OhYaGood

Whole Food Lover + Recipe Hacker

Mexi Shredded Chicken

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You may have noticed a trend on my blog. Lots of Mexican food. It’s my favorite cuisine and pretty easy to figure out the best flavors for recipe developing. Plus, when it’s warm out, the light flavors taste so good with all the fresh produce. It IS still summer!

I came up with this super recipe after numerous attempts at a red salsa version that I wasn’t super excited about. I realized with chicken, I prefer the lime and jalepeno flavors, hence the salsa verde. Big plus, it goes great with my corn recipe!

Verde Shredded Chicken
 
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Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 3 lbs of chicken (a mix of white and dark is ideal)
  • 1 jar of Trader Joes Salsa Verde (or any green salsa would do)
  • 2 teaspoons diced shallots
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 cup broth, I used vegetable
  • (optional) 1 small serrano or jalapeno pepper, finely diced
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients into a slow cooker or Instant Pot. Cook for 6 hours for the slow cooker. Set Instant Pot to 20 minutes and let it naturally release.
  2. Once chicken is cooked thoroughly, shred with a fork and spread out the meat onto a cookies sheet.
  3. Pour half the leftover juices on to the chicken and broil at 500° for about 10-15 or until the chicken juices cook down and it gets a little crispy

 

Chicken Soup

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chicken_soup_loI worked at a public relations firm years ago that used to do recipe testing for Kitchen Aid. It was an admin job and I frequently sifted through recipes that made it through loads of testing and were winners for their cookbooks. It’s really where my obsession with cooking and recipes began. The chicken noodle soup was the first recipe I tried that came from working there. I still have the 8 1/2 x 11 white paper printout that is three hole punched and lives in a black binder. Nerd.

This recipe is similar but excludes the noodles and uses a whole chicken so the broth is good and fatty. Perfect for a chilly day or when your entire family is sick, like mine. Why hasn’t anyone came up with a homemade chicken soup delivery service. Seriously. When I’m sick, THIS is what I want.

Chicken Soup
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: American
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken 4-5 lb
  • 4 carrots, diced
  • 2 celery sticks, diced
  • 1 leek, light green sliced cross wise
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 tsp or 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp ginger, minced
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 Tablespoon salt (more or less depending on your preference)
  • fresh cracked pepper
  • 6 cups water
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients into a slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on low OR into a pressure cooker and set the manual setting to 15 minutes

 

Pot Roast

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Pot_RoastIt’s been a wild few weeks. Lots of celebrating and little time for blogging. Not a bad thing I’d say. Just happy to see people are still enjoying my past recipes.

This pot roast was inspired from my client after talking about roast beef on a cold, rainy day. Well, it’s still cold and rainy so I just had to take a stab at it. It’s takes a little time up front or in the morning but SO worth the effort once it’s dinner time. I seriously said in my head when walking into our yummy smelling house, “Awww. Honey, I’m home” Cheesy as ever but that smell just made my night. I served the roast with some crispy home fries which was a perfect addition alongside the jus.

Pot Roast
 
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Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: American
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 2-3 lb beef chuck roast (marbling is good)
  • 1 Tablespoon of oil, I used olive
  • 1 medium onion, quartered
  • 3-4 carrots, sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 can diced tomatoes (28oz Muir Glen, fire roasted was what I used)
  • 2 cups broth, I used vegetable
  • ½ cup dry red wine, I used malbec
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons Trader Joes 21 season salute, (herbs de provence could work)
Instructions
  1. Dry the roast with a paper towel or two.
  2. Salt and pepper pretty generously.
  3. Heat oil over medium/high heat.
  4. Sear the meat, about 5 minutes per side. Don't forget the sides too.
  5. Set aside the meat to a plate and add the onions to the pan. Cook until golden.
  6. Add to the slow cooker.
  7. Add the carrots to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes. Add to the slow cooker
  8. Add the garlic cloves, tomatoes, broth, wine, vinegar and seasoning to the cooker. Stir gently.
  9. Add the meat and cover. Cook on low for seven hours. Add mushrooms and cook another hour.
  10. Serve with crispy home fries or potato of choice.

 

Chai Pear Sauce

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chai pear sauceI am totally jealous of all those east-coasters who were forced to stay home these last few days and get creative in the kitchen. Although I’m sure it sounds way more romantic than it probably is. I’ve just always loved being forced to take whatever I have in my cupboards and coming up with something enjoyable to eat.

This recipe came to me simply because I had almost an entire 5 lb bag of firm pears no one besides me was eating. I had never made apple sauce but always wanted to. This seemed like a perfect opportunity and a creative success, I might add. Apples can certainly be substituted but I’m not certain what varietals would work best. Let me know if you try one that works well.

Chai Pear Sauce
 
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Recipe type: Sweets
Cuisine: American
Serves: 4 cups
Ingredients
  • 6 bartlett pears, cored and sliced into 1-inch wedges
  • 2 cinnamon sticks or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 star anise
  • ¼ teaspoon cardamom
  • 1 clove or ⅛ teaspoon
  • ⅛ teaspoon ginger
  • ¼ cup water
  • ¼ cup maple syrup (omit for whole30)
Instructions
  1. Prepare pears (I didn't remove the peal because I like mine slightly chunky and I'm lazy but if you prefer a smoother sauce, you'll have to peel the skin off)
  2. Add all ingredients into Slow Cooker or Instant Pot
  3. Slow cookers need about 4 hours on high
  4. Pressure cooker set to manual on high for 15 minutes (it'll take 10 minutes to let it get to high pressure)
  5. When cooking is finished, fish out the cinnamon sticks, star anise and clove
  6. Place remaining ingredients into a blender or use an immersion blender to mix into a smooth sauce
  7. Leftovers can be stored in an air-tight container for up to 5 days

 

Slow Cooker Carnitas

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carnitasOh for the love of my crock pot. What would I do without you? I guess I’d have to shorten roasting times and have to stay put whilst cooking. Sounds like too much work to me.

Carnitas are a family favorite here and yes, super easy. You don’t have to sear the meat beforehand and using jarred salsa is an instant flavor maker. I prefer Trader Joes Salsa Autentica. I keep saying this on my blog, but I like easy and I like leftovers. This one is great with a fried egg on top with some avocado. Drooling just typing about it. In the picture I served it with green cabbage, pickeled beets, avocado, red onion and cilantro with some additional lime and orange juice.

Slow Cooker Carnitas
 
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Recipe type: Main Dish
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • 4lb pork roast or shoulder
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • dash of cinnamon
  • dash of cayenne (optional)
  • juice of one lime
  • ½ cup orange juice
  • 1 T molasses
  • ½ cup salsa
  • ½ broth of choice
Instructions
  1. Mix all the seasonings and rub mixture on the pork
  2. Place the pork in the slow cooker
  3. Add lime juice, orange juice, molasses, salsa and broth
  4. Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours
  5. Shred meat and serve