Salsa Chicken Quesadillas

Another great application for the left over Salsa Chicken!

 

My Sous Chef for this meal: Owen

Start with a griddle or skillet and lay down your tortillas. Being that I cook for a herd, I use a griddle! crank the heat to medium-high

Layer on some cheddar cheese and an even layer of the shredded chicken

Top with more cheese. Cheddar, queso fresco or even Italian blend (pictured here!) work well

FLIP! You want it to be toasty but not black

Give 'em a good squish so everything glues together

Once the second side is as toasty as the first, it is ready to eat! You can cut in half, quarters or eights. Serve with a veggie or fruit and a dip (ranch or salsa are popular choices here)

Tamales

I don't exactly know what is causing the sudden interest in Mexican foods... maybe it is because Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner. All last week I tinkered with Mexican dishes and Mike and I even ate at a Mexican place for our date night over the weekend. Huh.

This was my very first time making Tamales and I thought they turned out pretty well. So did The Hubster. The boys loved them, the girls made their usual faces at dinner. I will continue to experiment with this recipe, but it is a great one to start with!

Start with corn husks. Yep- corn husks.I found these in the spice isle of the grocery store. Some places keep them in the international or ethnic isle. Soak these in hot water for 2+ hours. (follow the directions on the package for best results)

(I brought the water to a boil, turned off the heat and left it. Notice the pot is on my counter... you just want to soften the husks, not cook them)

Now it's masa time! You will need 2 pounds

 I didn't realize there is actualMasa flour, I used stone ground cornmeal! I think next time I will seek out the Masa flour and see how I like it.

 add in your spices:

3 Tablespoons each; paprika, salt, chili powder, garlic powder

1 Tablespoon cumin seeds

 Whisk

2 cups of oil. I was supposed to use corn... but I only had olive or canola, so I opted for canola. It worked just fine.

Mix until it all comes together

 Slowly add in 2 quarts (4 cups) of warm chicken broth, about 1 cup at a time. If it is too dry, add more broth (if you run out of broth you can use water) you want your masa dough to be the consistency of peanut butter.

Ta-Da! Now you want to build your tamales. This was pretty daunting... but let me tell you, it is way easier than you think it is!

Spread your dough from one end to the other. I tried both ways and it seemed like going from the narrow end to the wide end worked best for me. you want the dough to cover the husk with out being too thick (the dough is too thick in this picture)

Put a spoonful of filling in your tamale. You could use veggies, beef, pork or salsa chicken

 Fold the narrow end up to the edge of the wide end

Fold one side over....

Then the other. As you finish folding your tamales, you want to put them in your steaming basket. I put my steaming insert on its side and stacked them as I made them... when I set the steaming insert up in it's correct position, the tamales were standing with the folded end down, exposed end towards the top.

Time to steam!

 

Okay... so everything is a learning opportunity, right?! My steaming insert is too short for my tamales! I will not be held back by little obstacles!! I came up with a genius solution!!

Is that clever or what?! It worked perfectly!

Bring 3qt of water to a boil and reduce to medium heat. cook for at least two hours, ours went for longer because that's how long it took me to get to them.

Add more water as needed- don't let your pan boil dry!

Your masa will be firm. Remove tamales and let cool for a few minutes (5...3... however long your kids can wait) We melted white Queso cheese on these beauties but you could also do a traditional red sauce.

If you happen to have any left over- store in the fridge or freezer (I keep the husks on while being stored) reheat in the microwave.

Salsa Chicken

This one is a favorite with my Herd. It is so easy to make, you can make it single or multiply to as much as you need. It is a slow cooker meal which is even better! This chicken can be eaten alone or used to create many other dishes (I even like to eat the chicken on salads or with plain old tortilla chips!)

    

Boneless, skinless chicken- this is about 3 pounds- throw it into the slow cooker. We use a double sized one at our house.

 

 Take the seeds out of one poblano chili. If you want more heat to your dish, leave them in!

 

Dice the pepper. (I told 'ya The Hubster could cook! He's got mad knife skills!)

    

Add the diced pepper and one jar of salsa to the crock pot. We use a mild salsa with black beans and corn. Again, if you want more spice, pick a hotter salsa. (at this point I sometimes add extra black beans and frozen corn! We just didn't have any on hand this time)

 Toss in one packet of taco seasoning.

(For tacos we always buy the reduced sodium recipe, but in this application, it needs the normal packet. The chicken does not get seasoned with salt/pepper, so the sodium in the seasoning packet is definitely needed...)

Cook for 4 hours on low, shred using two forks to pull the meat apart and cook another 2 hours

How easy is that?!

Enjoy hot, cold or in another dish....

Like; Tamales or quesadillas!

This Week's Sunday Dinner: Pork Chops

I love pork... bacon, ham, chops, loin and roast. It is all great in my book.

When it comes to chops I like them made with  good ol' Shake & Bake and topped with applesauce. That is terrific weeknight preparation.

For a Sunday Dinner, I absolutely love Apple & Sage Pork Chops.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1 1/2 tsp Rubbed Sage

1 tsp Dry Minced Garlic

1 tsp Dry Thyme Leaves

1/2 tsp Ground allspice

1/2 tsp Paprika

1 Tbs Flour

1tsp Salt

4 Boneless Pork Chops

2 Tbs Olive Oil

1 Medium Onion, thinly sliced

2 Red Apples, thinly sliced

1/2 Cup Apple Juice

1Tbs Brown Sugar

As you can imagine, my Herd requires doubling this recipe.

I start by slicing up the onion and apple and setting them aside.

Mix the flour, all of the spices and salt in a bowl.

Cover each side of the chops with this mixture.

(DO NOT throw the left over mix away!)

Heat the olive oil in a pan on med-high heat

Add chops, brown on both sides.

Remove from skilet.

Two pans at once! Those are some mad skills!

Add onion; cook and stir 3 minutes, or until tender

Add in apples; cook and stir 2 minutes.

(I like honey crisp in general. This time we used granny smith and

I wasn't as crazy about the end product)

Stir in Apple juice, brown sugar and remaining seasoned flour until well mixed.

Return chops to the skillet.

Bring to a boil (this will thicken the sauce)

Reduce heat to low

Cover and simmer 5 minutes or until desired doneness.

Prep time:15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

*Recipe credit*

McCormick.com

**Photography Credit**

Ainsley

~Prize for most disruptive~

OWEN! (are we surprised?)

No, really... he was no trouble. He just likes to be in the thick of things!

He wants to be near mommy.

And he wants to be a helper

(and by helper I really mean taste-tester)

This is a meal the adults like a lot.

The kids, not so much.

But then again they would live on hot dogs, chicken nuggets and pizza if allowed.

Vanilla Sugar

Vanilla beans can be expensive so I get every little bit of life I can out of them!

This is the perfect use of the leftover pods I had from making vanilla bean scones.

Get all the good stuff (referred to as caviar) out for you recipe

This is what you are left with. Kind of useless, but there is still life in this juicy pod!

Put some sugar in a designated container, put the pods in

Top off with more sugar. Put the lid on and shake.

I let it set for a few days, shaking a few times a day

See the specs?! The oils in the pod seep into the sugar crystals and the remaining caviar loosens from the pod and stays in the sugar! Dispose of pod once it dries out a little.

 Store in an airtight container until used.

What do you use Vanilla sugar for?

ANYTHING!

I have used it in sugar cookies, coffee, and to top breakfast breads... and see what you can do with it!