Brown Sugar and Balsamic Pork

If you're looking for a good recipe for New Year's this one is a winner!  I cooked it for dinner one night for our family and it was a big hit!  Jason even suggested that I take a picture of Charlotte enjoying it so much...

I ended up doing the recipe with pork tenderloin's in the oven.  We just baked for 45 minutes to an hour on 350 and they were perfect.  I took them out and basted them for like the last half of the cooking time every 5-10 minutes or so.  Turned out wonderful and is very easy!  I also made this for Christmas with Jason's family and it was a big hit with them also.

The highlight of this recipe is the sauce.  You could put it over any kind of meat that you want and it would be fabulous.  For one pork tenderloin I made one recipe of sauce and had plenty left over for us to use during dinner and then some.  For Christmas I made a little over four pounds of tenderloin (four one pounders) and made two recipes of sauce.  I still had plenty to baste with, eat with dinner, and left over.  But the sauce is good so you don't want to have too little!

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Pork

Some kind of meat -- I used pork

Sage

Salt

Pepper

Glaze

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 cup Water

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

1. Combine glaze ingredients in a sauce pan.

2. Heat and stir until glaze thickens.

3. Cook meat according to directions -- in oven or slow cooker.  Brush meat with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last portion of cooking time.

4. Serve meat with remaining glaze.

From Let's Dish via Pinterest

Puppy Chow

Puppy Chow

One of my favorites from growing up!  We originally got the recipe from my friend Kate's Mom.

1 box Chex cereal

1 cup Peanut Butter

1 cup Chocolate Chips

1 lb Powdered Sugar

1. Pour Chex into a very large bowl.

2. Melt peanut butter (30 seconds in microwave) and melt chocolate (30+ seconds in microwave).  Once melted pour over cereal and mix until cereal is coated.

3. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until all cereal is coated with powdered sugar.

Strawberry Angel Cookies

Strawberry Angle Cookies (via Smuckers)

Got this from Pinterest also.  As a note, make sure you make these cookies small, they are much better and much easier to handle when they're smaller.  They also are very sticky so if you're storing them you might want to layer between wax paper to avoid them sticking together.

1 package Angel Food Cake Mix

3/4 cup Strawberry Preserves

3 Tablespoons Mini Chocolate Chips

1. Heat oven to 325 F.

2. Coat cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Mix cake mix and preserves with a mixer until thoroughly combined (about 1 minutes).  Beat an additional minute.

4. Stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the cookie sheet.

6. Bake 10-12 minutes or until tops are just lightly browned.  Place on a cooling rack to cool completely. (Cookies will be soft and chewy.)

Saltine Toffee

Saltine Toffee (via A Southern Grace)

An easy toffee recipe that is very yummy!

1 cup Unsalted Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Saltine Crackers

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Lay out the Saltine's evenly on the sheet.

3. Melt the sugar and butter until a boil is reached.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5-8 minutes or until the mixture has thickened and sugar has completely dissolved.

4. Pour sugar mixture over saltines and spread evenly.

5. Bake 5-8 minutes or until the toffee becomes bubbly.

6. After removing the pan from the oven, let it sit for 3-5 minutes.

7. Sprinkle on the chocolate chips.  Let them soften and melt and spread around to evenly coat the top.

8. Let cool and then cut or break into pieces.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies (via Baked Perfection)

I love Reese's.  These are similar and I can make them at home!

1 box of Brownie mix

Ingredients to make brownies (usually water, veggie oil, and an egg)

1/2 cup Peanut Butter Chips

1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Peanut Butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Mix brownie batter as directed on the box.

2. Grease mini-muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Spoon brownie batter into muffin pans (about 1 heaping teaspoon into each).

4. Bake for 13-15 minutes until they are set.

5. After brownies come out of the oven wait for the centers to fall.  If they don't fall take a spoon and tap the center to create a well.

6. Place peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 45 seconds.

7. Fill the wells in the brownies with peanut butter.

8. Top the brownies with peanut butter chips and chocolate chips.

Cinnamon Sugar Pecans

Cinnamon Sugar Pecans (credit)

Set these out for the Christmas party but they were a bigger hit on the neighbor goodies plate.

1 large Egg White

3 cups Pecan Halves

1/3 cup Cinnamon and Sugar (1 T Cinnamon to 1/4 cup Sugar)

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 F.

2. Whisk the egg white in a cup and then pour over the pecans.  Stir until pecans are coated.

3. In a small bowl combine the other ingredients.  Add them to the pecans a little at a time while continuing to stir.

4. Spread the pecans on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Cook for 20 minutes without stirring.

5. Use a spatula to remove the pecans from the cookie sheet immediately after cooking.  Let cool and then store.

Apple Pie Dip and Cinnamon Sugar Chips

Apple Pie Dip and Cinnamon Sugar Chips (via The Peach Kitchen)

Another hit from the Christmas Party and a recipe that I got from Pinterest.  It was good cold but I might serve it hot next time so that it will be out of this world!

2 cups (about 2 1/2 regular sized apples) Apples, peeled and diced

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Cornstarch dissolved in 1 teaspoon water

5 (or however many you want) Tortilla's

2 Tablespoons Butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 1/2 Tablespoons Sugar

1. Combine apples, leon juice, brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon in pan.

2. Heat mixture on the stove for a few minutes until it's boiling and has extracted the juices from the apples.

3. Add the cornstarch-water mixture.  Keep on the stove until it's boiling and the sauce has thickened.

4. Serve warm or cool.

5. Cut the tortilla's into wedges.

6. Put tortilla wedges onto a slightly greased baking pan.

7. Combine 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon and sugar until mixed.

8. Brush tortilla's with butter and then sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture.

8. Bake at 410 F for 5-8 minutes or until the chips are browning.

Holiday Fruit Cocktail

Holiday Fruit Cocktail

We served this punch at our Christmas party and it was a huge hit! Jason thought it wasn't potent enough so you can add more alcohol if you prefer but this is how we made it.

1/3 cup Sugar

1 Quart Cranberry Juice

2 cups Pineapple Juice

3 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract

2 Liters 7Up

1/2 of a 750 mL bottle of Vodka

1. In a large container mix together sugar, cranberry juice, pineapple juice and vanilla extract.  Stir well to dissolve the sugar.

2. Chill for an hour or two.

3. Immediately before serving add the 7Up and Vodka.

Serves 32

Chicken Taco Chili

This great soup is not too spicy (the way I make it) and makes a ton so you can either eat half and freeze half or can eat leftovers.  It would be a great soup to mix together and then freeze as well.  I got the original recipe off of a pin from Pinterest which came from a Photo A Day blog.

Chicken Taco Chili

1 teaspoon Onion Powder

16 oz Black Beans, drained and rinsed

16 oz Red Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed

16 oz Tomato Sauce

1 pkg Frozen Corn Kernals

28 oz Diced Tomatoes (or you can use 2 cans of Rotel to up the spice factor)

1 packet Taco Seasoning

1 Tablespoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon Chili Powder

3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

1. Mix everything except the chicken up in a slow cooker.

2. Place the chicken breasts on top of the mixture.

3. Cook on Low for 10 hours or High for 6 hours.

4. 30 minutes before you are ready to eat, open the slow cooker and shred the chicken with two forks.  Stir the chicken into the soup and continue cooking.

5. Serve with taco chips, sour cream, etc.

Bacon Ranch Chicken

This recipe came from a pin on Pinterest which linked to the Healthified Kitchen blog.

Bacon Ranch Chicken

2 Turkey Bacon Strips, cooked and chopped

1 teaspoon Minced Garlic

1 package Ranch Dressing/Seasoning Mix

1 10.75 can Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup

1 cup Fat Free Sour Cream

16 oz Chicken Breasts (1 package)

8 oz Pasta

1. Combine the bacon, garlic, dressing mix, soup, and sour cream.

2. Place chicken in bottom of crock pot and cover with mixture.

3. Cook on high for 3.5 hours.

4. At least 30 minutes before you want to eat open the crock pot and shred the chicken.

5. Cook the pasta per instructions.

6. When you're ready to eat, stir the pasta into the chicken mixture in the crock pot and serve.

Sweet and Sour Chicken Sandwich

This sandwich recipe was so good and made juicy sandwiches.  It would be a perfect game day lunch food or a dinner.  I saw this on a pin from Pinterest and the recipe is from Baked Bree.

Sweet and Sour Chicken Sandwiches

3 Chicken Breasts

2 T Olilve Oil

1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 14 oz Can Petit Diced tomatoes, undrained

1/4 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

1 Tablesoon Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard

1 teaspoon Pepper

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons pepper

1. Preheat a large skilled over M/H heat, add olive oil.  Season chicken breasts with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper.  Add to the skillet and brown the chicken on both sides for two minutes.

2. Add the browned chicken into the slow cooker.

3. Whisk together apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, tomatoes, red pepper flakes, soy sauce, and Dijon mustard.  Season with 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper.

4. Pour sauce over chicken.

5. Cover and cook on Low for 6 hours.

6. Shred chicken with fork and serve.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

I recently had some cookies with craisins in them and thought they were fantastic.  So when I saw this recipe that was a mix of chocolate, oats, peanut butter, and craisins I was ecstatic about making it.  I made these for out Bible Study group and I really enjoyed them.  They're not the perfect food for a gathering like that because they're better served right out of the fridge.  The longer they sit out the more they melt as soon as you put them in your fingers.  But if you're just looking for a sweet snack it's nice that you eat them right out of the fridge.

These bars are almost fudge like but the craisins give them a really sweet taste and the oats give them texture.  I'm not normally a texture person in my cookies, etc (I really dislike nuts in my desserts) but I really enjoyed these.  Plus they're no-bake so they were quick to mix together and pour in a pan.  You do need to let them sit in the fridge before serving but an hour will get them perfectly hard.  

If you're looking for a new recipe for Christmas or the holiday's this is a good one to consider.  I found the recipe via Pinterest and the recipe was from the blog, New Nostalgia.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Makes a 9x13 pan of bars

1 cup Peanut Butter

2/3 cup Honey

1/2 cup Coconut Oil (no substitutes!)

2 cups Oats

1 1/4 cups Mini Chocolate Chips

3/4 cup Dried Cranberries

1. In a medium sized saucepan, melt together peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil.

2. Remove from heat and add oats, chocolate chips, and dried cranberries.

3. Stir until combined and chocolate chips are melted.

4. Spread into a 9x13 pan.  Refrigerate until hardened (about an hour).

5. Store in the refrigerator.

Ranch House Pork Chops

This is yet another crock pot recipe from Pinterest.  If you can't tell, most of my cooking these days involves the crock pot and most of my recipes are coming from Pinterest!  I just made the pork chop part of this recipe and served it with boiled potatoes and butter which is one of our favorites but I'm sure it would be just as good, if not better, with the parmesan potatoes that the original author mentions.  Another good, easy recipe that's great for cool nights.

Ranch House Pork Chops

6 Pork Chops, 1/2 inch thick

1 packet Ranch Dressing/Seasoning Mix

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1. Place pork chops in the bottom of a slow cooker.

2. Mix soup and dressing mix.  Pour over pork chops.

3. Cook on High for 4 hours or Low for 6 hours.  

Baked Cinnamon Breakfast Puffs

I was looking for a breakfast recipe to make for Tuscaloosa and remembered that I had pinned a doughnut hole like breakfast.  So Charlotte and I mixed it up and got it ready the Friday before and we cooked them Saturday morning.  It was an extremely easy recipe to make, even with a two year old sous chef!

A few notes on these.  They are kind of dense, they reminded me of the Pioneer Woman's French Breakfast Puffs if you've ever made those from her cookbook.  But the beauty of these is that they're much smaller so they're less overwhelming than I feel like the French Breakfast puffs (which are huge) can be.  But they are very good and were just as good reheated on day two as they were eaten straight out of the oven.  Also, I made them the day before and took them to Tuscaloosa in a cooler and we cooked them the next day.  That didn't seem to hurt them at all, so I bet they would freeze well -- cooked or uncooked.

Baked Cinnamon Breakfast Bites

Makes 2 and a half dozen bites

1 1/3 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup Rice Krispies, coarsely crushed

2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup Sugar, divided

3 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/4 cup Butter-flavored Shortening

1/2 cup Milk

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/4 cup Butter, melted

1. Mix flour, cereal, 2 tablespoons cereal, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

2. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Add milk and stir until just moistened.

4. Roll dough into approximately 2 1/2 dozen 1 inch balls.

5. Mix cinnamon and remaining sugar in another bowl.  Drop balls into melted butter and then roll in cinnamon sugar.

6. Place balls onto a greased pan.

7. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.   Cool for a few minutes in the pan on a wire rack before removing from pan.

Chicken and Dumplings

It took me six weeks but I finally go back enough energy to start cooking again.  So the week James turned six weeks old I went from literally not having cooked since he was born to three crock pot recipes in one week!  I think the crock pot was a good thing to ease in to cooking again because the three recipes that I picked from Pinterest were extremely easy but also tasted good.

I can see this recipe becoming my go to recipe when anyone in our family isn't feeling good.  Soup is nice, but chicken and dumplings are better and this recipe is so easy but very yummy.  I ran out of time and wasn't able to chop up onions and so just added onion powder and I found that I didn't have parsley on hand like I thought I did, but even without those two recipe ingredients the finished product was great. I'm sure with them it would be even better.  It's a perfect "when you're sick" food and when we're not I might add some veggies to make it almost more like a chicken pot pie with dumplings.  Very easy, very good, and even Charlotte couldn't get enough of it so that means it must be good!

Chicken and Dumplings

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons Butter

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

1 can Chicken Broth

1 Onion, diced

1 tablespoon Dried Parsley

4 Grands Flaky Biscuits

1. Place chicken in crock pot.

2. Add butter, soup, chicken broth, onion, and parsley on top of chicken.

3. Cook on HIGH 4 hours or LOW 6 hours.

4. At the end of the cooking time use a fork to break apart the chicken.

5. Cut the biscuits into nine pieces per biscuit and add them to the crock pot.

6. Cook for another 30 minutes.

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken

When I was making my dinner plan last week I went through Pinterest to see what recipes I had on my recipe board.  This BBQ Chicken recipe looked easy and worked well since the only chicken breasts I had were frozen.  It ended up being super easy and was very good!

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken

4-6 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breasts, frozen

1 bottle Barbecue sauce

1/4 cup Vinegar

1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 - 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1. Mix Barbecue sauce with all ingredients listed below it.  

2. Place chicken in crockpot.

3. Pour sauce over it and cook on Low for 4-6 hours.

*I would do less times if the chicken isn't frozen.

Chicken Poulet

KayKay brought this for dinner after James was born and we really enjoyed it so I thought I'd share.  It is apparently a recipe from an old restaurant in Decatur called The Iron Gate.

Chicken Poulet

Makes a 9x13 dish

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/2 Cup Mayonnaise

4 eggs

1 stick Margarine

2 cups Chicken Broth

16 ounce package Peppridge Farm corn bread stuffing mix

1 cup Milk

1 cup Water

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

Sprinkling of Salt

1. Melt stick of margarine in a cup of water by heating in the microwave.

2. Place stuffing mix in bowl.

3. Pour water and margarine over and stir.

4. Add 2 eggs and chicken broth, stir.

5. In a separate bowl, combine shredded chicken and mayonnaise.  Stir well.

6. Place 1/2 of stuffing mix in bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Top with all of chicken mixture.

7. Dash salt over chicken.

8. Top with remaining stuffing mix.

9. Beat together remaining two eggs and milk.  Pour over mixture in pan.

10. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least eight hours.

11. Before baking, remove cover and spread cream of mushroom soup over top.

12. Place in 350 degree oven, uncovered, and bake for 45 minutes.

13. Remove from oven and top with shredded cheese.  Return for another five minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Mrs Jenni's Cornbread Muffins

We have been so blessed over the past few weeks to have friends and family bring us dinners as we've been settling into life as a family of four.  The first person to bring us dinner was our friend Jenni and she brought a great stew with delicious cornbread muffins.  To be honest, I've never been a fan of cornbread and even though Jason loves it I just haven't been able to find a recipe that I like.  But Jason snuck a taste of Jenni's cornbread muffins and told me that I had to taste them because he thought I'd like them.  I'm glad he told me and didn't just keep them all to himself because I loved them!  I knew I had to ask Jenni for the recipe and she graciously agreed to let me share it with you.  Even Charlotte enjoyed them although when she would see a piece of corn she would pick it out but I know some got into her mouth without her noticing!  Thank you Jenni for sharing!

Mrs Jenni's Cornbread Muffins

Makes 24 muffins

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix

1 can cream corn

1 cup of shredded cheese (all cheddar or a blend)

Diced onion to taste (maybe 1/3 cup) -- optional, Jenni left it out of ours

Few teaspoons of diced jalapenos -- optional, Jenni left it out of ours

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Grease muffin pans or use paper baking cups.

3. Blend ingredients.  Batter will be slightly lumpy.  Let batter rest for 3-4 minutes and then restir before filling cups.

4. Fill muffin cups 1/2 full.

5. Bake 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: These freeze wonderfully and you can pull them out anytime you need them!

Caramel - Peanut Butter Bars

I pulled this recipe out of Sandra Lee Semi Homemade in April of 2010 but only got around to making it the week before James was born. She lists it as a great bake sale idea but the bars would also be good to give as gifts to neighbors at Christmas or for some other occasion.  While they were pretty easy to make I will warn you that they are very rich and very peanut buttery!  So be prepared -- if you aren't a big peanut butter fan you won't like these bars, but if you like peanut butter then this might be just the dessert for you!  But the dessert did get better the longer it sat so I'd definitely recommend it if you're baking them ahead of time.

Caramel-Peanut Butter Bars

Makes one 9x13 dish to be cut into bars

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup regular Oats

2/3 cup creamy Peanut Butter

1 large egg, slightly beaten

2-3 Tablespoons whole milk (I used 2% because it was as high fat content as I had)

8 oz Cream Cheese, softened

1 12.25 oz Jar Caramel Ice Cream Topping 

1 cup SemiSweet Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and oats.  Using a pastry blender or two forks, cut in peanut butter until mixture is crumbly.

3. In a small bowl, combine egg and milk.  Add to peanut butter mixture; stir until just combined.  Reserve 1 1/2 cups peanut butter mixture.  Press remaining mixture into prepared pan.

4. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add caramel topping; beat just until combined.  Carefully spread over peanut butter layer in pan.  Sprinkle remaining peanut butter mixture over cream cheese layer.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until nearly set in center.  Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 1 hour).  Cut into bars.

Chicken Roll Up's

I love the blog world and the ability to catch up with people that you knew in college once you've left college life and are out in the real world.  Catherine is one of those people that I love to keep up with via blog's and I especially love all of the wonderful recipe's that she frequently post's!  Even though I wasn't an AOPi in Tuscaloosa, I can still appreciate the great meals that all of the sorority houses served so when I saw that she posted a recipe from the AOPi house I knew I needed to try it out.  

This recipe was really easy to put together -- especially since I cheated and went with precooked chicken from the store!  And it turned out great!  I halved the recipe so that I could freeze half of it and one half of it ended up being just enough for Jason, Charlotte, and I.  If you have more people in your family I'd go ahead and cook it all at one time, but for us it was the perfect size halved.  And the bonus with that is that there's another recipe in the freezer ready to pull out now that James is here!  The recipe below has my shortcut modifications of Catherine's recipe but you can check her's out by clicking on the recipe name.

As a sidenote, if anyone else has any great sorority house recipe's could you send them my way? I'd love to try them!

Chicken Roll Up's

Makes one 9x13 casserole or two smaller square dishes

Two 6 oz packages of pre cooked chicken, chopped

2 cans crescent rolls

1 3/4 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

1 cup Milk

1. Open crescent rolls and press two crescent rolls together into a large rectangle.  Cut the rectangle in half to get two squares of rolls per two crescent rolls.

2. Mix soups, 1 1/2 cups of cheese, and milk.

3. Chop chicken and put a spoonful of chicken into the center of each crescent triangle and close.  (I sort of made little wonton shapes.)

4. Place chicken rolls into a greased baking dish.

5. Pour soup mixture over the rolls and spread mixture evenly over them.

6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the rolls are beginning to brown on the top.

7. Sprinkle rest of cheese over the top of the rolls and enjoy.

King Ranch Chicken

If you're looking for a spicy chicken dish to either serve as a meal or as a heavy topping to chips for a game day look no further than this recipe.  I found it off of a blog I love, Lamberts Lately, and made it a few weeks ago for us.  The recipe I'm going to give you is a much less spicy version than Leslie's because her version was pretty much more than I could handle!  But if you want to up the spice quotient follow her directions and you'll be there.  We liked it as a meal but will probably use it as a game day dip meal in the future.

King Ranch Chicken

Makes 1 packed to the brim square/small round casserole or a less full 9x13 casserole

1 lb Chicken

1/2 Tablespoon Chili Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

1/8 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 tub Philadelphia Cooking Cream (or 10 oz Cream Cheese)

1 can Rotel

3/4 cup Pepperjack Cheese

1 1/4 cup Cheddar Cheese

1 bag Tortilla Chips

1. Cut the chicken into small pieces and cook in a little bit of oil a skillet.  Add next four seasonings to chicken as it cooks.

2. Mix together soup, cooking cream, rotel, and half of each cheese.  Add in chicken once finished.

3. Put a good layer of tortilla chips on the bottom of a sprayed casserole dish, then top with the chicken mixture.  Add the rest of the cheese on top.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Slow Cooker Enchilada's

I'm pretty sure that I've never been more thankful for my slow cooker than I have these last few weeks of pregnancy.  It's next to impossible to handle preparing dinner with my pregnant self with Charlotte's "help" these days which leaves us options of eating out, having Jason make dinner, or me making it while Charlotte's asleep.  I am so thankful that I've found some really easy slow cooker meals that I've been able to put together during nap time and have been really good for dinner!  Jason is great at helping me out, but I hate to ask him to make complicated dinners as soon as he gets home from work so this has been our life saver.

This is, yet another, recipe that I found on Pinterest.  You should definitely check out my Recipe board on there if you need some new ideas.  Please note on this recipe that I didn't use any meat.

Slow Cooker Enchilada's

1/2 yellow onion, diced small
1/2 bell pepper, diced small (any color)
1 16-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups cheese, shredded and divided - we like monterey jack
2 16-ounce jars of your favorite salsa
12 6”-8” tortillas, flour or corn
Optional: 1 cup leftover meat - chicken, pork, hamburger, or shredded beef

In a medium bowl, mix together the onion, pepper, black beans, corn, spices, meat (if using), and just 1/2 cup of the cheese. Pour about a cup of salsa (half a jar) into the bottom of the slow cooker and spread it around evenly.

Scoop about 1/3 cup into one of the tortillas, roll it up, and nestle it into the bottom of the crock pot. Repeat with the half of the remaining filling, rolling tortillas until the entire bottom of of the crock pot is filled. Spread another cup of salsa over this layer and sprinkle it with another 1/2 cup of cheese.

Continue with the remaining filling and tortillas to create a second layer. Top with another cup of salsa, but reserve the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese for later. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 2-4 hours. In the last 15 minutes of cooking, sprinkle the leftover cheese over the top and let it melt.

Serve the enchiladas with the remaining salsa. Leftovers will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken

This recipe from Pinterest is very similar to the Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken that I posted a while ago.  The main differences are the addition of corn and that you put the cream cheese in the crock pot from the beginning.  This gives the dish a little more creaminess since the cheese has been in the entire time and also a little healthier feel since there is corn in the dish.  Both are great and I'll probably go back and forth on which variation I cook depending on whether I have corn in the pantry or not!

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken

One package of chicken breasts (or more)

8 oz of Cream Cheese

1 can of Black Beans, drained and rinsed

1 can of Corn, drained and rinsed

1 can of Rotel

1. Put chicken in crock pot.

2. Put cream cheese over chicken -- cutting into blocks to spread over the entire area.

3. Put in the black beans, corn, and rotel.

4. Cover and cook -- 6 hours on low, or 3 hours on high.  Stir periodically if possible.

5. Serve over rice or on tortilla's.

Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken

One of the nicest things about Pinterest is that sometimes you not only find a good recipe but a good blog.  This is one such find.  Mama and Baby Love is a blog I stumbled upon and while I haven't spent a whole lot of time browsing it, it looks like a great blog and has some good recipes!  

This one is a freezer slow cooker one that I made recently and that we really enjoyed.  Here are some of my notes on it:

- I split it into two portions like she describes, but one portion was really just enough for the three of us.  If you have more than two adult eaters and one (very small portioned) child eater I would make the entire recipe for one meal.

- As I chopped I split into a gallon bag to go in the freezer and put the rest straight into the crock pot to cook.  Because of this I only cooked the crock pot portion on low for 5ish hours and it was plenty done.

- I might substitute regular potatoes (or half regular and half sweet) next time because I'm not a big sweet potato fan and this dish is really sweet potato heavy.

- I will also probably use regular chicken breasts next time.  It was different to use the drumsticks but I prefer less bones on my plate.  :)

Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken

3 medium unpeeled  sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 large green pepper, cut into strips
1 large red pepper, cut into strips
1 zucchini, chopped
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca
2 pounds chicken thighs or drumsticks
1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt

Dump everything into two gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer.

To cook, take bag out of freezer to thaw for 30 minutes then dump in slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8.  Or, simply put in the slow cooker fresh and cook for less time.

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Yet again, another Pinterest find.  Seriously, if you haven't checked out Pinterest and don't mind being sucked into a bottomless pit of ideas, go and check it out.  It's amazing...and a huge time waster....but still, amazing!

When I saw the picture that came with this pin I knew I wanted to try it.  I've been kind of blah about breakfast foods recently and have been jumping back and forth to things that only really sound good for a day or two.  So I really wanted to try this.  One negative about this cake is that it's hard to have all the ingredients on hand to make it any time.  It calls for buttermilk and unsalted butter which aren't staples at my house (the unsalted butter should be, but hasn't been).

So I made plans to pick up what I was lacking at home but then couldn't find a good time to make it.  Another downside is that it's not a really simple recipe so it wasn't something that I could simply whip up in the morning unless I wanted to get up and make it way before Charlotte got up and, lets face it, at 30 some odd weeks pregnant, that's not going to happen!

Finally, Jason suggested that he'd watch Charlotte after dinner so that I could make it then and just reheat what I wanted to eat each morning.  Stellar idea!  I started cooking and after a few measurement problems (I am pregnant remember and sometimes counting to 7 is hard!) I finally got it cooking.  It took a little longer than the 35 minutes the recipe called for but once it came out it looked delicious.  Jason and I had it for dessert that night and it was fantastic.  The next morning I heated up two pieces for Charlotte and I but Charlotte wouldn't touch it so she missed it and that left more for Jason and I!

I would highly recommend this recipe.  It's a really dense cake but it's not too sweet and perfect for breakfast or for a more tempered dessert.  It was good reheated for about 40 second in the microwave in the morning's but was also great fresh out of the oven.  Next time I might mix it the night before and bake it in the morning, but either way it's a great dish!

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Makes 1 square dish

1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature

7/8 cup + 1 T sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Cream butter with 7/8 cup of sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.  Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with 1/4 cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk.  Fold in the blueberries.

4. Grease a 9 inch square pan with non-stick spray.  Spread batter into pan.  Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar.  Bake for 35 minutes (or more).  Check with a toothpick for doneness.  Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.