Sunday, March 18, 2012

Crock pot Chicken Tacos

Here's another easy one! I got this from Sarah over at Chocolate Therapy. They are seriously some of the best tacos ever, and really incredibly simple.

Ingredients:
1 envelope chicken taco seasoning
6 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast or around 14 boneless skinless chicken breast tenders
16oz of your favorite salsa

Directions:
1. Dump everything into your crock pot and mix it up. Cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or low for 6 to 8.
2. When finished, chicken should shred easily with a fork.
3. Serve with your favorite toppings and soft tortillas.*

*Some of the ones we used were shredded cheese, sour cream, shredded lettuce, and avocado.

Man Pleasing Chicken

I got this recipe from Pinterest, as I've gotten a few others recently, but originally...it's comes from Witty in the City. We tried this one about a week ago, and I'll be making it again tomorrow night. I found it a little difficult to read over there, mainly because it's all kind of scattered and not in one place. (OCD kicking in) At first, I was thinking it would be anything special, because there are so few ingredients and you wouldn't think to put those together. It was actually really tasty though. Nice flavor, just all around good. Definitely a recommended dish.

Ingredients:
1 pkg chicken thighs, skinned
1/4 cup syrup (they use maple on Witty, but I just used plain-o syrup and it was fine)
1/2 cup dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Mix together mustard, vinegar, and syrup. Clean chicken and place in a baking dish. Pour most of mustard concoction over chicken, turning so it's all coated nicely.
3. Bake for 40 minutes, basting with the left over mustard mixture halfway through. Let the chicken rest around 5 minutes before serving.

I recommend serving with a nice salad or some green beans.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Simple Meatballs

This is my own recipe that I make for spaghetti and meatballs, but you could serve them just meatballs with sauce if you like too!

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1 cup bread crumbs
1 26 oz can spaghetti sauce
1 Tablespoon parsley flakes
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup Romano cheese
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 egg

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, beat egg slightly. Add ground beef, bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, oregano, cheese, and pepper, mixing until combined.
2. Separate into 12 equal sized balls, placing into a pan with the spaghetti sauce as you go.
3. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes. Cover.
4. Remove cover, stir around, and serve.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Easy Savory Veggies

For this, you can use whatever you want, and serve it with what you want. I've served it twice with homemade Chinese, and it compliments it nicely.

Ingredients
2 zucchini
2 large carrots
1/2 large yellow onion
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Directions
1. Peel carrots, and roughly peel the zucchini. I like to leave a little bit of skin on there, for the color.
2. Use the peeler to completely peel the carrots to their cores. Place in a bowl.
3. Slice small pieces off the zucchini. Set aside with the carrots.
4. Peel off the outside of the onion, slice in half, and then slice off skinny slivers. Set aside with carrots.
5. Heat up a large pan with 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the veggies, and saute until onions are clear. Sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder, mix and serve.

Orange Chicken


I made this amazing orange chicken last night, and I just have to share. Clint and Bobby both loved it, and I will definitely be making this again. I had made a crock pot orange chicken a couple weeks ago, and it was a bit of a disappointment. I was wary to try another recipe, but this one just looked so good. I got the original recipe from pinterest, but made a few changes because I either didn't have the ingredient, or just didn't bother getting them at the store. I also made some white rice and some savory veggies to go along. I will make this again soon and add some pictures. I didn't know if I would post it or not, so I didn't take pictures while I cooked.
I recently got a double fryer (from Clint for Valentine's Day, lol). He wanted to make dinners a little easier for when I made chicken strips or boneless wings. It can also be used as a steamer, so he got it. It has been amazing. I recommend getting one just to save time. It takes up some space, but honestly, it is worth it because I'm not standing over a pan full of hot oil for 30-45 minutes cooking all the chicken. Now, it's more like 15 minutes total!
Ingredients
Chicken
2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup bread crumbs (I used the store brand, and they were perfectly fine)
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
oil (for frying)
Orange Sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon orange zest
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Directions
1. Combine corn starch, salt and pepper in a bowl. Prepare another bowl with eggs, and one more with bread crumbs.
2. Dip the chicken pieces in egg mixture, corn starch, back in eggs, and then bread crumbs. Set aside.
3. Heat pan with oil to 375F, or your deep fryer to 375F. (I recommend for the deep fryer to drop the baskets first, then one at a time put the chicken pieces in so they won't stick.) Fry chicken in batches until completely cooked.
4. In a large saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, vinegar, and soy sauce. Mix well over medium heat for 3 minutes. Stir in the brown sugar, orange zest, and garlic. Bring to a boil.
5. Combine 3 Tablespoons of cornstarch with remaining 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until it thickens. Pour sauce over breaded chicken, and serve.