Shredded Chicken Sandwiches

No, no picture this time.  This recipe speaks for itself.  It is super easy and super tasty!  Here it is:

chicken thighs (I used a half dozen)
can of coke (I've also used Dr. Pepper and I bet root beer would work too)
BBQ Sauce (lovin' the Sweet Baby Rays right now)

And that is it.

Put the chicken thighs in your slow cooker.  Pour the can of coke over top.  Keep heat on low for 8 hours or so.  Take the meat out and shred it with a fork into a bowl.  Squeeze a little BBQ sauce over top and mix it in to your liking.

I like to serve this meat on a toasted roll with a little potato salad and grilled corn on the cob on the side.

Delicious!

PS - Mom - Dad would love this!

Filled Crescent Rolls

Here's another idea i picked up on Pinterest.  I made 3 variations of filled crescent rolls.  All were tasty and given a "thumbs up" by my kids for lunch.  All use Pillsbury Crescent Rolls to make, adding a filling before rolling it up to bake as directed

Variation 1 - cheese filled
Variation 2 - cheese & hot dog
Variation 3 -peanut butter and chocolate chip

I think the possibilities here are endless.

BLT with a twist - guest post

If you know me well, you know I didn't make this and I didn't eat it either. Much to the amazement of my friends and family who swear by it, I can't eat bacon. But my husband is among those who just love bacon. And this is his creation. 

Bored with your BLT ?

Try this one on for size. It is a BLT with a twist.

Preheat your oven to 350. Next grab two baking sheets.

Lay out your bacon onto the sheets. Mix the following seasonings together:

Granulated garlic, onion powder, Cajun spice, and a dash of Jerk Seasoning.

The mix should be 2/3^rd garlic and onion powder and 1/3^rd Cajun and Jerk seasoning. Next sprinkle this mixture over the bacon evenly. It is good to have a moderate coating of the spice.

Bake the bacon at 350 for 10-15 min. or until desired crispness is reached.

Slice some fresh tomatoes. Toast a hoagie bun lightly. Add mayo. When the bacon is cooked, take 3 or four strips per sandwich and cut it into chunks (this prevents a whole strip of bacon from coming out of the sandwich on your first bite). Layer tomato slices over the bacon and sprinkle fresh oregano over the tomatoes- just a light dusting.

Cut the sandwich in half, et voila. A delicious twist on a classic sandwich. Add lettuce if you must.

Best Beef Dip! - for a slow cooker

Beef Dip is one of those recipes that I always order at a diner.  I love it.  It's a treat when made well, but I've never thought to make it myself.  Rewind to two weeks ago, I was browsing at one of my favorite recipe sites, food.com, and found this recipe.  It had very high ratings (4 1/2 stars out of 5) and a lot of positive reviews.  The ingredients were simple and staples in our home.  It looked super easy (and it was) and honestly, I couldn't believe how delicious this really was.  My husband has not stopped talking about it ever since.  He has asked a number of our friends if they have slow cookers and told them to get this recipe off of me.  That's high praise :)  The original posting is found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/french-dip-roast-beef-for-the-crock-pot-103403.

• 3 1/2-4 lbs boneless chuck roast
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 -4 peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary , crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 12 French rolls , split - (even better when toasted and then spread with a little mayo before adding the meat)

Place roast in a 5-quart slow cooker. Combine soy sauce and next 6 ingredients.  Pour over roast.  Add water to slow cooker until roast is almost covered.  Cook, covered, on LOW for 7 hours or until very tender.  Remove roast, reserving broth.  You may shred roast with a fork and serve on sandwich rolls with the broth on the side for dipping.

Plans for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is one of those holiday/non-holidays that I can take or leave.  When I was single, I spent many a Valentine's Day dressed in black with my other single girlfriends, treating ourselves out to a nice dinner and then having a fantastic time letting guys buy us drinks and dancing the night away.
When my husband and I began dating I made him cookies for our first Valentine's Day.  He loved that.  He's a sucker for homemade gifts.  The cookie theme stuck throughout our courtship (including me express posting packages of them to him when he was in college across country).  Incidentally, we had cookies for guest treats at our wedding instead of the traditional party mints to keep with the theme.
We've had a variety or Valentine's dates over the years.  One of the most memorable we spent at a cooking class that was advertised as a romantic night of cooking for two.  There were other couples there ready to learn and feast with this great chef.  The funny part (and unromantic part) was the lone single woman who kept inturrupting the chef and the company host who insisted that the chef portion out small to us.  She was also a rather brash personality that just did not add to the ambiance of it.  We ended up picking ourselves up a burger afterwards so we wouldn't go hungry.  Ahh well, we tried.
This year we are on a rather strict budget so no going out date.  We have become experts at the at home date, once the kids are in bed. 
Kids see Valentines Day as something special too.  What kid doesn't get excited about all the cards being exchanged with friends.  Never mind all the heart cut-outs and small school celebration attached to it.  Anything to break the routine of day to day school.
I like to do a little something for my kids on Valentines day - nothing too big (it's not a second Christmas) but a little treat because I love them.  I went to a card-making craft session on Friday and make everyone some cute Valentines.  And I've stocked up on Hershey's kisses and cinnamon hearts to have on the table on Monday.  Do you want to see the cute jam heart breakfast sandwiches I'll be making?  I got this idea on Chatelaine's website here.  Cute eh?

What I didn't realize until today is that I do not have heart shaped cookie cutters of my own.  That's just not right!  I did pick some up at the dollar store this afternoon.  I'm planning on making some sugar cookies with my boys tomorrow.  Always a great treat.
Here's my favorite sugar cookie recipe.  It is from Mrs. Field's Best Cookie Book Ever.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup salted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 325*.  In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt with a whisk, set aside.  In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed.  Add the egg and vanilla, beat until well mixed.  Add the flour mixture, Blend on a low speed just until combined, don't overmix.  Gather the dough into a ball, flatten the ball into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate one hour until firm.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.  Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into fun shapes.  Bake for 13-15 minutes.

And for our Valentine's dinner - here's the planned menu (shh, don't tell my husband, it's a surprise for him!) - Basically, it's his favorite meal.  Avacado salad, Shrimp in garlic butter, steak, baby potatoes followed with strawberries dipped in chocolate.  Sounds good, doesn't it?
What kind of plans do you have for your Valentine's Day this year?

Guest Recipe - Wraps by my husband

My husband decided to take a bunch of food that I made and combine it into wraps that he declared to be absolute perfection. Here's what he came up with:

First he put some of my hummus on the wrap


Then, he added some tzatziki


Followed by chicken salad mix


And then he wrapped it all up to enjoy!

Chicken Salad Wrap

This is one of my favorite easy things to make. I will make a bunch on a Sunday and have wraps ready for the week for lunches. Now that most supermarkets sell cooked rotisserie chickens for a reasonable cost, I'm finding they are a great way to get some delicious meat for recipes needing pre-cooked chicken. I'm putting this post in this week at Deb's Kahakai Kitchen for Souper Sunday (and Salad and Sammie Sunday too). Her blogroll will be up sometime tomorrow. Check it out for some good eats!

1 rotisserie chicken, chopped into chunks
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1/2 cup grated cheese (I use sharp cheddar)
2 generous spoonfuls of light mayo (to your liking)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a medium mixing bowl. Scoop onto a wrap of your choice and roll and fold. They keep well if wrapped in saran wrap right away and kept refrigerated.

Grilled Cheese

No, I'm not going to teach you how to make grilled cheese, you all already know (and if you don't let me know in the comments and I'll msg you back how). I impulsively bought a loaf of Italian bread this week and started to get a craving. Now, there's nothing nutritionally great about this sandwich. The bread is white, the cheese is processed and the dip is ketchup. To me this is comfort. Sided with a glass of milk there's nothing like it. Now, I may get fancy and make it with sliced turkey and smoked gryere on multigrain flax bread, but really I come back to this, the basic North American sandwich. Ain't it good?

Roasted Eggplant Salad

I was introduced to this dish while in Romania a few years back. It is absolutely delicious. In Romania we ate it spread on fresh French Bread. You can also use it as a dip for pita or veggies.

1 large eggplant
1/2 to 1 bulb of garlic (depending on your taste)
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 Cup of Light Mayonnaise
Dash of Salt and Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice Eggplant into 1/2 inch thick slices.
Separate garlic bulb into cloves and remove skins.
Place sliced eggplant and garlic into a roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil. Cover and bake for about an hour (eggplant will be soft).
Place roasted eggplant and garlic into a bowl or food processor. Add light mayonnaise and salt and pepper. Blend together with hand blender or in the food proccessor. Let cool.