The Briar Patch

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

Ingredients 

1 onion, chopped

1 - 16 oz. can black beans

1 - 16 oz. can light red kidney beans

1 - 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 package frozen corn kernels

2 - 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes w/chilies -rotel

1 packet taco seasoning

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp chili powder

3 boneless chicken breasts

optional - chopped chili peppers

chopped fresh cilantro

1. Combine onion, beans, tomato sauce, corn, diced tomatoes, taco seasoning, cumin, and chili powder. If you would like a little more eat add the optional chopped chilies.
2. Place the uncooked chicken breasts on top of mixture and cover.
3. Cook on low for 10 hours or high for 6 hours.
4. 30 minutes before serving remove chicken breasts from crock pots do shred with a fork. Return the shredded chicken to the crock pot and stir in. Top with fresh cilantro.
5. Serve with reduced fat shredded cheese and light sour cream.

     My entire family enjoyed this recipe!! It is easy to make and the chili portion is 0 Weight Watcher points! You have to try this. It is so flavorful. Thanks for stopping by!!

Vicki

 

Easy Brushetta Pasta

Last night Madison and I made Brushetta Pasta for dinner.  I thought I would share the recipe with you...it’s so easy to make and dinner can be ready in just 30 minutes.

Ingredients

1 lb spaghetti

32 oz chicken broth

4 small tomatoes 

2-3 oz Fresh basil

3-4 garlic cloves

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 oz fresh Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions

1. Break spaghetti noodles in half and place in a covered microwaveable bowl.  For this recipe I used my covered Pampered Chef Deep Dish Baker.  Add chicken broth, cover and microwave for 8 minutes.
2. While the spaghetti is cooking, cut tomatoes into cubes and place into a food processor.
3. Finely chop basil leaves and add to food processor. Add garlic to food processor.
4. Add olive oil. Roughly chop ingredients in food processor. You want it to be chunky.
5. Remove spaghetti from microwave and stir. Place back into microwave and cook for 8 more minutes.
6. When spaghetti is done, stir and add brushetta mixture. Grate fresh Parmesan cheese over spaghetti. Stir and serve.

     We served this with a salad and Italian Bread. This was so simple and dinner was ready in 30 minutes! Give this one a try. Thanks for stopping by.

Vicki

Pretzel Crusted Chicken Tenders with Honey Mustard Dip

This recipe was so easy to make and the kids and I loved it!! It is a Weight Watcher Recipe and is 3 points per serving.

Ingredients

3 Tbsp Flour

1 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1 Egg

1-2 cups of crushed pretzels

1lb Chicken Breast Tenderloins

Cooking Spray

2 Tbsp Honey Mustard

1 Tbsp Whole Grain Mustard

1 Tbsp Light Mayonnaise

1 Tbsp Warm Water

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a wire rack over a baking sheet; lightly coat with cooking spray.

2.  Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Beat egg in a second shallow bowl. Place crushed pretzels in a third shallow bowl. Dip each chicken tender first in flour mixture; shake off excess. Next dip into egg and then into crushed pretzels; turn to coat.  Place on prepared rack in a single layer.  Repeat with the remaining chicken tenders.  Bake until cooked through; about 15 minutes.

3.  While chicken cooks, whisk together both of  the mustards, mayonnaise and water; serve with chicken.

4.  Serving size is 4 chicken tenders plus 3 tsp sauce.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!!

Vicki

 

 

 

 

Japenese Steak House Yum Yum Sauce

     Wow, it has been forever since I last posted.  It has been a typical busy school year.  Most of my Sunday afternoons are spent cooking ahead for the week.   I recently tried this recipe and was very surprised how it tasted just like the Yum Yum sauce they have at our Japenese Steakhouse here in town.  I made it with shrimp and fried rice for the kids and they loved it!  I hope you enjoy it.

1 1/4 cup mayo.

1/4 cup water

1 tsp tomato paste

1 TBSP melted butter

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp paprika

dash of cayenne pepper

     Use a wisk to blend thoroughly until smooth.  Refrigerate overnight.  Serve at room temperature.  This will make 12-1/8 cup servings.  I also mixed a little into my fried rice like they do at the Japenese Steakhouse.  Enjoy!!

 

Vicki

 

 

 

Creole-Spiced Shrimp Po'Boys

Wow, it has been forever since I last posted something.  I have the same old excuse...life has been crazy!  I have been cooking up a storm and I have a bunch of yummy new recipes to share with you. This recipe is one that I found today while I was at the beauty salon getting my hair highlighted.  Even though it has fried shrimp in it..it turned out to be a very light sandwich.

Ingredients

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon prepared horeradish

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Oil for frying

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon Creole seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled, devained, & tails removed

4 French rolls, split

2 medium tomatoes, sliced

2 cups shredded lettuce

1.  In a small bowl, mix the mayonaise, ketchup, horseradish, and pepper sauce.  Cover and chill until serving.

2.  In a skillet heat 1/2 nch of oil to 375 degrees.  In a large resealable plastic bag, combine flour, cornmeal, Creole seasoning, and salt.

3.  Add shrimp, a few at a time; seal bag and toss to coat.  Fry in oil for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.

4.  Spread rolls with some of the sauce.  Layer bottoms with lettuce, shrimp, and tomatoes; serve with remaining sauce.

This recipe serves 4 and will make about 1 cup of sauce.  I served the remaining sauce over sliced tomatoes.  I will definately be making this again!  Thanks for stopping by!

Vicki

Savory Sunday - Slow Cooker Lasagna

    Oh my...it has been forever since I last posted!  I am going to try posting my favorite new recipes every Sunday.  I usually cook ahead for the week on Sunday afternoon.  Most recently I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker Lasagna.  This was quick and easy to make.  It turned out great!

Slow Cooker Lasagna

1 lb. bulk Italian sausage or hamberger

1 medium onion

3 cans (15 ounces each) Italian-style tomato sauce

2 teaspoons dried basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 ounces)

1 container (15 ounces) part skim ricotta cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

15 uncooked lasagna noodles

1.  Cook sausage (or hamberger) and onion in a skillet over medium heat until meat is no longer pink: drain. Stir in tomato sauce, basil and salt.

2.  Mix 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and the ricotta and Parmesan cheeses.  Refrigerate remaining mozzarella cheese while lasagna cooks.

3.  Spoon 1/4 of the meat mixture into a 6 quart slow cooker: top with 5 noodles, broken into pieces to fit.  Spread with 1/2 of the cheese mixture and 1/4 of the meat mixture.  Top with 5 noodles, remaining cheese mixture and 1/4 of the meat mixture.  Top with remaining 5 noodles and remaining meat mixture.

4.  Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.  Mine was done in 4 hours.  The noodles will be tender.

5.  Sprinkle top of lasagna with remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Cover and let stand about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.  Makes 8 servings.

    I hope you will give this recipe a try.  It was very easy to make and my kids really liked it.  I was nervous about adding uncooked noodles...but it turned out great.  Have a great week!

Vicki

Sloppy Joe Recipe

 

Today was kind of a rainy day here in West Virginia.  A great day for sloppy joes and french fries!  I posted my recipe a while back...click here for the details.  They were so good!  I hope you had a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Vicki

Hungarian Goulash

I love to use my crock pot.   This is a recipe that I absolutely love and it's so easy to make.  I'll sometimes make this on the days that I have to work.  All I have to do when I get home is add the sour cream and cook the noodles.  Sometimes I'll even cook the noodles ahead of time...which is what I did today.  Now, when the kids get home tomorrow from school all I have to do is throw together a salad and warm up the noodles/goulash.

 

Ingredients

2 lbs. stew meat

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 Tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 tsp. paprika

10 3/4-0z. can tomato soup

1/2 soup can of water

1 cup sour cream

1.  Mix meat, onion powder, garlic powder,  and flour together in the slow cooker until meat is well coated.

2.  Add remaining ingredients, except sour cream.  Stir well.

3.  Cover.  Cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours.

4.  Add sour cream 30 minutes before serving.

5.  Serve over hot egg noodles or brown rice.

I told you this was an easy recipe!!  And yummy!  I hope you will give it a try.  Thanks for stopping by.

Vicki

Layered Mexican Chicken Casserole

A few years ago I took a freezer cooking class and came across a few great recipes.  My friend Tammy made this recipe for our monthly crop.  It is very easy and yummy!  This website has alot of wonderful and easy recipes.  You can either make one batch of the recipe for that days meal or you can do a couple of batches to freeze.  I just made one batch...I wanted to make sure that my family liked it.  They loved it!

Ingredients

2 cups of Cooked, diced chicken

10 oz can of Cream of Chicken Soup

1/2 cup of Rotel Tomatoes

2 Tbsp of Quick Cooking Tapioca

On Hand Ingredients

6 Small Flour Tortillas

1 Small Red Onion - add to taste

2 cups of Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Assembly Directions

In a small bowl, mix together the chicken, soup, tomatoes, and tapioca.  Stir until well mixed.

Freezing Directions

Put the chicken mixture in a one-gallon freezer bag.  Seal, label, and freeze.  Make sure as you are sealing you are getting all of the air out.

Serving Directions

If you want to prepare right away just skip the freezing part above and continue.  If mixture was frozen....Thaw the chicken mixture at least overnight in the refrigerator.  Spray the inside of a 3 quart slow cooker with cooking spray.  Tear 2 tortillas into pieces and line the bottom of the crock.  Add 1/3 of the chicken mixture, 1/3 of the chopped onion, and 2/3 cup of the cheese.  Repeat the layers of torn tortillas, chicken mixture, onion, and cheese two more times.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours.  I mixed up a little more of the soup, Rotel, and tapioca to add around the edges.  Here is a picture of the layers in the crockpot.

 

I cooked this recipe on LOW for 6 hours and it turned out great.  Here is the after!

 

Madi and I enjoyed ours with it topped with just sour cream.  Tom prepared his with layers of tortilla chips, the casserole, salsa, and sour cream.  This recipe was a hit.  Everyone had seconds!  I will be making this one again.  I hope you will give it a try.  Thanks for stopping by...have a great Sunday!

Vicki

Easy Oven Bacon

My friend Jennifer Cloud recently shared with me how to make bacon in the oven.  It is so easy...it frees up the stovetop and your house doesn't smell like bacon when you are done.  To get started you will need an oven (just being silly:-), a Pampered Chef Bar Pan, and a package of bacon.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Place the strips of bacon next to each other on the bar pan...try not to overlap.

 

Place the bar pan in the oven and bake for at least 20 minutes.  The bar pan has edges going all of the way around...that prevents the grease from going everywhere.  Do NOT use a cookie sheet!!!

 

The bacon comes out nice and crispy!  I did use the cheaper store brand of bacon this time.  If you use a better cut of bacon it will not shrink.  I hope you will give this a try...it is so easy!

Vicki