Tortilla Roll-up with Spicy Shredded Chicken

Who says a yummy appetizer can't be the main course for dinner?! Not me! I whipped up this party pleaser appetizer last night for dinner and it was delicious! Spicy"ish" chicken and a cream cheese mixture all rolled up in a flour tortilla...Yum! We have left-overs too, which have made a great snack last night and lunch for today!! I grabbed this recipe from a cute "homemade" blog titled, Homemade by Holman. I love the recipes on here, though I haven't gone through them all, but I'm working my way through her blog day by day! This dish can be taken to a party as finger foods, or you can do what we did, and pair with some chips and salsa and have it for dinner! Once again, it's easy to make and will leave you with no regrets! So let's get started!

Ingredients
1.5 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can Rotel (drained)
12 oz cream cheese
1 c shredded Cheddar cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
6 green onions
6-8 large tortillas

Her recipe starts by saying that you coat the chicken breasts in salt, half of the cumin (1/2 tsp), and one teaspoon of the chili powder! I took the "salt" to be the garlic salt instead of regular salt. I'm not sure if this is what she was meaning, but it tasted great so that's how I'll do it next time I make it! Once you have your pieces of chicken coated, add the chicken to a large skillet with one cup of water (you can add more water if needed), and cook on high/medium until the chicken is cooked through. I continued to turn the chicken so it would cook evenly and I think I left it on the stove about 8-10 minutes.

I love spices!! I love spice cabinets and the way they smell when you open them! Yum!

Spicing up the chicken 

Cooking in the skillet

Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the skillet and let it cool slightly before taking two forks, and shredding the chicken!

Shredded chicken

While the chicken is cooling is a good time to get the cream cheese spread mixed together. In a large bowl you're going to mix together, the cream cheese, drained rotel, cheddar cheese, and all the remaining spices with the green onion! Mix together thoroughly!  

Pre-mix spread

Once the spread is mixed together and the chicken is shredded, throw the shredded chicken in with spread and mix everything together. Divide the chicken mix evenly over 6-8 tortillas and spread out thin, making sure the edges of the tortilla remain clear! Roll each tortilla up tightly (not like a burrito...leave the ends open), and cut them into once inch sections. Place them on a serving plate, cover them and place them in a fridge until you're ready to eat! It's easy as a dinner, snack, or party dish...you choose! 

Finished and ready to eat!

I ate one tortilla dipped in salsa, and was satisfied the rest of the evening (until I wanted a snack so I grabbed a couple more from the fridge) lol!! Stay tuned for another Pinterest project in the next couple of days, a wonderful breakfast from Game and Garden, and an update on my reading and photo a day challenge!! In the meantime, I want to wish my mom and huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! 

Always having fun in my family! Never a time without laughter and hilarious shenanigans!

Until next time...

~Happy Eating~

Watching TV results in cooking!

Over the New Year holiday weekend, we've been traveling, hunting (DJ got another doe--Woo Hoo), seeing old friends and trying to take it easy! When I get the chance to grab the remote (hunting shows are on most of the time), I turn on Food Network, and I've been having a mini Pioneer Woman marathon! It's fun to watch as she cooks meals for her family and all the cowboys, especially when I run across an episode where she cooks things I have pinned to my Pinterest boards! DJ was sitting here watching an episode with me, where she cooks her spicy soda pulled pork and immediately decided we had to make it for ourselves! Of course, we had make a much smaller portion, but luckily Wal-mart had a "picnic" sized pork butt roast (I know the name of the cut is just pure awesome)! With that being said, let's get started on her spicy Dr. Pepper shredded pork!

Ingredients
1 large whole onion (we used a small/medium onion)
1 whole Pork shoulder (Pork Butt) (we used the picnic size (much smaller))
Salt and Pepper
1 can (11 oz) Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (we used a little less than a 7 oz can)
2 cans of Dr. Pepper (we didn't have any Dr. Pepper so we used Cherry Pepsi)
2 TBS brown sugar

To start this out you're going to cut your onion into quarters (cut in half, then cut the halves in half).

Now you're going to peel apart the layers of the onion and place them in the bottom of the crock pot. (We used a crock pot instead of the oven because over the holidays, I went off and left my oven pots with lids at my parents house). Now, you're going to salt and pepper the pork and then place on top of the onions! Next you're going to add the chipotle peppers, 2 cans of soda and brown sugar! The peppers will make your pork very spicy! Use more or less, depending on how spicy you want it! We like spicy, and used a little more than half of our 7 oz can and it was perfect!! Once everything is in the pot, you can either place it in the oven at 300 degrees for 6 hours, or you can set your slow cooker to low and set a timer for 6 hours (we probably cooked it on high the last 2 hours, and kept ours cooking for almost 8 hours). Be sure to remember to flip the roast every so often, during the 6 hours so it will cook evenly. Once ours had cooked for 6 hours, I went ahead and took it out, shredded it and then placed it back in for another hour and half or so. You will be able to tell, when you try and pick it up and all just starts falling apart!

Here it is all ready for the lid and let the waiting begin!

Looks yummy!

We topped off our plates with Idahoan Southwest mashed potatoes!

They have a little bit of a kick to them, 

and we even put a little bit on our sandwiches! FANTASTIC

This recipe was easy and delicious, and the exact right amount of spicy and sweet! We made pulled pork sandwiches last night, and plan on having pulled pork with shredded cheese tacos this afternoon! It was a great way to finish off a wonderful day! I hope my next recipe of her's to try is one of her breakfast ideas! Check back soon to see what is cooking in our kitchen next! 

Until then...

~Happy Eating~

Fall is for Pho and Trix are for Treats

So, one thing I love about cooler weather is the fact that I can make foods that warm our soul! There is a soup called, Pho that is seriously one of my favorite cooler weather delights! It's spicy, it smells wonderful all day while cooking, it's warm and delicious! You really can't beat that! Dee Jay's co-worker was telling him about some Pho he had the other day and came home all excited about it, so I looked up the recipe and remembered what I could from previous times of making it and got to work! The recipe that I went off can be found at steamykitchen.com. Now let's get to work!

Pho is a Vietnamese chicken noodle soup. You can also make it with beef, but for this recipe, I used chicken. To start out you are going to slice up a yellow onion into thin slices and get about an inch of ginger off the root. Turn on your broiler and put the onion and ginger on a cookie sheet and set under your broiler to cook. It took about 10-12 minutes total until the onion and ginger started to brown. You are going to want to check on it and turn over the pieces to make sure you cook evenly on both sides. Once your onion and ginger are finished, you are going to empty two containers (64 ounces total) of chicken stock into a big pot on the stove. Put the broth in a large pot on your stove and add one cinnamon stick and one package of chicken thighs (probably a pound or little more). Add the cut up, broiled ginger to the broth as well. Add about 2 tablespoons of sugar, and I used about one teaspoon of salt. Bring all this to boil and then lower the temperature to simmer the chicken for about 45 minutes or until it's cooked through. Now you are going to remove the chicken thighs from the stock and remove the skin and fat and bones. (We saved the skin for a crunchy surprise to top the soup with). Once you have the chicken meat pulled apart, you are going to put it in a separate bowl and add a little of the broth to keep it moist. Now you are going to strain the stock, and add sliced green onion (about 5-6), two tablespoons of fish sauce and your broiled onion slices. Bring all this back to a boil then simmer until ready to serve.

 

The chicken ready for the soup in a bowl with broth!

 

Now you are going to boil rice noodles as the package directs. It's going to take about 20 minutes total to cook the pasta, so while that's cooking let's get the garnish plate ready! You are going to take the rest of your onion slices that you haven't broiled and set out on a plate. Chop up some cilantro, serrano peppers, jalapenos, thai peppers, and add some bean sprouts to the plate. You are going to want to put out Sriracha hot sauce and Hoisin sauce to add to the bowl once you're ready to eat. By this time your noodles should be cooked, so go ahead and strain the water and rinse off the noodles with cold water! 

This is our garnish plate (minus the bean sprouts which I forgot to pick up at the store because Wal-Mart was out and I forgot to stop by the second store on the way home)

This is the broth simmering and waiting to be served!

Now you are going to prepare the soup to eat! Here is my ideal way to put this all together:

I add a good amount of noodles to cover a little less than half the bowl. I add the broth on top of the noodles until my bowl looks yummy and full! Then I add a little bit of each of the garnishments. (I know the Hoison sauce looks really "not appetizing" in the picture, but trust me that it is is soooo delicious)! Now all that is left for you to do is eat it ALL!!! I'm not kidding you, once you start on a bowl Pho, you are not going to want to stop! We're talking lick the bowl clean, fantastic!!

I warned you that the sauce does not make a pretty picture! 

But you're going to want it in there!! Trust me :)

 Now, onto a little dessert time! This recipe can be found on a fantastic blog titled Cravings of a Lunatic. This is so simple and extremely delicious. The only thing I would add to my description is to make this to eat right away (for parties, or work lunches etc). We let this set (covered) for a day or two and it went stale!! I was sad I only got two huge chunks of it before I had to start it over! All you are going to do it melt a bag of mini marshmallows and 1/4 cup of butter, and pour in about 10 cups of Trix cereal and stir. Put the mixture in a greased 9x13 pan and press down to fit the pan with a greased spoon (so it's doesn't stick), wait for it to set and then eat! It's that easy!!

So Delicious! And very colorful and fun for parties! 

If you have questions or would like to send me your favorite Fall recipes, feel free! I always love to hear your feedback and suggestions!

~Happy Eating~