Crockpot Creamy Salsa Chicken

You may remember that I already have a salsa chicken recipe.  Well, my church recently collaberated with all the women and came up with our very own cookbook.  There are sooo many delicious recipes in it!  When I saw this one, by my friend Jamie, I knew I just had to try it.  Plus it's so versatile!  I'll tell you what I did after the original recipe.

Ingredients:
2 to 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. salsa
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1/2 cup sour cream
1 c. grated cheddar cheese

Place chicken in greased slow cooker.  Pour broth, salsa, corn, beans, and taco seasoning over.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4.  Remove chicken with slotted spoon and place on plates.  Stir sour cream and cheese into sauce and pour over chicken.  Makes 3-5 servings. 

I had every intention of serving it this way, I really did.  But when I opened the crockpot, and smelt all the deliciousness going on, I could only think of one thing.  Burritos.  Soo...I shredded the chicken and kept it in the sauce.  Then I warmed up some refried beans and added a little butter, cheese, and sour cream to them to make them nice and creamy.  Then I put some of the beans and some of the chicken into a burrito sized tortilla and rolled it up.  Then I poured some of the sauce on top as well. 

The next time I made this, I did basically the same thing, but deep fried them to make chimichangas.

However you make this one, it's a KEEPER!  It's sooo good.  Try it.  You'll love it.

Red beans and rice

1 cup long grain white rice
2 cups hot water
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pkg (14 oz) smoked sausage
1 can red beans
Creole Seasoning

Directions:
Add the rice, water and salt to a sauce pan with a lid. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, then cover & simmer for 15 mins. Meanwhile, thinly slice the sausage and drain the juice from the red beans into the sink. Add 2-3 tbsp olive oil to to a large skillet and begin heating over medium heat. Add the sausage, give a sprinkling of creole seasoning and stir occasionally for about 7 mins until the sausages start to get sizzly on both sides. Add the red beans and stir until warmed through. About this time, your rice should be done too. Serve the beans and sausage over the rice. Add extra creole seasoning as desired at the table. Serves 2-3.

I got this recipe from kevinandamanda.com and I make it ALL the time.  It's such a simple delicious recipe, you'll find yourself making it all the time too.  My husband doesn't like rice, and even he likes this dish.  One thing I do do differently than the recipe though is I only use half the sausage.  Then I can save the other half to make this (or some other) meal again later.  Enjoy!

My Thanksgiving Dinner

I was brave this year and hosted Thanksgiving all on my own.  Unfortunately I was so busy I forgot to snap pictures of all the food!  Just know that it all looked amazing!  I posted some of the recipes I made below.  I also made the previously posted Perfect Dinner Rolls, Perfect Pumpkin Pie, and Ridiculously Easy Banana Cream Pie. I cooked my turkey in a turkey bag (no real recipe there, but it turned out so juicy!), and my mom made the stuffing and gravy.  For the mashed potatoes, I used the Pioneer Womans recipe...soooo good.  I always make my potatoes this way...always. Enjoy the recipes posted below!  You will want to make them for the rest of the holidays!

Apple Cake

This is one of the desserts I made for thanksgiving.  I found it by searching through Paula Dean's recipes.  I love her and her love of butter.  This was delicious and the first dessert to dissapear!  I also make Pumpkin Pie, and Banana Cream Pie.  Both are found in the dessert section of this blog.

Ingredients:

Cake:
Butter, for greasing pan
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1/4 cup orange juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups peeled and finely chopped apples

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Generously grease a tube pan.
For the cake: in a large bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, oil, orange juice, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract; and mix well. Fold apples, coconut, and pecans into batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 1 1/2 hours.
Shortly before the cake is done, make the sauce: Melt the butter in a large saucepan, stir in the sugar, buttermilk, and baking soda, and bring to a good rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Pour the sauce over the hot cake in the pan as soon as you remove it from the oven. Let stand 1 hour, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
Servings: 16 to 20 servings
Prep Time:
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 min

Not your traditional Green Bean Casserole

....but it's from now on my tradition!  This was the first thing to be gobbled up at my thanksgiving, and I had NO leftovers! 

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup (I hate mushroom)
• 3 ounces processed cheese (i.e. Velveeta®), cubed
• 1 tablespoon real bacon bits
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cut green beans, drained
• 1 (2.8 ounce) can French-fried onions

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Heat the undiluted cream of chicken soup in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the processed cheese and bacon, and continue stirring until completely melted. Remove from the heat, then stir in the green beans until evenly coated. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish, and top with the fried onions, leaving a 1 inch margin around the sides.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until heated through and bubbly. Check near the end of cooking to make sure the onions aren't getting too brown.

Sweet Potatoes

These sweet potatoes were holy moly, oh so delicous!  They were so sweet and scrumptious, I feel like I should have served them with the desserts!

Ingredients

• 2 (15 ounce) cans sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place sweet potatoes in a 10x6 inch shallow baking dish and pour orange juice over.
3. In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt; mix together and cut in margarine. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes.
4. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with marshmallows and broil until browned.

 --Also I totally spaced on the orange juice.  I bet it really adds to the flavor!

KFC Biscuits

Did you know that KFC posted their recipe to their biscuits right on their website?!?  I was so excited to find this yesterday that I tried to make them.  KFC's biscuits are my favorite, and there have been many times that I've considered buying them just to make biscuits and gravy with.  SO...I tried them.  They definitely don't look like KFC's!  haha.  I think I just need more practice.  I also think I patted the dough a little thin so I could get more biscuits out of it.  So definitely double the recipe so you don't have to worry about this.  Even with my biscuits being flat, they still tasted amazing!  I can't wait to try these again, I'll post another picture when they turn out right.  Here's the recipe:


INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Sift together flour, salt, sugar and baking powder into mixing bowl. Make a well in the flour mix and add the milk. Add shortening and begin kneading with hands (to cut in) the vegetable shortening and flour in the milk until thoroughly mixed. Add milk, if needed to form, and mix. Turn onto floured board, and knead gently 6 to 8 times. Pat dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into biscuits. Place on baking sheet and brown in oven 10-13 minutes. Makes about 9 biscuits.

Here the link as well. http://www.kfc.com/tips/ky_biscuits.asp