Quick, Easy Chicken Quesadillas

Normally, Saturday evenings are my easy dinner night.  I just throw in a ready to eat, prepared meal from Costco in the oven and sit back to relax - a little.  Lately, my mind has been going to the dogs.  I can not seem to remember much of anything despite my lists upon lists.  This past Saturday I forgot to add the usual prepared meal to my Costco list.  Let the panic begin!  Here is what I came up with - I have a stack of tortillas, some chicken defrosted, and cheese - light bulb!

Chicken Quesadillas

Ingredients

1 lb chicken tenderloins
6 8-in tortillas (makes 3 quesadillas)
3 tsp taco seasoning
1 cup mexican taco shredded cheese

Steps

1. Season chicken with taco seasoning
2.  Cook chicken with a little olive oil over medium heat in a fry pan, approximately 5 minutes per side.
3.  Remove from pan and shred chicken with forks.
4.  On a flat griddle, heat some butter and lay down one tortilla.  You will use one third of the cheese per quesadilla.  Using half of the third of a cup of cheese, lay down cheese onto tortilla.  Then lay down one third of the shredded chicken.  Spread remaining half of cheese on top.  Then carefully press second tortilla on top.
5.  When bottom tortilla is browned, careful lift the quesadilla and lay another pad of butter on the griddle.
6.  Once the butter has melted, flip the quesadilla over to brown the other side.
7.  Remove quesadilla from griddle when bottom is browned.
8.  Cut quesadilla into sixths.
9.  Repeat for remaining two quesadillas.

The Final Product

This was pretty quick and not to hard to make.  I was quite impressed with myself that it came out pretty tasty.  JT enjoyed three sectors and Thomas ate 2 sectors.  Between the two of them they devoured almost an entire quesadilla!  I am definitely going to put this one in the rotation!

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken and Broccoli over Rice

This was my new for September slow cooker recipe.  It will not disappoint!  Did I remember to take a picture of it?  Alas, I did not but if you go to original link- the picture there will excite your eyes - and then you should make the recipe.

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken and Broccoli over Rice

from TheRecipeCritic

Ingredients
4 boneless chicken breasts
14oz can cream of chicken soup
14 oz can cheddar soup
14 oz can chicken broth
½ teaspoon salt <- I did not add this, when I made it!
¼ teaspoon Cajun seasoning
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
1 Cup sour cream
1 12 oz frozen bag broccoli florets or 4 cups fresh broccoli lightly steamed
1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese

Steps
1.  Spray crockpot with cooking spray and put cream of chicken soup, cheddar soup, chicken broth, salt, cajun seasoning, and garlic salt into the crockpot. Stir the soups and seasonings together until smooth. Place the chicken in the bottom of the crockpot.
2.  Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or HIGH 3 hours. The last 30 minutes of cooking, shred the chicken with two forks and add the broccoli, sour cream, and cheese. Cook for about 30 more minutes until the broccoli is tender and heated through.
3.  Serve over white rice and garnish with more shredded cheese if desired.

The Final Product
First, I used about a pound of chicken tenderloins instead of breasts - just want I happened to have from Costco this week.  I left out the salt - between the cream of chicken soup, the cheddar cheese soup and the chicken broth there is no need for extra salt.  I did not have Cajun seasoning so I switched it out for a 1/4 teaspoon of blackening seasoning and I think that did the trick.  I definitely plan to make it again, especially when the severest of critics says "This is taste-ee!"

Slow Cooker Bacon Smothered Chicken

If bacon is in the title, or heck even just an ingredient, I know I need to try the recipe.  This one made the house smell soo delicious.

Slow Cooker Bacon Smothered Chicken

from SixSistersStuff

Ingredients

8 slices of bacon, cooked and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 onion, chopped
2 cups fat-free chicken broth
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 8 oz package of fat free cream cheese
4 cups egg noodles, uncooked
2 Tbsp. dried parsley

Steps

1. Cook onions on medium heat over the stove top. Cook until they are golden brown.
2.  Add your chicken to the slow cooker; cover with the cooked onions and cooked bacon. Pour your chicken broth over top.
3. Cook on low 4 to 5 hours (or on HIGH 2 to 3 hours). About 15 min. before ready to serve, put your cream cheese in the slow cooker.
4. Cook your egg noodles as directed on the package.  When the slow cooker is ready, shred the chicken and mix well.
5. Then place your chicken on your cooked egg noodles and sprinkle with dried parsley. Serve warm.

The Final Product
Ooops, this is what happens - I forget to take a picture, then I forget to post the recipe.  So when I do get around to posting the recipe, I don't have a picture to remind myself.   The aromas from the slow cooker just made me want to rip open the lid throughout the day - that I do remember.  Overall it was a good dish, it seemed to me to follow the same vein as a beef stroganoff - except not so beefy.  Give it a whirl, at least your nostrils will thank you!

Slow Cooker Tater Tot Casserole

I love tater tots!  Who doesn't??!?!  So I thought I would give this recipe a whirl.  The comments mention that this is crowd pleaser and they like to serve it with salad and be done with it.  That wasn't quite the case when I made it.

Tater Tot Casserole

from The Crockin' Girls

Ingredients

Non-stick Cooking spray
32 oz frozen tater tots
1 lb ground turkey, cooked
dash of fennel seeds
1 cup light sour cream
10.5 oz cream of mushroom soup
4 - 6 pieces cooked and crumbled bacon
2 cups of shredded cheese (I used a combination of cheeses)
1/2 onion diced finely

Steps

1.  Combine the turkey, sour cream, mushroom soup, bacon, 1/2 cheese, and onions in a bowl.
2.  Spray slow cooker with non-stick spray.
3.  Place enough tots in slow cooker to cover the bottom.
4.  Pour half of mixture over the tots.
5.  Use the rest of the tots to make another layer and cover that with the other half of the mixture.
6.  Sprinkle top with remaining cheese.
7.  Cook on HIGH for 3 hours or LOW for 5 hours.

The Final Product
I apologize for not having a picture.  Honestly, I would not eat this meal for dinner.  I loved it for breakfast the next morning.  This turned out tasting like a healthier version of corned beef hash (I love corned beef hash!).  It was fantastic with a couple of sunny-side up eggs and a muffin.  So make this yummy meal - but make it for breakfast - you will thank me later!

Oh My!

I have let my little blog go silent for over a month.   How rude of me!  Life has been extremely busy - with visits from grandparents, birthdays, and trips.  I suppose the main culprit of my lackadaisical posting is the final push to train and run the Disneyland Half Marathon.

With a bit of help from the hubby, we completed the 13.1 mile race in 2:12.56.  That put us at just under 10 minute pace.  I am very proud of our accomplishment and I am now looking forward to my next big race - the Big Sur International Marathon in 2015.  I think I might just be crazy.  

They did capture some video of us running, which was super cool.  I am going to see if I can get that posted to blog once I edit it.

I did try out a few new recipes during this time so I am going to try to get those recipes posted soon.  I could not go this whole time without trying something new!