Tasteful Tuesday

Today's recipe is one of my favorite chicken recipes. It is just like the rotisserre chickens you get at the store but is much cheaper and almost just as easy. If you can get over the touching of yucky raw chicken, it is a cinch to throw together. Also, the drippings make fantastic gravy for your mashed potatoes.

Rosemary Chicken

1 whole chicken

Salt and pepper, enough to cover inside and out of chicken

1 onion, quartered

1 clove garlic

3 sprigs fresh parsley, or 1/2 Tablespoon dried

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 cup chicken broth

Remove neck and giblets from chicken, rinse and pat dry. Rub generously with salt and pepper, inside and out. Place in crockpot, breast side up. Put 2 onion wedges, garlic and parsley into chicken. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with rosemary and thyme. Put remaining onion wedges into crockpot and pour in chicken broth. Cook on high for about 4 hours.

Recipe Source: family cookbook, cousin Keleen

My Notes:

This works really well for Sunday dinner. Turn on the crockpot right before leaving for church. Come home, make mashed potatoes and it is ready to go.

Also, it is really best to gather all the ingredients that go in the chicken before you start...kind of like they do on cooking shows with everything in its own bowl.

Tasteful Tuesday

Today's recipes are in honor of my sister who just had a baby and called to say that she has missed my tasteful tuesday's because she always made what I posted that day. (Congrats Keri!) Since she will be short on time and energy, I am sharing 2 recipes that come together quickly with minimal ingredients and prep time. The Caramelized Beef Skewers are so yummy and who doesn't like eating their food on a stick?! The Sausage Chili is a new one to me and I won a prize at our recent chili cook-off for it. I think it is one of my husband's new favorites. I also posted a new pumpkin favorite that would be FANTASTIC for Thanksgiving on the recipe blog.

Caramelized Beef Skewers

1 lb steak, cut into strips (I usually use a london broil and cut it thin)

1/4 cup A1 sauce

1/4 cup barbeque sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon or spicy brown mustard

Marinate meat in 2 Tablespoons A1 sauce for 10 minutes or up to 24 hours. (I usually marintae it for 2-3 hours) Combine the rest of the A1 sauce with the barbeque sauce and mustard. Thread onto skewers and cook on grill for about 6 minutes, turning after 3 minutes. Serve immediately

Recipe Source:
Kraft Foods

Chicken Sausage Chili

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed

1 onion, chopped

1 cup barbeque sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon mustard

1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 ring chicken/turkey sausage (not the links, the big thick sausage rings)

Put all in crock pot and heat all day on low or 2-3 hours on high. Before serving, cut sausage into pieces. Serve with your favorite cornbread.

Recipe source:

Betty Crocker Weight loss for Families

Tasteful Tuesday

It has been miserable wet here the last few days. It still isn't very warm either. This is a good meal for those kinds of days. It is also quick and cooks in the crock pot all day. My kids love this with cornbread. I'll be posting the recipe for my favorite cornbread next week. If you want to try out an amazingly chocolate filled cookie, check out the recipe here.

Main Dish Baked Beans

(Sister Moses's recipe)

1 pound browned hamburger

1 pound cooked and crumbled bacon

1 large can Bush's Maple and Brown Sugar Pork n Beans

1 can each red, black, white beans

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon each salt and garlic salt

1 small onion chopped

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

Put it all in the crock pot and cook on high 3 hours. Then turn to low and cook until ready to serve.

My notes:

I usually make my own beans instead of purchasing canned ones. I cook a big pot and then divide into 2 cup portions. Make sure to keep some of the liquid from cooking your beans as you don't drain the canned ones. **2 cups of cooked beans are approximately what you get in a can.

Also, this is great in a dutch oven when camping.

I like to serve this with cornbread...recipe coming.

Tasteful Tuesday

Today's recipe is one of the most simple things I have thrown together in a long time. Sometime I get so excited about trying new recipes that I forget I still have places to be and a house to clean. This created minimal mess and came together quick! It is Southwest Chicken in the crockpot.Here is the how-to:
Take a small bag of frozen corn and dump it at the bottom of the crockpot. Put 2 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts on top of the corn. Pour on a bottle of MEDIUM salsa, and a can of drained black beans. Cook on high for 1 hour and on low for 4 hours. Shred the chicken and then serve over tortilla chips with, shredded cheese, sour cream, avacado, and whatever else serves your fancy. Ainslee said this was "too good for words!" AHHH, heaven to a mother's ears.
Recipe Source: Sister's Cafe
My Notes:
As noted on the recipe I got this from, use Medium salsa. It doesn't make this hot at all but gives it perfect flavor. We loved it with the tortilla chips but you could probably also serve this in a tortilla. This made a perfect size pot for our family, with enough left over for Mike and I to have some for lunch the next day.