Welcome to March!

So I went a little crazy because we have a lot coming up, and I totally blew our whole grocery budget in one fell swoop. I planned ten dinners and of course breakfast and lunch stuff . So, if you are interested, here is my menu. Hopefully it will help you with the next 10+ days.

Pesto Chicken
Easy Crock Pot Potato Soup
Quick and Easy Chicken Burritos
Trisha Yearwood Bean Stew
Homemade Pizza
Chicken Roll-Ups
Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup
Steak with veggies (I don't know how I'm going to cook it, but it was on sale at Smiths and Handsome is trying to eat more meat for lunches so I figure, two birds/one stone....)
Tin Foil Dinners
Italian Chicken Bake

Pesto Chicken in Crock Pot

4-5 Chicken Breasts

1 package of Ranch Dressing Powder

1, 8 oz. bottle of Pesto sauce 

Angel hair pasta

1/2 c. Chicken Broth

Place chicken breasts in crock pot, pour chicken broth, package of Ranch Dressing, and the bottle of pesto. Let cook on Low for 6-8 hours. 

Cook pasta like box instructions. Take chicken out and shred it. Place chicken and pasta back in crock pot and mix it all together. ENJOY!

Chicken Roll-Ups

4 large chicken breasts

1 bunch green onions

16oz cream cheese, softened

18 crescent rolls

1 pkg. crushed chicken flavored stuffing

Melted butter

8oz sour cream

2 cans cream of chicken soup

Milk to think sauce to desired consistency

Directions: Cook, then shred chicken. Mix cream cheese, chopped green onions and chicken together.

With each crescent roll: thin out the dough, scoop chicken mixture into the dough, roll up and make sure the chicken is completely covered in dough.

Glaze the dough with melted butter and roll the ball in crushed stuffing to coat it (Can be frozen at this point).

Place chicken roll-ups in a lightly greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.

Combine cream of chicken soup and sour cream in a small sauce pan to make a gravy. Use milk to thin it to desired consistency.

Trisha Yearwood Bean Stew

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 scallions (green onions), chopped

½-1 lb. ground beef

1 ½ Tbsp chili powder

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

1 (28oz) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes (not any other diced tomatoes)

1 (15oz) black beans, rinsed

1 (15oz) refried beans

1 medium red pepper

4 medium carrots, coarsely grated

½ tsp. brown sugar

Kosher salt

Topping options: cooked rice, sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and green onions and cook, stirring, for 1 min. Add the beef and cook breaking it up with a spoon., until starting to brown, 5-6 min; stir in the chili and cayenne and cook for 1 min. Add the tomatoes, beans, pepper, carrots, sugar and 1 cup water and a pinch of salt and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until the pepper is tender, 12-15 min. Serve with toppings if desired.

Crock Pot Street Tacos & Menue

So I know there isn't 7 recipes', but hopefully with this and Andra's drumsticks, leftovers, and hopefully a date night ;) you should be covered! These are a huge family favorite. We all love them! Brayden loves the heat so I always double the cayenne pepper, but you don't have to. I think it is pretty hot the way it is. Hope you love them like us!

Crock Pot Street Tacos

For the spice rub:
1T. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin or smoked cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or more to taste
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 lbs flank steak
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

Serving Options:
corn tortillas
shredded lettuce (we love shredded cabbage instead)
grated cheese
tomato
sour cream
salsa
cucumbers (odd I know, but DELICIOUS)

Mix all of the spice together in a small bowl for the spice rub.  Rub the spices into each side of the steak, using all of the mixture. Place the spice rubbed steak in the bottom of the crock pot.  Place the chopped onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno on top of the steak.  Cook for 7-8 hrs on low.  After the cook time has lapsed, remove the steak from the cock pot and shred with two forks.  Serve immediately or return to the crock pot for a few hours until you are ready to eat. 

Serve on corn tortillas with your favorite toppings. 

Sesame Chicken Rice Bowl

I haven't tried this one yet, but I love Chinese food! This is also a bit more ingredients than I typically like to use. But I am excited to try it.

Sesame Chicken {Gluten Free}

1 1/2 lbs of chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of San-J’s Wheat-Free Tamari Sauce

2 1/2 Tablespoons of rice vinegar plus 1 teaspoon 

1 cup gluten-free chicken broth

1/2 cup sugar 
1/4 cup cornstarch plus 2 teaspoons
2 egg whites, lightly beaten

1/2 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon garlic, minced
Red Pepper flakes
3 TBL sesame seeds
4-6 green onions, chopped
4 C cooked jasmine rice

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, 1/4 cup of the tamari sauce, 2 1/2 Tbl vinegar, and chicken broth. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine chicken pieces, remaining 1 Tablespoon of tamari, and 1 teaspoon of vinegar. Marinate chicken for at least 30 minutes. Once the chicken has marinated, add egg whites and cornstarch and stir until well-blended.

In your wok (or large skillet), heat oil over med-high heat. Cook chicken (in about 3 batches) until golden on both sides- this will take 3-5 minutes. Remove chicken from wok with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Cover with foil to keep the chicken warm. If you have more than a couple tablespoons of oil left in the wok, discard the remaining oil ( leave just a few tablespoons in the wok). 

Reduce the heat to med. Cook the garlic and pepper flakes for about a minute. Then add tamari sauce mixture. Increase heat to med-high and cook sauce for about 15 minutes. Stir remaining two teaspoonfuls of cornstarch into a little water and whisk it into the sauce. Once the sauce is thickened and bubbly, add the chicken and sesame seeds. Top with green onions and serve over jasmine rice.

Tomato Basil Chicken

This Tomato Basil Chicken will have you grabbing your fork at the 30 minute mark, which is great news when you need to have a nice, hot meal on the table quickly.  

Ingredients: (4 servings)

• 2 chicken breasts 
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
• 2 tsp minced fresh garlic
• 4 Tbsp cold butter
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• freshly grated Parmigiano reggiano cheese, for garnish

Written Directions:

Season chicken breasts with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.  Add a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to your skillet.  This may seem like quite a bit, but it will form the base for the sauce.  While waiting for the oil to heat up, go ahead and get your water going for the pasta. When the oil is HOT, add the chicken breasts.  After about 4-5 minutes, the chicken breasts should be ready to turn.  By the way, when did chicken breasts get SO HUGE?!   You'll want to cook them on the second side another 4-5 minutes,or until the juices run clear when you pierce them with a small sharp knife.  If you pounded yours out thinner, they will cook faster than this.

After the second side has been cooking for about 4 minutes, go ahead and add in the fresh tomatoes that you have chopped up.  Next, add the fresh basil that you have chopped into ribbons, the cold butter, the minced garlic, and you will probably want to add some more kosher salt and black pepper to season the sauce.  Now give it all a good stir so all those flavors will marry together.  
When your chicken is "done," turn the sauce down on the lowest setting to keep it all warm until the pasta is cooked, which should be any minute now.  At this point, if still waiting for the pasta, you can remove the cooked chicken to a cutting board, and after resting just a couple of minutes, cut the chicken into slices on the bias.   Divide the pasta among individual bowls, and top each with half of a chicken breast, sliced into pieces, and equal portions of the tomato basil sauce.  Top with more fresh basil and freshly grated Parmigiana reggiano cheese.