Recipe: Slow Cooker Enchilada Chicken

In searching for slow cooker recipes recently, I ended up with this.  I found a recipe a while back (wish I could remember where!) that was not a slow cooker recipe, but just a normal oven-cooking recipe. It had some differences aside from the cooking method, but it gave me the inspiration for this slow cooker recipe. I have done it twice now, and it has been really delicious both times. The crappy cell phone pic truly does not do it justice.

The first time I made it I used a store-bought can of enchilada sauce. It was great. The most recent time, however, I made my own enchilada sauce (which was super easy, by the way), and it was out of this world! One thing I like about this recipe is that it is very forgiving. I am giving you my best estimations of ingredients here; there is no "set" recipe. But, like I said, it seems to be very forgiving and adaptable.

Slow Cooker Enchilada Chicken

Approx 1-2 lbs boneless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon taco seasoning

1 15oz can enchilada sauce (if you want to try homemade, I used one batch of this this recipe from momadvice.com!)

Shredded cheese

Sliced green onion

Tortillas (I use fajita size)

1. Very forgiving recipe. I just approximate everything when I make it.
2. Place 1-2 lbs worth boneless chicken breasts in crock pot.  I always just use frozen and it turns out fine. I use about 4 breasts or about 6-8 tenders, depending on size.
3. Sprinkle with taco seasoning.
4. Pour enchilada sauce over top.
5. Cover and cook until chicken cooked and easy to shred. I do about 2-3 hours on high and then switch to low until time to eat, maybe 6 hours total, but this will just depend on the slow cooker.
6. When chicken is done, remove to plate and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker.
7. Sprinkle in some shredded cheese and stir in. I don't measure and just use a small handful.
8. You can then use this for soft tacos, roll them up as burritos, or assemble enchiladas out of them. There should be enough sauce for this or you can add more at any time.  Great topped with the green onions.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and find ways to make it your own! Again, this is a very loose recipe, so do everything according to your taste, slow cooker settings, etc. And since I am typing this recipe from memory, please let me know if I have left out anything glaringly obvious. Enjoy!

Pinterest Funfetti Cupcakes: Update!

Okay, so in my last post I mentioned how I was going to make these cupcakes from How Sweet It Is for N's birthday.  Well, I did just that, and they were a hit!  They were very simple to make.  I actually used part of the batter for a small smash cake and used the rest for cupcakes.  I divided the remainder between 11 cupcakes, which made for rather short cupcakes as you can see in the picture.  I probably should have made fewer so they would be a little bigger, but I suppose it was a learning experience.  And hey, they still tasted great, which is the most important thing, right??  I also used the frosting recipe listed, and it was fabulous as well.  I had quite a bit of frosting leftover, however, since I did not pile it on.  I just gave them a nice coating, and it was very adequate. Silly me did not think to get a pic of one sliced in half, but they were very pretty.  The only difference that I noticed was that my cupcakes did not turn out as white as the originals.  The cake was more of a yellow cake than white.  I'm thinking this must be from the yolks as these were fairly dark-yolked eggs, and I'm not sure how that could have been avoided since the recipe does call for whole eggs.  I'm guessing there is maybe some trick to keeping the cake white that I probably don't know.  I'm an amateur baker!  Overall these were great, and I would definitely make again.  A Pinterest success, I'd say!

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes
 Recipe from How Sweet It Is

makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 whole eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup assorted brightly colored sprinkles + more for top of frosting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients. Fold in assorted sprinkles.
Pour into cupcake tins and fill 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cool, then frost.

Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks of butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of milk, if needed
Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixture until completely smooth and creamy. With the mixer on low speed, add in powdered sugar slowly. Gradually increase mixer speed and add vanilla, then beat for 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl. If frosting is too thick, add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached If it’s too thin, add sugar gradually until it thickens. Frost cupcakes and top with sprinkles.

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes | How Sweet It Is

The cupcakes I will be attempting for N's first birthday party this coming weekend!  They look ahhhmazing!  Keep your fingers crossed that mine turn out halfway as decent.  That would make me very happy.  I will, of course, report back with results and pictures!  In the meantime, check it out and have a look around over there at How Sweet It Is--lots of very delicious-looking goodies!

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes | How Sweet It Is

Freezer Meals: Egg Muffins

Another Pinterest-inspired success!  I was looking for something I could make for quick breakfasts as an alternative to cereal.  My inspiration came from a post on Mama and Baby Love for quiche-like egg muffins that could be frozen for individual quick breakfasts.  This sounded perfect!  I also liked it because it didn't require exact measurements and it is another easily modifiable recipe, depending on what ingredients you have on hand.  Of course, I had to try one after they were done and I am thrilled with the results.  It is delicious! Here is a brief breakdown of the steps.

In a mixing bowl I combined 12 eggs, some milk, 1/2 tsp of salt (the only thing I did measure), pepper, some shredded cheddar and queso cheeses, and about 6 slices of cooked bacon that I had chopped into small pieces.  Like I said, everything was just eyeballed/estimated except the salt.

I then divided the mixture into a muffin pan that I had sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  This step is VERY IMPORTANT!!  Once divided into the pan, I baked at 350 for 20 minutes.

This ended up being the perfect amount of cooking time for our oven.  You will want to check and make adjustments to your own cooking time as needed.  After sitting for a few minutes, they were cooked through very nicely.  Because of spraying the muffin tin, all I had to do was slide a knife around the edge to loosen, and they popped right out, fully intact.

 Delish!!

 After they had cooled somewhat, I put them all on a baking sheet and into the freezer.  Then they will be individually wrapped/bagged.  I have not tried reheating one yet, but the recommendation given by Mama and Baby Love is to pull them out the night before to thaw and then give them a quick reheat in the microwave or regular oven if you prefer.

So now I'm thinking about all the variations you could make with this recipe.  Sausage, ham, bell pepper, onion, jalapeno, different cheeses, etc.  I can't wait to try more combinations with this recipe.  Enjoy!

Pinterest Recipe Success: Baked Chicken and Spinach Flautas

First, I apologize for the crappy cell phone pic.  It definitely does not capture how delicious these flautas were!  So, I finally got around to trying one of the maaaaaany recipes I have pinned over the last several months. Yay! I'm happy to report it was a success!  The recipe is from Healthy. Delicious. blog.  They were a little time intensive, but that could be because I had to stop halfway through to feed/change baby.  Yeah, that was probably why!  I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, but I had to use fajita-size tortillas instead of burrito-size fajitas cut in half.  It still turned out wonderfully.  There were 11 fajita tortillas in the package and it was enough filling for all of them with a little left over, just FYI.  Anyway, they were wonderful and M loved them too.  They had a nice crispness for being baked, and they were spicy without being overly hot.  I had scraped away all seeds and membranes from the jalapenos so the heat was minimal.  You could definitely leave some of that in if you prefer something spicier.  I just chose to sprinkle with hot sauce after the fact :)  Still delicious!  Here is the link the original recipe I pinned.   Enjoy! :)

That Is Some Awesome Fried Chicken!

It's not very often that we attempt to make fried chicken.  In fact, this may have been the first attempt at real fried chicken.  Needless to say, my expectations weren't all that high.  I tried to find the easiest recipe I could.  To our amazement, it turned out great!  So I want to share the crispy goodness with all of you.  I found the recipe at RealSimple.com.  Please, if you get a craving for fried chicken, do yourself a favor and head over there to give this a try.  Super easy and very tasty!

Easy Fried Chicken from RealSimple.com

Ingredients

1 chicken (about 3 pounds), cut into 8 pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup buttermilk
vegetable oil

Directions

1. Pat the chicken dry. Combine the salt, flour, black pepper, and cayenne in a large, shallow bowl. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess. Set aside for about 15 minutes. Pour the buttermilk into a second shallow bowl. Dip the chicken in the buttermilk, then again in the flour mixture.


2. In a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (preferably cast iron), heat about 4 inches of vegetable oil over medium heat until the temperature registers 360° F on a deep-fry thermometer.


3. Carefully place the chicken in the oil, using tongs. (Add the pieces slowly, so that the temperature does not drop, and work in batches to avoid overcrowding.) Fry the chicken until golden brown, turning once, 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces. Check for doneness by piercing the meat; the juices should run clear.


4. Drain the chicken on paper towels set on a wire rack. If desired, the cooked chicken can be kept warm in an oven set on low.

First Blog!

Okay, so it only took me until 2012 to start a blog.  After Myspace (hehe), Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr,  Pinterest, and whatever other social networking havens were popular at the time.  And really, Youtube and Tumblr only came about as a way to share pics of baby Nicholas in an easier format with family.  So, here I am.    I think I recently realized that we are in the midst of some major changes for our little family.  Not just the addition of N, but also career changes and life changes.  Things are already chaotic, but I think we are approaching warp speed soon... and what better way to capture all the craziness (and preserve my sanity simultaneously) than to blog it?!  I hope this can be an outlet for venting, a place to share neato things that I find, family updates, and many more awesome bits as time goes by.

Oh, and if you are not on Pinterest, you will need to seriously think about joining because I have a feeling there will be many Pinterest-related posts!  And it's just really cool.