Hot Chicken

I love 'dump' chicken recipes. You know, the ones where you dump some chicken and other stuff in a freezer baggie, pop it in the freezer, and take it out to thaw on the day you wanna cook it. The chicken marinates during the thawing process. Super easy. Here's one of my favorites. When I make this, I cook plain chicken, just seasoned with salt, pepper, & garlic powder for the kiddos.

Hot Chicken

4-6 pieces of chicken, your choice. I use boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup of hot sauce. I use Frank’s Red Hot, but you can use your favorite type.
1 stick of butter, melted and cooled

Put the chicken in a freezer bag. Mix hot sauce and butter in a bowl. I mix it in a glass pyrex measuring cup that I use to melt the butter. This makes for less dishes to wash, and I’m all about washing less dishes. Pour hot sauce/butter mixture over the chicken. Remove as much air from the freezer bag as you can. Label the bag and freeze.
To cook: Take the baggie out of the freezer the morning you want to cook it and put it in the fridge to thaw. Pour the thawed contents into a baking dish and bake @ 350 until the chicken is done. It takes 20-30 min for boneless skinless breasts. You can also grill your chicken, basting with the sauce as you grill the chicken. I serve this chicken with hot buttered rice.

Searching for a GREAT homemade BBQ sauce

I love BBQ sauce, but I'm a bit picky about it. I actually only buy 1 type. I have bought other types/brands, but I feed that to the kiddos because they don't care. LOL Last night I made a BBQ shredded pork that I sorta got from here. Here's what I did.

BBQ Shredded Pork

4lbs pork shoulder- I used a bone in pork picnic ham something or other I got for .99/lb.

1 onion, sliced into rings

2 cups ketchup

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar, loosely packed

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp Frank's Red Hot hot sauce

1/2 tsp salt

Place pork in your crockpot. Put sliced onion in crockpot on pork. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over pork. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Shred meat with two forks.

This made a nice start for a bbq sauce. I will need to adjust the seasonings and maybe add a few things to it to give it more of a kick. All in all, it was pretty good.

Lemon Garlic Chicken

I love easy recipes that pack great flavor. I also love a good sale. So, when I ran across boneless skinless chicken breasts for .84/lb a few weeks ago, I bought a ton of them. When I got them home I needed to figure out what to do with them all. My favorite thing to do with chicken breasts is to package them up in gallon freezer bags with different marinades. You've just gotta toss them in the freezer and take them out to thaw the morning you want to cook them. Here is one of my family's favorites.

Lemon Garlic Chicken

4-6 Boneless skinless chicken breasts- or whatever pieces of chicken your family prefers.

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 c oil

2-4 cloves minced garlic, depending on how much your people like garlic.

3 tbsp dried parsley

1/4tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Put chicken in a gallon size freezer bag. If you are going to label your bag, do it before you put the chicken in. I use a sharpie to label my bags and I always do it before I put anything in them. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl until well blended. Pour over chicken. Seal, and put in the freezer. On the day you plan to cook the chicken, take it out of the freezer and let it thaw completely. You can either pour the entire contents of the bag into a baking dish and bake @350 until the chicken is done. It will depend on what type of chicken you used. It usually takes 20-30 min for boneless skinless breast. OR you can drain the liquid off and grill the chicken until it's done.

Meatball Soup

I have been looking for crock pot recipes to help getting dinner ready during busy summer days. I love that I can toss things in the crock pot in the morning, and have a tasty dinner in the evening. I found this recipe on the 'A Year of Slow Cooking' blog. I changed it up a bit to fit in with my family's tastes and to use up what I had on hand.

Meatball Soup

15-18 frozen meatballs ( yep, that's right. I buy frozen meatballs.)

4 cups chicken broth ( I use homemade, but you can use whatever you have)

1-14 oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup frozen corn

1c diced carrots

2 stalks celery, diced

1 medium onion, diced ( or dried minced onion to equal 1 cup fresh)

1 cup rice

Put broth, tomatoes, corn, carrots, & celery in the crockpot. Stire in meatballs. Cook on low 8-9 hours. It's soup, it'll be fine. About an hour before you plan to eat, add the rice and turn to high. That's it. Super easy.

Now, I will say my hubby is not a big soup fan, so this didn't go over with him all that well. I thought it was fine. It was a nice soup. If you use canned broth, it may be a bit bland. I use a lot of spices and what not when I make my broth, so there was flavor added by that.

Taco Rice

I am always looking for ways to keep my kitchen cool during the summer. I use my crockpot & grill a lot. I have decided to start looking for recipes I can make in my rice cooker. Here's one we tried recently.

Taco Rice

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

3 cups raw rice

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies

1 medium onion, diced

1 packet Taco Seasoning

Water

Brown ground beef & onion. Mix in taco seasoning.Put rice in rice cooker. Add undrained tomatoes. Fill with water to the 3 cup line in your rice cooker. Put ground beef in the rice cooker and stir. Close your rice cooker and cook on the white rice setting (unless you're using brown rice, then use that setting.) Serve in a bowl with shredded cheddar & salsa, or rolled up in tortillas.

Crockpot Tuesday- Shepherd's Pie

I recently acquired a copy of Angela Coffman's (of Grocery Shrink fame) Slow and Savory Suppers e-book. It looks like it's gonna be a great crockpot resource. I have only been able to try one recipe so far, but it was fabulous. :) Everyone in the family liked it. I am going to be trying at least one of these a week until I go through them all. Here's the recipe I tried (reposted with Angela's permission, of course)

Shepherd's Pie

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 onion, diced

2 cups frozen peas

2 tsp garlic powder

1 lb ground beef, browned

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup water

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2-4 cups mashed potatoes

1/2 cup parmesan or sharp cheddar cheese

1.Combine all but potatoes and cheese in a greased slow cooker. ( I did not grease mine and it turned out fine.) 2. Spread mashed potatoes on top. 3. Sprinkle with cheese. 4. Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8 hours.

Tuna Cakes

Yep, you read that right. Tuna Cakes. It really is better than it sounds. Everyone in the family liked them. Total score for the Mom. : )

I used this recipe as a guideline, but of course I changed it up. Here's the Harman Family version.

Tuna Cakes

2 cans of tuna

1 box of stuffing- any flavor will work

1/4 cup mayo

3/4 c water- I used slightly less and added some dill pickle juice to make 3/4c liquid

1 cup shredded Montery Jack/Cheddar blend

1-2 tsp sweet relish-next time I will use dill relish, but I didn't have any on hand.

1-2 tsp dill- It depends on how much you like dill.

2 eggs

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, be sure to do this well so everything is all mixed up. Cover bowl and let sit in fridge for at least 30 minutes. I left it in there for about an hour. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat with a little oil or cooking spray. Using either a tablespoon or one of these, scoop out some mixture into your hot skillet. Smash slightly with the back of a spatula to make patties. Cook 2-3 minutes on each side, until both sides are slightly brown.

Bacon Cheese Burgers

I'm in the mood for a nice tasty grilled burger for dinner. So, I figured I'd look up a few recipes online and see what I could throw together. This looked interesting. Of course, I don't have all of the ingredients on hand, so I improvised. I usually improvise. :)

Bacon Cheese Burgers

2 1/2lbs ground beef

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 cup sour cream

1-2 cups shredded cheese (I used a cheddar monterey jack blend)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp Bacon Salt

Crushed saltines, just enough to hold meat mixture together

Mix all ingredients in a larg bowl until everything is evenly mixed. Form into patties. How many patties you get depends on how big you like your burgers. Grill over medium high heat about 8 minutes on each side, or until they are done to your taste. Serve on buns.

Individual Chicken Cobblers

Individual Chicken Cobblers
Adapted from Cheap, Fast, Good by Beverly Mills & Alicia Ross
4 Frozen Southern-style biscuits (you can use canned refrigerated biscuits or homemade biscuits)
1 lb chicken, uncooked (Any chicken will do. Leftover chicken would work great. I used boneless skinless breasts)
1 TBSP veg oil
1 large onion, about 1 cup chopped ( I used dried diced onion because I hardly ever have fresh on hand)
8 oz fresh button mushrooms ( I left these out because the kids don't like mushrooms)
1/4 cup cooking sherry ( I used one cube of chicken bouillon disolved in 1/4cup water)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk ( I used whole because that is what we use at our house)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 Preheat the oven and bake the biscuits according to the package instructions.
2. Heat the oil in an extra deep 12-in skillet over medium heat. Peel and coarsely chop the onion. Add to skillet and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
3. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces, adding them to the skillet as you cut. Cook, stirring occassionally. Meanwhile, rinse, pat dry, and slice the mushrooms,if using. When th e chicken turns white on the outside, after about 4 minutes, add the mushrooms to the skillet and cook, stirring often, until they begin to release their liquid, about 2 minutes. Add the sherry and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Then add the cream of mushroom soup, milk, and Worcestershire sauce and stir to mix well. Add the frozen vegetables and stir to mix in. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture is bubbly and the vegetables are heated through, about 3 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture simmer while the biscuits finish baking. To serve, split the biscuits in half and place a bottom portion in each of four bowls. Spoon the chicken mixture evenly over the biscuits and top with the other half of the biscuits.

Sloppy Joe Slop-Sloppy Joe

Ok, bad title, I know. I know you are now belting out the Lunch Lady song. Admit it. You know you are, even if it's just in your head.

Have I mentioned I am not good at coming up with titles for things. I'm just not "name" creative. :) It's true. Maybe I'll get better as the blog goes on, maybe not. Hang around and find out. LOL



Ok, time to reign in the ADD-ness and focus. Focus. FOCUS...Alrighty, here we go. Oh, I feel another song coming on...FOCUS...



Who doesn't like Sloppy Joes?? Well, I am sure some people don't (Let's pray for them, shall we?) , but I am sure they are in the minority. Right??? Well, we like Sloppy Joes around here. The medium & small boys like them with ketchup and cheese. I like mine off the bun, in a bowl, with cheese. The large boy & the hubby just like them. Here's the recipe I use.

Sloppy Joes

Here is a super easy, not from the can version that our whole family loves. It makes a lot, and we usually have leftovers. You can freezer the leftovers or use them in another meal. I'm working on a recipe for the leftovers. I'll post it when I've got it perfected.

2lbs ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper (You can leave this out with no taste issues.)

1 can condensed tomato soup

1- 8oz can tomato sauce

2 tbsp ketchup

1 1/2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp mustard (I use course ground, but you can use whatever you have on hand)

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Hamburger buns

In a large pan, brown ground beef and onion. Add green peppers, if using. Cook an additional 5 minutes or so until beef is cooked through and onions and peppers are soft. While the meat mixture is cooking. Put the tomato soup, tomato sauce, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, mustard, chili powder and garlic powder in a crockpot. Drain meat mixture and add it to the crockpot. Cook on low 3-4 hours. Serve over buns.

I have let this cook much longer with no problems. You could shift it to the "keep warm" setting on your crockpot, if you have one, at the 3-4 hour mark if you like.

Simple Pasta Sauce

We have pretty simple taste as far as food (and life) goes. As much as I enjoy the entire cooking process, I do occassionally want simple & quick. This sauce fits that. It's easy to put together. It's made of stuff you probably have on hand (or stuff you should have on hand). It is just a bit more complicated than opening a jar of sauce, but it is so worth the little extra work. And really, it is just a little extra work. Honest.

Simple Pasta Sauce

This is an easy pasta sauce that when tossed with your favorite pasta, makes a quick and wonderful weeknight dinner.

Here's what you'll need:

1lb ground beef (More if you like your sauce super meaty. I live in a house full of boys. We prefer meaty sauce. I use more, closer to 2lbs)

1- 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1-14.5 oz can of petite diced tomates (You can use regular diced tomatoes. At least one of my boys has an aversion to "chunks". I can usually get the petite diced past them without much fuss.)

1 small onion, diced (You pick the size of the chunks. I dice mine pretty small due to the chunk aversion boy mentioned above.)

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced, depending on how much your people like garlic.

1 tbsp dried italian seasoning

Place onion, ground beef, and garlic in a medium sauce pan. Cook over medium high heat until beef is cooked through and onion is soft. Drain if needed, and return beef mixture to sauce pan.

Add crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and italian seasoning to pan. Stir until well mixed. Heat to boiling, stirring often. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Simmer covered for 20-30 minutes, stirring occassionally. Serve over your favorite pasta.

You don't have to let it simmer this long, but I think it helps the flavors blend better. If you start your pasta water boiling when you set the sauce to simmer, both the sauce and the pasta will be ready at the same time. :)

This makes a fairly chunky sauce. If you prefer a more saucy sauce, add an 8oz can of tomato sauce(or two) and increase the italian seasoning to taste.