Chicken in the crock pot

I only have a minute...but I just wanted to share with you my new favorite way to cook chicken! Chicken is a lot cheaper if you buy it whole, but I use this method with a whole chicken, bone-in chicken breasts, or even boneless chicken. It is easy and makes some yummy, juicy chicken and you get some wonderful chicken broth too:) Just be careful when you take it out of the crock pot. It is so tender, it just falls apart.





Directions: Put your chicken in the crock pot and season as desired. I just sprinkle it with some salt and pepper. Add 1-2 cups of water. Let it cook 3-4 hours on high for 6-7 on low, until cooked through(this will vary, depending on the amount of chicken you are cooking). When it is done, I shred the chicken and use it for different meal throughout the week. I put the skin and bones back in the crock pot and add a couple stalks of celery, a couple carrots, half an onion, more salt and pepper and some thyme. Also add ~4 cups of water and continue to cook for an hour or two. Strain and you have yummy broth for later.

I will be posting a chicken enchilada casserole that I made with half of this chicken, probably next week:), but maybe later today.

BYU Mint Brownies

I bookmarked this recipe a few years ago, knowing that I would want to try them. I am glad that I FINALLY got around to making these!! The other days my boys wanted to make some brownies, so decided to try these. They were SO yummy!! I am looking forward to making them again soon.

I had my 6 year old and 3 year old helping me with these. While we were making the mint icing, my 6 year old said, "Mom, you are making gum." My 3 year old smelled and said, "mmm, really good gum." :)

BYU Mint Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup margarine
• 1/2 c. cocoa
• 2 T. honey
• 4 eggs
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 3/4 c. flour
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 c. chopped walnuts (I left these out)
• 12 oz. chocolate icing (I used my favorite butter cream frosting(from my mother-in-law) w/a couple T of cocoa added, I'll include the recipe at the end of this post)

Mint Icing

Ingredients:

• 5 T. margarine
• dash of salt
• 3 T. milk
• 1 T. light corn syrup
• 2 1/3 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 t. mint extract
• 1-2 drops green food coloring (I used 2)

Directions: Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool.

Prepare mint icing: Soften margarine. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.

Spread mint icing over brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing. Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate icing.

Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. powdered sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cube margarine (softened)
• 1/4 c. evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 t. vanilla

Directions: Beat margarine until soft and creamy. Add powdered sugar and salt, mix. Add milk a little at a time so it doesn't get too thin. If necessary, add a little more milk to thin or powdered sugar to thicken. Add vanilla.

*I added 2-3 T of cocoa to the powdered sugar before mixing it with the margarine.

Beef Fajita Quesadillas

This is how we used up our leftover beef fajita meat, peppers and onions. These were SO good! I think the boys enjoyed these more than the fajitas, since the peppers and onions weren't so noticeable:)

Beef Fajita Quesadillas

Ingredients:

• Beef fajita leftovers, chopped
• pinto beans
• cheese
• lime
• tortillas
• salsa
• sour cream

Directions: Place tortilla on griddle. Layer with beans, fajita meat, lime juice(squeeze a lime wedge over meat and beans), cheese and top with another tortilla. Cook until the bottom tortilla starts to brown. Flip over and finish cooking until heated through. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Beef Fajitas

We loved these fajitas!! I found the marinade recipe here at the Culinary Cafe. The meat was very flavorful. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of this. I find it hard to get a good picture of dinner when my 5 boys(including my husband) are starving and in NO mood to wait for the pictures. I saved a little of the marinade to saute with the peppers and onions.

Beef Fajitas

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. skirt steak
• marinade(below)
• 2 bell peppers, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• tortillas

Directions: Marinade beef for at least 4 hours. Grill or broil until cooked through. Saute peppers and onions in oil. Add a little of the reserved marinade to the vegetables and cook until heated through. Slice steak and add to the vegetables. Serve in warm tortillas with cheese, cilantro, salsa, sour cream and a squeeze of lime juice.

Marinade

Ingredients:

• 4-5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 t salt
• 1 T chili powder
• 1/2 t red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 T dark soy sauce
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped roughly

Directions: Mix everything above together. Let beef marinade in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and chicken for at least 2 hours. Then grill over charcoal for best results but it is also good in the broiler.

Tony Roma's Baked Potato Soup

My Mom sent me this recipe a few years ago. I love this soup because it uses things that I almost always have on hand! This is Top Secret Recipes version of Tony Roma's Baked Potato Soup, by Todd Wilbur. I have not tried Tony Roma's soup, but this is SO good!!

Tony Roma's Bake Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 medium potatoes (about 2 cups chopped)
• 3 T butter
• 1 cup diced white onion
• 2 T flour
• 4 c chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups instant mashed potatoes
• 1 t salt
• 3/4 t pepper
• 1/2 t basil
• 1/8 t thyme
• 1 cup half and half (I always use 1% milk)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake the potatoes for 1 hour or until done. When potatoes have cooked, remove them from the oven to cool.

As potatoes cool prepare soup by melting butter in a large saucepan, and saute onion until light brown. Add the flour to the onions and stir to make a roux.

Add the stock, water, cornstarch, mashed potatoes, and spices to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out contents with a large spoon. Discard skin. Chop baked potato with a large knife to make chunks that are about 1/2-inch in size.

Add chopped baked potato and half-and-half to the saucepan, bring soup back to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for another 15 minutes or until it is thick.

Spoon about 1 1/2 cups of soup into a bowl and top with about a tablespoon of shredded cheddar cheese, a half tablespoon of crumbled bacon and a teaspoon or so of chopped green onion.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

I LOVE these cookies!! I got this recipe from a high school friend MANY years ago. I forgot to take a picture of the cookies before I packaged them up to deliver to friends. OOPS!! I did have one cookie left out. Sorry these aren't the best pictures:( I was afraid I'd run out of filling, because I was short on cream cheese and made 3/4 of the recipe, but I had plenty. Since I thought I'd run out I rolled part of the cookies in powdered sugar before baking so they would at least look pretty even without the filling. Since I had enough filling, I just filled those too. YUM!! So Good!!

Homemade Oreo Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 devil's food cake mixes
• 2 cubes/sticks butter
• 4 eggs

Directions: Mix ingredients together. Roll into small balls(about 1 T). Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. When cookies are cool spread filling on one cookie and sandwich with another.

Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cube of butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 t vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions: Beat ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

Cinnamon Dots

During college football season, our family used to LOVE to order Domino's pizza and dots and sit down to watch the BYU Cougars. Unfortunately, we don't live near a Domino's anymore and they don't sale the dots anymore. BUT...anytime I have extra yeast dough, we make our own. I use bread dough, pizza dough, roll dough, etc. These are super simple and simply yummy!! Sometimes, I put the frosting in bowls to dip the 'dots' into but in this picture I have just poured the butter cream frosting on them while in the pan.

Cinnamon Dots

Ingredients:

• yeast dough
• butter
• cinnamon sugar
• butter cream frosting or cream cheese frosting

Directions: Form yeast dough into small balls. Dip in melted butter and then in cinnamon sugar. Place in a greased baking dish. Bake at 375 for approx. 20 minutes. You can frost while the dots are in the pan or take them out and dip them in frosting as you eat them.