Crock Pot Buffalo Ranch Chicken

This is the easiest recipe ever. Seriously. It's so easy, I almost feel weird posting it. But it was my very first solo carnivorous cooking attempt -- and Brad has been in love with it ever since. It would be a great starter recipe for anyone that is uncomfortable cooking meat -- or a great recipe for any chicken lovers out there that have 8-5 jobs and would love to come home to a delicious meal that's 95% ready.

Crock Pot Buffalo Ranch Chicken

• 3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• a bottle of Frank's Red Hot Wings Buffalo sauce (or anything similar)
•  2 packets of Ranch mix

 Place the chicken breasts in the crockpot and cover with both Ranch powdered mixes. Flip chicken over so the ranch coats it.

Then pour 3/4 of the bottle of buffalo sauce over the chicken.

Cook on low 8-9 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

When the chicken is tender, shred with a fork and add remaining buffalo sauce if necessary.

 Although I completely forgot to take a picture of the final product, we served the chicken on Hawaiian rolls and with potato chips. Who said cooking good food had to be difficult?

Chicken Parmesan

Confession time, readers.

I almost always test out recipes a time or two before posting them on Bonding with Bacon. Sometimes I completely botch them or realize there's a little something I could improve. My goal is to provide you with recipes that you can use and your family will enjoy.

On that note, this was my very first attempt at making chicken parmesan. I've made eggplant parm before and I've watched my mom make tofu parm a million times. So I figured I couldn't screw it up too badly.

Chicken Parmesan

• 3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved
• breadcrumbs (I used Italian four cheese flavored)
• 3 eggs
• jar of your favorite marinara sauce
• one package of sliced mozzarella cheese

So the recipe that I built mine off of called for "halved" chicken breasts. Umm, which way do I cut them? After some contemplation (and asking my husband, who had no idea), I decided to cut them long ways which made them thinner. I still don't know if this is how I was supposed to do it, but it worked out.

Then take two small mixing bowls, fill one with beaten eggs and the other with your breadcrumbs. Take your chicken, dip it in the egg mixture and then completely coat all sides with the breadcrumbs.

Lay out your chicken on a greased sheet. Cook at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Take any pan that would fit all of your chicken in it laid flat (the only one I had was my pie pan, which worked just fine), and pour half of your marinara sauce on the bottom. After the chicken is done, place it on top. Then cover with the remaining marinara. Finally, place the sliced cheese on the very top - some areas can overlap.

Cook for another 20-25 minutes and voila! Chicken parm. Serve with your favorite pasta and/or garlic bread.

Busy Mom Beef Stew

You ever just have one of those days? The ones where no matter how hard you try, nothing seems to get accomplished. I love my 6-month-old daughter to death, but we have those days quite frequently. She is definitely one of those babies that needs to be cuddled constantly -- a trait that I will probably miss in a few years. So in order to spend my day cuddling with my little munchkin, I need some easy recipes that I can scrape together during one of her 20 minute naps. This is where my beloved crockpot comes in (told you it'd be back).

Busy Mom Beef Stew

• 1 lb stew beef
• 4 or 5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 or 4 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• beef broth
• one beef stew flavoring packet (hey, I told you this was easy!)
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Peel and cut the carrots and potatoes into medium pieces.

Throw the beef, carrots, potatoes, flavoring packet, and Worcestershire sauce in the crockpot. Pour in a few cups of beef broth, add some water if the meat and veggies aren't fully submerged yet. Stir everything up together.

Why a flavoring packet? Yeah, I could be a good cook and measure out the perfect portions of paprika, rosemary, parsley, blah blah blah. Or I could spend $1.50 and have it measured out for me. Simple as that.

 

Cook on low for about 7-8 hours or on high for about 4-5 hours. Stir occassionally. When the stew is done, if the consistency is too liquidy for your liking, add flour until desired consistency is reached. Easy!



Steak Quesadillas

"Make yourself a dang quesa-dilluh!"

Great, now I want to watch Napoleon Dynamite.

These steak quesadillas aren't anything fancy. Brad always orders them at Moe's Southwest Grill with "extra steak, please." So we decided to have a Mexican night at home and make some dang quesadillas ourselves. I have to admit that pounding raw steak with the meat hammer (or whatever the fancy term for that thing is) can be incredibly theraputic. The cow already had to die for our meal, might as well beat on it a little more, right? It serves two purposes: getting all the spices deep into the steak and relieving some everyday stress.

Steak Quesadillas

• 1 lb steak (and this made way too much!)
• tortillas
• 1 red pepper
• a variation of seasonings, whatever you like -- we used garlic powder, onion powder, lemon pepper, black pepper, and meat tenderizer
• Philadelphia Cooking Cream, Santa Fe blend
• Mexican shredded cheese

Generously sprinkle the steak with your choice of seaonsings and beat the hell out of it.

Then cut into thin 1" slices. Set aside.

Then cut up any other ingredients you'd like. We used red pepper (we are both big fans), but here are some other ideas: onions, green peppers, mushrooms. Time to cook everything -- either saute everything together or separate the veggies from the steak, whatever you prefer.

My mom bought us some of that new Philidelphia Cooking Cream stuff and I wasn't really sure what to do with it. But we spread a very thin layer of the Santa Fe flavor on the inside of the tortillas and it turned out really well!

Next, assemble your quesadilla however you'd like it. Be sure not to stack it too thick though, you want all the insides to get warmed evenly.

Warm it up in a pan on both sides. The tortilla will start to get golden brown and the cheese will transform into melty goodness. I think the hardest part of this recipe is flipping the quesadilla. It would probably be easier to use one tortilla and fold in it half instead of the way I did it. That would be much more managable when it comes to flipping!

Cut into slices with a pizza cutter and enjoy!

Again, it's nothing fancy but it's an easy and very customizable meal for your family!