Crockpot Salsa Chicken with Whole Wheat Penne Pasta

This week I was having a few friends over for dinner on an evening that I knew I was going to get off work late. I also realized the night before that I really hadn't planned anything for dinner and I had almost no ingredients on hand.... what's a girl to do? Turn to that fabulous invention known as the crock pot. I threw in a jar of salsa, a few chicken breasts and set it on low and slow! When I arrived home that evening, I was greeted by the glorious smell of the chicken cooking. All I had to do was boil some whole wheat penne pasta and serve it up with some Monterrey jack cheese and a green salad on the side. Such a delicious, savory meal! My friends thought I had been slaving away over a hot stove all evening.... little did they know I had spent about fifteen minutes total pulling the meal together... but that will just be our little secret ☺

Crock pot Salsa Chicken with Whole Wheat Penne Pasta

Ingredients

3 good sized chicken breasts, frozen

1 jar of your favorite low-sodium salsa, I like Green Mountain Gringo Fire Roasted Chili Salsa (try and select the lowest sodium salsa you can find or else your chicken will turn out too salty!)

1 lb whole wheat penne pasta

Ingredients to top:

Monterrey jack cheese (shredded)

Sour cream

Coat inside of crock pot with non-stick cooking spray. Place frozen chicken breasts in crock pot. Pour one jar of salsa over chicken breasts. Place lid on cooker and set on low. Cover and allow chicken to cook for 8-10 hours. I did ten and mine turned out perfect. After chicken is completely cooked, boil pasta until tender. Remove chicken from crock pot and shred with two forks. Toss pasta with chicken and left over cooking liquid from the crock pot. Sprinkle with cheese and spoon on a dollop of sour cream if desired.

Whisked Away Wednesday: Cinnabon Apple Goodies

Happy Fourth Official Whisked Away Wednesday!

As I have said before, I love a good bargain, so when I got two coupons in the mail for Kellogg's new Cinnabon cereal, I added it to my grocery list to try. Each coupon was for $1.00 off so combined that was a 2 dollar savings! And, to top it off, when I got to the store, they had a coupon to double the manufacturer's coupon. Altogether it was a 3 dollar savings and the cereal only costs $2.50 so the store credited me 50 cents on my other grocery purchases! I basically got paid for buying the cereal. Which is AWESOME! The cereal itself is pretty good... not amazing... kinda tastes like cinnamon toast crunch. I still prefer my home made granola. However, the cereal sparked my creativity and I spent much of my day today dreaming up ways to incorporate it in a delicious baked goodie...

I recently purchased a baking tray that you can use to make baked (i.e. healthier) doughnuts and I figured this was as good a time as any to try it out. I found a good lookin recipe on Everybody Likes Sandwiches for an apple cinnamon coffee cake with strudel topping and decided to modify it a bit to incorporate the cereal. I also made some mini muffins in case the doughnuts didn't turn out so well. I needn't have feared, they are SUPER tasty!! The strudel topping is crispy, cinnamony and buttery and the doughnuts/muffins are beautiful and golden and super moist with big chunks of apple and warm cinnamon notes. I would recommend you make these ASAP! You can get one of the doughnut trays at Sur la Table or just use the recipe to make mini muffins they are both equally delectable!

Happy Baking!

Cinnabon Apple Doughnuts and/or Muffins

Recipe adapted from Everybody Likes Sandwiches

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

1 apple, chopped

3 tbsp crushed Cinnabon Cereal

Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

3 tbsp butter

1/2 cup crushed (with chunks) Cinnabon Cereal

Preheat oven to 400. Butter doughnut pan or muffin pan (or use muffin liners).

Prepare crumb topping in a medium-sized bowl, crumbling mixtures with your fingers until it looks like crumbs. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, combine egg, milk and oil.

Add the wet to the dry and mix. Add in apples and stir until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and top with crumb mixture. If using muffin tins fill about 3/4 of the way full. If using doughnut pan fill about 3/4 full as well.

Sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake for about 12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool. Enjoy!

Frugal Finds: Freezing Basil

I was at Grocery Outlet the other day when I saw this fresh basil on sale for .50 cents! I usually steer clear of produce at Grocery Outlet and just get pantry staples as the produce is usually.... lets just say, a bit past it's prime. But, upon closer inspection, this basil looked pretty fresh, despite the fact that it had officially "expired" the day before. So, I snapped it up with the high hopes of getting home and making a pasta of fresh tomatos, mozzarella, and basil. Alas, it was not meant to be. I didnt get home until 830 and I ended up falling asleep reading my new Cooking Light... So the next morning when I awoke, I remembered my expired basil! Oh no, what to do? I was going out for dinner and didn't want to use it for anything else. So I decided it would be best to store it, but how? I found an easy tutorial on ehow.com about freezing fresh basil and I decided to give it a shot. Here's what I did:

Wash basil by submersing in a bowl of cold water and swirling.

Dry it off very well using two paper towels. Pull the leaves off the stems. Discard Stems.

Finely chop basil (use a food processor if you have one, I don't so I just chopped it up with my chef's knife.) Toss basil with a bit of olive oil to give it a light coating and keep it from going brown. Put into a small tupperware and freeze.

Easy as that! Now whenever you are ready to use it, pull it out, thaw, and enjoy!

Happy Sunday, hope you had a STUPENDOUS weekend!