Crockpot Mexican Style shredded chicken February 13, 2012

I love mexican food! It’s delicious. Plain and simple. But we have two little kids and we’re usually pretty broke, so going out to eat isn’t typically an option. I found the recipe for the chicken a couple months ago, but it called for a packet of taco seasoning. I was pretty upset. We didn’t have any taco seasoning and I was CRAVING shredded chicken tacos. So after a little research, and using what we had, I created my own taco seasoning mix. I have to say, it’s better than the store bought stuff AND you can control the sodium content.
This recipe has so many possibilities. I have always simply made it for tacos, but we ALWAYS have leftovers. I have used it in a veggie salad, we use it on nachos, I am sure it would be amazing as chicken enchiladas. Heck, I used it as a tortilla chip “dip” while my Hubby was making the nachos (I was starving lol). The best part of this chicken really has to be the fact that I ALWAYS have the ingredients on hand, not to mention you’re house will smell amazing all day long! Ok, in to the recipe.

Crockpot Mexican Style Shredded Chicken

Ingredients
-1.5-2 lbs chicken breast (I put mine in straight from the freezer)
-1 recipe/packet taco seasoning
-1 cup salsa
-1 cup chicken broth/stock or water
-mexican style hot sauce, to taste (I used Tapatio)

Taco Seasoning:
-2 tsp chili powder (I found some hot mexican chili powder that was delicious!)
-1 1/2 tsp paprika
-1 1/2 tsp cumin
-1 tsp onion powder
-3/4 tsp garlic salt
-cayenne, to taste (we like it kinda spicy so I used approx a 1/2tsp)

Directions

Place chicken in the crockpot and sprinkle taco seasoning over the top

Add the salsa and the chicken broth

Cover and cook on low for approx 8hrs or on high for approx 4hrs. You will know the chicken is done if it falls apart when you try to pick it up with a fork.

Pull out some of the chicken and use 2 forks (or your hands, but it will be REALLY hot) to pull it apart. This should be really easy, I can usually just smash it with one of the forks and call it good. Return the chicken to the crockpot and repeat until it is all shredded up. Let the chicken sit in the crockpot, on low, until you’re ready to use it.

It will be extra flavorful and juicy now. Use it whatever way you see fit.

We chose tacos, and they were AMAZING!!!!!

Crockpot Mac and Cheese January 16, 2012

Truth be told, I’m not the biggest fan of mac and cheese. I’m not exactly sure why, but that’s just the way it is. However, I do have 2 little kids, and kids LOVE mac and cheese. I usually just go the stereotypical route with the boxed stuff, but I am trying to get away from things that are so overly processed. I came across this recipe on Pinterest the other day and really wanted to try it. I had the perfect chance recently, a friend came over with her little one for a playdate. So, I said I’d make lunch and I gave this recipe a try. It turned out awesome. It wasn’t overly saucey, but it wasn’t dry either. Plus, I was able to make it in the crockpot so it was beyond simple. It did make quite a bit more than I expected… I would say this recipe could serve anywhere between 6-10 people.

Crockpot Mac and Cheese

Ingredients
-1 1/2 cups milk
-One 12 oz can evaporated milk (I used skim)
-1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled to room temp
-3 large eggs
-1/2 tsp salt
-3 cups (12 oz) shredded cheese (I bought the preshredded bagged stuff, I used 2 cups of cheddar blend and 1 cup colby jack)
-1/2 pound elbow macaroni or mini penne tubes, par cooked and drained (this means cook them for about five minutes until tender but not completely cooked)
-Freshly ground black pepper to taste
-1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
-Paprika

Directions
Spray the inside of your crockpot with cooking spray

Combine the first four ingredients in your crockpot and whisk until smooth. It is very important to make sure your butter is room temp, I added mine a little early and it made the mixture a little weird.

Add par cooked noodles

Top with your 3 cups of shredded cheese

Pepper to taste

Give it a stir to combine everything

Top with the parmesan and paprika.
Cover and cook on high for 30 mins. Once the 30 minutes is up reduce heat to low and cook for an additonal 2 hours. When it’s done it should look like this:

(I didn’t take this picture, it’s from the original blog, I’m just an idiot and forgot to take a pic of the final product… It did look like this though.)