Chicken Ranch Tacos

Ingredients:*

3 c. cooked chicken, cut up

1 pkt. taco seasoning (chicken or beef)

1/2 c. Ranch dressing

taco shells **

To Garnish:

lettuce, finely shredded

cheese

Ranch dressing

tomatoes, chopped

avocado, chopped

cilantro, chopped

sour cream

salsa

* I went the crockpot way for this recipe. Here's what I did as mentioned by those who commented on this gal's blog. I used a pkg. of taco seasoning, a pkt. of dry ranch dressing mix, and about 3/4 c. chicken broth, 4 chicken breasts(defrosted).

** I went with corn tortillas and soft fried them (aka: fried them in oil but didn't let them get crispy and kept them pliable.)

Recipe:*

1. Heat a skillet over med-high heat. Add chicken and warm it for a few minutes.

2. Sprinkle on the dry taco seasoning. Do NOT add any water.

3. Heat for 5-7 minutes until all heated through and powder is stuck to the chicken.

4. Add Ranch dressing, heat an additional 2-3 minutes to warm through.

5. Serve in taco shells with all the fixings you love - plus an extra squirt of Ranch.

*Crockpot version: put the chicken breasts in the pot. Sprinkle taco seasoning and ranch mix on top. Pour chicken breasts on top of that. The water is just barely enough to cover the chicken breasts so I rolled mine in the mixture a few times. I turned mine on high(I was in a bit of a time crunch), for 2 hours. At 2 hours I took the chicken out and shredded it. I then put the chicken back in for another hour. When it came time to serve the chicken I drained it of all the juices that collected at the bottom and served it in a new bowl. That amount of chicken fed LaDon, two missionaries, and myself about 16 tacos.

Rating: 4.5 of 5

In all honesty, I couldn't separate the chicken taste from the whole taco. So.....the chicken, plus the shells and everything I put on it was so delicious. I didn't put any ranch on my taco, though. Too much Ranch reminds me of my morning sickness with Ally and then all those sick-y feelings come rushing back. Anyways....I think the boys each averaged about 5 tacos, so it made a pretty good amount. The only thing I would have added is a lime wedge for a few squirts of lime juice. Yum! There is something absolutely delicious about cilantro and lime together. Oh, I'm sure that the way this recipe is supposed to be prepared is great, but it sure is nice being able to do everything in the crockpot. Especially when company is coming over.

Source: Do You Smell That!!?, Chicken Ranch Tacos

The Best Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:

2 T. vegetable oil

2 onions, roughly chopped

2 1/2 lbs. ground beef

2 T. tomato paste

2/3 c. smoky BBQ sauce (or whatever BBQ sauce is in your fridge)

1/2 c. ketchup

1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 c. soy sauce

freshly ground black pepper

8-12 potato rolls

Recipe:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes.

2. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until it is finely crumbled, the liquid boils off and the meat begins to brown, about 10 minutes.

3. Drain the grease off the meat and onions.

4. Stir in the tomato paste, and keep stirring until the meat is coated.

5. Add the BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and pepper, and bring to a boil.

6. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4-5 minutes.

7. Serve the sloppy Joes hot with warm rolls.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

This was a pretty good recipe. I halved it and the servings came out to the perfect size for LaDon and I. I used Spicy and Sweet BBQ sauce so there was a little bit of a kick there that normal BBQ sauce doesn't have. It definitely doesn't taste like sloppy Joe juice from a can. It's delicious, although not the taste that I'm used to in a sloppy Joe. Easy, easy recipe. One thing I need to do is find something to do with the extra tomato paste. I would make this one again for sure. I'm wondering if I can figure out a way to do this in a crockpot so that we can eat it in the summer with corn on the cob and watermelon without heating up our A/C-deprived apartment.

Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe, The Best Sloppy Joes

Cinnamon Sugar Breadsticks with Cream Cheese Drizzle

Ingredients:

For the breadsticks:

2 1/4 t. yeast

1/4 c. sugar, divided

1 c. warm water, divided

1 1/2 T oil

1 egg

1/2 t. salt

2 1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. butter, melted

Cinnamon sugar mixture: 6 T. sugar and 1 t. cinnamon

For the cream cheese drizzle:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 c. powdered sugar

1-2 T. whipping cream

1 t. vanilla

Recipe:

1. In a mixer dissolve yeast, 1/2 T. sugar, and 1/2 c. warm water. Allow yeast to proof (about 10 minutes).

2. Add in oil, egg, salt, and 1 1/2 c. flour and remaining sugar(1/4 c - 1/2 T) and water (1/2 c.). Mix until smooth.

3. Stir in remaining flour (3/4 c.) to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic.

4. Place into a greased bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes or until doubled.

5. Punch down the dough and put onto floured counter. Roll into 8x14 rectangle.

6. Using your pizza cutter, cut into about 10 pieces.

7. Roll each strip like a snake. Then hang the dough over your finger in the middle and twist the two ends together.

8. Place on a greased cookie sheet and allow to rise for another 40 minutes or until doubled.

9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

10. While breadsticks are baking, mix together the cream cheese drizzle ingredients. Beat until you reach a good consistency for drizzling. Place in a Ziploc bag and snip off the corner.

11. When breadsticks are done cooking, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Drizzle with cream cheese mixture.

Rating: 3 of 5

These are good, but they aren't quite as good as I was expecting. First off, I think there are some serious typos in the bread measurements, because the dough I ended up with was as if I hadn't added the remaining flour even though I had. I probably ended up adding about 2 more cups of flour until I felt like the dough reached the proper texture and consistency. So, that was a little bit of an issue, but a fixable one.

I feel like the puffiness of the bread is too much for the cinnamon sugar taste. The sweetness gets a little drowned out. But, with that being said, the bread is really fluffy and soft, which is always a plus. The cream cheese drizzle was not as good as I was hoping. I guess I just got my hopes up. I thought that this recipe would get pretty close to pretzels you get at the mall. Oh well. They're still good. I just might have too high of a bar for them right now. (P.S. Just because they're a 3 doesn't mean I didn't have at least 5 of them when they came out of the oven......)

Source: Thirty Handmade Days, Cinnamon Sugar Breadsticks with Cream Cheese Drizzle

Copycat: Chick-Fil-A Nuggets and Sauce

Ingredients:

For the Honey-Mustard sauce:

1/2 c. mayo

2 T. mustard (regular prepared yellow mustard)

1/2 t. garlic powder

1 T. vinegar

2 T. honey

Salt and pepper, to taste

For the nuggets:

8 chicken tenderloins or 6 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

2 1/2 c. flour

1/4 c. powdered sugar

4 t. salt

3 t. pepper

1 t. paprika

peanut oil or canola oil for frying

Recipe:

For the sauce:

1. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the sauce, mix well, and set aside or pop in the fridge.

For the nuggets:

1. In a large dutch oven or stockpot, heat up the oil over medium-high heat to 375 degrees. (Note: If you don't have a thermometer for the oil, you can test the oil by dropping a small piece of chicken or batter into the oil and if it sinks and floats to the top with swift speed, the oil is just right. If it sinks and takes forever to come to the top, the oil is too cold. If it sizzles and immediately fries up, the oil is too hot.)

2. While the oil is heating, in a gallon Ziploc bag, combine flour, powdered sugar, salt, pepper, and paprika. Seal it and shake to combine well.

3. Throw the chicken bites into the Ziploc bag, close it, and shake until all are coated well.

4. Using a slotted spoon, fish out the nuggets and shake off excess flour and place on a clean plate.

5. Before you start frying, prepare a plate by lining sheets of paper towels to drain the nuggets after frying.

6. When ready, place about 10-12 nuggets in the oil and let cook for about 5 minutes (but it also depends on the size of your nuggets.)

7. Remove nuggets from oil with a spider strainer or slotted spoon and set on lined plate to drain. Continue until all nuggets have been cooked. *

8. Serve hot with dipping sauce, ketchup, ranch, or your favorite dip.

* Once they were fried, I let them drain for a minute or two and them threw them into the oven, about 200 degrees F, so they would stay warm while I cooked the rest of the nuggets.

Rating: 4.75 of 5

I debated whether I should rate these separately or together, but really, they would get about the same score anyways! I love honey-mustard dips, and this one was really good. It's not the best, but it really is soooo good. It's not super thick, you can taste the mustard and honey equally, and it goes perfectly with these chicken nuggets! The nuggets are really good too. That might have something to do with the fact that they are fried though.....but I'm sure there is a good way to bake them too. I'll have to figure that out, because, let's face it, frying is so messy, takes a long time, and isn't so pretty on my hips. I was surprised that the recipe called for powdered sugar, but it's a perfect amount. You can taste the sweetness, but it's not too much. Same with the paprika. One thing I love about these nuggets is that they are incredibly moist! The chicken cooks really well.

Source: Table for Two, Chick-Fuh-Lay Nuggets and Sauce

South Texas Flour Tortillas

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

2 t. vegetable or olive oil

generous 3/4 c. hot milk

Recipe:

1. Heat milk in the microwave for 60 seconds. Leave it there until you need it!

2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

3. Add the oil to the dry ingredients and mix together a bit.

4. Slowly mix the hot milk in until the dough ball comes away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.

5. Mix the dough for 3-4 minutes and then turn out onto floured surface and knead once or twice.

6. Divide the dough into 12 equal balls. Make an indentation in each with your finger.

7. Roll each ball into a 6-inch circle (more or less) and cook on a hot non-stick skillet or griddle. Each side with take about 30 seconds to cook.

Rating: 3 of 5

A couple of pros and cons about this recipe. I liked the taste, even though it's basically flour and salt. I've got to admit, I kind of like thin bland breads. But, with that being said, these tortillas were more like pita breads rather than thin tortillas. I don't know if it was me or the recipe, but rolling these out was a workout! I thought my rolling pin handles were going to snap off before I got the dough thin enough. I got them pretty thin, but when they cooked they turned out to be pretty thick, Too thick for my taste. Although, really good with honey on them. I'm gonna have to find a different recipe to use for enchiladas, quesadillas, etc.

Source: Scrambled Henfruit, Homemade Tortillas

Crockin' Fettucini

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts, cut into pieces

1 pkg. dry Italian salad dressing mix

2 T. olive oil

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz. cream cheese

1 c. chicken broth

Fettucini noodles

Recipe:

1. Place chicken in slow cooker and sprinkle Italian dressing over chicken. Drizzle with olive oil.

2. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

3. Mix soup, cream cheese, and broth until smooth.

4. Add soup mixture to slow cooker and cook on low for 1 more hour.

5. Serve over hot, cooked noodles.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

I'm relying on LaDon's judgment tonight. I've got a cold and can't taste a thing. But, I do know that Daniel really liked his with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. From what I can tell, it is very similar to zesty chicken, just a lot more runny instead of thick. Although I couldn't taste it, you can't go wrong with a crock pot and small children eating it up!

Source: Crockingirls.com, Crockin' Fettucini

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

1/3 c. granulated sugar

2 large egg whites

pinch table salt

12 T. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into tablespoon pieces

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled to 85-100 degrees

1/2 t. vanilla extract

Recipe:

1. Combine the sugar, egg whites, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.

2. Set over a small saucepan of simmering water, and whisking constantly, cook until the mixture is slightly thickened, foamy, and registers 150 degrees on an instant read thermometer, 2-4 minutes.

3. Attach bowl to the stand mixer and fit the whisk attachment, beat at medium speed, until mixture is the consistency of shaving cream and slightly cooled, 1-3 minutes.

4. Add butter 1 piece at a time, until smooth and creamy.

5. Once all the butter has been added, pour in the cooled chocolate and vanilla. Mix until well combined.

6. Increase speed to medium-high and until light and fluffy, another 30 seconds to a minute.

7. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

This is a rich frosting, I think. Pretty easy to make, but slightly technical. I'd rather make a frosting without dancing around a thermometer. Mine didn't set right away, so I needed to put it in the fridge for a few minutes in order to use it on the cupcakes.

Source: Sweet Pea's Kitchen, Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Marshmallow Filling