Dinner
I knew that we were having a busy week. Jim would be in and out of the house along with the kids. So for this particular dinner I wanted something easy and no fuss that everyone could have when they were ready in between meetings and various places to go. I also wanted something easy for me so I would not be in the kitchen the entire evening. With all of that in mind… I put my slow cooker to work!
These BBQ chicken tacos are full of flavor and texture. You can make your own corn salsa but I came across a bottle of corn salsa in my grocery store aisle and used that. We all enjoyed the taco version of this recipe, but I also made this into a taco salad the next day for lunch and that was just as delicious!
INGREDIENTS
1 package of store bought taco shells (crunchy or soft)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
Shredded lettuce
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/2 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
store bought or home made corn salsa
DIRECTIONS
Put your slow cooker on low. Add the chicken and your favorite BBQ sauce and cook until chicken is cooked through. I cooked mine for 6 hours on low. When the chicken is cooked through, take the chicken out of the slow cooker and shred using two forks then place back into the slow cooker and mix well covering the chicken with the BBQ sauce. Chop Lettuce, slice tomatoes, shred cheese or use packaged shredded. Open corn salsa. At this point everything is ready. When you are, just warm taco shells slightly in the oven or microwave according to package directions and build your taco starting with lettuce then adding chicken, cheese, corn salsa and tomatoes.
Enjoy,
NOTE
To make taco salad I added everything in the same order as I made the taco but also crushed up some tortilla chips and put those on top you could also crush up left over taco shells if you wanted and add those to the top.
These Swedish meatballs were terrific, but if you ask Robby his exact words were “those were awesome, thank’s Mom!” The sauce is rich, creamy and full of meaty flavor. I found this recipe over at the damn delicious blog and I am so happy I did. I will be making these often.
INGREDIENTS
MEATBALLS
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup Italian seasoned Panko crumbs
2 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
GRAVY
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup all purpose flour
4 cups beef broth
3/4 cup sour cream
Salt
pepper
Chopped fresh parsley (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Heat one tablespoon of oil in medium heat. Add onion and cook stirring frequently until onions are translucent and tender. Set aside and cool.
In a large bowl combine ground beef, ground pork, panko, egg yolks, allspice and nutmeg. Add cooled onion. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Roll into about 24 meatballs.
This goes out side of the original recipe as I like to refrigerate the meatballs on a sheet pan for about an hour as I find the meatballs will not fall apart when browned if you do this.
Add remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet, add meatballs in small batches, until all sides are browned. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate.
To make the gravy, melt butter in pan, add flour and whisk until lightly browned. Gradually add beef broth and cook whisking constantly until slightly thickened. Stir in sour cream, season with salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in meatballs and finish cooking in sauce. It took about 30 minutes for my meatballs to finish cooking, but it will depend on the size of the meatballs. Sprinkle with Parsley if desired.
Serve over buttered noodles.
Enjoy,
If you are looking for something a little different might I suggest you give this a try? This pasta salad has a lot going on. I made it for an early spring dinner. I really enjoyed the flavor on the chicken as I used a bottle of Iron chef orange ginger sauce.
INGREDIENTS
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle Iron Chef orange ginger sauce
1 box bow tie pasta
1/2 cucumber
1/2 diced red pepper
1 carrot, shredded
1 small can mandarin oranges
Toasted almonds (optional)
Italian dressing
DIRECTIONS
Marinate the chicken in the orange sauce, overnight if possible. Grill chicken until cooked through. Chop into bite sized pieces.
Cook pasta until done, drain and put in a large bowl. Add all of the veggies and chicken. Add oranges and almonds. Add desired amount of Italian dressing (a light citrus dressing would also be great) and mix carefully trying not to break up the orange sections.
Enjoy,
This chicken recipe is full of flavor. With grilling season upon us I thought this would be a great recipe to share as it is not your average BBQ chicken! I found this recipe at a blog called Handle the Heat. We all enjoyed this chicken and served it with mashed potatoes and corn!
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup honey
3 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 limes, using zest and juice of both
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 Tablespoons Sriracha sauce
1 Tablespoon salt
dash of pepper
4 boneless chicken breast
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl combine all ingredients, except chicken.
Place chicken into a Ziploc bag and marinate for 6 hours or overnight.
Preheat grill. Remove chicken from marinade and grill chicken until the chicken is no longer pink or until chicken reaches 165 degrees. This chicken can also be baked in a 350 degree oven for approximately 40-45 minutes depending on the amount of the chicken.
Enjoy,
As you could guess by the title this recipe came about during Halloween due to the amount of garlic in the recipe. It is requested MANY times through the year… not just during Halloween. This week is Robby’s birthday and as you can guess this was his dinner request. I have been making this for a very long time and is always a favorite.
INGREDIENTS
2 whole garlic heads
Olive oil
1 pound Jimmy Dean hot sausage
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
2 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
5 cups 1 % milk
1 cup fresh Parmesan
1 cup Gruyere cheese
dash of nutmeg
salt
pepper
1 pound uncooked penne pasta
DIRECTIONS
Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Slice the top of the garlic heads off, drizzle with olive oil. Wrap garlic in foil and bake for one hour. Cool ten minutes, separate cloves and squeeze garlic into a small bowl. Set aside. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees
Cook pasta until al dante. Brown sausage in a LARGE saucepan over medium heat, stirring to crumble. Once cooked through. remove sausage from pan and stir in rosemary. In the same pan melt butter over medium heat, add flour to the butter stirring with a whisk. Gradually add the milk whisking until slightly thick. (about 10 minutes). Stir in roasted garlic, cheeses, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix sausage, pasta and cheese sauce together and place in a 13×9 pan and bake for 15 minutes until bubbly.
Take out of oven and let rest for five minutes. The sauce will thicken as it sits.
Enjoy!
