This is a great way to make a cheap and tasty meal. I thawed a whole chicken, because that’s what I had in the freezer. Then, I made a dry rub marinade and placed it in the crockpot on two cups of homemade salsa. Turned it on low at 8:30 this morning. By 2pm, I pulled all the meat off the bones, dumped it back in the crockpot, and turned it down to warm until supper. The house smells amazing, and the chicken tastes like a Mexican restaurant knock-off.

Dry Rub Recipe for Spicy Chicken Burritos

2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 TBLS brown sugar

Mix all these ingredients well with your fingers and rub all over chicken. I cut all the skin off the chicken, so the spices were directly on the meat. Allow to marinate in the frig for 2 hours if possible. Add two cups of favorite salsa to the bottom of the crockpot, and place chicken on top. Cook on low for about 6 hours and pull chicken apart and place back in the sauce. Serve with tortillas, lettuce, beans, sour cream, etc.

TIP: If you have extra chicken leftover, it would work great in Chicken Tortilla Soup!

This year I heard of something shocking. Earth shattering really. Someone said a turkey could be baked from a fully-frozen state to near perfection. Blasphemous! Who ever heard of such a thing. It’s been done the same way for generations and that includes starting days a head of time, placing the turkey in the fridge, checking on it, continually finding it frozen rock hard, and then finally thawing it on the counter and never admitting it.

A couple weeks ago I failed to take something out for dinner and resorted to rifling through the freezer and fridge in a desperate attempt to come up with a plan. (Admit it; you’ve been there too!) That’s when I saw the turkey in the freezer and remembered the option of cooking it from frozen state. So I did what any 2011 mom would do; I Googled it! Can you believe I found tons of information on cooking turkey by this method, as well as an endorsement by the FDA?

Well, I gave it a try and it worked perfectly. In fact, it was the easiest turkey I’ve ever made and it tasted so delicious. You’d think it would dry out cooking for 5 1/2 hours, but it didn’t. It was wonderful. All I did was place it in a shallow pan (uncovered) and put it in a 350 degree pre-heated oven. After about 3 hours I removed the gravy bag and extra parts. I gave it a little salt and pepper and put it back in for 2 1/2 to 3 hours and took it out to rest. Simple, huh?

“How different can they be?”…is the thought that kept running through my head, as my foreign exchange daughter offered to make us some of her Korean Sushi this weekend.

Is Korean Sushi that different than Japanese Sushi?

Since we LOVE sushi, we jumped at the chance to try something new and learn in the process.

As it turns out, there are quite a few differences. While we used the same sushi rice and nori (called kim in Korean), the process with the rice was very different. It is saltier and less vinegar/sweet. There is sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds in the rice. Many of the ingredients are fried in sesame oil first, such as the crab, carrot, and cucumber strips; making it a warm/room temp cuisine rather than its chillier counterpart. There were also new ingredients introduced, such as slivered fried egg and cheese. We didn’t have any ham to add, which she wished we had. We looked hard for salted yellow radish, but our grocery store doesn’t carry what she was looking for.

In the end, it was a wonderful experience for the kids to help make. We had fun and enjoyed eating it! We paired it with some noodles, shrimp, and cabbage in the wok that was fantastic, and enjoyed some delicious green Korean tea.

Have you had Korean sushi yet?

I created a great version of Chicken in Rosa Sauce that my family loves. It’s a great way to incorporate lots of veggies, as well as keep things healthy and low cost. This recipe is very simple and can be altered based on the ingredients you have on hand or your preferences. I’ll write the recipe as such:

Chicken in Rosa Sauce Recipe

Chicken cut into bite size pieces, any cut will do
Penne or Rigatoni pasta (can use any pasta if you want, and/or whole wheat)
Fresh veggies sliced (we used summer squash, onion, red peppers, mushrooms)
2 Tbls Tomato Paste
1/2 cup sour cream (you can use fat free, light, or real cream)
Milk (enough to think out your sauce to desired thickness; probably 1/2 cup to 1 cup)
2 TBLS Fresh Basil cut up
2 Cloves Garlic; minced
Dash of salt, pepper, sugar

Directions: Brown the chicken in a little oil or grill it. To the cooked chicken lightly cook the veggies, add the other ingredients to make a sauce; adding the basil last. Season with some salt, pepper, and a little sugar to cut the bitter tomato paste taste (but only a tiny bit).  Boil pasta according to directions and mix together in a large serving bowl.You can serve with some Parmesan cheese, but it’s great without.

I recently tasted a delicious Rhubarb Slush at an event, and its creator has been kind enough to share it with me to post on the blog. While the version I had did have some alcohol in it, you can make this recipe family-friendly too. So if you have tons of rhubarb, and you are wondering what to do with it, give this recipe a try. Thank you to the always creative Terry Kempfert for introducing this wonderful recipe to me.

Rhubarb Slush Recipe

8 C rhubarb
2 C sugar
2 Quarts water
½ C lemon juice (add after cooking)
1 small pkg strawberry jello
1 C vodka or brandy (optional)
7-UP
 

Simmer this for 10-15 minutes. Drain and press through colander. Add lemon juice, jello and vodka or brandy. Stir until jello dissolves. Freeze in ice cream pail at least 2 days before use.
To serve, scoop spoonfuls into glass and fill with 7-Up.

photo credit: clkohan

If you are looking for a great side dish recipe that is tasty, low calorie, and healthy that you can throw on the grill or in the oven, this recipe is for you. Of course, you must love mushrooms to enjoy this recipe! It’s always a hit with my family or when I have guests over. It’s one of those things that looks like it takes a ton of time, but it doesn’t.

Recipe: Stuffed Mushrooms

1 Box White Button or Baby Bella Mushrooms, cleaned
2 Green onions, washed and chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp low fat cream cheese
2 tsp Parmesan cheese
dash of sage
salt and pepper

Carefully pull stems out of mushrooms and set aside. Use a melon-ball scoop or teaspoon to gentle scoop out a little of the inside of the mushroom. Chop the mushroom stems, onions, garlic and heat briefly in a pan with some spray pam. Mix in remaining ingredients; hold some parmesan cheese for until mushrooms are filled. Top them with remaining parmesan cheese. Bake in 380 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Thanks to Sarah Manley for her scone recipe and pictures this morning. I made almost the same recipe, except that I used a cup of pumpkin spice cake mix instead of one cup of flour. Enjoy!

Recipe: Scones

2 C Flour
1 heaping tsp of baking soda
1 rounded tsp of cream of tartar
1 heaped tsp of salt
1 1/2 oz of butter
1 tsp of golden syrup–I researched this item online and found a 1/2-1/2 substitute of honey and light corn syrup should work
1 egg
10 oz of whole milk.

Preheat oven to 475, Sift flour with soda, salt and tartar. Melt butter and syrup together and cool slightly. Then mix with dry ingredients. Beat egg into milk and add to flour mixture. Stir to make a soft dough. Then using well-floured hands turn dough onto a floured board and flatten until 1 inch thick. The dough is very soft, so keep lightly flouring. Cut out with floured scone cutter, (I don’t have one so I am making into wedges like pizza) and place on a very light greased hot baking sheet. Heat the baking sheet at same time as preheating oven. Bake for 7-8 min, then transfer to wire rack. Eat barely warm with butter and jam. If you fill with clotted (whipped) cream, wait until scones are cool, or you will have a melted soggy mess.

This recipe was submitted by Facebook fan, Jami S. after I posted my confession about my failed attempts to make these. I see now that I didn’t use enough egg AND I didn’t drain the potatoes. Thanks so much Jami!

Potato Latke Recipe

4 pounds potatoes – peeled and cut in half

1 onion cut into wedges

3 eggs slightly beaten

1 tsp salt

2 T baking powder

Place potatoes and onion in food processor and use the shred disc – as if you would be making hash browns. Once all potatoes are shredded, remove and place in cheese cloth or towel to drain thoroughly. Once drained, place in large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. In large skillet, heat 1/4 inch oil til placing one drop of mix in bubbles. Then, make the latkes as you would make pancakes – making sure each side is golden. Have a plate covered in paper towel to drain latkes when you remove from skillet. Serve warm with sour cream or apple sauce or both! Latkes can be reheated in a warm oven.

Beware! Your kitchen/possible whole house will smell fried for a while…. Enjoy!!

photo credit: Sam Felder

This was the ultimate “cheap” meal that tasted like a million bucks. I got the  pork roast on a B1G1 sale a while back, plus a coupon. I maybe paid a couple dollars for it.

I used some homemade apricot jam I had in the fridge, given to me by my mother-in-law. I mixed about 1 cup of jam with some dry mustard, sea salt, a little brown sugar, thyme, and fresh ground black pepper.

I roasted the pork at a lower temp all afternoon (about 300), and basted it every half hour with the apricot mixture. I let it rest for at least 30 minutes, and then used an electric knife to shave it thin. I used the pan drippings to spread over the cut meat.

We had delicious pork sandwiches with the leftovers the next day.

This past weekend I participated in my first chili cook-off with some others in my area to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. As people stopped by to try my chili, many people asked what the secret ingredients were and what made it taste so sweet. I promised to post the secret ingredients, as well as the recipe here. Since I don’t cook with a recipe, I can post a list of all the ingredients and you’ll have to do a little trial and error yourselves.

Secret Ingredients

The secret ingredients are cilantro (an entire bunch of it), Gold’N Plump ground chicken, Nordeast Beer, Salsa (homemade if I have it) and Bush’s Grillin Beans (the Texas Ranchero flavor) and tons of Minnesota sweet corn (not canned or bags of frozen).

We didn’t win, but we had a great time. It was fun to meet so many people and have them enjoy my chili. It was a kid favorite, as I didn’t make it very hot.

My daughter came with me to help. She chopped a ton of mushrooms, and it was really fun to get to spend quality time with her.

Northern Chili Recipe

Ground Chicken and Ground Beef, equal parts
Sweet Corn
Canned Tomatoes
Tomato Soup
Salsa
Northern Beans
Bushes Grilling Beans, Texas Ranchero flavor
Cilantro
Jalapeno Peppers
Onion
Nordeast Beer
Fresh Mushrooms
Chili Powder
Salt, Pepper, Sugar to taste