Chocolate Chili

I'm not a chili person.
I've never really cared for it.
I'll eat it on Mormon Enchiladas but that's about it.
At chili cook-offs I don't taste test all the kinds.
Sometimes I'll try a couple
but for the most part
I just stick to my Dad's Chocolate Chili!
This stuff is amazing (:
He doesn't like to take measurements,
so Justin & I created this recipe using the essentials from my Dad's ingredient list.

Two things you must remember about this chili:
1. Don't try it expecting it to taste like regular chili. It won't.
2. Don't make chili dogs or Mormon Enchiladas with it. I haven't personally ventured into those uncharted waters, but it's not that kind of chili.

I haven't tried it with sour cream, cheese, or crackers either, but again...
It's not your typical chili.
I HAVE tried it with a tiny spoonful of peanut butter in my own bowl & it was delicious,
but I think that I prefer it just the way it is.

Really this recipe should be called
"Chunky Chocolate Chicken Mole Soup w/ Beans & Spices"
so people don't assume that it tastes like normal chili. (;

2 cans white beans (don't drain)
2 cans diced tomatoes with green chiles (don't drain)
1 lb Hershey's chocolate bars
2 lbs cooked chicken, diced
1/2 lg sweet onion, chopped
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sage
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
chili powder (to taste)
mole (to taste)

Pour cans of white beans & cans of tomatoes w/ green chiles into crockpot. Break up chocolate bars, add to crockpot & stir in. Place lid & heat on high until chocolate is melted (usually about 30-45 min, stirring halfway through). I like to cook & dice my chicken during this time. Add diced chicken, chopped onion, ketchup, & water. Stir. Add garlic powder, sage, paprika, white pepper, & cumin. Stir. Add chili powder & mole to taste. Stir. Switch to low heat approx 2 hours after turning crockpot on.

Total cook time 5-8 hrs: (2 hours on high, then 3-6 on low)

Note: Sometimes I use chicken broth instead of water for extra flavor

xoxo

Halloween Dinner: Chicken Parmesan Mummies

We had our Halloween dinner last night!

As tradition, we dimmed the lights to eat our spooky meal...

Chicken Parmesan Mummies

on a bed of baby bats (Farfalle pasta dyed gray while cooking)

with blood red sauce.

We also had Halloween shaped Parmesan garlic bread

& Halloween jello jigglers (:

I got the idea for the Chicken Parmesan Mummies from Somewhat Simple

although I ended up using crescent roll dough instead of biscuits.

It was super easy & so tasty!

Do you like having fun holiday meals?

Check out our other Halloween dinners:
Nightmare Before Christmas
Mummy Braided Chicken Roll

xoxo

Mormon Enchiladas

This dinner is super easy, tasty, & filling...
My grandparents had a friend whose parents were from the Mormon Colonies in Mexico.
They like to make stacked enchiladas out there, hence the name "Mormon" Enchiladas.
The friend made these for my grandparents many years ago,
who started making them for their children.
My dad & grandparents made them for us growing up,
& I introduced them to my husband & our kids.
We have all been enjoying them ever since!

Corn tortillas

Canned chili

Shredded cheese

You can do this one of two ways: Heat the chili prior to stacking or heat the whole thing in the microwave after it's stacked. I usually layer mine first, then just microwave it.

Layers go as follows: Tortilla, chili, cheese; tortilla, chili, cheese; tortilla, chili, cheese... Do this as many times as you'd like depending on how hungry you are. I usually stick to three tortillas high & top with sour cream. Enjoy!

xoxo

Easy Cheesy White Chicken Enchilada Casserole

A few months ago,

my friend Lisa from Pebbles & Piggytails posted a recipe

for Easy Chicken Tortilla Casserole on her blog.

We tried it for dinner a while back & absolutely loved it!

My pregnant mind started thinking of different variations of it that we could try since it's so simple...

Hubby even had an awesome idea that I'm going to withhold for now

since I'm sure I'll post about it later!

This dinner was another one of those weird pregnancy thoughts

that turned out to be wonderfully delicious!

Easy Chicken Tortilla Casserole meets Cheesy White Chicken Enchiladas.

They fall madly in love.

Easy Cheesy.

25-30 corn tortillas

2 cups cooked chicken (diced or shredded)

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 tsp chicken base

1 can diced green chiles

3/4 cup cheddar cheese separated (1/2 cup & 1/4 cup)

2 cups monterey jack cheese

Chop tortillas into bite sized pieces. Heat water with chicken base in the microwave 30 seconds at a time until chicken base is fully melted. Mix together heavy whipping cream, sour cream, & chicken base melted in water. Add chicken, green chiles, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, & tortillas then mix well. Pour mixture into a 9x13 casserole dish and sprinkle with monterey jack cheese & remaining 1/4 cup cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned.

xoxo

Pulled Pork Hawaiian Haystacks

I grew up eating Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner all the time.
You know...
A bed of rice,
chow mein noodles,
almond slivers,
pineapple,
cheese,
coconut,
diced chicken with some sort of gravy sauce that I never wanted to put on mine,
whatever you see fit really.
I've seen plenty of variations online lately
with all sorts of different toppings...

When we lived in California,
we were feeding some LDS missionaries for dinner
& decided to have Hawaiian Haystacks.
One of the elders was from the islands.
He informed us that although the meal was tasty,
the only things Hawaiian about it
were the pineapple, coconut, & the bed of rice.
That has bothered me ever since.

When I was planning Little Princess' Lilo & Stitch party
I instantly thought of Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner.

I started thinking of ways to make it slightly more authentic...
Spam?
Pork?
Fish?
Hawaiian Sweet Potatoes?
Teriyaki?
Poi?

Here's what we decided:

Ignore the blue jello with Swedish fish in the picture.
We didn't eat that on the Haystacks...

Pulled Pork Hawaiian Haystacks
Bed of rice
Crockpot Hawaiian Pulled Pork (recipe below)
Chow Mein noodles
Monterey Jack cheese
Almond slivers
Pineapple tidbits
Shredded coconut
Banana Poi (recipe below)

We tried it both with & without the poi on top.
I liked it both ways.
With the poi it is definitely sweeter,
but you don't need to add that much or it may overpower the other flavors.
A light drizzle should do (:

We served King's Sweet Hawaiian Rolls on the side of the Haystacks.
Hubby tried the pulled pork on those & said it was good too.

I found this recipe for Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pulled Pork over at East 9th Street,
but ended up doing a few things differently...

Crockpot Hawaiian Pulled Pork

3 lbs pork loin, cut into 3-4" pieces (next time I might try 2-3" pieces if using it for Haystacks)

1 cup onion, chopped into small pieces but not quite minced

2/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup tomato paste

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp paprika

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp salt

1 can crushed pineapple, drained (I only used 1/2 can since I needed the rest for Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Balls, but next time I'm going to try the whole can)

Cut the pork & place in crockpot. Add the rest of the ingredients & cover. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until the pork can be easily shredded with two forks. Shred all the meat in the crockpot & turn off heat.

As for the Banana Poi...

I found the recipe at food.com,

but could not find coconut cream anywhere

so I decided to try it with cream of coconut instead.

I just used whatever was left after making the piña coladas.

(approx 1/2 can)

Because I used cream of coconut instead of coconut cream,

my poi was probably a little sweeter than it would be if I had stuck to the original recipe.

Banana Poi

2 cups very ripe bananas, mashed

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 cup coconut cream (I used roughly 1/2 can cream of coconut instead)

Mash bananas until a smooth paste is formed. Add the lemon juice. Gradually add the coconut cream, stirring constantly. Chill & serve.

If you try this version of Hawaiian Haystacks
let me know what you think...

Do you like it better with or without the poi?

Don't forget to check out the Lilo & Stitch luau!

xoxo

Braided Chicken Roll

I remember having this simple yet tasty meal while growing up.

This year we turned it into a mummy & had it as our Halloween dinner

just by adding a couple olive slices for eyes.

Pretty spooky, huh?

Alright, so it's not that spooky.

But it is delicious.

2 cans crescent rolls
2 cans cooked chicken (or 2 large chicken breasts, shredded)
1/2 cup mayo
1 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup grated cheese
Sliced olives (optional - I usually leave them out since Hubby doesn't like olives, but I'll occasionally put them in my half)

Drain chicken, then shred it in a large mixing bowl. Mix mayo, dill weed, & salt with chicken until well combined. Add grated cheese & olives, and stir until completely coated. Unroll crescent roll dough & arrange flat on a cookie sheet. Pinch perforations together until it is one large, flat piece of dough. Cut inch-wide slits in the dough towards the center across the length of the sheet forming a fringe on 2 sides. Leave a solid 3-4" strip in the middle for the chicken mixture. Spread chicken mixture evenly onto the solid section. Fold the strips over the chicken mixture, alternating strips from each side and pinch to seal. Sprinkle with cheese if desired. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown & no longer doughy.

xoxo

Halloween Dinner 2013

So remember that Halloween post

where I explained that Halloween didn't feel like Halloween this year?

On Friday we had our Halloween dinner.

A day late.

Trying to keep that tradition alive.

It was tasty, but even this dinner didn't seem very Halloween-like.

We didn't get out the Halloween tablecloth.

We didn't use our Halloween plates.

We didn't even clear off the table.

We just enjoyed our slightly Halloween themed dinner.

But hey, the tradition happened, right?

Here's what we ate:

Mummy Braided Chicken Roll

Here's that recipe.

It's a favorite around here.

Bloody Jello Jigglers

I was going to do my usual orange & grape Halloween jigglers.

However, I had no grape & only had one 3 oz package of orange.

What we did have was an abundance of red jello flavors.

So I went with cranberry & made 'bloody' jigglers.

The bloody spatter/streaks on the plate were made from the thin layer of jello

that spilled over in the jello mold while transferring it to the fridge.

Goblin Eyes

Green grapes.

Easy.

Healthy.

Delicious.

That's it.

That's all we had.

Again, nothing super fancy.

No decorations or whatnot.

It was an enjoyable family dinner tradition

& I didn't have to put a whole lot of extra thought into it.

Huzzah.

If you haven't seen our Nightmare Before Christmas Halloween dinner from last year,

you should definitely check it out!

xoxo

Cheesy Chicken Bacon Ranch

Cheesy CBR.
Parmesan Chicken meets Chicken Bacon Ranch.
They fall in love.
So do my taste buds.
It's quite the love triangle.

4 Tbsp butter (melted)

1 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 dry ranch packet

4-5 large chicken breasts

bacon bits

grated cheese (I use cheddar & monterey jack)

Melt butter in small microwaveable bowl. Combine parmesan cheese & 1/2 of a dry ranch packet in another bowl. Dip chicken in butter, then coat with parmesan ranch mixture on both sides. Place coated chicken into glass 9x13 pan. Sprinkle generous amount of bacon bits & grated cheese on each piece of chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Featured at:

xoxo

Alice Springs Braided Chicken Roll

I love Outback Steakhouse's Alice Springs Chicken.

Every single time I drive by Outback Steakhouse, I crave it.

I've been seeing a lot of copycat recipes lately on Pinterest & Facebook that have been making my mouth water.

So I decided I was going to make it to see if it tasted just as good.

That was the plan, but I had a couple cans of crescent rolls I needed to use up.

So I decided to dress-it-down a bit & turn it into a Braided Chicken Roll.

It was bonza mate!

2 cans crescent rolls

2 large chicken breasts (shredded)

1/4 cup mustard

1/3 cup honey

2 Tbsp mayo

1/4 tsp seasoning salt

1 1/2 tsp dried onion flakes

2-3 Tbsp bacon bits

1 cup colby jack cheese (shredded)

optional: Sliced fresh mushrooms (Outback Steakhouse uses mushrooms, but we don't like them so we left them out)

Cook & shred chicken. Mix mustard, honey, mayo, seasoning salt, & dried onion flakes until well combined. Add shredded chicken to sauce and stir until coated. Add bacon bits & colby jack cheese, and stir until completely coated. Unroll crescent roll dough & arrange flat on a cookie sheet. Pinch perforations together until it is one large, flat piece of dough. Cut inch-wide slits in the dough towards the center across the length of the sheet forming a fringe on 2 sides. Leave a solid 3-4" strip in the middle for the chicken mixture. Spread chicken mixture evenly onto the solid section. Fold the strips over the chicken mixture, alternating strips from each side and pinch to seal. Sprinkle with cheese if desired. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown & no longer doughy.

Note: I left out the dried onion flakes since I didn't have any, so that measurement was based off of the recipes I've seen that call for 1/2 Tbsp. Next time I will be sure to try it with the dried onion flakes!

St Patrick's Day Food

 Hope everyone had a wonderful St Patrick's Day!

Ours was great, but really busy...

We got ready & made sure to wear plenty of green all day long.

We had church, then I stayed after a couple hours for choir.

What can I say... I love to sing!

Then we went to see Gram (Hubby's Mom) at her house for dinner.

We told her we would take care of food & made a green dinner for St Patrick's Day.

It's tradition.

This is what we had...

Green pasta with a 'creamy' green sauce, green jello, garlic toast, & green 7up.

If I had a clover cookie cutter, I probably would have cut the toast into shamrocks.

'Cause that would have rocked.

It tasted delicious though, & that's all that really mattered.

We also were going to have peas, but I forgot to cook them & everything else was ready to eat.

Oh well...

I found this recipe for Halloween Pasta & figured that we could just make green sauce instead of orange.

Well, our sauce didn't turn out nearly as creamy & that's probably because I didn't follow the directions...

Whoops!

We used 1% milk instead of whole milk (which I'm sure made a HUGE difference),

we used monterey jack instead of cheddar (I figured white cheese would look better with green food coloring),

I skipped the pepper (because I don't like pepper),

& we didn't use any black sesame seeds (although I'm sure that made no difference whatsoever).

Anywho, it was super thin so we added an extra tsp of flour to hopefully thicken it a bit.

No such luck.

You can barely even see the sauce in the picture.

It still tasted yummy though, & after tasting it I realized it tasted an awful lot like Welsh Rarebit...

So although Hubby thought I was crazy, I took the leftover sauce home & had Welsh Rarebit for breakfast this morning!

Yes, it's green Welsh Rarebit because of St Patrick's Day...

I'm aware that it doesn't look very appetizing, but I sure enjoyed it!

My Gramma used to make this for us all the time for breakfast (:

If you can get past the slightly different texture of the sauce & the soggy toast, the flavor is really yummy!

Not for everyone, but I love it!

After dinner last night was Oswald, but I'm not going to get into that right now.

No need to be mixing holidays & confusing you guys!

Let's just say I still have a sugar hangover of sorts...

Since we were so crammed for time yesterday, our St Patrick's Day lunch was postponed until today...

We had peas, a clover sandwich, green applesauce (not to be confused with green apple applesauce), green jello, gold coins, a jellybean rainbow, a cotton candy cloud, & lucky charms.

No, I didn't get a shamrock cookie cutter in that short amount of time...

I simply cut out a shamrock on paper, laid it on the bread, & cut around it with a knife.

Yes, skittles (taste the rainbow) would make more sense than jellybeans for a rainbow,

but I had jellybeans & was trying to be resourceful! :P

I have one last St Patrick's Day food picture to share with you.

This is what my family back in Minnesota had for dinner last night...

Roast, green mashed potatoes & green gravy, peas, & salad with green dressing.

Our traditional Sunday dinner meets traditional St Patrick's Day green dinner! (:

Check out other awesome muffin tin meals @ Another Lunch

Chicken Parmesan

We had Heart Shaped Chicken Parmesan w/ Spaghetti for our family Valentine's Dinner this year...
I got the idea for the heart shaped chicken here, but didn't want to mess with attempting to fry it.
I'm no good at that.
Then I saw this recipe for a baked version...
After looking at it I realized that it was somewhat similar to a recipe I had growing up,
so I pulled that one out & ended up using a mix between them!

3 large chicken breast halves (sliced in half to make 6)
4 Tbsp butter (melted)
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 jar of favorite spaghetti sauce
Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice chicken in half to make 6 thin chicken breasts. {Opt: Cut chicken into heart shapes.} Melt butter in small bowl. Combine breadcrumbs & Parmesan cheese in another bowl. Dip chicken in butter then coat with crumb mixture on both sides. Place in foil-lined pan & bake for 20 minutes. Turn chicken over & bake for another 5 minutes. Spoon 1-2 Tbsp of sauce over each piece of chicken & spread evenly so that it is covering the chicken but not dripping off the sides. Place a slice of mozzarella cheese on each piece of chicken & bake for 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve over spaghetti or your favorite noodles.

Notes:
- To make the heart shaped chicken, I pressed a cookie cutter on each chicken breast to sort of give me an outline to follow, then I cut the hearts using my kitchen scissors.
- Don't forget to coat & cook the scraps of chicken breast if you make heart shapes since they're still yummy, but they probably won't need to cook as long!

Family Valentine's Night

Monday evening we finally had our family Valentine's Lady & the Tramp dinner...

We had wanted to do it last week, but we were swamped with something every single night!
We would have had Spaghetti & Meatballs like they do in the movie, but since Hubby isn't a fan of meatballs we ate Heart Shaped Chicken Parmesan & Spaghetti served with garlic bread, tropical fusion jello, & had Apple Pomegranate Martinelli's to drink.

It was delicious & we were so stuffed that we had no room for dessert!

Normally we use our red tablecloth & eat by candlelight, but I slacked off a bit this year...
Forgot the candles but at least we remembered the tablecloth!

After dinner we all cuddled up on the couch and watched Lady & the Tramp together to end the evening...

Tony's Town Square Restaurant at Disneyworld - April 2009

This year instead of exchanging cards, we made a family card... It was actually the craft at story time last week at the library, but we jazzed it up a bit after we got home by putting scrapbook stickers on it. The kids 'wrote' in it, then Hubby & I wrote things we love about our family inside! We each got a side, but covered it up when we were done writing so we didn't know what the other person had written & then we read it together...


Our family LOVE card
I'm thinking that we are gonna have to make it a tradition!

Cheesy White Chicken Enchiladas

I grew up with this yummy recipe & love it!

4-6 large chicken breast halves, cooked & cubed

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 cups sour cream

1 small can green chilies diced or chopped (optional)

1 small can or jar of sliced green or black olives (optional)

3-4 green onions, sliced (optional)

2 cups monterey jack cheese (if you don't have it, cheddar is fine)

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

tortillas

Cook chicken & dice; set aside. In large bowl combine soup, sour cream, chilies, olives, & green onions. Add monterey jack cheese to mixture once well combined. Remove 2 cups of mixture & add to chicken. Place chicken mixture into tortillas & roll up. Place in 2 large pans so they are somewhat separated. Spoon remaining mixture over top & cover with cheddar cheese. Cover with foil & bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil & bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until cheese begins to lightly brown.

Notes:

- I find it helps to put a thin layer of soup mixture on the pan first so that the bottoms of the tortillas don't get too tough

- I usually cut the recipe in half to make just one 9x13 & freeze the other half of the can of chilies in a snack bag

The only problem is that I can't remember any sides that we used to eat with it...

Suggestions anyone?

xoxo

Honey Curried Chicken

I got this simple recipe from a friend from church.

We've changed it a little, but it sure is tasty!

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (shredded or cubed)

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup mustard

1 tsp salt

2 tsp curry powder

1/4 cup melted butter (I just melt it with everything else in the microwave)

Mix together honey, brown sugar, mustard, salt, curry powder, and butter. Heat mixture together in a saucepan or microwavable bowl to make it come together more. Mix chicken in, then pour everything into 9x9. Cook at 375 for about 15 minutes. Serve over rice.

Note: I usually add some extra mustard

Crockpot Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

I was so excited when I stumbled across this easy recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff on Pinterest a while back. I love that it's only 3 ingredients and it requires practically no prep (or cleanup for that matter if you use those wonderful Reynolds Crockpot liners).

Ingredients:

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I use frozen ones)

1 bottle Archer Farms Hawaiian-Style Barbecue Sauce (from Target)

1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks, drained

Directions:

Place chicken breasts in the crockpot and cover with sauce. Empty can of drained pineapple chunks on top. Cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-6 hours. Shred chicken with two forks while still in crockpot so chicken will be well coated with sauce. Serve over rice and enjoy.

Nightmare Before Christmas - Halloween dinner 2012

This year for Halloween instead of doing a "Halloween" dinner,
we did a Nightmare Before Christmas dinner...
It was basically a smaller version of Christmas dinner with a Halloween twist.
(Notice the red Christmas tablecloth)

We had Halloweentown ham shaped like ghosts,

Pumpkin King potatoes,

and Oogie Boogie's rolls (We couldn't forget the dice!).

We also had Sally's stuffing, peas & candy corn,

and Halloween jigglers!

We turned the lights out and got to enjoy the meal with our Halloween candles!

We were also going to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas that night since it went with dinner, but time just didn't allow for it so we had to postpone the movie.