Nachos with chicken aka tornado chicken

My kids kept reminding me about the time I was making chicken nachos the night the tornado sirens blared. We all headed to the basement and had to delay dinner. 

I guess the kids now associate chicken nachos with tornadoes. 

They keep saying, "Make that tornado chicken again."

All you need is some cooked chicken, spices and nacho stuff, of course.

After we had the baked chicken the other night, I put a few leftover cooked chicken breasts in the freezer.

Tornado Chicken Nachos

Shred two cooked chicken breasts.
Put them in a microwave-safe dish.

Add:
A splash of water
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder

Put a lid on it and microwave it for about a minute and a half.

Melt some cheese on top of tortilla chips, add the meat, salsa and black olives. 

Don't you love having leftover cooked meat on hand? 

I know. Me, too!
 






This post was shared on:
The Prairie Homestead
Mad in Crafts
Adventures of a DIY Mom
Growing Home Blog 

Baked chicken is so easy

I buy those three-pound bags of frozen chicken breasts. 

It's the best deal, isn't it? I think it is.

Anyway, here is my recipe for baked Panko chicken.

Baked Panko Chicken

Ingredients:
3 pounds of thawed boneless chicken breasts
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Butter a 9 x 13 pan. 
Place chicken in the pan and drizzle butter over the top.
Mix the Panko and spices.
Sprinkle over the top of the chicken breasts.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until done.
  (Chicken is done at 165 degrees.)

Mr. Cool says baked chicken smells good to him!

Have a lovely day!

Pork without much touching

This recipe works with pork chops and pork loin chops.

I use this recipe if the cut looks like this or is similar to it:

Pork Chops

Ingredients:
8 pork loin or rib chops 
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup catsup 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place the pork in an ungreased 9 x 13 pan.
Salt the meat if you like (I don't do this anymore).
Stir together the onion, brown sugar and catsup.
Place a dollop of the mixture on each chop.

Cover with foil.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove foil.
Spoon some sauce (from the bottom of pan) over the chops.
Bake for another 30 minutes or until done.  

I like this recipe because I don't have to do anything with the meat ahead of time. You don't have to cut it, beat it with a mallet or watch baseball with it. 

Meat has cooties, but I'm sure you knew that.

Have a lovely day!

 

Luncheon meat fit for a luncheon

It was the day of my just-because party. I invited a group of women to get together for some much needed girl time.

The chicken salad was prepared ahead of time. I made a cherry and pineapple dump cake and some sugar cookies. Fun slumber party type games were on the agenda. 

Anticipating the giggles and secrets, I almost forgot to set out the lunch meat platter. I grabbed the meats and cheeses and slapped 'em on a plate. 

My husband intervened. 

"Oh, no, no, no," he said.

"You shouldn't just stack stuff up like that," he said. "Fluff and fold." "Fluff and fold."

"This isn't laundry!" I exclaimed.

"For Pete's sake, at least unwrap the cheeses," said he.

He couldn't believe my callousness and indifference about the matter. 

I've since learned--it DOES look better when you fluff and fold your lunch meat...and unwrap the cheeses.

I don't really have a point. This is just something I've learned about displaying lunch meat. 

I mean, LUNCHEON meat.

Have a lovely day.

Make Dad a Toasty Joe

We've grown quite fond of these cute little sandwiches. 

Toasty Joes are a take on traditional Sloppy Joes (or yip-yips as they used to say in the school cafeteria).

Toasty Joes

Brown 1 1/2 pounds of hamburger in a saucepan. Drain fat.

Add:
1/4 cup chopped onion or some onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon mustard
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3/4 cup catsup
1/2 cup bbq sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Stir add-ins into the hamburger and cook on medium until heated throughout--about 10 minutes.

Instead of serving on a bun, we like it on toasted "everything" bread. 

Do you have "everything" bread where you live? It's a French bread loaf topped with everything--poppy seeds, garlic, herbs, sesame seeds, and I don't know what all. It's good.

Then add whatever toppings to suit each person. I like shredded cheddar cheese and black olives. You could add sliced onions, green peppers, jalapenos, fries, sour cream. Whatever!

I like that I can crank these out in a hurry for all the hungry loiterers in my kitchen.

Try 'em!

Finger food frenzy

Raw meat wimp-out update: Things are looking up. Just a few months ago, I wouldn't have entertained the thought of making these chicken fingers.

Sure, I would cook chicken breasts in the oven, not that I wanted to. The family kept demanding to be fed, though. What's a mom to do?

"Ick, ick, ick," I'd repeat to release some raw meat heebie-jeebies as I draped chicken breasts one by one into the pan and then into the oven. 

A puddle of dish soap and a paper towel would be waiting for me at the sink. I couldn't get my hands clean fast enough.

I still don't enjoy the process but look at me go! This chicken fingers recipe is pretty hands-on, but if I can do it, you can do it.

Everyone agreed it was yummy. I think I'll do it again sometime!

Chicken Fingers

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/8 cup baking powder

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

3 pounds of chicken breasts, thawed

2 eggs, beaten

1 stick of butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and grease it. I used olive oil.
3. Mix the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl.
4. Beat the eggs in a shallow dish.
5. Cut the chicken breasts into 1/2" strips.
     I used kitchen scissors and didn't even wear food handling gloves!
6. Roll some chicken pieces in the egg.
7. Then coat each piece with the flour mixture. Shake off excess.
8. Put chicken pieces on the foil-lined sheet. 
9. Drizzle with some butter.
10. Bake about 7 minutes. 
11. Turn the chicken over and bake another 7 minutes.
12. They should be white inside, not pink.
13. If they are at all pink, bake a few minutes more.

We had a finger food frenzy on Friday! 

On the menu: 

chicken fingers, cheese and crackers, pineapple chunks, pickles and green olives.

 No big whoop.

Hope you're having a lovely day! 

Pulled pork sandwiches

The other day I made some pulled pork out of a pork butt roast. It was about 6 pounds and included the bone.

Have you ever heard of the mysterious pork butt gland? Sounds gross, doesn't it?

I had already purchased the meat and was searching how to cook it in the slow cooker when I ran across this pork butt gland article.

Well, I assume I removed the gland. I cut out every thing that was not meat and then some.

I sprinkled the meat with some garlic powder and onion powder. 

Then I poured about 2 cups of water in the slow cooker and set it on low.

After about 8 hours, the meat was done.

I heard a good way to shred meat is to use the kitchen mixer.

Oh my! It worked like a charm!

I mixed in a bottle of BBQ sauce. 

Then I returned the whole thing to the slow cooker and set it on warm.

I tried and tried to keep the boys out of it 'til supper. :) 

Served it on homemade buns. You can find the recipe for homemade buns here.

It was very tasty!!

Next time I will use a different cut of pork, though.

Cheeseburgers on homemade buns

Patting out hamburgers? 

With bare hands? 

Ewwww!

Yet, in my continuing attempt to get over handling raw meat and save money, too, I have served hamburgers on homemade buns three times now. 

The family loves them.

Hamburger Buns (start about 3 hours before making burgers)

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cups flour (more or less)

1. Combine the first six ingredients and allow to rest for about 5 minutes. 
2. Add the flour.
3. Knead until the dough is smooth.
4. Find a warm spot and let the dough rise for 45 minutes to an hour in a greased and covered bowl.
5. Sprinkle dough with flour and knead a bit more.
6. Form the dough into 10 bun shapes and place on a greased baking pan.
7. Let rise for about 1/2 hour.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden and pretty.
9. To use for burgers, slice the cooled buns horizontally.

Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers

1. Place skillet on stove and turn burner on medium-high.
2. Sprinkle some salt in the bottom of the skillet.
3. Take 2 1/2 pounds of ground beef and pat out 10 burgers.
   
4. After skillet is hot, put some burgers in pan.
5. Cook first side for 4 1/2 minutes.
6. Flip the burgers. Salt and pepper them if you like.
   
7. Cook the flip side for 4 1/2 minutes.
8. When time is almost up, lay cheese slices on top to melt them slightly.
   
9. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the insides of the burgers are 155 degrees or higher.   (Don't let the thermometer touch the bottom of the pan)
10. Use steps 1 through 9 and continue cooking the rest of the burgers.

This is one of those meals you can tailor for each person. 
 
American, provolone or pepper jack cheese? Onions? Jalapenos? Just open the fridge and behold the options!

I just might make these tonight!!

Are you squeamish about raw meat, too?

This was shared on:

Creating My Way to Success

Mad in Crafts

Flour Me with Love
Adventures of a DIY Mom
Growing Home Blog
Handy Man, Crafty Woman
Frugally Sustainable

Simple sirloin steak for the squeamish

I am not good with raw meat.

I don't like to handle it. 

I worry about not cooking it long enough.

It's icky.

If I found some out in the yard, I'd call the police.

Sounds like I'm not exactly selling you on my sirloin steak recipe.

But wait! 

This recipe is perfect for cooks with delicate constitutions. It doesn't require much touching and it's over in hurry.

Plus it's STEAK--which makes the cook very popular.

The only catch is, the kitchen might get a little smoky; so decrease the heat when necessary and all should be OK. You might want to open a window, too.

SIRLOIN STEAK

Ingredients:

Sirloin steaks (they look like cartoon steaks!)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. On the stove, heat an empty skillet on high heat. (an oven-safe skillet, if possible)
3. Add some olive oil to the skillet.
4. Put a little oil on the steaks and season them with salt and pepper.
5. Regulate the heat in the skillet, turning it down a little if necessary.
6. Put the steaks in the skillet and let them be.
7. Wait 3 minutes.
8. Flip them over. Tongs work better than a spatula.
9. Wait another 3 minutes.
10. Put the steaks in the preheated oven. If your skillet is oven-safe, it can go directly into the oven.
11. If you don't have an oven-safe skillet, transfer the steaks to a baking sheet with sides. Again, tongs work better than a spatula.
12. Bake about 10 minutes.

Steaks are done depending on how you like them cooked.

An internal temperature of 150 degrees is medium-well.

I cooked ours for about 15 minutes, until they reached 170 degrees (because I worry). That was probably too long--but they were still yummy!

 

This was shared for Foodie Friends Friday on this neighborly website:

Walking on Sunshine