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.

Honey Spiced Chicken

Diggng through the freezer yesterday, hoping I could find something easy and quick that I could make, I came across a package of chicken thighs.  Being a chicken fan from way back, I thought that would fit the bill.  But what to do that I haven't done a bazillion times before?  So I turned to an old church cookbook and came across this recipe I've never tried, probably because of the mustard component in it.  I'm not too big a fan of the mustard and chicken together.  However, I was running out of time, the recipe looked easy and I had all the ingredients.  Done deal:  Honey Spiced Chicken it was.  Well shock of shocks, it was one of the best chicken dinners I've had!  Totally delicious.  And really the mustard was not a prominent flavor.  Amazingly, neither was the curry.  They all blended together into a winning taste concoction.   Definitely now a family favorite recipe!  Those old church cookbooks are a treasure trove!

Honey Spiced Chicken

- 6-8 chicken thighs  (recipe originally called for 1 3lb. fryer, cut up)
-1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
-1/3 cup honey
-2 Tbsp. prepared mustard
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. curry powder

Preheat oven to 350*F.   Cover a shallow baking sheet with foil.  Wash chicken pieces and pat dry.  Place on baking sheet.

Mix together the rest of the ingredients.  Baste chicken with sauce and bake for 60 - 70 minutes, basting every 15 minutes with more sauce making sure the last basting has at least 10 minutes to bake on the chicken.

*Note*:  Because the sauce has honey in it, any sauce that runs onto the foil might start to burn at some point.  When this started to happen, I just changed out the foil to a clean sheet.

**I also cut up potatoes, carrots and red peppers into bite size pieces in a baking dish sprinkled them with olive oil, seasoning salt, dehydrated onion and parsley and baked it along side the chicken for a super easy supper.   And because I covered the baking sheet with foil first, it was also super easy clean up!

Cooking Thursday ~ Serbian Ground Beef

I'm joining up with Sandra at Diary of a Stay At Home Mom for Cooking Thursday.  It's a great spot to share recipes and find new ones to try.  Everytime I make this recipe my family raves about it. The spices are so different to any other casserole I've tried and the potatoes just get so soft and lovely.  It's easy to put together and lends nicely to left overs.  I've adapted it portion wise to how it best suits our family and I either leave out the red wine from the original recipe or use apple juice instead. We've also found that we preferred kernel corn to the shredded carrot (used one time in a panic when I discovered no carrots in the fridge) that the original recipe called for but the carrot is delicious too.  I'm sure using both would be equally tasty.

SERBIAN GROUND BEEF
(adapted from All Recipes)

- 3/4 kg (1 1/2 lbs.) lean ground beef
-1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
-1 large green or red bell pepper, chopped
-1 large onion, chopped
-1 large carrot, shredded
-3 stalks celery, chopped
-1/2 tsp. salt
-2 1/2 tsp. paprika
-1 tsp. black pepper
-1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
-1 1/2 pinch ground cinnamon
-1 1/2  pinch ground cloves
-1/4 cup water
-3 Tbsp. Red Wine or water
-1 1/2 pkgs beef boullion **
-4 Tbsp. half and half cream
-5 large potatoes, peeled and sliced

Preheat oven to 400*F.  Lightly butter a 13x9 inch baking dish.

Scramble fry the ground beef in a saute skillet.  Drain and set aside.  Add olive oil to skillet, heat and add onion, celery, carrot or corn, and green (red) pepper.  Cook stirring until celery is tender.  Add the remaining ingredients except half and half and potatoes and simmer on low for a couple of minutes.

Meanwhile peel and slice potatoes.  Place one layer into the prepared baking dish.  Remove meat mix from heat and stir in half and half.  Pour meat mixture over the potato base.  Layer remaining potatoes on top.  Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Cover and bake for 45 minutes until potatoes are tender.  Let sit a few minutes before serving.

Wonderful served with a green salad and mild tasting dressing.

**NOTES:  - can add 1 cup frozen corn if desired

                  - I prefer 1 1/2 tsp.  "Better Than Boullion" Organic Roasted Beef Base