Everyday Food for Busy People
Does this ever happen to you? You know dinner is going to be chicken because you’ve got a pack of boneless breasts/thighs/tenders or bone-in legs/breasts/thighs. But you have no desire to think up a recipe to turn them into dinner.
You don’t need a recipe. You just need some ideas.
Here are 10 ways (plus a few cooking methods) to get you started. [Read more...]
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Stir fry is a cooking method that can’t really be replicated in a slow cooker.
But you can make a pretty good fake!
I’ve made this recipe twice now. It’s easy and quick to fix. The chicken gets cooked in stir fry sauce for several hours. The veggies are added later, so they don’t get mushy.
No ingredient photo this time. I was in a big hurry both times I’ve made it. [Read more...]
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carapelli for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Did you know that fine olive oil can be tasted, like a wine or bourbon tasting? Neither did I!
Recently, Carapelli Olive Oil asked me to do a tasting of their premium extra virgin olive oil. I have to admit, the process was different but the taste was divine.
It’s best to use a blue glass when tasting olive oil. This disguises the color of the oil, which is not an indicator of quality. I didn’t know that either! I always thought that the better quality oils had a darker color. A myth of olive oil exposed. [Read more...]
This recipe was created simply by standing in front of the pantry and pulling out a few likely ingredients. I needed something that would be ready to eat when we got home, with minimal fuss required.
Oh, and I only had about 3 minutes to get it fixed and get out the door. Ever have a morning like that?
Here’s what I used to make these Sloppy Chicken Tacos, but please feel free to alter as needed. I really don’t think you can mess this up. Put in whatever you have that sounds good to you. Experiment! [Read more...]
I ran across a recipe for Chicken Shwarma on the blog, Jersey Girl Cooks. Lisa roasted her chicken in the oven and it looks fabulous. But being the lazy cook that I am, I decided this would work in the slow cooker.
Hot dog! I was right! My family loved this meal and I know I’ll be making it again.
I only made minor alterations to Lisa’s recipe. I changed the cooking method and more than doubled the recipe so it would feed my family. I never could find tahini, so I served it with cucumber-yogurt sauce instead. If I ever find tahini paste (Walmart, are you listening?) I’m going to try Lisa’s sauce.
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
I put this together before church one Sunday morning. It smelled (and tasted!) fantastic when we got home. If you have garden fresh tomatoes, they make a wonderful side dish. A simple tossed salad would be good too.
I don’t have an ingredient picture this time. I think I was too busy getting ready for church, cooking as fast as I could. I forgot to snap the photo.
I did use frozen chicken tenders and skipped thawing them. They cooked just fine. You can also save time by estimating the herb measurements instead of measuring.
Here’s the how-to: [Read more...]
Let me say, that when I decided to make this I had no idea what really goes in Kung Pao Chicken. I just saw a bottle of the sauce in Walmart and bought it. The rest was decided by what I had on hand.
The result turned out delicious. The Kung Pao sauce had just enough spice to lend and interesting kick. I used chicken that I had already grilled, sliced and frozen, so it was quick to make.
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
It could be that I’m the last one in on this secret. But just in case there’s someone else out there who doesn’t know, I’m going to share it with you.
I’m a very impatient cook. You might have caught on about that fact since most of the recipes on this site can be made (hands-on prep) in just a few minutes.
For this reason, I’ve never had luck grilling chicken that has bones. I do great with boneless chicken breasts. Pork chops aren’t too hard (not including one fire incident the neighbor kids still talk about). Smoked sausage or ham slices are no problem.
But chicken with bones is a whole ‘nuther deal. Memorial Day weekend we had lots of company and I bought a bunch of chicken legs. I planned to do them in the oven, just because I feared burning them beyond recognition if I put them on the grill. But my mom talked me into doing it and I’m glad she did. Those legs were scrumptious – smokey and sticky with bbq sauce. Mmmmm!
The secret? [Read more...]
These couldn’t be simpler, especially if you’ve already got the chicken grilled, sliced and frozen. But even if you need to do some grilling first, they are easy. (If you do need to grill, cook more than you need and stock your freezer with the extra.)
The ingredients can be changed and swapped too. Use cooked chicken instead of grilled, or use ground beef or leftover roast beef. Swap out the Black Bean and Corn Salsa for another variety. Skip the cream cheese and use Monterey Jack instead. Anything goes, and it’s all good.
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
A few weeks ago I decided to make some flat bread with homemade Italian Seasoning. That didn’t work out too well on my first try. I’ll have to play around with it a bit.
But I have been using the Italian Seasoning on all kinds of other foods and it’s been really good. The seasoning adds lots of flavor to chicken or pasta dishes. This time, I used it on chicken thighs in the slow cooker. Here’s what you’ll need:
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