Brazilian Feijoada (Slow Cooker)

One of the things that Scott remembers and loves from his mission to Paraguay was meaty beans, otherwise known as Feijoada. He found this recipe from Taste of Home and has been tweaking it over the years to make it perfect. I am not sure how it's never made it on the recipe blog before now, but here it is!

For the original recipe (which really isn't much like our recipe now), go here: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/my-brazilian-feijoada/?srsltid=AfmBOoroKYPhyHjl0UJQjZXi9ojNtrUtxghPJZY-YQR5ACL4DNgVdbE1

Brazilian Feijoada

Ingredients:

• 1.5 – 2 lbs pork chunks (chili verde meats)
• 6 strips precooked bacon, chopped
• 1 small onion, diced (about 1.5 cups)
• 2 Tbs minced garlic
• 1 can chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• ½ c. water (additional water may be needed)
• 3 cans black beans, drained
• 14 oz. Hillshire Farm Smoked Sausage rope (precooked), cut into ¼-inch slices
• Hot cooked rice

Directions:

1. Heat a small amount of oil in a large pan. Sear and cook pork chunks, bacon, and onion in the oil. When everything is nearly cooked, add the garlic as well. Dump the contents of the pan into a 6-qt slow cooker. Use a small amount of chicken broth to pick up the residue left in the pan; dump this into the slow cooker as well. Add bay leaves, salt, pepper, remaining chicken broth, and water. 
2. Cook on high, covered, for 2 hours. 
3. Stir in beans and sausage. Reduce heat to low and cook an additional 5-6 hours. Remove bay leaves. Serve over rice.

Marsha's Notes:

I made this recipe using our largest slow cooker, which has a small hole in the lid to insert a temperature probe. I don't know if it was because of this or something else, but by the end of the cooking time almost all of the water had either evaporated or been absorbed by the meat and beans. We serve this over rice, so if you want your feijoada to be more of a stew with some liquid to then absorb into your rice, you will need to add more liquid to your pot, as needed. Next time I make this, I am going to use 1 cup of water instead of just a 1/2 cup, and maybe an hour or two before dinner I will check the pot and see if I need to add any more liquid.

Done in the slow cooker.

We like to serve it over rice.

Taco Tater Tot Casserole

So, I actually really kind of liked this dish, even though I am not a huge tater tot fan. Sometimes, you just need something different in your typical ingredient rotation, so I gave this a try. You can eat it as is, or Chris liked wrapping it up in a tortilla like a burrito, and William put it on chips. The rest of the family thought it was good, but didn't get as excited about it as me, but most of us don't get excited about tater tots. Scott really liked the Southwest Ranch sauce. 

Find the original recipe here: https://cookinginthemidwest.com/blog/taco-tater-tot-casserole/#recipe

I wasn't sure if this recipe would fit in my cast iron skillet, so I just used a casserole dish. 

Taco Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 chopped onion
• 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
• 1 tsp each of cumin dried cilantro,
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 can corn drained
• 1 can Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles not drained
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups shredded Colby Jack Cheese
• Tater Tots or Crispy Crowns
• Buffalo Wild Wing’s Southwest Ranch

Directions:

1. Brown one lb of ground beef with a chopped onion in a skillet over medium high heat. Once browned drain grease and season with salt, pepper, cumin, dried cilantro, chili powder, and cayenne. You could use a taco seasoning packet instead of these seasoning if you would rather do that.
2. Add one can of drained corn, one can of Rotel (not drained), 1 cup sour cream, and about 1 cup of shredded Colby Jack cheese. Stir everything together well. Top with one more cup of shredded cheese.
3. Top with tater tots or the crispy crowns. I didn’t quite use the whole bag. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30-35 minutes or until the tater tots are cooked to your liking.
4. Top with Buffalo Wild Wing’s Southwest Ranch. Enjoy! Let me know if you try it out!

Marsha's Notes:

This worked well as a Souper Cubes recipe.

Made and ready to freeze.

Out of the oven.

I added some sour cream and crushed taco chips to mine. It would also have been good with any other taco toppings you enjoy, like shredded lettuce, olives, salsa, etc.

Homemade Churros

William asked me to make some homemade churros. While I am sure I can continue to perfect my technique, here is what I did and what I have learned for future reference. In the end, these were super yummy!

Homemade Churros

Ingredients: (makes about 12 churros)

• 1 cup water
• 6 Tbl butter
• 2 Tbl sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp almond extract
• 2 eggs

Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat your fryer and frying oil to 350-360 degrees.
2. Mix together your cinnamon sugar coating ingredients and set aside. I mixed mine in a bread pan because that seemed like the right size and shape for rolling the churros in the cinnamon sugar later, but you can use any pan/dish you like.
3. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring to a boil water, butter, sugar and salt. 
4. Once boiling, lower the heat to medium. 
5. Dump in the entire cup of flour at all once and begin vigorously stirring until all the flour is absorbed and combined into a soft dough. 
6. Once combined, stir and cook the dough for a minute or two and then remove from heat to cool for about 5-10 minutes.
7. Place dough in a mixing bowl and with a stand or hand mixer, mix and breakup the dough to allow more of the steam to escape, for just another minute or so. 
8. Then add your vanilla and almond extracts plus one egg and mix until combined.
9. Add your last egg and mix until combined.
10. Spoon your mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star-tip. 
11. Pipe into the desired shape onto a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving enough space in between each churro such that you can later take scissors to cut the parchment paper into a wide strip under each churro. To make your shapes, pipe the churro dough to the desired length and then cut the dough with clean scissors to end the churro.
12. With your frying oil at 350-360 degrees (that's about a 4 on my stove), pick up each churro on it's strip of parchment paper and put the dough AND paper right into the oil. Within a second or two, you should be able to take your metal tongs and fish the paper out of the oil.
13. Be careful not to over crowd the pan. For my largest frying pan, I did about 6 churros at a time, cooking all the dough in about two batches.
14. Fry for several minutes until the churros are a deep golden brown to ensure the middle is completely cooked (not light brown, but a very dark golden brown). Turn churros over during the cooking process to get an even color on all sides.
15. Remove cooked churros to a paper towel-line plate to drain for just a moment. While draining, if you have more churros to cook, you can add them to your oil at this time.
16. Once the cooked churros have had a minute to drain but are still very hot and slightly wet, roll them in your cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. I found it was easiest to take a spoon and spoon the sugar over the churros to get it in all the cracks. Then, I used a fork to remove the hot churro from the sugar and placed it on a paper towel-lined plate until ready to serve.

This is my dough on parchment paper. Then I took scissors and cut the parchment sheet around each churros so I could pick them up and put them in the fryer. It was a little tricky to cut around everything once the dough was already on the paper, but I didn't think that the paper would stay flat and not curl up on me if I pre-cut the paper into strips. I am sure there is some way to do it though. I also wasn't sure I could be accurate enough with my piping bag to pipe the churros on little strips of paper, so piping them on a big piece seemed less intimidating.

Here I wanted to show that I was using the 4 setting on my stove.

Here you can see the bread pan I used for the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Marsha's Notes:

• Light golden brown is not brown enough for the middle of the churro to be done, so be sure to let them cook long enough to get a darker outside. Don't be temped to turn up the heat if your oil is at 350 degrees, you will just cook the outside faster and not the inside.
• My churros were probably about 6 or 7 inches long, so maybe 1/2-2/3 as long as the super long ones you can get at a food truck or restaurant. We wanted to possibly attempt to fill the inside of our churros, and it was recommended that it is easier to fill them if they aren't too long or skinny, unless you have special equipment. 
• At the fair, I have seen people use pump dispensers to get the filling inside churros, and the dispensers have these really long (probably a foot or more) straw/tubes at the end of the pump that they insert all the way through the churro (and you need PERFECLY straight churros to do this), and as they press the pump to dispense the filling they slowly pull the churros away from the tube. See image below. Yeah... I don't have one of those, so I attempted to make do with shorter churros I could poke a hole in the middle of with a skewer or straw. 
• Did it work? Kind of. I had made some filling the day before for a batch of churros that failed miserably (not the ones shown above) and so by the time I made my new batch the next day, the filling (which was basically just a homemade whipped cream) was too soft and runny to really pipe into the middle of the churros. But, if the filling at been fresh or I did more of a stable pudding-type filling, then I think it would have worked beautifully. Just put your filling into a piping bag with a small tip, make a hole in the middle of your churro with a straw or skewer, and then carefully pipe the filling inside (probably from both ends).
• Easier than filling them, you can also just make your desired filling and serve it as more of a dipping sauce and save yourself the trouble.
• Some recipes call for 3 eggs or more, some use oil instead of butter in the dough, some have more or less sugar for sweetness and browning, some tell you to freeze the churro dough once piped to help preserve the edges of the dough when cooking, some have different water-to-flour ratios or even baking powder/soda in them, so you can experiment with whatever combination you like.

This is one of those fancy churro filling machines. So yeah... If I can't get mine to fill like the professionals, I am not going to beat myself up over it.

Taco Chicken (with Rice and Queso)

Here is an easy recipe for some quick taco chicken with rice and queso for tacos or burritos. Enjoy!

Taco Chicken (with Rice and Queso)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. chicken, cubed
• 1 Tbl cooking oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp dried cilantro (optional)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Add chicken to a hot skillet with the oil and seasonings. 
2. Stir and cook until your chicken is no longer pink and golden brown. 

For Rice and Queso:

1. Get how ever many packages of Uncle Ben's Ready Rice in your desired flavor. Add to a large skillet  over medium heat with enough water to help heat and soften the rice 1-2 Tbl (up to maybe 1/4 cup) per package. (Alternatively, heat rice up according to package directions.)
2. Heat up prepackaged queso, or make your own with this recipe: https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2024/09/homemade-queso.html

Use this chicken, rice and queso to make excellent burritos, tacos and more! Note: you will need to get tortillas, taco shells, and other desired taco toppings as well.

Homemade Queso

I tried making my own queso this week from a recipe I saw online, and it turned out really good. I will put the original recipe below, along with a couple of changes I will make next time.

Homemade Queso

Ingredients: (Makes a lot, so see recipe and notes for details on a smaller batch.)

• Velveeta, Mexican style (16 oz.) cubed
• Pepper Jack Cheese, 8 oz block cubed
• 2 cans evaporated milk (approximately 15 oz each)
• 2-4 cups shredded cheese blend, as needed

Directions:

• Place all of your cubed cheese plus two cans of evaporated milk into a slow cooker and heat until melted. 
• Once all the cheese in the pot is melted into the milk, if things are too runny, add handfuls of shredded cheese until you reach your desired consistency.

Marsha's Notes:

Update: For a smaller batch, I did use just one can of evaporated milk with the Velveeta and Pepper Jack, and it turned out perfect. Because both cheeses I used were spicy without any extra milk or cheese blend to mellow things out (like in the double/larger batch recipe), it would be worth using just regular (not Mexican) Velveeta next time if you don't want much spice in your queso. That said, no one thought this version was "too spicy."

The original recipe called for the pepper jack cheese and the Velveeta. It also called for two cans of evaporated milk, which, by the time the cheeses were all melted, was simply WAY TO MUCH MILK. So I grabbed my trusty bag of shredded cheese blend that I always have on hand in the house and just added several handfuls, stirring, until I thought it would be a better consistency once the newly added cheese was fully melted. I put the lid back on and let it keep cooking, coming back in about 15-20 minutes to stir it again and check the consistency. It turned out perfect, but if it had still been runny, I would have added more cheese blend, and if it had seized up too much, I would have added some milk to thin.

For cooking, use low or high depending on how much time you have. If you only have a couple hours (1-2) try high. If you have longer, try low. It usually seems to be a bad idea to let cheese boil, as it can do something funky to the proteins in the cheese and turn grainy or split, so be vigilant if you use high or if you are letting it cook for a long time on low.

The cheese can start to stick and burn to the sides of the crock pot, so some people will use a crock pot liner for ease of cleanup. I wasn't sure how I would get the queso out of the liner without having a big mess on my hands because it is super hot... so I didn't bother and just scrubbed the pot. 

I also think you could use this same recipe and just cook everything on the stove until melted and smooth probably in a lot less time... I just used the crock pot for ease and because it was how it was done in the original recipe I was trying.

Next time, because this did make a HUGE pot of cheese, I think I would try using the same amount of pepper jack (one small brick of cheese that I cubed up) and one box of the Mexican Velveeta (which I also cubed up) with just ONE can of evaporated milk and see how it goes. The hope is, with only one can, then maybe I won't have to add any of the shredded cheese blend later in the cooking process.

Lastly, the original recipe also called for diced jalapeno, but our family isn't huge on hot and spicy things, so with the pepper jack cheese and the Mexican-style Velveeta, it felt spicy and queso-y enough for us.

This has been great for burritos, tacos, chips and crackers. Anything you would put cheese on, you can probably also dip into cheese (burgers, sandwiches, nuggets, etc.) so we have been using this queso in all kinds of ways to eat it up.

Instant Pot Mexican Restaurant Rice

While I have three other kind-of similar Mexican rice recipes on this blog (click here and here and here), this one is super easy because you make it in the Instant Pot, freeing up space on the stove for other cooking during your meal prep. We have made this rice probably 3 or 4 times already, tweaking it slightly each time to get an end result that we liked. Depending on how flavorful and strong you like your rice, I am including a range for the spices so you can adjust accordingly to your tastes. This makes a big batch (double) to use an entire can of tomato sauce, but we froze half the batch to use another time.

Instant Pot Mexican Restaurant Rice

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Tbl cooking oil
• 2 cups rice, rinsed until water runs clear
• 1 big spoonful minced garlic from jar (1-2 Tbl)
• 1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
• 1/2-1 tsp oregano
• 1-2 tsp onion powder
• 1-2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2-1 tsp cumin
• 1-2 Tbl chicken bouillon
• 2 cans chicken broth (15 oz each)
• salt to taste

Directions:

1. Set your Instant Pot to the sauté function on high. Add enough cooking oil to the bottom of the pot to coat. 
2. Add your rice and cook until slightly brown and fragrant, stirring occasionally. 
3. Slightly before you think the rice is browned to your liking, add in 1 spoonful of minced garlic (I used a regular spoon, like the kind your eat your meals with, and put a heaping spoonful into the pot, maybe one to two level tablespoons). At this point, you might want to turn down or turn off the sauté function and just use residual heat. 
4. Stir and cook the garlic for just a minute or so, being careful not to burn it. Then add your tomato sauce and spices, cooking for a minute or so longer before adding in your chicken broth.
5. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pot to clean off any bits to avoid a burn warning on your pot during cooking, and cover the pot with the lid, turning the valve to "seal" and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. 
6. Quick-release the pressure, stir/fluff the rice and serve. Add additional salt, if desired.

Crunch Wrap Casserole

 I saw this recipe and had to try it! Our family loves crunch wraps, so the convenience of making one giant pan to share was just too good to pass up. While everyone agreed that getting your own personal crunch wrap is still better, this option is still a hundred times better than no crunch wrap at all. We also ended up probably eating fewer calories taking a pieces of the casserole rather than eating one giant tortilla all by ourselves, so there's that.

First layer (beans) topped with tostadas.

Second layer (meat) topped with cheese

Folded up and ready to bake!

Crunch Wrap Casserole

Ingredients:

• jumbo tortillas
• taco mean
• refried beans
• nacho cheese
• shredded cheese
• taco toppings

Directions:

Butter a 9x13 pan. Then place an even layer of tortillas into the pan, allowing about half or so to flop out of the dish (make sure bottom is completely covered, even if tortillas overlap some). Spread tortillas with an even layer of the desired amount of refried beans and nacho cheese. You could also add some canned black beans or pinto beans here for texture. Top with an even layer of tostadas, broken up to fill the gaps. Top your tostadas with your taco meat mixture and a layer of cheese. You can also add any other filling ingredients that you want that can withstand going in the oven. Fold over your tortillas to encase the filled, using additional parts of tortillas if necessary. Brush with melted butter. Bake until golden brown, 350 for about 30 minutes. Cut into large pieces and stop with desired taco toppings (lettuce, tomato, olive, salsa, hot sauce, sour cream, etc.).

Pizza Enchiladas

I saw this recipe on Tiktok and had to try it. The guy called it pizza enchiladas, and everyone really liked it!

Pizza Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1 lb hamburger or sausage
• couple handfuls of pepperonis cut in half
• 1/4 cup or so of pizza sauce
• 1/4-1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• sprinkling of Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese or so
• Any other pizza toppings you like
• Tortillas
• 1 jar pizza sauce
• Mozzarella cheese to top
• Mini pepperonis to top

Directions:

1. Brown your hamburger or sausage. A few minutes before it is done, add your cup-up pepperonis. Remove from heat. Add about a 1/4 cup of pizza sauce, ricotta, Italian seasoning, about a 1/2 cup mozzarella and any other toppings you like on your pizza. Stir to combine. This is your filling, so if you think it needs more sauce or cheese or whatever, add it now.
2. Roll up the filling in tortillas and place in a baking dish. Top with more sauce, cheese and mini pepperonis to decorate. Bake at 350 until everything is hot and melty.
3. I used three JUMBO tortillas that we had leftover from making homemade crunch wraps and it filled the pan perfectly. Everyone got 1/2 an enchilada and it was plenty.

Cottage Cheese Dinner Bowls

Cottage cheese seems to be all the rage right now... but I have always liked it, so I am just excited to discover new and fun ways to enjoy it. Right now, one weight-loss/management tool is to use the protein in cottage cheese to help you feel fuller, so they have been using it as one of the main ingredients in a deconstructed dinner bowl. The one pictured here is my version of a deconstructed taco bowl, but you could do any other kind you can think of, including a pizza/spaghetti version. Maybe southern BBQ with corn and beans? Or breakfast with eggs, bacon, potatoes, etc. 

Enjoy!

 Cottage Cheese Dinner Bowls- Taco

Ingredients:

• 1 serving warmed taco meat (chicken, beef, pork, etc.) (approx. 100 calories worth)
• 1 portion cottage cheese (I take a hefty spoonful, maybe 1/4-1/2 cup) (approx. 100 calories worth)
• 1 serving chips or other crunchy scooping item (approx. 100 calories worth)
• healthy toppings

Directions:

1. Place all your parts and pieces in a serving bowl and use your chips to scoop out the food and enjoy. 
2. Depending on what chips you use will determine how many you can have and stay in your calorie goals. Some people use protein chips or other low-calorie options. I used sea salt Pop-Corners chips for about 140 calories for 16 chips.
3. Your total calories is going to depend on all of your choices for the bowl. I used a healthy pile of lettuce with just a small sprinkling of cheese, one container of Pearls Olives To Go for another 40 calories, and just a touch of Taco Bells Chipotle sauce for maybe another 50 calories (I didn't use an entire serving). My cottage cheese and taco meat are probably about 100 calories each, making my bowls about 400-500 calories each for my dinner.

Marsha's Notes:

You can switch up any of the ingredients that you want. You can also do this same thing, but make it a pizza/spaghetti bowl with your favorite pizza toppings (for me, that would be pepperoni, olives, shredded cheese, but you can do any kind you like) and maybe some pizza sauce or really meaty spaghetti sauce. Scoop out with crusty bread or bagel chips. You can heat it up and stir it all together, or eat cold, if you like cold pizza.

Sopa Paraguaya

We had a fun "Paraguay" night with Scott's sister Allison's family and ours (both of them served missions in Paraguay) and Allison brought this recipe for Sopa Paraguaya. Scott said it was the best sopa he's ever had. It's a lot like cornbread, only less sweet with onions and cheese inside. It's a good one to add to our Paraguay collection. Thanks for sharing, Allison! Enjoy!

The original recipe calls for THREE ONIONS! Wow! But Allison said she only used 1 1/2 onions. I am a wimp, so I would probably use just one small onion, so that's how I will notate it here. You can see the original recipe here: https://camilamade.com/sopa-paraguaya/?fbclid=IwAR1iCHXtF3XLIk4Rh3mLwGnWMklY-IVGN0UhpwwxJpHl1eeVmlRF4QEHvTo#recipe

Sopa Paraguaya

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup butter melted and cooled.
• 500 gr. Queso Panela or Queso de Freir (Mexican cheese) , crumble into small pieces.
• 2 cups whole milk , room temperature
• 5 large eggs , room temperature
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 400 g Quaker yellow cornmeal

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13'' by 9'' Baking dish and dust with cornmeal; set aside. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter.
2. Add the chopped onions and salt, and cook until soft and transparent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, add half of the milk, and set aside to cool off.
3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy. Add the cooked onion mixture, cornmeal, anise seeds, and the remaining milk and whisk until well combined. Stir in the Cheese. (Don't be tempted to add more cornmeal; the mixture will look a little runny, but that's okay—one of the keys to keeping it from getting dense is keeping it that way).
4. Transfer the Sopa Paraguaya batter to the prepared baking dish. Bake until golden brown, about 50 to 60 minutes, or a cake tester comes out clean. Cool the Sopa Paraguaya for 10 to 15 minutes in the pan, then cut into squares and serve warm.

Marsha's notes:

Searching on the internet, 400 g yellow cornmeal is approximately 1 and 2/3 cups (I will try to remember to use my kitchen scale when I make this to verify) and 500 gr. Queso Panela or Queso de Freir is about 2 and 1/8 cups.

Mexican Rice

My latest attempt to make Mexican rice just like in a restaurant. So far, this one is my favorite. Enjoy!

Mexican Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 cups jasmine rice
• 2 Tbl olive oil
• 2 Tbl butter
• 1/2 cup onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 tomatoes
• 4 cups water/chicken broth
• salt, pepper, garlic powder, chicken bullion (1-2 Tbl)

Directions:

1. Rinse your rice until the water runs clear. Let drain.
2. Over medium heat, heat olive oil and butter in a Dutch Oven (or pan with tight fitting lid) until butter is melted and oil is hot. 
3. Add ONLY 1/4 of the onion and sauté for a minute or so.  
4. Then add the rice to your hot pan and toast for about 3 minutes or until rice is fragrant and browning. 
5. In a blender, blend up the rest of your onion with your tomatoes (cut in halves or quarters), garlic and water/broth. (You can do this step before you start cooking the rice, if you don't want to have to man the rice while you make the liquid.)
6. Add blended liquid to your rice, season, bring to a boil, cover, turn down to low and cook for 25 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Grilled Chipotle Chicken

The entire family enjoyed this recipe, and I am attempting to freeze extra marinade for future batches to use up the entire can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. If I remember, I will return and report on how the sauce did when thawed. We marinated the chicken overnight, but I still found that I enjoyed it more with a little drizzle of reserved sauce. Just keep some in a container that you didn't use to marinade the chicken in. I found no need to thicken it, but that might vary from batch to batch.

To see the original recipe, go here: https://www.melskitchencafe.com/grilled-chipotle-chicken/

Grilled Chipotle Chicken

Ingredients:

• 12-ounce bottle chili sauce (see note)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (see note)
• ¼ cup fresh lime juice
• ⅓ cup molasses
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ½ cup red wine or rice vinegar
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (see note)

Directions:

1. In a blender, combine the chili sauce, chipotle peppers, lime juice, molasses, brown sugar, and vinegar. Process until smooth.
2. Place the chicken in a gallon-size Ziploc bag and add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the marinade, tossing the chicken so it is evenly coated. Seal the bag and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 12 hours (highly recommend the longer marinating time for added flavor).
3. Optional: Add the remaining marinade to a small saucepan, bring to a simmer, and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking. Reserve until ready to eat (if longer than an hour, refrigerate until needed).
4. To grill: preheat a grill to medium-high (I do 400 degrees on my pellet grill). Remove the chicken from the bag, letting the excess marinade drip off into the bag, and grill for 4-5 minutes per side until cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 165 degrees F. Let the chicken rest for 5-7 minutes before slicing and serving.
5. To oven broil: preheat oven broiler to high. Position an oven rack so it is 3-4 inches away from the broiler element. Line a baking pan with foil and lightly grease with cooking spray. Remove the chicken from the bag, letting the excess marinade drip off into the bag, and place the chicken in a single layer on the baking sheet. Broil for 3-4 minutes (watch closely in case your broiler cooks hotter than mine!), flip the chicken, and broil for 3-4 minutes longer until the chicken is cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 165 degrees F. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5-7 minutes before slicing and serving.
6. Serve the chicken with reserved sauce (see note for our favorite way to serve this chicken!).

Marsha's Notes: 

We broiled our chicken and it turned out great. We just used a walled cookie sheet with a non-stick liner and a cooking rack placed inside to set the chicken on. We used high-broil with the chicken placed on the highest rack in the oven. I was super scared it was going to burn on the outside and be raw in the middle, but it turned out great. There are certainly a few charred places, just like when you cook on a grill, but nothing burned except for sauce drippings, which cleaned up pretty nicely with the non-stick mat. 

I also put a thermometer in one of the pieces so I could monitor the temp while cooking. For our oven, I would say it took about 5 minutes per side. Seems like the first side was done about the time the chicken was about 90-95 degrees, I flipped the chicken pieces, rotated the pan in the oven, and then the second side was done when the chicken reached 165 degrees in another 5 minutes or so.

When it was done, I put it in a 9x13 pan covered with foil into our second oven set to warm while I got the rest of the meal prepared. This allowed the juices in the chicken to redistribute before we cut into it and kept it nice and warm.

I didn't make a note of what size the can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce was, but we had enough to make three batches of marinade with one can. It seemed like there were two sizes, and if I had to guess, I might have gotten the bigger can to make sure I had plenty because I didn't remember how much the recipe called for. It seemed like one can was the size of a small olive can, and the other can was the size of a small tuna fish can. I think we had the tuna-size.

Also, I don't believe my can was "chopped" but rather bigger, possibly sliced or chunked peppers, which was fine because they went in the blender, so it didn't really matter.

Slow Cooker Creamy Fiesta Chicken

Another great recipe from Six Sister's Stuff. This creamy fiesta chicken has a very similar flavor profile to the taco soup recipe on this blog, only it is cheesier and thicker (because it's not a soup... go figure) so it works better for putting on top of nachos, dipping with chips, or putting in burritos or tacos. One change I made, I felt like with both the salsa AND the chopped onions, it was a bit heavy on the onion side, which is not my thing. But feel free to add the "1 diced onion" back into the recipe if you like.

See the original recipe here: https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/slow-cooker-creamy-fiesta-chicken-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-133580

Slow Cooker Creamy Fiesta Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 15 ounces canned corn drained, (1 can)
• 15 ounces canned black beans rinsed and drained, (1 can)
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 packet dry ranch dressing mix
• 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature, cut into pieces
• 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
• optional toppings (salsa, olives, guacamole, sour cream, cilantro, etc.)

Directions:

1. Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Place chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker.
3. Top with corn, black beans, salsa, lime juice, taco seasoning, and dry ranch dressing mix. Add the cream cheese on top.
4. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 6-7 hours on low heat (or high heat for 3-4 hours, but I prefer the "low and slow" method).
5. Shred the chicken using 2 forks (it should fall apart fairly easily; you can do this right in the slow cooker or remove the chicken and shred it on a cutting board if that is easier).
6. Stir the shredded chicken and the shredded pepper jack cheese in with all the ingredients until the cheese is fully melted and smooth.
7. Use this chicken for tacos, burritos, nachos, salads, enchiladas, quesadillas, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Taco Hamburger Skillet

 I saw this recipe for basically homemade Hamburger Helper, only this is like the taco version with pasta instead of rice. You could easily use rice if you preferred, but our family enjoyed the pasta just fine. I also thought that if I wanted to sneak more veggies or filler into my kids, some corn or beans might be a good addition to this dish. See the original recipe here:

https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/cheeseburger-macaroni-my-kids-favorite/

Taco Hamburger Skillet

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 packet taco seasoning or about 1 ounce
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis such as a 10 ounce can of Rotel
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 cup elbow macaroni
• Optional- canned corn or beans
• Toppings- lettuce, tomato, sour cream, cheese, taco chips, or any of your favorite taco-type toppings.

Cheese Sauce:

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef and drain grease.
2. Stir in taco seasoning, tomatoes, beef broth, and macaroni and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover pan. Simmer 12-14 minutes until macaroni is tender.
3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
4. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking for 2-3 minutes until it becomes fragrant and starts to turn a light brown color.
5. Whisk in the milk and bring to a boil. Whisk until smooth and mixture starts to thicken. Remove mixture from heat and stir in the shredded cheddar cheese until melted. Add the salt and pepper to the cheese sauce.
6. Pour the cheese sauce over the hamburger mixture. Stir gently to combine.

Marsha's Notes:

It would be really easy to add just about anything to this that you thought would be good, like onion  or peppers when browning the meat, any kind of beans you like, corn or maybe peas and carrots. You can eat it as is, or top with any additional taco toppings once served. You can also swap the pasta for rice for a more authentic Taco Hamburger Helper feel, but it may require an adjustment to the liquids in the recipe.

Chicken Dorito Casserole

I saw this video on Tiktok and it seemed like just the sort of thing my kiddos would love, and it WAS! It even has some veggies in it. Shhhh! Don't tell!

Chicken Dorito Casserole

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 pkt. taco seasoning
• 8 oz. shredded cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 bag Doritos, crushed (you can crush them in the bag with your hands)

Directions: 

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except Doritos and 4 oz. of shredded cheese (half of the cheese). 
2. In a 9x13, layer 1/3 of your crushed Doritos, then half your chicken mixture, then another 1/3 Doritos, then the rest of your chicken mixture, and then top with the remaining Doritos and 4 oz. shredded cheese on top. 
3. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until a thermometer reaches 160 degrees in the center.

Marsha's Notes:

You can also add beans, olives, or any other tex-mex-style ingredients that you want. Enjoy! 

Chicken Taco Casserole

Another hit from Six Sister's Stuff. This is their chicken taco casserole recipe. If soggy taco chips are not your thing, you can easily omit them and add them fresh to your dish/plate at the end (although, some of the chips managed to keep their crunch even after baking in the oven, FYI). You can also switch things up by adding or omitting anything you like. For example, I would add olives and possibly corn while topping with sour cream and lettuce. Chris would leave out the beans. You could also use hamburger taco meat instead of chicken. So make it the way you like it. See the original recipe here:

https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/chicken-taco-casserole/#wprm-recipe-container-96675

Chicken Taco Casserole Recipe

Ingredients:

• 21.5 ounces cream of chicken soup 2 (10.75 oz cans)
• 1½ cups sour cream
• 14 ounces diced tomatoes with green chilis 1 can, (we used Ro-tel)
• 15 ounces black beans 1 can (rinsed and drained)
• 1 ounce taco seasoning 1 packet
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked and shredded
• 13 ounces tortilla chips 1 bag
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
3. In a large bowl, combine the chicken soup, sour cream, diced tomatoes, black beans, taco seasoning and chicken. Set aside.
4. Crush chips (I just crush them with my hands) and spread half of them on the bottom of the pan
5. Spread half of the chicken mixture over the tortillas.  
6. Top with 1 cup of cheese. Repeat layers.
7. Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly and cheese is starting to brown.

Marsha's Notes:

It was super easy to crush the chips in the bag once you open it just a touch to let the air out. I also think I prefer, if using chicken, to have it shredded. We tried small chunks because that was what I had leftover from another recipe and it was fine, but not as good I think as if it had been shredded. Also, I looked it up, and I believe 1 oz. taco seasoning is about 2 Tbl if you are using loose stuff. If you leave the chips out, I think this would make a pretty good dip or spread that you could either put on a bed of freshly crushed chips on your place and eat with a fork, or you could put the casserole directly on the plate and dip into it with intact chips.

Chicken Enchiladas

A submission from Krystal!

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingreidents:

• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed
• 1 jar (8 oz) salsa (or enchilada sauce), divided
• 8 (6 in) flour tortillas
• 3/4 lb (12 oz) Velveeta, cut up
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions:

1. Stir chicken, bell pepper, cream cheese and ½ cup salsa in saucepan on low heat until cream cheese is melted.  
2. Spoon 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up.  
3. Place, seam-side down, in lightly greased 12x8 baking dish.  
4. Stir Velveeta and milk in saucepan on low heat until smooth.  
5. Pour sauce over tortillas; cover with foil.  
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated.  
7. Pour remaining salsa over tortillas.

Mexican Rice

Still on the hunt for a restaurant-style Mexican rice, Scott was the most impressed with this version. I think the next time I make it, I will be very careful not to add too much tomato paste or too much lime juice, probably skip the cilantro.... maybe even the cumin and try some taco seasoning instead. Just ideas for next time! But it was still tasty prepared as directed below. For the original recipe, visit here: https://www.melskitchencafe.com/mexican-rice/

Mexican Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of long grain white rice
•  2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
•  1 tablespoon of olive oil
•  1 small yellow onion, diced
•  4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
•  1/4 cup of tomato paste
•  1 tablespoon of lime juice, from about 1 lime
•  1/2 cup of freshly chopped cilantro
•  2 teaspoons cumin
•  Salt to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium-sized pot, add rice and chicken broth. Bring to a boil over high heat. Stir. Cover the pot, lower the heat to low and simmer for 17-20 minutes. Remove from heat and keep the pot covered for 5 more minutes.
2. While the rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook the onions in the hot oil for 10 minutes, until translucent and starting to brown. Add the garlic to the skillet and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the tomato paste and cumin and cook for another minute or two. Mix in hot, cooked rice, lime juice and cilantro. Mix until well combined. Season to taste with salt. Serve immediately.

Instant Pot Refried Beans

So, 2020 was the pandemic and I picked up some dried pinto beans and then never really needed them and dreaded the long prep/soak time for beans. When I saw this recipe for making them in the Instant Pot, I just had to try it! Everyone really liked it, but I did leave out the jalapeno that the original recipe called for. To see the original from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, click here: https://www.melskitchencafe.com/pressure-cooker-refried-beans/

Instant Pot Refried Beans

Ingredients:

•  1 tablespoon olive oil
•  1 jalapeño, cored, seeded and finely chopped
•  1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
•  3-4 cloves garlic, finely minced
•  1 1/2 pounds dry pinto beans, rinsed
•  8 cups water
•  4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
•  2 teaspoons salt
•  2 tablespoons white vinegar

Directions:

1. In the insert of an electric pressure cooker, heat the oil (using the Sauté function on the Instant Pot) and add the onion, and garlic, and sauté for 1-2 minutes, stirring often.
2. Add the rinsed and drained beans, water, broth, salt and vinegar.
3. Secure the lid on the pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 35 minutes (electric).
4. Let the pressure naturally release for 30 minutes. Reserve two cups of the liquid in a separate bowl.
5. Drain the rest of the liquid off the beans. Using an immersion blender, process/mash to the desired consistency, adding reserved cooking water, if needed for a smoother/softer consistency.
6. Refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for several months.

Marsha's Notes:

I started the onions with the Sauté function on high  and then turned it down to medium once things started to cook. I also used about a cup of the reserve liquid to remoisten our beans. It probably varies from batch to batch depending on the beans, so just taste-test until they are perfect! I also added a sprinkling of garlic powder to taste but you may not need that depending on how strong your garlic is.

2024- We made these again, and I will note that the 1.5 pounds of beans called for in this recipe makes a LOT of refried beans (probably 4-5 cans worth and that was only a portion of the 4 lb bag of dry beans I bought) so we did use some fresh for dinner, then split the remaining beans into two batches and froze one of them.

This recipe fills our Instant Pot all the way to the max fill line. When venting, things do tend to want to spurt starchy bean water around the kitchen, so maybe cover the valve with a rag before opening. 

Also, a half batch is probably more useable for our family, but I am not sure how that might change the cooking process, so I will return and report if I try it.

Lastly, I found that the beans seems the perfect consistency when hot and fresh with about a cup of the reserved bean water added. However, upon sitting and cooling while we ate dinner, the beans seemed to dry out just a touch, so I added maybe another 1/2 cup or more to the batch before putting it in storage containers.

These were the beans right after I blended them, and they seemed perfect, but I did add more liquid to them after they had cooled a bit before storing because they seemed to have dried out some.

Gizo (Paraguay)

I'll have to take a picture the next we make this, but it looks a lot like these pictures, only imagine chunks of beef or stew meat in it. Kind of like Paraguayan Hamburger Helper. The stew meat can be kinda chewy, but Scott says that all they use in Paraguay tends to be cheap cuts of meat, so the more chewy the more authentic to his experience.

Gizo (from Paraguay)

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ lbs cubed beef or stew meat
• 1 (16 oz.) pkg. shell pasta (small)
• ¼ cup oil
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper 
• 1 Tbl minced fresh garlic
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 oz tomato sauce
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 Tbl tomato chicken bullion

Directions:

1. Brown beef and pasta in oil.  
2. Add cumin, salt, pepper, and garlic.  Mix in flour.  Add tomato sauce.  
3. When meat and pasta are sufficiently browned, add water and chicken broth and cook until pasta is tender.  
4. Finally, add the tomato/chicken bullion.  Also add cheese, if desired.