Crockpot Sweet Pineapple Chicken

Dinner. So, Wednesdays have become crockpot night during school at our house. The boys have choir and youth group and there is lots of running around to be done on this day. Today I got to fit in grocery shopping somewhere, too, which was really thrilling! Therefore, I don't have time to make dinner on these crazy Wednesday nights. Tonight I whipped up a crockpot chicken meal mixing a few recipes I found online today.

You'll need:
3-4 frozen, boneless chicken breasts
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 20 oz. can pineapple chunks, half drained
1/2 can of cola
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 bottle of your choice of bbq sauce (I used K.C. Masterpiece: Hickory Brown Sugar)
-----------------------------
1 tbsp. brown sugar (30 mins before serving)

Put all of the ingredients in the crockpot (minus the brown sugar). Turn on low for about 6-8 hours. About 30 mins before serving, shred chicken and add brown sugar. Serve over rice.

Its sweet and savory and so delicious.

Introducing: The Ultimate Time Saver!

I found a really excellent, time and sanity saving organizational tool last week. While trying to salvage my grocery budget, I looked in my fridge to figure out what I had to prepare for dinner over the next two weeks and made a meal plan. A meal plan! Can you believe that? A meal plan! I had thought about it before, but had never taken the 7 minutes to actually do a meal plan. The last 6 days have been pure bliss when it comes to dinner time. I keep catching myself thinking "Ugh. What do I have to make for dinner tonight?" But I don't have to worry because it's already decided for me. And I picked it out.

Here's mine:

What's for dinner: April 14, 2011

I know my last few posts have only been about food, but, let's face it - food is what brings people together. One thing I try to do often is to surprise my kids with fun, out-of-the-ordinary days. My mom did this a few times for me and they were the best days I can remember as a kid. So, tonight, after dinner and karate, we made deep fried candy bars and some funnel cakes. Can you say yum?

One of my favorite cooking shows is "Chuck's Day Off" with Chuck Hughes on The Cooking Channel. I really wish he wasn't in Canada. One of my next trips with my husband has to be to Canada to visit Chuck and his restaurant in Montreal. I watched a DVR'd show today and he made deep friend Mars bars. Ethan was SOLD. He got a notepad and took down the recipe. Well, I didn't have everything on hand, so I improvised. Here are the recipes for the chicken bruschetta pasta with fried candy bars and funnel cakes.

Chicken Bruschetta Pasta:
Remember that whole chicken I roasted in the crockpot earlier this week? Well, I used the other half for this recipe. If you don't have that, cube 1lb. chicken and cook in skillet.
1 box farfalle pasta (bowties)
3/4 c. chicken broth
1 tub Philadelphia Cooking Creme - Savory Garlic
1 can diced tomatoes - whatever is on sale

Cook pasta. Meanwhile, heat chicken in skillet (if you're using the other half of the whole chicken). Once warm, pour in chicken broth, cooking creme, tomatoes. Stir until will mixed. Pour over pasta. Easy, right? And so so yummy!!!

Now: what you've all been waiting for. You won't believe how easy this was.

Candy bars - I used a Baby Ruth, a Snickers, and a Milky Way (which was the best, in my opinion)
Funnel cake mix - make as directed
Oil for Fry Daddy

Put candy bars in refrigerator or freezer (do not freeze) until cold. Heat oil until a drop of funnel cake batter will cook in about 10 seconds or less. Coat candy bars. Place in hot oil and cook until light golden brown. Try to get them out before the sides burst. Place on a napkin on a cookie sheet to drain remaining grease. Use a medium sized funnel to pour remaining batter into the hot oil in a random circular pattern. Flip after about 5-10 seconds. After another 5-10 seconds, remove. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar.

Enjoy! Your kids will think you're the coolest! :)

P.S. Next time I will sprinkle the candy bars with powdered sugar or drizzle with chocolate syrup!

What's for dinner: April 11, 2011

Typically on Monday nights I have class... but, I just am not feeling so hot this evening so I decided to stay home and whip up an easy "Shepherd's Pie".

1lb. of ground turkey - less fat, more flavor in my opinion
1 can peas
1 can sliced carrots
(tonight I used 1 can green beans and 1 can corn because that's all I had)
1 jar Heinz beef gravy (that I got for free last week from Target)
1 packet of Betty Crocker instant mashed potatoes (that I also got for super cheap last week at Target)
Shredded cheddar to top

Once it's done, I'll be sure to take a pic. :)
Brown the meat in a skillet. While it was cooking, I seasoned it with garlic powder and Season All. Drain. Mix vegetables and meat and gravy together and layer on bottom of square baking dish. Top with instant mashed potatoes and top with shredded cheddar. Put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 mins or until the mashed potato tops get brown and slightly crispy. I am really wishing I had a box of Jiffy cornbread to make as a compliment, but no such luck. Boo!

My good friend, Elizabeth, introduced me to this super easy, filling meal and I love making it for the family. YUM! I hope you enjoy this comforting dish as much as we do!

Happy comfort-food dinner!

What's for dinner: April 10, 2011

Okay, so I've clearly been uber busy the last few weeks. So much so that I haven't had a lot of time to blog... or cook wholesome meals for the family. We've done a lot of eating out to celebrate my 30th birthday, pizza eating because it was easy and fast, or grilling with friends and family. Of course, it's also crawfish season here in Texas, so we've been getting our fill and even had our own, mini, first-ever crawfish boil with our fellow couple friends a few weeks ago. Tonight really was no different except that I used the recipe I found awhile back to cook a whole chicken in a crockpot and then used the meat for this recipe. SUPER EASY!

1 chicken cooked - pull meat off. I used half the meat for this recipe.
1 can black beans
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 can green enchilada sauce
1 tub Santa Fe Blend Philadelphia Cooking Cream
Corn tortillas
Shredded cheddar




Mine looked similar to this. I am the worst at remembering to take pictures because I never know I need a picture until I realize what I made was actually worth taking a picture of. :)


In a skillet heat to medium stir in chicken pieces, black beans, cooking cream, enchilada sauce, and rotel. Stir and heat until cooking cream is well blended with all ingredients.

Spray bottom and sides of a 9x13 glass baking dish. Cover bottom of dish with corn tortillas. Layer chicken mixture on top of tortillas, spread evenly. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Add another layer of corn tortillas, chicken mixture, and shredded cheese. Pop in the oven for about 15 minutes to melt everything together.

Harrison (the 2 yr old) ate ALL of his, so you know it must have been pretty fabulous. The kid lives on yogurt and waffles afterall. Super easy, busy Sunday dinner. It was divine!! Enjoy!

Happy Sunday!

What's for dinner: March 23, 2011

I've been EXTREMELY lazy in the kitchen lately, so I apologize for no good recipes for the last couple weeks. Since it was Spring Break and an insane week prior, yesterday was really my first chance to cook anything.

Yesterday for dinner we had Chicken Angel Hair Alfredo, salad, and a French loaf.

It was one of the easiest meals I've made in a long time. First, I "roasted" a WHOLE chicken in a crock pot the night before. Take head, though, I put it in overnight and really wish I would've just done it for about 6 hours or so during the day. I think I cooked it too long because the bones were starting to get really brittle, but it still tasted pretty awesome. I had a whole chicken that I thawed a couple days before. I took the wrapper off and pulled the nastiness from the inside out and tossed in the trashed (I didn't come from a household of chefs so learning to do something with the insides is on the bottom of my cooking to-do list). I rinsed the outside and inside and then placed it in the crock pot. You could put the seasonings you like on it before you put it in to make sure you coat the whole thing, but I just put it in and sprinkled them on top. I used Lawry's seasoning alone, although, next time I think I'll get more creative. This was my first time, so, I took it slow. I put the lid on, set it on low, and away it went 'til morning. I pulled it out and pulled all the chicken off the bones and put it away until it was time to warm it up for dinner. I had "juice" left in the bottom, but like I said, the bones were so brittle, that I didn't really trust the juice. Weird, I know. I'll try to use it next time. For now, it is sitting in an empty vegetable oil container.




This isn't mine, but doesn't that look DELISH!?


On to the Angel Hair Alfredo: Butter, Parmesan, heavy cream. My friend from church, Joni Britton, told me how to make Alfredo sauce yesterday. In a large sauce pan, I melted a stick of butter. Yes, a whole stick. Once that was about half melted, I put about half a cup of Parmesan cheese. You can use either grated or shredded. I used shredded. Stir and stir and stir while the butter and cheese melts together. Once the cheese gets about half way melted, pour in about 1/2 pint heavy cream. I also put in about half a small tub of Philadelphia cooking cream (I'd never tried it) savory garlic flavored. Stir and stir and stir on medium low. Make sure it doesn't get too hot because burnt cheese tastes AWFUL - trust me. I would also suggest adding some garlic powder, maybe some salt, and perhaps parsley or oregano to give it a little more oomph. Once it is completely melted, then you pour it over your cooked pasta. Obviously, any pasta will probably work. I prefer Angel Hair, some prefer Fettuccine. It's really your call - you're the one cooking, after all. Warm up about half of the chicken (shredded) and throw it in. Give it a quick toss and dinner is served!

I served ours with a side salad and a Pillsbury french loaf. By the way - the Simply Rustic French Bread - YUMMY! Their Simply Cookies are amazing, too. I'm not sure what the difference is, but all the Simply products are even better than the original.

Tonight, I'm making gumbo. I'll let you know how it turned out.

Happy dinner!

What's for dinner: February 28, 2011

Today I made slow-cooker lasagne. On Mondays, I have school in the morning, errands in the afternoon, and school again in the evening. A slow-sooker meal is really the only way to go on such jam-packed days, which makes my day go significantly smoother. Score one for MOM!

Slow-Cooker Lasagne

I have to admit, I totally goofed up and mixed the meat sauce and the cheese mixtures together. BUT it made my job easier and it still tasted great! I cooked it on low for about 4 hours. Any longer would've been too long. For you working mamas out there, I would suggest preparing this the evening before and just heating it up for about an hour once you get home from work. I served this with salad and french bread.

Happy Slow-Cooking!

What's for dinner: February 27, 2011

Tonight I got the itch to make chicken spaghetti after someone else posted they were making it for dinner. I've never been very successful at it, so, I tried again this evening. Here's the way I made mine after taking a few recipes and combining them. It was significantly better than any other time I've made it before. But, I think it still needs to be tweaked.

5 pieces of bacon
1 med. onion, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1 can rotel tomatoes and green chiles, drained
1 can cream of chicken with herbs
1 can cream of mushroom
3 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 5oz. pkgs Vermicelli pasta
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 c. bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste.

1. In a large pot, boil chicken breasts until cooked through. Remove chicken leaving broth. Shred chicken.
2. Bring remaining broth to boil again. Cook pasta in broth. Drain.
3. In a separate pot, cook 5 pieces of bacon. Remove bacon and set aside.
4. In bacon grease, sauté onion and celery. Once tender, add rotel, cans of soup, cooked pasta, shredded chicken, cheese, and heavy cream. Mix. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix again.
5. Put in large (3q.+) casserole dish. Chop bacon. Sprinkle bacon and bread crumbs on top. Put in oven on 350 degrees for 15 min.

This is how I made it this evening. It was pretty good, but I think I will saute a clove or two of garlic with the onions next time to add a bit more flavor.

Any other suggestions are always welcome!

Happy dinner!

What's for dinner: February 23, 2011

Tonight we had an easy meal. Not the most nutritious - you'll never hear me claim that! But, it was good, hearty, and filled my little families bellies with smiles and delight.

Allrecipes Salisbury Steak Recipe

I didn't make the sauce in the recipe. Instead, I simply used a packet of brown gravy mix (prepared) and the remainder of the can of french onion soup mixed together and poured over the steaks in the skillet.

I made this with mashed potatoes, peas, maccaroni and cheese, and croissants. This comforting meal was a delightful way to end our day.

Keep your family close and have dinner together at the table as many nights as possible. Ask each other about their day, what they're looking forward to, or get creative and talk about what you'd change your names to if you could. With my family of boys, they tend to end up at potty talk, "If I could change my brother's name, I would change it to poo-poo butt-face". Ahhh - the joys of boys! :) Have fun with dinner time!

Happy family talks!