food

EASY RECIPES: CROCKPOT CHICKEN TACOS

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I'm a major offender of ice cream for dinner. Or cake for dinner. Sometimes I even go for the s'mores. Though it does help me satisfy a major sweet tooth, I mostly go this route because of the major convenience. 

But this year I've rediscovered the crock pot & when I walk up my three flights of stairs & open the door of the studio to smell a delicious dinner, ready to eat, I no longer have an excuse. Today I wanted to share my favorite crock pot recipe to date: chicken tacos.

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When I went over to a friend's for the Super Bowl, (salted oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in hand) someone introduced me to these tacos. & my life was changed. You will need:

In the crockpot:

  • Three frozen chicken breasts
  • Your favorite salsa
  • Frozen corn
  • 1 can of your favorite beans, rinsed
  • 1 package of taco seasoning mix 

For the tacos:

  • The crockpot chicken
  • Taco sized flour tortillas (did you even know they had these?!)
  • Taco fixins' (I used rice, lettuce, cheese & sour cream)
easy chicken tacos.jpg

Like all crockpot recipes, this one is simple. Combine all five ingredients & let it slow cook while you're at work. Shred the chicken when you come home & let it sit for another hour while you cook the rice. Then... eat tacos.

easy crockpot chicken tacos.jpg

So, the consensus:  ice cream for dinner is good, but these tacos are better. What are your other favorite crock pot recipes? I want to try!

easy crockpot chicken tacos.jpg

HOMEMADE ICE CREAM SANDWICH.... the first try

What are my two favorite desserts, you ask? Cookies & ice cream. How could you make my life even better? BY COMBINING THEM. That's how I started my quest for the perfect homemade ice cream sandwich. I happen to already know the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe (remember it  HERE?). So I thought, "Um, omg. Easy." Disclaimer: it only half worked. Here's what I did:

Seems simple: stuff two oversized cookies with one scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Freeze. & you've got yourself a delicious homemade ice cream sandwich. Right? Kinda........

You've got an ice cream sandwich with cookies so hard you can't bite into it. THE WORST! I eagerly chomped into this treasure yesterday & was left with.. nothing! Not even a bite! Now, I'm biased, but I believe these would have been perfect  if I ate them right away without freezing. However, four cookies worth of cookie dough later, I thought I'd be good (smirk emoji) & save this mega treat for later.

So back to the drawing board I go. In my google search bar today: "How to keep frozen cookies soft." Ideas & tips welcome!

GO-GO (BIRTHDAY) PALEO!

Hey everyone! I've been saving this post for the perfect occasion (I wrote it  just before Magical Simplicity's Birthday) & today is the day! Why, you ask? Because today, Thursday, May 15, 2014 is drumroll please National Chocolate Chip Day! I'm about to be on a sugar high all day, but anyway...

My friend Ashley recently decided to go paleo- & the decision came just in time for her birthday! So, with my go-to Oatmeal Choco Chip Cookies out the window (lots o' oats & lots o' butter...  maybe Not-So-Paleo), it was substitution time.

Enter Dark Chocolate Walnut PALEO Cookies from Fed + Fit. Now I don't necessarily know if Honey & Dark Chocolate Chips could have been gathered in the forest - but, I mean, the word paleo is literally in the title of this cookie (yes, I added it myself).. but now its on the Internet, so it must be true. Extreme bee enthusiasts probably could  gather a fourth cup of honey from a bee hive, if they really wanted...

DARK CHOCOLATE WALNUT PALEO COOKIES | YOU WILL NEED

1 | Three Cups Almond Meal, Half Teaspoon Kosher Salt , Half Teaspoon Baking Soda
2 | One Cup Dark Chocolate Chips (Ghirardelli, anyone?), One Cup Chopped Walnuts
3 | One/Fourth Cup Honey, Half Teaspoon Coconut Oil (melted), One Teaspoon Vanilla Extract, Egg

Preheat oven to 350.
First, sift & mix dry ingredients |1| in a bowl.
Evenly mix in walnuts & dark chocolate |2|.
In a separate bowl, whisk honey, coconut oil, vanilla and egg |3|.
Craft a small crater in dry mix bowl. Pour honey mixture & stir evenly.
Spoon dough onto tin foil lined baking sheet, flatten. *Note, the cookies will likely keep this shape. 
Bake 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool at least 5 before removing!

The house smelled amazing while these baked & my taste testers said they were shockingly nice (we have a natural distrust of baked goods that don't call for a big cup of sugar!). I'm going to try it again after Lent so I can give you my own review. Ghirardelli Chocolate... twist my arm :)

Happy Birthday, Sassy Ashley! I hope this year brings you everything delightful.