Taco Seasoning Mix

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Taco Seasoning Mix

Of all the mixes I use this one the MOST.  I go through a quart jar full every couple of months.

The sweetener gives a bit of twang to balance out the spice.  It’s the secret to a mix that tastes like the commercial ones, but can be left out if you’re against it. If you want yours super spicy add some cayenne, about a teaspoon to the whole jar.

If you buy your spices at Aldi, one bottle of spice is about 1 cup.

Quart Jar Taco Mix:

1 cup chili powder

1 cup dried onion flakes

¾ cup ground cumin

¾ cup garlic salt

1/3 cup sugar (or equivalent stevia blend substitute)

3 Tbs Paprika

Use 2 Tbs of mix for each pound of meat. You can also use this mix to make big batch taco meat for the freezer with the slow cooker bulk cooking method.

 

Batch Cooking Ground Beef in Your Slow Cooker

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I first figured out this worked on a desperate day when I didn’t have a kitchen. The no kitchen season of our lives lasted almost a year and I relied on my slow cooker and electric griddle for making almost everything.

Since then, I’ve reused this method changing the seasoning to suit the dish.  Taco seasoning for batch taco meat. Italian seasoning for pizza or spaghetti. Read more…

The Easiest Shredded Chicken for Your Freezer

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Chicken salad, enchiladas, tostadas, tetrazzini, chicken spaghetti, pot pie, taquitos, quesadillas.  They all start with shredded  chicken.  When there’s a recipe sized bag ready to go in the freezer, the rest of the meal doesn’t seem so hard.

I bought frozen grilled chicken pieces from Aldi yesterday.  My stress level had come to that. It was kind of gross and expensive.  Not completely awful, but nothing like home marinated and grilled chicken. If your stress level makes frozen grilled chicken a necessity, no judgement here.  But there is a simple way to have prepped chicken at home.

Fill your slow cooker up to 3/4 full with chicken breasts, then pour water into the spaces until it comes just even with the top of the chicken. Season with salt, pepper, celery seed, garlic powder, and onion powder. Slow cook for 4-5 hours.  Remove chicken from the broth and let it cool until cool enough to handle.

Drop a breast or 2 (enough for your typical recipe) into a quart size freezer baggie, press out all the air and seal.  Then mush it around with your fingers until it is all shredded up.  Moosh the chicken flat, and freeze it.  Simple, right?

You also have all that great chicken broth.  If you use it up within the week, you can put it in a pitcher in your fridge.  (We rarely have juice, so it’s safe at our house.  If you often have lovely pitchers of stuff in your fridge, you should probably label it.  Or hide around the corner with a video camera…..)

For those of you who need recipes.  Here you go:

Print
Easy Shredded Chicken for Your Freezer

Ingredients

  • 2 lb chicken breasts
  • 8 cups water
  • 3 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp celery seed

Instructions

  1. Combine everything in a 5 quart slow cooker.
  2. Cook on high for 4-5 hours. (No need to thaw the chicken first.)
  3. Remove chicken from broth and cool until cool enough to handle.
  4. Place 2 small or 1 large chicken chicken breast into each freezer bag and shred by mooshing the outside of the bag with your fingers.
  5. Remove all the air and freeze flat.
https://www.groceryshrink.com/the-secret-to-easy-shredded-chicken-for-your-freezer/

P.S.  For those of you who are wondering, most brands of freezer bags are BPA free.  I specifically checked Ziploc brand and Up and Up brands, but several others are safe too.

 

One Pot Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip

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 Our guest recipe today is from Aimee of The Captivating Corner. If you need a no mess dish to take to a gathering, for hospitality, or an after school snack, this one has your back.   If you are really in a hurry it can be made on the stovetop too.

 
Here is an oldie but goodie appetizer. It is a personal favorite of mine, I have had it so many times that I have lost count. Maybe it is new for you? Seriously no matter if I am entertaining at my own house or going over to a friend or family’s place of residence for entertainment, you can guarantee that this will be there as an appetizer! 
 

Ingredients: 

4 cups Shredded Chicken

1 cup Cheddar Cheese

1/4 cup Hot Sauce

1/4 cup Ranch Dressing

1 package cream cheese

Steps: 

In a crock pot, put in cream cheese, 1/4 cup ranch dressing, and 1/4 cup hot sauce. 1 cup cheddar cheese and 4 cups shredded chicken. After 1 hour stir ingredients. Cook ingredients for an additional 3 hours or until cream cheese is melted. That’s it folks, a one pot wonder. You can’t get simpler than this recipe. That is part of the reason why I enjoy a crock pot so much!

The dip can be paired with a wide variety of foodie snacks. My favorites include crackers and celery. I have also had it with pretzels and tortilla chips.

What event would you take this appetizer to?

Creamy Southwest Soup: A slow cooked masterpiece

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I ♥ pinterest.  From homemade Valentines, to kitchen remodel, to new healthy recipes–the inspiration is all there.  Tonight’s dinner is no exception.

Mondays and Wednesdays I play Mama Taxi and arrive home at dinner time.  By then blood sugars are low and tempers are high, so using the Slow Cooker is a must.

The original recipe for this dish came from Jenna at Held Scraptive.  I modified it to fit my pantry stash and to enlarge it for our family.

Creamy Southwest Soup

2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can tomates and green chilies, undrained

2 cans whole kernel corn, undrained

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (we used 2 cups of black beans cooked from dry)

1 brick, 8 oz,  1/3 less fat cream cheese

1 envelope ranch dressing mix (I had some of JPs Bacon Ranch Mix that was a gift that I used, but next time I’ll use a homemade ranch mix recipe.)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic salt

1/4 cup cilantro chopped

1 cup brown rice, cooked (we had some leftover from Sunday so I threw it in to make the soup stretch.) (I also threw in half a can of leftover enchilada sauce, just to use it up.)

In a 4-5 quart slow cooker, combine tomatoes, corn, and beans.  Place the brick of cream cheese on top, in the center away from the sides. Place chicken in a single layer over the top, sprinkle with spices.  Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours.  Turn off the heat.  Shred the chicken with two forks, and stir in the cream cheese, brown rice, and cilantro.   We served ours with cornbread muffins.

How it went over with the family:  I thought it was delicious (but I will eat anything….). It fit in well with my FYM healthy eating plan.  1 Cup has 255 calories; 22g carbs, 7g fat, and 22 g protein.  Darren said, “Wow, this has great flavor but it’s going to be spicy for the kids.”  Heidi drank 3 tall glasses of water but ate her whole bowl.  She declared it tasty but HOT.  Caleb, Heather and Brandon ate it all without a word (but I had to feed Brandon’s to him).  Dub didn’t mind the spiciness but hated the look of it, especially the tomatoes.  Darren had to feed him every bite and hid the tomatoes under stuff.  All in all for as picky as my family is, this is a recipe that I would try again.

I am just about sold on boneless skinless chicken.  It has been going on sale around here between $1-$1.39 a lb and to come home and just shred with 2 forks and eat was a huge mind reliever.  If DH was out of work, I would have used a $.69/lb whole chickens and not complain, but wowza was this easy and delicious.