Poultry

something like this chicken… that’s a little sticky and sweet and covered in sesame seeds because OMGilovethem. And before we know it, it’s Tuesdeeee.

Serve with roasted green beans and corn fried rice, recipe here.

I love recipes where pretty much every ingredient called for is in the name. Mostly because recipe names are pretty short, which means that you’ll only need a few ingredients. Take this chicken…you need a bit of real maple syrup (for the love of Beiber, do not use the fake pancake syrup), a bit of dijon mustard, and some chicken. You’ll also need a bit of rice vinegar. You can sprinkle some thyme or rosemary on top too, but that’s only if you’re feeling fancy.

There are always a few ingredients that I have in the pantry, spaghetti sauce in the jar. While sometimes I make spaghetti sauce from scratch, I also sometimes need to put together a meal when I have gotten home from a long day, and it beats re-heating something that came pre-packaged and out of the freezer. I always keep a few frozen chicken breasts in the freezer. I love the individually wrapped ones because I can defrost those quickly in a sink of warm water.

Perfectly crispy out of the oven, the San Diego way to serve them is to melt a little more shredded cheese on top and add a big dollop of guacamole and sour cream.  You can serve them however you’d like, of course.  Even if you just want a little dunker of salsa instead of the guacamole deal, that works too.  These taquitos were a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR hit with my family.  So good.

The right kind of chicken and dumplings are the kind that Brandon’s grandmother makes. They are the kind you get at Cracker Barrel. They are true southern style, and they don’t actually have dumplings, it’s more like slabs of tender and delicious biscuit dough. You could think of them as really big, thick noodles. There are no silly things like vegetables in here, it’s just chicken, chicken stock and dumplings. Period. You can eat your green beans and fried okra on side like the real Southerners do. Every single time we go to Cracker Barrel, that’s what Brandon gets. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And you know that’s going to be hard to live up to because I’m sure Cracker Barrel makes those things with lard and crack cocaine like everything else they serve. (I kid, I love Cracker Barrel, lard and all!)

At the top of my list is a version of slow-cooker peruvian bean enchiladas I tried from TheKitchn a while back. Simple, not fussy, comforting, big-on-taste, hearty, filling and inexpensive, these enchiladas deliver a lot for the small amount of work behind them. They were just what I needed and wanted.

I’ve made this same recipe both in the slow-cooker and the oven. You get a more ‘authentic’ enchilada texture from oven-baking them, but they’re ever so good in the slow-cooker. The tortillas soak up everything and get all salsa-fied and still get some crispy edges where they come in contact with the side of the slow-cooker. The instructions specify to cook the enchiladas in the slow-cooker for two to four hours, and I’ve settled on about three hours as my preferred time. Closer to two hours yields a firmer tortilla while cooking it closer to four hours creates a much softer tortilla… almost fall-apart soft. When I let mine go the full four hours, I ended up with a texture that was more like enchilada casserole. It was still delicious, it was just different.

Whichever way you prefer to go, you’ll get a serious dose of delicious comfort for your minimal efforts. The enchiladas dress up nicely, if -unlike me- you’re serving dinner in something other than yoga pants with tissues stuffed in the waistband. On the other hand, they sit beautifully in a bowl that you can cradle in your lap while sitting on the couch watching BBCAmerica broadcasts.

Authentic? Maybe not, but these gooey, bursting-at-the-seams, simple to pull together, slow-cooker enchiladas are packed with delicious peruvian beans, moist chicken, corn, and spices. Salsa delivers the saucy punch and loads of melted, oozy cheese makes it the perfect comforting dish for days when you're short on time.

Warm Alexia French Rolls split and filled with salty teriyaki chicken, spicy pepper jack cheese, sweet grilled pineapple and a smear of garlic mayo to bring it all together. Add a side of Alexia Crispy Panko Onion Rings and HOLY SMOKES. Talk about Flavor town USA (channeling my Inner Guy Fieri)!

Not gonna lie… I started out with 8 French Rolls and one of them disappeared after it came out of the oven… strange how that happens.

Trust me when I say, you guys need to make this sandwich! It’s a snap to throw together (thanks to the convenience of the Alexia frozen goodies) & MAN is it good!!!

There’s no sense in waiting until Thanksgiving to serve turkey.  Turkey breasts are readily accessible all year long.  By cooking just the breast, you get the good flavor of turkey yet the amount of turkey is little enough that you don’t have to have turkey leftovers for the next month.  The white meat is not as juicy as the dark and requires brining to ensure that’s is not so dry you can’t swallow it once it cooked.  Brining is an easy process but does require some planning since the bird needs to be brined overnight.

This dinner makes me so happy.  It’s pure comfort food in a skillet, so you might want to make it asap for your family.  You are likely to have most of the ingredients in your pantry which is always nice!  I honestly use my cast iron skillet on a weekly basis.  They run about $20 bucks!
This is a nice and thick rice dish that is hearty and rich.  I like to top mine with a few dashes of hot sauce, oh baby it’s good!  Hope you enjoy friends