Shredded Mexican Chicken in the Crock-Pot

I always like to have some shredded chicken on hand for tacos, quesadillas, taco salad or Mexican lasagna.  Make this easy recipe in your crock-pot and freeze want you don't use for later ~ makes meal time so much faster!

Shredded Mexican Chicken

3 lbs. Boneless Chicken Breasts (about 6 large or 8 smaller breasts)
2 tsp. taco seasoning (I use Wildtree)
2 cups salsa

Spray the inside of your crock-pot with cooking spray.
Place your chicken breasts in the crock-pot and sprinkle with taco seasoning.
Pour salsa over the chicken breasts.
Cover crock-pot and cook on low for about 6 hours.
Shred the chicken with two forks and place back into the salsa.  Stir to combine.
Use immediately or freeze in Ziploc freezer bags.

Click here if you would like more information about Wildtree products.








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Brownie Covered Oreos

Love oreo cookies?  Love brownies? 
Combine the two and taste just how well they go together!
YUM!!!!

This is all you need, plus the eggs, oil and water called for on the brownie mix.

Make sure you use brownie mix without add ins.  Mine had chocolate chips and it was more difficult to dip them with the chocolate chips in the mix.

Just dip the oreos into prepared brownie mix and place them in a well greased muffin tin.

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.  Be careful not to over bake or your cookie will get hard quickly.  As soon as you remove them from the oven, take a plastic knife and run it around the edges so that you can get your cookies out before they stick.

After removing them from the muffin tin, let the cookies cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes.

Enjoy them just as they are, or decorate them with white chocolate and sprinkles as I did in the first photo.

Try not to eat them all when they come out of the oven :)

Recipe idea from Picky Palate.



Roasted Vegetable Pizza

My favorite way to fix veggies is to roast them in the oven.  Oven roasting really seems to bring out the flavor and it's a great way to use up those leftovers hiding out in your crisper.  I just throw them all together on a cookie sheet, toss them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
My favorite combination is zucchini, grape tomatoes, onion and green pepper.  Corn is really good too if you have it. Yum.

Did you know that Crisco now has their own line of olive oil?

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemake Program, I received these three bottles of Crisco Olive Oil to try.
I was really excited to get them because I use olive oil a lot.  And free stuff is always fun!

Since I love roasted veggies so much, I decided to try them on pizza.  What a great decision that was!
So good!  Of course I had to make half of it pepperoni for our picky teenager.  Like veggies might kill her or something :)

Oven Roasted Veggie Pizza

Assortment of fresh veggies (I used broccoli, grape tomatoes, onion and green pepper here)
Olive oil
Freshly ground salt and pepper
2 cups grated cheese (I used a combination of mozzarella and cheddar)
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Your favorite pizza sauce
Your favorite pizza crust (I use this one a lot)

Prepare your pizza crust.
Place your veggies in a bowl and toss with olive oil.  Lay them on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with freshly ground salt and pepper.  Place them in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until veggies are crisp tender.  Remove from oven.
Spoon pizza sauce over crust.  Top with veggies and grated cheeses.
Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly and crust is golden brown.

Rainbow Cupcakes

Rainbow cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day.



I had almost forgot I had this candy in my stash until I saw this idea on Cupcake Mania!
I already had chocolate cupcakes made, but wish I would have made rainbow cake too. 
Oh well, next year.

The Rainbow is an Airhead Xtremes Sweetly Sour Belt.

Happy Friday!!

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Strawberry Golden Oreo Cupcakes

If I could eat any dessert I wanted and never gain any weight, I would have a Dairy Queen Blizzard every day.  I would.
I love them.
Seriously.
Reese Cup is my favorite, but Strawberry Golden Oreo comes in a close second. 
Ice Cream, Golden Oreos and Strawberries - so yummy. 
So yummy there should be a cupcake version too.

This is what is looks like on the inside. 
See the golden oreo half on the bottom? 

Strawberry Golden Oreo Cupcakes

adapted from BakingJunkie



Cupcakes:
1 Box strawberry cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Supreme)
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup oil
4 eggs
24 Golden Oreos, quartered

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place half of a cookie, cream side up, in the bottom of your cupcake liner. Combine cake mix, buttermilk, oil and eggs. Gently fold in the oreos cookie pieces.
Spoon batter into cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3 full.
Bake approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool completely and then frost.

I frosted mine with vanilla buttercream, sprinkled them with crushed oreo cookie and a strawberry sliver on top.

Enjoy!

Linking To:
All Things Heart and Home
Serenity Now
Tatertots and Jello

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Did you make my BBQ Shredded Chicken in the crock-pot yet?
If you did and are wondering what to do with any leftovers ~ make pizza!

Just top your favorite pizza crust with BBQ Chicken, red onion and cheese or add your favorite toppings. Looks like I added green pepper to this one too.

I am constantly trying new recipes for pizza crust, but here is one of my favorites:

Really Simple Pizza Dough
recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Makes enough for one small, thin crust pizza. Double it if you like your pizza thick and bready.
1 1/2 cups flour (can replace up to half of this with whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Stir dry ingredients, including yeast, in a large bowl. Add water and olive oil, stirring mixture into as close to a ball as you can. Dump all clumps and floury bits onto a lightly floured surface and knead everything into a ball.
If you are finding this step difficult, one of the best tricks I picked up from my bread-making class is to simply pause. Leave the dough in a lightly-floured spot, put the empty bowl upside-down on top of it and come back in 2 to 5 minutes, at which point you will find the dough a lot more lovable.

Knead it for just a minute or two. Lightly oil the bowl (a spritz of cooking spray perfectly does the trick) where you had mixed it and dump the dough in, turn it over so all sides are coated, cover it in plastic wrap and leave it undisturbed for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size.
Dump it back on the floured counter, and gently press the air out of the dough with the palm of your hands. Fold the piece into an approximate ball shape, and let it sit under plastic wrap for 20 more minutes.

Sprinkle a pizza stone or baking sheet with cornmeal and preheat your oven to its top temperature. Roll out the pizza, toss on whatever topping and seasonings you like.
Bake it for about 10 minutes until it’s lightly blistered and impossible to resist.

Note - If you want a really quick and healthy crust - use a whole wheat tortilla. 

Thats what I do when I'm starving and don't want to take the time to make pizza crust :)

Happy Friday!

Shredded BBQ Chicken in the Crock-Pot and Oven Baked French Fries

We eat a lot of chicken in our house.  A lot.
Most of the time I grill it, because I try to be all healthy like during the week, but sometimes I like to spice things up and that's when I break out the old crock-pot and BBQ sauce.  The crock-pot does the work for me, so when I get home in the evening all I have to do is shred the chicken and make the fries.  I found these whole wheat hamburger buns at Trader Joes and really liked them.  I just wish their store was closer than two hours away!! 

Break out your crock-pot and make this dinner soon ~ you won't be sorry! 

Crock-Pot Shredded BBQ Chicken

recipe from Smashed Peas and Carrots



1.5 lbs boneless chicken breasts (or about 4 nice-sized ones)

1 18 oz bottle of barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's)

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup Italian dressing

2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

Place the chicken in your crockpot.  In a bowl mix the BBQ sauce, brown sugar, Italian dressing and Worcestershire sauce together.  Pour over chicken and set on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4. Once the chicken is fork tender go ahead and shred it up.  

Oven Baked French Fries

2-3 large baking potatoes

1 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Wash, dry and cut your raw potatoes into large pieces, steak fry size.  Place cut potatoes into a large bowl.  Add olive oil and toss to coat. Cover a baking sheet with foil and place potatoes onto your lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes or until fries are tender and lightly browned.

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