Feeding the Family: Our Go-To Recipes
I've been wanting to write this blog for quite some time now, but haven't yet for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it just seems to fall to the wayside. Life and work have seemingly shifted in to warp speed of of a sudden, and I feel like I barely have time to sit down, let alone write a blog. The second reason for procrastinating on writing this blog post, and probably the main reason, is that I almost feel like I'm being somewhat hypocritical in doing so. Why? Well, by no means do I consider myself a great cook. I'm good, sure, but that's it. I'd call myself average in my cooking. I'm not the kind of person that can look in my pantry, pick out 5 items, and make an awesome meal. Not in the slightest. I'm a follow-a-recipe gal. And when I have a few that I've made over and over again, only then do I start tweaking it a little bit to suit my family's taste. All of this is why I have been procrastinating on writing the blog.
But today, I decided it's time. We're slowly clawing our way out of the winter months, and I thought now would be a great time to share a few of our family's favorites for the colder months. Total honesty: these are NOT all healthy. Most of them are less healthy. And admittedly we are horrible at eating vegetables, so when we do eat them, it's usually steamed - either over the stove or in the microwave. So if veggies don't appear in these recipes (and most of these don't include them), then add those veggies to your meal however you like best. Now let's get to the good stuff!
Disclaimer: These recipes are NOT mine. They are either from our family or were found on Pinterest. I've included the link to the original recipes for anyone who wants to check them out.
Crock Pot Chicken Taquitos
(Original recipe here)
These are actually in the Crock Pot as we speak. (Don't worry, we have working smoke alarms and it's a newer Crock Pot, so there will be no Jack Pearson heartbreak here.) These are an absolute FAVORITE in our house. Toddler and husband approved and so so easy.
Ingredients:
2-3 uncooked chicken breasts 1 packet taco seasoning 8 ounces Neufchatel cheese, cubed (the original recipe calls for 6 oz. cream cheese, but we found that Neufchatel cheese is lower in fat, so we use a bit more for a creamier result) 1/3 cup water 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese 8-10 taco-sized flour tortillas
Directions:
1. Place chicken in Crock Pot (or whatever type of slow cooker that you own). Sprinkle with taco seasoning, add cream cheese cubes, and water. Cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low, or for 4-6 hours on high. We've made this so often that I don't use the recipe any more and honestly, sometimes I forget the order in which everything goes in after the chicken, so occasionally it doesn't happen this way. It doesn't affect the end product though.
2. Preheat oven to 400 F.
3. While the oven is pre-heating. unplug the Crock Pot. Shred the chicken IN the Crock Pot (you can easily do this with 2 forks), add cheese, and stir so so that everything is evenly dispersed.
4. Spoon shredded chicken into the center of flour tortillas and roll tightly. (If your kids want to help, this is a good step for that. We let Annie help with spooning the meat on and then roll is ourselves.) Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spray generously with olive oil spray. If you are like us and don't have OO spray, you can just brush it on instead.
5. Cook in oven for 8-12 minutes, or until tortillas are crisp. You can serve with any kind of dip or eat them plain, whatever you like! We haven't done it yet, but I imagine you could add some things like peppers, onions, etc.
6. Enjoy!
Classic Meatloaf
(Original recipe here)
Who doesn't like a good meatloaf? This one is good. It's a classic meatloaf with a glaze that has just enough sweetness in it to make your mouth water. Another staple in our house. And Annie LOVES helping when I make it.
Ingredients:
For the Meatloaf: 1 1/2 -2 pounds ground beef (or ground turkey, both work well for this!) 1 small onion - we aren't big on onions in our family, so I use a bit of onion flakes for some slight flavor instead of using an actual onion 1/2 cup bread crumbs - I use Italian for flavor 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup parsley, chopped 1/4 cup milk 1 tablespoon garlic, minced (optional) 2 eggs, beaten Salt and pepper
For the Glaze: 1/2 cup Ketchup 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon mustard (we omit this, but leave it in if you like mustard. The glaze if fine without it though) Dash or 2 of Worcestershire sauce
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. WASH YOUR HANDS!
3. Place all of the meatloaf ingredients into a bowl, and using your clean hands, combine everything together.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the glaze.
5. Form meat mixture into a loaf in a bread pan or baking dish. Spread 1/3 of the glaze over the loaf.
6. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes.
7. Add about another 1/3 of the glaze after the 45 minutes and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Once the loaf is done (cut in the middle to make sure the meat isn't still pink), remove from the oven. You can top it with the additional glaze or save it for serving or leftovers, which is what I like to do.
8. Slice it up, serve with rice and some veggies, and enjoy!
White Chicken Chili
(Original recipe here)
This is literally the PERFECT meal for a cold and blustery fall or winter day. I love eating with nothing else, Dan loves dipping chips in it. Annie is hit or miss on whether she will eat it, so this might not be the best option for a toddler-approved meal. But I LOVE it nonetheless. My heart is warm (and stomach growling) just thinking about it. Side note, this one does require a bit more prep work, so we usually save it for a Saturday or Sunday meal.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil, divided 1 - 1 1/2 lb. boneless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes 1 medium onion, chopped - like the meatloaf, we aren't big on onions in our family, so I use a bit of onion flakes instead 3 cloves garlic, minced - I'm also not keen on mincing my own garlic cloves, so I used garlic powder as a substitute 1 tsp. salt - the recipe calls for kosher, but I've used regular and it works fine 1 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. dried oregano 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper 2 cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed 1 (14.5 oz) can chicken stock 2 (4 oz.) cans diced green chiles (optional) 1 cup reduced fat sour cream or greek yogurt 1/2 cup heavy cream or half-and-half Fresh cilantro and paprika for garnish (optional)
Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, heat 1 Tbs of the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and sauté, stirring occasionally, until it is no longer pink. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.
2. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil (if necessary) to the pan along with the onion/onion flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften, about 3-5 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic, salt, cumin, oregano, black pepper and cayenne and sauté 30-60 seconds more, just until fragrant. I'm notorious for getting distracted, so make sure you keep an eye on this so you don't burn it! It will sauté fast!!
4. Return the chicken to the pan and add the beans, chicken stock and green chiles. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Let simmer for 30 minutes. (Yay, I can walk away for a bit!)
5. When the chili is finished simmering, remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream and heavy cream or half-and-half. You don't want to do this over the heated stove top, because you don't want curdled cream!
6. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Serve warm, garnished with fresh cilantro and paprika if desired.
Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie
(Original recipe here)
This was a staple of my childhood, and is quickly becoming a popular meal in our house, now that I'm a parent. It's just one of those feel good comfort meals. You can garnish it with tomatoes if you want, but we don't. I serve it up with a side of mixed veggies. Annie LOVES it, and this is a really great meal that I have her help with. Also, as the name suggests, it's SUPER easy to make.
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey 1 onion chopped (again, I use onion flakes) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 -2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese depending on preference 1/2 cup Original Bisquick™ mix 1 cup milk
2 eggs
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray, or grease with butter.
2. In stove top skillet, brown meat and onion over medium heat; drain. Stir in salt.
3. Spread in pie plate and sprinkle with cheese. Annie is really good at helping for this step.
4. In small bowl, stir remaining ingredients (Bisquick, milk, eggs) with fork or wire whisk until blended. Pour into pie plate.
5. Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Eat up!
Chicken-Bean-Potato Dish
This one doesn't have some catchy name or anything. I found it on Pinterest but it's not tied to a website or blog. This is another SUPER easy dish to make and barely takes ANY prep whatsoever. It's got veggies built in too - a plus! I made this for my Grandma a few years back when we were visiting her in Florida, and she loved it. It's simple, but delicious.
Ingredients:
4-6 raw chicken breasts
Your choice of potatoes. You can use red, yellow, new variety. It doesn't really matter.
Green beans - fresh or canned. We use fresh. You could also use broccoli or asparagus.
1 packet of dry Italian dressing
1 stick of butter, melted
Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Arrange veggies and chicken in dish as desired. We usually Beans, Chicken, Potatoes (from left to right), but it doesn't really matter.
3. Once arranged, sprinkle a packet of dry Italian dressing over everything, and top with a stick of melted butter.
4. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.
5. Eat up!
There are a number of other recipes that are in frequent rotation at our house, but maybe i'll save those for a later post. I'm really trying to make it a goal to meal plan better, so perhaps down the road, I'll be writing a post about meal planning and will include some more recipes then.
I would love to hear what some of your go-to recipes are! Feel free to share what they are, as well as recipes!