Crock Pot Rotisserie-Style Chicken

Here is another awesome recipe to add to the rotation.  I found this recipe here. My husband loved this recipe, which is a huge plus.  And it was SO easy.  Seriously prep time less than 10 minutes. 

Crock Pot Rotisserie-Style Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 (3.5-4.5lb) chicken
• 2 stalks celery, cut into 2″ pieces
• 1 onion, cut into 1-2″ pieces
• 2½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• ½ tsp garlic powder

Instructions

1. Place onion and celery on the bottom of your slow cooker. Remove and discard any giblets or neck from your chicken. In a small bowl, combine salt, paprika, pepper, thyme, and garlic powder. Rub spice mixture over chicken. Place chicken on top of the onion and celery.
2. Cover and cook chicken on high 5-6 hours or until very tender.

Notes

*You can prepare the chicken the night before and store it in the refrigerator. Then, all you need to do is turn on the slow-cooker the next day.

Honey Lime Chicken

It's only been like a year and a half since I've updated this blog.  But, we recently moved to a different state, so when doing this I quit my job and am now a stay at home mom.  Because of this, I'm trying really hard to cook more dinners and finally get to some of the recipes I've pinned on pinterest.  This is a recipe that I found through pinterest.  The name intrigued me, so I made it with a few changes.  The recipe came from here. (I marked my changes in RED).

Honey Lime Tilapia (Chicken)

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the fish (chicken) and marinade:

• 4 (4-5oz) tilapia fillets (thawed if frozen) (chicken obviously)
• Juice and zest of 1 lime
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1½ Tbsp honey
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• ¼ tsp garlic powder

For dredging and cooking: (I didn't dredge, we grilled on the bbq)

• ½c flour (I tried both white flour and whole wheat pastry flour with good results)
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. Assemble marinade by combining lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, honey, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a gallon-sized zip-top bag or shallow container with a lid. Add fish (chicken) and marinate in the refrigerator anywhere from 1 hour up to 24 hours*.
2. When ready to cook, combine flour with salt and pepper on a plate. Remove each fish fillet from the marinade and dredge lightly with the flour on both sides (just a light, light coating).
3. Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook fillets 2 at a time for 3-4 minutes per side or until opaque and browned (this works best if you don’t disturb the fish much while letting it cook).
4. Serve with lime wedges or peach salsa.

Notes

*If you want to plan this meal in advance, you can prepare the fish and marinade in a large freezer bag and keep it in the freezer. Move frozen fish and marinade to the refrigerator the morning you plan to serve the fish and allow it to thaw in the refrigerator. It will marinate while it thaws! 

Taco Bake

I got this recipe from my friend at work. It was super easy and really good. A good fast meal, that leaves tons of leftovers. The husband mentioned that it would be a really good meal to make if you need to take someone dinner that just had a baby, surgery, etc.

1 lb hamburger
1/2 c onion
1 envelope dry taco seasoning (I have a big container from Costco, so I did 1 T)
15 oz. tomato sauce (I only had 2 mall 8 oz. cans, so I actually did 16 oz.)
15 1/4 oz. can whole corn, drained
2 c. shredded cheese (I didn't even notice this in the meal, so you could cut it out to lose some calories)
2 c Bisquick
1 c milk
2 eggs

Heat oven to 350. Brown hamburger and chopped onion; drain. Spoon into ungreased 9x13 pan. Stir in taco seasoning, tomato sauce, and drained corn. Sprinkle with cheese. Stir Bisquick, milk, and eggs til blended. Pour over beef mixture. Bake for 35 minutes or until light golden brown. You can serve with sour cream, chopped tomatoes, and shredded lettuce. (We just ate it alone, and it was awesome!)

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I made this the other day. It was .R.E.A.L.L.Y. good! I will definitely be making it again.

Chicken Ingredients
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper
1 c cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c canola oil

Sauce Ingredients
3/4 c sugar
4 T ketchup
1/2 c vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1 t garlic salt

Directions
Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients together and pour over chicken. Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced - about 6-8 minutes.

Six Can Chicken Tortilla Soup

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It looked really good on this COLD April day (yes, I said April) and it seemed EASY! And it was...

1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
2 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth (*I did 1 can chicken broth and 1 can cream of chicken soup - made it creamier)
1 (10 oz) can chunk chicken
1 (15 oz) can black beans
1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chili peppers, drained (I only had stewed tomatoes, that I threw in the food processor and added a little can of diced green chilies.)

Pour everything into a large saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until chicken is heated through. Ready in 20 minutes!!! Serve over tortilla chips or just in a bowl with corn bread. Don't forget to add cheese or sour cream also.

*I also added some chili powder, garlic powder, pepper, salt, and a little taco seasoning. Just add whatever spices you want. It is SUPER good...and probably would be fine, if you freezed it.

Brown Sugar Spiced Pork Loin

*Makes about 2 1/2 pounds of pork tenderloin, enough to serve 8-10 adults*

Rub Ingredients:
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 pork tenderloins (2 1/2 lb. total), each tenderloin cut into two chunks
2 tablespoons olive oil

Glaze ingredients:
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon tabasco sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and cinnamon, then coat the pork with the spice rub. Heat the oil in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet that is ovenproof (I used my cast iron skillet) over medium high heat until the oil is hot and rippling. Brown the pork, turning, about 4 minutes total. Leave pork in the skillet.

Stir together the brown sugar, garlic, and Tabasco and pat on top of each tenderloin. Roast in the middle of the oven until a thermometer inserted diagonally in center of each tenderloin registers 140, about 25 minutes. Let pork stand in the skillet at room temperature for 10 minutes. The temperature will rise to about 155 while standing.

Crock Pot Lemon Garlic Chicken

I found this here. I love me some crockpot meals, and this looks excellent.

Crock Pot Lemon Garlic Chicken
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 chicken breasts
2 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp chicken bouillon
Combine oregano, salt, and pepper. Rub onto chicken. Brown chicken in butter
on both sides. Place in crock pot. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over.
Cool on LOW for about 4 hours. (Mine was done in 3 hours.)

Sweet & Tangy Meatballs

These look amazing! I'm going to try them this week...I bought the meatballs today. I'll post the recipe and my "vote" after I make them. :)

Corn Flake Baked Chicken

This was okay, but we decided that it needed some sort of sauce/gravy with it. So next time we make it, we will make some sort of sauce with it, because the chicken was pretty dry.

1 c. milk
1 c. mayonnaise
2 c. crushed corn flakes
pinch chopped garlic
1 t. italian seasoning
boneless chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix milk & mayonnaise together. Then mix crushed corn flakes, garlic, and italian seasoning all on a plate. Dip 6 boneless in milk mixture, then roll in corn flake mixture. Bake in a greased or buttered pan until chicken is tender but thoroughly cooked, about 30-45 minutes. Serves 6.

Cafe Rio Pork

If you live in Utah or have been to Utah, you KNOW Cafe Rio pork. This is a GREAT recipe. I am going to start making it every couple weeks and freezing some. We've now eaten all the stuff we had in the freezer, by eating them on nachos and also just in tortillas. It is SOOOO good! Great sweet pork! I found the recipe here.

2 pounds pork

3 cans Coke (NOT diet)

1/4 c. brown sugar

dash garlic salt

1/4 c. water

1 can sliced green chilies

3/4 can enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness but any will work)

1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry) or on low for 8 hours.

Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.

Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!

Aloha Pork Chops

These were amazing!!! We LOVED them. The recipe calls for the crushed pineapple, but I added some sliced pineapple too. SO yummy!! Plan to make these when you aren't going to be around the house, because they make your house smell SOOOO yummy, you won't be able to be around without wanting to dip in.

4-5 boneless pork chops
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced **(I used a whole green pepper)
1 medium chopped onion
20 oz. crushed pineapple **(I also added a couple sliced pineapple slices)
18 oz. honey-mustard barbeque sauce **(I couldn't find honey MUSTARD, so I just used Honey BBQ sauce. And I just poured almost the whole bottle in)

Place pork chops in greased crock pot. Sprinkle bell pepper and onion over meat. Spread drained pineapple over top. Pour barbeque sauce evenly over pineapple. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Cut meat into chunks **(we just ate whole porkchops). Makes 4-6 servings. Serve over hot cooked brown rice.

Pineapple Pork Chops and Rice

This was a pretty easy recipe. Wasn't as good as it looked. I think that the rice didn't turn out exactly right, but it was really good. I will definitely try it again though.

Sprinkle 4-6 1/4" thick pork chops with salt and pepper. Brown well on both sides in 2T. butter; add 1 8oz. can crushed pineapple with syrup. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Move chops to one side. Add 1c. water and 3/4t. salt in the skillet. Bring to a boil and add 1 1/2c. Minute Rice. Cook until rice has absorbed liquid.

Baked Mac N' Cheese

Tonight for dinner we made this Baked Mac N' Cheese and it was EXCELLENT! Glen absolutely loved it, so I guess I'll have to make it a lot more often. I found this recipe on my mom's student teachers recipe blog here. The only change we did, was adding italian bread crumbs on top of the cheese before putting it in the oven. Glen really likes it when it's crispy, so it was a good addition. E.N.J.O.Y.

BAKED MAC N' CHEESE

2 slices of bacon (optional)
8 ounces penne pasta (or pasta of your choice)
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta and drain when done. In the mean time (if making it with bacon), place bacon in a large, skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.In the skillet, saute the chopped onion, and minced garlic. Take off heat and add chopped cooked bacon and set aside. In the mean time (to make the sauce), in a medium saucepan melt the butter or margarine over low heat. Once melted, add the flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Gradually add milk and continue stirring until thickened. Stir in 2 cups of the grated cheddar cheese and stir until melted. Combine everything except 1 cup of cheese. Pour into a 2 quart (square) casserole dish. Add the last cup of grated cheddar cheese to top of mixture. Bake uncovered until cheese on top is melted and brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.

**Thanks Lindsey!!**

Parmesan Chicken

This is a recipe I made a long time ago, and should definitely make again. Only problem is I never just have plain yogurt laying around and I'm trying to get better at not shopping everyday for dinner that same night.

8 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 c. Plain Yogurt
2 c. Ritz crackers
1 T. Parmesan Cheese
1 T. Garlic Salt
1 t. salt

Roll chicken breasts in yogurt. Crush crackers and mix with remaining ingredients. Roll chicken in cracker mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Noodle Casserole

This was a very easy recipe. I had the ground beef already browned before I went to work. Came home and had everything mixed and in the oven within about 10 minutes (the noodles only take 5-7 minutes to cook). This is a lot better than it looks (or sounds).

12 oz. egg noodles
1 lb. ground beef
1 can corn
1 can tomato soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Cook and drain noodles. Brown 1 lb. ground beef with chopped onions. Add corn, tomato soup, and cream of mushroom soup. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

*One thing that I would change next time is to put some cheese on right at the end.*

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

I did so good at cooking this week. On Monday I made this chicken pot pie, because I had everything already at home (that doesn't happen very often) and I had a couple leftover refrigerator biscuits I needed to use. I used some different veggies than I was used to in pot pie, but it was still good.

1 lb pkg frozen mixed veggies
1 c cooked cut-up chicken
1 can cream of chicken

Mix above items altogether in ungreased 2 quart casserole dish.

1 c Bisquick
1/2 c milk
1 egg

Stir above items with a fork until blended. Pour into casserole. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. (Serves 6)

Creamy Black Bean Salsa Chicken

This week I have been trying to be better at cooking dinner. This was a recipe that my friend had in a cookbook she gave me. It was SO good, Glen loved it.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 c. chicken broth

1 c. salsa

10 oz. corn, drained

15 oz. black beans, drained

1 pkg taco seasoning

1/2 sour cream

1 c. grated cheddar cheese

Place chicken in greased crock pot. Pour broth, salsa, corn, beans, and taco seasoning

over chicken. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove chicken. Stir sour cream and

cheese into sauce in slow cooker, then pour over chicken. Serves 4. Serve with

warm flour tortillas and spanish rice.

...not exactly the most appetizing picture, but it tastes good...

These really were SO easy and so good. We ate the leftovers tonight for dinner. I just shredded

the chicken and we threw them on top of chips for nachos! AMAZING!!!

Chicken Enchiladas

One thing I have mastered and love to make is my mom's chicken enchiladas. They are really easy to double the recipe also, and you can freeze the other one. Just make sure that your freezer works before you stick it in there though (long story). This is REALLY easy (obviously, because I can make it) and can be made as spicy or not spicy as you'd like.

Chicken - I only use like 2-3 chicken breasts
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
1 c. Sour Cream
1 can chopped Green Chilis (opt)
1 doz. Tortillas

Boil chicken in a pan of water with salt, pepper, and an onion (I usually just boil the chicken...I don't worry about the other stuff). Cook til done. Remove from heat and shred. Mix sour cream, soup, chilis, and small amout of cheese. Remove about 2/3 cup for the top. Spread a small amount of sauce on bottom of greasted 9x13 pan. Add chicken to the rest of the sauce. Layer tortillas, sauce, and more cheese in pan. End with tortillas. Or you can roll the tortillas with the sauce inside. Spread reserved sauce on top, then end with more cheese. Bake in 350* for about 45 minutes, until bubbly. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.