Chicken Taco Chili

Last weekend it was chilly outside and I was craving a chili.  I found this recipe on Skinnytaste with a twist on the tradtional chili - basically think crockpot chicken tacos + regular chili ingredients!  Again, I can't tell you how much I love cooking chicken in the crockpot.  It is just SO EASY!  This recipe came together so quickly and then cooked all day in the crock.  Also, this made for a lot of leftovers so we were set for dinner for the week almost!

Servings:  10

Size:  1 1/4 cups chili

Points Plus: 6pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5-6 hours

Ingrdient List:
2 large chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
1 medium onion, chopped
1 15 oz. can kidney beans
1 15 oz. can black beans
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes with chilies
10 oz. frozen corn
1 taco seasoning packet
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. cumin
Shredded cheddar, reduced-fat (1 oz. per serving)

Directions:
Put all ingredients besides the chicken in the crockpot and stir until everything is well combined, especially the spices.  Add the chicken breasts and make sure the chili mixture is covering them.  Cook on high for 5-6 hours, stirring occasionally.  Once the chicken is fully cooked, remove for the crockpot and shred with forks.  Return the shredded chicken to the crockpot and cook for an additional 30 minutes.  Serve with chopped fresh cilantro and 1 oz. shredded cheddar per serving.  Enjoy!

Tip:
Just a heads up - this recipe calls for a full Tbsp. of chili powder - so it definitely has some kick!  We love spice, so it wasn't too spicy for our tastes, but you might want to scale it back to your liking. 

XOXO Megan

Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins

First of all, I LOVE chicken in the crockpot!  It makes for such delicious tasting chicken and it’s so easy.  This recipe from Skinnytaste is for a lightened up version of potato skins.  I made these as part of an appetizer dinner a few weeks ago.  I love finding recipes for traditionally unhealthy appetizers that are made over into something that you don’t feel guilty eating.  Skinnytaste has this delicious recipe for low-fat homemade blue cheese dressing.  I didn’t use it when I made these potato skins, but have made it in the past… check it out!

Servings:  12

Size:  1 potato skin

Points Plus: 3pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 3-4 hours (buffalo chicken), 25 minutes (potato skins)

Ingredient List:

Chicken-

12 oz. chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

1 stalk of celery, diced

½ medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

16 oz. chicken broth

1/3 cup hot sauce (Frank’s brand is great!)

Potato Skins –

6 medium russet potatoes

12 Tbsp. shredded cheddar cheese, reduced-fat

½ cup carrots, sliced into matchsticks

½ cup celery, sliced into matchsticks

¼ cup light blue cheese dressing

Directions:

Get out your crockpot – one of my favorite kitchen tools!  Add the chicken breasts, celery, onion, garlic and broth making sure you have enough broth to cover the top of the chicken.  Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours, or until the chicken is fully cooked through.  Once the chicken is done cooking, remove from the crockpot and shred with two forks.  Save about ½ cup of the broth mixture.  Discard the remaining broth.  Place the shredded chicken, reserved broth and hot sauce back in the crockpot and stir until well mixed.  Cook on low for an additional 30 minutes (this is really just to get the buffalo flavor to settle into your chicken and to keep it warm). 

Cook the potatoes, either by microwave or by oven (you will save time in the microwave!), making sure to pierce each potato with a fork to allow the steam to come through.  Allow the potatoes to cool after you have finished cooking to make it easier to make them into potato skins  Slice the potatoes in half horizontally and scoop out the filling leaving about ¼ inch wall of potato in each potato skin.  Preheat the oven to 450°.  Season the potato skins with salt and pepper.  Bake potatoes on a baking sheet lined with foil for about 10 minutes.  Add two Tbsp. of buffalo chicken and one Tbsp. shredded cheddar to each potato skin.  Pop them back in the oven to cook for a few minutes or until the cheese melts.  To assemble, add 1 tsp. light blue cheese dressing and a sprinkle of carrot and celery matchsticks on top.  Serve immediately!

Tip:

If you have a lot on your party menu, making the buffalo chicken ahead of time would be a great time saver!  The chicken will keep in the fridge so you could even make it the day before if need be.

XOXO Megan

Sriracha Roasted Cauliflower

Have you heard the rumors of a Sriracha shortage?  I went to a few different grocery stores last weekend and couldn't find it anywhere.  And as the lady in a household that just LOVES Sriracha I panicked!  I did! And then I went to another store and found it so everything was/is ok.  I also found a recipe for it, which I would love to try in the coming days. So if there is ever a Sriracha shortage again I won’t panic. You might think cauliflower coated in Sriracha and roasted to perfection would be super spicy and unbearable.  Well, the truth is, when you cook it the flavor gets pretty mild, the combo of other sauce ingredients are the perfect mix for this low point veggie side! This recipe is from my new favorite food blog, iamafoodblog!

Servings: 3

Serving Size: About 2 cups

Points Plus: 3pp

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients List

1 T olive oil

1 t sesame oil

2 t soy sauce

2 t rice wine vinegar

2 T Sriracha

1 head of cauliflower cut into small pieces

Chopped cilantro and lime wedges to serve

Instruction

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Combine the first five ingredients in a large bowl. Add the cauliflower florets and toss to coat. Arrange the cauliflower on a lined baking sheet (don’t crowd them!) and roast for 20-25 minutes, turning once, until tender.

Enjoy hot with cilantro and lime.

Tip

Serve these right out of the oven so they maintain their crunch.  I ate some as leftovers the next night, and although they were delish, they were a little, well, not crunchy!

XOXO- Katie

Corn & Jalapeno Mini Muffins

The combination of flavors in each one of these mini muffins really packs a punch!  It’s a delightful combo of sweetness from the honey, a bit of heat from the jalapeños and hearty cornmeal.  These are perfect side to serve with tacos or any Mexican dish.  Try pairing them with the Crockpot Chicken Tacos we featured on the blog last week!

Servings:  16 (recipe will make a total of 32 mini muffins)

Size:  2 mini corn muffins

Points Plus: 2pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  10-12 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent!

Ingredient List:
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
¼ cup flour
¾ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. sugar
⅛ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup milk
¼ cup honey
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
2 large jalapeños, seeded and diced
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese, reduced-fat

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°. Lightly grease a mini muffin tin with cooking spray.  Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a medium bowl.  In a separate, larger bowl combine the egg, milk, honey and melted butter with a whisk.  Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and stir until well mixed.  Fold in the jalapeños and cheddar cheese with a spatula.  Fill each muffin tin about 2/3 full.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Tip:
Serving these warm are a MUST!  Although you can save time and make these ahead of time, they really are best when they are just out of the oven.  Of course you can pop them back in oven to warm them up just before you are ready to sit down too!

XOXO Megan

Mini Pepper Chicken Nachos

Who doesn’t love nachos??  However, they can be high in points and unhealthy.  This recipe attempts to fix that!  Replace the chips (and carbs) with mini bell peppers instead and top with regular nacho ingredients and shredded chicken.  Delicious!!

I found this recipe on the Heat Oven to 350 blog.

Servings:  4

Size:  1/4 of the nachos

Points Plus: 5pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  10 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very Good

Ingredient List:

1 tsp. vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 green onions

1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 tsp. chili powder

1 cup salsa

Salt & pepper to taste

1 pound mini bell peppers

1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar-monterey jack blend, reduced-fat

1/4 cup black olives, sliced

1/2 large tomato, diced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.  In a large skillet, heat oil and add garlic and green onions, cook for a few minutes.  Add in shredded chicken and chili powder; mix well until the chili powder evenly coats the chicken and onions – cook until the chicken is warmed through.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the salsa and season with salt & pepper to taste.  Prepare the pepper nacho chips by cutting off the tops of each pepper and slicing in half lengthwise to form chips.  Place the peppers on a large cookie sheet.  Scoop the chicken mixture onto each mini pepper and then top with shredded cheese and black olives.  Bake the chicken nachos in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.  Before serving, top the nachos with tomatoes and fresh cilantro.

Tip:

Make the chicken in your crock-pot the night before you want to serve this recipe!  Crock pots are a great tool in making prep for entertaining easy!

XOXO Megan

Breakfast Tacos

Saturday morning we decided to come up with a creative breakfast simply by using up what we had in our fridge!  Paul came up with the idea for these breakfast tacos since we had some leftover corn tortillas and an avocado.  This makes for an easy breakfast!

Servings:  2

Size:  2 breakfast tacos

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: n/a

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

3 eggs

4 corn tortillas

½ Tbsp. olive oil

½ avocado, diced

3 Tbsp. salsa

2 oz. shredded cheddar, reduced-fat

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large frying pan, prepared scrambled eggs seasoned with salt and pepper.  In a small skillet, lightly fry/brown the corn tortillas in olive oil.  Dice the avocado.  Assemble the tacos by layering eggs, salsa, and avocado and sprinkle the top with cheese.  Enjoy!

Tip:

You can easily adapt these tacos to whatever you have on hand or any ingredients you really like!  Some people aren’t huge fans of avocado so go ahead and substitute other veggies into your breakfast tacos instead.

XOXO Megan

Jalapeño, Sausage & Egg Breakfast Braid

I love to find new breakfast recipes to try out!  I came across this recipe in Cooking Light and tested it out for a summer cabin trip a few years ago.  It’s easy, yet looks pretty impressive, and sounds like it too (breakfast braid sounds kind of fancy to me at least!).  This breakfast dish quickly became a favorite and is a go-to staple if I’m having company and I want to serve something for breakfast or brunch.

Servings:  8

Size:  1/8 of the breakfast braid

Points Plus: 6 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  15 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent

Ingredient List:

1 can refrigerated pizza crust dough

Cooking spray

1 Tbsp. olive oil

¼ cup onion, chopped

4 oz. chicken sausage with jalapeños, chopped

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup jalapeño peppers, chopped and seeded

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°. Unroll the pizza dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Shape dough into a 15x10 inch rectangle.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and sausage; cook about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in the eggs, cook another 1-2 minutes or until the eggs set.  Remove from heat.  Sprinkle Monterey Jack cheese lengthwise down the center of the dough, leave about a 2 ½ inch boarder on each side.  Spoon the egg/sausage mixture evenly over the cheese.  Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of the egg mixture; top with jalapeño peppers.  Make 2 inch long diagonal cuts about 1 inch apart on both sides of the dough to within ½ inch of the filling.  Arrange the strips over the filling, alternating sides to make the appearance look like a braid.  Press the ends to seal.  Brush the top of the braid with egg white to ensure a nice browned crust.  Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting into slices.

Tip:

To make the cuts in the pizza dough to form the braid, kitchen scissors work REALLY well!  Simply snip out even strips to make your braid.  The scissors will help the dough for tearing or getting stretched out so you end up with a nice looking braid to serve your company!

XOXO Megan

Salsa Verde Enchiladas

In honor of Cinco de Mayo yesterday we thought a Mexican recipe make sense for today!  If you like authentic Mexican food, this is a recipe you have to check out!  Paul, my fiance, LOVES Mexican and suggested one weekend that we try out a true, authentic recipe.  He found this one online and we have to say we were impressed - definite authenticity.  We served our salsa verde enchiladas with a side of cooked black beans with onions and cilantro.  Yum!

Servings:  4

Size:  3 enchiladas

Points Plus: 10 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time:  35 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent
*Recipe from: allrecipes.com

Ingredient List:

2 bone-in chicken breast halves

2 cups chicken broth

White onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. salt

1 pound of fresh tomatillos, husks removed

5 Serrano peppers*

12 corn tortillas

1/8 cup olive oil

½ cup crumbled queso fresco

Fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:
In a saucepan, combine chicken breasts with chicken broth, ¼ of the onion, 1 clove of garlic and 2 tsp. salt.  Bring to a boil and then boil for 20 minutes.  Reserve broth, set aside chicken to cool and discard the onion and garlic.  When chicken has cooled, shred the chicken with 2 forks.

Place tomatillos and Serrano peppers in a pot with water, enough to cover them (some of the tomatillos will float a bit).  Bring to a boil, continue boiling until the tomatillos turn a different shade of green (they will start out as a bright green and turn to a dull, army green).  Strain tomatillos and peppers, place in a blender with another ¼ of the onion, 1 clove of garlic and a pinch of salt.  Pour in enough of the reserved chicken broth so the liquid covers the vegetables by about an inch in the blender.  Blend all ingredients until they are completely pureed.  Pour salsa into a medium saucepan and bring to a low boil.

Pour oil into a small frying pan; allow it to get very hot.  Slightly fry the tortillas one by one in the oil, setting each on a paper towel to absorb some oil after frying.  Finally dip the tortillas into the warmed salsa verde in the saucepan.  Place on plates, 3 tortillas per serving.  Assemble each enchilada by filling the tortillas with shredded chicken, some extra salsa verde sauce and rolling up. On top, add chopped onion, cilantro and crumbled queso fresco.
Tip:
*Note on the Serrano peppers.  The originally recipe calls for 5 peppers.  Unless you REALLY love spicy food, I would recommend scaling back on this. These are HOT enchiladas (I mean the recipe can’t say it’s authentic if it doesn’t have some heat to it!).  We have made this recipe twice, and used 3 peppers both times.  These peppers definitely have some kick!

XOXO Megan

Sausage and Pepper Chili with Baked Polenta

I love a good one dish dinner, especially when it helps you clean out your cupboards and fridge.  This dish is super easy, filling and has the right amount of spice.  It is sort of a cross between a really thick chili and chowder and the polenta adds an additional interesting texture.  Think of your favorite side to chili = Cornbread!

Servings:  4
Size:  ¼ of pan, size will vary depending on how many peppers you add
Points Plus: 6 pp
Level of Difficulty:  Easy
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time:  20 minutes
Rating: 3 stars – Good

Ingredient List:

1 t. olive oil

Peppers! (I used about 6 small sweet peppers in varying colors, you could also use one red and one yellow pepper)

½ cup white onion

2 jalapeno turkey sausage links from Trader Joes

1 can diced tomatoes with chilies

1 cup sliced polenta (1/2 log, sliced in circles)

1 can pinto beans

Salt and pepper to taste

Hot sauce!

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°.  Dice peppers and onion into small pieces. Heat olive oil in a skillet until hot, then add peppers and onion and sauté for about 8 minutes until cooked. Cut up sausage links in ¼ inch round pieces.  Add sausage to veggies and cook until warmed through. These sausages are pre-cooked, so if you are using different raw sausage sauté until cooked through.  Rinse and drain pinto beans, and add them to the mix along with the canned tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper to taste.  Move mixture to an oven safe dish.  Slice polenta into ¼ inch round slices and later on top of chowder mixture.  Loosely top with a piece of tin foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove, add a little hot sauce and enjoy hot!

Tip:

If you are lucky enough to own a Le Creuset (or any stove to oven safe dish with a lid), use that dish instead to save some dishes! 

XOXO Katie