Chicken with Mole Sauce

Mole sauce?  What's that?

If you are asking yourself that question, you are in the same boat I was not too long ago.  First of all, it is pronounced with a Spanish pronunciation: moe-lay.  Let's just get that straight so you don't embarrass yourself.

Mole is a sauce that can be served several ways but the most common thing I've seen is it being poured over chicken and rice.  It is a spicy sauce with a flavor that is enhanced by a bit of chocolate.  I realize this sounds odd and have to admit that I used to shy away from it.  But once I gave it a shot, I found it to be quite flavorful and good.  See for yourself....

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 4 servings rice, cooked
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/3 cup white onion, very finely chopped
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (grated dark chocolate can also be substituted and would probably be better!)
• 1.5 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp dried cilantro (or 1 and a half tbsp fresh chopped cilantro)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 can condensed tomato soup
• 1 (4 oz) can diced green chile peppers

Directions

• Heat oil in a sauce pan over medium heat
• Saute chopped onions until tender
• To onions, add chocolate, spices, garlic, soup, cilantro and green chile peppers
• Bring to boil and then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes
• Serve over chicken and rice

Chipotle Honey Glazed Chicken with Sweet Potatoes Plus Fiery Grilled Asparagus

 Two great recipes for the price of one in this post!  This recipe was shared with me a year ago by Tonia but I finally pulled it out and gave it a shot.  It got a big thumbs up at our dining room table and hopefully will at yours too!

Chipotle Honey Glazed Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes
• 2 tbsp oil
• 4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cumin
• Chopped cilantro for garnish, if desired

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Toss cubed sweet potatoes with oil and place into a large casserole dish or roasting pan
• Place potatoes in oven for 20 minutes

• Into a small bowl, combine minced peppers, garlic, honey, vinegar, salt, cinnamon and cumin to make a thick paste.
• Rub paste evenly over each chicken breast
• When the potatoes have finished their 20 minutes in the oven, place chicken on top of them and return to oven for an additional 30 minutes or until chicken is done

Going into the oven!

• Garnish with cilantro if desired.

Fiery Grilled Asparagus

Here's a recipe that I picked up from one of those recipe cards in the grocery store.  It's definitely worth making again....and SOON!

Ingredients

• 1 lb asparagus
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp rice wine vinegar - I didn't have this so used regular white vinegar instead and it seemed to work just fine.
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted - I also didn't have this and omitted them but am sure they would be a nice addition
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Preheat grill to a medium heat and coat with a non-stick cooking spray
• Trip and discard tough ends of asparagus
• In a shallow dish, combine asparagus, oil, red pepper flakes, vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper
• Let stand 15 minutes
• Place asparagus on grill and grill 5 minutes, turning once
• After grilling, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve

And here's the picture of the delicious meal:

Mexican Turkey Burgers

Happy almost Cinco de Mayo!

Little known fact: Cinco de Mayo is NOT a celebration of Mexico's independence.  That is actually celebrated each year on September 16th.  Cinco de Mayo actually marks the unprecedented victory of the Mexican army over the French in the Battle of Puebla.  It is celebrated in the Mexican state of Puebla but more so in the United States.  The rest of Mexico could pretty much care less.

Crazy.

Anyway, here's a zesty dish with a Mexican flare in honor of Cinco de Mayo with which you may want to celebrate :

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 white medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/2 cup whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 package taco seasoning (or make your own using this recipe)
• 1/3 cup dried bread crumbs
• 6 flour tortillas
• 6 tbsp sour cream
• 2 cups shredded lettuce

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees
• Heat oil in skillet over medium heat and cook peppers, onion and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly
• In a small bowl, mix salsa and corn.  Set aside
• In a larger bowl, mix tbsp of the salsa mixture with the sauted vegetables, turkey and taco seasoning
• Divide turkey mixture into 6 patties and press into bread crumbs, covering each patty evenly
• Arranged patties in a greased baking dish and place in oven for 10 minutes

• At end of 10 minutes, drain fluid, turn patties, and top with remaining salsa mixture

• Continue baking 10 more minutes or until internal temperature is 165 degrees
• Serve wrapped in warm tortillas and with sour cream and lettuce garnish

Fried Rice

When was the last time you were offered fried rice and said "no"? That's right...fried rice is always a yes. Especially when you can make it at home and not go to a nasty Chinese place for it :)

This recipe is kind of one of those ones where amounts of ingredients are not very important, as you'll see below. Just go with it. Short one ingredient? As long as it is not rice, you'll probably be alright. Serve as a side dish or as a main dish with a protein meat!

For this recipe, you will either need a wok or a sauce pan with high edges.

Ingredients

• 4 servings of rice, cooked and cooled - the cooling is helpful when mixing the rice with other things later but not imperative.
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 carrots (or 2 handfuls of baby carrots), finely chopped
• 2 eggs, scrambled
• 1 can peas
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 cup cooked meat, if desired (chicken, pork, shrimp, etc.)
• Olive oil

Directions

• If possible, prepare rice ahead of time and put in refrigerator to cool
• Place a small amount of oil in a saucepan over medium heat and saute carrots for 3 minutes

• While carrots are cooking, scramble eggs in another pan
• To saucepan, add the minced garlic and sliced onions. Add more oil if needed. Cook 4-5 more minutes until soft

• To the veggies, add all remaining ingredients and mix well.

We used smoked pork

• Heat through and serve!

Sugar Free Fresh Strawberry Pie

You will need:

• 1 package of sugar free cook and serve vanilla pudding
• 1 package of sugar free strawberry jello
• Strawberries - about 3 cups cut up in bite sizes chunks ...
• 2 cups water
• Pie Crust
• Cool Whip

Mix together sugar free cook and serve vanilla pudding with two cups of water (do not follow directions on the box). After it becomes thick stir in the cook and serve sugar free strawberry jello.

Let cool but not still it is so cool that it is forms up.

Mix in strawberries. Put in fridge till it forms up and put cool whip on the top!

Enjoy this great summer "healthy" desert!

Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

I happened upon this recipe about a week ago and had been looking for an excuse to try it.  It makes a lot of food so I didn't want to do it with just me and my husband.  So I invited some friends over and gave it a shot.

O.M.G.  So delicious.  If only I could convey the fantastic smell of this dish to you through this blog.  Darn blogspot.  They need to do some upgrading...

So here's how you do it....

Ingredients

• 1 pork shoulder.  They generally come in the 5-7 lb range.  The packaging may read "pork shoulder butt".  Do not be afraid.

hehe...butt

• 1 (7 oz) can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce - I'd never purchased this before but found it in the grocery store aisle that had other types of "ethnic foods"

• 1 white onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cans Dr. Pepper
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Place the chopped onions in the bottom of a crock pot

• Season the pork shoulder with salt and pepper
• Place pork shoulder in crock pot, fatty side up
• Pour peppers and sauce on top of pork shoulder

• Sprinkle brown sugar on top
• Pour Dr. Pepper on top as well.

• Cook in crock pot on low for 8-10 hours - I did not have quite enough time for this so I did it on high for about 3 hours and low for another 3.  Turned out just fine!
• If possible, flip the pork shoulder over a couple times while cooking.  If you aren't around and can't, no biggie.
• When cooked, shred with two forks.

After the meat is cooked and shredded, you can do tons with it.  Serve it on burger buns as a sandwich, in warmed tortillas as tacos, or even on pizza.

For a little added flavor, we strained out the cooked peppers and onions and diced them up to be served on the side for those who wanted a little more of a spicy kick.  It was great!

Enjoy...we sure did!

Easy Sloppy Joes!

Who doesn't love a good sloppy joe?  The stuff in the can just doesn't cut it for us.  Next time you want some sloppy joe action, give this a try!

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 BBQ sauce
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Few splashes liquid smoke (if you have it.  don't go buy it for this recipe)
• Desired amount of spicy peppers if you'd like a little heat :)

Directions

• Over medium-high heat, brown the beef with the diced onion and bell pepper

• Drain fat, return to skillet
• Combine remaining ingredients and add to skillet
• Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 30 minutes
• Serve over hamburger buns

I like mine "open face"
For the realistic sloppy joe eater :)