Recipe Review: Creamy Black Bean Salsa Chicken

Here's part two in the recipe contest from Karen at 365 Days of Slow Cooking.

4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup salsa or picante sauce
1 cup frozen corn
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed (OR 2/3 cup dry beans soaked overnight and cooked on LOW for 6-8 hours in a separate slow cooker)
1 package taco seasoning (I used the whole package, but next time I'll probably only use about 3/4 of it)
1/2 cup sour cream
cornstarch and water
grated cheddar cheese
tortillas
Throw the frozen chicken in the slow cooker. Cover it with the broth, salsa, corn, beans, and taco seasoning. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours. Remove the chicken and either shred it or cut it up into bite size pieces. Take the lid off and stir in the sour cream. It will still be a little runny so take 1 T cornstarch mixed with 1 T water and stir it in. Add the chicken back in. Leave the lid off and let it thicken up for about a half hour. Spoon it over tortillas and sprinkle with cheese. You can also eat it like a thick soup with corn chips.
We ate it as a soup the first night, then as tacos the next day. Both were really yummy, but I still preferred the ribs. Check Karen's blog to get some more yummy ideas!

Sweet and Spicy Ribs

A long, long time ago my husband and I lived in the dingiest basement apartment in Provo. Seriously, it was so bad that I cried the day I moved in, and sang praises the day I moved out. The upshot of the deal was that we had a fun ward, although I had pretty much lost touch with everyone until just the other day.
I was on Today's Mama and saw this cute girl from our previous ward. Her name is Karen and she did this crazy project of cooking in her crockpot for a full 365 days (maybe you've heard of her?). Anyway, of course she had a blog to accompany her project, and it was wildly successful, and now she is a published cookbook author! Why is no one coming to me and asking me to write a book? Because I'm simply not as cool as Karen!!
But I digress.
So Karen is doing this fun thing on her blog to go with March Madness. She created a bracket for her 64 favorite slow cooker recipes and is having readers compare them and pass the winner along to the next round.
I am the lucky girl who got to try this yummy recipe for Sweet and Spicy Ribs. They were awesome! For sure the best ribs I've ever made. My kids and husband loved it too, although they were more interested in the fancy rolls I made to go with it.

The original recipe was enough to serve 10, so I cut it down to size for our family.

2 lbs. ribs (I used pork because they were way cheaper, but I'm sure beef is yummy too)
2 cups BBQ sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 Tbsp Cajun seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder

Stir together barbecue sauce, brown sugar, Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder in medium bowl. Remove 1/2 cup of mixture; refrigerate and reserve for dipping sauce. Place ribs in large slow cooker. Pour barbecue sauce mixture over ribs. Cover and cook on LOW 8 hours (high for 3.5 for me) or until meat is tender. Uncover; remove ribs. Skim fat from sauce and serve with reserved sauce. Serves 4.

One thing I both love and hate about using the slow cooker is how good your house smells while the food cooks. I almost always have to spend the afternoon outside away from the smell, or I end up snacking my heart out on junk food because my nose tells me I'm hungry! This recipe was definitely like that-- I could taste the tangy barbecue sauce in the air, my neighbor even commented on it!


I'm looking forward to trying out the competitor recipe, Creamy Black Bean Chicken. Monday, I think.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

When my daughter started full-day kindergarten this year, she kept getting headaches. After a few weeks of me trying to take care of it on my own, I took her into the doctor. It turned out she wasn't getting enough protein in her diet, particularly at breakfast before a big day of school. So, I morphed from being a "Get your Cocoa Puffs yourself" sort of mom to a "I lovingly prepare a hot breakfast for you each day (except weekends, when we gorge on Marshmallow Mateys)" sort of mom.
You know, it really hasn't been too bad. Her headaches went away almost immediately, and all in our family have had better health this winter than ever before. So, I really don't mind too much.
This pancake recipe is one of my favorites. The whole wheat flour makes them healthy, the buttermilk makes them light and fluffy, and the recipe makes a ton-- so I usually freeze the leftovers and we heat them up in the toaster on mornings when we're busy. I can usually get 3-4 breakfasts out of one batch of pancakes. Gotta love that!

Whole Wheat Pancakes

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups regular flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups buttermilk*
1/3 cup oil

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Combine eggs, buttermilk, and oil in another bowl. Then pour into the dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Pour 1/3 cup batter onto large greased skillet. Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, then flip. Cook some more till both sides are golden brown.
Serve with fruit, applesauce, syrup, chocolate chips, or powdered sugar.

*If you don't have buttermilk, don't worry. Pour 1/4 cup vinegar into a 4 cup glass measuring bowl. Add enough milk to equal 4 cups and let it sit for 5 minutes. It will turn into buttermilk for you!

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

Answer: To stay out of my freezer!

There was an amazing deal on chicken last week. It was only $1.28 per pound! But you had to buy 40 pounds to get this amazing deal, so I ended up with a TON of chicken in my freezer. I thought I'd share a few tips with you in regard to chicken.

1. Precook some of your chicken and store it 1-2 cups at a time in storage bags. This is great for recipes that call for already cooked, shredded chicken like casseroles, enchiladas, tacos, etc. When it's time to use it, you can get it out the night before and let it defrost in your freezer, or (if you're like me) you can get it out right before you need it and microwave it for a minute. Then add it to your recipe. Dinner just got 100 times easier!

2. A simple way to shred your precooked chicken is in your Bosch. I used my cookie paddles attachment and level 3 power--- and ended up with fabulously shredded chicken that took me 2 minutes!

3. Cut up some of your chicken before storing it. This comes in handy when you're making stir-fry meals because you won't have to waste time cubing the chicken first. Just defrost it like normal and add it to your recipe.

4. Add some marinade to your chicken before you store it. That way, it will have some yummy flavor once it's defrosted.
Here are some simple marinades:

Italian Chicken
Pour 1/3 cup Italian dressing in with 2-3 chicken breasts and store in a freezer bag.

Lime Fajitas (from MADE)
Juice from 2 limes
2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. cumin
optional: 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, or 2 tbsp. chopped jalapenos

Mix it all together and pour over 2-3 chicken breasts that have been cut thin, fajita syle. Store in a freezer bag.

Lemon Garlic Chicken (from Mel's Kitchen Cafe)
Juice of 1 lemon, approximately 3 tablespoons
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic, about 2 medium cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Mix it all together and pour over 1 pound chicken breasts and freeze.

White Christmas #3: Apple Pie

This is one that I made up because I had a tiny bit of white chocolate leftover after I dipped the Oreos. It was fabulous!

Cut an apple into sections and remove seeds. Dip in white chocolate, then sprinkle with a cinnamon/sugar mixture (like the kind you'd use for cinnamon toast). Voila! Your kids will think you're a super star, I promise!

White Christmas #2: Holiday Munch

This recipe was inspired by my favorite Monster Munch at Our Best Bites. I changed their recipe to reflect the Christmas season and loved the result!

Holiday Munch

12 cups popped popcorn (about 2 1/2 bags of microwave popcorn)
1 lb almond bark
2 cups M&Ms, in holiday colors
12 candy canes, wrappers removed and crushed finely

Combine the popcorn, M&Ms, and candy canes in a HUGE bowl. Melt the almond bark in the microwave, stirring after one minute, then again every 30 seconds. Pour over the popcorn mixture and stir till well coated. Lay on waxed paper to cool.

It's so hard to stop eating this! Good thing I already wrapped most of it up for my neighbors!

I'm Dreaming of a White (Chocolate) Christmas

My new philosophy is that everything is better when it's covered in chocolate. Over the next few days I'll share some favorite chocolate covered Christmas treats with you. What's awesome is that covering something in chocolate is DELICIOUS and EASY. You can do it start to finish in less than an hour.

 Start with quality ingredients:

1 bag of Oreos (yes, mine are the Great Value brand. No one will be able to tell that they're not the real thing). I didn't end up using the whole bag. Maybe 2/3 of it.

Red/green sprinkles

1 lb white chocolate (in the baking aisle. You could also use almond bark)

 Break the chocolate chunks into a bowl and microwave them. Do one minute, then stir. Then add 30 seconds, stir again. Keep going in 30 second intervals until it's nice and melted.

 Dunk your cookies in the white chocolate. Super messy. Super yummy.

 Add sprinkles for a holiday feel.

Do a taste test. So yummy! And so embarrassing if it's you that's got the crumbs all over yourself.

I found this idea from Callie at Make It Do

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Do you know how I do food storage? I buy what I like, when it's on sale. Which is why I have about 250 bags of chocolate chips in my pantry. Because although we may not have enough pinto beans to survive a year, we will definitely not starve. We will be trading our chocolate with all the practical people who stored real food.
Sometimes on Sunday afternoons I hear my chocolate chips beckoning to me. I have a favorite Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, but once in a while I like to mix it up. Last week I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, but they weren't really very good.
Today I tried these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from http://www.itwasamazing.blogspot.com/. They are fabulous! Most pumpkin cookies are really dense, but these are so light and fluffy-- almost like a mini cake. The girls loved helping out, especially licking the spoon. You should try it with your kids!

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup shortening

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 pinch ground nutmeg

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I probably did 1 1/2 cups)

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and pumpkin until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; stir into the pumpkin mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips. Stir in the walnuts if desired. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until edges begin to brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.