My Favorite Slow Cooker Chicken Chili Recipe

Yield: serves 8

Prep Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours

The easiest, more flavorful chicken chili recipe. Let the slow cooker do all the work!

Ingredients:

• 2 (14 ounce) cans petite diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 (7 or 8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 2 large skinless boneless chicken breasts (about 1 and 1/2 pounds)
• 1 cup (240ml) chicken broth (I use reduced sodium)
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
• 1 large green bell pepper, diced
• 1 (14 ounce) can corn (rinsed and drained) or 1 package of frozen corn
• 1 (14 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 small jalapeño, minced (remove seeds and ribs)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons chili powder (reduce to 1 teaspoon for less spicy chili)
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin (for that key chili taste!)
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 4 ounces brick-style light cream cheese (or full fat)

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients except the cream cheese to a slow cooker. Give everything a stir as best you can to mix. Cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3 hours.
2. Remove the chicken and chop into pieces or shred into pieces, then return chicken to the slow cooker and give everything a few stirs. Stir in the cream cheese until fully melted and combined. Taste and add more salt or add ground black pepper to taste. Cover the slow cooker and cook for about 10-15 more minutes.
3. Serve warm topped with fresh cilantro, shredded cheese, or crackers. 

Recipe and photo by sallysbakingaddiction.com SO GOOD!!!

Beignets

Ingredients

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (105 degrees F)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup evaporated milk
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted, plus more for dusting
1/8 cup vegetable shortening, such as Crisco
8 cups peanut oil
Confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling


Directions

In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Stir to dissolve. Add the sugar, salt, eggs and evaporated milk. Beat until blended. Add 2 cups of the flour by big spoonfuls. Beat until smooth. Add the shortening, and then beat in the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

In a large electric fryer, preheat the oil to 360 degrees F.

Roll out the dough to a 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured work surface. Cut the dough into 2 1/2-inch squares.

In batches of 8, fry the squares in the hot oil until lightly browned on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle heavily with confectioners' sugar.

Boyfriend Cookie

 

Author: Cookies & Cups

Serves: 36 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1¼ old-fashioned rolled oats
• 4 ounces milk chocolate, frozen (I used 4 Hershey's Bars)
• 1½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¾ cup M&M'S
• ½ cup chopped walnuts, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix together the butter and both sugars for 2 minutes until fluffy on medium speed. Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix until just combined.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Place the oats in the blender and grind until fine. It's okay to have some larger pieces of oat left. Whisk the oats into the flour mixture and then with the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture into the sugar mixture.
4. Place the frozen chocolate bars into the blender and pulse to grind. The chocolate should resemble small pebbles.
5. With the mixer still on low add in the ground chocolate, chocolate chips, M&M'S and walnuts, if desired, mixing until just combined.
6. Using a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons) scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are lightly golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3-4 minutes and then transfer to a wore rack to cool completely.
7. Store airtight for up to 3 days.

Notes

recipe from The I Heart Naptime Cookbook.

**Slight adaptation: I used 2¼ cups flour, as I prefer a slightly thicker cookie.

Blueberry Butter

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¼ cup plus one tablespoon fresh or frozen blueberries
• 2 tablespoons sugar
  Powered by Chicory

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl or food processor and pulse until smooth.

Notes

If you do not have a food processor, you may use the blade on an Immersion Blender, or soften the butter to room temperature and place the butter in a deep bowl. Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth, add sugar and blueberries and beat until smooth.

Kale Chicken Salad

One package of Costco Kale Salad Mix
Grilled chicken cut into bite-size pieces
Pinches of goat cheese
Mandrin oranges
Avocados

Poppy Seed Dressing

PUMPKIN FRENCH TOAST BAKE

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 - 7 1/2 cups (~225 g) 1-inch bread cubes (depending on type of bread)*
• 7 large eggs
• 2 cups (480 ml) milk (any kind)*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup (87 g) pumpkin butter (or 1/2 cup pumpkin puree)*
• 3-4 tablespoons (41-55 g) brown sugar for topping
• optional: Nuts, like pecan or walnuts

Instructions

1. Cut any kind of bread into 1-inch cubes - I recommend a crusty, whole grain variety, but sandwich bread will work, too. Just use enough slice to fill a lightly greased 9x13-inch baking dish quite full.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, pumpkin butter and pie spice until well combined. Pour over bread and push down with a spoon or your hands until it's all soaked and mostly covered. Cover with saran wrap or lid and refrigerate overnight.
3. In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C), uncover and top with brown sugar, additional pumpkin pie spice and nuts (optional). Bake for 35-45 minutes or golden brown and no longer wet.
4. Serve immediately with maple syrup, honey or agave nectar. Store leftovers in the refrigerator covered for up to a couple days.

Notes

* For the bread cubes, just use as much bread as it takes to fill the bottom of your dish generously, plus up about 1 to 1.5 inches. If you've added too much to soak up the liquid, just remove some. And if it looks too wet, add some more bread.
* I HIGHLY recommend using pumpkin butter as it has a concentrated pumpkin flavor and is much sweeter than puree. But if using puree instead of butter, it's important to compensate the flavor by adding a bit more puree, pumpkin pie spice, and a little agave nectar, brown sugar or maple syrup to the batter. Otherwise, it will lack that delicious fall, pumpkin flavor you're going for.
* I used 2%, but use skim or low-fat for a lighter recipe. Alternatively, use non-dairy such as soy or almond.

Photo and recipe from The Minimalist Baker!!!

Crockpot Butternut Squash, Chicken, and Quinoa Soup

 

Cook Time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours

Servings 6 -8

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 (4 cups) small butternut squash
• 1 can (15.25 ounces) kidney beans
• 1 can (15 ounces) corn
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) petite diced tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 packet (1.12 ounces) fajita seasoning mix
• 5 cups chicken broth
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Optional: fresh parsley, sour cream, cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Remove the fat from the chicken. Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve to remove the bitter saponin coating.
2. Peel, seed, and chop the butternut squash into small bite-sized pieces (or buy pre-chopped butternut squash for an even faster prep).
3. Rinse and drain the kidney beans and corn.
4. Lightly grease your slow cooker with nonstick spray (I use a 6-quart crockpot). Add in the chicken, quinoa, chopped squash, kidney beans, corn, undrained tomatoes, garlic, and fajita seasoning packet. (OR try a chili seasoning packet if you enjoy those flavors better).
5. Pour in the chicken broth and give everything a good stir.
6. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or until the quinoa is cooked through and the squash is very tender.
7. At this point you can remove some of the squash and mash it with a potato masher and then put it back in the soup. This is totally optional, but makes it a bit heartier.
8. Add some salt and pepper to taste and any other seasonings desired. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
9. If desired, stir in some sour cream (we use and love reduced fat or fat free) and some freshly grated cheddar cheese.
10. NOTE: slow cookers are known for cooking at different speeds - if yours tends to cook faster your chicken and squash could be done even earlier than 3 hours and alternatively everything may take longer to cook in a cooler slow cooker. The longer this cooks the more liquid the quinoa absorbs - if you don't mind that's fine, otherwise you can always add some more chicken broth and seasoning.

Recipe and photo from http://www.chelseasmessyapron.com