Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Soup

I love chicken enchiladas and I love soup! This recipe is the best of both worlds. A friend of mine recently sent me this recipe and I’ve been dying to try it. BTW, it’s a Paleo recipe if you are interested. I was mainly interested because it sounded delicious! I love nothing more than cooking in the crockpot. It’s the best feeling (and smell) to come home from work and finding your dinner already cooked and ready to eat. Crockpots make me happy. I’m easy to please. Cupcakes and Crockpots make me happy.  If they don’t already make you happy, cooking this soup in your crockpot will make you happy. My husband absolutely loved this soup. He went back for a hearty second bowl. It makes me happy when he loves a recipe that much. This is a keeper. I’ll be making this again very soon. Here’s how to bring a smile to your family’s face too:

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 can Rotelle tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (garnish)

Directions:

Add the chicken to the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, and garlic on top of the chicken. Pour the diced tomatoes and chicken stock over the top. Sprinkle with chili powder, cumin, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper.

 

Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours. Use a fork to shred the chicken before serving. 

Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. I added a little bit more of each. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

 

Look how hearty this soup is! It looks more like a stew than soup. That is a lot of chicken in one bowl. I didn’t have fresh cilantro on hand so I garnished with dried. I’ll have fresh next time I make it though.

Pan Fried Pork Chops

 

Who doesn’t love a fried pork chop?? Well, I guess those that don’t eat pork, but everyone else, are you with me?? I love, love pan fried pork chops but don’t really make them often. I’m not sure why, it just doesn’t happen. After making these tonight and remembering how delicious they are, I think things will change around here.  Maybe we will turn into weekly pork chop people. Of course we had to have mashed potatoes to go along with them. Don’t worry, I had a green vegetable to balance my plate like my high school Home Ec teacher taught me. Thanks Mrs. Maxwell. Unfortunately we didn’t have pork chops and applesauce. Hopefully there are some readers out there that got my Brady Bunch reference. Okay, I’ll stop with my 1980s references and get down to pan frying some pork chops!

 

Ingredients:

4 bone in pork chops, not too thick

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon seasoning salt

½ teaspoon pepper

½ cup canola or vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon butter

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Directions:

Combine the dry ingredients in a pan large enough to dredge your pork chops.

 

Salt and pepper both sides of your pork chops. Sorry I didn't put them on a fanc plate for you. I just kept them on the plastic wrap they came out of the freezer in. One might call it lazy blogging, but I call it efficient!

 

Heat oil over medium heat, then add butter. Butter helps the chops to brown (my friend, Ree Drummond taught me that trick)

 

Dredge each pork chop through the flour mixture to ensure each side is evenly coated.

 

When oil is hot, place 2-3 pork chops in at a time and start the browning process. If your chops are the thickness of mine, you’ll need about 4-5 minutes per side. Just make sure no pink juices are oozing from the chop. Once the first batch is done, remove to a plate with paper towel and finish up the batch.

 

How beautiful do these pork chops look? I think they look delicious and am ready to dig in! The hubby was quite pleased with dinner tonight!

Paula Deen's Goulash - Delish!

 

If this isn’t comfort food then I don’t know what is! Paula Deen can cook! People might want to make fun of her for her love of butter and saying y’all, but Y’ALL, that woman has some mighty fine recipes! And believe it or not, they don’t all contain a stick of butter. This one doesn’t and I made a little healthier version by using ground turkey instead of beef. You can use which ever floats your boat.  The name “goulash” doesn’t sound very appealing, but you can get passed that like I did. I ran across this recipe while I was looking for something else and the picture stopped me in my tracks. It looked so delicious….and boy was it ever! As I started reading the recipe I may have started drooling a little bit. I love every ingredient in this recipe, how could I not try it? Clearly that was going to be impossible. The day I found the recipe, I made it. My husband just keep saying, “this is so good”, “this is really good”, “this is so flavorful”.  Well he’s right. This recipe is so delicious and full of so much flavor. Now we are a bit of sissy’s on the hot sauce category so I backed ours down a bit. I read the reviews and a lot of people said it was too hot for them. You could start with 1 Tablespoon and add a little more after it cooks and you can taste it. Remember, you can add hot sauce as you go, but you can’t take it out. This makes such a huge recipe, I’d hate for you to ruin it all by making it too hot…..season with caution. Now let’s get started on this bad boy so you can make it tonight too!

 

Ingredients:

·         1 tablespoon olive oil

·         2 lbs lean ground beef or ground turkey

·         1 large Vidalia onion, chopped

·         1 red bell pepper, chopped

·         4 cloves garlic, chopped

·         3 cups water

·         1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce

·         2 (14.5 oz) cans fire roasted tomatoes

·         2 teaspoons dried basil

·         2 teaspoons dried oregano

·         3 tablespoons Paula Deen Hot Sauce – I cut this back to 1 tablespoon

·         1 teaspoon garlic powder

·         2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked)

·         kosher salt, to taste

·         black pepper, to taste

·         parsely, to taste

 

Directions:

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the beef, and brown for 10 minutes, breaking up with the back of your wooden spoon as you stir. Add the onion and bell pepper and continue to cook, while stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes.

 

Add all the remaining ingredients, except the macaroni, and cover with a lid, and simmer for 20 minutes. At this point I started second guessing my pot choice. Not so sure 3 cups of water and pasta will fit in here. Hmmmm.....what to do???

 

Stir in the macaroni, cover with the lid, and simmer for another 30 minutes. Let's pretend you don't notice that I had to get my husband to help me pour everything into a larger pot.

 

Let mixture stand for 20 minutes before serving. Try to be patient. This is a good time to make some cheddar biscuits or garlic bread. You definitely need bread with this comfort meal. Garnish with parsley.

 

Come on, how delicious is this looking??

Enjoy one bowl, then go back for seconds…..like we did. I hope y’all enjoy this as much as we did. I think you will.
 

The Best Ever Vegetable Beef Soup (or Turkey)

Okay, I know you hear me say all the time that something is the best I’ve ever tasted, but seriously! For reals This IS the best (okay, one of) soups I’ve ever tasted! It is full of so much yumminess. The combination of beef broth and tomato paste creates the best soup ever! This is my new favorite flavor combination. I’m going to seek out this flavor combination. Thank you to one of my dear friends, Ree Drummond (aka the Pioneer Woman) for showing me this recipe. I was browsing her site for another recipe and found this one. The picture caught my eye, and now I know why.....it’s the best soup EVER! I made some delicious cheesy biscuits to go along with it and that was the perfect combination. I recommend you made this soon. Let’s get down to it.

 

Ingredients:

• 2-1/2 pounds Ground Chuck or Turkey (I used turkey)
• 1 whole Large Onion, Diced
• 2 stalks Celery, Diced
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 large can (24 Ounce) Can Whole Tomatoes
• 4 cups Beef Stock Or Beef Broth, Plus More As Needed
• 1 whole Red or Yellow Bell Pepper, Seeded And Diced small
• 4 whole Carrots, Peeled And diced
• 5 whole Red Potatoes, Cut Into Chunks
• 3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt (more To Taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper, (more To Taste)
• 2 teaspoons Dried Parsley Flakes
• 1 teaspoon Ground Oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (more To Taste)

Directions:

First let's get all the veggies diced. Be sure they are all about the same size (except potatoes).

In a large pot over medium-high heat, brown the meat with the onion, celery, pepper, and garlic. Remove the pot from the heat and drain off as much fat as you can.

Return the pot to the heat and add the rest of the ingredients. When adding whole tomatoes, squish in your hand one at a time to to break up. This makes the pieces perfect for the soup. You don’t want whole tomatoes in your bowl.

Stir to combine, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, then cover the pot and simmer the soup for 20-30 more minutes, until potatoes are tender but not overly mushy. I probably cooked mine about 45 minutes to an hour. The carrots seemed to be stubborn and wouldn’t soften. The longer you cook, the better.

Soup should be somewhat thick, but if you'd like it to be more "soupy," add 1 to 2 cups more broth OR hot water and heat through. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt if needed.

Serve this soup up with some delicious bread and you’ll want to thank me later! You have to admit, that is some good looking soup! Enjoy!

Spaghetti Squash

Trying to eat a little healthier? Well, aren’t we all. I like to eat healthier, but I don’t like to really know I’m eating healthy. Surprise me! I want the food to still taste delicious and feel like I haven’t missed a thing. That’s probably what we all want. Well look no further, this little hidden gem, spaghetti squash is just the trick. We’ve been using it for years instead of pasta. It’s great as your main dish covered with a meat sauce, or great as a side tossed with some olive oil, parmesan cheese or even pesto. So many great things you can do with spaghetti squash. Since I was very excited when I discovered this little treasure, I hope you will be too. I’m just going to help you cook it correctly, and then you can get crazy with your toppings. All you need is a spaghetti squash to get started. Below is a picture of one in case you have no idea what to look for in the grocery store.

 

Can you tell how I knew this was a spaghetti squash???

Now the easy method for cooking spaghetti squash is to steam it, which is my preferred method. You can also bake it for about 45 minutes, but I prefer to microwave it for about 7 minutes. Take your spaghetti squash and cut it down the middle. They are thick, so get a big knife and be careful!

 

 

Now that you have it cut open, let’s clean the seeds out. The easies way is to just get a spoon and scoop out all the seeds and guts that are in the center. If you have a grapefruit spoon, that’s the perfect tool for this.

 

Voila!

 

Okay, it’s all clean and we are ready to steam it. My microwave steamer isn’t large enough to accommodate a squash this size so I just used a corning ware dish and covered with the glass lid. You don’t need an actual steamer to get this done. So many easy work arounds. Now, put about 1/2 inch of water in the pot you are using as a steamer, place the squash cut side down, cover and microwave for about 7 minutes. A squash this size is about 7 minutes, adjust the cook time for one larger or smaller. When you take the squash out, flip it over and test with a fork to see if it is soft. If it still feels hard, put it back in for another minute.

 

Once you are certain it’s done, let’s start making spaghetti! It’s magical! You just need a fork and your best scraping skills. The squash will be hot so you might want to use a hot pad to hold it. Grip the squash and start scraping with the fork. Little strands will come loose and you’ll be making spaghetti. Wasn’t the fun and easy?

 

I served mine with a little marinara sauce topped with basil. Like I said, there are so many ways to serve this. Next time, I’m serving with a little pesto. Let me know your creative ways of serving spaghetti squash.  Enjoy!

Easy Fettuccini Alfredo

I’m so excited! I made Fettuccini Alfredo! Yep, you heard me right! Are you proud too?  You really should be. You have to remember, I wasn’t always a good cook. This is all still fairly new to me so I get really excited when I make something yummy. Forgive me while I brag. What’s even more exciting is that this is such a quick and easy recipe. I had no idea Alfredo sauce could be so easy. My husband loves Fettuccini Alfredo but doesn’t order it often because it’s a pretty decadent dish. What’s so great about this recipe is that it’s a lower calorie version but no flavor is lost here. The sauce was creamy and bursting with flavor. I chopped up a grilled chicken breast and added it to the sauce to make a full meal. It would be great with shrimp too. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Here’s what you need to get started:

Ingredients:

·         1 tablespoon butter

·         2 garlic cloves, minced

·         1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

·         1⅓ cups 1 percent low-fat milk

·         1¼ cups (5 ounces) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided

·         2 tablespoons ⅓-less-fat cream cheese (easy measure is about 1 inch of cube)

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         4 cups hot cooked fettuccine (8 ounces uncooked pasta). I used whole wheat pasta.

·         2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

·         cracked black pepper 

Directions:
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in flour. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk. Cook 6 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly.

Add 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, cream cheese, and salt, stirring with a whisk until cheeses melt.

Toss sauce with hot pasta. This is when I also added my chopped grilled chicken.


Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and chopped parsley. As you can see, I was running low on fresh parsley. The plant is dying away for the winter, but  I had a little to garnish with. Add fresh black pepper, if desired. Serve immediately.

Roasted Chicken w/Garlic & Tomatoes

O-M-G! This is officially my new favorite chicken dish! I REALLY mean it this time. It was so delicious! I love dishes cooked with fresh tomatoes and thyme. It gives all of the other veggies such great flavor. One of my new girlfriends, Jess Seinfeld, taught me this recipe. I follow her on Twitter and Instagram so we’re friends, right? Shhhhh.....don’t tell me any differently. In my head we are friends and she tweets recipes to me. I did tweet her to tell her I made this dish. I’m sure she and Jerry will be coming over for dinner soon. I’ll blog about it when it happens. Until then.....back to this recipe.....I came home from worked, chopped up the veggies, threw the chicken on and popped it in the oven all in one pan. I love meals like that. It’s quick for a week night and it has all the food groups covered. No side dish needed. Check and check!!

 

Here’s what you need to get started.

Ingredients:

 

1 1/2 pounds red potatoes or Yukon gold – peeled or not, however you prefer

4-6 carrots

1 medium yellow onion

6 cloves garlic

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes or 3 tomatoes diced

10 sprigs fresh thyme

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

6-8 pieces cut up chicken. I only had 4 chicken thighs so that’s what I used. You can really use any combination you like.

 

Directions:

Heat oven to 425 degrees

Dice potatoes and carrots into 2 inch cubes. Throw in a baking dish, pan that can go in the oven or rimmed pan. Love the flexibility!

Chop onion into large chunks and add to pan. Smash garlic, peel and throw in with potatoes and carrots.  If you are using whole tomatoes, dice about same size as potatoes and add to pan. If using cherry tomatoes, just rinse and add to pan.

 

Come on, how beautiful is that??

Drizzle all veggies with olive oil. Add springs of thyme, half of the salt and pepper and red pepper flakes and toss the veggies to coat. Spread out into a single layer.

 

Once chicken is washed, season both sides with remaining salt and pepper and nestle in with all the veggies. Give the chicken and veggies a final drizzle of olive oil.

 

Place pan on middle rack in oven and cook for 50-60 minutes or until veggies are soft and chicken is fully cooked.

 

While is was cooking our house smelled divine!! This was so beautiful going in the oven I couldn’t wait to see it come out.....voila! It was just as pretty coming out! And let me tell you, this is just as good as I thought it was going to be. It was easy, one pan, veggies included, it met all my requirements. Oh, and delicious! Seriously, trust me on this one, give it a try. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did, and my girlfriend Jess.  Enjoy...we did!