Slow Cooker Zesty BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

It has been so long since I have cooked anything new!  Life has been a little too crazy for anything but quick and easy around here.  Earlier this week, I needed a slow cooker menu item and wasn't in the mood for my usual recipes.  I found this one on Allrecipes.com, and it turned out great!

Slow Cooker Zesty BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
from: allrecipes.com

6 frozen chicken breasts (I halved this whole recipe and it was perfect for my family)
12 oz. barbecue sauce (a tip here: use a good quality sauce. I used Sweet Baby Rays)
1/2 c. italian dressing
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

In a bowl, stir together the barbecue sauce, italian dressing, brown sugar and worcestershire sauce.  Place your frozen chicken breasts in your slow cooker and pour the sauce over the top.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 6-8 hours.  When the chicken is cooked, shred it and stir it well before serving.

Another Great Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This chocolate chip cookie recipe was given to me years ago by my good friend, Amber.  We already have a couple of chocolate chip cookie recipes on here, but this one is a little different than the others.  This one is a smaller batch size--really the perfect batch size.  My other two recipes are huge.  This recipe is easy to whip up, and delicious, and also calls for an entire bag of chocolate chips!  With that much chocolaty goodness in there, you really can't go wrong!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
by: Amber Severts

2/3 c. butter (room temperature)
2/3 c. shortening
1 c. brown sugar (I always use a little less sugar than it calls for)
1 c. white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 package chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, brown sugar and white sugar.  Add the vanilla and eggs and mix it well.  Add the flour, baking soda and salt and stir it to combine.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Drop them by teaspoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake them for 8-10 minutes, or until they just start to brown.

Thai Chicken With Basil

We had an abundance of basil from our garden this summer.  Basil is one of my favorite herbs and it was so nice to be able to go pick it fresh from my backyard.  Plus, it saved me money!!  This is one of many dishes that we made that used our fresh basil.  It was delicious and easy!

Thai Chicken With Basil
adapted from: foodandwine.com

2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce (the original recipe called for Asian fish sauce, but this is what I had)
1 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. water
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 onion, cut into thin slices (I used dehydrated onion)
1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 1/2 c. lightly packed basil leaves

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oyster sauce, soy sauce, water and sugar.  Add the chicken and let it soak up those yummy flavors, while you begin cooking your onion.  In a large frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook it for 2 minutes.  Add the red pepper flakes and garlic and stir it for another 30 seconds.  Remove the chicken from the marinade and add it to the frying pan.  Cook the chicken until it is no longer pink inside.  Then add the marinade to the frying pan and cook it for another minute.  Remove it from the heat and gently stir in 1 cup of the basil leaves.  Top it with the remaining basil leaves when you serve it over rice.

Homemade Freezer Salsa

This year, my tomatoes went absolutely crazy in my garden.  We are not huge tomato eaters, so in order to use them up, I made freezer salsa.  The rest I just washed, dried and froze them by 10's (or so) in a freezer bag.  Then, when I want fresh salsa in the middle of January, I will take them out, toss them into a pot of boiling water, remove them and take the skins off, and I'll be ready to start a batch of freezer salsa!  At least I hope that is what I will do, I've never tried it until this year, but my neighbor assures me that it works.

Freezer Salsa

by: Carolyn

10-12 tomatoes

2 small peppers (I used some from my garden, and I don't know what variety I planted.  But they are small, light green, and not very hot.  Does that help?)

1 serrano pepper, sliced, with the seeds removed (you can leave the seeds if you want more heat in your salsa--we're a mild family, around here)

handful of cilantro

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 Tbsp. dried, chopped onion, rehydrated (actually, just slightly less)

1 1/2 tsp. sugar

juice of 1 lime

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. fresh ground pepper

Blanch your tomatoes by putting them in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, then taking them out and putting them right into a bowl of freezing cold water.  Then the skins should slide right off.  Remove the stems, cut them in half from the top and then squeeze out the seeds.  Toss them in a blender and blend them up until they are the consistency that you like.  In a food processor, finely chop your peppers (whatever kind those were...), serrano pepper, and cilantro.  In a large pot, stir together the tomatoes, pepper mixture, garlic, onion, sugar, lime juice, salt and pepper.  Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer it for 10-15 minutes.  Feel free to pull out your tortilla chips and start tasting it now.  I added things and got it to the flavor I wanted, while I was cooking it.  Pour it into your jars, or containers and freeze it until you are ready for it.  

Creamy New Potato Soup

This is the time of year when soup and vegetables from my garden sound so appealing.  The other night I was really wanting something.  I just wasn't sure what.  So I let my taste buds lead the way, and I ended up with this soup.  It was delicious, and Fall-y, and worked for a sick neighbor, too!

Creamy New Potato Soup
by: Carolyn

4 c. chicken broth
1/2 tsp. onion powder
small potatoes, or larger ones, cut into chunks (I used all my little "new" potatoes from my garden)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 c. milk
1 bag of frozen peas
fresh ground pepper
ham, cut into small pieces

In a large pot, bring the chicken broth, onion powder and salt to a boil.  Add the potatoes and cook until they are tender.  Meanwhile, in a saucepan, whisk together the butter and flour over medium-high heat.  Slowly pour in the evaporated milk, stirring constantly.  Continue stirring until it begins to thicken.  Add this mixture to your pot with the potatoes and stir it gently.  Stir in your frozen peas (I added about 3/4 of the bag, but you can add more or less, according to what you like).  Add your sliced ham and milk, and bring it to a low boil, then turn the heat down and cook it until your peas are tender.  

Pickled Beets

My husband's grandfather Theurer used to pickle beets and Dustin grew up loving them.  He has been begging me for years to make some pickled beets, and they just sound so disgusting that I couldn't bring myself to do it.  This year, we planted two rows of beets in our garden (which was a big sacrifice, in my opinion, giving up two whole rows of space).  The weather must have been perfect for beets this year, because they grew like weeds!  I used the leaves for green smoothies, and we pulled all the beets last week and pickled them, using Dustin's grandpa's recipe.  So, I am putting this on here for future posterity (and maybe for future me, as I will probably get talked into this again).  Now these are not spiced pickled beets.  Dustin's grandpa didn't make them that way, so Dustin didn't want them that way.  These are just regular ol' pickled beets.  If you want spices, google it.  There are tons of recipes.

Pickled Beets
from: Herman LeRoy Theurer

1 quart cider vinegar
4 c. brown or white sugar (or mix them, like I did)
1 pint beet juice
1 Tbsp. salt
Beets

First, wash your beets and remove the greens.  Boil them for 30-45 minutes, or until they are tender.  Remove them from the water and the skin will easily peel off.  Slice them into chunks, or slices, or if they are small enough, you can leave them whole.  Put them into quart size jars, leaving about an inch of headspace.  Meanwhile, in a large pot, stir together the vinegar, sugar, beet juice and salt and bring it to a boil.  Carefully pour it into the jars (with beets in them), leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.  Then you will need to put lids on your jars and process them, based on your altitude.  For my altitude, I had to process them for 40 minutes.  Leave them alone for a couple of weeks, to let the beets pickle (this has been the hardest part for my husband!).  

I don't know how many beets we used, but I did end up making another batch and a half of the sauce to pour over the beets.  You may need to make more if you have more beets than sauce.

The Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars Ever

One of those yummy recipes came across my Facebook feed yesterday, and I couldn't resist.  This is seriously easy.

1 yellow or white cake mix (I used yellow)
2 eggs, beaten
5 Tbsp butter, melted
2 cups mini chocolate chip cookies (although I'll try it with regular chocolate chips next time)

Mix everything together and spread into a greased 11 X 13 baking dish
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Cool, cut and devour.  So good!  I'll edit and add a picture when I make these again.