Spicy Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

So I first ran into this recipe while making one of the Once A Month Mom menus.  I was hesitant to eat it but once I tried it we were hooked so I decided to make it again as it was an easy crockpot meal and it had been a while since we had eaten it.

It definitely has some kick to it but it is oh so yummy!!  I put a little cheese on it on a bun and inhale!  Plus there were a few too many leftovers for us so I just tossed them in a freezer bag and froze the rest.  It reheats great as well!!

So here is the linky back to the original recipe.  I didn't really change anything except for the fact that I used all chicken breasts and didn't use molasses (I'm not a fan of it!).

Slow-Cooker Spicy Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, , cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced small
14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes (diced tomatoes would work as well)
1/4 - 1/3 c hot pepper sauce, or more to taste (I used 1/4 c and it was not too hot)
3 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T yellow mustard
1 T unsulfured molasses
8 hamburger buns

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add chicken thighs, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring once, until meat is golden brown, about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a slow cooker, leaving as much oil behind as possible. Repeat with chicken breasts.
2. To skillet, add onion, garlic and bell pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until onion is translucent, 6 minutes. Add ¼ cup water and cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to slow cooker.
3. To slow cooker, add crushed tomatoes, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and molasses. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on high until chicken is very tender, 4 hours. Shred chicken and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on buns.

Potato Pizza Casserole

So the search for this recipe came from my co-workers.  A couple of the girls (who are also roommates) were coming to work with leftovers of what they called 'Potato Pizza Casserole' and boy did it look tasty!!!  I have made this a couple times now and I'm still trying to get the timing right so that all the potatoes are cooked through but I do have one more left in the freezer to try!  Basically all it is is potatoes, meat, tomato sauce seasoned, pepperoni and cheese.  It's so yummy, my husband isn't 100% convinced yet, but he is a little crazy :)

I found the recipe on no other than the Allrecipes website.

Potato Pizza Casserole

• 1 pound ground beef
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 5 cups peeled and thinly sliced potatoes
• 1 (3 ounce) package chopped pepperoni
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed fiesta cheese soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cook the ground beef and in a large skillet over medium heat until evenly browned. Drain off grease. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
2. Spread the sliced potatoes in a layer on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread the ground beef over the potatoes. Place slices of pepperoni over the ground beef. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the tomato soup, fiesta cheese soup, and milk. Season with oregano and Italian seasoning. Mix well, and cook until heated through. Pour over the contents of the baking dish.
3. Cover the dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove the aluminum foil, sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top, and bake for an additional 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly

Taco Pockets

Ever want tacos but don't want the mess?!  I am a huge taco fan but my husband isn't so much.  So I found this recipe in one of my Taste of Home cookbooks and thought it sounded quick and easy and it was sooooooo good!  I did tweek a few things and I couldn't find the recipe online to link back to so I will just give you my version!  You could almost do anything with this recipe, I may try some different combinations next time!!

Taco Pockets

adapted from Taste of Home

• 1 lb ground beef (or turkey)
• chopped onion (we used dried onion flakes)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 3 tubes (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent roll dough
• various taco toppings (sour cream, guac, etc)

1. In a large skillet, cook beef and onion until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Add taco seasoning and water as directed on packet.
2. Unroll crescent roll dough and separate into 12 rectangles pressing seams together well.  Place on ungreased baking sheets.  Place a spoonful of meat in the center of each rectangle.  Top with a large pinch of cheese and a spoonful of salsa.  Bring all four corners up to the center and pinch to seal.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve desired with desired toppings.

These really freeze well too and then you can just warm them up in the oven if you want.  Ours didn't last long enough for me to freeze any.  They were so yummy!!  I could probably eat these every day!

 

Jambalaya!!

OHHHHH Jambalaya how we love you!  This is hands down one of our favorite meals for me to make.  Now don't get me wrong this is probably North Dakota Jambalaya but we like it!  So I got the original idea here but have kind of revamped it to our liking. So here is my recipe as I make it.

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

• 1 lb boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
• 1 lb andouille sausage, cut into slices
• 1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 0.5 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 8 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 cup chicken broth (or chicken bouillon cube made as chicken broth)
• 1 Tbsp homemade Creole seasoning
• 1 lb cooked, frozen shrimp, thawed and tails removed
• 4 cups cooked rice

1. Mix together chicken, sausage, tomatoes, onion, pepper, celery, broth and seasoning in a large crockpot (4-6 quart).
2. Cook on High for 1 hour.  Turn down to Low and cook approx 4-5 hours or until meat is cooked and tender and vegetables are cooked through.  Put shrimp in and cook for 30 minutes.
3. Add cooked rice and mix well.  Serve and enjoy!

My First Meatloaf

So ever since I can remember meatloaf has never been one of my favorite foods.  And it IS my dad's favorite so my mom made it a good handful of times as I was growing up.  I always refused to eat it.  My husband also never liked it, so I just never even had a desire to make it.  Well this last time my mom made it I was there for dinner and decided to try it and wow it was pretty dang good!

So I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or because I'm a mom now but I wanted to try to tackle this staple on many dinner tables.  Success was had!!  My husband even had seconds, he inhaled it.  Our 11 month old inhaled every piece I gave him as well.  I made it with a box of cheesy scalloped potatoes and it was a perfect dinner!!  Definitely will be making this more often!!

Here's the recipe found on Allrecipes:

Easy Meatloaf

Rated:	Prep Time: 10 Minutes	Ready In: 1 Hour 10 Minutes
Submitted By: Janet Caldwell	Cook Time: 1 Hour	Servings: 8

"No-fail meatloaf calls for ground beef, onions, egg, milk, and bread. It is topped with a mix of brown sugar, mustard, and ketchup before baking."

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef 1 egg 1 onion, chopped 1 cup milk 1 cup dried bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons prepared mustard 1/3 cup ketchup

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	In a large bowl, combine the beef, egg, onion, milk and bread OR cracker crumbs. Season with salt and pepper to taste and place in a lightly greased 5x9 inch loaf pan, OR form into a loaf and place in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish.
3.	In a separate small bowl, combine the brown sugar, mustard and ketchup. Mix well and pour over the meatloaf.
4.	Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour The only things I did different was I put dried onion flakes (instead of real onion) and some garlic powder in the meat mixture.  I did use about 1/2 cup of ketchup like a lot of the reviews suggested and it turned out just right.  Maybe just a little less brown sugar next time but we seriously gobbled up half this loaf the first night!! Here's mine:

Baked Ziti

This was made a few nights ago for dinner.  It had been ages since I've made ziti and wanted to try out this recipe.  It was DELICIOUS!!!!  I tweaked everything just a hair but I will link the original recipe and then just give you mine!  I was actually able to get three 8x8 pans out of this.  I made one and froze the other two.  Try it out, it's so yummy!

The original recipe is here Baked Ziti I

And then here's mine :)

• 1 (16oz) box of penne
• a dash of dried onion
• Tsp diced garlic
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 large jars of spaghetti sauce (I can't remember if they are 26 or 32 oz)
• 6 slices provolone cheese
• 1.5 cups sour cream
• 6 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese

1.  Boil pasta in a large pot of slightly salted water until al dente.  Drain.
2. In a large skillet brown onion and garlic for just a minute or so before adding ground beef.  Brown completely and then drain if needed.
3. Preheat oven to 350 and spray either a deep 9x13 pan or 2-3 8x8 pans.  It makes a lot so make sure your 9x13 pan is large.
4. Mix the drained noodles with the spaghetti sauce in a bowl.  Add ground beef and stir to mix together.
5. Layer as follows in pan(s): Half of the noodle mixture on the bottom of pan.  Followed by the slices of provolone.  Evenly distribute sour cream (I put it in a Ziploc bag, snipped the corner and squeezed it over the top). Then rest of noodle mixture. Top it with mozzarella cheese and a little bit of Parmesan.
6. Cover with tin foil and bake for approx 30 minutes.  Take foil off and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until melted and bubbly.

I made some Pillsbury bread sticks with it and it was so so yummy!!  Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday

So I have always wanted to be one of those wives that creates the "perfect" meal plan for the next two weeks and it'll all be great!  Hahahaha well I don't know about the rest of you but having a baby, a job, a husband, a house, and pets makes this seem like an impossible task!!  BUT I am determined to do this, why?  Well for one because I feel like it will save us money and be a little healthier for us as we have this bad habit of eating out, a lot!  Plus I do love to cook and want to be one of those moms/wives who everyone is like wow she makes the best food!!!  LOL so on that note I spent most of the morning planning out our days for the next two weeks and then going through our cabinets/fridge/freezer to see what we already have and then making a master grocery list.  The baby just went down for a nap so we will have to wait to head to the grocery store but I feel good....this'll get easier the more I do it right??!

So here's the plan:

•  Today - Meatloaf and scalloped potatoes (I've actually never made meatloaf and the potatoes are from a box LOL)
•  Tuesday - Nothing....I work a 10-11 hour day most Tuesdays so these are free days :)
• Wednesday - Slow Cooker Jambalaya (This is one of our favorite things for me to make!)
• Thursday - Left overs cause it makes a ton!
• Friday - Taco Pockets (New recipe)
• Saturday - Potato Pizza Casserole

• Sunday - Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
• Monday - Honey Chicken Kabobs and Corn on the cob on the grill (Hopefully the weather is nice!!)
• Tuesday - Nothing
• Wednesday - Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff (another of our favorites)
• Thursday - Chicken Broccoli Tater Tot Hotdish (See my previous blog!)
• Friday - Lasagna
• Saturday - Nothing (we have a wedding that night)

Plus I'm planning on freezing a bunch of items to start re-stocking our freezer.  All of the casseroles are usually in 9x13 pans but that just makes way too much for us to eat so I will split all of them into two 8x8 pans and make one and freeze one! And then the Taco Pockets I will freeze anything we don't eat as well as the Buffalo Chicken sandwiches.

Well here goes nothing!!  The plan is to blog every recipe as well so check back everyday to see the recipe and how it all turns out!!!