Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

I love this recipe! I have made it twice! So easy! I got it from a website that is nothing but low calorie, weight watcher friendly recipes (www.skinnytaste.com). You would never know this would be weight watcher friendly!

1 chopped onion
1 16 oz can of black beans
1 16 oz can of kidney beans
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
10 oz package of frozen corn
2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes with chilies (rotel)
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 tbsp of cumin
1 tbsp of chili powder
3 boneless chicken breasts

Throw everything in the crock pot and place chicken on top. Cook on low for 10 hours or high for 6 hours. About a half hour before serving remove chicken and shred (it typically falls to pieces on its own). Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. Enjoy!

Corn Chowder with Chilies

I had never had corn chowder until I made this. Oooh it's so yummy! I think ya'll will really enjoy this! It took about 30 minutes to make.

2 slices of bacon (or more)
2 tablespoons of butter
1 whole yellow onion diced
2 ears of corn shucked which equals 1 32 oz bag of frozen corn, which is what I used
4 ounce can of diced green chilies (I had trouble finding this at first, but I found it where the Hispanic food is found)
32 oz low sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (I used half and half and it was good!)
salt to taste
3 tablespoons of cornmeal
1/4 cup water

Add bacon pieces to a pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Cook for a couple of minutes. Throw in diced onion and stir, cooking for 3-4 minutes. Add butter and melt. Add corn. Stir and cook for 1 more minute. Add chilies and stir. Pour in chicken broth and cream (or half and half). Add salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Combine cornmeal with water. Stir to combine, then pour into chowder. Cover and cook for 15 more minutes. If chowder needs more thickening, add another tablespoon of cornmeal mixed with water. Cook for another 10 minutes. I made cornbread to go with it. MMMMMM!!

Vegetable Soup

There is nothing better than home made veggie soup! Especially when you have bread to soak up the juice!

Flank steak or you could use stew meat (if you use flank steak cut it into whatever size suits your fancy!)
9 potatoes (we made a huge pot)
5 celery stalks chopped
1 yellow onion chopped
couple of tablespoons of minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
beef bouillon cube
bay leaf
1 bag og baby carrots
1 bag of frozen corn
1 bag of frozen lima beans
1 small can of tomatoe paste
1/4 of a bottle of the V8 juice (we used regukar V8, but if you like a little spice you could use the spicy V8)
hot sauce (I do not like things very spicy so we do not put much. Just add to your liking)

Put everything except the carrots and potatoes into a large pot. I turned it on low and cooked it for about 6 hours. I put the potatoes and carrots in like an hour and a half before we were ready to serve. I did not want them to cook to pieces. Also if you wanted to make it a bit healthier you could add sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes. My grandmother adds both when she makes a roast! It is so yummy! Heat and some bread and enjoy!

Grilled Cheese

I know everyone knows how to make a grilled cheese, but we actually had white bread and a block of cheese when we made these. It sure beats making them with wheat bread and sliced cheese! Notice of thick the layer of melted cheese is! Great idea for a quick supper!

Steak Lettuce Wraps

I threw this together the other day for lunch. We had some left over pieces of steak from some Kabobs we had grilled. I hate wasting stuff!

Left over steak (you could do it with left over chicken too)
Lettuce leaf
salsa or whatever you would like to use as a dressing

Lay the lettuce leaf down. Put the meat on top. Dress with salsa or whatever dressing you choose! Wrap it up and enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

The picture is after we had fixed our plates. I wanted ya'll to see how the inside just runs out! So yummy!
This is so easy and quick! It's a perfect dish for the cooler temps that are just around the corner!

2 chicken breast
2 cans of cream of chicken
1 can of veg all
1 can of crescent rolls

Boil chicken and shred. In a small casserole dish add the chicken, cream of chicken, and veg all. We add a little bit of the chicken broth from the boiled chicken to thin out the cream of chicken a little bit. Mix all together. Lay out the crescent rolls on top. (We do not use all of them. Wasteful ,I know.) Then bake in the oven according to the crescent roll package. We go a little longer to ensure they are done all the way through. If it doesn't cook long enough, the rolls will be doughy on the bottom.

Honey Mustard

I made the Panko crusted baked chicken last night (see earlier post) and I had a craving for honey mustard. Of course we did not have any, so I decided to make some. I thoguht it was better than what you can actually buy!

Dijon mustard
honey

For every spoonful of mustard put and equal spoonful of honey. Stir well with spoon. Yep. That's it! Enjoy! By the way it was the perfect condiment for the Panko chicken!

Chinese Frozen Dinner

Usually about once a week or so we will throw a pizza or some chicken strips into the oven. Well we also love to order chinese takeout, but after we oreder, have it delivered, and tip the driver we spend $18. The last time we were at Walmart we found these microwave Chinese dinners. We ate them last night and they were pretty good. They will be going back on the grocery list for next time. They had a couple of different ones, but we chose the sesame chicken. They were located in the front freezer section right by the deli and where you can get the frozen pizzas that Walmart actually makes. Ya'll should try them!

Cupcakes

I know most people that live in and around Memphis are aware of Muddy's. I have had Muddy's a few times and I havre to say they are pretty good. I used to consider them as having the best cupcakes, until this past weekend. My dear friend brought over some cupcakes Friday night for my birthday. They were from Annolivia's in Hernando, MS. They were gorgeous and DELICIOUS! They put Muddy's to shame! I must recommend everyone try them!

The ones on top are cheesecake, then the red velvet, then Italian cream cake, and the caramel apple. The cheesecake and caramel apple ones each had a little suprise on the inside when you bit into it! Hurry! Run to Hernando and get them now!

Fish Tacos

These were so yummy! They are not bad for you either. I think ya'll will really enjoy! (The picture was taken after I topped with guacamole!)

4 flour tortillas
3 fish filets (I used Tilapia and it worked well. If you have fresh fish that would be even better!)
1/2 bell pepper of your choice. (I used yellow. They are my favorite)
handful of sliced onion
your favorite seasoning (I used a chipotle citrus seasoning I recently purchased (not a liquid). It is very yummy.)
guacamole, salsa, or anything else you would like to use for topping

lay fish fillets out in a casserole dish and sprinkle with seasoning. Let marinate about 30 minutes. In skillet aloow about a spoonfull of butter to melt, then add your fish, bell peppers, and onion. Cook until bell peppers and onion are soft and fish is flaky. The fish will fall apart when you are stirring it around. Thats ok! Heat your tortillas up in according to the package directions or your preference. Lay out tortillas and top with desired amount of fish combo and top with desired amount of guacamole, salsa, or any other topping you would like to use. Wrap it up and enjoy!

Steamer Bags

I don't know if ya'll have seen these Ziploc steamer bags or not, but they are awesome! My friend Sarah brought one over tonight for dinner. She put fresh green beans, minced garlic, butter, salt, and pepper in the bag and microwaved it for the specified time. They were so yummy. On the bags it has all the different veggies and even potatoes that you can do with the cooking times out beside them. They are so easy and quick! Perfect for weeknight dinners! I will for sure be getting some of these next time I am at the grocery store!

No Bake Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

I borrowed this picture form the website I got the recipe from because I figured if you saw the picture of the one I made it would probably not speak to you as this one does. Mine was not very pretty, but it was very yummy! I have to give credit to Sarah, because I started making it and she finished it so it was a group effort!

7 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
8 oz cool whip
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (The reason I even thought about making this was because I had a lot of pureed pumpkin left from the cream cheese recipe. I hate wasting stuff!)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup brown sugar
9 inch graham cracker crust

In a bowl mix everything but but the cool whip until fluffy. Add cool whip and mix until smooth. Spoon into graham cracker crust and let chill for a couple of hours until firm. When you are ready to serve top with a little cool whip and maybe even a sprinkle if pumpkin pie spice if you really like that pumpkin taste!

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese

This is the perfect recipe to get you in the mood for fall! It makes a pretty good amount so find someone to share with!

8 oz cream cheese (I used 1/3 fat)
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
1tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin spice
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp agave nectar (I did not use this b/c I do not know what it is or where to begin to find it. I just used a little extra brown sugar)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth. Enjoy on your favorite bagel!

Butter Chicken

I have been wanting to try this for a while now. Mine does not look anything like the picture from the original recipe, but it was still very good!

• 4 pieces Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cut Into Bite Sized Pieces)
• 5 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoons Black Pepper
• ½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Coriander
• ¼ teaspoons Cumin
• ¼ teaspoons Cardamom
• 1 whole Lime, Juiced
• 1 whole Onion, Diced
• ¼ cups Butter
• 1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Tomato Sauce
• 1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Petite Diced Tomatoes
• 1 pint Whipping Cream
• 1 bunch Chopped Cilantro, to taste
• 2 cups Basmati Rice (or However Much You Want) or white rice (I used white rice)

Preparation Instructions

Combine first 9 ingredients and marinate overnight. I did not do this and it was still good, but I think the chicken would for sure be more flavorful if you let it marinate over night.

Saute the onion in the butter until soft. Add marinated chicken and cook about 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Cook for 30 minutes over medium-low heat with the lid on. Add the whipping cream just prior to serving. In the original recipe the author said she has used light cream or half and half instead and it turned out fine. 

After cooking this I realized you could probably make this in the crock pot also. Just throw the first 9 ingredients in the crock pot and add the whipping cream at the end just as the original recipe stated.

Grilled Panko Chicken Skewers

So Yummy!
2 chicken breasts
your favorite marinade
Panko bread crumbs
whatever you like to used on your kabobs ( we used pickles and it was soo good!)

Cut chicken up into cubes. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes. Skewer your kabobs. Coat chicken in bread crumbs. Once grill is ready, spray grate with cooking spray. Grill chicken about 12 minutes. Try and not rotate too many times, because the crumbs will begin to fall off. We get so tired of eating juts grilled chicken and this changes it up a bit. The crumbs hold the juice in and give it an extra crunch when you bite into the chicken. Hope ya'll enjoy!

Guacamole and Homeade Potato Chips

The first time I had ever tasted this was at Bunco. Sam made it and I fell in love! I am not sure I had ever had fresh guacamole until this point. We paired this with homeade potato chips. Divine!

2 large or 4 small avocados
cilantro to taste
hot sauce of your choice to taste (we use Louisiana and Sam uses Tabasco)
salt to taste
1 large or 2 small tomatoes
1 large purple onion

Chop avocados, tomatoes, and onions leaving them in chunks. Add remaining ingredients and mash together with a fork.

To make potato chips start by washing your potatoes. We used 4 Russet potatoes and it was plenty for 4 people. Use a mandolin to slice potatoes thin. Fry them in veggie oil. Remove from oil and let cool and drain on a plate with paper towel.

Homeade Oreos

You must try this! It is so oooey and gooey and you will absolutely love them!

1 box of devil's food cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup of oil

8 oz cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup of butter
4 cups of powered sugar

Mix cake mix, eggs, and oil. Roll the dough into balls (a little bit bigger than a quarter). Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Let cool to warm on cookie sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack. To make the cream use a mixer to combine butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla. Then add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Pour cream into a piping bag (or a ziploc and cut a whole into the tip) and cream half of the cookies. Take the other half of the cookies and place on top of cream. Get a large glass of milk and sit down and enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

If any of work at Lebonheur and have ever eaten one of Katrina's wraps from downstairs, you know how good they are. Well I have recreated the buffalo chicken wrap. Hers is still better but this one will give hers a run for its money. This was so easy and a great quick weeknight dinner! Enjoy!

Buffalo chcken strips (I used a bag and a half b/c I was feeding 4 people with 2 of them being pretty big eaters)
shredded cheese
ranch dressing
green onions
lettuce
tortilla wraps

I cannot give you exact measurements on anything because this is one of those recipes that I just threw together. Cook the chicken strips according to the package (you could also use regular chicken strips if you like). Let them cool a bit and chop them up into bite size pieces. Cut up some green onions (I think I used 4). Then add the cheese, lettuce, and ranch. I used regular regular ranch because to me the chicken strips are a little spicy, but if you like spicy you may want to add spicy ranch instead of regular ranch! Place tortillas on a plate with a wet paper towel on top and heat in the microwave. After they are done, you can spoon the chicken mixture onto the wrap. I hope ya'll enjoy!

I'm Loving No Fat Greek Yogurt

Today I tried no fat Greek yogurt in chicken salad. I made my chicken salad like I normally do except I used 1/2 mayo and 1/2 yogurt. I would not recommend using all yogurt unless you really like the taste of it. It kind of has a sour taste. If any of ya'll have and good substitutions with the no fat Greek yogurt please post them here! You must get some!

Broccoli and Chicken Casserole

 I obtained this recipe from a girl at work. She was eating it left over for lunch one day and it looked so good! I made it the other night for dinner and it was pretty good. It was better left over (as are most casseroles). Hope ya'll enjoy!

3 cups of chicken (It ended up being 2 chicken breasts. I cubed it. You could do it anyway you wanted. You could leave it whole or boil it and then shred it)
1 can of cream of mushroom or celery
1 can of cream of chicken
1 cup of mayo or salad dsg (I used 1 cup of nonfat greek yogurt which by the way cuts the calories tremendously!)
1 cup of shredded cheese
1 pkg of Ritz crackers (I used club crackers and it worked perfectly)
1 stick of butter or margarine( We only used about 1/2 the stick)
2 pkg frozen chopped broccoli

Let your frozen broccoli thaw before hand. After thawed, place in the bottom of a 13 x 9 casserole dish. In a separate bowl mix chicken, soups, and yogurt (or whatever you decide to use). Pour this mixture over the broccoli, add the cheese and crackers. Then take the stick of butter and slice it up and put over the top. Use however much you think you might like. We had the whole stick placed on there at first, and it just looked like a lot of butter. If you use raw chicken bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. If you decide to boil your chicken and then shred it, just bake it long enough for everything to warm to desired temp.
We at this 2 nights for supper and 1 day for lunch. I mixed this up a day ahead of time so all Justin had to do was put it in the oven the next night! I am always looking for good casserole recipes, so if any of you have any please post in the comments section for this recipe!

Strawberry Pie

This is so easy and Justin absolutely loves it!

1 pie crust
1 lb strawberries
1 tub of strawberry glaze

Bake the pie crust according to the directions on the package. While crust is baking, thinly slice strawberries. Remove crust from oven and let cool completely. Once cooled, place strawberries and as much glaze as you think you can handle into the pie crust. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Top with cream. We made our own cream (Whip together whipping cream, sugar to taste, and a little vanilla extract), but you could use cool whip. This is like heaven in your mouth!

Greek Venison Wraps

 I got this recipe from Alyson. Alyson is a girl I work with. Her husband is also a deer slayer. This is so good! If you are looking for an easy different weeknight supper this is the recipe! It takes no time to cook! The picture above is what it looks like before you wrap it up.

3 slices of bacon
1 small vadalia onion, thinly sliced
4 medium mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp of sugar
1 venison loin, thinly sliced (I realize most of you probably do not have access to this, but you could use a flank steak.)
lemon pepper to taste
fresh spinach leaves
feta cheese crumbles

Sauce
2 tsp of sour cream
2 tsp of plain Greek yogurt
I cucumber

Start with the sauce. Peel the cucumber. Grade it on a cheese grader. In a bowl mix the sour cream, yogurt, and cucumber. Put in the frig while preparing the rest of the meal. Fry the bacon in the skillet. Remove and set aside to cool (After it cools, crumble it and set aside). Saute onions and mushrooms in bacon grease. Add sugar and stir. Add meat and sprinkle generously with lemon pepper. Add lemon juice. Saute meat until down (You want the meat to still be a little pink). Place damp paper towel over tortillas and warm in microwave. Now it's time to start building! Take the sauce and spread it on tortilla. Then add spinach leaves, meat mixture, feta crumbles, and bacon crumbles. Wrap and enjoy!

Mac N Cheese

I stole this recipe from my friends Sarah and Adam. It is actually the recipe that was used for the mac n cheese we had at our rehearsal dinner (yes we had mac n cheese at our rehearsal dinner)

1/2 bag of macaroni noodles
1/2 large block of velveeta or 1 small block ( I use the great value brand b/c it is a good bit cheaper and I think it is still just as good)
1 can of evaporated milk

Boil noodles according to package. Drain leaving a little bit of the starchy water (this helps everything stick together) return noodles to pot and had cheese and evaporated milk. I add the milk a little at a time until I reach the desired consistency. Ya'll are going to love this!

The Most Wonderful Pound Cake

I have to share this pound cake. I have personally never cooked. The reason I have never made it is because my husband has PERFECTED the recipe. He has borrowed the recipe from his Uncle Jeff. Uncle Jeff is married to Aunt Brenda. They are very special people to us. They are also fabulous cooks. Hopefully I will be able to share some more stuff from them!

2 sticks of Parkay
1 stick of butter (I know you are wondering why 2 sticks of Parkay and 1 stick of any other butter. I wondered too, but I was told that's just how it has to be. So I said ok because this cake is absolutely fabulous!)
1 8oz package of softened cream cheese
6 eggs
3 cup sugar
3 cup plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract

Cream Parkay, butter, and cream cheese until fluffy. Add sugar gradually. Beat in 2 well beaten eggs. The start adding the flour and remaining eggs. Alternate adding the flour and eggs. Make sure to end with flour. Only add one egg at a time. Grease and flour a tube baking pan. place a pan of water on the rack under the rack you will place the cake on. This keeps the cake from drying out. Bake at 275 for 1 hour and then raise the temp and bake at 300 for another hour. It usually doesn't take that whole last hour in our oven, but I know every oven is different. DO NOT PREHEAT YOUR OVEN.
To top this off we cut up strawberries and put some sugar over the top and put them in the fridge while the cake is cooking. This allows the strawberries to make their own sugarry juice! Then take 1/2 pint of whipping cream and pour it into a bowl with some sugar and vanilla extract. Beat it with a hand mixer until its fluffy. This my friends is homemade whipped cream! Thanks Adriene and Joe! Pile up as much of the strawberries and cream you think you can handle and sit down on the couch. You are going to want to be somewhere comfortable when you eat this because you are not going to want to move!

Panko Crusted Chicken

Before you read this recipe I would like to warn you that is going to sound like a shake-n-bake recipe. My wonderful husband pointed that out to me last night as I was putting this all together. Although it may sound like shake-n-bake, it's not. It is much better.

2 chicken breasts
Your favorite marinade (We used chipotle citrus. It is one of the liquid all seasons marinades.)
1 large teaspoon of Blue Plate (Because as you all know Blue Plate is the only mayo according to my husband. The purpose of the mayo is to help everything stick to the chicken)
Panko Bread crumbs (They are so much better than regular bread crumbs.)

Place chicken breasts, Blue Plate, and marinade into a ziploc bag. Mix around well. Lit sit for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better). Pour some bread crumbs on a plate. After the chicken is done marinating, dredge it through the bread crumbs on both sides. Make sure you cover every inch of the chicken with bread crumbs. Place chicken breasts in casserole dish and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. This was so good, and crunchy, and bursting with flavor!

Bowtie Lasagna

As most of you know, the only Italian food eaten around our house is spaghetti and pizza. I came across this recipe and thought it looked so darn good. So I tried it and oh was it so darn good! I made it this past Sunday afternoon, let everything cool down, put it in a casserole dish,  placed it in the frig, and all Justin had to do Monday night was put it in the oven on 350 to warm up.

I lb ground meat (We used deer because that's all we have. I am proud to say my deer slayer of a husband processed us enough ground meat from his deer outings that we have not had to be hamburger meat in almost a year.)
1 box of bowtie pasta
1jar of spaghetti sauce (We do not like a lot of sauce, so this was perfect for us. If you like your pasta a little saucy, I would suggest having another jar handy.)
Olive oil
Garlic powder
Salt
Italian Seasoning
Oregano
1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese  (I already had shredded parm open so I just used it, and I used more than 1/2 cup. We love cheese!)
1/2 cup of sour cream

If you are preparing to eat the same night all you do is put everything in a large pot. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps

Me and Justin absolutely love chicken salad! This is a VERY basic recipe so feel free to jazz it up a bit!

1 large can of chicken (Yes a can. If you want to take the time to boil your chicken and shred it, go right ahead)
6 tablespoons of mayonnaise (There is only one that exists in our house and that is Blue Plate. I am  not allowed to buy low fat mayonnaise)
green onions (The amount depends on how much you like `em. We LOVE them! The white ends too!)
Tony's seasoning to taste
Hearts of romaine lettuce

Open the can. Drain the chicken. Pour in bowl. Use fork to break chicken up a bit. Mix in remaining ingredients. Let chill in frig for a bit. Prepare lettuce leaves (I like to cut some of the ugly white ends off). Plop you a spoon full or two into the middle of the lettuce leaf. Enjoy!