Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

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We’ve started a new (to us) tradition:  Slow Cooker Sundays!  Every Sunday this football season we’re going to bust out the Crockpot (or two) and cook up some comforting treats!  This past Sunday our slow cooked supper was courtesy of Skinny Taste’s Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili recipe!

As you would expect with any slow cooker recipe, this was quite easy to throw together.  I made a few minor tweaks to the original recipe… When do I not?!

All you do is toss the following into the crock:

  • 1 chopped white onion
  • 2 16-oz cans beans of your choice, drained and rinsed (I used blacks beans)
  • 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
  • 1.5 cups frozen corn kernels
  • 3 10-oz cans Rotel Tomatoes
  • 1 packet taco seasoning
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp chili powder

Give everything a stir to combine:

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Then plop about 30 ounces of raw chicken breasts on top and push them down slightly into the liquid.

We cooked our chili on high for 5.5 hours then pulled out the chicken breasts and gave them a quick shred with two forks.  The chicken literally fell apart as I grabbed it!

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Toss the chicken back in and 30 minutes later it is time to feast!  We served our chili with a 1/2 serving of brown rice, dollop of Fat Free Trader Joe’s Plain Greek Yogurt, and a big ole handful of chopped raw onions.

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There may have also been some Fritos added last minute Smile

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This makes six hearty servings.

Stats on 1 hearty serving (no fixin’s):  347 calories, 44g carbs, 4g fat, 39g protein, 10g fiber

Ingredients List for Crock Pot Chicken Chili (serves 6):

  • 1 chopped white onion
  • 2 16-oz cans beans of your choice, drained and rinsed (I used blacks beans)
  • 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
  • 1.5 cups frozen corn kernels
  • 3 10oz cans Rotel Tomatoes
  • 1 packet taco seasoning
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • 30 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast
  • Chopped raw onion (optional… really though, raw onions MAKE the chili don’t they?)
  • Greek yogurt or sour cream (optional)
  • Brown rice (optional)
  • Fritos (strongly encouraged)

What is your favorite slow cooker recipe?  I’m on the lookout for something tasty to make this Sunday, so links would be super!

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Enchi-oo-la-la-das.

Yow.ZAAAAAAAAA!

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These enchiladas were DELICIOUS!!!  Comfort food meets Mexican Fiesta in my mouth.  This was my first attempt at making enchiladas (still struggling to rationalize that one in my brain), and anytime I try something new I scour the internet in search of the ultimate recipe.  This time I found a winner:  Angela’s Awesome Enchiladas on Allrecipes.com.  The nutritional stats for the original recipe weren’t so great, so I made a few Mary tweaks (Mweaks, as we call them).

First up:  The Chicken.  You need 2lbs of shredded chicken.  We decided to go the boiling route, and plopped 2 lbs of halved chicken breasts into a pot of bowling water for about 12 minutes until cooked through.  Then we shredded the chicken using two forks.   You could also cook your chicken in a crockpot or use a rotisserie chicken for this recipe.

Step two:  The sauce (AKA the Creamy Goodness)

Combine the following in a small pan and bring to a light simmer over low heat:

  • 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken soup
  • 1 cup fat free sour cream
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder

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Give it an occasional stir, and once warmed through remove from heat and cover.

Step Three:  Sauté a small white onion in a big skillet coated with cooking spray until the onion softens.  Toss in the shredded chicken and the following:

  • 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
  • 1 packet taco seasoning
  • 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tsp lime juice
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder

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Let all these treats simmer together for about 20 minutes, then stir in one cup of the creamy goodness and the filling is ready to groove:

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Step Four:  Rock n Roll.  Get it?? Rock n Roll??  Ugh.. ok fine. 

Spray a 9×13 pan with some cooking spray, spread the remaining creamy goodness on the bottom, then load up 6 Tumaro’s Low Carb Tortillas with 2/3 of a cup of the chicken filling.  Roll the tortillas tight and place them seam side down in the pan:

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Top the enchiladas with:

  • 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
  • 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
  • Shredded Cheese, if desired (honestly this doesn’t add much bang for the calorie buck, so I say forgettaboutit)

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Pop these puppies into a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes:

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Then utilize the double-shovel method to extract the delicious enchiladas from the pan:

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Serve with rice or corn or beans.  Or Man Candy.  You decide Winking smile

TADA!

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Apparently someone’s thumb is a camera whore…

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These enchiladas are pretty hefty (hefty, hefty… am I the only one who is physically incapable of saying “hefty” once??)… Anyway, I was full from one enchilada along with a bit of corn and rice.  Jarrod ate two enchiladas and afterward questioned “how the heck he’d managed to consume that mass amount of food.”

At which point a 30 minute food coma commenced.

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Added bonus:  these enchiladas tasted just as good reheated the next day!

Stats on 1 enchilada (no shredded cheese):  321 calories, 31g carbs, 6g fat, 39g protein, 8g fiber.

 

Enchi-oo-la-la-das Ingredients List (makes 6):

  • 2 lbs shredded skinless, boneless chicken
  • 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken soup
  • 1 cup fat free sour cream
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
  • 1 packet taco seasoning
  • 1 bunch green onions, chopped, divided
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tsp lime juice
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 6 Tumaro’s Low Carb Tortillas
  • 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce

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Oatmeal Envy.

I have an intense love and passion for overnight oats.

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Those cool creamy oats topped with sliced fresh fruit and a dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt make the absolute perfect breakfast… that is until October rolls around.  Then I want nothing to do with anything cold and EVERYTHING to do with all things warm and gooey.

BRING ON THE COMFORT FOOD! WOOOOOOOO! Party smile

In the chilly months, I keep a jumbo tub of quick oats in my desk at work.  Every day when 10am rolls around I cook up a serving of oats in the microwave and garnish with a teaspoon of brown sugar and some ground cinnamon… which I also conveniently keep in my desk.  Don’t judge.

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These microwaved oats satisfy my cravings for warm and gooey, but they always leave a bit to be desired on the palate.  The microwave seems to zap out all that oaty texture I love and leave you with a bowl of pasty porridge.

Then I had this BRILLIANT idea.

Sunday night, I cooked up a big owl batch of oats on the stove, where any decent bowl of oatmeal should be birthed.

For each serving of oatmeal, I tossed a 1/4 cup of fresh blueberries into a 2 cup pyrex glass bowl.

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Am I the only one who is obsessed with these little bowls?  They are the perfect size for portioning.

Gosh, I love fractions*… errrr I mean portions.  I love portions.

*I wasn’t kidding.  I love fractions… and algebra… 

Once the oatmeal was cooked (I like mine just a little runny), I poured the oats evenly into the bowls right overtop of the blubes.

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Mmmmmm…..  Doesn’t that look delicious?!

I know.  It looks like crap.  Bare with me.

At this point, I let the oats cool off a bit while I clean up whatever disaster I’ve created in my kitchen.  I sprinkle the cooled oats with my go-to-combo:  ground cinnamon, 1 tsp brown sugar, and 10 grams of Trader Joes Unsalted Dry Toasted Sliced Almonds.

Geeze that’s a mouthful.

Yes, I weigh all my ingredients.

No, officer that’s not a drug scale.  It’s for my oatmeal fractions I mean portions.  Portions, sir.

Feast your eyes on this GLORIOUSNESS:

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At this point all you do is pop some lids on these beauties.  DO NOT STIR.  When you’re ready to feast the next day pop the oats into the microwave for 1 minute 15 seconds.  Did I mention not to stir them?

As the oats warm up, the moisture will help to steam the blueberries and they’ll burst along the bottom of the dish.  Once nuked (then and only then) you can give them a good stir.  Trust me.  Waiting to stir til the end is key.  You’ll actually be able to taste the itty bit of brown sugar rather than it getting lost in the oaty wilderness.

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These are my new favorite oats because they retain that oaty texture I adore and because they are friggin delicious.  I think that’s reason enough.

I like to make 2-3 servings of these oats at a time for grab-and-go breakfasts throughout the work week.  They release a glorious smell when reheated that I guarantee will waft out of the kitchen and make your coworkers jealous.

Promise.

Stats:  250 calories, 39g carbs, 8g fat, 7g protein, 6g fiber

(1/2 cup quick oats, 1/4 cup blueberries, 1tsp brown sugar, 10 grams TJ’s unsalted dry toasted slice almonds)

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Game day chili

Hope you guys got some quality football viewing in this Sunday!  The Browns were VICTORIOUS as was my first ever attempt at making chili!

Any time I’m trying out a new dish, I like to find a fairly basic recipe to help guide me through the process.  After some googling, I decided to go with this recipe for “easy chili” because it had a high rating and because any recipe that has “easy” in the title gets extra brownie points in my book.  And I think we all know how I feel about brownies by now.

Even with this “easy” recipe in hand, there were a couple of obstacles I needed to overcome:  I happen to LOATHE kidney beans and the BF happens to LOATHE red meat.  Yet, we both claim to LOVE chili.  ???  I’m not sure how that works exactly, but it reminds me of being a picky eater as a kid and refusing to try guacamole just because it was green.  Kermit said it best.  It ain’t easy being green.

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Healthified black forest brownie a la mode

Sometimes I get these crazy intense cravings for over-the-top decadent desserts.  Not just a cookie, or a biscotti, or chocolate covered blueberry but something sinfully scrumptious.  You know.  One of those desserts that makes your eyes flutter back into your head in excited anticipation as soon as you set your sights on it.

I was having one of THOSE cravings the other night.  I NEEDED something sweet and succulent.  This was serious.

I put my thinking cap on (which happens to be the only cap in my closet), and headed to the kitchen in search of inspiration. 

I grabbed a handful of cherries from the fridge:DSCF7343

After halving and depitting them, I  threw them in a pot.  Then I added 1/4 cup of water.  Hmmmmm….

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I figured I could make some sort of fruity compote by simmering the cherries until the water evaporated.  That sounded like it could possibly be tasty.

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Hmmm what could go with this cherry compote?  I headed to the freezer and grabbed a deep chocolate Vitatop:

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Then I put the vitatop on a plate, admired its chocolate beauty, then popped that puppy into the microwave for 1 minute 15 seconds until it was nice and hot!

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THEN, I topped the vitatop with a 1/3 cup of slow churned vanilla ice cream, of course:

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And my cherry compote:

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I admired it from all angles, which took a while due to the aforementioned eye fluttering:

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And then I dove in.  Face first.

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Truth be told, I have no idea what to call this concoction… but healthified black forest brownie a la mode sounds quite appropriate 🙂

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Reasons NOT to feel guilty: 186 calories, 43g carbs, 4g fat, 7g protein, 10g fiber

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