This meal makes enough for a small country. Adam and I had two big bowls and I am freezing the rest. Freezer “take-out” is my kind of take-out. Total hands-on time for this dish was less than 10 minutes. The hardest part was not slicing my finger on the top of the cans. I failed at that. If you fail at that, beware of the lime juice later. Ouchie.
Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Chili
Ingredients:
3 whole chicken breasts, frozen or fresh
3 (15 oz) cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 (15 oz) cans whole corn, undrained
2 (10 oz) cans Rotel, undrained
2 (1 oz) packets Ranch dressing mix
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese or Neufchâtel
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
Garnish:
Tortilla Chips
Limes
Cheddar Cheese
Lime
Hot Sauce (If you’re feeling really saucy)
Instructions:
Place the chicken in the bottom of a large crock pot. Add the beans, corn, Rotel, Ranch dressing mix, onion, garlic, crushed red pepper, cumin. Stir together.
Add the cream cheese on top and put the lid on.
Turn the crockpot to low and cook for 6-8 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through. (Or do it on high, about 4-6 hours.)
Remove the chicken and shred with 2 forks – it may be tender enough to mix all the ingredients and shred the chicken in one motion!
Use a spoon to stir in the shredded chicken and the cream cheese (which should be melted).
Turn off the heat and stir in the chopped cilantro.
Serve with tortilla chips, lime juice, avocado, sour cream, and shredded cheddar cheese. You can also serve this as a dip with tortilla chips.
I told you… I’m going to get mercury poisoning. But, salmon was on sale and I got a huge piece that I broke up. One thing Adam will never complain about is back-to-back salmon nights. If back-to-back steak nights aren’t available.
Which… living in this landing spot townhouse, while we build, we don’t have a grill. I MISS STEAK. Warning… I’m going to have a whole week of steak posts as soon as we move into our house.
And yes… I realize I haven’t shared that yet. We’re building a house!! Is that not the most grown-up thing you’ve ever heard? I mean, I had no idea there were so many colors of grout, versions of the color grey, beige, white. We should be in by October – so until then, I won’t be grilling… since I have no grill. I pretty much live in third world country.
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill, plus sprigs for serving
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 filets of salmon
Lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine yogurt, mustard, dill, and parsley; season with salt and pepper. Place salmon, skin side down, on a rimmed baking sheet. Spread yogurt mixture on salmon.
Roast until opaque throughout, 15 to 20 minutes (8 minutes for fillets). Sprinkle with dill sprigs and serve warm or at room temperature with lemon wedges.
Notes
I roasted some asparagus as I was cooking the salmon (just with olive oil, fresh ground pepper and kosher salt), and some quartered new potatoes (with olive oil, Costco’s no salt seasoning, and kosher salt)
So hopefully summer is in full effect wherever you are. During the summer months, I often feel like I’m going to give Jeremy Piven a run for his money in the mercury poisoning department. I just CAN’T STOP with the seafood for dinner on these hot nights. And when you add the light and bright ingredients of tomato, basil and burrata it’s game over.
This dish is really just a way for me to make another version of my favorite salad, but it’s like a great article of clothing. If you love it, buy it in every color. Kind of like I did with Express’s editor pants in college. Literally… every. single. color.
When I was in high school, I LOVED General Tso’s chicken so much. During one summer of lifeguarding, I ate it almost daily. I thought since it was chicken, it was healthy. Well, let’s just say that by the end of the summer that swimsuit was a hell of a lot tighter than it was on Memorial Day. ”If you can’t tone it, tan it,” was in full effect. Since then, thank goodness I learned the error of my ways, but that does not make my love for take-out Chinese any less strong. So, I’m constantly on the search for fake-out take-out that’s not going to put me in a moo-moo by summer’s end.
I found these Seasame-Soy meatballs on Cooking Light, and then I twisted them up a bit and added some new sides that were delish.
Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl. Add beef; mix gently to combine. With moist hands, shape beef mixture into 20 (1½-inch) meatballs.
Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs to pan; cook 4 minutes, turning to brown meatballs on all sides. Arrange browned meatballs in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining meatballs.
Bake meatballs at 400° for 7 minutes or until done.
Notes
Saute some bok choy in Trader’s Joe’s Soyaki sauce and chili paste until tender crisp (drizzle sauté sauce on meatballs and quinoa). Cook quinoa according to package directions – I recommend using chicken broth instead of water.
I’m pretty sure if you add “buffalo” to anything, my mouth is going to start watering like a lunatic. Since I’ve been an incredible slacker when it comes to sharing recipes and life here… so much for resolutions… I thought I’d come back strong with these little bitties. This dish is ready in 45 mins start to finish and you get to get your hands a little dirty. Remember, you can adjust the ratios for the sauce according to your love for buffalo sauce. Which, if we’re going to continue to be friends… should be strong.
Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with non-stick spray. Pour enchilada sauce in a bowl and begin by whisking in ½ cup buffalo wing sauce. Set aside.
Add shredded chicken to a bowl with ½ cup shredded cheese. Pour in about a ½ cup of enchilada/buffalo sauce mixture and mix thoroughly. Stir until mixture comes together.
Pour a drizzle of enchilada/buffalo sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Take each tortilla and fill it with a few heaping tablespoons of the chicken mixture. Roll each up and set it in the baking dish, seam side down. Pour another ½ cup or more of enchilada/buffalo sauce on top of tortillas and add remaining shredded cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Immediately after taking enchiladas out of the oven, add crumbled gorgonzola on top. Garnish with the green onions and cilantro and serve.
So, I’ve got to admit, now that I’ve joined society and am no longer working from home, putting together meals that take longer than about 45 mins (start to finish) gets a little tricky. However, I’m still bound and determined to put healthy, yummy meals on the table at least 4 nights a week. In honor of this new chapter (and cooking learning curve), I’m starting a new series – “MM” aka Minute Meals. I’ll be adding “30MM” 0r “45MM” to recipes that are under 1 hour, from start to finish. Remember, the right side bar has all kinds of categories in case you’re looking for something specific. You’ll also now find “30MM” and “45MM” – so if you’ve got tighter timelines, you can hop in there and check out some great quickies. (Side note: Did that make you think of inappropriate things? My mind is always in the gutter.)
Geez Court, GET ON WITH THE MEAL. 30MM, 3 hour long story. Story. Of. My. Life.
Ya’ll, we’ve officially been Austin residents for three weeks. My how time flies when you’re eating BBQ. I thought I’d take the southern food festival down a notch and fix up something fresh. These California Greek Chicken Bowls are delish and can be customized. Hopefully my version will give you a good launching point to create your own:
2 cups roasted chicken (I pull the white meat off a grocery store prepared/roasted chicken)
½ red onion, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 avocado, mashed
1 zucchini, sliced
¼ 15oz. can of black beans
10 halved cherry tomatoes
feta cheese (for topping)
Instructions
Bring chicken broth to a boil.
Add quinoa, bring back up to boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and let simmer 12 minutes – or until the chicken broth has been soaked-up completely.
In the meantime, sauté onion, pepper and zucchini in a pan with a small bit of olive oil until tender crisp, about 5 minutes
Warm black beans in the microwave 30 seconds-1 minute.
Once the quinoa is ready build bowl:
Notes
Layer 1: Quinoa Layer 2: Peppers, Onion, Zucchini, black beans, avocado Layer 3: Chicken and tomatoes Layer 4: Feta Cheese
Have you ever heard the saying, “The things you own, end up owning you”? I heard that once from one of my Southern California hippie friends who shared a studio apartment and had lawn chairs for furniture. I might have looked down my nose at that comment a few days ago, but I suddenly understand it all. After these last two weeks, I have understood so clearly the pros of only having a lawn chair couch and a dream. You guys, WE HAVE SO MUCH F’N STUFF. We’re close to the end, but we have been unpacking, organizing, setting-up for daaaaaaaaays.
I’m finally in a place where I can take a few moments to make some dinner and share the ridiculousness of my life with you (albeit, dinner was eaten on TV trays surrounded by packing paper and boxes). But regardless, it’s good to be back in the saddle. I wanted to share a recipe I made right before we left San Diego when we had a few friends over. It was bright and super flavorful. A perfect Friday evening meal with your lova or your favorite ‘Bachelor’-watching gal pal.
1 T chicken stock concentrate (located next to the broth in the grocery store)
2 T capers, drained
3 T parsley, finely chopped and divided
Instructions
Heat oven to 180 degrees
Juice one whole lemon, reserving juice. Cut the second lemon from pole to pole and cut off the end pieces. Fruit side down, slice ONE lemon half into very slender slices, reserve. Use the other cut half for additional juice to make ¼ cup of fresh lemon juice or plate garnish.
Butterfly each chicken breast into two pieces, then cut each piece in half. Pound chicken to about ½ inch thick. Dry chicken thoroughly with paper towels. Salt and pepper both sides lightly.
In a large skillet, add 2 Tbsp oil and 2 Tbsp butter. Heat to medium high. Dredge chicken pieces in panko bread crumbs or flour. Fry half the chicken pieces until browned, about 2 minutes. Flip chicken pieces and brown on the other side for an additional few minutes until they are cooked through. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp oil and 2 Tbsp butter for the second batch of chicken and repeat. Plate the pieces as they cook, wrap with foil and keep in a warm oven. NOTE: If chicken is browning too quickly, reduce heat to avoid burning.
While chicken stays warm in oven, add the shallots to the skillet. If more butter is needed to sautee the shallots, feel free to add a bit. Stir quickly for about a minute until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and stir for another 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the chicken broth, stock concentrate, lemon juice and lemon slices. Bring liquid to a simmer and continue simmering until the broth reduces to about 1½ cups – around 10 minutes. Add the capers and parsley to the stock, then add 3 TBS of the remaining butter and swirl the pan off the heat until the butter is melted. Plate the chicken and ladle the sauce on top. Sprinkle with a bit of leftover parsley if you wish.
Notes
You can certainly add some noodles on the side. We did and paired it with a lovely little salad to resist the urge to carb overload.
Happy New Year! I hope your new year is off to a great start. I’m sorry I’ve been out of touch for so long, but I’ve been working on something big that’s been taking up allllll my time. Drumroll….
I got a new job and Adam and I are in the process of packing up our lives and moving to Austin, Tx! I could not be more excited for this new chapter, but I must say leaving my old company, with which I’ve worked for over eight years has been very bittersweet. So… we have a couple more days here in San Diego, surrounded by boxes and I thought I’d take the opportunity to put together my list of 14 in 14… 14 things I want to do in 2014. I think rather than making one big resolution, I’ll try to accomplish 14 things – some big, some small – but all list worthy. So…
Start a new job
Move to Austin, TX
Blog at least 3x a week (I mean, c’mon.)
Talk to my mom on the phone every other day
Plan a BIG international travel trip
Get Gidget groomed more regularly (gurl be lookin’ ridic sometimes…)
Go skydiving
Begin the home buying process
Make a new best friend at work
Go FULL Paleo for one month
Go to a food blogger/healthy living conference
Go hiking/Barton Springs-ing with Adam
SECRET (I gotta have a couple of these)
SECRET (for reallllll)
I have a bunch of yummy recipes to share that I’ll post on my road trip out to Austin in a couple days. Send good thoughts and please share any spots I should look at stopping on my way out from San Diego to Austin!
This salad, oh em geeee, this salad. Not only does it go perfectly with my Christmas-themed tablescape (weirdo-alert), but it is packed full of everything you need, as well as some of my favorite ingredients. We’ve got a superfood, healthy carbs, fresh veggies, calcium, protein and flavor for days. This would be a great lunch, light dinner OR you could pair it with a small skirt steak (like we did tonight) for an extra punch of protein.
You could probably do this with regular mozzarella, but then you’ll miss the creamy goodness that burrata provides. If you’ve never had burrata before – it’s a fresh mozzerella with a mix of cream and mozzerella in the middle. It’s like what Maya says, “When you know better, you do better.” So now that you know better… try some burrata. Continue reading “Tomato Burrata Quinoa & Basil Salad”
So, I’m insane and this weekend I spent the better part of Sunday decorating the house for… (wait for it)… Christmas. Yep. I just love how festive and cozy the house feels with all the little lights, the tree, the candles… the smells. I go back to the East Coast for work and family so early in December that I feel like I deserve the extra couple weeks on the front end, since I’m going to miss out at the end of December. Naw’ Mean? Continue reading “Christmas in November?”
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