Zesty Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

I just discovered this linked from someone's blog to someone else's blog. I love that you can put the chicken in still frozen and there's only a few ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

6 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
12oz bottle barbecue sauce
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Place chicken in a slow cooker. In a bowl, mix the barbecue sauce, Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the chicken.

Cover, and cook 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low.

Shred chicken and eat on buns or baked potato.

Note: this can be frozen in ziplock baggies and later thawed in the fridge over night. Reheat in the microwave or in a skillet.

Super Quick Black Bean Soup

I found this recipe on another blog a long time ago and HAD to try it because it just sounded too quick and too easy. It really is good though and with chips and cheese, it's surprisingly filling.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cans black beans, undrained (i’d like to dry draining and rinsing sometime to get rid of 40% of the salt.)
1/2 c salsa
1 T Chili powder
1 c broth (I used chicken)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Dump everything into a pot and bring to boil
2. When it has simmered a little (not much), blend it with your stick blender, or pour into a blender to puree.
3. Serve with avocado slices, cheese and tortilla chips!

Chicken Pot Pie

I got this recipe for allrecipes.com, but eventually made a few of my own changes after making it a few times. This recipe is great for several reasons: One, that it is a healthy version of most pot pies; Two, the chicken doesn't need to be pre-cooked; Three, it's really yummy! (otherwise I wouldn't be posting it, eh?)

Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 50 min
Ready in: 1 hr 10 min
Yield: 1 9inch pie

INGREDIENTS

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery
3 small cubed potatoes
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, potatoes, and celery. Add water (with chicken bullion cube) to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place bottom crust in pie dish, brush with egg whites and bake for 5 minutes
Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Brush top with excess egg whites.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Butternut Squash Risotto

This is a really simple recipe, that happens to be from Real Simple magazine's website, though their recipe seems to have accidentally listed several ingredients twice, so I've edited it to be what I did. I never weighed the amount of butternut squash I used, but I suspect I used a lot more than it called for. Apparently it doesn't seem to matter... A hint about that: honestly, I wouldn't try grating this if you don't have a food processor- it would be much too painful. Also, I didn't realize until reading about it in The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook but butternut squash can be peeled with a vegetable peeler! You just must first cut off each end. I think it is much safer to do it this way, rather than with a knife, as I was doing it before.

I had never made risotto before, but it was really simple, though a bit tiring to stir for so much time. I have read that it can be made in a pressure cooker, sans stirring, which I plan to experiment with. Also, I'm curious to see what would happen if I used regular rice, rather than arborio. I'll update once I've tried it.

After making this, it occurred to me what a great family-friendly baby food this is because it's not too hard for someone who barely has teeth, and also, it's quite sticky- great for a young toddler learning to use a spoon!


Serves 4 as a main course, 8 as a side
Hands-On Time: 25m
Total Time: 55m

INGREDIENTS

5 c low-sodium chicken broth (I used bouillon cubes and water)
2 T olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 t kosher salt
1/4 t black pepper
2 T finely chopped fresh sage (I used 2 t dried sage)
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and grated (about 4 cups)
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped (I used a garlic press)
1 1/2 c Arborio rice
1/2 c (2 ounces) grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS

1. Warm the broth in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, salt, and
pepper and cook for 4 minutes. Add the sage and cook for 1 minute. Add the squash and
garlic and cook until the squash begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and
cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes.
3. Add the 1 c broth and cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid is absorbed, about 3
minutes. Add the rest of the broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring occasionally and waiting
until it is absorbed before adding more. It should take about 30 minutes for all the broth
to be absorbed.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan. Spoon into individual bowls.

Nutritional Information
• Per Serving
• Calories 609
• Calories From Fat 16
• Fat 11g
• Sat Fat 1g
• Cholesterol 0mg
• Sodium 977mg
• Carbohydrate 100g
• Fiber 7g
• Sugar 7g
• Protein 17g