Rootbeer Pulled Pork

This is a crockpot recipe and I got it from some random site that I can now not find the link too and I hate that. If you find it, all I know is that part of their logo was a cupcake... This is super easy.  First, place in your crockpot a pork roast with really good marbling.  That's the fat that's going to allow for you to shred the pork later.  Add about 12 oz of root bear, the naturally caffeine free kind (A&W or Mugs).  Let that go for about 6-8 hrs.  The last hour, using two forks, shred the pork and then add in some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, like almost the entire bottle and let it sit for a bit... OMG! This is soooooooo good!!!!

The Perfect Homemade French Fry

No pics with this post, but these are my tips on the perfect french fry, based on something I saw on Food Network.  First, stop with the Russet potatoes.  I use Yukon Gold for fries and most things actually.  Second, whether you cut the potatoes thin or thick, make sure you soak them for at least 5 minutes.  Then, you will want to place them, in a single layer, on paper towels and pat them dry.  Make sure you oil is hot enough, but below the smoking point.  After the fries are to your idea of done, put them on a layer of paper towels and add that Lawry's cuz it is AWESOME!  Make sure whatever seasoning you use, it has to be while they are still wet with grease.

One Dish Chicken Pasta

I had some chicken strips that needed to be used and was feelin kind of lazy, this is what I did.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken, cut into strips or cubed, rinsed
favorite Italian seasonings
2 cups chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes, I used a basil, garlic, oregano variety
pasta, about 1.5 cups uncooked

Steps:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In a baking dish (I used 8x11 sized dish), place cut up chicken, season chicken
Put broth, tomatoes, and pasta in dish, make sure pasta is mostly covered
Cover dish w/ foil and put in oven
Depending on your altitude (higher elevations take a bit longer), should take 30-45 minutes.  Dish is done once chicken and pasta are done.

Serve with cheese, garlic bread, and a nice salad.

It's not super quick, but it's tasty and healthy option for that chicken sitting in your freezer/fridge

Creamy Pesto Chicken and Pasta

Another Campbell's Kitchen adaptation.  I like the recipes on this site, but rarely use actual Campbell's products due to added things like high fructose corn syrup and gluten that's added to their products.  With that said, their recipes are easily adaptable to any dietary guidelines you personally follow.  I try to cook as much gluten free food as my husband and I both get plenty in our beer and his sandwiches.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of butter (you can use olive oil instead)
1 lb chicken, cooked and cubed
an Italian seasoning for your chicken
1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup (I used an organic option)
1/2 cup pesto
1/2 cup milk (I have not tried it, but unsweetened/flavored soy milk may work)
1/2 of a 1 lb bag of your fave pasta, cooked and drained (I use gluten-free pasta only)

Steps:
1) cut chicken and cook in the butter/oil with seasoning over medium-high heat.

2) While you cook your chicken, bring water to boil and cook pasta

3) Stir in soup, pesto, and milk and heat to a boil

4) Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (though it really should already be cooked)

5) Stir in pasta and cook until mixture is hot and bubbling.

6) Serve with homemade garlic bread or cheddar biscuits (recipe to come)

This was super yummy!  When I said I was definitely making this again, my hubby thought I said I wasn't and started pestering me why lol.

Thinking on my toes

Last night as I planned on fixing chicken alfredo.  I placed a pot of water on the stove to boil with just a splash of olive oil and bit of sea salt.  Then in my big pan, started cooking my chicken.  I'm SOOOO glad I bought the thin sliced chicken strips for this meal!  As the chicken cooked, was almost completely done actually, the power went out!  There was still heat on the stove so I stirred the chicken to finish the cooking process.  As the last of the heat left the pan I made my husband bring me my phone (it's got a flashlight) so I could look at the chicken.  It was all cooked!  He then asked what I planned to do if the power didn't come on soon.  To my own surprise I said "we can have chicken tacos or wraps".  We both were kind of impressed with how quickly I said that.  We waited for the power to come on for 30 minutes but nothing, so with a bit of mayo (for my husband, not me), lettuce, tomato, and a wee bit of shredded cheese we had chicken wraps.  I'm glad I keep tortillas on hand at all times!

The moral of this story: always have a backup of what you can do with what you're cooking in case of power outages, especially on nights where you have heavy rain or severe storms.

Oven "fried" Chicken Chimichangas

My adaptation of this recipe from Campbell's website.

Ingredients:
2/3 cups Pace picante sauce
taco seasoning mix
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup shredded cheese, either cheddar or Mexican mix
2 green onions, chopped
6 8-in tortillas
2-3 tablespoons melted butter

Steps:
Preheat oven to 400°F
Cut chicken into cubes and cook in a skillet with olive oil and taco seasoning, cook until cooked through
In bowl, mix picante sauce, cumin, oregano, cheese, and green onion

Add cooked seasoned chicken.

Place about 1/2 cup of chicken mixture in the center of tortilla, place on cookie sheet
Brush butter onto each chimichanga, making sure tortillas each have a nice coating.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Great sides are black beans and Spanish rice!

Taco Seasoning

You know what I hate? Prepackaged spices like taco seasoning.  Half the time you can't make out what is exactly in it and the other half there is just too much salt in it.  So here is my old reliable taco seasoning mix.  I use it for more than just tacos as well.  

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon minced onion 

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions:

mix all ingredients together.  

Use all and a bit of water to make delicious tacos from a pound of ground beef.  Also use it to season chicken used in Mexican dishes, such as the oven fried chimichangas recipe I will post later.

Lasagna Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground beef/turkey/bison

1/2 pound mild Italian sausage

1 small onion, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 or 2 cloves)

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

3 1/2 cups (28 oz) beef broth (I use organic)

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes (I use the basil and garlic kind)

1/4 Italian seasoning

1 small can of tomato paste

1 1/2 cup uncooked mafalda or corkscrew pasta (I used radiatore)

1/4 grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook meats, oniion, garlic, oregano, basil, and parsley over medium-high heat until well browned.  Pour off most fat.

Stir in the broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, and Italian seasoning.  Heat to a boil.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Stir in pasta and reduce heat to medium.  Bring to a boil.  Once pasta is tender, lower heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add in parmesan cheese.  

Serve with additional parmesan cheese.

Pot Stickers, Redneck Gourmet Style

Ok, I was vegetarian for quite awhile and came up with this originally as a vegetarian meal, but have found that turkey will work as well.

Ingredients

1 lb either vegetarian sausage or turkey sausage (ground turkey will work, but not as flavorful)
1 package of dumpling rounds or even won-ton wrappers (found in produce section near vegetarian food)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
ginger, minced (equivalent to amount of garlic)
soy sauce (I just add enough for taste & color)
1 green onion, finely chopped
olive oil

Steps

1. Mince garlic and ginger.  Chop green onion

2.  Mix in a medium or large bowl garlic, ginger, sausage, and onion.  Add in soy sauce slowly.

3.  Using a small spoon (like you would eat cereal with... well what you would give a kid to eat cereal with lol), spoon a small amount into round or wrapper.  Seal with water.  You want to make sure there are no air bubbles in the dumpling and that it isn't too full.

4.  Continue the process until all the meat mixture is used.  Left over rounds or wrappers can be used to make home made raviolis.

5.  Bring a pot of water to bowl, place small amounts of the dumplings into the water.  Boil until the pasta part is done.

6.  Drain and place in a skillet hot skillet on medium heat with a little olive oil.  Lightly brown the dumplings.  

7.  Serve with your favorite dumpling sauce... They're perfectly fine with just soy sauce.

My Take on Campbell's Easy Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas

I cut recipes out of the coupons and then make them my own.  Here is some pretty good enchiladas!

Ingredients

1 10.75 oz can condensed cream of chicken soup (I used Healthy Request)
1/2 cup (4 oz) sour cream
1 cup (8 oz) picante sauce (whatever heat everyone will like)
2 tsp chili powder
2 cups chopped and seasoned cooked chicken (I used McCormick Monterey chicken seasoning)
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
6 medium sized tortillas, warmed
1 small tomato, chopped (optional)
1 green onion, chopped (optional)
extra shredded cheese (optional)

Steps

1.  Stir soup, sour cream, picante sauce, and chili powder in a medium bowl.

2.  Stir 1 cup picante sauce mixture, chicken and cheese in a large bowl.

3.  Divide chicken mixture among tortillas.  I found that it was easiest to level the chicken mixture in the bowl, then make a line straight down the middle, then divide each half in thirds.  Roll up tortillas and place them seam-side up in a 2-qt. (8x11) shallow baking dish.  Most likely, you will need to place the filled tortillas short ways in the baking dish.  Pour remaining picante sauce mixture over filled tortillas. Cover baking dish (VERY IMPORTANT)

4.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 min or until enchiladas are hot and bubbling.  Add cheese to top for last 10 minutes of cooking.  Top with tomato and onion if you like (I did not).

Plating... they are gooey! 

Mini Italian Style Pizzas

Ingredients:

1 loaf Italian or French bread, sliced
1 lb mozzarella cheese, sliced to fit on bread
1 roma tomato per 2-3 pieces of bread, sliced
sliced mushrooms
sliced vegan pepperoni (optional)

Directions:

On a cookie sheet, line with foil then spray with Pam or your favorite non-stick spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Place slices of bread on cookie sheet, not touching

Add a slice of cheese, 2 slices of tomato & mushrooms & toppings (if desired)

Once oven is heated, place the cookie sheet in the oven

Bake for 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melted.


I recommend putting the tomatoes on top of the cheese. I've found when you put the cheese on top of the tomatoes, it has a tendency to slide off. This meal is very quick and easy & everyone will enjoy it.

I'm not sure what to call this: Salmon Patties Mistake

My mistake is trying to make salmon patties will be your new gem! Like I said I was trying to make salmon patties and I didn't include egg. I was already experimenting with adding mushrooms and green onions. So, here goes.

Ingredients:

1 can (if the small one, 2) salmon, boneless and skinless, drained (you may want to not drain it more moister meat)
1/2 package of mushrooms, sliced
2 green onions, cut
10 (approx.) crackers, crumbled
3-4 Tbsp olive oil (possibly a little more)
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
sliced fresh mozzarella

1. Heat oil and garlic on medium heat.

2. On the side mix salmon, mushrooms, green onions, cracker crumbs. Place in skillet once oil is hot.

3. Heat until you start seeing the crackers get golden. Flatten in pan.

4. Place sliced tomatoes on top, add slices of mozzarella on top of the tomatoes. Put lid on pan.

5. Heat until mozzarella is bubbling. You should be able to see golden through out the mixture as the crackers have cooked.

6. Serve with some kind of veggie such as roasted small red potatoes or some green veggie.

Enjoy!

Krab Alfredo

This is one of my favorite recipes for imitation crab.

Ingredients

1 lb imitation crab (I recommend the meat available in the meat counter)
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
a couple Tbsp olive oil
1 small box pasta (best with either liguni or angel hair)
1 bottle alfredo sauce
sliced mushrooms to taste
(optional) chopped peppers

1. In a skillet heat oil and garlic. Add meat and mushrooms and any peppers. Saute. I recommend, after the meat is cooked, taking it out of the pan and patting it with a paper towel.

2. In a large pot, heat water to a boil adding a little olive oil to the water. Cook pasta according to the package instructions as different pasta types cook differently.

3. Add sauce to meat and mushrooms and, on low heat, heat sauce until pasta is done.

4. Serve with garlic bread.

Enjoy

Krab Pizza

This blog is for all my interesting recipes I come up with in my boyfriend's kitchen. I have not seen them anywhere but with prior knowledge (such as seeing something made on TV to watching how my mom and grandma used ingredients in their kitchens) I mix and match ingredients and come up with some interesting dishes that even picky eaters will enjoy (for I'm picky).

Today's dish is Krab Pizza.

Ingredients:
about 1/2 lb of imitation crab meat per can of pizza dough
1 can of Pillsbury Pizza dough (or any ready made dough will work)
1 to 1 1/2 cups of store bought alfredo sauce
veggies of your liking (we used portabella mushrooms)
1 2 cup bag of mozzarella cheese
a minced clove of garlic
2-3 Tbsp of olive oil
Pam
garlic salt (I used garlic salt with pepper)

Prep:

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and minced garlic. Add krab and mushrooms/veggies and heat until mushrooms/veggies are cooked through. Set aside.

2. Open the can of pizza dough onto cookie sheet or baking sheet and roll out per directions. Roll over edges to make a crust. You can add some of the cheese to the inside of this if you like for extra flavor.

3. Using a spoon or rubber spatula, put small amounts of the alfredo sauce onto the rolled out dough and spread out until all the dough is evenly covered. Do not make it too thick.

4. Sprinkle a thin layer of cheese over the sauce.

5. Sprinkle krab/veggie/mushrooms on pizza.

6. Sprinkle a little more cheese over the pizza.

7. Gently sprinkle the garlic salt over the crust you made on the edges.

8. Bake per directions on the packaging.


My boyfriend put poblano peppers on his half of the pizza and loved it immensely.

I hope you try it and enjoy. Let me know if you did!