Crockpot Beer BBQ Pulled Chicken and Broccoli Cheese Soup

Yesterday was a cookin' day.  Beloved was up, up and away at work, which left me to alternate between intense Kindle reading and cookin'.  Both of these recipes were taken from the Tasty Kitchen website.  If you aren't already getting recipes from there, I give you permission to go there now, but make sure you come right back!

Both recipes turned out great!  We had the Broccoli Cheese Soup for dinner last night, but neither of us could help but sample the chicken, which we'll be having tonight when Beloved's sister comes over for dinner.  Let's start with the chicken:



Mine looks way saucier than this...but would you expect anything less of me?



3 lbs chicken breasts

1 Tbsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

8 oz beer

32 oz barbeque sauce

Ok.  Right out the bat, I didn't have onion powder or smoked paprika.  I shook some garlic powder, regular old paprika, salt, pepper, and some red pepper flakes on my chicken.  So I say:  season how you please!  Put the seasoned chicken breasts into your slow cooker.  Crack open the beer (I used a brown ale Homebrew) and pour over the chicken.  I think the glass beer bottles hold 16 oz?  That's how much I used.  It was barely early enough to start drinking, so I figured I'd let the chicken have all the fun.  After that, squeeze the barbeque sauce into the chicken hottub.  I used Sweet Baby Ray's.  The original recipe advised against using a thicker barbeque sauce unless you up the liquid (beer, or ginger ale, or broth, even!) to prevent burning and whatnot.  I used 28 oz bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's and it was fine.  Set the cooker to low and cook for 8 hours (mine was ready in about 7) and then shred the chicken.  Done!  We'll be having ours tonight on Bangor Rye rolls along with Broccoli Slaw. 

On to the soup:

Mine wasn't this green, but I didn't do what they said.  And I'm ok with that...

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp finely chopped onion

2 Tbsp flour

2 cups beef broth or boullion

3 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cups shredded extra sharp white cheddar

1 1/2 cups shredded extra sharp yellow cheddar

4 cups steamed broccoli, pulsed into meal

In a heavy stockpot (I used my Dutch oven, made by Martha Stewart exclusively for me while she was serving time...) melt the butter.  Add the chopped onion (if you measure this, so help me...just cut off a bit of onion, chop it fine, and throw it in, ok??) and cook until it's soft.  Or until you're ready to move on.  Add the flour and cook for 3 minutes, stirring.  It's gonna get brown.  It's ok.  Add the broth and milks alternately, making sure you stir, until it's all combined.  Bring to a boil.  Mine took a while.  Not a huge deal.  Just stir and, if you're like me, chop the broccoli.  I bought a bag of frozen broccoli and just let it thaw on the sideboard.  Then I used my food chopper and chopped it down.  Not into meal, but just into wee bits.  Once your base is boiling, add the broccoli and cheese and stir until the cheese melts.  Salt and pepper as you wish.  I turned it down to low once the cheese was melted and it thickens up.  We had this with cheese bread, and it was really nice. 

Both of these recipes got the Beloved seal of approval, which is what I most care about.  Try them.  They're easy!!!

Wicked Easy Recipe and Why I Need A Full-Length Mirror

I am a hoarder of recipes.  I get emails from all over the internets for recipes that I think I might like to try.  I have a cookbook collection three shelves tall in my kitchen built-in (always room for more...they only take up one half of the shelves!) and a binder with all my printed recipe gems.  This week I actually took to cooking some of the recipes, instead of just collecting them, Hoarders-style.  Over the weekend I made Moose Sausage and Spinach Pasta Bake...which was really good after I realized it needed re-saucing.  It soaked up all the sauce in the original recipe and was a wee dry the first time I tried it (Beloved, in all his male wisdom, ate it without complaint) but I gave it the ol' one-two-Ragu and it was delicious. 
The pictured recipe is courtesy of Kraft, which always sends me very easy recipes, which I can appreciate on a weeknight.  They call it Saucy Mexican Chicken.  I call it Really Good With Two Glasses of Reisling. 

On to the recipe:
1 lb chicken breast (they left theirs whole; I cut mine up into smallish pieces)
15 oz can black beans, undrained (I used Turtle Beans, Hannaford brand)
1 cup salsa (I used 16oz jar Newman's Own Hot Salsa)
Mexican blend cheese and Sour Cream (and/or any other toppings you'd like)
Cook chicken breasts in non-stick skillet (I used cast iron skillet with a little bit of olive oil) over medium high heat until brown on both sides (I cooked it until it was mostly done, mostly because I didn't read the entirety of this part of the directions...)
Add the beans and salsa and bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 5 minutes, or until chicken is done.
At this point, you're done.  If you make it with whole chicken breasts, they recommended taking it off the heat, adding 1 c of cheese and letting stand until cheese was melted.  I brought our cheese to the table and we added it ourselves (I didn't use 1/2 c of cheese for my plate...I'd appreciate some clapping here) and added sour cream.  I also made Minute Rice brand Spanish Rice and we served that and corn in a big Mexican mashup.  It was so good!  Could easily throw this in a soft taco shell if you needed some more carbs (and who doesn't??) For two people (with 1 1/4 stomachs total) it fed us and there's a good amount leftover for Beloved to have lunch today.  The trash will not be getting these leftovers.

**********

Today I attempted to leave the house in my leggings and a longish button down shirt.  I felt very "Hollywood, just thrown together, it's fall but I go for the no-pants" kinda look.  As I bent down into my car to put my travel mug in it's spot, Beloved pointed out that you could see my underwear clear through the leggings.  Defeated, I went inside and put on age-appropriate jeans (knowing now my leggings might not see the light of day again) and trudged back outside.  Beloved declared that he thought that was the look I was going for.  Why would I go to work with my skivvies shining through like the sun???  All he could do was laugh at me.    It made me laugh that he sort of argued for me to keep the leggings on, because you could only see them when I was bent over.  If you got it, flaunt it?? 

Recipe--Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Or, "How To Make Your New Hometown Smell Delicious."

This recipe was delayed in being made due to the power outage Sunday.  No fear, it was made and eaten last night!  Obv this isn't the picture I took (I snagged it from the Hellman's website) of what I made, but it looked similar (minus the random greens; we had stuffing and carrots.)  It's quite tasty.  I bought a wedge of Parmesan cheese and grated it myself...and it took forever.  But it's a better value to buy whole and grate down.  Let's get to the recipe:

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

courtesy of Hellman's Mayonnaise

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (if you aren't going to grate your own, at least buy the shredded kind; this recipe isn't best prepared with the green canister mess)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

4 Tablespoons seasoned breadcrumbs

1 lb chicken breasts (I flatten my chicken breasts out; paranoid about chickeny doneness so I like them to be the same thickness)

Preheat oven to 425.  Combine the cheese and mayo in a small bowl.  Arrange chicken breasts on baking sheet (I pounded them out after I put them on a sheet...I'm one for small bursts of genius) and spread mayo mix over the tops of chicken.  Sprinkle with breadcrumbs.  Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is done.

Verdict from Beloved?  "I don't know what you're cooking but it smells good!  I could smell it when I opened the car door!"

Recipe--Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding

My mom asked me to make a chocolate bread pudding because she missed having it at Christmas parties past, courtesy of Montes.  She either wasn't making them anymore, or the price wasn't right.  Either way, I saw Michael Chiarello make this and thought, that will feed some Fords.  I made two the first year.  It was a sugar-coated Christmas, for sure.

Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding

1 stick butter (unsalted, or salted, your preference)

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

5 large eggs, slightly beaten

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

12 large croissants (ok, so note here:  it's all coming back to me that I made two because I think I had tons of croissants, adhering to the recipe.  But I haven't made this recipe since snow was on the ground, so buy 12.  If you don't use them all, split them open, butter them, grill them in a griddle/pan/cast-iron, and eat them with homemade jam.  Rinse, and repeat.)

1/2 cup raisins (I never added these; only add them if you want to make your family cry at Christmas.)

3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped small (I used the chip form, as you can see from the picture.)

Preheat the oven to 350.  In a food processor (and this part is so important; I didn't use a food processor the first year and it was horribly messy.  I used it last year, and it was less messy (would have been less messy if I had been smart and not removed the blade while the custard was still in the cup...but, like test-driving a vehicle, I had no idea how the processor worked.), combine butter and sugar process until well blended. Add cinnamon, and vanilla, and pulse to combine.

While the processor is running crack 5 eggs into the mixture. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides.  Add the heavy cream and pulse to combine.

Lightly butter a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Break up the croissants (I chopped them; it seemed more...hygienic?) into 1-inch pieces and layer in the pan (I used a disposable tin pan...as you can tell, I picked the size that can also roast a 40-lb turkey.) Scatter the raisins (I'll turn my head as you do this) and shaved bittersweet chocolate over the top, and gently mix to incorporate. Pour the egg mixture over the croissants; soak for 8 to 10 minutes. You will need to push croissants pieces down during this time to ensure even coverage by egg mixture.(It's true, you will.)


Cover with foil and bake for 35minutes. Remove foil and bake for additional 10 minutes to brown the top. The croissant bread pudding is done when the custard is set, but still soft. Allow to cool.  But really, serve it warm. 

Michael recommends serving with Bourbon Ice Cream Sauce.  This is 1 Haagen Daaz size container of ice cream and 2 ounces bourbon.  Let the ice cream come to melty deliciousness in the fridge, then whisk in the booze (or not.  I never let my ice cream drink and drive) and put into a gravy boat-style container and try to prevent your dad from drinking straight from it (or just help me with my dad.)   

Recipe--Black Bottom Coconut Bars

I hope my one stalker appreciates this post.  I was asked to provide this recipe for her, but I'm too lazy to walk down the hall to give it to her daughter (THAT'S why I ought to qualify to use the in-office electric wheelchair all day) so I thought I'd make a post of this.  I normally don't make these black-bottomed, but it's easy enough to make them whatever sort of bottom you'd like.  These are one of my brother's favorite desserts.  I found it in my gram's church cookbook, adding the coconut myself as I thought without it, would be sorta plain.  Then Paula Deen rolls up and calls them gooey butter cakes.  I should have known that any recipe with two sticks of butter would end up making its way into Paula Deen's hands. 

Black Bottomed Coconut Bars

Crust: 

1 box cake mix of your choice (chocolate cake will make it black bottom, etc.)

1 egg

1 stick butter, melted (when baking, I always use unsalted butter, but you are your own baker)

Filling:

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 stick butter, melted

1 16-oz box powdered sugar

1 bag coconut

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix crust ingredients together in a bowl.  Press into a sprayed 9x13 pan.  In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, eggs, vanilla and butter until smooth.  Add powdered sugar (slowly...watch for powdered sugar dust storm) and coconut (can mix this by hand...I just eyeball the amount of coconut...I shake out enough in until it looks like there's some all through the batter.)

Pour filling over crust, spreading to cover entirely.  Bake 40-50 minutes.  Center should still be a little soft (per Paula Deen.  I cook it until it looks as brown as it is in the above picture.)

Stalkers and regular followers, enjoy!