Shredded chicken with some spice!

This is a recipe I discovered shortly after our daughter Aidan was born and I went back to work full time.  It is also when I discovered my L-O-V-E for the crockpot.  I needed easy meals as I adjusted to being a working/career mom.  I'll let you know when that adjustment/acclimation has happened.  I am still waiting.  I have just gotten better at faking it.  This one is simple.  It takes ingredients most people have on-hand and makes yummy tacos!  We have made the chicken in a double batch, froze the left overs, and used it at a later date for enchiladas.  For those dieting, this one is pretty low-fat.  My husband uses Green Goddess dressing on the tacos in place of sour cream.  Ole!

Shredded Chicken Tacos
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-14 oz can reduced sodium chicken broth

1-1 oz reduced sodium taco seasoning packet

Place the chicken breasts in a 3 qt slow cooker that has been coated in non-stick cooking spray. In a 2 Cup measuring cup (or a small bowl) whisk the chicken broth and taco seasoning together. Pour over the chicken. Cook on low for 8-9 hours. Before serving, place chicken breasts in a medium bowl. Shred using two forks. Serve on warm flour or corn tortillas with shredded cheese and sour cream.

Nostalgia, the song can always bring you back.

Something about this time of year and fall being in the air reminds me of this song and my freshman year at Montana Tech.  Good times.

Shhh...this recipe is Top Secret......

Do you remember when you could go to the 4B's resteraunt in Butte and get an awesome bowl of tomato soup?  Do you also remember when they didn't charge for the recipe?  I do.  This is the recipe I downloaded/orinted from the 4B's website over 10 years ago.  The last time we went to 4B's, it seemed they had changed the recipe and it was no where as good.  With the cold weather here, it is soup time.  This one pairs really well with sourdough bread or is even better with an ooey, gooey grill cheese sandwich!  Dig in!

4B’s Old Fashioned Tomato Soup

3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 C water
1 ounce butter
1 Tbsp chopped onion
2 Tbsp sugar
16 oz can diced tomatoes in puree
16 oz can crushed tomatoes
½ tsp baking soda
1 C heavy whipping cream
1 C liquid coffee creamer (non-dairy)

Combine bouillon cubes, water, butter, chopped onion, and sugar. Simmer until onions are clear. Add tomatoes and baking soda and stir well. Add cream and liquid creamer and heat to serve.

Cooking with soup! And chicken! And BACON!

So, I admit, I cam by this recipe through an ex.  It was the only good thing that I took from that relationship beside an overwhelming adversion to okra.  But, that is another story for another day.  Just know, you will not see okra recipes on this blog.  This one is also child approved and husband approved.  It is yummy, and easy to make.  For the boy child this has the chicken.  For the husband and the daughter it has (drumroll, please)...Bacon!!!!!!  The ex called this Chicken Marengo.  I have no idea if that is the real name.  However, the kids renamed it and request it as Chicken More-n-go (More and go).  It stuck.  Enjoy!

Chicken More-n-go

½ lb bacon, diced
½ onion, chopped
2- 10 ¾ oz can tomato soup
2- 10 ¾ oz can golden mushroom soup
1 lb chicken breast, diced
4-6 C cooked, hot rice

In a large sauté pan, cook bacon until thoroughly cooked, but not crisp. Remove cooked bacon from pan, leaving grease. Add onion and cook until tender. Add chicken and cook until chicken is cook all the way through. Add cooked bacon and cook a few minutes longer. Add the cans of soup. Stir well and cook until heated all the way through. Serve over rice.

Weekend Breakfast...You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar

Well, I will not be posting any recipes this weekend.  Sorry.  This looks to be a busy weekend with minimal computer time.  So, I thought that I would post a breakfast recipe for Saturday morning.  These muffins are very yummy- warm or cold.  I have made them for my family and for a continental breakfast at a training we had to facilitate.  They were a hit.  They are yummy.  They are simple!  They were kid approved!  (the crowd grows wild).  So, enjoy!

Honey Muffins

2 C all-purpose flour
½ C sugar
3 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1 C milk
¼ C butter, melted
¼ C honey

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk the egg, milk, butter, and honey. Stir into the dry into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400° for 15-18 minutes. Remove from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm.

When fooling a carnivore, make sure it tastes good!

Tonight in the Norman household, there will be minimal cooking involved!  Woot woo!  I need to use up some of those pesky left overs.  I have ALOT of left over rice from this past week.  So, we will be having a husband requested meal.  I have to inform you, that the husband was a meat and potaotes man when we started dating.  He still is.  So, for him to request a meatless dish is amazing and you know it has to be good.  This one is a treasure I came across in one of the many Tast of Home cookbooks I have.  It is cheap, quick to fix, and very yummy!

Black Bean and Rice Burritos

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
2 C. cooked rice
Flour/Corn tortillas

In a large sauce pan, combine the tomatoes, beans, cumin, and garlic powder. Heat to a boil and bean are heated thoroughly. Stir in rice. Heat until rice is hot. Serve on tortillas with sour cream and cheese.

 
 
If they are nice to me tonight, I may even make the homemade corn tortilla chips and guacamole - both of which are oh so easy to make!

The Best Sweet and Sour Beef...in a crockpot!

I received this recipe a few years ago from our dear friend Mie.  It is amazing!  It is easy!  Did I mention it is amazing and the best sweet and sour recipe using the crockpot I have tried.  This will be dinner tonight int he Norman household.  I am very excited.  I had to share this one with you all!  I have no funny quips int he title for this blog of in this write up, I am too busy dreaming of dinner.

Sweet and Sour Beef

2 lb beef steaks
½ C. flour
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
½ C ketchup
¼ C brown sugar
¼ C vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
¾ C water
1 tsp salt
4-6 carrots cut, cut into matchstick strips

Cut beef into 1-inch cubes. Mix together flour, salt, pepper, and dredge beef cubes in mixture. In a skillet, heat olive oil and brown beef cubes. Place browned beef in slow cooker and set on low heat. Add remaining ingredients, except the carrots. Cook for 4-5 hours. Add carrots and cook for 3-4 hours longer. Serve over hot rice.

Better hide the Great Pumpkin, it is that time of year!

Fall is in the air.  That signals to me that it is time to start cooking with pumpkin, again.  My husband loves this time of the year, when I begin baking like crazy.  I love to make.  It is a stress release for me.  I love the smells it fills the house up with.  So, tonight I made Chocolate chip spiced pumpkin bars for a social tomorrow night.  Why you ask?  Good question, because they are easy, quick to make, and oh so yummy!

When I moved into my first apartment, I had one cookbook.    It was the infamous red and white checkered covered Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  I still have it, the update version that lays flat, and now the pink updated version.I personally feel it is the essential cookbook for all cooks.  I love the pumpkin bars in there.  So, their recipe was the base for the following recipe.  I just spiced up.  Enjoy!

Spiced Pumpkin Bars

2 C all-purpose flour
2 Tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ginger and ginger
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp maple extract
4 eggs
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1 ½ C sugar
1 C cooking oil
1 C chocolate chips
In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat together eggs, pumpkin, sugar, maple extract, and oil. Add the flour mixture; beat until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Spread batter in an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

We are all nuts (for pie) here!

So, yesterday, Iasked for recipe requests on my Facebook page.  It was recomended and strongly seconded that I post a pecan pie recipe.  *DISCLAIMER!!!!!!!!!*  I am not from the south.  I have no idea how true to the real thing this recipe is.  I just know, that it is my Mom's recipe.  Is it good?  Ph my heavens!  It is amazing.  So, here it is, the absolutlely delicious not at all healthy pecan pie.

Pecan Pie

¾ C sugar
 2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 C dark Karo syrup
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp flour
½ C evaporated milk
2 C pecan pieces
1 9in pie shell, uncooked in a 9 in pie plate

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flour, and salt. Stir in corn syrup. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in the evaporated milk, pecans, and vanilla. Pour into pie shell. Cook at 350° for 50 minutes.

Where's the Beef? It's in the Crock-Pot!

It is Monday again!  Boo!  If your house is anything like ours, chaos rules the roost on Mondays.  Between school, dance, the hubby going to work at o'dark thirty, and work, it is awonder some Monday nights that dinner gets on the table that isn't a TV dinner and a can of peas.  So, I love to break out the crockpot on Mondays.  Here is one of our favorites that is so very easy!  Enjoy!

Beef Tips and Rice


1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 c. water
1 can golden mushroom soup
1 pkg. onion soup mix
1 lb. beef tips or stew meat
Rice, cooked

Mix soups, water, and soup mix. Place beef in slow cooker and pour mixture over beef. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice.

We all need a rubber chicken in our adventures to that nugget.

So, my children are a bit "strange" on the things they will eat.  They are normal kids in regards to canned raviolis, mac and cheese, and hot dogs (but don't cook those nitrate filled things, they have to be cold.  Bleh!).    But, they are not fans of frozen chicken nuggets.  I am not the only one that has noticed this about them.  So, I quit buying the frozen nuggets.  I, using my mad scientist skills, found a way to make chicken nuggests that they love.  Added benefits here, very few preservatives and the husband likes them.  Enjoy!

Chicken Nuggets
1 lb. boneless chicken breast, cut into “nugget” sized pieces
½ C. buttermilk
¼ tsp hot pepper sauce
1 C. bread crumbs
½ C. grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp ground black pepper

In a resealable gallon size plastic bag, combine the chicken, buttermilk, and pepper sauce. Marinate chicken for at least 30 minutes but no more than 10 hours. In a clean gallon size resealable bag, combine the bread crumbs, parmesan, garlic powder, and pepper. Coat the chicken pieces in the bread crumb mixture by place 12pieces at a time in the bag and shaking. Do not rinse of the buttermilk. Place in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes, or until chicken juices run clear.

Thoughts on Husbands and their calling

Today on the infamous Facebook, I saw posts disparaging husbands. To see such posts always leaves me a bit unsettled. No marriage is perfect. My husband and I have our fair share of arguments and fights. I am a fan of venting, to friends, and healthy conflict resolution. However, I am not a fan of emasculating my husband for all to see and airing my dirty laundry. Once those words are typed for all to see and once they are said, there is no way to take them back. I think, myself included, forget the great burden men are called to by God in their role as husbands and fathers. In today’s society, men are called to these roles with no preparation. No training. No idea how to reach that goal. I also think that women forget, I know I do, that one of our roles as a wife to assist our husbands to these goals by building them up and not tearing them down. By respecting them and all that they do. Not telling them what useless bums they are. A recent survey when husbands were asked if their wives loved them, over 90% said yes. But when asked if their wives respected them, less than 20% said yes. What does that say as our roles as a wife. Have we let the today’s society warp us to the point that we want to wear the pants and be spoiled without putting any effort forth to reciprocate. We want our cake, to eat it, have seconds and thirds and not pick up after ourselves? This is a journey that I am still on. It has been a difficult one for me to undertake. Respect my husband, build him up, let him know how worthwhile and awesome he is in the midst of the chaos of our lives and respect him when we are arguing and I am furious at him. Do I fail at this? Every single day! Do I get back up and try again? Every single day! My husband is the man that I promised my forever to. We didn’t enter this sacred marriage with an escape clause. If I want him to respect me and treat me with honor, I had better be willing to do the same. But, back to my original rant. I saw posts on Facebook today berating husbands and calling them out by name. To me that is a sad state of affairs. It violates one of the rules of fighting- “Do not bring in a third party,” and progresses onto “Do not call each other names.” I am not a perfect wife. But, I feel Facebook is not the place to vent about "what a lousy husband we have". We as women need to remember that discretion and “biting our tongue” in the realm of the virtual world is not something we should strive for, but something we need to put into practice. St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians, “Wives submit to your husbands.” Sounds horrible, but it isn’t a rug to walk on submission. Men got a much harder task to undertake. St. Paul continued with “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church.” Wow. Love you wife as Christ loved the Church. Sacrifice your all, your everything, you life, body, and soul for your wife, unselfishly, for her salvation and safety. Just some food for thought.


So, I will continue my uphill battle with this and I wish you all well on your journey. God Bless.

More Cheese Please, and add some soup to it :)

With the weather cooling down and fall showing up, it is the air, it is begining to be soup weather.  This is one of our favorites on a cold day.  It reheats really well the next day for lunch at work.

Cheesy Chicken and Potato Soup


1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 ½ c. milk
2 Tbsp margarine
salt and pepper to taste
2 boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
2 c. Cheddar cheese, shredded
2-3 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
6-8 c. water
3 chicken boullion cubes

Sauté onion in margarine in soup pot. Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Add celery and potatoes, add water and boullion cubesto cover. Cook until potatoes are tender (15-20 minutes). Add soup, milk, and seasonings. Cook until heated through. Add cheese. Cook until cheese is melted.

Cheesy Goodness Abounds!

I should post a health warning with this recipe.  It is in no way, shape or form low-fat.  Not at all.  On the other hand, it is yummy and picky eater approved!  My husband brings home all sort of Taste of Home magazines for me.  I love it!  This is one that I found in one of them last year and it is worthy of sharing.

Cheese Enchiladas

1 15 oz can tomato sauce
2/3 C water
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
8 flour tortillas
3 1/4 C. shredded mexican blend chese
1 medium onion, very finely chopped (or 2 Tbsp dried minced onion, reconstituted)
1/2 C sour cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 C minced parsley (the dry stuff works as well as the fresh)

In a large sauce pan, combine the first 6 ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 4-5 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.  Spoon 2 Tbsp sauce over each tortilla.

In a large bowl combine 3 cups of the cheese, onions, sour cream, parsley, salt, and pepper.  Place 1/3 cup down the center of each tortilla.  Roll up and place seam side down in to a greased 13 in x 9 in. baking dish.  Pour remaining sauce over top.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.  Bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.  Viola!

How do I love thee, my dearest Crock Pot??? Let me count the ways!

With Fall in the air, I have busted out the crockpot.  Okay, I am lying, it never gets put away.  I use it year round.  I love my crockpot(s).  I have 3.  Yup, you read that right.  I have three crockpots.  A medium sized and a large sized one.  I also have a large crockpot that is all blinged out for travel.  The lid clips in.  I adore them all.  Crockpots save me so much time and heartache on the nights I get home from work and have to rush out of the house again.  No fuss dinner!  So, I had to share a recipe that we threw together.  Crockpot Swiss(ish) Steak!  I had bought some stir fry steak meat for very cheap and used it in tonights dinner.  Something about using worcestershire sauce makes me think of The Muppets.  I wanted to call it Crockpot Swedish Steak, but the name didn't stick.

Crockpot Swiss(ish) Steak

1 lb. thinly sliced round steak
1 10 3/4 oz can French Onion Soup
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 C. chopped celery
1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp majoram
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

In a medium crockpot (3 1/2 quart), combine all of the ingredients.  Cook on low for 7-8 hours.  To thicken, turn crockpot to high.  Mix 2 Tbsp cornstarch with 1/2 C water.  Add to crockpot and stir well.  Cook on high for 15-20 minutes, or until thickened.  Serve over hot, cooked noodles.


We really enjoyed it and I hope you do to.

In closing, I leave you with the Swedish Chef.  Wait until we have a chopped brocolli dish on here....