Recipes – Page 69 – The Pajama Chef

Hawaiian BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches {Repost}

January 28, 2013February 12, 2013 Sarah

So, I used to post once a month on a blog called Today’s Housewife. Last fall, the group decided together to stop posting due the busyness of life and families and such. Though sad, I enjoyed being part of the group. As of early January, the blog was officially taken down. But I don’t want to lose my recipes, so periodically I will be reposting them on here. Enjoy!

from July 14, 2011…but BBQ is good in January too, for a taste of summer, of course 🙂

About a month ago, my parents, sister, sister’s boyfriend, [edited to add…they got married on December 28, 2012… YAY!] and grandfather came for a visit. Yup, that’s right–seven people in a two bedroom, 1000 square foot apartment. Pure craziness, at least in terms of space. As I do with any visitors, I wanted to be sure to prepare a fantastic dinner that everyone would love, but with several caveats: we couldn’t grill out (apparently outdoor grills in “multi-family dwellings” are now illegal in the state of Indiana) and I didn’t want to spend all night in the kitchen.

So what’s a girl to do?

Use the crock pot, of course!

When Ben and I got married two years ago, I was a total crock pot skeptic. I thought crock pots were for lazy cooks and that nothing good ever came out of them. I vowed I would never use the crock pot we received as a wedding gift (in fact, we only registered for it at Ben’s insistence). I totally ate my words on that one! Aside from my KitchenAid mixer (fortunately inherited from my grandmother), my crock pot is probably my most-used kitchen appliance. I love it for making soups, applesauce, and large hunks ‘o meat.

As I was brainstorming what to make, I kept coming back to this recipe I had seen on Tasty Kitchen for Hawaiian BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches. The combination of sweet pineapple with vinegary, tomato-y BBQ sauce intrigued me to say the least. So I threw the ingredients together in my crock pot, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best

And “the best” delivered. Many a sandwich were devoured by all that night, and the sweet yet savory BBQ just couldn’t be beat. This is definitely a recipe to make again and again. It’s so easy, so delicious, so tasty, so why wouldn’t you? Enjoy!

Hawaiian BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches [from MyRetroKitchen via Tasty Kitchen]
click to print

Ingredients:

3 pounds boneless chicken, thawed
1 large onion, cut into chunks
1 – 20 ounce can crushed pineapple in juice
1 – 18-20 ounce bottle BBQ sauce [I used KC Masterpiece]
hamburger buns

Directions:

Place chicken in bottom of crock pot. Cover with onions. Drain pineapple, reserving juice (see note) and add over top. Pour in BBQ sauce. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. About an hour or two before it is finished, shred chicken with two forks, stir to incorporate the sauce, and let cook for the rest of the allotted time.

Serve on hamburger buns. If you’re feeling extra ambitious, try these: they are quite easy and really tasty! Enjoy!

Note:

For an extra sweet sauce, the recipe recommends a BBQ sauce like Sweet Baby Ray’s (which is so great) and the addition of up to 1/2 cup of the reserved pineapple juice. I didn’t add any juice to mine and it was plenty sweet for us, but others might feel differently. I just chose to drink the juice! 🙂

Shared with the Made with Love Linky Party and Weekend Potluck.

Appetizers, Recipes

Buffalo Pretzels

January 25, 2013 Sarah

So, I was really sad earlier in the week because I thought the Super Bowl was this Sunday and that I wasn’t going to have time to share a couple awesome party recipes with you! Turns out I was mistaken and it is actually a week from Sunday so I am golden! You’d think with a sports fanatic for a husband I’d be up on my sports dates, but that is not always the case. Alas. Like any good food blogger, my only concern with the Super Bowl [or other sporting events like it] is the food. Sometimes that means making elaborate, over the top awesomeness… other times, it means making really simple things that are just so amazing you wonder why you’ve never thought of them before now.

These Buffalo Pretzels fall into the latter category. I mean, really… they just look like plain ‘ole boring pretzels. But take one bite and you realize they are actually little bites of spicy goodness… all the flavors of buffalo wings with a fraction of the work and no mess! These pretzels are coated in a ranch dressing-laced buffalo wing sauce [I used bottled, but if you wanna get fancy you could make your own] then baked down, Chex Mix style. After making these pretzels, I have visions of other saucy baked pretzels treats in my future. Sriracha Pretzels? Sweet and Sour Pretzels? Some sort of sweet and spicy ginger pretzels? Oh man, I’m excited now! [But don’t ask me to google it. I’m sure someone else has already stolen my ideas and I don’t want to be sad, not on a Friday. :)]

But anyway… I can’t say enough great things about these Buffalo Pretzels! They are the perfect party snack… simple, quick, addicting, flavorful. Everyone will love them, guaranteed! Plus, you can make ’em in advance, because they last at least a week when stored in a ziploc bag or sealed container… that is, if you can stope eating them! Enjoy! 🙂

Buffalo Pretzels [from A Taste of the Best]
click to print

Ingredients:

12 cups pretzels [about 1 1/2 pounds]
9 tablespoons butter, melted
1 package ranch dressing seasoning [1 ounce]
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
2 tablespoons buffalo wing sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Grease two large baking sheets well, or cover with parchment paper.

Place half of the pretzels in a large bowl and set aside. In a measuring cup, whisk together butter, ranch seasoning, celery salt, and buffalo wing sauce. Pour half of the sauce over the pretzels [use the measuring cup to gauge this], then toss to coat. Pour onto one of the prepared baking sheets and spread out evenly, in one layer if possible. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Place pans in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, then stir each sheet and switch positions in the oven. Repeat until pretzels have absorbed all of the sauce. For me, this was about 30 minutes of baking total. Original recipe called to bake for 60 minutes, so just follow your instincts with your oven. Cool on baking sheets before transferring to a bowl or storage container.

Time: 35-65 minutes.

Yield: 12 cups pretzels.

Notes: These are not spicy, but they are pretty salty. I think the celery salt could be cut down or eliminated with no real damage to the flavor. I made 4 batches for an event expecting 120 people, and this was more than enough.

This recipe is linked up with: Weekend Potluck.

Bars, Breakfast, Recipes

{Healthy} Mexican Hot Chocolate Breakfast Bars

January 22, 2013February 23, 2017 Sarah

Would you like a rich, chocolately, fudgy bar for breakfast? They have a hint of cinnamon and cayenne reminiscent of the fancily flavorful Mexican Hot Chocolate that is so addicting once you get past the fact that you’re drinking something with a little heat. I bet you’ll love them.

But…… I know, I know. Chocolate for breakfast is everyone’s dream. Emphasis on dream, not reality. Especially in near brownie form, complete with chocolate chunks and coconut flakes. Perfecto! Nah, you say. No can do. Welllll, what if I told you they were healthy. What if I told you they were healthy without seeming healthy. What would you say then? I hope you’re in. I hope you’re game. Because these Mexican Hot Chocolate Breakfast Bars are secretly healthy. Made with a base of [gasp] sweet potatoes and black beans, this is one breakfast treat that anyone can get into eating.

I don’t usually calculate nutrition stats for my recipes, but I did for this one and discovered that each bar is 247 calories each, with 6 grams of fat. Thanks to the sweet potato and black beans, each serving has as much protein as an egg [6 grams] and as much potassium as a small banana [300 milligrams]. Add in the 6 grams of fiber and high amounts of vitamin A, this is a breakfast to be proud of. Unfortunately, the sugar content [29 grams] is higher than many breakfasts, but there are a couple ways this could be lowered–by using less honey or unsweetened versus sweetened coconut [or even subbing nuts for coconut altogether]. But that stat aside, I [the non-nutritionist, dietitian, and professional that I am] feel pretty good about eating this for breakfast. A bit indulgent, yes, but homemade, nutrient rich, tasty, and satisfying. Paired with a piece of fruit or some skim milk to round out the meal, these bars are really filling. Seriously… for the girl who usually eats a midmorning snack, a couple days when I ate one of these for breakfast at 8 am after a workout with a piece of fruit I wasn’t hungry until 1 pm. CRAY cray!

But don’t just take my word for it. Nutrition and all that boring info aside, I’m guessing you might be a bit hung up on the sweet potato/black bean base. I have two words: don’t. worry. I promise. Pinky swear, in fact. No one will be able to tell.

Case in point: the whole time I made these, Ben was playing video games in another room. True to routine, after they were baking, I visited him with the batter spoon for a test taste. Mum was the word, and he licked the bowl with a vengeance. They were pulled out of the oven and set on a cooling rack next to an assortment of clean dinner and baking dishes air-drying on a towel. Ben said they looked like brownies, and that he was looking forward to a breakfast treat. He even tried a piece that had cracked off the top and said it was delicious. Still, I said nothing. It was only when we had gotten into bed that I fessed up. What can I say… I can’t go to bed in deceit. Without batting an eye [at least, I think so… it was dark], Ben just laughed. He’s used to my kitchen games by now. And then, the next morning he took one to work for breakfast, along with a few others for his co-workers to try. That night, he came home with rave reviews. If that’s not an awesome testimony, then I don’t know what is.

I mean, I FINALLY tricked my husband into eating [and loving] something secretly healthy. I mean, I did here, so it’s been done before. But I failed here, and also have failed with a smattering of other dishes over the years. Believe me, Ben eats plenty of healthy foods, but when it comes down to it, he would choose a rich, chocolately brownie over a bowl of sweet potatoes. Who wouldn’t? But why should you have to choose? If no one can tell, then I say game on and serve a secretly healthy Mexican Hot Chocolate Breakfast Bar in the morning. You won’t regret it…. especially if you heat ’em up for about 20 seconds before enjoying. Melty chocolate in the morning is the bestttt!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Breakfast Bars

Servings: 12
Time: 1 hour
Print

heavily adapted from Eliza’s Edibles

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups no salt added black beans, drained and rinsed [a 15 ounce can or cooked my way]
1 cup honey
1 large sweet potato, scrubbed, peeled, and cooked [about 1 1/4- 1 1/2 cups]
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of cayenne pepper [optional]
1/4 cup chocolate chunks + more for sprinkling on top
1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes + more for sprinkling on top

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly grease and “flour” [using cooca powder] a 9×9 pan.

Add black beans and honey to a food processor and process until smooth, taking care to scrape the sides periodically to eliminate unsightly black bean chunks. Then chop sweet potato into small chunks and add to food processor along with the buttermilk, egg, peanut butter, and vanilla. Process again until everything is fully combined and very smooth. Mixture will be thick but not heavy.

In a small bowl, stir together cocoa powder, flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper.

Transfer black bean mixture from food processor into a large bowl, then fold dry ingredients in. Stir until well combined, then add chocolate chunks and coconut flakes.

Spoon batter into prepared pan, then top with extra chocolate chunks and coconut flakes. Bake for 40-45 minutes, covering with foil for the last 10 minutes or so to ensure coconut on top toasts, not burns. Test with a toothpick to ensure bars are done, then cool completely before cutting. Keep refrigerated.

Breakfast, Muffins, Recipes

Lemon Cranberry Muffins

January 15, 2013January 20, 2013 Sarah

Man, I am so sad that I didn’t share these Lemon Cranberry Muffins during peak cranberry season!! Boo! It got buried in my post queue and I justtttt found it. What a bummer. Don’t these muffins look divine?

I really have no excuse for not sharing them until now though; I made these muffins in October. But all might not be lost–I just scored three bags of cranberries for 99 cents each at the grocery store, so maybe you can find a crazy clearance sale too, or find some frozen cranberries, or maybe you’re a planner and have already frozen some cranberries for offseason baking needs. In that case: this recipe qualifies. However…. if you’re cranberry-less, do not despair. Read on, be sad for a minute, bookmark this recipe for the fall…and comfort yourself by gazing at my cute kitty hanging out on a pile of blankets.

Isn’t she so pretty? I think so, but I’ll admit I’m a bit biased.

But back to these muffins… cause they’re pretty too, I think. Pretty and yummy! Did you get a glimpse of these colors? Wow! And the colors aren’t all there is to it. Each bite of these decadent muffins is absolutely incredible. Have you ever had yogurt cake before? I made a lime yogurt cake in the early days of this blog [read: the post is a wee bit embarrassing, but such is life, eh?]. If yogurt cake is new to you, you must try it. It’s a moist, soft, and fluffy with a fabulous crisp top… and it’s made with little [or no] butter. Cray cray! I’ve always loved yogurt, and this is just another reason why.

Now, I’m sure the lemon muffin is absolutely perfect as is. Sweet, with a little tart bite. But really, they are a little incomplete. That’s where the tart cranberries come in. These little berries really liven up a traditional muffin. I love how they pop in your mouth with each bite. 🙂 When I read the recipe called for whole cranberries, I was a bit skeptical, and almost chopped them up, but I’m so glad I didn’t, because the whole berry really makes the muffins special. I love that these muffins are sweet and tart all at once, but if you want more sweetness, check out the original recipe for a glaze that will likely take these over the top!

I’m sure if you’ve read my blog for any length of time you’ve picked up that I love muffins… and everything I post on this blog is something that we have loved. But truthfully, not everything is make again. I’m sure you know those recipes. Things that are too good not to share, but not good enough that you crave it. Well, these muffins do not fall into that latter category. They are definitely make again winter after winter, year after year… in fact, I think I’ll be making them again soon! They are a perfect portable winter treat. Enjoy!

P.S. I keep forgetting to link this up, and this ‘P.S.’ is even an edit to the original post… but have you seen my interview with Healthy Page? It went live last week [I am so behind] and I’d love for you to check it out! What a great site. I am honored to be featured! Thank you, Healthy Page!

Lemon Cranberry Muffins [from Food Republik]
click to print

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
2/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups fresh cranberries

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners or grease with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat together yogurt, sugar, and eggs. Then add lemon zest and vanilla extract. Lastly, stir in oil.

In a smaller bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. Gently fold into wet ingredients and stir until just moistened. Add cranberries and stir until combined.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, then bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack, then store in an airtight container for up to 3 days before freezing the leftovers.

Time: 35 minutes [10 minutes active].

Yield: 14-16 muffins.

Notes: Original recipe called for plain yogurt. Since I used [sweetened] vanilla, I decreased the sugar. If you use plain yogurt, you may want to increase the sugar to 1 cup to match original recipe.

This recipe is linked up with Weekend Potluck.

Chicken, Main Dishes, Recipes

Mexican Cornbread Pot Pie

January 9, 2013January 14, 2013 Sarah

So, when I shared my Chicken Tinga Tacos on Monday, I also mentioned that I made some pretty awesome leftovers with them. But here’s the catch: this doesn’t look like leftovers!! Score! Because, who really likes leftovers, anyways? I tolerate them, [though some are pretty tasty]… but seriously. It’s always more fun to make something new. This Mexican Cornbread Pot Pie does not resemble leftovers to me at all though. Not one bit. I mean, come on. Look at it! It’s a whole new meal, baby. Would this fool you? It’s just so beautiful! And it tastes good too. 🙂

Think spicy, juicy meat plus crisp vegetables, and flavorful black beans. That’s like, all my favorite things right there. But you know what really took this leftover makeover from tolerable to fabulous? That thick, cheesy layer of cornbread smack dab on top. Ohhh yes. I’m kind of on a cornbread kick lately. We made a batch for a party last Thursday, and it was all gone [except three sad little pieces, which I promptly ate immediately] by the time we got home, so when I was searching for dinner ideas on Friday, cornbread was my first thought. Problem was, I had used up all the honey for the cornbread the day before!! Oh man. What kind of cornbread doesn’t require honey?!? Oh, that’s right. CORNBREAD pot pie topping! Much better than regular ‘ole crust, and probably healthier for you. Or something like that.

I know this recipe isn’t original [though I proudly didn’t consult any recipe, except that off the side of the corn meal packaging]. I know my photos were taken in the waning daylight, and are not all the impressive. I know that the veggies are frozen and maybe not the most gourmet. But this is just good food, people. And I think you should try it soon! That’s all.

Enjoy! 🙂

Mexican Cornbread Pot Pie [cornbread adapted from the Kroger package of corn meal]
click to print

Ingredients:

1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup shredded cooked chicken [I used this recipe]
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup water
2 teaspoons taco seasoning
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons corn meal
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 egg white
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 10 inch round baking dish with cooking spray.

In baking dish, combine black beans, chicken, and vegetables. In a measuring cup, mix together water and taco seasoning. Pour water over the black bean mixture.

Next, stir together corn meal, flour, sugar, and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk with the egg white, then add oil. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined, then spoon over black bean mixture.

Top with cheese, then bake for 25-30 minutes or until cornbread is golden. Serve immediately.

Time: 45 minutes.

Yield: 5-6 servings.

Note: If you don’t have leftover shredded chicken, you could just cook up a chicken breast and shred it for this recipe, then mix in some salsa or spices for some extra flavor.

This recipe is linked up with: Weekend Potluck.