Shredded Chicken

So I was going to try canning my own chicken, but the recipe I was planning on using said that I needed a pressure cooker and I only have a water bath canner. Unfortunately, I had already purchased the chicken and had let it thaw. So I decided to just cook it in my crock pot, shred it, and freeze it to be used at a later date.


I cooked it in the crock pot for about 7 or 8 hours with just a little bit of salt and one cup of broth. I checked it periodically throughout and broke it into chunks part way through and then after about 7 hours I shredded it up. After I cooled it down in the fridge I split it up (best to use Freezer Ziploc bags, but I was all out) and froze it. I found out that about 2 cups of boneless chicken is about 1 lb of chicken so I that's how I portioned it out and I had just enough for four pounds of chicken. I can't remember exactly how many boneless skinless chicken breasts I originally put into the crockpot, but if I were to guess I would have to say about 12-14...



Now I have 4 portions of yummy shredded chicken that can be added to many great recipes. Some that come to mind right away are chicken enchiladas, chicken salad, and Hawaiian hay stacks. I purchased the chicken at Costco for $2 a pound (10 lbs. for $20) and I also checked out the price of the Kirkland brand of canned chicken and it was about $11 for about 75 oz. or a little more than 4 1/2 lbs. which comes out to $2.34 per lb. So I'm not saving that much by doing it myself, but still...34 cents a pound can be worth it if you are on a tight budget.

Dinner, Dessert, and a Movie

It's Friday night so I thought an appropriate blog would be a stay-at-home date:

DINNER:

Mini-Meatloaves in a Muffin Tin

1 cup bread crumbs (Italian-style seasoned recommended)
1/2 cup milk (skim milk recommended)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup carrot or sweet potato puree
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x5 inch loaf pan or muffin tins with cooking spray. In a large bowl, soak the breadcrumbs in the milk. Coat a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 7-10 minutes. Add the celery and cook 3 to 4 minutes longer. Scrape the mixture into the bowl with the breadcrumbs. Add the turkey, Parmesan, carrot puree, ketchup, salt, and pepper, and stir to combine. Turn the mixture into the loaf pan or muffin tin. Use your thumb or a spoon to make indents in each tin and put a dollop of your favorite BBQ sauce. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Add your favorite cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or so.


I got this recipe from Deceptively Delicious and the muffin tin idea from one of my new favorite blogs...Make and Takes. Here's the link to the recipe.

DESSERT:

Root Beer Cookies

Cookie Dough:

1 cup butter
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp root beer extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup water (optional-only use if dough is too dry)

Directions: Cream butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the root beer extract. Whisk dry ingredients together. Add a little at a time to the creamed mixture. The dough should be slightly sticky. Chill for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease several baking sheets. Roll into small balls (about 1" diameter). I used a mini-ice cream scoop so that the cookies end up evenly sized. Place them on the pan, leaving a bit of space between the cookies. Gently press the tops of the dough. (If you leave out the water, sometimes the cookies don't spread very much.) Bake for 6-8 minutes, rotating cookie sheet halfway through. Let cookies cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before placing them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Cookie Frosting:

1 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp root beer extract
3 Tbsp hot water

Directions: Beat butter on high with an electric mixer until it is fluffy. Add a little powdered sugar and the root beer extract. Beat until smooth. Add remaining powdered sugar alternately with a little hot water until a nice spreading consistency has been reached. Frost the cooled cookies and let stand for a few minutes to let the frosting set up. (It should dry a bit on the top.) You can leave out the root beer extract and you'll have a tasty, soft brown sugar cookie.


I also got this recipe from Make and Takes...but the recipe was posted there by a guest blogger, Lindsey from Cafe Johnsonia.



How do you like my little helpers? It was a cold day that day so we just stayed in our PJ's all day and made cookies. My opinion on these cookies is that they are yummy and fun if you are in the mood for something different, but I probably won't make them very often because there are a lot of other cookies that I make that I like to eat much more than these. If I'm going to be eating sugar and butter than I'd rather it be in a chocolate chip cookie, you know what I mean?

MOVIE:

Twilight

I know there's a lot going around about this movie, but I just wanted to put in my two bits. I wrote a post about my experience of seeing the movie for the first two times in one day the evening before opening day. After that I didn't see it for a long time...not until it was in the dollar theater and Brad and I went to see it on a double date in February and I told Brad to go in with low expectations and he enjoyed it. We figured out that part of the reason he liked it more than other guys that we have talked to is because he read the book. So he was more invested in the characters and the storyline and less worried about the acting and special effects. Anyway, as you all know it came out on video last weekend and I bought the special two disc edition at Costco this week. It has lots of fun special features and it's nice to watch it at home where you don't have to deal with a critical audience laughing at the serious parts...that really bugged me the second time I saw it in the theaters. I like the cover picture below because Edward and Bella are smiling and they make them so serious in the movies.


Here are a few links that do a good job talking about this movie:

Hair Issues

Cool Twilight Premiere Party

Good Twilight Review

So, even though some of the acting is a little annoying in this first one I am thinking with a bigger budget and a different director the next one, New Moon, coming out 11-20-09, will be even better and the third and the fourth will hopefully continue to get better and better. Speaking of that, I've heard that the third one, Eclipse, is set to be released summer 2010.

Hawaiian Chicken

6 chicken breasts

1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper
garlic powder
1 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar (apple)
6 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 can crushed pineapple (with pineapple juice for a more sweeter sauce and without for a less sweet sauce)

Directions: Dip chicken in flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder mixture. Put olive oil in pan then brown chicken and put in a 9x13 inch pan. Combine the remaining ingredients and thicken as needed with cornstarch. Pour over chicken and back at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour. Serve over rice or a baked potato.

Note: A great variation on this recipe is to cut the chicken in half and then add some yummy vegetables instead and cook it in with the sauce.

Funny story: Brad grew up eating the rice pictured above, calling it brown rice, and thinking that it was brown grain rice. So, shortly after we were married Brad asked me why I was only making white rice and not brown rice. I grew up on brown rice, but I know that my family is different so I had just assumed that he would prefer white rice. So, I was pleasantly surprised at his request and I went out and got some whole grain rice and served it at dinner soon after that. Needless to say, he was surprised at what he was served and he did not really like it. After a little research with Brad's mother I found out that the "brown rice" Brad grew up on was really just white rice cooked with onion soup mix powder...and that is what is pictured above.

The Bean Queen! Ham and 12 Bean Soup

So, unfortunately, I'm not the bean queen...but fortunately, my mother is. All growing up my mother made lots and lots of delicious kinds of beans from Split Pea Soup to Black Beans to Cajun Red Beans and Rice to Ham and 12 Bean Soup.

So, the other day I decided to make her Ham and 12 Bean Soup. Here's the bean making process (and notes and tips from my mom along the way):

Soak the beans in plenty of water for 8-12 hours, usually over night. I say plenty of water because dry beans more than double in size after soaking in water. By the way, there are 12 different kinds of beans in this mix: black, red, split peas, lima, black eyed peas, pinto, white, navy, garbanzo, chick peas...and 2 others. You don't have to worry too much about which beans are in there because you can buy them already in a 12 bean mix.


Rinse beans very thoroughly and then put in a heavy duty pot or a crock pot and cover beans with water. Add seasonings like garlic powder and onion powder and/or actual diced onion and minced garlic.


Bring beans to a boil quickly and then decrease heat, but keep it hot enough that the beans keep boiling. Boil beans for about 4 hours stirring occasionally with a lid on the pot. Test the beans to see if they are soft.


Start to cook uncovered, add ham and ham bone (my favorite time to make this soup is when we have purchased a bone-in spiral cut ham then we eat that for dinner, take off the extra already cut ham for sandwiches, then save the bone and the ham that is still on it to make this soup) and let it simmer for a little while (like an hour maybe). Take out the ham and ham bone. Discard bone and any other undesirable parts. Then break up the good ham into smaller pieces and add it back to the beans. Then add salt and pepper. Continue cooking and allow all of the seasonings to come together and the water to cook off so that the beans thicken.

You never want to add cured ham or salt too early in the process (wait until the beans are soft) because otherwise it will make your beans tough. Also, add water as needed throughout the process so that the beans don't dry up. One great thing about this recipe is it can make a ton of bean soup and it freezes really well which is a nice bonus...food storage!

A final note from my mom: "Jessie hit the 3 keys to good beans right on... but just to reemphasize I'll say: 1) after your beans have soaked overnight, RINSE THEM THOROUGHLY, 2) keep your beans at a ROLLING BOIL until they are soft (this will mean adding water as needed), and 3) don't add salt or tomato products until the beans are soft. Enjoy!"

Honey Chicken

Sauce:
3/4 cups butter
3/4 cups honey
6 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
3 tsp. curry powder

5 chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make sauce by melting the four ingredients together in a sauce pan. Cut the chicken breasts in halves or thirds and place in a baking dish. Pour sauce over the chicken pieces and move the chicken around to make sure that sauce has touched everywhere on the chicken, but the sauce will not be deep enough for the chicken to be totally covered. Bake for a total of 40 minutes, turning the chicken pieces over half way through. Serve with rice and veggies.

Burrito Mix aka Cafe Jessie

One of our staple dinners around our household is Burrito Mix. I started making it in college and my roommates would call it "Cafe Jessie."


What's great about this meal is it turns out a little differently every time depending on the ingredients that you have, but it always turns out great! It is usually some combination of the following things:

Burrito Mix:

1 can refried beans
1 can chili or chili beans
1 can black beans (optional)
1 lb of ground beef (browned and drained)
chopped onions
taco seasoning
1/2-1 cup sweet potato puree (optional)

Toppings:

tortillas
corn
rice
lettuce
salsa
sour cream
tortilla chips
ranch

With Burrito Mix you can make the following combinations:

Nachos:



Burritos:



Taco Salad:

Enjoy!

P.S. A big thanks to Erika for the beautiful dishes that this food is pictured on, wonderful Christmas present!

Amazing Chicken Taco Soup in the Crock Pot

Chicken Taco Soup (crock pot)

1/2 large Onion, diced
1 (16 ounce) can Chili Beans (not just plain pinto)
1 (15 ounce) can Black Beans (don't drain either of these)
1 1/3 cup Frozen Corn
1 (8 ounce) can Tomato Sauce
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (short cut - add 1 1/2 cups water and then just toss in 1sp chicken stock)
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis (original recipe calls for two - FYI)(undrained)
1 medium fresh tomato - optional
1 (1.25 ounce) package Taco Seasoning
2-3 whole skinless, boneless Chicken Breasts

Toppings:
Shredded Cheese
Cilantro
Sour Cream
Tortilla Chips

Directions:
1. Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and canned tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Cover and set crock pot on high for 6 hours, or whatever you have time for really.

2. One hour before cooking time is up, remove chicken breasts from the soup and shred them using two forks. Stir in the shredded chicken along with the chopped fresh tomato if you want, and continue cooking for the last hour. You can also add a cup of water if you'd like more broth in the last hour. Serve topped with shredded cheese, chopped cilantro, a dollop of sour cream, and tortilla chips, if desired.


Notes: I didn't have any black beans, so I just used red beans...but black beans would definitely add some color variety. Also, I used can corn instead of frozen corn. I threw in a cilantro bouillon cube and a chipotle bouillon cube (a new find at Walmart - only like $1 for 20 cubes). And I also put in some carrot puree and it blended in like a charm!

P.S. This recipe is courtesy of Emily W.

Chicken Salad (with Cauliflower)

2 large eggs
1 pound of chicken
(boneless, skinless, cutlets or breast, rinsed and dried)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp olive oil
3/4 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
2 stalks celery, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup cauliflower puree
1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1/2 cup green grapes, coarsely chopped

Directions: Place the eggs in a small saucepan and add cold water to cover. Cover, set the saucepan over high heat, and bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and let stand, still covered, for exactly 15 minutes. Run the eggs under cold water to cool, then peel them. Separate the yolks from the whites. Chop the whites and discard the yolks (or refrigerate for another use).

Sprinkle the chicken with salt, chili powder, paprika, and garlic powder. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil and then the chicken. For cutlets, cook 4 to 5 minutes per side until lightly browned on no longer pink in the center. For chicken breast, cook 5 minutes per side, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 9 to 10 minutes longer. Let the chicken cool slightly before cutting it into bite-sized pieces.

In a large bowl, stir together the chicken, mayonnaise, celery, cauliflower puree, yogurt, grapes and chopped egg whites. Serve warm or chilled.

Notes: Children love grapes, so this makes a great lunch for the whole family. Using leftover roast chicken saves time; so does using a food processor to chop the celery. Also, I got this recipe from Deceptively Delicious.

Pizza Crust Recipe!

Pizza Crust

1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp yeast on top of water
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
2 1/2 cups flour

Mix/knead until smooth. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
Roll out onto greased pizza pan. Spread with sauce
and toppings. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 to 13
minutes or until crust is light brown and toppings are
bubbly. One batch of this dough makes 2 small or 1
large crust. This recipe also doubles well.

Saucy Chicken Enchiladas

Sauce:

2 cans cream of chicken soup

8 oz sour cream (1 cup)

1 pkg enchilada mix

small can of tomato paste

Filling:

3 large chicken breasts

grated medium cheddar cheese

onions, diced

small can of diced mild green chilies

&

Tortillas

Directions: Boil the chicken then dice it. Mix sauce ingredients in a sauce pan. Put

diced chicken in a large frying pan with onions and green chilies. Then add grated

cheese and half of the sauce. Then add tomato paste to the other half of the sauce.

Pam your dish then put a spoonful of filling into each tortilla and roll up skinny

and place in dish. Cover the top of the tortillas with the sauce half that has the tomato

paste in it. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes about a dozen enchiladas.

Chili & Corn Bread

Chili

1 pound of ground beef
1 packet of chili seasonings
chopped onions
1 can of diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of red beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of chili beans (with sauce)
1 can of corn (drained)

Directions: Brown ground beef with chili seasonings and chopped onions.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Put cheese, green onions, and sour cream on top of the chili.




Corn Bread

1 1/2 cups corn meal
1 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup milk
1 can cream style corn
2 eggs
1 cup chopped chilies

Directions: Mix all ingredients together except cheese. Stir in oil, corn, peppers, eggs, milk, and 1/2 of the cheese until blended. Pour into greased pan and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Notes: For sweet cornbread mix 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix and 1 box of yellow cake mix. Mix separately according to individual boxes then mix together. Bake according to cake box.

Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry

3 tablespoons butter
1 onion (peeled and thinly sliced)
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 chicken breasts (chopped into chunks)
carrots (chopped, to taste)
2 cups chicken stock (heated)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water (cold)
1/4 cup cream (I use whole milk)
potatoes (cooked, chopped into chunks, to taste)
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat butter in large frying pan. When hot, add onions; cook 5-6 minutes over medium heat. Stir occasionally. Mix in curry powder and cook 3-4 minutes over low. Add chicken and carrots and stir; season well. Cook 2-3 minutes over medium heat. Pour in chicken stock and bring to boil. Continue cooking 9-10 minutes over medium low heat. Mix cornstarch with water; stir into sauce. Cook 1 minute. Add cream and potato chunks and bring to boil; cook 2-3 minutes and season well. Serve over rice.

Cafe Jessie - BBQ Shredded Pork

BBQ Shredded Pork:

3 pounds of pork loin roast
1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 can (8 ounces) of tomato sauce
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1 white onion (3/4 diced, 1/4 sliced)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano

Directions: Put sliced onions in the bottom of the crock pot. Cut
pork roast into 3 or 4 pieces and put into the crock pot. Mix all
other ingredients together in a separate bowl and pour over the meat
in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours then shred meat.
Cook for another hour or so. If it looks like it's getting dry add
more of whatever you want (I recommend some water and barbecue sauce).

Notes: Sometimes I soak the raw pork in CocaCola over night before
I cook it. Also, this last time I made it I put in more sugar than usual
and some honey to make it sweeter. I also added ground red pepper to
make it a little spicier, per Brad's request.

This is what homemade Cafe Rio looks like at our house. We love having this meal for dinner and it makes great left overs too!