Shredded Salsa Chicken

My husband and I are serious DIY house project folks. We've done a LOT of projects in our home and are still working on finishing a few things off. Today my amazing husband powered out the last bit of tiling we needed to do in the kitchen. We had a patch of backsplash that had been just painted, and now it's covered in lovely white subway tiles! Yay husband! As awesome as house projects are, kitchen projects tend to leave you sans fully functional kitchen for some lengths of time. Today I cooked in a corner just the size of my Crockpot. 

This is a super easy Crockpot recipe, great for dinner and perfect for cooking ahead for weekday lunches. This chicken makes great tacos, burritos, and salads. I'll be eating this for lunch salads most of next week.

Shredded Salsa Chicken
Makes 6 servings

For the Chicken
4 chicken breasts
1 cup salsa (I used mild this time so my toddler will eat it)
1 15oz can black beans
1 cup frozen corn kernals
1 tablespoon oil
Salt and Pepper 

For toppings
Sour cream
Chopped red onion
Chopped cilantro
Avocados
Salsa

Place chicken and 1 cup of salsa in a crockpot. Cook on high for 2 hours. Turn down to low and cook 1 more hour.

When the chicken is 20 minutes shy of done, drain and rinse a can of black beans and set aside. Heat a pan to very hot and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add corn kernels to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Cook until lightly charred. 

Add corn and black beans to the chicken and cook for the last 20 minutes. Shred chicken with forks and enjoy in tacos, burritos or on salad! I like to top my salad with sour cream, chopped onions, avocado slices, cilantro, more salsa and some hot sauce. Delicious!

Things made this time last year...
Dutch Baby

Chicken Cacciatore

Lightened Up Crockpot Stroganoff

When my brother and I were little, our dad lived on a boat. It wasn't a huge boat, but it was an awesome boat! We went back and forth to the Channel Islands. We jumped off the top of it, gauging the swells as they rocked the boat back and forth. We watched Police Academy movies, versions 1 through 197. We listened to gulls, we watched the fog roll in, we played cards and we ate stroganoff. 

Stroganoff was about all my dad cooked, and he made it from a Hamburger Helper box, and he called it Pop Slop, but we loved it. I've been making several non-box versions of stroganoff for years, but this one is particularly good. And it's a lot lighter than a lot of other recipes, but keeps all of the creamy, rich sauce - the best part of the meal!

Lightened Up Crockpot Stroganoff - adapted from years of practice and Cooking Light
Prep time - 20 minutes. Cooking time - 7 hours
Serves 4-6

1 pound bottom round steak sliced thin (I found meat sliced for Carne Asada works great and it's already sliced thin)
1 cup chopped onion
12 ounces chopped mushrooms, about 3 cups
1/4 cup chopped parsley, plus more for garnishing
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cups liquid - I use a combination of red wine and beef stock
1/2 cup sour cream
1 pound cooked egg noodles

Slice meat, mushrooms, onions, parsley and garlic. Add everything to the crockpot. 




In a small bowl mix liquids (if you don't want to use wine, just use more liquid) and mustard. Pour over the meat and veggie mixture and sprinkle on dried dill, salt, pepper and flour. 

Stir everything to combine.

Cook on low heat for 7 hours. Turn off the crockpot and let the meat mixture sit for 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream and more salt, pepper and parsley if needed.

Serve over hot cooked egg noodles and enjoy!

This is another great recipe for cooking ahead on weekends to prep for busy work weeks. I love being able to start a meal before lunch, enjoy the day and have a nice meal ready in the evening!

My tiny gentleman loved this meal too. He's a good eater as it is, but rich and creamy noodles is totally his thing. 

Things made this time last year…
Faux Pho

Homemade Chewy Granola Bars

Zucchini Chips with Dill Tzatziki

Crockpot Thai Chicken with Jicama and Mango Salad

I really like the woman who does my hair. We have great conversations about being moms, about how to keep it all together, how to stay sane (she's better at this than me) and we talk about food. All the while she does a lovely job on my hair! The last time I went in she mentioned this crockpot meal she loves, and I had to get the recipe! 

I made a few little tweaks in quantities, but mostly stuck the original. This came together really quickly - even for a crockpot meal. Just over 3 hours start to finish. We ate this with coconut rice, cucumber salad and a new jicama and mango salad I'd been working on. It was all delicious, warm, easy, and served 4 grown ups, with 3 extra little meals. 

Crockpot Thai Chicken - from MMM...Cafe
Serves 4-6
3 hours in the crockpot on low

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup hot salsa (the picture shows medium, but I used hot.)
1/4 cup peanut butter
Juice of 2 limes - about 1/4 cup 
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 cloves minced garlic
1 inch of fresh grated ginger
1 cup coconut milk - added later
Cilantro and Sriracha to serve

Place chicken breasts in the crockpot. In a small bowl whisk together salsa through ginger. Pour salsa mixture ontop of chicken and set the crockpot to cook on low for three hours. Walk away and enjoy the day.

When chicken is cooked and easily shredded, add in 1 cup of coconut milk and let it warm for 20 minutes. 

Jicama and Mango Salad

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced jicama
1 mango thinly sliced (or if you're me, hacked apart - mango, why do you have to be so difficult??)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro 
1 serano chilli seeded and minced
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Juice of 1 lime, about 2 tablespoons

Slice jicama, mango and red onion. Chop cilantro, serano and garlic. Mix together gently, trying to keep the jicama and mango from breaking up too much. Pour over lime juice and sesame oil. I let this rest in the refrigerator for about 2 hours before serving it. Just before serving, add the sesame seeds. It was tangy, delicious, a tad bit sweet, and super refreshing with the rich chicken and coconut rice.

A few things about this recipe...
The chicken was NOT spicy. I think hot salsa was perfect and then we added Sriracha to our tastes.
This is definitely in our rotation from now on! I want to be better at cooking ahead and this will be a great help!

Things made this time last year...
Banana Bread

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Crockpot Chili and Skillet Cornbread

Right about now, my husband and I (lovingly?) start referring to the Pacific Northwest as "The Frozen North." We are not originally from here, so our blood is naturally thinner and our constitutions naturally weaker. We are weather wimps. Therefore, we look for winter crutches. We seek out things like puffy jackets and furry slippers. We also go through a fair amount of chili. We've made a few different recipes, but this is our favorite! Justin found and adapted the recipe, so we call it Husband Chili. We make it in the crockpot overnight - super easy and really delicious. Last time we had this, I made some skillet cornbread to go with it.

Husband Chili - adapted from Epicurious
Makes 6-8 hearty servings

1/4 cup water
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 anaheim peppers, chopped
2 serrano chilies, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 (14.5oz) cans of beans, drained - kidney, red, pinto or black - mix and match
2 (14.5oz) cans of tomatoes, drained
5 large garlic cloves, chopped
1.5lbs ground meat, browned - this time we used ground turkey
6 tablespoons cumin
6 tablespoons chili powder
1/3 cup brown sugar 
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon oregano
3 bay leaves, crumbled
1 teaspoon vinegar

Add all of the chopped bell and hot peppers, onions, water, beans, tomatoes and garlic to the crockpot and cook on high for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown the meat and then add it to the crockpot. Cook for 30 more minutes.

Add all of the amazing spices and the vinegar and stir well. Turn down to low and cook for at least six hours... and even overnight. The picture below is after about 7 hours. All of the veggies are nice and soft and the flavors have combined and the sauce is rich and delicious. When cooked overnight, the chili gets much darker, spicier and it's harder to pick out the separate ingredients. Totally delicious, but different than these pictures. We were hungry. 

Skillet Cornbread - slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman
Preheat oven to 450

1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to a measuring cup and fill to 1 cup with milk)
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup shortening
2 tablespoons shortening
2 tablespoons honey

Stir together flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, or large enough measuring cup, combine buttermilk, milk and egg and mix to break up the egg. Add the baking soda and stir again. Add milk mixture to cornmeal mixture and stir until just combined.

In a small bowl, or pan, melt the 1/4 cup of shortening and stir in the honey. Add to the batter and stir until just combined. Melt the 2 tablespoons of shortening in an iron skillet over medium-high heat.

  

Pour the batter into the hot skillet and spread out to even it a bit. Cook on the stove for 1 minute and then bake for 18-20 minutes. I used a 12 inch skillet, so my cornbread is thinner and cooks faster than if you use a 10 inch skillet. Flip out and enjoy another upside-down dish!

A few things about these recipes...
We cut the cumin and chili powder down from the original recipe by almost half. The original was too spicy for us, and we like spice! If you are really into spice, you may want to up the spices again, or add some hot sauce at the end. This is super flavorful and pretty picante, but it's not crazy as we cook it now. We've used beef and turkey - both are great! Beef tastes "heartier."

The Pioneer Woman doesn't use honey in her cornbread. I like just a touch of honey baked in to take away some of the bitterness I find in cornmeal. 

And... I know the first picture is pretty and the napkin is all clean and nice, but here's how we usually eat chili. Like the cartoon, foam place mats? So does our baby. Like the sloshed around plate my husband carried to the table while he carried a baby in the other arm and scooted a highchair around with his toe? Super chic, right? It's totally Pottery Barn spread up in here. Enjoy!