A Little Recipe Shout Out

I have been on my game the past couple of nights. I guess the post about cooking bland meals spurred me on to make ones that use more than one ingredient. I am pretty competitive so this could explain the sudden drive for super wifeness. The interesting thing is I am competitive with myself. Anyone else? A prime example. In high school, I would try to run a mile as fast as I could. Then, after a few minutes of rest, I would run a mile again and try to beat my previous time. Then I would throw up from pushing myself too hard. Then I would run it again. Weird, I know. Anyways, because all of that has nothing to do with the reason for this post, that leads me to two fabulous recipes I want to share. Both are super easy.

First up, this was given to me by my friend Jean Marie. She is an amazing cook. Sadly, I didn't take pictures of the finished product, so I would be surprised if you are still reading this post. One without pictures is pretty boring. But hang in there, my friend. Pictures come with the second recipe. You must try this out.

Peanut Butter Chicken Veggie Stir Fry
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup broth
2 tbs rice vinegar
2 tbs honey
1 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbs fresh garlic
2 tbs ginger
 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
sliced veggies (of your choice)

Cut into cubes chicken. Place in a skillet sprinkle salt and pepper, then cook until done. Add veggies to skillet. Mix peanut butter, broth, vinegar, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger in blender.  Add to chicken and veggies until heated through.
**Note: I remove the chicken from the skillet while the veggies are cooking so the chicken does not become overdone. I add it back at the end!

Up next was our dinner tonight. You must plan ahead as it takes 5-6 hours. This recipe was found by my friend, Google. After clicking on more than zero other sites, I found this one. It was the first up. And it was the first up for a reason.

Crock pot Pulled BBQ Chicken
To see full post click here. It's by Recipe Girl.

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup barbecue sauce (a flavor you like)
1/3 cup Italian dressing (reduced-fat or fat-free okay)
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons chicken broth
additional barbecue sauce, if desired
rolls, for serving as sandwiches
bread and butter pickles, optional

1. Place chicken in the slow cooker. In a medium bowl, whisk together the barbecue sauce, Italian dressing, sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 4 1/2 to 5 hours. 

2. Remove the chicken to a cutting board. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and chicken broth. Stir it into the sauce in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high until the sauce is thickened and heated through (10 to 15 minutes). Meanwhile, use two forks to shred the chicken. Return the shredded chicken to the slow cooker and stir. Add additional barbecue sauce if more sauce is needed or desired. Cover and continue cooking on low for 45 minutes. Serve chicken piled onto rolls. Add pickles, if desired. 

I came up with my own brilliant idea of using the best rolls in town to make sliders.  Sister Schubert. This sister can bake. Seriously you may want to give her rolls a try. You can find them in any store in the frozen section.

Eric said, "Great job Kelly!" But that's not saying too much since he praises me over baked potatoes and steamed broccoli. But I am a pretty honest person, so trust me when I say, these babies are worth the planning ahead!

I wish I could take credit! But really I just wanted to give these tasty recipes a shout out. So here I am, shouting. 

What's for dinner

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I'm not a huge pizza fan, but I love BBQ chicken pizza. My favorite comes from Lilly's Pizza at 5 Points. They call it Dante's Inferno. Since I can't always go to Lilly's pizza, I can go to the grocery store. Therefore, I set out to make my own version. This is a meal that I created, but don't be impressed. It's super easy and anyone could have thought it up. If you don't have your meal plans figured out for the week, try this out! Add or subtract your own ingredients!

I start out with whole wheat crust. I have tried the whole "roll the dough" yourself, and well, it always ends up in a funny shape and I never get it quite right. So I decided just get but it already made. And I love whole wheat.

You can use a rotisserie chicken (bought from the store) or you can you use chicken on the bone, as I did below. I have used both! Rotisserie chicken makes it super easy and quick! If you use chicken on the bone, boil it in water to cook it, and also make it easy to shred off the bone. Plus you just made your own chicken broth! Bottle it up, stick it in the fridge, and use it for another meal this week!

While your chicken is boiling, go ahead a cut up bell peppers and onions. Of course you can add more veggies, I particularly like these on this pizza. I drizzle olive oil over the veggies, and sprinkle these spices: Greek Seasoning, Garlic Salt, Pepper, Old Bay. Don't be shy when using these spices on the veggies, because this is where a lot of your flavor comes from! Cook the veggies on med high until soft but still a little crunchy.

 

While your chicken and veggies are cooking, prepare the pizza dough. Spread BBQ sauce (I like KC Masterpiece original) as if you were spreading regular pizza sauce. Once your chicken is done, shred it into pieces and spread on to the pizza. Sprinkle salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and basil all over chicken.  Next, place veggies all over then top with cheese! Cook on 425 for about 8-10 minutes and dinner is served.

 

 ***Sometimes I add bacon!!

Grocery List:

- Pizza dough

- Chicken (rotisserie or on the bone)

- Bell peppers and onion

- BBQ sauce

- Olive Oil

- Greek seasoning

- Old Bay

- Garlic Salt

- Pepper

- Salt

- Basil

- Poultry Seasoning

- Mozzarella cheese

This is what we are having for dinner tonight! What are you having??

Baked Sweet Potato Wedges

Last night, I discovered a Paula Deen recipe that is really, really, really good. Click here if you want the recipe from Paula, but I will also show you the recipe...it is EASY!!

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons butter
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

-4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut lengthwise into wedges

-2 teaspoons salt

-2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Preheat: 400

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Directions:

1. Cut potato lengthwise into wedges

2. Over medium high heat, melt butter. Remove pot from heat, stir in cinnamon.

 

 

3. Add the potato wedges to the butter and cinnamon and toss to combine. You can do this however you like, but I just put a few wedges in at a time. You can you a larger saucepan and mix all together.

 



4. Spread wedges evenly onto a cookie sheet. *Optional (I did this)- Drizzle leftover butter/cinnamon mix over the cookie sheet of wedges. Then, season with salt and pepper.

 

5. You are ready to pop this goodness into the oven! Simple and easy.

 

I baked Ranch Style Chicken from Pioneer Woman to go with it. This chicken is delicious, I mean it has bacon AND cheese on it. Click here for the recipe. I know, I know. Not the most healthy meal, but it was quite tasty. Don't worry though, we had broccoli too.

stumbled upon

So recently I have been a victim of stumbleupon.com. If you have never heard of this website, then here is your warning: You may become an addict.

Stumble upon is this site where you can choose various interests and then "stumble" upon other websites that correspond to those interest. One of my interest was recipes. This brings me to my point.

Raise your hand if you don't want to be healthy. Okay none. Raise your hand if you think unhealthy food is good. Okay I see a few. Raise your hand if you wish you could figure out ways to turn that "unhealthy" food into "less unhealthy" food. Ah, my point. I recently stumbled upon this recipe site that turns my kind of food into a little more, well, less guilty.

My confession is that I haven't yet tried a recipe, seeing how I just found it tonight. Just look and be amazed...



chicken nuggets-165 cal per serv       

         

Baked ziti-332 cal per

Taco dip-59 cal per serv



Garlic cheddar biscuits-97 cal per biscuit



 Seriously. Go check it out. My mouth is watering as I type. Hopefully the recipes are as good as they look, if anyone tries any, please let me know! I would love to hear thoughts :)