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!!!

Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cake

Yeah that's right I made a cake with peanut butter and chocolate chips...amazing right?!!?  Where did I find this you ask?? Where else, Pinterest.  Here's a link to the recipe online.

So this was relatively easy.  Cake from scratch has all the basic ingredients.  I followed everything to a T except for the baking time.  I'm not quite sure if it's my oven or what but mine took about 20 more minutes to bake than the recipe stated so just keep checking it if it's not set up in the middle.  I actually made two of these cakes and both took longer.

But here it is, the recipe and my picture.  The cake is ridiculously moist and just melts in your mouth.  Have a big glass of milk next to you and you are set.  The cookie like crumble on top gets a little crunchy and wow it's just perfect.  This will be a go to cake recipe for me from now on!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake

 

2 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups light brown sugar 1 cup creamy peanut butter 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 eggs 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9″x 13″ baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, combine flour, brown sugar, peanut butter, and butter. Remove 1 cup of mixture and set aside. Mix in baking powder and baking soda. Mix in milk and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Sprinkle top with reserved flour mixture and chocolate chips. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cheesy Chicken Rollups

Well first of all HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mama, grandmamas and stepmamas out there!

I made this dinner a few nights ago but am only getting around to posting it right now.  I have a sick baby this week but he's finally doing better!  This is one of our favorite meals and we devour it, there's usually no leftovers! hahaha Who am I kidding, there's never any leftovers!!  Plus it's seriously so easy it's ridiculous!!

I got it originally from the Once A Month Mom website where I get a handful of my recipes.  I absolutely love it.  So go check out their hundreds of yummy recipes, she mostly does freezer cooking but of course a lot of the recipes are so good that I'll just make them for dinner. 

So here's the recipe, try it out, substitue the cheese or try different kinds of breading, mix it up!  I make it just like the recpie says and it's so absolutely amazing!

Cheesy Chicken Rollups

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 0.5 cups Lawry’s Seasoned Salt Marinade
• 8 ounces Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded
• 1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
• 0.5 cups ground french fried onion rings

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking pan with cooking spray. Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise, basically fillet the breast so that you have to long flat pieces.** Marinate chicken breasts in Lawry’s Seasoned Salt Marinade for 30-90 minutes in a gallon sized zippered bag. Remove chicken and add shredded cheese. Roll chicken and secure with toothpicks. Place bread crumbs and ground french fried onion rings in a shallow bowl. Dip the chicken back in the marinade, then place in the crumbs, coating the chicken evenly. Place the chicken on prepared pan and bake at 400 degrees for about 35 – 40 minutes or until done.
**If you are limited on time you can simply cut a pocket in the chicken breasts and insert cheese instead of rolling.

Here's my finished product:

Golden cookie cupcakes!

Happy 30-something birthday to my dear husband!! We always go out to eat for his birthday so I thought I'd make some cupcakes for him! I had a sleeping baby and had to work with what I had in the cupboard and all I had was one box of white cake mix but thought that was too boring. Golden Oreos are his favorite and he had just bought a new package of them so I decided to make the boxed cake mix as is and add in some crumbled cookies! I then made homemade frosting with shortening, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and almond extract. It turned out oh so delicious!!! Cupcakes are my absolute favorite thing to bake and decorate. I have this crazy dream of someday opening up my own cupcake shop!! So this wasn't anything too fancy but it just shows you can add anything to a white cake mix to 'jazz' it up a bit :)

My measurements for my frosting are approximate since I usually eyeball it. But I started with 1/2 cup shortening and added about 3 cups of powdered sugar and 1/4 cup of milk. I did add a cap full of vanilla and almond extract (does anyone actually measure these things!!) LOL

The finished product turned out pretty amazing I think!

Happy Birthday Derrick!!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Yummy yummy yummy!!  This is my go to dish for potlucks and social events.  We are huge buffalo chicken fans and I'm a sucker for dips.  So this is perfect.  I don't know how many times I've made it, we sometimes just eat it for supper! 

Well we had friends over Sunday night and we were ordering pizza but I insisted on making something so I chose this dip.  It was a bunch of guys so I figured they'd love the buffalo chicken part of it and I made it in the crockpot so I loved it!!

I got my original recipe from Allrecipes.com here:

Buffalo Chicken Dip

• 2 (10 ounce) cans chunk chicken, drained
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup Ranch dressing
• 3/4 cup pepper sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot®)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 bunch celery, cleaned and cut into 4 inch pieces
• 1 (8 ounce) box chicken-flavored crackers

Directions

1. Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve with celery sticks and crackers.               

Now the only difference I make is I literally just throw everything (but the celery and crackers of course) into the crockpot and put it on either high or low depending on how fast I need it made.  I have also halved the recipe before as this recipe as is makes a TON! 

Of course I was in a hurry so I only got a picture of it after it was cooked and ready to eat in the crockpot.  It was oh so yummy and the boys gobbled it up!!  This photo makes it look less than appetizing but I swear if you like buffalo chicken you will LOVE this! LOL

Edamame...I love you!

So my first experience with Edamame was at a local sushi restaurant when I went with a friend and he got them as an appetizer.  I was hooked ever since.  I had gotten them a few more times and devoured them.  So as I was having a craving for them today I thought hey I wonder if I can make these myself and save a trip to my favorite sushi place, and money!
What is Edamame you ask???  All it is is a soy bean in a pod....or you can buy them not in the pod.  But they are so much fun in the pods!!  Soy beans, who knew!

So I scoped out our local grocery store and figured out I'd probably have to get these in the frozen section as we don't have very extensive produce in our area (North Dakota).  Sure enough there it was in the frozen section in our organic area of the grocery store.  They were screaming my name.  And for only $2.89 for a 10oz bag I thought I'd try it!

Well it was so ridiculously easy to prepare them that I may just have to stock my freezer with this tasty treat.

First I just started boiling some water in a pot on the stove.  I added quite a bit of salt as this is pretty much what gives these the flavor they have.  If you have to stay away from salt then just add what you are comfortable with.  Then after they started boiling I carefully dumped in the whole bag of frozen beans and simmered them for a few minutes.  I did taste test a couple first before taking them out of the water.  They should be easy to squeeze out of the pods but not mushy.

I then strained them in a colander and ran cold water over them to stop them from cooking.  Then I once again dusted them with sea salt.

And voila!!  A super easy dinner that is relatively good for you (besides the salt I suppose!) and I shamefully devoured the entire bag....

You can either squeeze the beans out with your fingers or just use your teeth to pull them out.  You'll be hooked!!  Try em, they're DELICIOUS!!!!

Chicken Broccoli Tater Tot Casserole

So this is of course a meal I found on the wonderful Pinterest.  I made it for my husband one night as his self proclaimed favorite meal is tater tot hotdish and I thought this would be an interesting twist on it!  We ate so much!!  I think it was the first time that the leftovers got eaten!  I knew this was going to be a staple in our home.  Well my parents were stumped on what to have for dinner tonight so I offered to make it.  They are very meat and potatoes people so it is always nice to try something new!! 

I spent a total of $7.93 for this meal.  Which for 3 adults who will be able to each have 2-3 servings that's not bad!  We did have the chicken already in the freezer which obviously helped save us on $$ and we had all the spices and milk and cheese. 

Groceries:

• Cream of Chicken soup (store brand) $0.99
• Oreida Tator Tots $3.64
• Birdseye Frozen Steamable Broccoli $1.93
• 8oz Sour Cream $1.37

Here's my version of the recipe: (originally found HERE) I did omit the bacon pieces as it doesn't really need em.

1 pound of chicken breast, cut into chunks and browned
2 pounds of frozen tater tots 2 cups of broccoli, cooked

2 cups of colby jack or your favorite cheddar cheese, shredded
1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 teaspoon of seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

First I cut up my chicken and browned it in a pan with a little bit of oil, salt and pepper.  Then you layer the chicken in the bottom of a 9x13 greased pan.  Then layer the broccoli (I buy the quick steamfresh packages of broccoli, steam em and then dump them on top of the chicken).

You mix the soup, sour cream and spices together in a bowl.  Then add the milk and 1.5 cups of the cheese.  When that's all mixed up you pour it evenly on top of the chicken and broccoli.  Then put the tater tots on top and finish by topping it off with the rest of the cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.  Then ENJOY!!!

It's so easy, and fairly cheap if you keep the main ingredients stocked in your cupboard/freezer.  If you make this dish let me know if you love it!!!

Sorry for the terrible picture, we all started digging in before I could snap one!!  LOL

So it begins...

Well well well I find myself once again with the attempt at a successful blog! LOL I had such a wonderful response from friends and fans on my Sally Stitches site during my food series (that I didn't finish out, ooops!) that I decided to solely devote a blog just to my cooking.  I love cooking and baking for others and I figured this would be a way I can share this with more than just my close friends and family!  Plus now with the amazing invention of Pinterest the possibilities are endless!

I have been battling some personal issues as of lately which has my husband and I temporarily (hopefully) separated at the moment.  But I do go over there occasionally and cook dinner for us as a family and it makes me so happy.  My plan is once I move back in to start a weekly meal plan.  It will help us save money and I will get to try all these new wonderful recipes I have pinned!! haha

If you would like to look back at the previous posts on my other blog here is a linky for that!

Now you may all be asking yourself, Cooking with Crossbones??  That's an interesting title!  Well frankly it just boils down to my love and slight obsession with skulls and crossbones and I liked the ring of it :) I won't be only cooking Halloween things or with deadly concoctions BUT there may be the occasional 'interesting' item thrown in there to spice things up a bit!!

So with that being said please subscribe and share with your friends and I will begin posting meals and treats very very soon!!!!

xoxo
SS