BBQ Chicken Nachos

I saw a recipe on Pinterest for BBQ pulled pork nachos.  They sounded SO good.  My husband and his friends are actually making that exact recipe for their boys night this weekend (while us girls play BUNCO!!).  I had just bought a ton of chicken and wanted to utilize what I had in stock.  So, I'm putting my own spin on what I find to be an already creative dinner idea.  Tonight we will be enjoy BBQ Chicken Nachos.  I just put the chicken into the crockpot and will assemble the nacho plates this evening when my mother-in-law gets here to enjoy dinner with us.  Below is my "thrown together" recipe (the measurements are not exact, my apologies... it really was just thrown together... the best kind of recipe, right??):

Ingredients:
-5 chicken breasts
-BBQ Sauce (pick your favorite, I used Sweet Baby Rays Hickory)
-Brown Sugar (about 4 tbsp.)
-Apple Cider Vinegar (3 cap fulls)
-Sprinkling of Garlic Salt
-1 sweet onion, chopped

Nacho Ingredients:
-Tortilla Chips (we are using the Organic Blue Corn Chips for Trader Joe's)
-Baked Beans, warm them on the stove or microwave before assembling (I will be doctoring mine up to boost the flavor, see below for "doctoring" suggestions)
-Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
-Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded
-Green Onions, chopped
-Sour Cream


Directions for Chicken:
Put a little bit of BBQ sauce on the bottom of your crockpot.  Place chicken in the crockpot.  Use enough BBQ sauce to cover your chicken completely.  Then add all the rest of the ingredients and stir together.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  When chicken is tender and cooked through use forks to shred.

Assembling the Nachos:
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.  Lay chips out on a baking sheet.  Top chips with baked beans, shredded chicken, and cheeses.  Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until your cheese is melted.  Top with any desired extra BBQ sauce, green onions and sour cream.  Place baking sheet in the center of your table with some forks and plates and serve family style!

Baked Bean Doctoring:
-Sweet Beans: Add a can of drained crushed pineapple, chopped onion, BBQ sauce, brown sugar and mustard.
-Tangy Beans: Add spicy brown mustard, garlic salt, BBQ sauce, chopped bell pepper and chopped onion.

Hope you guys enjoy this twist on an already tasty dish. 

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas

Getting back into the blogging groove, I decided to post my Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas recipe.  I love sweet potatoes and they are so good for you.  I am trying to incorporate them into different recipes so we aren't always eating just mashed sweet 'tators (which you add butter and sugar to).  I love Mexican food (can you tell...), so I thought what better recipe to start adding sweet potatoes to than enchiladas.  I know it may sound a bit weird... but trust me, they are tasty!  My family gobbled them up and asked for seconds. 

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced

2 medium sweet potatoes (cooked and chopped into small/medium pieces)

1 can black beans, drained

½ cup frozen sweet corn

1 4oz can diced green chiles

Garlic Salt

½ cup salsa

16 corn tortillas

16oz jar Enchiladas sauce

½-1 cup sharp cheddar cheese

½-1 cup pepper jack cheese

Directions:

1.      Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.      In a large skillet, sauté your onions with non-stick cooking spray.  Once opaque, add black beans, corn and diced green chiles.  Heat through for 3 minutes.  Add sweet potatoes.  Be careful when combining sweet potatoes with other ingredients, as you do not want a sweet potato and black bean mash.  Add garlic salt.  Stir.  Add salsa and stir.  Remove from heat.

3.      Warm your tortillas (I usually warm in a plastic bag in the microwave) to soften them up.  Scoop a portion of the sweet potato and black bean mixture into a tortilla, roll and place in your 13x9 pan folded side down.  Repeat with the rest of your tortillas and squish rolled tortillas real tight in the pan.  If you have left over sweet potato and black bean mixture, spread on top of the rolled tortillas.  Top with your enchiladas sauce and then with cheese.

Cover with foil and pop in the oven for 35 minutes or until bubbly.  Let rest for 5-10 minutes.  Serve with a salad.

Side Notes:
1.  If you have mushrooms in the fridge, dice and sauté them up with your onions.  That would be a tasty addition to the mixture.
2.  I cooked my sweet potatoes in the oven beforehand wrapped in foil.  I peeled them when they were cool and chopped into bite size pieces.

If you have any variations that you try with this recipe, please comment and let me know!  Hope you enjoy this sweet twisted enchilada!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

It's a crisp, rainy Fall day in Southern California.  That means it's finally time to bust out the big stockpot and fire up some of my favorite soup recipes!  I've been waiting patiently to make my family's favorite soup, Chicken Tortilla.  It's loaded with veggies, packed with flavor and reheats well the next couple of days.  This recipe will make a large stockpot full.  Perfect for an evening dinner and leftovers for the next couple of days.  Freezes really well for meals you may make in advance.  I list Organic veggies below, but you can use regular veggies if that's what you prefer. 

 

Ingredients

2 lbs chicken breast (rinsed)

2 Quarts Chicken Broth (I like to use Organic, low sodium chicken broth)

Water

Garlic Salt (or Season Salt), to taste

1-2 yellow onions, coarsely chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, pressed or crushed

3-4  Organic zucchini, chopped into larger bite size pieces

3-4 Organic yellow squash, chopped into larger bite size pieces

1 28oz can of Organic diced tomatoes 

1 pkg of frozen bell peppers (I get the bag from Trader Joe's)

6 stalks of Organic celery (chopped)

6 Organic carrots, chopped (don't need to peel, just rinse them off)

1-2 cups of Organic frozen sweet corn

Chili Powder, to taste (probably 1-2 good heaping tablespoons)

Garlic Powder, to taste (probably 1-2 good heaping tablespoons)

Ground Cumin, to taste (probably 1-2 good heaping tablespoons)

16 corn tortillas, chopped into small pieces

Tortilla Strips

Shredded Cheese

Sour Cream

Avocado

 

Directions

1. In a large stockpot, boil chicken on a medium/high heat in the broth and water.  Make sure chicken is completely covered with liquid.  Add salt, onions and garlic.  Boil chicken until almost tender. (Time will depend on size of chicken breasts and if they are frozen or not, but probably about an hour).

2.  Add zucchini, squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, celery, carrots, corn and seasonings.  Reduce heat to medium/low.  Cook until all vegetables are tender (probably about another hour).  Remove chicken from the pot and cut into bite size pieces (or shred).  Return cut chicken to pot. 

3.  Add chopped up tortillas and continue cooking for another 15 minutes (or until tortillas have dissolved).  Tortillas will create a richer flavor.

4.  Taste your broth, make sure it's seasoned to your liking. 

5.  Serve with any of the following toppings: tortilla strips, shredded cheese, sour cream and/or avocado.

 

Variation - You could make this in a crockpot and let it cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Add tortillas the last hour to dissolve.  May need to reduce quantities of vegetables depending on how big your crockpot is.

 

I hope you and your family enjoy this perfect Fall soup as much as we do.  :-)  Happy Eating! 

The Non-Processed Irresistible Oatmeal Cookie

After months of not blogging, I'm back.  I can't believe I haven't posted a recipe since February, total blog slacker!  So I've adopted a new eating lifestyle.  I'm trying to omit as much processed food as I can and eat mainly Organic, fresh, unprocessed foods.  But who would want to give up their sweets when trying to eat healthy???  I don't know about you, but I love cookies... who doesn't love a cookie, right?  Processed flour (white flour) and processed sugar (granulated sugar) are two of the worst things you can feed your body.  Guess what cookies are made of... crappy processed flours and sugars.  So, I followed a cookie recipe I have and switched all the bad things out and replaced them with good things.  This cookie is made with 100% whole wheat flour (which you can find at any grocery store or in a bulk bin at your specialty stores) and switched the sugars for unprocessed Organic cane sugar (granualted sugar subsititute) and Organic brown sugar.  I haven't checked the regular grocery store for these, but your "health" stores will carry these sugars (stores such as: Spourts, Henry's, Trader Joe's, Mother's Market).  Adding walnuts to your cookies gives you the extra Omega-3 fatty acids your body needs and 2 TBSP of whole ground flaxseed meal adds even more Omega-3 and fiber (flaxseed has no taste, therefore it does not alter the taste of the cookie... all it does is add extra nutrtion to your cookie).  These cookies truly are guilt free and packed full of nutrition!  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 sticks Organic Butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed Organic brown sugar

½ Organic Cane Sugar (substitute for granulated white sugar)

2 large Organic – Omega 3 enriched brown eggs, room temperature

1 tsp Organic vanilla

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

2 tbsp whole ground flaxseed meal

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp kosher salt (optional)

3 cups quick cooking Oats

1 cup raisins (try large golden raisins or dried cranberries for variety)

1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1.      Heat oven to 350 degress.

2.      Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.

3.      Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

4.      Add combined flour, flaxseed, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.

5.      Stir in oats, raisins and walnuts; mix well.

6.      Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

7.      Bake 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown.

8.      Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

Makes about 4 dozen

Side Notes: 

1.  I found that using the non-processed ingredients actually took a little longer to bake, about 15 -18 minutes.  Just keep an eye on them.   

2.  I hope you try this cookie, it's so delicious, you won't want to make them with processed ingredients ever again!!

Green Bean & Chicken Casserole

Blog slacker here!!!  :-)  So I made an awesome dinner tonight.  I've taken a traditionally great Thanksgiving side dish and made it into a meal.  I made green bean and chicken casserole and it turned out delicious.  It's also VERY easy.  The portions are probably for a double batch... so if you are cooking for one to two people, I would cut the recipe in half.  It would pair great with a salad or even some Pillsbury biscuits, but we just ate it by itself.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 - 16oz packages frozen green beans, thawed
2 cans Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom
1 can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken
4 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 large can French Fried Onions
Garlic Salt
Non-stick cooking spray

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a large casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2.  In a large cooking skillet, spray warm pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Cook chicken on high heat until cooked completely through (no pink).  Season with garlic salt and pepper.
3.  Place thawed green beans, cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, cheese and cooked chicken in the casserole dish.  Mix well.  Add half of the can of French Fried Onions.  Mix in well.
4.  Place in oven, uncovered and bake for 45 minutes, or until bubbly.  Add remaining French Fried Onions to top of casserole and bake another 5 minutes.
5.  Remove from oven and let set 10 minutes.
6.  Serve warm.

Side Notes:
1.  You can also use left over chicken you have or buy a rotisserie chicken and shred for this dish.
2.  You could also add other veggies to give it flair.  Frozen corn, peppers, carrots... whatever you like.

Enjoy! 

Classic Pot Pie

Tonight's dinner was delicious!  I made Classic Pot Pie from my Pillsbury magazine.  And surprisingly is was very easy to make and not all that time consuming.  I used some left over baked chicken I had (boneless skinless chicken breast cut into cubes) rather than buying a rotisserie chicken and shredding it (to save money).  I paired the pot pie with a garden salad.  They go great together. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 box refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on the box
1/3 cup butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/3 all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 1/2 to 3 cups cubed or shredded chicken or turkey
1 Steam Fresh bag of mixed veggies (cook for about 4 minutes or so) - should be about 2 cups

Directions
1.  Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Make pie crusts as directed on  box for Two-Crust Pie, using 9-inch glass plate.  (Do not pre-bake your pie crusts).
2.  In a 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Cook onion in butter about 2 minutes or until tender.  Stir in flour, salt and pepper until well blended.  Gradually stir in broth and milk, cooking and stirring until bubbly and thickened.  Stir in chicken and mixed veggies.  Remove from heat.
3.  Spoon mixture into crust-lined pie plate.  Top with second crust; seal edge and flute.  Cut slits or shapes in several places in top crust.
4.  Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  If necessary, cover edge of crust with strips of foil during last 15 to 20 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Side Notes:
1.  If you want a little extra flavor, try adding a few cloves of minced garlic and some Italian seasonings.  Otherwise leave as is for the classic flavor.
2.  If you are a great pastry chef, try making your own crust.  I have yet to master that skill, so for now I use the store bought kind (which turned out great and very tasty).
3.  I used low-sodium, fat free chicken broth and 1% milk and it still had all the flavor.
4.  I did put foil around the edges of the pot pie 15 minutes into the cooking process.  I'm not sure if it's me or if it's just an overly difficult task, but I had a heck of time getting that foil to stay around the edge of the crust.  If anyone has any tips on how to get it stay, please do tell! :-)

I have different variations of pot pie recipes in my Pillsbury magazine.  I've tried a few different recipes and this is by far my favorite.  I hope you give it a whirl.  It's quick, simple and delicious! :-)

Grilled Fish Tacos & Cilantro Lime Rice

Thank goodness it's January... I'm back in the kitchen making my family healthy meals.  Last night I made one of our family's favorite meals, fish tacos.  Yup, both boys love them and it's one of mine and Denis' favorites.  I paired it with homemade cilantro lime rice and refried black beans.

Here's the recipes:

Grilled Fish Tacos

Ingredients
1 pound fresh Tilapia
Non-stick cooking spray (or 1 tbsp of butter)
1 lemon
Salt & Pepper
Corn Tortillas (heated in microwave)
Shredded Cabbage
Chipoltle Sour Cream (recipe to follow)

Directions
1.  Rinse and pat dry your fish.
2.  Heat a large frying pan and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Let pan get hot!
3.  Place fish in pan - fish should sizzle when you put it in the pan.  Reduce heat to medium-high.
4.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Let fish cook until the edges and top of fish start to turn white (about 3-4 minutes).
5.  Flip fish and cook another 5 minutes or so (cover with lid).  Keep cooking and flipping every 5 minutes or so, until fish is completely white (middle of fish is thicker and takes longer to cook, make sure middle of fish is no longer pink).
6.  Place fish on a plate and squeeze lemon onto fish.  Let cool for a couple of minutes and then lightly shred with two forks.
7.  Assemble tacos:  warm tortillas, fish, cabbage and chipotle sour cream.  Serve while fish is warm.

Chipotle Sour Cream

Ingredients
1 cup fat free sour cream
Chipotle flavored Cholula Hot Sauce (quantities varied, depending on how hot you like your sauce)
Garlic Salt to taste (about 1 to 2 tsp)
Lemon Juice (about 1/2 of a large lemon)

Directions
1.  Combine sour cream, chipotle flavored Cholula, garlic salt and lemon juice.  Mix well.  Taste and add as your taste buds like. 

Cilantro Lime Rice

Ingredients
1 large bunch of cilantro (stems cut off)
3 large garlic cloves
1 small onion, chopped
1 lime, juiced
Lime zest
3 1/3 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups rice
2 tsp Kosher salt

Directions
1.  In a blender, combine cilantro, lime juice, lime zest, garlic and 2 cups of chicken broth.  Blend well and set aside.
2.  In a large pot, heat olive oil and then saute onions.  Add rice and saute for about 3-4 minutes. 
3.  Add remaining 1 1/3 cups broth, cilantro mixture and salt.  Bring to a boil.
4.  Cover and lower heat to simmer.  Cook for 15 minutes, or until tender.
5.  Fluff with a fork and serve warm.

Side Notes:
1.  Serve with refried black beans.  I think black beans go well with fish.
2.  You can add a serrano chile to your rice to add a little heat.  Place chile in blender and blend up with cilantro.

I hope you give these recipes a try and enjoy them as much as we do.  :-)  Happy Eating!