Chicken Barley Chili

My mom introduced me to this delicious and easy recipe that makes great leftovers. And she found it on the back of the Quaker Quick Barley box. I had a couple friends over to sample it and they approved. So give it a shot yourself.

Ingredients
1 (14 1/2 oz) can tomatoes diced, undrained
1 (16 oz) jar/can salsa or tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2 oz) can chicken broth
1 cup QUAKER Quick Barley
3 cups water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 1/4 oz) can whole kernel corn
3 cups chicken breast cooked and diced (about 3 chicken breasts)

Directions
1. Cook chicken in the oven for 30 minutes at 350. Dice into cubes and set aside.
2. In a large soup pot, combine the first 7 ingredients (tomatoes, salsa, chicken broth, barley, water, chili powder, and cumin)
3. Over high heat bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat to low.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add beans, corn, and chicken. Increase heat to high until chili comes to a boil. 

6. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for another 5 minutes, or until barley is tender. 

Top with shredded cheese and sour cream and enjoy. 


Credit to Quaker Oats for this recipe

Beef Stew

Well it's back to work after the holidays. Personally, I'm feeling a little bummed...I took all of my Christmas decorations down yesterday (sad) and I have no scheduled time off of work until Memorial Day (unless I take vacation...and I just might, hehe). Oh and it was 11 degrees this morning on my way to work (yuck!).

BUT, one of my Christmas presents helped to cheer me up yesterday. I've never owned a crock pot until now (thanks mom and dad!). I feel super old getting as excited as I did about a crock pot, but oh well, I'm excited. So of course I tried my awesome Christmas present out yesterday. I figured, what better recipe to try out and help me warm up from the cold than this beef stew recipe. It was my mom's originally, but I've modified it a little to fit my tastes. Enjoy!

 Ingredients
1 pound beef cubes/stew meat
1/2 cup flour (split into 2 1/4 cups)
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 can diced tomatoes
2 medium potatoes cubed with skin
1 can low sodium beef broth
1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Place meat, 1/4 cup of flour, and a couple dashes of pepper and salt in a ziploc bag. Seal the bag and shake it to cover the meat in the flour mixture. Set bag aside.

2. Cut up all veggies and place in crock pot.

3. Place meat on top of veggies.

4. Pour beef broth over all ingredients.
5. Cook on low in crock pot for 8 to 10 hours. If you're home you can stir the mixture periodically. If you leave it, that's ok.
6. About 30 minutes before you're ready to serve the stew, mix 1/4 cup of flour with 1/2 cup milk and pour into stew. Stir and let cook for remaining 30 minutes.

Serve with corn bread and enjoy.

Chocolate for the Holidays

This time of year is one of my favorite times of year. Yes, it's cold out and I prefer summer, but I love the holidays. Mostly I love the holidays because I get to see family and friends that I don't get to see very often. But I also love the holidays for all the goodies (maybe my waistline hates me for it, but I can't resist). I found two recipe ideas on pinterest that I wanted to give a try. Both were very delicious so I wanted to share: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (these babies are like brownies in cookie form) and Chocolate Dipped S'mores.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
powdered sugar for rolling

Directions
1. Combine sugar, oil, and cocoa in a large bowl. Beat until well blended.
2. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add to coca mixture, beating well.

4. Cover and refrigerate dough until it's firm enough to handle. You can place it in the freezer if you want it to firm up quicker. (I put my dough in the freezer for 10-15 minutes and it was ready to bake)
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease cookie sheet (or use silpat)
6. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, then roll them in powdered sugar. Place on a cookie sheet about two inches apart from each other. 

7. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Chocolate Dipped S'mores

Ingredients
2/3 of the graham crackers from 1 box
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 bag of marshmallows
Sprinkles

Directions
1. Cover cookie sheet in foil and heat oven to 400.
2. Break graham crackers in half or into quarters (whatever you prefer)
3. Place graham crackers on cookie sheet. Place a marshmallow on half of the graham crackers. Place chocolate chips (about 6 per half graham cracker) on the other half of the graham crackers on the cookie sheet.

4. Place cookie sheet in oven at 400 for 3-5 minutes (monitor very closely). Remove when marshmallows have gotten bigger and have started to brown very lightly and the chocolate chips are just starting to melt.
5. Remove cookie sheet from oven and place chocolate half on top of marshmallow half.

6. Melt remaining chocolate chips in microwave. Heat in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring each time. Dip s'mores in melted chocolate and place on parchment paper to dry. Add sprinkles if desired before the chocolate has hardened.

7. Let the chocolate harden and enjoy.

Tip: Adjust quantities of ingredients for the s'mores as desired based on the number you want to make.


Credit for the chocolate crinkle cookies goes to Chef in Training. Credit for the chocolate dipped s'mores idea goes to Tip Junkie.

Grilled Cheese with Avocado and Chicken

I was hoping I would have a recipe to share with Thanksgiving leftovers, but my family finished them off already! We didn't have much to start with...apparently we were all really hungry on Thanksgiving :). So instead, I'll share this really quick lunch or dinner idea--I had some leftover chicken in the fridge that I wanted to use and I found avocados at the store that looked delicious. So I decided to combine them both into this delicious grilled cheese sandwich.


Ingredients
2 slices wheat bread
2 slices provolone cheese
Half an avocado, sliced
Half a cooked chicken breast, sliced
1 tsp butter

Directions
1. Butter one side of each slice of bread. Place one slice on a skillet, butter side down and set the other slice aside. 
2. Slice chicken breast into this slices. Slice avocado into wedges. 
3. Place one slice of provolone on the bread slice in the skillet. Layer chicken slices and avocado slices on top. Add the next slice of provolone followed by the second slice of bread.

1st slice of break with cheese slice, chicken, and avocado

4. Grill each side of the sandwich in the skillet over medium heat until each side is golden brown and the cheese is melted.
5. Slice in half and enjoy the warm and delicious sandwich.

Potato Chowder

Every year when the weather gets colder, I end up making a lot of soup...it tastes good, helps warm me up, and makes for great leftovers. Potato Chowder is one easy and delicious soup recipe I got from my mom. And I just made that today. Here's the recipe, I recommend giving it a try:

Ingredients
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
1 can (8 oz or 15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 tsp thyme
Dash of pepper
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions
1. Combine potatoes and broth in large soup pot with tight-fitting lid. Bring to boil, then simmer until tender (about 10 minutes). 
2. Use fork to slightly mash up potatoes. You don't have to mash them up a lot, just break them apart a little.
3. Stir in carrots, corn, celery, and thyme. Cover and simmer until veggies are tender (about 15 minutes).

4. In a separate bowl, stir together milk and flour. Then add milk and flour mixture to the rest of the ingredients. Stir in cheese. A little bit of the cheese can be set aside to sprinkle on top of the soup; bacon bits are also good on top :).

Now serve and enjoy! 

Credit to my mom for sharing this recipe with my mom.