Chicken Taco Bowls

This is one of my new favorite recipes, so I thought it was a good one to start off the new year. I’m becoming a bigger fan of my crockpot all the time, mostly because I love being able to just dump a bunch of stuff in there and have dinner ready hours later. Awesome. This is that kind of recipe. It’s super easy, really versatile, and tastes great.

Chicken Taco Bowls
2 large chicken breast halves
1 (16 0z) jar salsa
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and well rinsed
1 c. frozen corn
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp oregano
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. chopped cilantro (optional)
1/2 c. uncooked jasmine rice
Shredded lettuce (optional)

Put everything except the rice, cheese and cilantro into the crockpot. However you want. Put the lid on and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high from 4-5 hours. About 45 min before you want to eat, prepare the rice as directed on the package. I like to add a Tbsp of Lime juice and some garlic salt to mine.  Remove lid from crockpot and shred chicken. Mix all ingredients in the pot together and replace lid until ready to eat.
We make ours like this: Place rice on the bottom of your bowl. Then top with lettuce, chicken mixture, cheese and cilantro. You can eat it just like that, or I like to throw a little Ranch dressing on top. I have also used the leftover chicken mixture to make taco salads, nachos, or tacos for lunches.
This is so easy and you can tweak it however you want.

Fudge

I'm blaming all of this on pregnancy. I woke up yesterday wanting fudge so bad. I decided to make it today because we had lots of family coming to celebrate my little girl's birthday, so I knew I'd have help eating it. I've actually never made fudge before. Mostly because it's something I really love and I didn't want to risk screwing it up. I found a recipe on this blog that I figured I could handle and it turned out amazing. Happy Sugar Rush!

Fudge

4 cups of sugar (shocking, I know)
1 can evaporated milk
2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

Mix in a big pot and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Boil for 8 min. Remove from heat and add:

2 2/1 cups chocolate chips (I did half milk and half semi-sweet)
1 cup butter

Stir until mixture is melted and loses some of it's gloss. Add:

1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup more mini marshmallows

Stir until marshmallows are melted. Pour into butter cookie sheet and cool. This made very thin pieces for me, just thinner than I am used to. Next time I might use a 9x13 pan instead.

Shredded Beef Tacos

I’ve been slacking lately at keeping up with this blog, and if I’m honest with myself, most other things in my life.  I haven’t spent much time baking or trying new recipes for the past few months since I believe it’s never in your best interest to try a new recipe in your first trimester of pregnancy. =) Now I’m feeling much better and I have a few good ones I hope to have posted soon. This taco recipe is one I originally found on Crockpot365. I really love her blog. I only made a few preferential changes to it and we really loved it. I hope you like them!

 

Shredded Beef Tacos

3-4 pound beef roast

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup soy sauce

6 cloves of garlic

1/2 onion, diced

1 Tbsp ginger

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 half jalapeno, diced with seeds removed

 

Trim the fat off the roast and plop it in your crockpot. Then just dump the rest of the ingredients in however you want.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Shred the meat and stir to mix everything in well. It really is super easy. Serve in corn tortillas with lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese and sour cream on top. Delicious.

Pad Thai

We love Thai food. Whenever we go I want to try new things but also can’t resist ordering my favorite, Pad Thai. I think that problem is solved because this recipe tastes as good to me as anything I’ve had at a restaurant. Now I can eat Pad Thai at home and try new things when we go out. Win-win!! The long list of ingredients looked intimidating to me at first (especially the fish sauce…look for that near the soy and thai sauces at your grocery store) but it’s very easy to make. We liked it so much we ate it twice this week, so try it out!

PAD THAI

3/4 pound bean sprouts
6 ounces pad thai rice noodles
4 eggs
salt
3 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 tablespoons sesame or extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
2 cups grated carrots
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter (optional)
2/3 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup green onions, thinly sliced

Bring pot of water to boil and prepare rice noodles according to package directions. Add the bean sprouts to the boiling noodles during the last minute of cooking. Drain noodles/beans and rinse with cold water.
Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Stir together the lime juice, ketchup, brown sugar, and fish sauce in a separate bowl and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large skillet (or wok) over medium heat. Fry the garlic for about a minute. Add red pepper flakes and carrot and stir fry for one minute, move to one side of the skillet.  Add the beaten egg to the opposite side of the skillet and scramble.  Once eggs have set, mix them with the peppers and carrots. Add peanut butter and mix in until melted. Add the noodles, sprouts, green onions, peanuts, and sauce. Toss and serve.
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Silly Pancakes

This is my 4 yr old daughter's favorite breakfast. She loves to watch them bake into crazy bumps and bubbles. She started calling them "Crazy Pancakes" and it sort of stuck at our house. I have made these gluten-free several times, but this is the recipe that gave me the best results.

Silly Pancakes (German Pancakes)

Put the following ingredients into blender:
6 eggs
1 cup milk (I use vanilla soy and it's delicious)
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 tsp salt

Blend for about 1 minute. Meanwhile, place 3 Tbsp of butter in a 9x13in baking dish and set it in the oven while you preheat to 400 degrees. Keep an eye on it and pull it out once the butter is melted. When batter is well blended, pour into buttered dish and bake for about 20 min. Serve with maple syrup.

Kung Pao Chicken

I recently had my first experience with Kung Pao Chicken.  The restaurant version was great, but this recipe I made at home was even better. I am a big fan of simple recipes.  At first glance this seems a bit complex, but really it's simple. The steps are just broken down for my own benefit, so I don't screw-up. Dinner time is easily my hardest time of day as that's when I need to be paying attention to what I'm doing in the kitchen as well as the precious baby girl clinging to my legs.  Anyway, try the Kung Pao. It's divine.

Kung Pao Chicken

1 lb chicken (I used 2 frozen boneless skinless breast halves) cut into strips

3 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp corn starch

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp sweet thai chilli sauce (I used 3 tbsp)

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp sesame oil

2 green onions, diced. separate green pieces from white

1 medium green bell pepper (I did half green, half red), diced

2 medium carrots thinly sliced

1/2 cup zucchini, diced (optional)

1/2 cup unsalted peanuts

3 cups prepared jasmine rice

Prepare chicken marinade: Dissolve 1 Tbsp of corn starch in 1 Tbsp of water and then add 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil, 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of rice vinegar, and 2 tsp of minced garlic. Stir well. Pour over chicken in a container, cover and refridgerate while you prepare the rest.

Prepare the sauce: Dissolve 1 Tbsp of corn starch in 1 Tbsp of water. Then add 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, and 1 tsp sesame oil. Stir to combine and dissolve the brown sugar. Set the sauce aside.

Prepare the veggies: Slice the peppers, carrots, zucchini and green onion.

Prepare rice: add 1.5 cups jasmine rice to 2.5 cups boiling water. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Heat 2 T. oil in medium skillet. When it's very hot add white portions of the onions and cook for about 1 minute. Add marinated chicken and stir-fry until cooked through (about 5 min).

Add veggies and peanuts, cook for about 2 minutes. Add the sauce and cook until thickened (about 2-3 min). Serve chicken and veggie mixture over prepared rice.

Crockpot Potato Soup

My favorite part about this cold weather is busting-out all the soup recipes we love so much. This is one of my favorites. You can kind of play around with different ingredients and quantities so it's really easy.

Crockpot Potato Soup

Mix these ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 6 hrs or on high for 4 hrs.
5 cups chicken broth
8-10 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper

Using a measuring cup, scoop about 2 cups of cooked soup from crockpot into blender and puree until smooth. Then pour pureed soup back into crockpot. This makes it really creamy without adding cream/fat. Then add any of these optional ingredients:
1/2-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
2 green onions, sliced