Week 5 - Buffalo Chicken Bites

With the Super Bowl tomorrow, I knew I wanted to try something fun with the chicken tenders we had in the refrigerator.  I absolutely love buffalo wings and wanted something similar but not exactly like them.  I came across a link for these Buffalo Chicken Bites on the website What's Cookin', Chicago?

At first I was skeptical as to how they would taste since Joelen's bread seemed so simple.  It turned out delicious.  I will openly say that I had to make a couple of alterations to the recipe to suit my family - we left the blue cheese out completely, and I forgot to add the melted butter.  (I apologize for not having step-by-steps pictures like I normally would - I was in a hurry to get them done.)

Since my recipe wasn't exactly as hers, you can check it out on her website, but let me say that they were so yummy served up with some cold ranch dressing.  We'll be having leftovers for dinner while we watch the Big Game tomorrow night!

Week 5 - Crockpot Mexican Chicken

I went scanning Pinterest yesterday for something new to try out with chicken.  We eat a lot of chicken - it's good for you and we have a place where we get it cheap.  Unfortunately, it can get boring doing the same things with it over and over again. Before I'd gotten beyond my main page on Pinterest, I saw a recipe that a friend of mine had posted.

Mel from The Larson Lingo posted the recipe I selected for dinner.  On my hubby's way home, I had him stop to pick up the couple of ingredients we would need and didn't already have.  Here's what you'll need:

- Frozen Chicken Breasts (I had a family size pack of thighs that we used instead.)

- 1 block of cream cheese

- 1 can of black beans

- 1 can of whole kernal corn

- 1 can of Rotel tomatoes (We used the lime and cilantro ones.)

- whatever you want to serve them on or top them with (our choice was corn tortillas that we fried up and topped with shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa)

Here's what you do (and what I did):

- Drain the beans, corn, and tomatoes.  Be sure they are drained thoroughly or this dish will end up soupy.

- Place your chicken in the slow cooker then top it with the cream cheese, beans, corn, and Rotel.  Since I knew we would need to remove the bones and skin from our chicken, I cooked it first on its own then put it all back in together once the chicken was done.

- Cook it on low 6-8 hours, stirring every couple of hours - mine only took about an hour to cook on high since the chicken was precooked.

- Turn the slow cooker off and allow the dish to set about 30-45 minutes.  This is essential since it will still be slightly soupy to begin with.  As it sits, it thickens up.

- Serve up and enjoy!!

Let me just say that the possibilities for this are endless.  Mel served hers over rice and on flour tortillas.  We served ours on corn tortillas that my hubby fried up.  The next morning, we even used some to mix in with some scrambled eggs, which was delicious!  If you have kids who are picky, don't let that discourage you.  Neither one of my children is a fan of black beans, nor am I, but my whole family ate this dish until every bite had been devoured.