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.

 

If you've never tried grilled Mexican street corn (elote), go ahead and make a note that as soon as you're able to light up the grill again it needs to be on your list. If you're lucky enough to live in a place where grilling in January doesn't mean brushing the snow off the cover first, by all means, treat yourself to some grilled corn earlier. Something about grilled corn and snow just doesn't seem to go together. Maybe that's just me.

Winter doesn't mean you need to deprive yourself of the amazing combination of flavors in Mexican corn, though. It's prime dip season, and adding this Mexican Corn Dip to your repertoire can only be a good thing. 

I paired it with Tostito's Hint of Lime, which pretty much rendered me helpless against polishing off way too much of it. When I finally cut myself off of the chips, I kept thinking about how good the dip itself was, so I just ate more of it plain.... This is what happens when you make things solely for the purpose of trying out a recipe and no one else is around.

Minus the mayo, it's pretty healthy as far as dips go, so it's the perfect thing to enjoy while watching the games without ruining your new year's resolution quite yet. I think using Greek yogurt would taste fine if you're really trying to take the healthy aspect up a notch (obviously skip the Tostito's if that's the case).

Enjoy!

Mexican Corn Dip

Recipe from Damn Delicious (originally adapted from Closet Cooking)
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Yield 4 servings

Ingredients

    2 tablespoons unsalted butter
    5 ears corn, shucked and rinsed
    1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
    3 tablespoons mayonnaise
    2 tablespoons crumbled cotija cheese (or feta), crumbled
    2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
    1 teaspoon chili powder, or more, to taste
    1 clove garlic, pressed
    Juice of 1 lime

Instructions

1.     Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn kernels and cook until slightly charred, about 6-8 minutes (a cast iron skillet works great for this). Stir the kernels and add jalapeño. Cook, stirring occasionally, for another 2-3 minutes.
2.     Stir in mayonnaise, cotija, cilantro, chili powder, garlic and lime juice.
3.     Serve immediately.

I'm not a big fan of drinks that are overly sweet. Some people would disagree with that statement considering I've been known to enjoy a glass of vinho verde or two..or three. But that's about as sweet as I can do with wines. Sangria is usually too sweet for me. I love the fruit, but the drink itself gives me a headache. That being said, this white sangria is my perfect summer wine drink. It's the amazing solution to all of my sangria woes! A splash of club soda tones the sweetness down, and you even get to enjoy the delicious fresh fruit afterwards. I'm just not the type to leave the fruit in my cup. If I had it my way I'd skip the liquid wine and just eat the wine soaked fruit. Unfortunately I'll add that to my long list of ideal activities that are not acceptable in the real world. 

I got the recipe from my friend Melissa who made it at a dinner party last weekend. It took me less than a week to make my own batch, and I have a feeling I'll be making this plenty in the future as well. It's the perfect summertime drink with just the right amount of sweetness. White wine sangria might be a bit odd come November, so seize the season! You won't regret it. 

White Sangria

2 Bottles White Wine*

2 White Peaches 

2 Green Apples

2 Limes

4 Tbs Sugar

1 Liter Club Soda

*Good wines for this: pinot grigio, white rioja, riesling, sauvignon blanc or chenin blanc.

Slice apples and peaches into thin wedges. Slice limes into slightly larger wedges. Pour both bottles of wine into a large pitcher, add sugar and stir to combine. Throw in fruit slices, squeezing a few of the limes as you add them in (don't squeeze all of them, you want the majority of them to be in tact and keep their pretty appearance). Place in fridge for 4+ hours. The longer the drink stays in the fridge, the more the fruit will soak up the delicious wine. This can even be made the night before if you have time. 

To serve, pour the wine mixture into glasses and scoop a bit of fruit in from the pitcher (you may want to use a slotted spoon for this). Pour a generous splash of club soda into each glass and stir to blend. Serve! Store the remaining drink in the fridge to keep it nice and cold. 

Recently it's been increasingly difficult to make good cookies in my house. This happens often in North Carolina summers since we get 100 degree weather paired with 100% humidity (not a great combination for baking).  Ahh, the south.  My house gets warm too because we have a porch that is closed in, but doesn't have any AC. We leave the door to it open for my dog so she can go through it to the backyard. It's fine 320 days a year, but let me tell you, on a hot day it makes for a miserably hot house. Still, everyone loves cookies (including me) and I feel like batch of cookies around the house is a must in summer..or any other time of the year! I hate when batches spread too much, but I'm willing to take a chance with the humidity all in the name of cookies.

In my house, we've got a house divided on a number of different things. There are obvious things, like my Duke fan parents and two siblings who attended Duke versus my brother and I, UNC kids to the core. There are also other minor things, mostly these deal with food. Coconut is one of those foods. It used to be my mom against the house. She would choose a coconut cake over just about anything else, but nobody else liked it one bit. Then I realized coconut really just sweetens things up and that's always a plus in my book. So now it's me and my mom against the house. That's why whenever possible I love recipes like this that sneak in coconut in a subtle way. Coconut makes these cookies chewy and sweet. They are the perfect summer cookie. Because my house was an oven the day I made them, they didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but the taste is great.

Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies  
Recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one large lime, finely minced
3 tbsp lime juice
½ cup unsweetened toasted coconut
½ cup sugar for rolling cookies

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. If you haven't already toasted your coconut just put a layer of coconut on a cookie sheet and bake it at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes. Watch out. It goes from white to burnt really quick if you aren't watching closely.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy.
4. Beat in egg, vanilla extract, lime juice and lime zest.
5. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients and toasted coconut.
6. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in sugar. Place on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. I made mine too big and they ran together. These do spread quite a bit.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.