Crock Pot Chicken Taco Meat

Yum!  Yum!  Yum!

I made one of my favorites tonight.  And yes, it is ridiculous to thing that there is such a thing as a single serving crock pot recipe.  It doesn't exist.  It does freeze beautifully, though.  Freezing stuff is like making single servings ahead of time.  If you freeze them in single serving containers.

Name that movie:  "This is in the freezes beautifully section of my cookbook, and I want to make something that freezes beautifully."

Start by placing 4 chicken breasts in the crock pot.  It is okay if they are still frozen.

Then get out your favorite salsa.  I am currently hoping the Salsa Fairy will visit me from Texas with real salsa, but until then, this is my favorite substitute:

I dump the whole 24 oz jar in on top, like this:

And then add the juice of one lime, or a couple of squirts from one of these:

Then put the lid on it, and cook on high for 6 hours.  If you want to cook while you are at work, you can cook it on low for 10 hours.

When it is done cooking, or when you get home from work, take the chicken breasts out and shred them with two forks.

Then dump the chicken back in the crock pot (the salsa is still in there).

Next you are going to need these:

Drain the corn.

Rinse and drain the black beans.

And then dump all three cans in the crock pot like so:

Then stir it up, and cook it all for another 30 minutes to make sure all the flavors mesh.

Now is the part where I usually put a big scoop on a couple of tortillas, and add some cheese, and guac, and sour cream, and it is so, so good!

But, woe is me, I am not currently eating tortillas or cheese or guac.  (Technically, I am not eating corn or beans either, but a girl needs some variety once in awhile!)  So I dumped approximately 7 oz of the stuff on top of two cups of lettuce, and put a two teaspoons of low fat sour cream on top for my "healthy fat."

Oh, it was so good!  The sour cream especially felt like a splurge. 

With a snow storm a comin' tonight, I am glad to have some extra grub in the freezer.  If you decide to try this, or your own variation, let me know how it turns out!

P.S.  I know I have a seriously over-sized crock pot.  It is crazy big.  Don't ask me why.  Some things about my nature cannot be explained.  I can't actually remember why I bought that one, but I have a feeling it had to do with the fact that the main cooking crock can go in the dishwasher.  There was a reason, it just escapes me now.  I am sure this meal can be made in nearly any size of crock pot.

Mediterranean Chicken

Here is another dinner for one that I dreamed up recently.  It was oh, so good, that I have had it 3 times in the past week, and even fixed it for my sister and brother in law.  It got a resounding thumbs up from all.

Ingredients:

Chicken Breast

1/2 Zucchini

1/2 Bell Pepper

1/4 cup chopped onion

2-ish tbsp of tomato sauce

Small can of sliced olives

Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Oregano

Salt & Pepper

Here is what you do.  Pre-heat oven to 375.  Tear off a big enough piece of aluminum foil to make a packet.

Put the a bit of the tomato sauce on the foil, and place chicken on top.  Then put some more tomato sauce on top of the chicken.  

Then add some Olive Oil, some Salt & Pepper and some Oregano.

Next, add some chopped up vegetables.  You can use any kind you like, but I added Zucchini, Bell Pepper, and Onion.

Then to make it "Mediterranean" add the secret ingredient - Olives.

Then wrap up your foil packet, put it on a baking sheet (to catch any leaks), and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

Want a sneak peek?

Is your mouth watering yet?

Here it is all ready:

This was yummy, yummy, YUMMY!  

For those of you looking to jazz this up a bit, I think it would also be great with some feta cheese and some crusty bread to soak up the sauce.

Enjoy!

Two In A Row!

I had no intentions of posting another food post so soon, but I hit the ball out of the park again tonight!  That. Never. Happens.  I make a great dinner, then the next night an okay dinner, then the next night an edible dinner, and so on.  The fact that I made two in a row, needed to be commemorated.  The fact that I used no recipe, just my own skilz, also needed to be recorded for posterity.

Drumroll, please...

Cause it is just that good.

I might be a little impressed with myself.  (I meant that in a self confident way, not arrogant way.)

Here it is:  Carrie's Garlic Herbed Chicken

How I made it:

I put some olive oil in a pan, and seared the chicken breast for about 2 minutes (or until it just starts to brown), each side.  Sidebar:  I learned this searing-before-baking trick at Canyon Ranch.  In my personal experience, it prevents dry, cardboard chicken 87% of the time.

Then I transferred the chicken to a small ceramic dish with a lid.  

I coated the top with minced garlic, and sprinkled in some fresh rosemary, thyme, and parsley.  

Then I poured in some white wine.  Put the lid on and stuck it in the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes.

When the chicken was just about finished, I stir-fried the remainder of my asparagus lest it go bad this week.

Let me tell you, it was super yummy.  

It was awesome and very low cal as I made it.  I can imagine this being even better in these ways:  

1.  Butter.  'nuff said.

2. Serve chicken over linguini

3. Turn left over wine and herbs into some type of cream sauce.  (This is beyond the scope of my skilz.)

Hope this gives you an idea if you are looking for something new to try.

Dinner for One

Cooking for one person isn't as easy as it sounds.  It is difficult to find recipes that make only one or two portions.  It is difficult to buy food in one single portions.  Both of those challenges create another challenge - leftovers.  I am often eating leftovers from the same meal once a day for 10 days or more.  Needless to say, I make those recipes about once a year.

For the past year, I have been working on improving my culinary repertoire.  Overall, I have been trying to upgrade from my usual fare of pasta, quesadillas, and cereal.  I try to come up with meal plans that are healthy, varied, fast, and require little advanced planning.   Usually they turn out pretty good, and sometimes they are epic failures.  

Tonight I made  a winner!

(Note to self:  Your pic would be much prettier

 if you wipe of the edge of the plate next time!)

Cajun shrimp with garlic stir-fried asparagus and sliced tomato.  From the time I took the frozen shrimp out of the freezer until I sat down to eat was about 15 minutes.  

Here's what I did:  

Take out a serving of flash frozen raw shrimp.  Place in colander under cool water to defrost.  This takes about 3 minutes.

While the shrimp are defrosting, wash and trim asparagus, and start a bit of olive oil heating in two separate pans.

Remove the shrimp from water and mix up the best shrimp seasoning mix ever:  

Mix the shrimp with the mix. (If you are just cooking for one, you can save about half of the mix and use it on chicken later in the week.)  Let marinate for a few minutes.  If you are the plan ahead type, you could let it marinate for 30 minutes in the fridge.  I am not.  Mine marinates for 3-5 minutes.

Next, I start the asparagus in one pan with about half a teaspoon of minced garlic, salt, and pepper.  Stir it every once in awhile.  

Then dump the shrimp into the other warmed pan.  Spread them out so all are laying flat on the surface of the pan.  After the shrimp start turning pink around the edges, flip them over.  Cook for another minute or two, and then serve.

Taste the asparagus to make sure it is heated through, and then serve.

The directions say to add butter to the shrimp mix while it is cooking, and it is oh so good that way.  If you are being more frugal with calories, you can just use the olive oil for a healthy fat.  Also, the directions say to broil the shrimp.  I just pan fry them.

The only thing that would have made this meal better would have been a crusty bread, and a nice glass of wine.  In both cases, I am trying to save those calories for occasions when both the food and the company are worthy of the splurge.  

What are your favorite fast and easy recipes?  Send me an email at dancingdaylily@gmail.com, and I will let you know if I try them.