Baked Chimichangas with Green Sauce

I got this recipe from Six Sister's Stuff and they were so yummy.  We all loved them.  It made a lot of sauce and I ended up freezing what was left of it (hopefully it works out) so I can use it on chimichangas or enchiladas another time.  I also just used whatever cheese we had on hand, which I think was mostly cheddar.

Ingredients:

2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans diced green chiles
5 pitted green olives (I didn't use these)
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 T fresh lime juice
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1 8 oz package shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 package taco seasoning
1 lb cooked, shredded chicken
8 flour tortillas
1 8 oz package sharp Cheddar cheese
chopped green onion
sour cream

Pour the cream of chicken soup into a blender, along with the green chiles, olives, jalapeno and lime juice.  Puree until smooth and pour into a saucepan over medium-low heat to keep warm.

In a large bowl stir together cream cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and taco seasoning until well blended.  Fold in the chicken and divide among 8 tortillas.  Fold each tortilla into a rectangular packet around the filling.

Place all chimichangas into a greased 9x13 pan.  Brush all sides of chimichangas with olive or canola oil.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, turn chimichangas over, and bake 15 minutes more.

To serve, place chimichanga on a plate and top with cheddar cheese, green onions and sour cream (and anything else you might want to add, like tomatoes).

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Mmmm this was really good and it made a lot, so leftovers can be frozen!

Ingredients:

1 boneless pork shoulder 4-5 lbs
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 T canola or vegetable oil
1 cup apple cider vinegar
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 T liquid smoke
hamburger buns (I made these french bread rolls)
coleslaw (optional; I don't like it so I didn't use any)

Heat a large skillet or saute pan over med-high heat.  Cut the pork into 2 or 3 big pieces and season with salt and pepper.  Add the oil to the pan and when hot, sear the pieces of pork until thoroughly browned on the outside.  Remove the pork and place in a slow cooker.

Add the vinegar to the hot pan and deglaze, scraping any bits of browned meat stuck to the bottom.  Pour vinegar over the pork, then add the broth and liquid smoke.  Set the slow cooker to high and cook for 4 hours, until the pork falls apart with gentle pressure.  Remove the pork from the liquid and shred.  Toss with a bit more vinegar and serve on top of warm buns with coleslaw.

*Note: I also added a little bbq sauce to my sandwich because, well, I love it and to add a little more juiciness.

Healthier Egg McMuffins

I honestly can't remember where I got this recipe from.  I think I might have Googled "cook this not that recipes" and got it off one of the sites that came up.  Either way, this is delicious!  Definitely a good breakfast sandwich, or great for lunch or dinner too.

Ingredients:

1 English muffin, toasted
1 slice of cheese
1 egg, scrambled or fried or however you like it
sliced turkey deli meat
1-2 slices of tomato
avocado slices or guacamole

While the egg is cooking, toast English muffin.  When done toasting, put slice of cheese on so it can melt a little, then put egg on top of that.  Top with turkey, tomato and avocado/guacamole and eat!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

I forgot to take a picture of these; they were just too good!  So I'll direct you to Tried and Tasty for the pic.  We took these to a friend's house and they loved them too.  I could have just eaten and eaten them.  The amount of lemon is perfect and they stay soft and chewy.  I made them two days ago and just ate the last of them today and they were still pretty good!

Ingredients:

½ c butter, softened
1 c granulated sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking powder
⅛ tsp baking soda
1-½ c all-purpose flour
½ c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non stick cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte (not melty or shiny). Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. 

The Ultimate BLT

I got this recipe from Tried and Tasty.  It's from the Cook This, Not That cookbook and I made it for Derek the other day.  He gave it a thumbs up!  I really wanted to try one too, but we were out of tomatoes, so I'll have to have one another day.

2 slices 7-grain sourdough bread (I used honey whole wheat), lightly toasted
1 egg
handful of arugula (or any kind of lettuce you have on hand)
2 thick slices of tomato
4 strips of bacon, cooked (I used 2, though I'm sure Derek would have loved to have more meat!)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Coat with olive oil cooking spray and add the egg.  Cook sunny side up until the white is set but the yolk is runny (I ended up doing it more like a fried egg because I flipped it to cook on both sides, but the yolk was still runny).  Line the bottom half of the bread with the arugula, followed by the tomato slices and bacon.  Set the egg carefully on top and season with salt and pepper.  Top with second slice of bread.

Calories: 450
Fat: 20 grams (6 grams saturated)
Sodium: 840 mg

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Oh my, these were so good.  Thank you Our Best Bites for having such great recipes.

Ingredients:

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas (and actually, flour ones are really good as well)
kosher salt
cooking spray

Directions:

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges and roll up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

I mixed ranch dressing with a little salsa verde, lime juice and cilantro to dip these in, but if you keep the dipping sauce out of it I think these are actually pretty healthy since they're baked instead of fried!

Cream Cheese Chicken

This was quite tasty.  Derek really liked it, enough to eat it with the pasta!

Ingredients:

1 can cream-of-something soup (I used chicken)
frozen chicken (enough to feed 4)
2 T Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp celery seed (I had celery salt, so I just omitted the salt the recipe called for)
1 T onion powder
1 T sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
2 cloves minced garlic
8 oz cream cheese (to add later)

Put everything except the cream cheese in the crockpot.  Cook on low for 6 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and begins to shred.  Shred the chicken with two large forks and mix in the cream cheese.  Switch the crockpot to high and cook for another 30 minutes or until fully melted.  Serve over pasta or rice.

Chicken Koorma

Oh my, this was yummy!  Although most people don't like the way curry flavored dishes make their house smell, I do.  And my house has smelled like curry all day!  The flavors are kind of strong, but if you like Indian-type food, this is a great dish.  I only used 2 average-sized chicken breasts and it made quite a bit.  It would easily serve 4 people.  I also didn't have a cinnamon stick so I sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon in it and it tasted great to me.  Recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking.

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken cut into chunks (mine was frozen, so I cut it up about an hour before serving)
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 large onion, coarsely chopped (I'm not a huge onion fan, so I used about half a small one and it was fine for me)
1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes and juice (I only had diced tomatoes w/ chipotle so I put about half the can in.  Derek doesn't really like cooked tomatoes anyway, so it was a good compromise.)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt
1 cinnamon stick (or a sprinkling of cinnamon)
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (to add later)
white or brown rice for serving

Use a 4-quart slow cooker.  Put the chicken in the bottom of the pot.  Add potato and onion.  Pour in the tomatoes and add garlic and all spices.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4.  Discard the cinnamon stick and stir in the sour cream or yogurt.  Serve over rice.

This would also be really good with naan or pita bread.

Korean Ribs

This was my crockpot recipe for Thursday.  They turned out really good!  They were flavorful, tender and juicy. If you want any heat to it, and I think I'll try this next time, try dicing one of the jalapeños and mixing it in with everything.  It's up to you if you want to keep the seeds in or take them out (keeping them in would make it quite spicy).  The recipe is from A Year of Slow Cooking.

Ingredients:

package of beef or pork ribs (I used pork)
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
5-10 whole jalapeño peppers (I used 6 and next time I'll probably up it to 8)
1/2 cup water

Put the ribs (frozen or thawed) in the crockpot.  Add the soy sauce, brown sugar and water on top and put the WHOLE jalapeños on top of everything.  Cook on low for 8 hours (you may need an extra hour if you start with frozen ribs).

Pineapple Salsa Chicken

I'm babysitting a cute baby girl every Monday and Thursday this semester, so I've decided that those will be my crockpot days.  I found a bunch of new recipes here that I'll be trying.  Today's recipe, however, is from Mel's Kitchen Cafe (formerly known as My Kitchen Cafe).  I love this site.  Her food always looks so yummy.

Anyways, this was very good.  I only had pineapple chunks, so I used that instead of the crushed pineapple.  I think it would have tasted more pineapple-y if I used crushed, but if you're looking for just a hint of pineapple flavor, go with the chunks.  Or rings cut into chunks.

Ingredients (directly quoted from the website):

6 fresh or frozen chicken breasts
1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can white beans, like Great Northern, rinsed and drained
2 cups mild or medium salsa

Tortillas or tortilla chips and garnishes, like sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, etc.

Place the chicken in the crock pot and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Using tongs, remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred into bite-size pieces. Mix the chicken back in with the rest of the ingredients. The mixture will be fairly soupy – I like to drain off some of the excess liquid before serving, especially if we are eating it in tortillas, so it doesn’t make everything soggy. Serve with tortilla chips and garnishes, like tomatoes, cheese, avocado, sour cream, etc.

*Freezable Option: I freeze the leftovers in freezer-safe ziploc bags and either place the frozen portion in my crockpot for a few hours the day I want to serve it or thaw the night before in the refrigerator and reheat on low in a saucepan.