Crock Pot and Baked Chimichangas

Some days I am super lazy in the kitchen. But, that's okay because my lazy enabling friend the crock pot makes some mighty fine dinners for us. This one is a take on my yummy fattening friend the chimichanga.

Baked Chimichangas ... Yum.

Whatcha need:

1 medium white or yellow onion
1 green bell pepper
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 pound round steak (or other cheap cut of meat)
1 small can of tomato sauce
10 burrito sized tortillas
1 small can refried beans
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Chop up a white onion and one green bell pepper. Put them in a crock pot with a pound of round steak (or whatever cheap meat you got), 1 can of tomato sauce, and one packet of taco seasoning.

Cook your mixture on high for 6 hour or low on 8 hours. Then shred the meat with tongs when it's done cooking. It should fall apart fairly easily for you.

Now, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and oil the bottom of a foil lined pan.

Slather a few tablespoons of refried beans on your tortillas.

Then add a few healthy pinches of cheddar cheese. Cheese is good. Say it with me, ya'll!

Top the pile with your smells so good and makes your mouth water meat mixture.

Roll it up like a burrito (after all, a chimichanga is just a deep fried, or in our case baked, burrito).

Brush on a little bit of vegetable oil. And put it in your preheated oven.

Pull them out when they're toasty and golden like this.


Top those babies with more cheese, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or whatever else your heart desires. And then, ENJOY. Yummy good crock potty goodness.

Stuffed Turkey & Swiss Pita Pockets

I am seriously on the hunt for easy, summer recipes and ideas. I totally despise cooking full fledged heavy meals in the hot summer months. In fact, I'm thinking about lobbying Congress to make it illegal!! :-) How many of you wives and mothers are with me?

Turkey and Swiss Stuffed Pita Pockets

Whatcha Gonna Be Needin':
6 Pita Pockets, whole
6 slices swiss cheese
1 12 oz. package of turkey lunch meat, chopped
1/2 tub sliced white mushrooms
1/2 stick butter

This is a pita pocket. Pita pockets are your friends in the stinkin' hot dog days of summer.



You need to take a knife and make a slice into the pocket of the pita and separate it like so.



You can stuff a lot of stuff in that big ol' thing! So one pocket is plenty per person.



Lay a piece of cheese in there.



Toss on some sliced fresh mushrooms.



Add a pat or two of thin butter.



Top with chopped turkey breast.



Put them in a baking dish and cover it with foil. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until the butter and cheese are all melted. Add ranch dressing or mayo to your finish product. Or maybe even salsa. Or lettuce and tomatoes ... or ... or ... or...

Now, here is where the choices are endless. You can make pizza pockets with pepperoni, olives, and mozzarella. You can do taco pockets with taco meat and cheddar cheese. You can do veggie pockets. Really, it's just quick, easy, and coooool.

Simple Potato Soup

This is a one pot wonder that I make on nights when I have zero to no time. It's comfort food from a can, if you will.

Whatcha Need:
Potatoes- peeled, chopped, boiled, and strained
1 Lg. can chicken noodle soup
1 Lg. can cream of chicken soup
2 C. milk
salt, pepper, and garlic powder

First, boil your chunked up potatoes until they are just a bit past fork tender. Don't let them go very far past fork tender or the starches will develop too much and you'll just have a pot of mash on your hands. These are tender enough that when I stir them they start to fall apart. I like that for a soup consistency.



Add in your large can of chicken noodle soup. I just use good ol' condensed Campbells. But, you can add in whatever special soup you like right here. Just use the large can.



Add in your shredded chicken and ignore the sharp nature of this photo. The lighting in my kitchen is HORRRRIBLE so I do what I must.



Now, add in your large can of cream of chicken soup and think about all the casseroles you've made in your day. Good stuff.



Salt and pepper and garlic powder that pot of comfort.



Now, start pouring milk and stirring. Stop pouring when the soup is the consistency that you like.



It's done! YUM! Now, you can eat as is or you can hook it up with some bacon bits, sour cream, or green onions. Gooood stuff, baby!

White Chicken Chili

Oh this is good. This is good and easy, which makes it like 10 times more good. Oh yeah.

Whatcha Gonna Be Needin':
1 lg. white onion, chopped
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1 C. shredded chicken
1 small can green chiles
1 can medium Rotel
3 cans Great Northern Beans
8 oz. monterrey jack cheese, cubed or shredded
8 oz. pepper jack cheese, cubed or shredded

A Family Photo




Getcha onions all chopped and tossed in with some oil in a hot pan. Get those babies translucent.




Toss your chopped or shredded chicken pieces in here.



Now mix in your can of green chiles. Smell these babies ... these are gooood.



Now, I would be obliged if you'd mix in that can of Rotel. I use mild Rotel but you can use hot, if you feel the need to breathe fire.



What's this? Could it be me mixing in the cans of white beans? YUM!




Now mix in the milk and add a little salt and pepper. All is good and yummy with the white chili. Turn the heat down to about medium low right about here.



Cut the cheese, buddy. Shred it, dice it, or whatever ... just promise me you'll laugh when I say cut the cheese.



Melt your yummy nummy cheese into the pot now. Keep stirring so it breaks up and doesn't burn to the bottom. Isn't melted cheese pretty?



Bon appetite, mes amis!

Super Juicy Simpy Roasted Chicken

I found this recipe on allrecipes and just doctored it a bit to my own tastes. It makes the world's juiciest roasted chicken and it's so much cheaper than paying like $6-$7 for the rotisserie chickens at your local grocer.

Ingredients:
1 3-4 lb. chicken
onion powder
salt
black pepper
1/2 stick butter (I use light)
1 stalk/bunch of celery

The Pretty Group Shot ... every family needs one

After you rinse off (and out) your bird, sprinkle the inside and outside generously with onion powder, salt, and pepper. During this process you should crave Funyuns ... it's normal, I promise.

Now, slather that puppy with butter. Butter is good. Say it with me. Butter is normal, natural, and good to me. Tuck some inside the cavity, under skin, and on top of the bird. This will help create a crisp skin and seal the juice into the meat. Plus, butter tastes good.

Now, tuck that celery into the cavity of the bird. Don't make it tight but don't let it wiggle and wobble.

Stick that baby into the tanning bed aka oven at 350 degrees uncovered for appr. 30 minutes per pound. Just make sure the juice is running clear (if you can even tell with all the butter, yay!) and the center of the thickest portion of meat is at least 180 degrees.

I usually take this out of the oven when it's at about 175 degrees in the thickest piece of meat and cover it with foil for about 30 minutes. Then it comes perfectly to 180 degrees and it's tender, juicy, and slap yo mama good.

Okie Stirfry with Beef

Yes, I just went there. I just said Okie Stir fry. Why do I call it that? Because it's more stew-like than Asian and because I'm originally a product of Oklahoma (therefore, an Okie). This recipe is thanks to my Momma because she likes to create funky stuff like this. I like to steal her ideas, put my own spin on it, and then eat it until I'm blue in the face and never want to see a bell pepper again. Enjoy, my Okie and non-Okie friends!

Whatcha Gonna Need:

1 lb. steak (I used thin cut top sirloin) cut into thin strips
1 T of veg oil + 1 T of veg oil, separated
3 bell peppers of any color, cleaned and sliced thin
2 large onions
2 green zucchini
2 yellow squash
1 tub of button mushrooms, sliced
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 container of La Choy sweet and sour sauce
1/2 C. water
8 swirls of the pan of soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
steamed white rice for serving

Let's Get Okiefied ... or umm ... cookin':

Get your beef all chopped up and pretty. Then accessorize it with some salt and pepper. Beef is good and clean, I tell you.

Now we're gonna get tricky. We don't want to cook this beef. We just want to sear it. So, get your pan screaming hot and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil. I like the smoke point of veggie oil plus it doesn't smell weird when you fry in it. Okay, onto the beef. Sear it until it's no longer gray. Then turn it and do it again. Then take it off to rest on a pretty plate.

These beautiful strips of goodness are raw as heck in the center but nice and charred on the outside. We like that.

It's time to get your chop on. Slice and half those bell peppers. We had all green today.

Slice those onions into about 1/2 inch slices. Slice quick with a sharp knife and you won't cry. I promise. *sniff, sniff*

Add those to a big, heavy-bottomed pot on medium high heat with your other tablespoon of vegetable oil. Do you wanna know why I like vegetable oil? Oh, I already told you. P.S. I won't tell if you add some salt and pepper right here. In fact, I encourage you to do so.

Slice and halve your squash.

Then do the same thing with the zucchini. You have to because zucchini gets jealous.

Now add all ingredients from the squash and zucchini to the hot tub of peppers and onions. Youc an also throw in the mushrooms, too. It's all good, no worries. Don't forget to salt and pepper again. Layers are good. Kind of like donkeys.

The beef may rest no longer. It's time to add it to the yummies of veggies. Toss it in right on top 'cause it's pretty and good.

Now it's time to accessorize. These ingredients make our sauce. Oh, plus about 1/2 C. of water.

Now, add in your sauce ingredients so your meat and veggies can call themselves stir-fry. And because it's just that good man! Sometimes I always add in crushed red pepper flakes right here ... because I'm a crazy girl. That's why. After this, cover the pot, set the temperature to medium low (or 3 if you're number based) and let it rock and roll to the soft rock for about an hour.


When you come back, your Okie goodness whould look something like this. Oh yeah, baby. I'd get me a spoon and do a salt check right about now.

Ladle your pot of yummy on top of some white rice and say 'Thanks, Heather's Mom" because this is some goooood stuff.