Quinoa With Brussels Sprouts, Bacon, And Dried Cherries

The picture was taken with the leftovers.
It was better the next day!

I saw a similar recipe on Pinterest that used couscous, but I didn't have any couscous on hand. I did however, have quinoa and that sounded like it could work too. If you've never tried quinoa, you really should. It's amazingly good for you. It has a lot of protein, is low fat, high in iron, and has a wonderful nutty flavor. I think you may be able to find it at Kroger these days, and if not you can definitely find it at health food stores.

So, here's the recipe:

Quinoa with Brussels Sprouts, Bacon, and Dried Cherries

1/2 C Uncooked Quinoa
3 Slices Bacon
2 C Brussels Sprouts, sliced thin (I thawed frozen first)
1/2 C Dried Cherries

Slice brussels sprouts (you'll want to do this first, or like me you'll be ready with the bacon grease to cook them, and not ready with the sprouts!).

Cook quinoa per directions on packaging and drain when ready (I cooked in water, but will probably cook in chicken broth next time). Meanwhile, cook bacon until crispy, remove from grease, and place on paper towels. Add brussels sprouts into the bacon drippings, and cook just until they turn bright green. If your brussels sprouts are done before your quinoa, remove from pan, and set aside. Otherwise, in a single medium sized serving dish, pour in quinoa, crumble in bacon, and add brussels sprouts and cherries. Mix together. Serves at least 2.

Now I wasn't sure about the cherries in this recipe. Honestly, it sounded a little weird to me, but it definitely added something to the recipe! You could also use dried cranberries (or Craisins), and I want to try it with artichokes too.

This was good the day I made it and I wasn't sure if it would be something that would be good leftover, but oh my goodness, it was definitely even better warmed up in the microwave the next day! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Slow Cooker Sour Cream Salsa Chicken With "Mexican Rice" & Calabacitas

(Ok, so I don't know how to make it look pretty, but it sure tastes good!)

Sour Cream Salsa Chicken

4 individually frozen chicken breasts

1 1/2 cups of your favorite salsa (I use Pace brand)

16 oz. container of sour cream (I use light)

Reynolds crockpot liner (you can do without this, but clean up will be SO much easier with it)

1 cup Mahatma long cooking white rice



Place liner in crockpot. Toss in frozen chicken breasts. Pour salsa over the top of chicken. Cover and cook on low for around 8 hours...or until you get home from work. I usually start it right before I leave for work at about 7:30am and we will eat it at around 6:00pm and it's still fine.



About 25 minutes before you are ready to eat, remove about 1 cup of the juice from the chicken and salsa. Add juice with a cup of water into medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add rice, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. The juice from the salsa and chicken cooked into the rice make my version of "mexican rice".

While rice is cooking, remove chicken breasts from crockpot and set aside. Mix together sour cream with remaining juice from salsa and chicken. Put chicken breasts back into crockpot and cover with sour cream salsa sauce.

Serve chicken and sauce over rice.

Calabacitas

1 yellow squash, chopped into 1” pieces
1 zucchini, chopped into 1” pieces
½ medium onion, chopped finely
½ C frozen corn
1 jalapeno, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ C cilantro, chopped finely
1 T vegetable oil
1 T butter
Salt to taste

Put all veggies into gallon sized bag with vegetable oil and salt. Allow to marinate for 30 minutes. Melt butter in skillet and add veggies. Cook until veggies are tender and serve.



This makes 4 servings, but I often add a couple of extra chicken breasts that I will freeze with portions of the rice to microwave for lunches later. Ole!

Cheesy Tuna Casserole

This is a slightly modified recipe of the one my mom used to make when I was a kid. Actually, mom made it so much that at one time during my childhood I didn't think I'd ever want it again..lol..but I did. Now it is a favorite for my own family. One thing my family will tell you is that you simply must have this with peas, not mixed in, but on the side. And they must not be just any peas. They must be Le Sueur very young early peas:
Cheesy Tuna Casserole

• 1 box Kraft Macaroni and Cheese



• 1 can cream of mushroom soup



• 1 can tuna (the kind packed in water), drained



• 1/2 cup sour cream (I use light)



• 3/4 cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook macaroni noodles according to package directions. Drain and put back in pan. Mix in well, cheese packet from mac & cheese, mushroom soup, drained tuna and sour cream. Pour into greased 8" x 8" cooking dish and sprinkle cheese over top. Bake in 350 degree oven about 20-25 minutes or until cheese on top is well melted. Serve with Le Sueur peas.

Taco Soup

I decided to start a recipe blog because I love to cook...that is as long as I'm cooking something that's easy to fix. If I'd known that 30 Minute Meals would've been such a hit, I might've tried to do the show myself. Ha, Yeah right! Rachel Ray is something else! I do have a few things in common with her though as I do like to make quick and easy meals. However, my meals usually take even less time and use more basic ingredients.

I can also do budget cooking. I can tell you how to stretch one average sized chicken into at least 2, if not 3 meals with plenty to feed a family of 5 or 6. This comes from the fact that we didn't have much money when I was growing up and I've seen some lean times financially since I've been grown too. You can learn to be resourceful when you must!

I love to do casseroles and love crock pot cooking. Some of my very favorite meals of all time are casseroles because I love the idea of throwing everything together in one delicious dish (almost always including cheese!). And you just can't beat a crock pot if you want food that tastes like you spent hours and hours on it, because of course you did (you just didn't even have to be there to do it). So it's likely that you'll see a lot of recipes that are in those categories.

Now the question is which recipe do I post first...hmmm, that's a tough one. Probably my most requested recipe is for my version of taco soup. It's a recipe that's all over the recipe web sites, but I've just tweaked it a little to make it more to my liking. My "big kids" (that's what I call the teachers I work with who are about the same age as my daughter, who is also a teacher) ask "mama C" (that's me) to bring it for them for lunch whenever I have extra.

Mama C's Taco Soup

1 lb. ground turkey
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chiles
1 can tomato sauce
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can pinto beans, rinsed
2 cans corn
1 package Ranch dressing mix
1 package taco seasoning

Spray large cooking pot with non-stick cooking spray. Cook ground meat and diced onions together until meat is well browned. Pour in all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to simmer and let cook for 15 minutes or so. That's it. Makes at least 10 servings.

This also freezes well. It is one of my favorite recipes to cook up to put in freezer containers to take to work for lunch later.

Next time I'll post a casserole or a crock pot meal. :)