Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash ~ recipe

During this time of staying at home and not eating out, I was getting hard pressed not to be bored and unmotivated in the cooking department.  I will just come out and say, I miss eating out or bringing in takeout on a Friday night.  It was a real break for me from having to come up with what to cook every single day.  Mind you with not cooking and food prepping for dayhome that pressure has reduced somewhat...but I still miss eating out and trying new things.  Anyway, I tried a few new to me recipes that I enjoyed and this is one of them.  Hubby and I are trying to cut back on our carb intake a bit so this was perfect.  And it was a huge hit.

BUFFALO CHICKEN SPAGHETTI SQUASH
(adapted from With Peanut Butter on Top)
serves 4


-5-6 frozen chicken breasts
-salt & pepper to taste
-garlic powder and onion powder to taste

-1 medium spaghetti size squash (length of a dinner plate) or 2 smaller size squash.
-1/2 cup shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese
-2 - 4 harvarti or provolone cheese slices, or 1 cup more of the shredded cheese of choice
-1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce (or similar cayenne sauce)
-1/4 cup cream cheese, room temperature
-1/2 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
-1 Tbsp olive oil
-1/2 bell pepper (I used orange), diced
-1/2 medium onion, diced
-1 large clove (or 2 smaller cloves) fresh garlic, minced or crushed

-green onions, sliced
-1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
-ranch or blue cheese salad dressing (optional)

Spray crockpot with a small amount of cooking spray or olive oil.  Sprinkle frozen chicken breasts with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder to taste.  Place in crockpot and cook on high for 3 1/2 - 4 hours.  When done cooking shred with a fork and set aside.

While the chicken is cooking, cut the stem end off of a medium sized spaghetti squash leaving the squash end intact so that when you eventually fill it it won't run out.  Now cut the squash in half length wise.  Scoop out the seeds an membranes.  I discarded this but you could wash the seeds and roast the later if you like.  You can place upside down on a baking sheet to which a few tablespoons of water has been added and roast at 400*F for 45 - 55 mins. 

Or    bake each half in the microwave covered with a kitchen towel until tender approximately 15 minutes.

While the squash is cooling place oil, bell pepper, onion and garlic in fry pan and cook until softened.  Mix together with chicken, 1/2 c shredded cheese, Red Hot sauce, cream cheese & sour cream. 

Turn on the oven broiler and move oven rack close to the broiler.  When squash is cool enough to handle gently scrape the flesh into "spaghetti strings" removing about half out of each "boat".  Add to chicken mixture and stir gently to avoid breaking the strings.   Fill each squash boat evenly with the chicken mixture.  Top with the harvati or provolone slices or more shredded cheese.  Place under broiler until hot & bubbly, and cheese starts to brown.

While that is happening chop green onions and spinach.  Once the cheese is melted and browning, remove from oven.  Drizzle with more Frank's Red Hot Sauce to taste and ranch dressing.  Top with onions and spinach. 

Cut each boat in half if you used a medium squash and serve with a cold salad or veggies and dip.  (If you used a smaller squash each person can have a half). 

Crockpot Greek Meatballs

It's been about 6 months since I discovered the handy dandy bag of frozen meatballs from Costco.  It was served as an appetizer with tzatziki dipping sauce at our family reunion last fall.  I watched as the hostess just poured them straight out of the thawed bag  into the serving dish.  How easy was that?  I was amazed at how good they were.  I knew I was onto to something.  It has now become my go to for when I just didn't get supper going and I need something quick.  Not only have I done the traditional spaghetti and meatballs (can't be simpler with jarred sauce), we've also enjoyed meatball subs, meatball soup and  meatballs in cream sauce.

Yesterday I took them a bit to a higher level by making a sauce from scratch.  It was still super simple, took no time whatsoever and used ingredients I had on hand.  The sauce is started in a skillet but continues to cook and marry all the delicious flavors in the crockpot.  This was a delicious change up from the usual pasta sauce.  It has cinnamon in it!  Yes cinnamon!  I never would have thought to put cinnamon in a pasta sauce had I not come across this recipe.   Hubby commented that the sauce tasted like something we would get in one of our favorite restaurants here in town.  Score!  I knew I had to share it with you.

I adapted the recipe from this one here.  Because we don't drink the only thing I didn't have on hand was the red wine so I made adaptations for that.  Super simple, super delicious.  Had I have known how delicious and that I would share it with you I would have taken a picture but alas you'll just have to trust me and make it for yourself to see how it looks.  😇

CROCKPOT GREEK MEATBALLS

-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
-1 Tbsp flour

-1 28 oz. can (796 ml) diced tomatoes
-1/4 cup apple juice
-1/4 cup chicken broth (or skip the apple juice and use all chicken broth)
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (about a tbsp dried but fresh is so much better)
-2 tsp  paprika
-1 tsp ground cumin
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp oregano
-salt and pepper to taste

-28 oz. of frozen meatballs (comes to about 30-34 of the Kirkland brand meatballs from costco)

Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large saute skillet.  Add the flour and whisk until smooth.  Continue cooking and stirring until bubbly and browning.   Add remaining ingredients except the meatballs.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, to thicken the sauce.  If it gets too thick you can add more broth.

Puree with an immersion blender to reduce the tomato chunks.  It can also be done in a blender but I like the sauce a bit chunkier.  The blender would make it smoother.  If doing in the blender make sure to take out the center cup out of the lid and cover with a kitchen towel.  This lets the hot steam out and stops any hot liquid from blowing out and burning you.

Use a little olive oil to grease the sides of the crockpot.  Place meatballs into crockpot and cover with sauce.  Cook on high for 3 hours.  Again if the sauce is reducing too much you can add more broth.

I served it with orzo and a Greek salad on the side.  It can also be served with rice or mashed potatoes.

Chicken Santa Fe

I'm joining in with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom today sharing recipes.  She has inspired me by starting to do the Slow Cooking Thursday posts once again, we call them crockpots here.  I know fall is technically the time to pull out the crockpot but mine really does get use all year.  I don't know where I found the original recipe for Santa Fe Chicken.  It seems I've had it forever but it's a family favorite.  I've tweaked it to our tastes and that is how the recipe is written today.  It is easily doubled or halved.   It's important to follow the stated cooking times on this.  Cooking it all day will cause the chicken to turn out tough.

CROCKPOT SANTA FE CHICKEN

-4 - 6 boneless chicken breasts
-salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
-cajun or creole seasoning, to taste (optional)
-1 large can black beans, rinsed and drained
-1 can whole kernel corn, rinsed and drained, OR 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
-1 cup thick and chunky salsa
-1/2 block cream cheese (4 oz.)
-cooked rice or tortilla chips or tortilla shells or taco shell bowls (various simple methods for making those here)

Mix together beans, corn and half of the salsa.  Season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and cajun seasoning to taste.  Place on top of bean mixture in crockpot.  Top with remaining salsa.

Cover and cook on High for 2 1/2 - 3 hours until chicken is cooked through.  Remove chicken from crock, let rest a few minutes and then cut into bite sized chunks or shred.   (Shredding is nice if used as a filling for the soft tortilla shells).  Place back in crockpot.

Cut cream cheese into cubes.  Place in crockpot and turn again to high and heat until cheese melts and stirs in smoothly.

Serve with your choice of the above sides.  May be topped with shredded cheddar cheese if desired.

Corn Chowder

The last time I went to the farmer's market, I had a craving for corn.  Delicious, sweet corn dripping in butter and salt.  The stand I bought from was selling two different varieties:  Peaches & Cream and Sweet Yellow.  Not knowing which I would prefer, I bought a half dozen of each.  As it turned out, the peaches and cream was delicious, not sweet yellow, not so much.  It was sort of very unsweet!  Nobody wanted to eat it anymore.  Now if you know me at all, it drives me nuts to throw food out, so I was on the hunt to some how redeem the sweet yellow corn that was not so sweet.  I came upon this recipe in my internet travels.  It was a slow cooker recipe, so that sealed the deal, I was trying it.    The only problem was I did not have bacon.  So in true James Barber fashion, who was all about using what you have, I used the 3 smoked mennonite sausages I had in the fridge.  And it was delicious.  You could not tell at all that the corn was a dud.  Yum!  This is going into my tried and true file, for sure.

SLOW COOKER CORN CHOWDER
Adapted from Mama Loves Food Corn and Potato Chowder Recipe for the Crock Pot Slow Cooker

-5 ears of raw corn, shucked and corn cut off husk
-5 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
-3 cooked smoked sausage links, sliced into bite size pieces
-1 medium to large onion, diced
-1 cup celery, diced
-4 large cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
-1/2 tsp. seasoning salt
-4 cups chicken stock
-1 cup half & half + 1 cup milk (or if you're not watching your waist line go for and use all cream!)
-salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients into slow cooker except the cream/milk and salt and pepper.  Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.  Remove the sausage out of the soup and with an immersion blender blend about half the soup or to the consistency you want.  (You can also use a regular blender.  Remove the center piece out of the lid to allow steam to escape.  Lightly cover with a dish towel to prevent hot spray and blend.  Return blended soup to the crock.)  Add sausages back and add cream/milk.  Salt and pepper to taste.