Easiest Crock Pot Chicken

So I feel silly posting this for, but I'm only doing it for me because I never remember to make it, but when I do I think why don't I do this more often?

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken
Put frozen chicken- breasts, thighs, bone-in, boneless, whatever you want- in crock pot. Dump some BBQ sauce on top. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 8-9 or a combination of the 2 depending on what time you have left. Shred if it's boneless.

Can serve on top of rice (or Cauliflower Rice!!), mashed potatoes, etc.

I usually like making this when I want to focus on a yummy or new side or two.

Salted Carmel rice crispy treats. Yum!

• Here is a fun twist on your typical rice crispy treats. I have made these a few times and always get asked for the recipe. They are gluten free too- so I love using it when I have friends who can't have gluten. Baking gluten free can sound intimidating, so this is my go-to! :) Try them, I hope you love them like we do at my house! :) 
  Ps. A little tip for making any rice crispies that delicious yummy gooey is to cook the marshmallows on a lower heat till they melt. You do not want to do it as quick as possible.  This will help the marshmallow to stay soft and pliable rather than hard as a rock. Works like a charm. Hope that made sense!! Ingredients:
  1 cup unsalted butter
• cooking spray
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 1/2 teaspoons flaked sea salt
• 1 (16 ounce) package miniature marshmallows
• 12 ounces gluten-free crispy rice cereal (such as Kellogg's® Gluten Free Rice Krispies®)
  
  1. Directions: Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
  2. Place cereal in a large heatproof bowl.
  3. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir brown sugar, cream, and corn syrup into butter; cook, stirring, until mixture becomes thick and syrupy, 7 minutes. Stir 2 teaspoons salt into butter mixture. Remove from heat and add marshmallows; stir until marshmallows are smooth and melted.
  4. Pour marshmallow mixture over rice cereal and stir. Transfer cereal mixture to prepared baking dish and press down with greased parchment paper. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt; cool and cut into squares.
  
  

Chicken Pot Pie

 Holy cow! I can't believe it's been so long since we posted. I've been having a hard time coming up with dinners lately, so I thought I'd start posting recipes so I can easily look up ones that I've made before and love.

This is the yummiest chicken pot pie I've ever had. And I've tried a lot. Easton even said today that this may be what he chooses for his birthday dinner. Just a warning- this is not a healthy meal. But so worth it. It's pure comfort food!

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (although today I only used one and used extra potato to make up for it and didn't even miss the extra chicken)
3 cups frozen peas
3 cups frozen corn
3-4 potatoes, cooked and cubed
(add or subtract any veggies you like)
3/4 cups margarine or butter
2/3 cup + 3 Tbls flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic salt
4 cups chicken broth (I just heat up 4 cups water and add in chicken boullion)
1 + 2/3 cup milk

Thaw vegetables. Melt butter in large saute pan. Add in flour and all the seasonings. Slowly add in the chicken broth and milk. Bring to boil then simmer over medium-low heat til it thickens. Add in chicken and vegetables.

Make into pot pies. There's so many ways you can make these. I make individual pot pies in ramekins and top them with phyllo dough. I spread with a little melted butter or margarine to help make it brown on the top. You can use cresent roll dough. You can use regular pie crust to top it. I don't like putting a crust or anything on the bottom just cause those are unnecessary extra calories. But you can totally make it however you want. It's this filling that is delicious! The only baking you'll have to do will depend on your topping as the filling will already be warm. If you're taking it out of the freezer, you can heat up the filling to cut back on the time needed to bake it, or you can just bake it longer if the topping needs to bake a while anyways.

This recipe makes a ton. So I usually have quite a bit leftover to freeze for another meal another day. Super easy!

Chocolate Lava Cake

Picture and recipe taken from Creations By Kara. (obviously)

I pinned this recipe a while ago and while deciding what dessert to make for Seth's Father's Day dinner, I came across it again and knew I needed to make it.
It was surprisingly easy and incredibly yummy. I really thought it tasted like a dessert you'd get a restaurant.

Chocolate Lava Cake
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate (I used Baker's chocolate bars found right by the chocolate chips, but the other lady used chocolate chips)
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
9 Tbsp flour
Butter 6 ramekins or custard cups. (I found a pack of 4 custard cups at Target for just over $6 and they came with lids, so I thought it was a pretty good deal.0 Put chocolate and butter in a large glass bowl. Melt in microwave at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds till smooth. Whisk in powdered sugar till thoroughly combined and melted. Whisk in eggs and yolks. Stir in flour. Divide batter between the 6 ramekins, I actually made 7 and thought the portions were still good. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 425° oven for 13-14 minutes.

You must absolutely serve this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it is for sure rich, but oh so yummy. Since it has odd numbers of eggs and yolks you can't really cut it in half for those of you with smaller families, but I bet you could keep the batter in the fridge for a while and just bake a couple at a time. Although, I microwaved our extra ones the next day and they still were yummy. (Although they definitely did not come out as easy of the cups as before.)

 Hope you'll splurge on this extra special dessert. :)

Banana Pancakes

I found this recipe in an old kids cookbook, that we actually had growing up, that mom gave to the boys. I'm not the hugest fan of bananas, but I really enjoy these and all my boys LOVE them. They are super moist (mashed up bananas will obviously do that) and taste extra yummy with syrup. But they're also a great one for younger babies cause they aren't too dry so they don't need syrup. I just give them whole to Brock and he gobbles up just as many as the other boys.

Banana Pancakes
2 medium bananas (perfect to use up the ones that are going brown, but most recently I used green-ish ones and they were just fine)
2 cups baking mix (like Bisquick, or I'm pretty sure there are recipes on how to make your own Bisquick out there, if I ever try one out, I'll let you know)
1 1/2 cups milk
2 Tbls. sugar
1 egg

Mash bananas in small bowl.
Beat the rest of the ingredients in a medium bowl.
Fold in the mashed banana into batter with rubber scraper.
Pour batter into hot griddle and cook like you all know how. ;)

Enjoy this quick, easy and NOT sugar-filled breakfast!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Picture and recipe from LDS Living.

If you came to the temple picture making class I did, these are some of the cookies I made. They are some of my most favorite cookie. They're unique, light, and full of yummy flavor. If you like lemon, you'll LOVE these. ;)

Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

 Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

MY TIP- the first time I made it was doubling it, so I used 1/2 cup butter AND 1/2 cup margarine (cause I'm cheap like that) and I thought they were delish. The next time, I used only margarine and I could definitely tell they weren't as good. I've never made it with all butter, but I'm sure if you're a butter lover, that would probably make them divine. But using half butter and half margarine is a great alternative. 

Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwiches

Recipe and picture taken from Six Sisters' Stuff.

This was a dinner that all my boys loved, especially Cole, which is saying something since he's the pickiest. It's also very versatile, but I'll give you those tips at the end.

Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwiches
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
1/2 to 1 cup of your favorite Caesar dressing
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (I did use the actual shredded kind, rather than the dried crumbly kind, but then I just put the rest of the cheese in my freezer for next time)
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (if you don't have fresh use around 2 teaspoons of dried parsley)
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
12 slider buns or 4-6 regular sized hamburger buns

1. Place chicken in a 3-4 quart slow cooker with 1-2 cups of water, cover and cook on low heat for 4-6 hours. I also seasoned the chicken with a little bit of minced onion and garlic powder.

2. Remove chicken from cooker using a slotted spoon and drain the water from the slow cooker. Place chicken on a cutting board and pull chicken into shreds, discarding any fat.

3. Place chicken back in the cooker and pour dressing, Parmesan cheese, parsley, and pepper over the top. I really make sure that I discard any fat pieces so by the time I was done I only used about 1/2 cup of dressing but you make need more if you have more chicken. Stir until mixed evenly. Cover and cook on high heat for 30 minutes or until mixture is hot.

4. Spoon 1/4 cup mixture onto each slider bun if you are making sliders or more for regular sized buns. Top with extra shredded Parmesan cheese and lettuce to serve (we also added a little bit of dressing on on the buns).

MY TIPS- I only used maybe 1/4 cup dressing because I was very worried about the taste being too strong for my boys. So it did seem somewhat dry but I just spread some extra dressing on my own bun. Obviously, just remember it's much easier to add to it than take away. ;)

The day later I had some for lunch. I toasted a bun, spread dressing on it, put some lettuce and then the chicken and didn't put on the top bun (trying to eat just a little less carbs when I can stand it :). And I thought that was SO much yummier! I think it was mostly the toasted bun that did it. Delish!

As I was eating it for lunch, I realized this could totally be wrapped up in a lettuce leaf and be so yummy and actually healthy. I'll definitely be trying that next time.

Add some fresh fruit and baked chips as sides and you have an incredibly easy and healthy meal!

This is definitely one I'm adding to my normal list of dinners. :)