Crock Pot Chicken

The easiest week night dinner ever! And it tastes delicious too. Throw 2 ingredients in the Crock when you leave in the morning, and come home to dinner ready to be served. This is a welcome gift in my household at the end of the day.



Crock Pot Chicken

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

* 2 8oz Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (Fresh or Frozen)

* 1 16oz Jar of Salsa (Any kind you like, I sometimes will do a jar and a half if I want extra salsa over rice)

Directions

Place chicken breasts in Crock Pot. Pour the salsa over the top. Get creative here, you can literally use any kind you like, a bean based salsa, salsa verde, mango salsa, the sky is the limit. Set Crock Pot to low and cook for 6 hours.

That's it folks. I will usually pair this with rice or shred it up and put it in tortillas to make tacos.

Good Ates

Check out my other blog Good Ates for some delicious recipes the rest of this week!

Lightened up Mashed Potatoes

Here is my version of Mashed Potatoes that is a little lighter and more friendly on the waistline. I would love to eat the most decadent food every day, but bottom line is, it's just not good for you. I'm not interested in flavorless food, so I'm always looking for ways to make things healthier while still tasting great. I paired this recipe up with some meatloaf I made this week, which you can see over on my other blog here later this week. If you want a more decadent Mashed Potatoes recipe check out my blog post here.

Lightened up Mashed Potatoes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

* 6 Yukon Potatoes peeled and chopped up into 1 1/2 inch pieces
* 1 Tablespoon salt
* 3/4 cup Low Fat Buttermilk
* 1/8 cup Parmesan Cheese
* 1 Tablespoon butter
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Directions

Place chopped potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water and add salt. Bring to a boil, turn heat down to Medium low and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to hot pot. Add in buttermilk, Parmesan and butter. Mash until you reach your desired consistency. Place in a serving bowl and top with chives. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Muffin Melts

I recently downloaded the Pioneer Woman's E-cookbook and found this delicious recipe. It's perfect for making ahead and only takes minutes to bake in the morning. Try this recipe today, tomorrow and the next day. I promise you will not be disappointed in the least! Go out and buy the Pioneer Woman's cookbook, or even better, download it in minutes to your iPad. It comes with a lot of great extras and videos. I highly recommend it!

 Grab your eggs. You can learn how to make my perfect hard boiled eggs every time here

 Put cold water into a big pot

 Add the eggs

 And a Teaspoon of salt, bring to a boil

 Remove the eggs from the heat and let sit for 15 minutes

Promptly place them into an ice bath and peel

 Fry up some bacon

 Chop it up

 Also chop the eggs you hard boiled

 Get a big bowl and throw in the bacon

 Eggs

 Cheese

 Mayo

 Dijon

 Garlic Powder

 Worcestershire

 Mix it all up

 Cut your English Muffins in half, and spread the mixture evenly over them

 Feast on the deliciousness that awaits you

Muffin Melts
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
(I cut the recipe above in half, these are my measurements)
* 6 Hard Boiled Eggs
* 6 Strips of Bacon
* 1 Cup of Grated Sharp Cheddar
* 1/2 Cup of Mayonnaise
* 1/2 Tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
* 1/4 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder
* Dash of Worcestershire
* 3 English Muffins

Directions
Hard Boil your eggs and chop them up. Cook up 6 strips of bacon, chop them up too. Grate 1 cup of Sharp Cheddar Cheese. Throw all these ingredients in a bowl. Add in the Mayo, Dijon Mustard, Garlic Powder, Worcestershire and mix until thoroughly combined. You can use this mixture now or refrigerate overnight. Cut your English Muffins in half. Spread the egg mixture over the top of the 6 English Muffin halves. Set your oven to broil, and put them in for 3-5 minutes until the cheese starts to bubble and turns golden brown.
Recipe Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman

Egg In the Hole

Good Morning Everyone! Here's a lazy Sunday breakfast you can whip up in no time at all.One of our favorite breakfasts. I've been making this every weekend for what seems like a couple of months now. It's so easy and yet impressive. You can change it up, add bacon on top, chives, cheese, whatever suits your fancy. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE THE BUTTER! Butter with eggs is a must! Don't argue, just do it.

Get your eggs out, I've gotten a lot of questions about where I got my egg crate from, so for those of you who wanted to know, I bought it at Anthropologie

 Get the butter, don't be shy here

 Grab a piece of your favorite bread

 Use your biscuit cutter to cut a hole in the center. The rim of a glass would also work

Pull it out

Pop out the center

 Melt the butter in your pan until it starts to bubble like so

 Add in the bread

Carefully crack an egg into the center

Top with a little salt and pepper

After about a minute, flip it and adore your golden delicious buttery toast

Don't forget to flip your center disc

Plate, release the perfectly cooked yolk

Dip and enjoy!

Egg In the Hole
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

* 1 slice Of Italian White Bread or whatever your favorite bread is (I'm currently loving the Orowheat White Italian)
* 1 Tablespoon Butter per Egg in the Hole
* 1 whole Egg
* Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions
With a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass, press a hole in the center of the slice of bread.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and melt butter. When the butter bubbles, place the piece of bread and the hole remnant in the skillet and crack the egg into the center of hole.

Cook for about a minute. Do not move the bread or things could get messy. Sprinkle the egg with salt and pepper. Flip it over with a spatula and salt and pepper the other side.

Cook until the yolk feels, to the touch, still soft without feeling overly underdone.

Plate, dip in your circle or deliciousness into the hole and enjoy!

Chicken Rollatini

Try out this easy yet impressive dish. You can make it light using egg whites and part skim cheese or go all out with the full fat. Everything in moderation, right? I made this last night, so it's easy enough for a weeknight dish. I also added my  favorite recipe for salad dressing. Add it to an Arugula salad that will pair perfectly with this dish.

Chicken Rollatini

 Start off with Chicken breasts

 Filet them in half so they're nice and thin

 Season both sides with Salt and Pepper

 Prepare breadcrumb mixture and egg wash

 Grate a little of your Mozzarella to put into spinach mixture

 Mix together ricotta, shredded mozzarella, remaining egg wash, remaining Parmesan and spread a couple tablespoons on each filet

 Roll them up

 Dip into egg wash

 Then into bread crumbs

Place them seam side down in a baking pan

 Pour yourself a glass of wine and take a picture. Why? Because you deserve it after washing the chicken off your hands between every shot.

 What is this? Glad you asked. It's my homemade cheese cutter my brother-in-law made me for Christmas. Want a tutorial, check it out on my other site here

 Slice your Mozzarella nice and thin like

 Take your glorious Rollatini's out of the oven

 Top with Marinara

 And that sliced Mozzarella and put back in the oven for a few more minutes

 Plate and let your eyes feast

 Mouth watering Rollatini's in no time

Enjoy!

Chicken Rollatini
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

* 4 Chicken Breast fileted in half
* 1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/4 cup egg wash (you can use egg whites or egg beaters to lighten up the dish)
* 3/4 cup frozen spinach, squeeze dry
* 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
* 6 oz mozzarella (real mozzarella, the kind you find floating in water
* 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil, or you can use a Pam olive oil spray
* 1 cup marinara sauce
* Salt and Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°.Wash and dry breasts, filet in half so they're nice and thin. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Lightly coat baking dish or pan with olive oil or spray. Combine breadcrumbs and half the Parmesan cheese in a bowl and half the egg wash in another.

Shred 2 oz of mozzarella cheese and combine with other half of Parmesan, squeezed spinach, rest of egg wash, and ricotta cheese.

Lay chicken filets on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of spinach mixture on each filet. Roll each one and lay seam side down.

Dip chicken in egg wash, then in breadcrumbs and lay seam side down in a baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the chicken. Drizzle with olive oil.

Slice remaining mozzarella into thin slices. Make sure you have enough slices to cover each Rollatini.

Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven, top with marinara sauce and sliced mozzarella cheese.

Bake until cheese is melted and bubbling, 4-5 minutes. Serve with additional sauce on bottom of the plate sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

And now the Salad Dressing:

 Pour some Olive Oil in a bowl

 Add lemon juice, salt and pepper

 Whisk together

 Drizzle over your favorite salad

Easy Salad Dressing
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

* 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
* 1/2 Lemon Juiced
* Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Whisk together and drizzle over your favorite salad. Amen!