pepper
3. Cook for about 15-20 minutes at a nice slow but steady boil
4. Combine the milk and flour so they are nicely mixed together - this makes it nice and creamy. Add to the soup, stirring the entire time to thicken the soup.
5. Add in the chunks of cheese - so they melt as you add them, keep on mixing.
6. Let that sit for another 5-7 minutes
7. You can either eat it at this point, or I used my new immersion blender to mix it up just a bit, still leaving a few good chunks of veggies.
8. This would be very tasty served with some crusty bread.

Chilaquiles

When we where in Cancun, we had this dish called Chilaquiles that we both fell in love with. It's traditionally served for breakfast, made from leftovers from the dinner before consisting of corn tortillas, sauce and chicken. I had to know how to make it. We've been talking about it for months and finally had the time and energy to tackle figuring this sucker out. This photo isn't the best but this recipe is now in our permanent rotation so I'll take a better one and repost.

It's really not that hard, I just had to remember to pick up the right ingredients at the store. We added our own little twist but I'm not sure we'd do it again - added refried beans to the mixture makes it way to thick although Matt liked it, I think I prefer them on the side.

I also watched this video from Saveur on technique tips along with using this recipe as influence from The Reluctant Gourmet. I promise to make these again - and show more photos for the steps.

Chilaquiles
this recipe is for 2 people who are very hungry

INGREDIENTS
3 small breasts of Chicken - shredded
1 onion, 1/2 to put in the water with the chicken, 1/2 finely diced
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 can enchilada sauce
1-2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup chopped queso blanco
salt and pepper
refried beans (side dish)
corn tortillas - about 2-3 per person
oil for frying - we used vegetable oil but you could use corn or canola
Sour cream (optional)
Salsa (optional)

STEPS
Cook Chicken
- fill a pot of water to cook the chicken in, add a bit of salt and half the onion to season the water, set it to a rapid boil
- plop the chicken into the water until it's cooked
- take it out and shred with a fork or chop it up into small bites
- discard the water and onion

Fry the Tortillas
- fill up a frying pan with about an inch of oil
- heat that up! you can tell if the oil is ready by putting the butt-end of a spoon into the oil, if there are bubbles around the edge of the spoon, it's ready
- Take the tortillas and cut them into quarters - like chips
- drop the tortillas into the oil, one at a time, don't over crowd the pan and fry till crispy
- take out the fried tortilla and place on a paper-towel to let the excess oil drain off

Finish the Dish
- In another pan, sauté the garlic and onions a little bit (about 2 minutes)
- add in the enchilada sauce - i used a small can of the sauce from the store
- OPTIONAL - I also added a few big tablespoons of salsa
- add in your chopped chicken and sauté the mixture till combined and the chicken is cooked thoroughly
- OPTIONAL - I also added our refried beans to the mixture, I would not recommend doing this in the future
- add in the fried tortillas till they are well coated and mixed in
- plop them on a plate and top with the mozzarella cheese and chopped queso blanco (or sour cream)

Yay!

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.

Matt's Spicy Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

As with any family, we too have a few recipes that we eat at least once a week (and sometimes twice). I make 1 or 2 of them and Matt has a few goodies up his sleeves as well. Once in particular that we eat at LEAST once a week is spaghetti with meat sauce. I'm not going to call it Bolognese because it's got a little twist to it.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of ground beef
• 1 package of spaghetti
• 1/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce
• 1 jar tomato sauce (about 3 cups)
• 1 tsp steak seasoning
• Sea salt
• Vegetable oil - a dollop

Steps:

1. Boil water according to the package directions for the pasta but add the sea salt to the boiling water. Add in the pasta and get those noodles cooking.
2. Add the vegetable oil to a frying pan and heat it up, add in the ground beef and start to cook. You can season with a little salt and pepper if you like. Add in the steak seasoning.
3. Cook the meat till it starts to smell like a well done burger - you want the meat to be almost well done. 
4. Drain the grease off. 
5. Add in the tomato sauce and the franks. Make sure you stir in the franks really well otherwise you'll have a few hots bites and the rest will be fairly mild. This is key.
6. At this point, your pasta should be ready. Strain the pasta and serve to each dish. We like to add the pasta to the dish first then add the meat sauce on top.
7. Enjoy!

Matt hard at work.

Meatball Subs

I had purchased some ground beef at the farmers market a few weeks ago and it was the perfect amount for a few meatballs! The meat was delicious from John Crow Farm. We had some steak tips from these guys and they once again prove to have very tasty meat.

The key (in my mind) to a successful meatball sandwich is 3 things.

1. Sauce. Not too much but not too little

2. Bread. The bread must be able to handle the meatballs. If it can't, your sandwich won't stay together.

3. (This one is the most important) The Meatballs! They can't be too big, but they can't be too small. Also, they can't be too dry otherwise it throws your sauce ratio off. 

I've been working on my meatball recipe a long time and this one is pretty close to perfect. I'd love your thoughts if you have any suggestions. 

Beef Meatballs for meatball subs

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef

1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko-italian mixture)

2 cloves garlic - finely chopped

1/2 a small onion - finely chopped

1 egg

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp thyme

Salt and pepper

Olive oil for the pan - enough to cover the bottom

Provolone cheese - 2 slices per sandwich

French bread - fresh, not too hard on the outside

Tomato sauce - just a few spoonfuls per sandwich

Steps:

Mix the spices, egg, meat, garlic, onion and breadcrumbs together in a bowl. Make sure it mixes together well otherwise your meatballs won't be spiced evenly. Take a wad of meat and roll a ball about an inch to a inch and a half in diameter. They will look small but they sit better in the bread and they cook faster. Plus they are easier to manage in the frying pan. I ended up with around 18 balls.

Once you've rolled all the meat up - heat up your frying pan. You want to add the balls one at a time to the pan and you're going to want to roll them around frequently so they don't over cook on one side. Based on the photo below - you don't want to fill up the pan any more than that otherwise they don't have room to move.

While the meatballs are cooking, prep your sandwichs and turn your oven on to around 350 degrees. Slice the bread so it's almost all the way through and plop your cheese in there evenly. I don't usually use the ends of the bread since its hard to take a bite into. BUT I do have a solution so you don't waste them... keep reading... I also added a little salt and pepper to the bread. Plop a spoonful of sauce on the bottom of the sandwich and spread it up the sides a little bit. 

Once the meatballs are done, add them to the sandwich and then top them off with a few dolups of sauce. At this point, I used our pizza stone and put the sandwiches directly on that into the oven. I left them in there to toast for about 5 - 10 minutes. While they are baking, remember how I mentioned I don't waste the bread? I yank out the middle of each of the ends, put a little drop of sauce and pop a meatball into each! Little bread bites. Yum.

At this point - you're now ready to eat! Happy sandwich making!

Turkey Scallopini with Gravy & a sad attempt at scalloped potatoes

Sometimes things work out great when you're cooking and sometimes they don't. I think it's just as important to share the failures as it is the successes when you're in the kitchen. I also think it's kinda funny when you screw it up so bad it's inedible... this is what happened last night. I wanted to make turkey scallopini and scalloped potatoes. Not too difficult. The turkey turned out FANTASTIC! Will certainly be a staple recipe in our house moving forward. The potatoes - not so much. Here's the story of my unsuccessful scalloped potato attempt.

I started out like the recipe said, slice the potatoes, layer them in the dish and add a little flour mixed with salt in peper. I also added some diced onions to give an extra added layer of flavor. Mistake #1 - potatoes are not sliced thin enough.

The potatoes are in the pan, ready to go and...I forgot to add any liquid to the potatoes before I popped them in the oven. Yep. Mistake #2 Uncooked sliced potatoes in a casserole dish with onions, butter and no liquid = very not tasty at all. It doesn't end up tasting like a baked potato (which once I realized this, is what I was hoping for) since they weren't russet potatoes, it ends up like a bunch of dry potato goo.

So to try and remedy the situation, I added milk and baked for another 30 minutes. It helped but not enough. So on a last ditch effort, Matt tried to mash them and add some spices and bake for a little longer. This may have worked but now it's around 9pm (2 hours after we ate the turkey) and neither one of us is that interested. Mistake #3 Don't mash scalloped potatoes. Needless to say, we've got a bunch of inedible potato goo hanging out in the trash can.

Oh well. If you have a good recipe for easy (and no heavy cream needed) recipe, please send it my way!

Now on to the success - Turkey Scallopini! So tasty and so super easy. For how bad the potatoes were, the turkey was so good.

Skillet Turkey Scallopini (or Chicken if you prefer)
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound turkey breasts (or chicken breast) pounded thin
• Bread crumbs (I used the panko ones)
• 1/2 a medium sized onion, diced
• 1/2 packet of turkey gravy powder
• 1/4 stick of butter (optional)
• 1 cup Chicken stock
• 1/4 water
• salt and pepper to season chicken
• Olive oil for the pan

Steps:

1. Pound the chicken till its about 1/2 inch thick, dip it into the panko bread crumbs and season with salt and pepper. Set it aside.

2. Heat up your sauce pan with the oil and add the diced onions. Cook them till they are translucent and starting to caramelize. Move them out of the pan but not too far away, you'll need them again soon!

3. Add a bit more oil to your pan and place the turkey in. Don't touch it. Let it cook for at least 5 minutes so it starts to brown on the bottom. Then flip it over and don't touch it till it starts to brown again. Cook it until the meat is almost done.

4. Mix up the gravy on the site and pour over the meat, add the onions. And if its not thick enough, add the water.
5. Cook the meat and gravy till the meat is done. The gravy keeps the meet nice and juicy.
Serve that sucker up!

Another side anecdote
One of our kitchen cabinets never ever stays close (ghetto I know but you learn to live with it because you're too lazy to fix it) but last night I banged my head into it about 100 times so finally, I had to get it to stay closed... wah la! My genius invention - closed-door-ala-spoon!

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!

Polenta and Ground Beef

I don't cook a lot of beef. Honestly, I don't cook beef at all. I've spent most of my life not eating beef. One day when I was 7 my dad just stopped eating it, so my mom stopped cooking it and as a result I stopped as well. Recently over the past few years, I've picked it up again. Beef is really delicious. I don't think I could eat it every day but once a week is good.

Last night, I cooked ground beef. Yep. I sure did. I cooked it all by myself. Yay! Not really that hard... but if you've never cooked it before, it's ok to pat yourself on the back once in awhile. *pat pat pat*

It was a very simple recipe - I had some polenta lying around that I had been iching to cook as well. I love polenta - it's so easy to cook! It comes in a wonder tube that you just slice open and cut up! Yum!

Polenta and Ground Beef Lasagna-Casserole-Thing! HA! I need a better name - suggestions welcome.

Here's there recipe - very simple, not too terrible for you either (always an added benefit.)

Ingredients:
1 Shallot - (or you could use a small onion)
5 Garlic cloves - diced
8 Baby carrots - diced (or 1 large carrot)
1/2 cup Peas
1 pound Lean-ground beef
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 18 oz tube of polenta - cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup cheese - shredded cheese

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. In a frying pan, on medium heat, plop a little olive oil and add in the shallots, peas, carros and garlic. 3. Let that get a little soft then add the meat.
4. Cook the meat till it's no longer pink and add in the Worcestershire sauce and tomatoes
5. Let that cook for about 10 minutes till the sauce reduces and thickens
6. In a pan - I used a 6 x 12ish pan? You could probably use a 8x8 as well - 9x13 may be a bit big... either way in a pan, put about half of the meat mixture on the bottom, a layer of polenta with a little cheese, then the rest of the meat and top with the rest of the polenta and cover that sucker with cheese!

7. I baked mine for about 25 minutes - I wanted the cheese to get a little crispy then I let it cook for about 10 - 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

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/