Colorado-bound

This week was sort of a rushed mash of dinners, hence the late blog post. My sister is currently visiting us, and we found out recently that we will be moving to Colorado sometime in the next 2 months, so between company and attempting to put together everything for the move and get the house ready we've been a bit busy and preoccupied. Whenever we have company though, I always try to make new recipes and try new meals, so I was still able to fit in a few meals, and both were a hit! The first one was the baked chicken taquitos, the recipe I had for it was originally an appetizer, but paired with some spanish rice it made a great meal and everyone loved it. The second was Chicken Taco Chili, which turned out a bit more soupy than I normally like, but when you serve it over rice the rice soaks all the liquid up and it's really good. The recipe makes a ton though, we've had it for 2 dinners so far and have enough to have it for another dinner, but I love recipes that end up surprising me with how many it will feed. I didn't intend for this post to have a tex-mex sort of feel to it, but it ended up happening anyways! Hope you enjoy the recipes, and I apologize for the lack of photos. :)

Baked Chicken Taquitos

• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup salsa (green or red)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
• 12 (6 inch) flour tortillas
• kosher salt
• cooking spray


Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silpat matte or foil lightly coated with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients (except the tortillas.) Working with a few tortillas at a time, heat them in the microwave between two paper towels until they are soft enough to roll (about 20 – 30 seconds). Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto the lower third of a tortilla. Roll the tortilla as tightly as you can. Place the rolled tortilla seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas until the mixture is gone, making sure the taquitos are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with kosher salt (don’t skip the salt!) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until crisp and golden. Serve with salsa, sour cream or guacamole.

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

• 1 onion, chopped 
• 1 16-oz can black beans 
• 1 16-oz can kidney beans 
• 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
• 10 oz package frozen corn kernels 
• 2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes w/chilies 
• 1 packet taco seasoning 
• 1 tbsp cumin 
• 1 tbsp chili powder 
• 24 0z. (3) boneless skinless chicken breasts 
• chili peppers, chopped (optional)
• chopped fresh cilantro 

Combine beans, onion, chili peppers, corn, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder and taco seasoning in a slow cooker. Place chicken on top and cover. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. Top with fresh cilantro. Also try it with low fat cheese and sour cream (extra points).

Visitors!

This week my sister came to visit, and as we were having company I decided to try some fun new recipes I'd been waiting to try. The first was a frozen hot chocolate, which was great as it's just started to warm up here. Sadly we weren't quite patient enough for the ice to freeze and so we just ate them old rather than frozen, but it was still delicious! The other recipe is something that had been hanging around my pinterest account for a while, and fit great because I had to work and didn't want to have to rely on frozen pizzas too many time. So I went the slow cooker route and made honey sesame chicken in my crock pot. It turned out great as well and we'll definitely have to be having it again sometime! As far as the contest goes we didn't have many entries so there isn't really much need for any wait, so I'll be getting those cookbooks sent out today :) Enjoy the recipes and thanks to everyone who shared this blog!

Frozen Hot Chocolate

• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons (1 packet) hot cocoa mix
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk, divided
• 4½ cups ice cubes
• whipped cream

Combine sugar, cocoa mix, and butter in top of double boiler that is set over gently boiling water (a bowl set over a pot of boiling water will work just as well, so long as it sits close enough to the water). Stir often until melted and smooth paste forms. Add semi-sweet & white chocolate chips; stir. When chips begin to melt, slowly stir in 1/2 cup evaporated milk. Stir until smooth and velvety. Cool to room temperature. Combine chocolate base mixture, remaining evaporated milk and ice in blender (in batches, if necessary); cover. Blend until smooth. Pour into individual glasses. Top each with whipped cream. Sprinkle with additional chopped chocolate chips & mini marshmallows, if desired. Serve with a straw and spoon.

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken

• 6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or 4 chicken breasts
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 packets minute rice, optional
• 1/2 tablespoon (or more) sesame seeds
• 3 scallions, chopped

Place chicken in Crock Pot and lightly season both sides with salt and pepper. In a medium bowl, combine onion, garlic, honey, ketchup, soy sauce, oil and red pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3-4 hours, or high for 2 hours. Remove chicken to a cutting board, leaving sauce. Shred chicken into bite-sized pieces; set aside. Prepare rice according to package instructions. In a small bowl, dissolve 4 teaspoons cornstarch in 1/3 cup water; add to crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce. Cover and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes, or until slightly thickened. Add cooked rice to 4 plates, top with chicken and spoon sauce over top. Sprinkle evenly with sesame seeds and chopped scallions.

Pampered Chef Recipe (and contest of sorts)

Last weekend I had a pampered chef party, it was great, even though many people didn't show up we had a great time and I got to try a new great recipe which I decided to share with everyone here! I'll get to that in just a minute though, I used to be a pampered chef consultant, and even though I got out of it, I still have a bunch of their old recipe books sitting around the house, and I love them! Each one has a small selection of appetizers, entrees and desserts, and every one I've tried has turned out pretty great. The books are only $2 a piece, and really handy to have, I've even used some in place of cards for some of the cooks in my life before! (if you're interested in the recipes they might have, scroll to the bottom for how you can get a digital copy of some) I have an open pampered chef party going online right now, and if you're interested in taking a look or ordering anything just follow this link.   Now that I've gotten that shameless plug out of the way, on to the recipe! My pampered chef consultant made German Chocolate Lava Cake in the microwave! The recipe calls for one of their products, which is a small covered baker. It's pretty great (but a little pricey, so any microwave safe dish with a lid should work) and looks wonderful, so transfers straight from the microwave to the table to serve. Sorry I don't have any pictures to go with this, I was too busy entertaining :) Hope you enjoy it! I also have a little contest of sorts,

German Chocolate Lava Cake

• 2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• 2 t canola oil
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (9 oz) small package devils food cake mix
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate morsels

Microwave coconut in uncovered baker on high for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown, stirring every 30 seconds. Spread it out on a plate to cool. Brush same baker with oil. Mix pecans, half of the coconut and 1 cup of the condensed milk in a small bowl until blended. Mix cake mix, sour cream, remaining condensed milk and egg in a large bowl until blended. Pour batter into baker. Pour coconut mixture evenly over the batter. Microwave uncovered on high 3-5 minutes or until the center of the cake look moist (but not wet). Cover baker and let stand 5 minutes. Microwave chocolate in uncovered bowl on high 45-60 seconds or until almost melted. Stir until smooth. Pour melted chocolate into resealable plastic bag and trim the corner. Sprinkle cake with remaining coconut and drizzle with chocolate. Enjoy!
Note: Remember, not all microwaves cook at the same speeds, so if you're worried yours cooks too high or too low, just stop it a minute or so early and check the top just to be safe.

Contest Time!!!

Lately I've been scanning in a bunch of my pampered chef cookbooks, so I have them all on digital file right now, and I thought I would offer them up as an incentive to share about this blog with your friends. These are cookbooks that you won't be able to buy anywhere, as they're seasonal ones that pampered chef doesn't sell anymore. All you have to do is comment on this post with your email address and name, and share this blog with your friends, family, tweet, facebook, etc. and tell them to comment on any of the blog posts with the name of the person who sent them, and whoever has the most by the next blog post will get an email with all 3 digital cookbooks! The person with the second most comments will get 1 of the digital cookbooks sent to their email. Good luck!