Crock Pot Adobo

My husband went on a mini crusade lately, to make two of the dishes that his mother made when he was growing up. One of them was mole, which I'll post later, and the other was adobo.

I had never had adobo before. Apparently it can be made with beef, pork, shellfish, or more popularly chicken. We made it with chicken and in the crock pot. It's a very vinegary and garlicky dish and is great served over rice.

This was a super delicious meal and I loved it. I'm so glad that my hubby introduced me to it. It also made fabulous leftovers! Maybe even better than when it was freshly cooked.



Ingredients:
1 1/3 medium onion sliced (we did a mix of yellow and red)
13 1/3 garlic cloves, crushed
7/8 cup soy sauce
1 2/3 cups chicken broth
7/8 cup vinegar
3 1/3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp pepper
5 lbs chicken pieces

Steps:
Remove skin from chicken and sear all sides quickly on high in a pan of oil.
Place chicken in crock pot, then onions, then the rest of the ingredients.
Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Serve over rice. Pour the liquid from crock pot over the rice, too. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

We also cooked our rice with a chicken bouillon cube in the water. We do this most of the time.

Bacon wrapped hotdogs

When grocery shopping last weekend I was surprised to see bacon wrapped hotdogs for sale. This is something I've done a few times myself and wasn't aware was a premade product on the market. I didn't come up with the idea, of course; I saw it somewhere online a long time ago. But man I wish I had been the one to market and sell it! It's always so disappointing to see something that you've done or had the idea for. That "if only I had been the one to try to patent it..." type of feeling. Things that seem so simple that nobody would sell it but then somebody does.

Anyway, it is cheaper to make myself! Buy bacon and hotdogs when they're on sale. I usually wait until hotdogs are BOGO free. And we buy whichever bacon is the cheapest because we aren't terribly picky, though for this, thinner bacon is a bit better.

All you need is bacon and hotdogs and whichever toppings you may want. I also use toothpicks to secure the bacon to the hotdog but it isn't totally necessary. If you're using a hotdog machine it will be but in a frying pan or the oven you shouldn't totally need them. I've tried the hotdog machine and frying pan but haven't done the oven yet. So anyway, you just have to wrap the bacon around the hotdog and cook it until the bacon is as done as you like (I prefer soft and my husband prefers crispy). If you use toothpicks put then in the end of the hotdog so that they don't sit on your pan or interfere with the hotdog spinning in the machine.

Garlic oregano French fries

We're trying really hard to meal plan in my home right now. We're on a pretty strict food budget so it is kind of crucial to do as much from scratch as possible and take advantage of sales and coupons. Tonight we did bacon wrapped hotdogs with chili and cheese, a salad, and the fries below.

I got this recipe off Pinterest. I was specifically looking for a French fry recipe because we've got plenty of potatoes in the house so I wasn't about to buy a package of frozen ones. I don't think I've ever made French fries before and if I have, obviously they weren't great because they didn't leave a lasting impression.

My family all really liked these, especially my 6 year old. They didn't need any condiments. I tried them with mustard and they were much better without. I didn't even bother with ketchup because they were just so yummy alone.

Ingredients:
3-4 large potatoes
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs garlic powder
2 tsp black pepper
2 tbs oregano
2 tsp parsley
Salt to taste

Steps:
1. Wash and cut potatoes. Keep them as uniform in size as possible.
2. Place potatoes on baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle seasoning on potatoes as evenly as possible.
3. Mix thoroughly and evenly space.
4. Bake for 25 minutes at 425 degrees. Flip the fries and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Eggplant Parmesan

My husband and I are in the process of trying out various eggplant Parmesan recipes right now to see which we like best. Here is the one we tried tonight. We liked this one (so did my 6 year old) and we're anxious to try more versions of this!

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2" slices
Cooking spray
1/3 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt


After eggplant is peeled and sliced, lay it on a baking sheet and lightly salt the slices. Let them sit for a few minutes then pat them dry.
Set oven to broil. Generously spray both sides of the eggplant slices with cooking spray. Broil with tops 4 to 5 inches from heat about 10 minutes, turning once, until tender.
While eggplant is broiling, mix Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs; toss with oil.
Heat spaghetti sauce until heated through. Remove from heat; cover to keep warm.
Sprinkle 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese over eggplant slices. Spoon bread crumb mixture over cheese. Broil about 1 minute or until cheese is melted and crumbs are brown. Top eggplant with spaghetti sauce and remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.

Frozen berry soda cobbler

This is super easy! I saw it on Pinterest and tried it out. The first time it went all wrong. I used Mountain Dew because that's what I had on hand, but it didn't fizz at all so the cake mix didn't cook at all. Lame. But this time it worked out, and here is how...

One package of frozen blackberries
One can of Sierra Mist Natural
One package of dry cake mix

I emptied the berries into a baking dish, poured the dry cake mix on top as evenly as possible, and then did the same with the can of soda.

I baked it at 350 degrees for about an hour. I just kept checking and took it out when the whole top was golden brown.

It was delicious! My 5 year old and husband put whipped cream on theirs but I'm not a fan of whipped cream so I didn't.

Cajun baked chicken stuffed with pepper jack cheese and bacon

I originally saw this on Pinterest and added it to my meal plan for this week. My fiancé and I loved it. My 5 year old thought it was too spicy, so next time I'll season her piece a bit differently.

You can find the original recipe at this link - http://cuckooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/cajun-chicken-with-pepper-jack-cheese.html?m=1 - or you can check out mine below (with very subtle changes).

2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded
1 c frozen spinach, thawed and drained (you can also use fresh cooked spinach)
extra light olive oil
2.5 tbsp Cajun seasoning
1.5 tbsp Italian breadcrumbs
salt and black pepper, to taste
Lots of toothpicks


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Flatten the chicken as much as possible.

In a medium bowl, combine the pepper jack cheese, spinach, salt and pepper.

Combine the Cajun seasoning and breadcrumbs together in a small bowl.

Spoon about 1/4 c of the spinach mixture onto each chicken breast. Roll or fold each chicken breast tightly and fasten the seams with several toothpicks. I used about 5 toothpicks in each. Be sure to count how many total toothpicks were used.

Brush each chicken breast with the olive oil. Sprinkle the Cajun seasoning mixture evenly over all. Sprinkle any remaining spinach and cheese on top of chicken (optional).

Place the chicken seam-side down onto a baking sheet with any open side facing up. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Remove the toothpicks before serving. Count to make sure you have removed every last toothpick.

I paired this with garlic bread and some veggies (zucchini, bell pepper, onion, etc) in a marinara sauce.

Pizza bake

Mmm! Quick, easy, delicious, and filling! This was a hit with my fiancé (he had 3 helpings) and my daughter (she went back for seconds). And me of course! Next time I will probably add another pizza-suited veggie or two, though my fiancé doesn't like olives or chunks of tomato so I'm not sure what!

Ingredients
About 2.5 cups Bisquick
About 1.25 cups water
About 2.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (14 oz) jar of pizza sauce
1 (8 oz) package of pepperoni
Half cup of sliced bell pepper
Half cup of sliced white mushrooms

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a baking dish (approximately 13x9).

Mix the Bisquick and water until soft dough forms. Drop HALF of the dough by spoonfuls onto bottom of baking dish. The bottom of the dish will not be completely covered.

Drizzle HALF of the pizza sauce over the dough and dish.

Lay HALF of the pepperoni evenly over the dish. Sprinkle all of the vegetables on top of that.

Distribute a cup of the mozzarella evenly over the dish.

Repeat the above steps with remaining ingredients.

Bake for about 25 minutes.