Easy Crockpot Vegetable Soup

One of my favorite things about winter is how much use my slow cooker gets. I'm always nervous when I don't have a recipe to follow but this time there was no need :-) This was very easy to put together and it was very good.

I used three boneless chicken thighs that I trimmed the fat from. Those went into the crockpot first. I didn't have any diced tomatoes or tomato sauce so for my base I used a 16oz jar of homemade spaghetti sauce. I canned it over the summer and it contained tomatoes, onion, garlic, and some basic seasoning. I poured that over the chicken and added 32oz of low sodium chicken stock. I mixed that up pretty good and added 3 potatoes cut into chunks and a 24oz bag of frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, corn, peas, and green beans). I put the crockpot on low and let it cook about 8 hours. Once the 8 hours passed I pulled the chicken into pieces (you just need a fork for that, it will be very tender.) I did not add any seasoning until after my first taste. I didn't want it to be too salty and since I didn't have anything to base it on I figured it was better to be safe. I ended up using 2 tsp seasoned salt, 1 tsp ground black pepper, and I didn't measure the oregano and thyme. I did goof up here though. I thought I grabbed the thyme and I really grabbed some Montreal steak seasoning. I am pretty sure there was less than a 1/2 tsp added but it might have made a difference. Regardless, the end result was quite good. I recommend tasting after each tsp of salt, so you don't go overboard. We ate it with some corn bread :-) Enjoy!

3 boneless chicken thighs w/fat trimmed

16 oz diced tomatoes (you can use plain or spice it up with diced chili's or basil & garlic)

32 oz low sodium chicken stock (you can sub Vegetable broth too, easy to make yourself!)

3 potatoes, chopped into cubes

24 oz frozen mixed vegetables (can sub fresh chopped carrots, green beans, and corn as well)

2 t seasoned salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

2 t oregano

1 t thyme

For a more tomato based soup, add tomato paste! 

Chili Mac

Chili mac may be the best thing ever on cold, winter evenings. I had to post about this because it's super delicious and super easy.

I made mac and cheese from the Blue box. I love the blue box. Call me crazy but it's what I grew up eating and I love it. My mom and I have shared a box for dinner on an occasion or two (or three or four). It's easy and quick.

My chili is almost never the same. I never buy packets of seasoning any more so I often experiment on what I'm putting together. Usually, I end up with chili that's really good but also really hot. Today, however, I just got really good :-) My spices consisted of:

chili powder

onion powder

garlic powder

ground cumin

sugar

seasoned salt

dried parsley

dried basil

ground red pepper

flour

The flour is just a thickening agent. I cheat and buy already seasoned chili beans. Sometimes I use a jar of salsa for the tomato base but today it was just a 28oz can of diced tomatoes. Mixed it all up and let it simmer about an hour. I scooped some mac and cheese in a bowl and chili on top. Yum. 

Quick healthy smoothie

I like these for breakfast, before a work out, after a work out or all of the above! (this is not a picture of what I made this morning but it sure looks pretty doesn't it? It does have the similar coloring though and I drank mine before I thought to take a picture of it!)
Get yourself some protein powder. The only thing I recommend is making sure it's not a protein powder meant to help you bulk up. Anything that says body building is a no go for me. I look for straight whey protein. I like the chocolate kind. A lot of people prefer vanilla because of the mixing options. Personally, I don't think it matters. This morning I mixed my chocolate powder with frozen fruit (pineapple and strawberry), some chocolate yoplait yogurt I had thrown in the freezer, a little orange juice and a little coffee. Sounds really disgusting doesn't it? It wasn't. I know. Even I'm surprised.  Here's my favorite recipe though:

1 scoop of protein powder

1 banana

8 oz fat free or light vanilla yogurt

about a 1/2 cup of frozen fruit

1/2 c of orange juice

Some times I add more juice if the mix is too thick. The chocolate powder doesn't really add that much chocolate to the smoothie so it doesn't bother me. I do also enjoy mixing it with coffee and vanilla yogurt. That's the close second for breakfast smoothies.

S'more Cookie Bars

Please note the super cute baking dish I received from my Mother-in-law this Christmas!











This was so easy and so delicious. Here's what you need:

1/2 c butter

1/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c sugar

1 large egg, at room temp

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 c flour

3/4 c graham cracker crumbs (I put 9 crackers in my food processor)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 king size Hersey bars (I suggest getting 3 so you have enough)

1 1/2 c marshmallow fluff (you can't use marshmallows, they harden when they cool, think rice crispy treat)

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper or grease it. Mix the sugars and butter until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until dough forms. Separate dough in half and press into the pan. Add the chocolate in a single layer across the dough. Spread the marshmallow fluff on top of the chocolate. Use your hands to flatten the rest of the dough and spread it on top of the marshmallow. It's ok if it doesn't cover the top, the dough will spread and the marshmallow puffs up through it. Cook for 30-35 minutes (cover with foil if it starts to burn the top). Let it cool completely prior to cutting. We had ours a day after cooking and it was great. I imagine if you had it after it cooled and the chocolate was still gooey it would be incredible. Enjoy!

Peanut butter bars

We're having Thanksgiving dinner at church tomorrow and I have to work. Generally, I'm out of work by the time church starts but I wanted to make something to bring with me. Since it had to be prepared tonight I decided on dessert. Peanut butter bars.

I wanted to make these for my small group a couple weeks ago but decided at the last minute to make something else (Oreo Cheesecake Cookies, yum). I pulled all the ingredients out tonight though and went at it. The recipe is very simple:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup butter, melted

1 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

4 tbsp peanut butter

The first 4 ingredients are mixed together well and pressed into an ungreased 9x13 pan. Then mix the chocolate chips and peanut butter and melt. I used a bowl and microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. That mixture is poured on top and spread evenly. Put a lid or cover on it (not anything that will touch the chocolate though!) and put it in the fridge at least an hour.

It tastes like Reese's cups. It's heaven.

Let me also admit that I stole this picture from someone else (because my phone had an accident and I haven't exactly figured this one out yet!) But they really do look and cut like that :-)

Chicken and Dumplings

Growing up I was quite deprived in my food choices. My Mom is kind of picky so I didn't know I liked a lot of food until I left home. Luckily, my Aunt Julie always sent my Dad home with his own container of Chicken and Dumplings and he was nice enough to share with me. Sunday's are my favorite cooking days because I have time to cook meals that take a little too long to cook during the week. Chicken and dumplings is one of those meals!

I started off with a two chopped onions in some oil in my already hot cast iron dutch oven. I cut up a whole chicken and put the pieces on top of the onion once it was translucent. You don't really have to cut up the chicken, you can throw it in there whole; I cut it into pieces so I can get more of the fat off. I used seasoned salt and pepper to season the chicken and onions. I used 32oz of chicken stock plus another 32oz of water so the chicken would be completely covered, put the lid on, and left it to cook for an hour.

Once your house smells delicious it's about time to take the chicken out. I pulled the meat off with a fork and then used my fingers to shred it into smaller pieces. I recommend using your fingers to do this so you can make sure you haven't missed a bone somewhere!

Put the chicken back into the chicken stock and start adding pieces of biscuit dough. There are multiple ways to speed up the process here. You can buy pre-made biscuit dough and chop it up; use Bisquick to make biscuit dough or you can do it the hard way and make your own biscuit dough from scratch. Since I never do anything easy can you guess which way I went? Exactly, I made my own dough. I made enough for 30 biscuits (based on my Aunt's recipe) because I wanted it to be thick (and hers is always thick!). You'll need to stir while you add and the dough will float. Let it cook/simmer about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the dough stays in the mixture you're ready to go. Probably you'll want to add more salt and pepper. You could also add carrots, celery, and garlic to give it some more flavor!

Southwest Chicken Wraps

I'm excited to put another pinterest find to test! This was quite easy and quite good. It reminds me of a Grilled Stuffed Burrito from Taco Bell, but I know what the meat is in this case :-)

I made some changes to the original recipe. Instead of black beans I used refried black beans. I liked the turn out because the beans were a good way to keep all the ingredients stuck to the tortilla. I think that might be the only change.

Here's how I did it!

I started with a tortilla.

To the tortilla I added the refried black beans. I scooped these straight from the can to the tortilla.

Next I added the rice chicken mixture. To about a cup of cooked rice I added 1T chili powder, 1t cumin and 1/2t garlic salt. I boiled a chicken breast and shredded the meat (it's a little over a cup of meat I would say) and mixed it with the rice. The rice is delicious, btw.



Next was the cheese. I used Colby jack and cheddar and sprinkled it all over. Then I added some dollops of sour cream and folded the wrap up.

Put your skillet on the stove and get some heat going. Spray both sides of the wrap with cooking spray and place it seam side down in the pan. Let it cook until it's nice and crisp, about 2 minutes each side. Delicious!