Wordless Wednesday: Flavors of Summer

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Cooking Thursday: Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

 

Happy Thursday to you Friends!

Do you love your slow cooker as much as I love mine? 

It is definitely a go-to tool in my kitchen. I just love the convenience of prepping a little, then throwing a bunch of ingredients in there, set it and then letting it cook all day. It perfumes the house, inserts lots of flavor into whatever dish I'm making, and at the end there's a wonderful soup, stew or other dish all ready in time for dinner. 

I had shared previously about slow cooker pork fajitas that I have saved under my recipe tab. This is a similar concept only with chicken breasts. I never really have a set ingredient list...more a method for making fajitas this way. 

I take the protein of choice (if it's chicken breasts they cook on low for about 4 hours. If it's bigger, like a pork roast, it might take more like 7-8 hours on low. (or obviously you could cook on high for less time). I let the meat slow cook in the seasonings salsa, citrus etc. Then when it's getting close to being done I like to sort of stir fry up the veggies in a skillet with the same fajita seasonings. And then add them into the slow cooker for the last few minutes of cooking. That way the veggies still have a little bite to them instead of getting mushy. 

So here are the ingredients and what I do:

*chicken breasts (size depending on your family - I only did 3 for Matt & I)

*jar of salsa (I used about 3/4 of a jar for the 3 chicken breasts)

*fajita seasoning (I like the McCormicks seasoning packets and did 1 packet for that amount of breasts but might want 2 packets for more or a pork roast)

*1-2 Tbsp of taco seasoning

*juice of 1/2 an orange

*juice of a lime

*drizzle of honey (maybe a tbsp or so)

*1/2 an onion, sliced

*red, yellow, green peppers, sliced (chose as many peppers or whatever color you like - for this dish I did 3 full sized peppers)

I add salsa to the bottom of the slow cooker to cover the bottom of the slow cooker. I sprinkled 1/4 of a packet of the fajita seasoning onto the salsa. Then I place the chicken breasts on top and salt and peppered them. I then poured a bit more salsa on top of each breast and sprinkled more of the fajita seasoning on top leaving about 1/4 of the packet left for the veggies later. I added the taco seasoning and the citrus juices and the honey. I stirred it up a little and then set the slow cooker on low for about 4 hours (or whenever the meat looks done). 

When the meat is cooked through shred it up and switch cooker to warm. Then put a skillet over medium high heat. Slice up the onion and peppers. Add a little oil to the skillet and add all the veggies. Saute them and add a little salt and pepper as you go. After about 5 minutes add a little more oil if needed and the rest of the fajita seasoning packet. Add a few sprinkles of taco seasoning as well. Saute until the veggies are getting soft but still have a bite to them.Turn off the stove and add the veggies to the slow cooker. Stir all together and keep warm until ready to eat. Serve with soft torillas. I like to wrap mine in damp paper towels and microwave for a minute to get them nice and soft. Add toppings of choice like sour cream, taco sauce, cheese, avocado etc. We had tomatoes to use up so I threw them on top of our tortillas too. 

It's such an easy and flavorful dinner. And versatile. If you want to add more salsa or more citrus or even a splash of chicken broth to the slow cooker then go for it. You really can't mess it up. I think it's just the profile of the zest of the fajita and taco seasoning, with the sweet citrus & honey, and the tang of the salsa that works together so well. It's one of my Hubby's faves and the leftovers always get eaten up too. 

If you try it I hope you enjoy!

xoxo

Cooking Thursday: Smashed Tater Tot Salad & Chocolate Fondue

 

Hello beautiful Friends!

Happy end of week to you. The weekend is right around the corner, yay! I survived the blizzard here. My Hubby had to be gone to North Dakota for a few days for work - but I braved it with my Ruby and Bubba and we got probably another 8 inches of snow. Matty mine gets home in just a few hours in time to see it's all winter wonderland yet again. At least it sure is pretty. ❄️

But it's been kind of nice having cozy time all to myself. I've done some crafting, some cleaning projects, watched some girlie shows and even did some coloring as I listened to zen music and dreamed on Spring. Lol

I love how with alcohol markers the color is so saturating -even the back of the page is pretty. 

 I had shared that for Valentines I had made my blogging friend Mari's air fryer steak bites (you can find her at mari's little corner of the world blog here. ) And you should go look up those steak bites - they were amazing!! 

And to go with it I had made us this smashed tater tot salad that was so good too. You cook up some tater tots. Take them out part way through and give them a smash and then put them in to cook until golden brown. Cut and toss your fresh ingredients. Mix the tots and the fresh salad ingredients together. Make a wonderful lemony creamy dressing and then pour over the salad and toss. I garnished with some chopped chives. I found the recipe on social media from @kalejunkie and I highly recommend it as a great side dish! It was fresh, crunchy, salty, creamy and tangy. 

Here's the recipe. I halved this since it was just the 2 of us and we still had leftovers (it was good cold the next day too). 

So good!! 😋

And then for dessert I made some chocolate fondue. I don't remember where I got the recipe but I've had it forever. This recipe was more than enough for the 2 of us and we had leftovers the next night too. 

You take 1 c. heavy cream

12 oz good chocolate broken into pieces

and a little pinch of salt

It couldn't be easier - you add the pinch of salt to the heavy cream in a saucepan. Put the saucepan over medium heat and stir once in a while until the cream is scalding. So it's hot enough to form bubbles but don't let it boil. You break up the chocolate into a bowl (I used semi sweet Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate bar broken up, and Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips to all equal 12 oz). When the cream is hot enough you pour it over the chocolate and stir until everything mixes nice and smooth. Put it into a fondue pot or small slow cooker or whichever way you want to keep the chocolate warm. I've had a set of these mugs, that fit a tealight under them, for years and they work great. Serve the fondue with dippers like: berries, orange slices, nilla wafers, marshmallows, broken pieces of angel food cake or pound cake, and salty things are good too (think potato chips or pretzels). 

For fun variations you could add cinnamon and cayenne to the chocolate to make it like a spicy Mexican hot chocolate. Or you could add orange zest for fruity chocolate. Or use white chocolate. You could also steep the cream for a few hours with herbs before using - like lavender (which would be really good with white chocolate). Use your imagination! 

It sure is a fun and very romantic treat to share! 😉❤️

Have a blessed weekend and if you try any of these dishes I hope you enjoy! xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

Hello and happy Monday beautiful Friends!

First of all, thanks again to all who entered the giveaway. I posted the winners earlier this morning - so go back and look at that post if you want to see who won.

It is freezing in the northwoods today! It was double digits below zero this morning out there. And I need to go out and run errands and go to my mammogram appointment. Brrr! I'm not sure if I'll get this post done before I need to go but I'll post it this afternoon if I don't. 

How was your weekend? The update here was it was a nice mellow one for Matt & I. We went to our usual Saturday mass and went out for dinner. We did things around the house. But we also went out to my Uncle's place yesterday. He's the one that is a retired priest and he recently had surgery. He lives about 50 minutes away. We went to check on him and I had made some soup, banana bread, a pasta meal, and some cookies to bring him. We hung out and visited and played some cards with him. We also did some chores around the house for him - including Matt doing some snow removal and we brought in some firewood for his wood burning stove. It was a lovely visit and he's happily healing up really well. 

Now on to this cold week ahead...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

yogurt & berries, coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

mammo appt, errands, some home projects and some fun ones, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

how I'm looking forward to snuggling under a blanket with a good book

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

the look of big evergreen trees filled with snow ❄️

CURRENTLY READING

Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe by Debbie Johnson

ON THE TV TODAY:

  Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother & the office, Junk or Jackpot on HGTV, Best Medicine, the Pitt, Shark Tank, Miss Scarlet & All Creatures Great and Small on PBS, cooking shows and movies

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftover creamy chicken wild rice soup (really good with an Italian bent as I threw some cut up red pepper in it too, and added a little pesto. I had also deglazed the roux with some wine too 😋) I will share the recipe in the future

TUESDAY -  

WEDNESDAY -  

THURSDAY - 

FRIDAY - 

*not sure about the rest of the menu this week yet, but with this cold weather it would sure be good to do a little baking! 

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

read, bake, craft

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

we're doing a few trips this year - I've never thought to do this...but I am a list person so it speaks to me :) 

FROM THE CAMERA:

We got more snow over the weekend as you can see from Matt's truck. Lol

With the cold and the snow, Ruby says it's good snuggle in weather. Bubba agrees and loves to hang out in the weirdest places. 😂

On Sunday we brought my Uncle some goodies I made including this homemade creamy chicken wild soup, a slow cooked homemade pasta sauce (with pasta, garlic bread & a salad), and some sourdough chocolate chip cookies I made from my sourdough starter discard. I also made and brought him some banana bread. He was so appreciative and said he felt treated like a king. 💗

It was snowing the day we drove to his place and the trees were so pretty. I love his long driveway lined by evergreens.

In his foyer he still has this little ode to our former pope Francis

And up his stairs I love this collection of family photos. This is my Dad's side of the family and my Uncle and Dad are 2 of 9 kids. 

And you may think that's a lot of kiddos - but here are my great grandparents...Martin and Clara:

And they had 17 children, with only 1 set of twins!! Can you imagine? My Grandpa was one of the oldest of 17 kids. The picture below isn't even all of the kids yet... if you count there are only 16 and she was going to have 1 more! Those good Polish Catholic farm living folks. Lol 😉

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. 

For the Lord's love and peace to fill 2026. ❤️ 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way to loving our neighbors as ourselves. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Wishing you blessings on your week ahead and that wherever you are that you are nice and cozy. 

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Cooking Thursday: Turkey Noodle Soup (& a few Holiday Treat Gift Ideas)

 

Hello my dear and wonderful Friends!

Yay for almost the weekend ahead to get more Christmas preparations done. I've been doing some baking and making this week. I've got candles glowing in the kitchen as I work and it looks snowy and lovely outside.  I've been working on some things to freeze and some for gifts to give soon. I'll share more about some holiday ideas in a minute. 

But first I thought I would share the recipe for how I make my yearly turkey noodle soup after Thanksgiving. It's always so comforting and yummy and a great side to a perfect leftover turkey sandwich! 😋

I had shared how I make a homemade turkey stock or bone broth several days before Thanksgiving. You can read more about that from an old post here. And I use that stock to make my soup. I didn't think to take a pic of the soup but here is the recipe I created for how I make it. 

TURKEY NOODLE SOUP

Ingredients:

Whatever leftover chopped turkey you'd like to throw in(dark meat is good here)

1/2 onion, chopped

1-2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

splash of olive oil

2 Tbsp butter

 2 Tbsp flour 

6 c. turkey stock

salt & pepper to taste

2 Tbsp cooking sherry

1/2 c. heavy cream 

1-2 c. noodles of choice (I use wide Amish noodles)

Directions:

In a large pot saute the onion, carrots and onion in the butter and a splash of olive oil over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and stir another minute. Add the flour and cook it out stirring continuously another few minutes. Then pour in the stock and bring to light boil. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the noodles and cook according to time on package directions. When only a few minutes left on the time for the noodles add your chopped turkey. When noodles are done turn to low (or remove from heat if really hot). Stir in sherry and cream and cook a few minutes more until they are blended and warm with soup. Enjoy!

I also thought I'd share some of the treats I'm making as various gifts (or together in gift baskets) for friends and family. I've been making a few other things I'll share another time including mini loaves of cranberry orange bread, fudge, and potpourri simmer pots with dried fruit. But today I thought I'd share sugared pecans (I like to make and put in festive tins) and oyster ranch crackers. I can attest to both as being very tasty and enjoyed by those who have tried them.

 

SUGARED PECANS

I have been making these sugared pecans for many years and they are based on a recipe I found in an old Mary Engelbreit magazine from many years ago. I found a recipe here. But I make them with only 1/4 c. of butter and 3&1/2 to 4 c. of pecans. I like the texture better. I find neat old tins in antique or thrift stores or find deals on new ones and use them to give these as gifts. They stay good for a few weeks if sealed well. I often put them in a sealed baggie and then wrap that in pretty tissue paper before putting in a tissue lined tin. 

RANCH OYSTER CRACKERS

And how you can you go wrong by taking melted butter and adding ranch seasoning and yummy herbs and seasonings. Tossing oyster crackers in it and baking them. They're very addicting - you've been warned! I use Pioneer Woman's recipe here. These could be put in festive little baggies and put in a gift bag, or even cute little jars for gift giving. 

 

Merry Christmas season to you and I hope your kitchen stays cozy and  is filled with the wonderful aromas of love baking away. 

 I wish for you days filled with peace and joy. 

xoxo