Buffalo Chicken Chili

I ran across this recipe for Buffalo Chicken Chili on Pinterest last week. And although I typically think of enjoying chili during the cool fall months of the year, this sounded too good to wait! Greg (and his friends too) love ANYTHING flavored with buffalo sauce, so I figured that he would love it.

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground chicken

1 tablespoon of oil

1 onion, diced

1/2 cup of celery, sliced

1/2 cup of carrots, diced

2 clove of garlic

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 cup of beer or chicken broth

1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes

1 15 ounce can of great northern beans

1 teaspoon of paprika

1/2 teaspoon of oregano

1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

1/2 cup of hot sauce (or to taste)

salt and pepper to taste

Toppings: ranch dressing, sour cream, shredded cheese, blue cheese, crackers, etc...

Directions:
1) Dice up the 1/2 cup of carrots.

2) Cut up the 1/2 cup of celery.

3) Dice up the onion.

4) Heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan.

5) Add the carrots into the pan.

6) Add the 1/2 cup of celery into the pan.

7) Add the onion into the pan.

8) Cook the carrots, celery, and onion until tender-- for around 10 minutes.

9) In the meantime, brown up the ground chicken in another pan.

10) Once the carrots, celery, and onion are tender, add the 2 cloves of garlic into the pan.

11) Add the 1 teaspoon of cumin into the pan.

12) Add the 1 cup of beer or chicken broth into the pan-- this attempt, I just used chicken broth. Next time I'll try using beer.

13) Transfer the veggie mix into the large pot with the ground chicken.

14) Add the whole can of diced tomatoes (with the water) into the pot.

15) Add the whole can of great northern beans into the pot.

16) Add the 1 teaspoon of paprika.

17) Add the 1/2 teaspoon of oregano.

18) Add the 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Careful not to ingest any of this because I accidentally did and was coughing up a storm! :-S

19) Add the 1/2 cup of hot sauce. In our household we have to have like three bottles of Frank's Hot Sauce in our pantry at all times because Greg just loves this stuff.

20) Simmer the chili for another 15 or so minutes.

21) Top with whatever type of topping you'd like-- Greg treated it more like chili-- with sour cream, chips (or crackers) and shredded cheese. I wanted mine to stay more like chicken wings, so I just topped mine with a bit of sour cream and ranch dressing.

Verdict: OH SO GOOD!! I lost count around Greg's helping #4 but if that is any indicator of how much he liked this dinner... well then I'll say that I did my job ;-) I am not a huge fan of buffalo sauce/chicken wings/etc and I probably have a pretty puny threshold for hotness. However, this chili (according to the recipe) was NOT unbearable in the buffalo-hotness-scale by any means. In my opinion, it has JUST the right about of "kick"

It was SUPER easy to make and I can't wait to serve it up again!! :-)

<3 Kelly

Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice

I was craving chinese food on Friday, so I consulted Pinterest and found this recipe for Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice. I decided to try out the recipe and was pleasantly surprised that it turned out delicious!!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of uncooked brown rice

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1 pound of shrimp, shelled and deveined

1 1/2 cups of fresh pineapple, cut into chunks

5 scallions, chopped

3 cloves of garlic

3 tablespoons of soy sauce

Cilantro for garnish

Directions:
1.) Cook the brown rice as directed.

2.) Cut your shrimp into small pieces.

3.) Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet or wok.

4.) On high heat, add the shrimp to the pan and cook for a few minutes until almost fully cooked through.

5.) Chop up the scallions.

6.) Add the scallions to the pan.

7.) Add the 3 cloves of garlic to the pan as well.

8.) While the shrimp, scallions, and garlic are cooking together for about a minute, cut up your pineapple.

9.) Add the 1 1/2 cups of pineapple into the pan.

10.) Add all of the rice to the pan.

11.) Add the 3 tablespoons of soy sauce.

12.) Stir the ingredients together so that the dish is fully mixed.

13.) Top with cilantro and enjoy!

Verdict: Greg was a little skeptical about this recipe when I told him that it wasn't "traditional" fried rice (peas, carrots, scrambled eggs, etc) but we both LOVED this dish.

It was light, flavorful, tasty-- and HEALTHY! It was extremely easy to make-- and easy to clean up too! In 5 minutes we tag-teamed the kitchen and ran out of the front door to catch a 7:30pm movie just in time for date night :-)

YUM!!

<3 Kelly

Crock Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls

Guess what WE'RE having for dinner tonight!!

I started this SUPER easy and SUPER delicious meal in our crock pot this morning and I cannot wait to get home tonight and have dinner waiting for us :-)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts

14.4 ounce can of diced tomatoes with mild green chilies

15 ounce can of black beans

8 ounces of frozen corn

1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro

14.4 ounce can of chicken broth (I use about double that actually)

3 scallions, chopped

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of onion powder

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (to taste)

Salt (to taste)

Brown rice (or tortillas if you want to make a burrito instead of a bowl)

Directions:
1.) Add the 14 ounces of chicken broth into your crock pot. Greg hates when his chicken is dried out, so he pressured me into using almost double that amount of chicken broth ;-) It's your prerogative.

2.) Add the can of black beans into the crock pot.

3.) Add the 8 ounces of frozen corn into your crock pot (if you're like me, I had to double check if 8 ounces is equal to 1 cup, and yes... that is the case ;-))

4.) Add the can of diced tomatoes into the crock pot.

5.) Dice up the cilantro and add the 1/4 cup into the crock pot.

6.) Cut up three scallions and add into the crock pot.

7.) Measure out 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and add into the crock pot.

8.) Measure out 1 teaspoon of cumin and add into the crock pot.

9.) At the time of when this photo was taken, I was out of onion powder... so make sure that you add 1 teaspoon of onion powder into the crock pot as well!

10.) Measure out 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (to taste) I was out of cayenne pepper as well (geez... some cook) so I just used chili powder?? ;-)

11.) Mix up the ingredients in the crock pot.

12.) Season the chicken breast with salt and then lay the chicken on top of the ingredients.

13.) Cook the chicken on low for 10 hours or high for 6 hours.

14.) 30 minutes before serving, remove the chicken breast and shred it. Return the chicken to the crock pot and stir. Adjust the salt and seasoning to taste.

15.) Serve over a bed of rice, topped with a bit of cheese, sour cream, and guacamole and you have your own chicken burrito bowl-- much like that from Chipotle! ;-)

Dig in and enjoy!

I know I will be snarfing down this dish as soon as I get home today!! :-)

<3 Kelly