For part two of my posts today, I'm bringing you the less healthy way to please a Super Bowl crowd using the base from my Crockpot Chicken Tacos. Less healthy, but worth every calorie if, for some reason, you are counting.

These nachos have two layers of chips, chicken, cheese, corn and black beans. The top layer is also topped with pico de gallo, avocado and sour cream when it comes out of the oven. Basically, it's everything you could want in a nacho masterpiece. 

All of the toppings are pretty standard as far as loaded nachos go. I used canned beans and frozen corn, but didn't go so far as to add any canned jalapenos or other not-so-fresh items that sometimes end up on nachos. I made my own pico de gallo since I cooked these during the snowpocalypse in DC, and Safeway was out of their fresh salsa (pico demand is high in times of peril). Assuming pico de gallo supplies are back to normal, you can use the store-bought kind to make this recipe even easier. 

If you make the full batch of crockpot chicken tacos, you will have enough chicken for the taquitos, chicken nachos and plenty of tacos. I made the chicken using only four chicken breasts, and I still had more than enough for all three. 

Serve the nachos immediately while the cheese and chicken are still hot. I took the nachos outside to photograph when they came out of the oven, and within seconds I could see everything cooling down. No one wants cold nachos, so I sacrificed decent pictures for the food (which is pretty much what I do every time I'm faced with this sort of dilemma). 

Enjoy!

Loaded Chicken Nachos

Serves 8

2 cups shredded chicken from Crockpot Chicken tacos recipe

1 14 1/2-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

1     10 package frozen corn, thawed 

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2   teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4   teaspoon salt

20 ounces shredded cheese* (pepper jack, cheddar, monterey jack, etc. all work well for this)

1 bag tortilla chips*

1 cup salsa fresca / pico de gallo (store bought is fine)

3/4   cup sour cream

2      avocados, peeled, seeded and cubed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a rimmed baking pan or large oven-proof dish with alumnium foil. Make sure the pan has high edges so that the toppings do not spill over. 
2. Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Add beans, corn and spices. Stir to combine, and heat for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add shredded chicken and stir to combine. Heat through.
4. Spread a layer of tortilla chips over the baking pan. They should overlap at points and cover the pan completely, but keep in mind that this is only one of two layers! 
5. Add half of the chicken, corn and beans mixture over chips. 
6. Sprinkle half of the cheese evenly over the layer. 
7. Repeat, adding another layer of chips, the remaining chicken mixture, and the remaining cheese.
8. Bake pan in oven for 12-15 minutes, or until both layers of cheese have completely melted and chips have crisped but are not burnt on the edges.  
9. Remove nachos from oven and top evenly with pico de gallo, avocado and sour cream.
10. Serve immediately.

* Use a brand that has good, sturdy chips. Often times loading nachos with toppings before baking leaves you with soggy chips. I used Mission Brand, which I usually like, but they didn't work as well for this. 

* Hand shredding cheese will give you a meltier cheese that's better for nachos. I buy the 10oz blocks of Cracker Barrel for these and use one cheddar and one pepper jack.

I think it’s about time I get back on the blogging train. What do you think? I figured I would start things off with a recipe that many people have requested over the past few years: a way to make Three-Ingredient Crockpot Chicken Tacos without using processed, preservative-packed salsa and seasoning from the store. For a long time I was hesitant to break down the components of this recipe into homemade versions because 1) If you make your own salsa and taco seasoning, the recipe is no longer three ingredients, and aside from the taste, that’s the best part about it. 2) The original recipe only takes about 2 minutes in prep time. 3) As we all know, making something healthier often means spending more money to buy fresh ingredients.

I decided that my approach would be to make a homemade salsa that would be delicious on its own.  Homemade salsa is easy to make if you have a food processor -- just throw in all of the ingredients you like and pulse them together. I did use canned tomatoes (no salt added) and canned green chiles in mine, but you could leave both of these out and just add in more fresh tomatoes if you're opposed to anything canned. I’d recommend blanching the tomatoes first if you decide to do that.

I used the standard All Recipes taco seasoning for the second “ingredient” in my crockpot chicken tacos. The recipe has thousands of 5-star ratings, so I made it exactly as written.

After cooking the chicken, salsa and seasoning in the crockpot for 6 hours I was ready to go. The results? The chicken tasted the same. Hooray!

I know what you're thinking: "What?! There's nothing spectacular and fresh about the taste now that I've used all fresh ingredients?" No, but the flavor in the original recipe is exactly what you want. The reward is that you feel slightly better about eating it because you know exactly what you used to make it. I’m generally not one to care too much about this (judge me, if you will), but that’s not to say I don’t appreciate knowing my ingredients, when possible.

Make the salsa on its own, or go ahead and make the salsa, seasoning and the tacos. Regardless, you will love the results. You can keep it healthy and top the chicken with fresh ingredients like corn, tomatoes, and avocado. I ate mine in corn tortillas with guacamole and cheese, BUT I used greek yogurt instead of sour cream on top. That was enough for me to justify eating another one..or two.

Enjoy, and thanks for your patience during my long hiatus. I’m back!

Crockpot Chicken Tacos
1oz Homemade Taco Seasoning (See Recipe Below)

16oz Homemade Salsa (see Recipe Below)

6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Thawed*

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and stir to mix the seasoning with the salsa, coating chicken. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Chicken should shred easily with a fork once it is done. 

Shred all chicken with a fork until it is fully incorporated into the remaining sauce. Serve in tacos, quesadillas, tostadas, taquitos, on salads, etc. You can't go wrong!

*Use standard-sized chicken breasts that you find at the grocery store. I often only use 4 breasts, and keep the other amounts the same. There will be slightly more liquid if you reduce the size or number of chicken breasts, but the recipe will still work.

 

Homemade Salsa

Juice of One and a Half Limes
1 Red Onion, Chopped
1 Clove Garlic, Chopped
1 14.5oz Can ‘No Salt Added’ Diced Tomatoes, Drained
1 4oz Can Green Chilis, Drained
1 Jalapeno, Seeded and Diced*
Large Handful of Fresh Cilantro
1/2 Tsp Ground Cumin
5 Fresh Tomatoes, Sliced

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in food processor. Pulse until salsa has reached the consistency you prefer.

*If you want more heat, you can leave some of the jalapeño seeds in.

Homemade Taco Seasoning
Recipe from All Recipes

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl. Store in airtight container if not using immediately.

There are few things more comforting in the winter than a warm bowl of chili. I mean, really, very few. A warm fire, hot chocolate, chili… that's my winter comfort list. I must confess I've never made chili myself. I decided around the age of 10 that my favorite chili ever was from a place my family stayed in the Grand Tetons, and despite the fact that there's no way I still remember what that chili tasted like, I deemed it unbeatable. The close second contender was the chili made in church chili nights growing up. Some of the best food seems to be made at church events, but I couldn't begin to tell you what the ladies who made it used in the recipe.

My boyfriend happens to be a great cook, so it's easy to swap some homemade desserts for a few of his homemade meals from time to time. A few weeks ago he made this chili, and I couldn't get enough of it. I was scraping my bowl and legitimately upset when I finished off the container he gave me to take to work. It's much different than a lot of chili I'm used to because it's sweeter. He says it's the tomato puree that does this--I don't know if that's it, but I'm a fan. 

The sweetness somehow makes it even better with a bit of sour cream stirred in. I know it's January and we all try to avoid the extras like sour cream as a topping, but you shouldn't skip it with this chili. This chili + cheddar cheese + sour cream = Grand Teton good chili. I didn't have sour cream at my office so I put a spoon of Greek yogurt in it and that was delicious too. Sidenote: after this success I tried adding Greek yogurt to my Chipotle bowl when I decided to skip on the sour cream to be "healthy" and that was not a good swap. Just a word to the wise if you're like me and have backwards ways of convincing yourself things are not that bad for you.

Long story short, I got him to make it again this weekend because tomorrow the high in DC is 18 degrees, and I think I'll need this chili. For all of you in the mid-west and up north who would gladly take 18 degree weather over the negative temperatures you are experiencing right now, I think you need this chili even more than I do. If you don't have a crockpot you can also make this in a large stockpot. Because everything is already cooked it's just a matter of heating it long enough for the flavors to really blend together. The more time you give it the better it will get. Enjoy!

Sweet Crockpot Chili

Makes 8+ hearty servings

4 15 oz cans tomato puree 

1 15oz can of diced tomatoes 

2 15 oz cans of sweet corn 

1 15oz can of black beans 

1 15oz can of red kidney beans 

1 yellow onion diced 

1 6oz can of green chiles 

2 packets of McCormicks Original Chili powder 

1 lb ground beef (90% lean) 

1 package of chicken Andouille sausage 

Put tomato puree and diced tomatoes in the crockpot. Add corn, black beans, kidney beans, diced the yellow onion and green chilis. Stir to combine.

Brown the ground beef until no pink remains. Drain pan almost entirely and add beef to crockpot. Next, cook the chicken sausage in a little of the beef drippings reserved in the pan. When sausage is cooked through, pull off pan, slice into 1/4-inch slices and quarter the pieces. Add sausage to chili. Alternately, you can slice the chicken sausage before cooking and cook this way instead. 

Stir in both packets of McCormicks Chili powder with 1/4 cup of water. Cook in the crockpot on low for 5 hours. 

Everyone has a few areas of their cooking they'd like to improve on. For me, it's yeast breads and candy. Since this post has nothing to do with yeast breads, I'll explain the candy issues. If I'm supposed to judge a candy by consistency alone (no thermometer), I'm in trouble. I always take the bubbling mixture off too soon or leave it for just a bit too long. I love pralines, and I've got the taste part down, but I've never quite been able to achieve the perfect mix of creamy and crunch. I tried, and failed, the other day to make two different varieties of pralines. The first didn't harden enough and the second burnt in the pan which was the most difficult dish I've ever had to clean. I had to soak it for five days. I would've thrown it out if it hadn't been one of my favorite pans.

To get my praline fix without having to mess with a very particular cooking time, I decided to turn to my trusty crockpot and just make cinnamon sugar pecans. I realize I'm posting two crockpot recipes in a row, but if you don't have one you really should invest. I use one that was $20 at the grocery store, and it's never let me down. These cinnamon sugar pecans are delicious and are PERFECT for the holidays. I bought a bag of pecans at Costco because nuts always strike me as ridiculously expensive. Other than that you will probably have all of the ingredients on hand.

Now, I know that stirring every 20 minutes seems like a hassle. I'd usually agree. However, I chose to sit in bed and catch up on scandal during the three hours of cooking. Every 20 minutes I'd press pause and go stir. A) It helped me justify three hours of Scandal ("I mean, I have to do something to occupy my time while the pecans are cooking.") B) It takes about 30 seconds total to get up and go give them a quick stir. Easy. As an added bonus, your house will smell amazing!

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Sugar Pecans
Recipe from The Recipe Critic

Ingredients

• 1¼ C. Sugar
• 1¼ C. Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Cinnamon
• ⅛ tsp. Salt
• 1 Egg White
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 Cups Pecans
• ¼ C. Water

Instructions

1. Mix together in a large bowl sugars, cinnamon, and salt.
2. In another bowl with a whisk, mix together the egg white and vanilla until it is frothy. Add the pecans and coat thoroughly. This will help the mixture stick to the pecans during the cooking process.
3. Prepare your slow cooker by spraying it with cooking spray. I used a 4 quart. Add the cinnamon pecan mixture to the pecans and turn it to low. Stir until the cinnamon sugar mixture is coated well on the almonds. Be prepared for your house to smell amazing!
4. You want to cook for about 3-4 hours. Mine took about 3. Stirring every 20 minutes. In the very last hour, add ¼ cup water and stir well. This will ensure a crunchy coating and help the mixture to harden.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the pecans onto the sheet to cool. The pecans should be pretty sticky so be sure to seperate them the best that you can and let them cool!

 *These pictures don't really convey the deliciousness of these pecans, but it's because I was forced to sneakily take them in my office.

You know those times when you're lying awake at night thinking about something? Maybe you're thinking about something stressful happening the next day. Maybe it's thinking ahead to the weekend. Maybe you're putting together a mental to-do list (that's my usual). Well, the other night, this recipe was keeping me awake. I know most people don't think about buffalo chicken at 1am, but we've established I'm not normal.

Here was my thought process: the most popular recipe on my blog (crockpot chicken tacos) is such a hit because it's delicious and incredibly easy. The ingredients are chicken, a jar of salsa, and a packet of taco seasoning. The readers, being fantastic as you always are, have commented dozens of ways to make this recipe even better. One of these is adding a block of cream cheese at the end. My favorite dip recipe is this buffalo chicken dip. It knocks the socks off of every other buffalo chicken dip recipe out there. The ingredients are canned chicken, dry ranch, buffalo sauce, cream cheese and cheddar. So, since the powder to liquid ratios are all the same, I saw no reason that I couldn't make easy crockpot buffalo chicken. The raw chicken goes in with buffalo sauce and dry ranch for 4-6 hours and right before it's done you add in a block of cream cheese and stir in some sharp cheddar.

See? It's the kind of thing that will keep you up at night. I can only make crockpot recipes over the weekend because of work, so fast forward two weeks and I'm finally able to give this recipe a try. It was amazing. The creamy cheese flavor mixed with the tangy and slightly spicy buffalo sauce kick...perfect. 

I put the chicken into rolls and made little sliders. I tried using the take and bake rolls from the grocery store and King's Hawaiian slider rolls. I couldn't pick a favorite because I liked them both. I think it'd be good made into quesadillas as well. The key is to make sure it's hot and the rolls are heated too. Just like lukewarm dip isn't ideal, neither is lukewarm crockpot buffalo chicken. 

Enjoy!

Crockpot Shredded Buffalo Chicken

Makes 15+ Sliders

3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (this is what I used)

8oz Buffalo Sauce*

1oz Package Dry Ranch Mix

4-6oz Cream Cheese*

2 cups Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Add first three ingredients to crockpot and toss to coat. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours. 10 minutes before you are finished, shred chicken with two forks. Chicken should shred easily and this will incorporate the extra sauce into the chicken. You will think you have too much sauce before you do this, but as you shred it you'll notice the sauce begins to coat the chicken instead of sitting at the bottom of the pot. There should be no large pieces of chicken left. 

Add in block of cream cheese and stir to melt. Add in sharp cheddar cheese and stir gently. Serve hot. Make sure the slider rolls are also hot. 

If you are bringing them to a tailgate or something of that sort I'd suggest making the chicken and pre-assembling the sliders in a 13x9 pan. Cover the pan with foil and heat at 375 degrees until rolls are warmed as well.  Store leftovers in fridge or freeze to enjoy at a later date!

*You can adjust these up or down depending on how spicy or creamy you want the chicken.

I'll keep this short and sweet: this is one of my all time favorite recipes. If there is one crockpot recipe you need in your repertoire, this is it. But truthfully, after making it once you won't even need the recipe because it's just so darn easy.

Three ingredients and almost zero work. The result is a juicy, flavorful shredded chicken that makes some killer tacos. I like to load up my tacos, so they look a bit messy in the pictures. They were like that in real life, too. Messy and delicious. I've been told before I have a knack for ordering the messiest foods on any menu. Why? Because the messiest foods are the best foods. It's a fact.

You can easily put together a great tortilla soup with the leftovers from the chicken. I've included the recipe at the bottom of this post. If you read through the comments you'll also see a number of great reader suggestions for ways to adapt the recipe. My favorite twist is to add a block of cream cheese about 15 minutes before the chicken is served. I didn't think this recipe could get any better until I made them and tried this out. Amazing. I've also seen that adding a can of cream of mushroom soup when you throw in the ingredients is delicious. I'll be trying that next time!

**As a side note, I am SO grateful to everyone who has made this recipe and/or commented on the post. I may not be able to respond to all of the comments, but I read every one, and I absolutely love them! I can't tell you how happy it makes me that people are enjoying the recipe so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Crockpot Chicken Tacos
Recipe from Tasty Kitchen
Serves: ~12 people

1 1oz Envelope Taco Seasoning*
6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, thawed
1 16oz jar Salsa*

Dump all ingredients into a crockpot and give it a little stir to blend the seasoning with the salsa. You do not need to add any water to the taco seasoning. Cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours. When done, the chicken should shred easily when stirred with a fork.

For tacos, serve the chicken with soft flour tortillas, guacamole, lettuce, shredded cheese and/or sour cream. This is very versatile and can be used for enchiladas, nachos, tostadas, quesadillas, etc. Any leftover chicken can then be used for tortilla soup (make it the next day or freeze the chicken to use at a later time).

When I don't want quite as much food I cut the recipe in half. You don't have to get too exact about the measurements. I use three or four chicken breasts--whatever comes in the smaller package at the grocery store--and use between half and 3/4 of the amount of salsa and taco seasoning called for in the full recipe. The only result of using too much salsa for the amount of chicken you use is that it will have more liquid when it's done. The flavor will be the same. Pour out a little of the liquid when the chicken is cooked and you're good to go!

*I use Old El Paso Reduced Sodium for the seasoning. For the salsa I switch between brands, but Newman's Own and Pace are my favorites. Trader Joe's Mango Salsa and other kinds with mango and peach flavors are delicious in this recipe as well.  If you want to avoid using processed ingredients you can make this recipe using homemade salsa and homemade taco seasoning and achieve the same results with the added bonus of skipping out on the preservatives and such in pre-packaged ingredients.

Here is the tortilla soup recipe from one of the readers. Thanks, Cissy!

2 cups of the shredded chicken
One 32oz box of chicken broth
One can corn(drain)
2 handfuls chopped cilantro
One squeezed lime
One can diced tomatoes (reg size)
One can diced tomatoes w/ chiles (if you can't find the can get another can of diced tomatoes and a can of diced chiles)
1/2 large yellow onion
One can black beans
2-3 table spoons of tomato paste
2 teaspoons of cumin
2 teaspoons of chile powder
2 teaspoons of garlic powder

Dump everything in a pot and simmer for ~30 minutes. Garnish with cheese and crispy tortilla strips!