Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

After this week I think we all could use a little comfort food. I don't really have much to say about what happened in Boston because it makes no sense to me at all. I will just try to provide some comfort through food instead. I always go to my slow cooker when I want something warm, simple, and delicious. I am sharing this recipe from Taste of Home for BBQ Chicken Sliders.


I cut this recipe in half.


This recipe has you brine the chicken first, which I have never done before. Here is what you need for the brine. Liquid smoke, thyme, water, salt, brown sugar and some garlic.


Mix it all together and stir to dissolve the salt and sugar.


Reserve some brine for later, put a lid on it and get it in the fridge.


Pour the brine over the chicken in a resealable bag. Put it in the fridge for about 18-24 hours.


When you are ready to put everything in the crock pot grab your reserved brine and your liquid smoke and add it with the chicken. Discard the brine the chicken was in. Put the crock pot on low for 3-4 hours.


Pull your chicken out, it should be falling apart at this point. I tasted the chicken and it was full of flavor even before adding the sauce.


Grab some buns and your favorite BBQ sauce.


Shred the chicken and get it back in the crock pot.


Stir in the sauce and let it heat through, about 20 minutes on high. While it heated I just made a quick side of some peas with salt and olive oil.


This is a great and easy comfort food dish that really has a lot of flavor. I will make this one again for sure, hopefully during a less crazy week.

Lentil Sloppy Joes

I love the Food Network magazine and can usually find a recipe I want to make right away after I am done reading it. This sloppy joe recipe looked so perfect, and it was even low calorie because I swapped out the ground beef for ground chicken. I love comfort food and foods that remind me of being a kid, and I loved these sandwiches growing up.




You probably already have a lot of these ingredients, you need some ground chicken or turkey, garlic, lentils, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, oregano, green pepper, carrot, buns, cheese and some pickles. I loved the idea of a pickle on the sandwich to add a little sour to the sweetness.


There is a lot of chopping involved, but I enjoy chopping veggies. Get everything cut up and measured.


Heat up some oil and get everything staged near the stove.


Add in the onion, carrot, pepper and 2 tbs of ketchup. Let this cook about 3 minutes while stirring. This combo smelled so good!


Add in the garlic and let that cook for about 30 seconds.


Add in the lentils and 4 cups of water, bring this to a boil. Don't worry if this seems like a lot of water, it will all be absorbed and cooked down. Reduce the heat and let this simmer for about 40-50 minutes.


Everything reduced and thickened and got deliciously combined. Taste it here and add in some salt and pepper if needed.


Brown up your ground meat for a few minutes.


Add in the worcestershire and the rest of the ketchup.


Stir in the lentil mixture and one more cup of water and let this cook for about 10 minutes.


Everything reduces and thickens and becomes super tasty.


I put a little grated cheese on the bottom of the bun and topped with the sloppy joe and finished with the pickle. If the pickle seems like it might be weird, trust me, it really was delicious and added a little bit of sour and crunch to balance out the sweetness of the lentil mixture. You couldn't even tell the lentils were there so this would be a great way to hide these high fiber and protein packed morels from someone who is not a fan of beans.

The Best Thing I Ever Made - Hot Dogs

I don't often make hot dogs at home, I tend to enjoy mine at the ballpark or at one of the newly popular gourmet hot dog places. One thing I do admit to loving that you don't usually find out in a restaurant is good old Franks and Beans. I made this for myself for my birthday a few years back and you can check it out here.



I know you can just buy these thrown together in a can, but I love the baked in flavor with the brown sugar. I am finding that most of the 'best things' I ever made are things that are not necessarily fancy, but have great memories attached with them.

What is one of the things you make at home because you can't find it in restaurants?

Healthy Harvest Chili

One of my guilty pleasures is reading People magazine. They usually include one or two recipes per issue and this one caught my eye because it looked super easy and cheap, who doesn't love that?


I did one less can of beans than it calls for so that it did not make a ton of food. I love leftover chili but not for a whole week. One thing to note is the seasoning packets have a lot of salt in them, so you do not need to add any more during the cooking process for this to turn out delicious.


You will need some ground turkey or chicken, beans, tomatoes, onion, corn, a taco seasoning packet and a ranch dressing seasoning packet. Talk about easy, you don't even have to measure anything!


Chop up your onion and get it in the pan with some olive oil. Cook this over medium for 8-10 minutes or until the onion just starts to brown.


Once your onion is cooked get the meat in the pan. Cook that for about 5 minutes.


Once the meat is ready stir in the rest of the ingredients and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes and you are ready to eat. I told you this is easy!


The best part of this recipe is that while the chili simmers, there is nothing to clean up! Use that 20 minutes to do some holiday shopping online, call a friend, or just relax.


Get the chili into a bowl and enjoy! This could easily be done in a crock pot as well, just brown the meat and onions and throw everything in the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.

I hope you all have a great week!

Pasta E Fagioli

My awesome sister got me the America's Test Kitchen Cooking for Two cookbook and I must say, it is amazing. The soup I made from it is also amazing. Pasta E Fagioli is one of my favorites and to be honest I have the Olive Garden to thank for my discovery of it.




This recipe is simple, so lets gather some ingredients and get started.


You will need some bacon, canned tomato, white beans, celery, onion or shallot, garlic, small pasta, chicken stock, oregano, and some crushed red pepper.


Chop up your bacon.


Chop up your celery, I did mine the night before because when I get home from work I am usually really hungry.


Chop your onion.


Measure out your beans, pasta, stock and have everything ready to go, that is the key to stress free cooking. Have a plan and be prepared, just like those boy scouts.


Cook the bacon for about 5 minutes or until it begins to brown, then throw in the celery and onion.


Let those cook for about 7 minutes then add the oregano, garlic and red pepper flake. Stir that around for about 30 seconds.


Stir in the tomatoes and the beans and scrape the bottom of the pan to be sure there is no lingering bacony goodness on the bottom.


Bring that to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.


Add in the chicken stock and pasta with some salt and fire the heat back up and let this boil away until the pasta is cooked to your liking, probably about 10-15 minutes. That is it, talk about a quick and delicious dinner.


I love that this made two servings because I was more than happy to have some the next day, I just had to add a bit more chicken stock when I reheated it. I definitely recommend this soup and the great cookbook the recipe came from.

Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake

I found this recipe for a cheesy tuna lasagna on Allrecipes.com and did a little tweaking. This will serve three.

Ingredients

1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 (12 ounce) can tuna, drained and flaked
1/2 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4-1/2 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
3/4 cup small curd cottage cheese
1/4 pound sliced mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese


In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in the tuna, soup, milk, garlic salt, oregano and pepper until combined. Spread 3/4 cupful into a greased 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Layer with three noodles (trimming if necessary), 3/4 cup tuna mixture, half of the cottage cheese and a third of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Top with remaining noodles, tuna mixture and mozzarella. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.

So my big swap was to use chicken instead of tuna and then egg noodles instead of lasagna noodles. You could make this as it reads and I am sure it would be delicious also, but recipes are just a guide, don't feel you have to follow them exactly. Unless you are baking, which is why I don't bake.

So preheat your oven, get some water boiling for the noodles, and lets grab some ingredients!

You will need some noodles, cream of mushroom soup, garlic, oregano, cottage cheese, milk, onion, parmesan cheese, sliced cheese and some chicken or tuna. In the background you see my husband on the phone with my nephew going over his spelling words for the week. My husband is so awesome, he calls my nephew in PA to go over his words every day, they also chat about boy stuff like cars, hot sauce and video games. My niece and nephews lost their Dad to cancer last summer, so this time on the phone is really important to my nephew. So as you can see my husband rocks and it is totally forgivable that he did not even try this meal because it has chicken in it. ;)

Chop your onion and lets get this meal going!

Get your noodles in the water and then get some oil or butter in a saute pan. If you are using the tuna just start cooking your onion, but if you are using chicken, get that in the pan and cook until the chicken is browned and the onion is soft.


Get everything else measured and on stand by to be thrown in the pan.


Stir in the tuna, soup, milk, garlic, oregano and some salt and pepper.


Check on your noodles, get them out when they are done to your liking


Stir those into the soup and chicken mixture.

Spread half of the chicken mixture in the bottom of a greased casserole, preferably an adorable Pyrex dish.


Add in a layer of the cottage cheese.


Add in a layer of sliced cheese, this is getting awesome!


Add in another layer of the cottage cheese, I said this was cheesy and I meant it!


Top with the rest of the chicken mixture and some parmesan cheese. Pop this in the oven for about a half an hour and then clean up your kitchen. Or just go read a book.


This looks delicious all baked and crispy on the top


Look at all that gooey and wonderful cheese. I really don't know how my husband turned this one down, but he just won't eat chicken. I hope you give this a try and I also hope you all have a great weekend.