Archive for the ‘Entreés’ Category

I’m now at a point in mommyhood where my two oldest go to two different schools and my daughter is in all day school. With sports/activities starting next week I’m going to be using my crock pot A LOT. I’ll share my favorite crock pot recipes along the way. I’m also meeting with a publisher to get a cookbook started…all about fast & easy recipes for families on the go. Just because the day is jam packed doesn’t mean you have to eat unhealthy fast food.

Today I am making sweet n tangy chicken, compliments of Allrecipes.com. I usually end up making a few revisions to every recipe I cook, so it is not exact.  Enjoy!

Please leave a comment below, what are you making for dinner tonight?

Sweet n Tangy Chicken

4-6- boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1- bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
1- can crushed pineapple
1- sweet onion sliced
1- red pepper sliced

Place chicken breasts at bottom of crock pot. Pour sliced onions over top. Pour pineapple and BBQ sauce in. Use spoon to lightly mix together.   Cook on low for 6 hours and during the last hour add your peppers. I add them last or else they will be too mushy.  If this cooks longer than 6 hours the sauce will burn onto your crock pot, but it is okay, just tougher clean up. Serve over white rice and enjoy.

I came about this recipe from one of the favorite mommy bloggers I follow, Fesity Frugal & Fabulous.  It is simple and they were gone in a flash. My hubby specifically loved them. I made a couple of changes from the original recipe.  This will be great for busy school nights when there is not a lot of time. Enjoy!

This recipe will serve 4-5 people

2 pkgs of crescent rolls

4- small chicken breasts cubed

5- pieces of bacon (cooked crispy and chopped)

12 oz ( 1 and 1/2 blocks) cream cheese

3- green onion sprigs diced

2- garlic cloves put through a garlic press

salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon to crispy, set aside. Pour most bacon grease out of the skillet, leave enough in the pan to coat the bottom of the pan. Place chicken pieces in skillet on medium high heat with garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook chicken 3-5 minutes or until fully cooked.

Add cream cheese and green onion, mix well.

Crescent rolls have 8 triangles or 4 rectangle shapes. Leave the 2 triangles together and use the rectangular shape. This means with 2 packages of rolls you will have 8 chicken squares.

Place spoonful of mixture into rectangular dough and pull corners together to enclose the mixture.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

They look like happy little presents of chicken, bacon, creamy goodness when they are done

This recipe is courtesy of my favorite cookbook that came out last year The Essential New York Times Cookbook This recipe is the ONLY way I make short ribs/pot roast now. I prefer the use of a crock pot over the oven.  I can start this at 9am and it’s perfect by dinner time and I don’t have to touch it all day I do add a few tablespoons of brown sugar, but that is the only change I make. The sauce/gravy this dish makes is amazing SUPER delicious.

4 lbs beef short ribs OR a 4 lb chuck roast works great too

1/2 cup cracked fennel seeds

salt & fresh ground black pepper

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 med or 1 large red onion sliced into very thin rounds

1/4 cup minced garlic

1-2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup dry red wine

1 cup beef broth

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons whole grain mustard

1/2 cup coarsely chopped oregano

1. Heat oven to 350. Rub ribs/pot roast with fennel seeds and salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large dutch oven on high heat without smoking.  Add ribs/roast and brown well on all sides. Remove and set aside.

2. For me at this point I simply combine all other ingredients into my crock pot and place roast on top and cook on high for 2 hours, then low for 6-7 hours. If you would prefer to use the oven method follow further instructions.

3. After removing roast from dutch oven, keep oil inside, add thinly sliced red onion. Saute for 7 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes stirring frequently for 2 minutes.  Add wine, broth, orange juice, and balsamic vinegar and bring just to a boil. Scrape any brown bits from bottom of pan. Add ribs/roast into dutch oven along with ketchup, mustard, oregano, and salt and pepper. Return to a boil. Skim any fat from surface of pot.

4. Cover the pot and place in oven and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is fork tender. Remove ribs from pot, skim any fat and place pot back on stove top on high heat to thicken the sauce. Return ribs to sauce and serve.

the smell this exudes is amazing

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Did you know that Whole Foods Market sells buffalo and bison products?  Every market is different, but at my local Whole Foods Market in Scottsdale I was able to purchase a one pound package of ground bison for only $5.99. 

Bison and Buffalo are grass fed and are a clean and healthy protein source. Containing less fat than skinless chicken breast, bison has the following nutritional advantages:

• As much potassium as a banana
• Higher in calcium, iron, B vitamins, Selenium, protein and nutrients
• Lower in natural sodium, fat, and cholesterol than other meats
• 50% lower in calories than pork or chicken

I took the ground buffalo and cooked it on the stove top and made a delicious buffalo stroganoff out of it, couldn’t even tell that I was eating super low fat meat, it was delicious.

yummy buffalo stroganoff

The chefs at Whole Foods created a delicious recipe for Gorgonzola and Sun-Dried Tomato Bison/Buffalo Burgers. The lean  meat, creamy Gorgonzola and richly flavored sun-dried tomatoes mesh really well together. Just remember to cook the meat a lower temperature for a longer amount of time since the meat can dry out due to the lack of fat. Here’s a link to the recipe: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1641

 I am giving away a $10. Whole Foods Market gift card to the first person to answer this question correctly, also make sure you’re a “liker” of Food Tramp Diaries on Facebook, if you are not, click here   You will find the answer to this trivia question on Whole Foods Market’s website Please enter your answer below as a comment.  I will inform the winner via email and Whole Foods will send you the gift card in the mail!!

Whole Foods Market boasts to have more than (?) how many stores in North America and the United Kingdom?? How many team members do they employ??

Thank you and good luck!!!!!!!

Makes 6-10 servings

cook time 30 min at 350 degrees

Ingredients

10 soft flour tortillas

1lb ground beef

1pkg rice-a-roni spanish rice or sometimes I just use 2 cups leftover rice of any kind

16 oz sour cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 pkt taco seasoning

1/3 to 1/2 cup pace picante sauce

Lots of cheese, monterey/cheddar blend (about 4 cups)

1 small can sliced olives

Directions

Using a large skillet, brown ground beef, drain fat. Add rice, taco seasoning, salsa, 1/2 of cream of mushroom soup, half of sour cream, 1/2 can of olives, and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cheese.  Mix together well.

Spray a 13×9 in pan with cooking spray.  Take tortilla and fill with a portion of your mix in the skillet.  Roll up and line in pan. Use 8-10 tortillas..depending on how much you fill each one, you could use less or more, do what you’d like. 

Mix up remaining sour cream, soup, and olives together in bowl then spread over the top of enchiladas lined in pan.  Cover well with lots of cheese!  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes then turn on broiler for final 1o minutes to get the cheese nice and baked on.