Slow Cooker Herb-Rubbed Turkey Breast

 -with turkey gravy

Sometimes, as much as you want things to be different... as much as you tell you yourself it will be different... sometimes things take longer to change than our well-intentioned selfs would like. As much as I would like to say that I left 2016 in the dust and 2017 is already waaaaaaay better, sometimes life just doesn't work like that. 

16 days into the New Year and I'm already beating myself up for the lack of posts. I'm mad at myself for still feeling the effects of last year's depression. Why can't it just be gone? 

Autumn Pork & Squash Stew

First, the bad news...

Guys, I have been looking at my calendar and it's not looking good. December's schedule is going to be busy. Busy with a capitol B! I've started physical therapy again, 3 times a week. Christmas shopping needs to be finished. Our niece's birthday is at the end of the week, and we've planned a shopping trip and a sleepover. Not to mention making her a cake and getting her back home for her official birthday party at my sister-in-law's. There's Christmas with our Kentucky relatives. Packing to go to Oregon in 12 days. And goodness knows what we're going to get into while we're on the West Coast! We may only have a trip to Southern Oregon and a wine-tasting date planned, but that always changes. Fast. 

Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken Tacos

Fire up those slow cookers y'all!

There's so many things to love about this recipe. For one, you make it in the slow cooker. One of my absolute favorite cooking methods. Especially for things like taco meat. Two chicken breasts in the slow cooker kept me and the hubby fed for 4 days. If I'd been thinking clearly, I would have invented another recipe with the taco meat. As life would have it though, I devoured tacos for 4 straight days. 

It. Was. Glorious!

There's nothing better than savory shredded chicken, piled high with creamy avocado and cheddar cheese, all topped with a cool, crisp salsa verde and tucked neatly in a fresh corn tortilla. This is taco heaven! :-)

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

Is there a more perfect time for a slow cooker recipe than at the holidays? I think not. After all the shopping, gift wrapping, check-book balancing, cookie baking, and making sure the hubby's not falling off the roof-ing (hehe), there's not a lot of energy left for cooking. Back when the hubby and I lived in Portland, this wasn't such big deal. We had many (quick) options for feeding ourselves somewhat healthy. We were within 5 minutes of Whole Foods, walking distance of of handful of restaurants, and had a kitchen drawer full of menus from restaurants that deliver. Ah, the old days. Today though? Our grocery store doesn't offer the options of Whole Foods (fresh salad bars, amazing hot soups, made-to-order sandwiches), we are within a 20 minute drive to the nearest restaurant, and delivery? That's a no-go. I cook a heck of a lot more here in Kentucky that I ever did in Oregon, which in itself has positives and negatives.

Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken

Oh yes.

It's that wonderful time of year to pull out your slow cooker again! Admittedly, there are some that use their crock pot throughout the summer. It's true, the slow cooker is a great way to cook something without raising the temperature of the home. However, what usually cooks in a slow cooker? 

Meats. The hubby and I don't eat a lot of meat in the summer, and if we do, it's from the grill. 

Soups and stews. We rarely eat soup and never stew in the summer. 

Those 3 items make up the majority of slow cooker recipes. They are all things that scream "COMFORT!!!" food. And "comfort" food almost always equates to fall and winter weather in my book.

Kentucky Hot Browns

If you want me to be completely honest with you, I will. I'd never heard of Kentucky Hot Browns until I moved to Kentucky. Seriously. I'd lived here a year and a half before I even heard the term. I was perusing FaceBook when I saw an article about The Brown Hotel, birthplace of the Kentucky Hot Brown. The story is, in the 1920's, upper class citizens used to come to The Brown Hotel to dance until the wee hours of the morning. After dancing away the night, they would make their bleary way to the kitchen where they would request a breakfast-y type dish. Wanting to serve his patrons something more upper-crust then eggs and bacon, the chef at The Brown Hotel devised an open-face turkey sandwich slathered in Mornay (that's CHEESE!) sauce. The Kentucky Hot Brown was born.

Slow Cooker Chicken Mole

It's Cinco de Mayo week!

It's no secret that Mexican food and/or Tex Mex are some of my favorite cuisines. I never strictly wait for Cinco de Mayo to make Mexican food, I make it year round. That being said, it's my own personal tradition to eat Mexican food and drink a margarita on Cinco de Mayo. And I love my traditions. I haven't decided what to make this year, but I'm leaning towards enchiladas. I may have gotten my chili gravy down, but I haven't found my ultimate enchilada sauce yet. Uh oh. Mouth. watering. already.

25 Easy Chicken Recipes

Happy Friday! Happy March Madness! 

The NCAA tournament has been going as planned for the hubby, with Kentucky chugging right along. My bracket is looking awfully precarious, though I do have Kentucky winning it all. As long as Kentucky can keep on winning, I'm still in it. But barely, and by the skin of my teeth. I'm in 4th place in the family pool. Out of 5. I guess you can't win em' all.

Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

It's finally starting to feel like March around here. 

We've had a fairly warm last couple of days, which has melted a considerable portion of our snowpack. Enough of the snow, in fact, that the dogs are pretty happy. And it was 60º yesterday! The hubby and I went into town without coats, and it felt amazing.

Overnight Slow-Cooker Chicken Broth

I've got all kinds of things to talk to you about today. Slow cookers, chicken carcasses, herbs, veggies, broths, oh my! 

To tell you the truth, I haven't bought chicken broth in years. Years. I keep a can of chicken bouillon with my spices, but that's it. I've been making my own ever since I learned this super-simple way to make broth.

25 Super Bowl Snacks, Treats, and Meal Ideas

Good morning, and happy Tuesday!

I meant to publish a post yesterday, but the morning ended up being way too hectic. The hubby and I had to leave the house at 7 am yesterday to drive my car about an hour away to the Nissan dealership. It was not the best day for travel (thank you, East Coast Blizzard!), not to mention the problems I was already having with the drivability of the car.

25 Winter Soup Recipes

Hap, hap, happy Friday folks!

I know, I know, I told you I was either bringing you a pumpkin recipe or DIY gift idea today. Well, guess what? I lied! Both posts need more work, so I'm here with another round-up. I think I'm going to be doing round-up's once a month from now on, they have been going over really well. People seem to like them, and I'm going to keep giving the people what they want. And as we march further and further into winter, soup becomes a very popular menu item. I can't count how many times the hubby has come home from a very cold day, and been utterly delighted to find cozy soup and crusty french bread for dinner. Indeed, I think we have soup and bread at least once a week in the winter. I end up making tons of soups to freeze, and then I pretty much just pull a meal from the freezer once a week. I love it. 

Soup is one of those things that pretty much anyone can make. You don't need to be a gourmet chef. It doesn't take much technique. In fact, I've found almost every soup has a similar preparation process. For most soups, you heat a little bit of oil or butter to sauté your mirepoix. Mirepoix is French for "onions, carrots, and celery". Not every soup has that exact combination, but almost every soup starts out by sautéing some vegetables. It could be onions and peppers. Onions, carrots, celery, and shallot. Garlic. You name it. After sautéing the mirepoix, it seems everything else goes. Except if it's dairy based. I'm talking wine, broth, vegetables that aren't as hard as onions and carrots, beans, meat, spices. After you throw everything else in, you simmer for any given amount of time. Next would come the aforementioned dairy, if you are making a creamy soup. And last, but certainly not least, you would throw in any fresh parsley, basil, or cilantro you would be using. Again, if any. It's really pretty simple. Never fear the soup recipe, my friends. 

Another benefit of soup--It can be prepared early, or even a day in advance. Soup always seems to come together the day after it's made to make extraordinary flavors. 

One more thing before I go... Most of you know I link my weekly recipes at the end of the week to several different "linky" parties. All in the hopes of driving traffic. I have a near-constant goal of getting featured on said parties, and sometimes, I reach my goal. Today is one of those days! My General Tso's Chicken was the most viewed recipe of the week over on The Country Cook's Weekly Potluck! This is huge honor, as the last time this happened (for my Pecan Pie Cake) I ended up with a ton of new readers, followers on Pinterest, and FaceBook likes. For the smallest of small blogs, this is  super-exciting and keeps me in a tizzy all weekend. I'll have a smile on my face for the next couple of days for sure! :)

There you have it folks. I'll leave you with 25 scrumptious soup recipes to try. Have a great weekend!

1. Roasted Fennel, Chickpea, and Tomato Soup

2. Winter Minestrone

3. Vegetable Beef

4. Creamy Broccoli and Cheese Soup

5. Creamy Chicken, White Bean, and Green Chile Soup

6. Semi-Homemade Chicken and Dumplins'

7. Chickpea Minestrone

8. Caprese Soup

9. Chicken Soup with Egg Noodles

10. New England Clam Chowder

11. Chicken Soup with Shells and Kale

12. Chicken Taco Soup

13. Eggplant and Orzo Casserole Soup

14. Loaded Baked Potato Soup

15. Lentil Soup with Spicy Sausage and Kale

16. Oktoberfest Stew

17. Pasta Fagoli

18. Skinny Potato Soup

19. Roasted Cauliflower Soup

20. Smoky Black Bean Soup

21. Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili

22. Spanish Rice Soup

23. Turkey Pumpkin Chili

24. Tortilla Soup

25. White Bean and Spinach Soup

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Snickerdoodle Sunday, Treasure Box Tuesday

Texas Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Creamy Coleslaw

Oh yes, it's time for a slow-cooker treat!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again- I don't pull out the crockpot near enough. I don't know why this is, because crockpot dinner days are my favorite. It's a magical feeling, almost like going out to dinner. As if you didn't have to cook. I'm one of those people who's filled with energy in the morning and during the day, but by 6 pm? I'm tired. Cranky. I don't feel like working anymore. So if there's a meal in the crockpot, and all I have to do is pull out some hamburger buns and coleslaw I made in the morning- I'm a happy camper. I'm an especially happy camper when that dinner in the crockpot is tender, delicious, and coated in a delicious concoction of BBQ flavor.

Pulled pork is so versatile. I started out over the summer with an 8 lb roast. I cut it half, and froze the half that became this Texas Pulled Pork. The half that I cooked in the summer probably made us 6-7 meals. This half that I cooked this week also made that many meals. We had sandwiches for dinner one night, and then sandwiches for lunch another day. I made Hawaiian Pizza out of a large quantity of pork. And then last night for dinner, we had sandwiches again. And there's still a little bit left. Pulled Pork Hash might be in the works...

I can't advocate pulled pork enough. Seriously. Nuff' said. 

If you like pulled pork, you are going to love this recipe. The sauce is lip-smackin' good, and only seems to flavor the meat more the more days after it's been cooked. The meat, literally, just falls apart when it's done. The sweetness of the coleslaw is the perfect foil for the slightly spicy pork. Gosh, I'm getting hungry just thinking about these...

Ok. Trying...not...to...think...about...BBQ :)

It's Friday! Does anyone have anything exciting planned for the weekend? I think I'm on the tail end of my cold. I'm feeling like I've gotten most of the crap out of my lungs. Therefore, I'm thinking I might try an experimental run tomorrow. I actually went to the gym yesterday, but I noticed I was getting very fatigued and out of breath after 20 minutes of cardio. I know I've lost some fitness in this almost-3 week hiatus from exercise, but I think the fatigue yesterday was because I still had some crud leftover in my lungs. Either way, every day I'm feeling better. And thankful for that! I'm also planning on making cookies, tackling that pumpkin I didn't get around to yesterday, making a trip to the library (I've been devouring books lately), and making a trip to Lowe's. Some evil animal in the backyard has made off when not 1, but 2 of my suet feeders. Not only did they take off with the suet baskets, but they completely broke another feeder I have out there. I'm a little irritated with whoever is doing this, my best guess being a raccoon. More than a little irritated, because as I look out the window now there's a poor little woodpecker looking for his missing suet. Poor little guy. 

One more thing before I run off, since I mentioned the library. I've really been trying to branch out this year and read some books I wouldn't normally choose. I do this by going to the library and haphazardly picking up a book. Or by going to different sections and picking the first book my hand lands on. I've found some really good authors by doing this. However, I just finished a book last night that has left me puzzled. It was "Love Me Back" by Merritt Tierce.  It ended on one of those notes where you ask yourself when you finish, "What was the point of that?". It's weird, because the book read easily. And fast. But when I turned the last page and discovered I was at the end... I was flabbergasted. The book just suddenly ended. The other odd thing about this book is the author wrote in a weird tense the whole book. I think I'm going to have give this book some thought, because I'm sure there is some meaning buried somewhere. It felt like a "fluff" book, but I'm not entirely convinced it was...

Anyhoo, I think I've covered enough topics for today. I'm all talked-out :) 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ingredients (serves 10-12):

Pulled Pork-

1 1/2 cups BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp yellow mustard

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 large onion, chopped

1 tbsp garlic, minced

2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

1 tbsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2- 1 tsp crushed red pepper 

1 (4 lb) pork shoulder

Coleslaw-

2 tbsp white vinegar

3 tbsp mayonnaise

1 garlic clove, minced

3 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 cups cabbage, shredded

hamburger buns

Directions:

1. Combine BBQ sauce through crushed red pepper in the bottom of crockpot. Stir to combine. Place roast in pot, spoon sauce over roast until it's covered. Place lid on crockpot. Cook on low for 8-9 hours. Remove lid, and shred pork with 2 forks. 

2. In a small mixing bowl, combine white vinegar through black pepper. Stir to combine. Add cabbage, and toss to coat.

3. To serve, ladle pulled pork onto hamburger bun. Top with slaw. Serve immediately. 

Printable Recipe

Pulled Pork recipe adapted from Allrecipes. Slaw recipe adapted from About.com.

Looking for other sandwich recipes? Try these!

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches

Mom's Sloppy Joes

Turkey Pesto Avocado Sandwiches

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Treasure Box Tuesday

25 Easy Mexican-Inspired Recipes

Happy Friday! And Halloween!

I'm feeling a bit better today. The cold moved extremely steadily throughout the normal progression that colds do. After waking up on Day 1, and knowing it was coming, it was here by 1 pm. It fully overtook my nose, the running and all the stuffiness. Sore throat. On Day 2, it was entirely in my head and by the end of the day, out of my nose. On Day 3, it had completely left my head and made its way into my chest. Now, Day 4, I'm feeling way better but still left with a nasty cough. One more day of taking it easy, and I'm hoping I'll be on the mend. I'm ready to start running again, as it has been 2 weeks since I last ran. Man, I hate saying that. I know I've lost a lot of progress, but I won't know how much till I get back out there. 

Anyhoo, it's Halloween! While I make the same meal every Halloween (my dad's chili- it's tradition), Mexican food isn't far from my mind. After all, it's been little Mexico all week here on the blog. I figured, why not wrap up this week with some of my absolutely favorite latin-inspired recipes? Mexican food is so much more than the standard ground beef and taco flavoring packet. I love everything about it- avocados, salsa, cilantro, tortillas, spanish rice, beans, cheese, the spices... It all works for me. I've rounded up 25 of my best Mexican recipes to share with everyone today. I hope you all enjoy!

Black Bean Flautas with Avocado Dipping Sauce

Chicken Burritos with Spanish Rice and Fresh Salsa

Chicken Taco Soup

Chipotle Shrimp Tacos with Lime Sour Crema

Fresh Guacomole

"Mangling" Margaritas

Mango Avocado Salsa

Chicken, Peach, and Pepperjack Quesadillas

Pulled Pork Taco Casserole

Red Bean and Rice Tacos

Easy Homemade Salsa

Seviche-Style Shrimp and Avocado Tacos

Spanish Rice

Spanish Rice Soup

Ancho Chile Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri

SW Chopped Salad with Creamy Cilantro Dressing

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Turkey Taco Casserole

Blackened Tilapia Tacos

Homemade Double Decker Tacos

Shredded Beef Entomatadas

Quinoa Taco Salad

Shredded Beef Tacos

Spanish Orzo

Tortilla Soup

And there you have it! Step out of your comfort zone and try one tonight!

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday today!

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Treasure Box Tuesday