Southwest Shredded Chicken and Quinoa

Dinner is always one of those meals that I struggle with. I am full of energy all day until about 3:00 or 4:00 pm and then I run out of steam. I don't feel like doing anything, let alone making dinner.

I truly appreciate those meals I can throw together in 5 minutes or the ones I can throw in the crockpot in the late morning (when I can still function like a human being) and let sit all day.

This is one of those meals.

I had originally planned to put it in the crockpot while I did other things but, of course, I got sidetracked and completely forgot about that. So, instead, I threw it all together in a casserole dish and baked it in the oven. It worked just as well and was still easy, peasy.

Southwest Shredded Chicken and Quinoa

Ingredients

3 - 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 jar salsa (about 2 cups)

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can corn (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)

1 Tbsp chili powder

1/2 Tbsp cumin

4 cloves garlic, minced

sprinkle of cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

1/4 cup water

1 cup quinoa, uncooked

1 - 2 cups Tex-Mex cheese, shredded (You can use aged cheddar)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a large casserole with cooking spray.  (OR - you can spray a large crockpot insert with cooking spray and not worry about preheating the oven)

Add everything except the quinoa and cheese to your casserole dish (or crockpot) and give it a good stir. Make sure the chicken breasts are covered with the salsa mixture.

Cook in preheated 350 oven for about one hour, until chicken is done. (Conversely, cook in crockpot on low for about 8 hours. Until chicken is cooked)

Remove chicken breasts from the mix and shred with 2 forks until completely shredded. Place shredded chicken back into mix and stir. Place back into oven while you prepare the quinoa. (Or, turn crockpot to warm and let sit while you prepare quinoa.

Prepare quinoa. (Place the 1 cup of quinoa into a pot with 1 3/4 to 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes, until all the liquid is absorbed.)

Serve quinoa with a scoop of the shredded chicken mixture on top, sprinkle generously with shredded cheese.

There is a couple of things that are great about this recipe (if I do say so myself ):

1. There is hardly any prep work - does opening cans even count as prep work?

2. It is fast - just over an hour from start to finish (if you use the oven.)

3. There is only one dish to wash.

4. It is delicious.

5. You can fine tune it to your personal preferences - mild or spicy salsa, more or less cayenne, other veggies, etc...

6. You can use the leftover shredded chicken in tortilla wraps the next day for lunch, or sandwiched between two tortillas with some shredded cheese and grilled for a tasty quesadilla.

7. Did I mention it was delicious?

The one issue I have with this dish is the amount of effort it requires to shred the chicken. It only takes 5 minutes to do but, if you are having a "too lazy to cook dinner" day, then it seems like there is an unecessary call for a heavy duty arm workout.

It's a small issue though.

I get over it by pretending that I'm in a chicken shredding competition in the Olympics and that I'm going for the gold.

 What?

  I think it would be a pretty legit Olympic sport.

April Fool's A&W and KFC

Sue and I had so much fun making some fast food April Fool's Day food. We had to share it with you!

We were inspired by Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons incredibly creative food.

We made the macaroni for our A&W macaroni salad out of white Tootsie rolls and green and orange Starburst. Then stirred in a little vanilla pudding for the "mayo".

It was so realistic. We fooled mom & dad with it. :)

The chicken nuggets were Rice Krispie treats that we painted with melted white chocolate and dipped in crushed Cornflakes.

The fries were pound cake we cut with a crinkle cutter.

Our KFC chicken drumsticks are actually made with pretzel rods with 2 mini marshmallows stuck on the end and then dipped in white melting wafers. For the meat of the chicken we used Rice Krispies, painted with melted white chocolate and dipped in crushed Raisin Bran. We then painted a few large flakes and stuck them on top to make the crispy skin.

The baked beans are red and black jelly beans mixed into a little chocolate and vanilla pudding with a few drops of red food coloring.

They did look like kidney (baked) beans once they were in the sauce.

The chicken fingers are Rice Krispies painted with melted white chocolate and dipped in crushed Cornflakes. The BBQ Sauce is a little grape jelly.

The fries are, once again, pound cake cut with a crinkle cutter.

Sue and I were going to go into the local A&W with our A&W April Fool's food and say "Hey, there is something wrong with our meal. We want our money back." But, we didn't want to freak out some poor kid.

Instead, we took it to show off amongst some neighbors.

Hey, it was too cool not to share!

Did anyone pull any pranks on you this April Fool's?

Be sure to visit: Dizzy Busy & Hungry, Mama Buzz, Nap Time Is My Time,

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies

It's cookie time!

C is for cookie, that's good enough for me, 'cuz cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C.

Cookie monster is still my favorite Sesame Street Character EVEN THOUGH he apparently now eats vegetables.

I haven't watched Sesame Street for some time now......I'm a Looney Tunes kinda girl.... but I have been told that Cookie Monster eats vegetables and not cookies anymore.

Seriously?

What's up with that?

I can't bring myself to actually watch the show to check. It would make me really sad if they took away Cookies' cookies.

*Sigh*

On the upside - I can still eat as many cookies as I want.

Take that society.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1/2 cup butter, room temp

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup broken up pretzel pieces

sea salt for sprinkling

Directions

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla and beat to combine, scraping sides of bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with wooden spoon until just combined and there are no more streaks of flour. Stir in chips and pretzel bits.

Chill dough in fridge for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Scoop Tbsp of dough onto prepared pan about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for approx 10 minutes. (Top should be light golden brown.)

Remove from oven and let cool on sheet for a few minutes before removing to wire rack to cool.

How can you not love a cookie that has all those wonderful ingredients?

Chocolate chips...

Peanut butter chips...

Pretzels...

I even liked the sprinkle of salt on top. It definitely adds to the flavor of the cookie.

Cookie Monster would have these for breakfast every day....

if he were allowed to....

Angel Food Dessert

Clickety click barba trick.

If you remember that saying then you are awesome. If you have never heard it then...well....you are also awesome but like a notch below the awesome that people who know about Barbapapa are at.

Why I am bringing up this unsual topic?

The Barbapapa species used to say "clickety click barba trick" just before they shapeshifted into something cool.

It totally applies to this recipe. You take 2 items and throw them in a bowl and Clickety click barba trick, they turn into this crazy good dessert.  

Angel Food Dessert

Ingredients

1 box of angel food cake mix

1 can (approx 22 oz) berry pie filling (any flavor - I used Strawberry Rhubarb)

1 container light or no-fat cool whip

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

In a bowl, mix together angel food cake mix and pie filling. DO NOT add any other ingredients.

Pour into UNGREASED 9 X 13 pan.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve with whipped topping. (Serve warm or cold, either is good.)

How easy is that?

Oh, yes, don't worry about it deflating. It will rise up so unbelievably puffy you won't even believe it but, once you take it out of the oven, it will fall.

It's okay. It's supposed to. Just "frost" it with the light cool whip and you are good to go.

See? Poofy. This is only half as poofy as it was in the oven initially.

 Aaaaawe...now it's flat (and blurry, but that's my fault, not the dessert). But, that's okay because it tastes fantastic and is soooooo light.

When you only have a short time to throw together a dessert to serve company but you want to look like you put a lot of time in it... this is a good choice.

Or, if you just want something light and not overly sweet, this is a good choice for that as well.

Toffee Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

Sometimes you just don’t want chocolate.

Calm down everyone…I haven’t gone crazy. I just wanted to make a treat that didn’t have chocolate in it.

Weird, I know.

I just felt like I was making a lot of chocolate things lately and wanted to give something new a try.

Enter the Dormestic Goddess and her Toffee Bars With Browned Butter Frosting.

These are amazing. I don’t know if you have tried browned butter or not – I just recently have been introduced to it – but it is one of the most interesting flavors I have tried.

And by “interesting” I mean supercalifraga-delicious.

I made Apple Cake with Toasted Pecans and Browned Butter Frosting a while ago and *Shazaam* I was hooked. Then I saw this bar recipe on the Dormestic Goddess blog and decided to try it out.

So…so…so good.

Next on my list of browned butter things to try is a browned butter ice cream.

Can you imagine such a thing? Eeeeeee….. I’m excited.

Although…. I probably shouldn’t make it. I’m already sabotaging my weight loss efforts with all these stupid (read: stupidly delicious) treats.
(Update: I made the ice cream! Click HERE to see that recipe)

Toffee Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

(Adapted from Dormestic Goddess)

Ingredients

1 cup butter, at room temp, divided

½ cup sugar

1 egg

Pinch salt

1 cup flour

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 9 X 9 (or 8 X 8 or 9 X 13) pan with baking spray and line with parchment paper, spray lightly again, set aside.

In a medium bowl combine ½ cup of the softened butter with the sugar and whisk until combined. Whisk in egg until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add pinch of salt and flour and stir until combined.

Shortbread-like crust. Mmmm.....

Press dough into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven 12 – 15 minutes, or until crust is set and golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool while making the toffee filling.

In a medium sauce pot combine the condensed milk, vanilla, and 2 TBSP of butter and cook over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Stir constantly so mixture does not scorch.

Pour filling over baked crust. Bake in preheated oven until filling is set, brown, and bubbling. 10 – 12 minutes for softer bars and 15 minutes or longer for hard, crunchy bars.

Toffee middle. Another layer of goodness.

While the bars bake, brown the butter and prepare the frosting. Place the remaining 6 TBSP of butter in a sauce pan and place over medium heat. Melt butter until it begins to bubble. Once the butter begins to bubble and foam, swirl the pan so the butter does not burn. Continue swirling until brown specks begin to appear, about 5 minutes.

Pour butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and allow to cool until bowl is just warm to the touch, another 5 -10 minutes. Sift in powdered sugar and salt and beat until smooth. Spread on still warm bars.

Allow bars to cool to room temperature before cutting.

 So.. it’s not the prettiest bar out there, I admit. But in the flavor and texture categories it is at the top of the list.

So…there you go…if you are not a chocolate lover, like Sue *cough* crazy*cough* then you will appreciate this bar for its simplicity and amazing flavor.

I will let you know how the ice cream turns out. :)
(Update: click HERE to find out how the Browned Butter Ice Cream turned out!)

P.S. - We linked this to Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons where they have tons of great recipe and craft ideas if you want to have a peek.

Shortbread and Caramel Chocolate Brownies ("Twix" Brownies)

That right there, in that photo above, is pure gold.

Yes.

Pure. Brownie. Gold.

Best brownie bar I have ever eaten. Okay...okay... it all starts with a brownie mix (Blasphemy!) but I believe if you made it with a "from scratch" brownie, it might kill you.

Really.

I think it would be TOO good.

If you made it with a "from scratch" brownie recipe all of the atoms in the universe would spontaneously implode.

True story.

So, lest we tempt fate, we should all stick with a mix. Agreed?

Unless you WANT to be the cause of the destruction of the universe.

Up to you.

Shortbread and Caramel Chocolate Brownies

(aka Twix brownies)

from Jasey's Crazy Daisy

Ingredients

Crust layer

1 package of shortbread cookies (I used pecan sandies - 22 of them)

6 Tbsp butter

Brownie Layer

1 box brownie mix

ingredients called for on back of the box

1/4 cup fudge ice cream topping

Caramel Layer



1 (14 oz) bag caramels (I used 40 caramels)

2 Tbsp heavy cream

Chocolate Topping

1 bag milk chocolate chips (I used 2 cups)

2 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray.

Using a food processor, pulse cookies until they resemble sand. In a microwave safe bowl, melt 6 Tbsp butter. Add to cookie crumbs, stirring until crumbs are moist. Press firmly into prepared pan.

Prepare brownie mix as per box instructions. Mix the 1/4 fudge sauce into the brownie batter. Pour batter on top of cookie crust and bake as directed.

Remove from oven and let cool. (Place in fridge to speed process, if desired)

Place caramels and 2 Tbsp cream in a saucepan and cook over medium low heat until caramels are melted and creamy, stirring constantly.

Pour over cooled brownies. Try to pour the caramel evenly across the surface to make spreading easier. Let cool until set. (Again, you can place in the fridge to speed process.)

Melt chocolate, butter, and cream in a saucepan over medium low heat, stirring occasionally until melted and creamy. Pour over caramel layer. Again, try to pour the chocolate evely over the surface to make spreading easier. Cool.

I ended up spreading all of the chocolate layer on top and then scraping about 1/2 of it off. It was really, really thick.

See how thick it is....and that's only half of what was originally on there.

If you are more of a chocolate fiend than I am (not possible) then, by all means, leave all of it on there. I was afraid all that chocolate would drown out the flavors of the caramel and shortbread.

In case you are wondering what shortbread cookies to use...here is what I used...

I used the whole bag (22 cookies).

The original recipe at Jasey's Crazy Daisy blog used Simply Sandies Shortbread Cookies. (I have no idea what those are but the pecan sandies worked well.)

I have another warning to issue regarding this recipe.

Not only should you NOT make these with a "from scratch" brownie recipe at the risk of ending the universe; you should not make these if you do not have anyone to share with.

You may be tempted to eat the entire pan and thus ruin any attempts at maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Thankfully I made these for a bake sale and only ate one or two or four pieces as I cut them.

What? You can't sell odd sized brownies at a bake sale.

It wouldn't be right.