kim, Author at Lovin' From the Oven

Salsa Chicken in a Crockpot

September 23, 2011 by kim Leave a Comment

My food matches my thai iced tea with boba drink!

This is the lovely crockpot we got from my DB’s sister. I’m slowly learning how much of a lifesaver this thing really is.

How it looks before adding the sour cream.

Oh, the beauty of leaving all your items in a pot and walking away for the rest of the day. It’s glorious. This is a pretty basic recipe and a great starter for your crockpot. The results are delicious. The taco seasoning is the star of this dish, so don’t you dare omit it!

I went for a run the other day and oh boy, I have a lot to work on. I do admit that I’m not the world’s biggest fan of running. I don’t understand how people can run 10-15 miles a time like it’s nothing. I run two miles and I’m beat (and ecstatic that I even ran that much in the first place). I’d much rather be active playing sports, games, or running around playing with kids.

Which reminds me… did I ever tell you that I’m the YMCA’s new youth volleyball instructor? I get to work out and play with kids at the same time! Win win. It’s really important to be active in your daily lifestyle. Go hiking, go white water rafting, go camping, play some outdoor volleyball… whatever you fancy, just do it! I’m taking REI’s Outdoor Pledge. What is that, you ask?

The Outdoor Pledge is a challenge from the outdoor outfitters at REI to help people get outdoors with their family and friends. As part of their ongoing efforts to inspire, educate, and outfit people for a lifetime of outdoor adventure, REI invited 10 BlogHer reviewers to take the Outdoor Pledge. I’m being compensated by BlogHer to help spread the word. Take The Outdoor Pledge, and leave a comment on each blog for the chance to win a $100 REI gift card to help your family get outside! You have 10 chances to win! Please see the BlogHer.com round up page to see all the posts and enter.

Salsa Chicken in a Crockpot
Click here for a printable recipe

Ingredients

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can cream of mushroom
1 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning
3/4 cup sour cream

Directions:

Pour in the can of black beans so that it’s touching the bottom of the pot.
Put the chicken, cream of mushroom, and salsa in the pot. Sprinkle taco seasoning on top.
Cook on low for 6 hours.
Pull the chicken out after 5 hours, shred, and return back into the pot for the last hour.
Stir in sour cream right before serving.

Lazy Girl’s Chocolate Chip Blondies

September 21, 2011 by kim 48 Comments

The past few days have been HOT. Apparently, the hottest weather for Northern California happens from the end of September-November-ish. How weird is that? I’m used to pulling out cardigans and sweaters when these months roll around. Up here, I’m taking off clothes. Literally. Maybe I should have brought my tower fan from back home.

With the raising temperature, it’s always a hassle to do anything in the kitchen. Thankfully with this recipe, there’s no scooping out dough, forming into uniform balls, or baking multiple batches. You just mix everything in one bowl, pour it all in one place, and walk away. Well, you gotta come back to take it out of the oven, but you get my point.

As you can tell from the first picture, I seriously under baked mine. To me, they were perfect. If the first picture scares you, then leave the bars in the oven for a little longer. I took these pictures straight out of the oven, while they were still warm and gooey. If you let them sit overnight, they’ll toughen up a bit so they’re not falling apart in your hands. Whatever you do, just make sure not to over bake them. This recipe is ever so slightly adapted from Eat Live Run.

Lazy Girl’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
Click here for a printable recipe

Ingredients

1 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 stick butter (melted)
1 egg
1 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8″x8″ pan.
Cream together the melted butter and sugar. Add the egg, vanilla and salt and stir again.
Gradually mix in the flour until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into greased pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown.

Nutella Puppy Chow

September 19, 2011 by kim 21 Comments

Here are the only ingredients that you need. The cereal I used can be found at Trader Joe’s.

You know what… I spend a lot more money on groceries than I thought I would. I don’t know if it’s because boys eat a lot more than I expected or if it’s because I get a little too excited when I’m at the grocery store and start throwing unnecessary things in my cart. It probably doesn’t help that I like to have a fully stocked kitchen at all times.

How do you budget? I don’t have a Sunday newspaper anymore like I used to back home, so there goes a majority of my coupon cutting. Sure, you can print out coupons online, but that’s such a pain in the butt!

Until I figure that out, I’ll keep chomping away on my puppy chow. Have you ever heard of puppy chow? I was surprised by the amount of people that didn’t know what it was! I lived off this stuff in middle school, yet my DB had never heard of it in his life.

Traditionally, puppy chow is made with peanut butter instead of Nutella, but this version is just as great (if not better!). I saw this idea from Healthy Tasty Chow and adapted it to my liking/what was on hand in my kitchen. Just keep it stored in an airtight container and you can munch on it for days.

Nutella Puppy Chow
Click Here for a Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 cup Nutella
1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
13 cups (more or less) or one 12oz box of hearty wheat/corn/rice cereal like Chex – try to find a hearty version so it doesn’t break down when stirring
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

In a pan over medium-low heat, melt the butter and chocolate chips, stirring constantly.
When all is melted and smooth, remove from heat and stir in the Nutella.
Slowly pour the chocolate Nutella mixture over cereal in a large mixing bowl. Wash your hands and use them to stir everything together until fairly evenly coated.
Wash those hands again and add the cereal to a gallon sized ziploc bag.
Pour in the powdered sugar and shake, starting with 1/2 cup at a time. You want to make sure everything’s coated, but not too sweet!

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