Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Bowl

Alright guys, sorry about last week. I had a minor freak out over my flight being canceled and the airline losing my bag that had my lap top charger in it but I will try to fix it by adding two recipes this week! Today I have for you one of my new favorite winter foods! I love tacos and I love chicken. Its my one draw back from trying to be vegetarian.... So I made this recipe for the first time and let me tell you it was hard to keep my hands out of the slow cooker! My small apartment had an amazing taco smell! Okay before I get to the review I will start the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1½ lbs. chicken breasts
• 1 (16 oz.) jar salsa
• 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained
• ½ lb. (8 oz.) frozen corn
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• ½ Tbsp cumin
• ½ Tbsp minced garlic
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• ¼ tsp salt
• to taste cracked pepper
• 2 cups dry rice
• 8 oz. shredded cheddar
• ½ bunch cilantro (optional)

Instructions

1. Add everything except the rice, cheese, and cilantro to the slow cooker along with ¼ cup of water (for good measure). Give everything a good stir and make sure the chicken is covered in the mixture.
2. Secure the lid on your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hrs.
3. Near the end of the cooking time, cook the two cups of rice according to the package directions (Bring the rice and 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot with a lid in place, as soon as it reaches a boil, reduced the heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving).
4. After 8 hours of cooking, carefully remove the lid of the slow cooker. Stir with a fork to shred the chicken (it should be super tender and will shred easily). Build the taco bowls by placing rice on the bottom, then the taco chicken mix, shredded cheese and fresh cilantro.

Review

 So as you guys know I got stuck on my way home from my little vacation but that doesn't stop me from cooking!!! Plus any recipe that gets me to use my slow cooker I'm all for it! What can I say about this recipe that would make you try it? Well, lets start with how easy it is! All you basically do is throw everything into the crock pot and turn it on for a few hours! Its so easy but the only hard part is the smell. Once you get that taco smell its hard not to try it! Haha! I had so many almost tastes but then I remembered that there was chicken in there and I didn't know if it was cooked or not, so I didn't try it. I will say that when I finally did I was so happy with how it tasted and how fun it was to throw everything into the bowl and eat it! It was an awesome night!  We had left overs and I decided to show you what I do with my leftovers! I try and make everything into a breakfast bowl and believe me its easy! Basically  all I do is add an egg and its a Breakfast bowl! I have some pictures from that too!See how easy that is!!!

 As always,
Ta Ta for now,
Lil' C

Scalloped Chicken Hot dish

Hey guys! How you doing? Just so I let you know us Minnesotans Love our hot dishes! Haha!

Anyways,  what should I say about this recipe? The reason I chose to make it? Well if we take it like that then the reason I made this was for my coworker. He said the vegetarians are weird and should eat meat. Now I'm not a vegetarian. I'm more flexible then that. Thanks to last October I four that I really liked eating veggie. If you don't remember October is national Vegetarian/ Vegan month and I pledged to be a vegetarian and it was a success. I enjoyed it and couldn't help but keep close to a vegetarian diet... And then theirs my boyfriend. He never knew what a vegetarian ate until he met me, But I'm proud to say that he has liked most of my dished that I have made over the past half a year! Anyway, I decided to prove that I could eat meat and cook it, since I am a cook after all. So with nothing else to say until my rambles at the end of the page here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup margarine or butter. ( I used margarine.)

1 package PASTA RONI Shells and cheddar

2 cups frozen mixed veggies (I used corn, peas, beans, and carrots.)

2/3 cups milk

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1/4 cup dry bread crumbs ( I used Italian style panko bread crumbs)


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 Fahrenheit.

2. in a 3- quart saucepan, combine 2 1/4 cup water and 2 tablespoons of butter to a boil. Stir in pasta and frozen veggies. Bring that back to a boil and cook for about 12 minutes or until the water it almost completely absorbed.

3. Add the Pasta Roni seasoning packet, milk and chicken. Cook for another 3 minutes or until the sauce starts to thicken.

4. In a separate pan melt the remaining butter and toss with bread crumbs.

5. Place the chicken mixture into a 3 quart cooking dish and cover with the bread crumbs.

6. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are golden brown and the sauce it
bubbly.

7. Let sit for a few minutes and enjoy!


Its Rambles Time:

First off let me just say don't make this recipe in the summer.... My gosh it made the apartment so hot and sticky!!! I almost started cooking in my skivvies!!! Please get that image out of your head. Haha! So as my apartment heated up my patience started to decline and here comes mistakes. First off I grabbed my almond milk instead of the actual milk, if my boyfriend wasn't there to stop me we could have had a disaster! My almond milk happens to be dark chocolate. Oops! So after that I tried to pay more attention but it was hard with my kitten on top of the kitchen cabinets. He has somehow gotten himself on top of the fridge and on top of the cabinets. Not okay but I wasn't going to let him come down and walk on a hot stove so to my luck he stayed there. When it was in the oven I wished I had put garlic in it. I love the smell of garlic and it would have tasted heavenly!!! But sadly I didn't. If anyone does please tell me how it is!!!! As for the taste well it actually tasted like an alfredo chicken pot pie. It was good don't get me wrong but something was missing and I'm convinced that, that thing is garlic and maybe some pepper! I think though the next time I make this I will make it in the winter and add garlic. Oh and my boyfriend really liked it! He said to put it in our recipe box, or on my blog! Haha! Sorry when I made this I decided to make it a winter recipe and I held it for a little while. So sorry if my rambles seemed weird with the whole summer thing. Again, please post pictures in the comments and tell me all about your changes if you make any! I would love to hear from you guys!

Ta Ta for Now,
Lil' Char

Chicken fajita chowder

This chowder is great for fall! it has a Mexican kick and isn’t spicy!!! Great with chips or bread. I don't remember where I actually found it. I think it might have been a Betty Crocker recipe but I'm not really sure anymore.

ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1.4 oz package fajita or taco seasoning mix divided
• 4 boneless chicken breasts, cubed
• 3 tablespoons veggie oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 15 1/4 oz can sweet corn and diced peppers, drained
• 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 14 1/2 oz can Mexican- style stewed tomatoes
• 4.5 oz can chopped green chilies
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup instant brown rice, uncooked
• 10 3/4 oz can nacho cheese soup
• 1 1/4 cup water

directions

• 1
  Combine flour and 2 tablespoons seasoning mix in a large plastic zipping bag, add chicken. seal bag and shake to coat. Saute chicken in hot oil in a large pot over high heat about 5 minutes, until golden stirring often.
• 2
  Reduce heat to medium high, Add onions and garlic; saute 5 minutes. Stir in remaining seasoning mix, corn, and next 5 ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add soup and 1 1/4 cups water; thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with desired toppings and garnish.

notes

Toppings: sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped green onions, tortilla chips Garnish: fresh chipped cilantro


I really liked this recipe. Well I am posting it so i would hope that I liked it! Anyway, when I made this recipe I wasn't expecting for it to make so much. I think next time I do make it I'll only make a half batch. Its bad that I have so many leftovers that my roommates and I are sick of eating it. Well actually thats not really a bad thing. What I do like it that it had the tastes of a chicken taco but without the major mess of a taco. I bet this would be just as good with beef or pork! I should try that sometime, or one of you can and tell me how it goes. I would love to hear back from you guys!.

Ta Ta for now,

Lil' Char

Savory Dill Chicken

Hey guys,
Today I have a recipe that is actually from a cook book! I know right? No pinterest today! Anyway, I've been in the mood for chicken and I remembered I had this cookbook all about chicken that my brother got for me for Christmas one year! I'm pretty sure he found it in the bargain bin because I shop in the cook book section all the time and I've never seen it before! The cookbook is called Incredibly Easy Chicken. Believe me when the name says it all! I really didn't have to do much with it but it still turned out good! There are a bunch of recipes that I want to try from it but I also don't want to eat a month of chicken.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons I can't believe its not butter spread ( I used real butter for this)
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup water
1 package KNORR recipe classics vegetable or spring vegetable soup, dip and recipe mix
1/4 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, melt your butter over medium- high heat and brown chicken, turning occasionally about 5 minutes.

2. Stir in water, recipe mix, and dill weed. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to low and simmer covered, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Remove chicken to serving plate and keep warm.

3. Remove skillet from high heat; stir in sour cream. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve, If desired, with noodles.

Oh my gosh guys this recipe is amazing! I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I really like it! I think next time I might try it with an onion soup mix. I just really like onions and I feel like it needs more vegetables but over all it was yummy! I made it over noodles and I also added a few extra scoops of sour cream to make my sauce a little creamier. Plus the best part was that I will have extra for my lunch tomorrow! I like the idea of having extras! I will have to let you know how it tastes re- heated! Again please try this recipe and tell me how it goes! Also pictures are always welcomed!




Ta Ta for now,
Lil' Char