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Caprese-Chicken-Bake_Real-Housemoms

Back To School Recipe Favorites (a round-up) #BackToSchoolWeek

Wow! We’ve had an amazing week of all things Back To School, including crafts, crockpot meals, freezer meals, lunch ideas, and organization ideas. I have loved seeing all the creativity, and I am honored to be participating with such talented bloggers.

**The PinChat is today at 3 p.m Arizona Time, (that’s 6 p.m. EST). Click here to read how it works. I hope to “see” you there.

I want to shout out to all the great talent that contributed throughout the week:

Co-Hosted By: { {i love} my disorganized life } and { Miss Information }
Heather’s French Press }  { Kleinworth & Co.}  
Growing Up Gabel }  { Cook the Story }
The Tasty Fork }  { Amy’s Cooking Adventures }
 { Dukes and Duchesses }  { The Grant Life }
Real Housemoms }  { The NY Melrose Family }
 { Crazy & Cool With a Side of Crafty }
Lemons for Lulu }  { Chase the Star }  
Yesterday on Tuesday }  { Sweet Twist of Blogging }
A Night Owl Blog }  { Organized Island }  
Setting for Four }  { Sunshine In My Pocket }
 
Now, take a look at some of the amazing recipe ideas from this week. (I want to make ALL of these!!):


8-great-back-to-school-recipes

How am I ever going to decide which one to try first?




Peanut-Butter-Fruit-bars
Peanut Butter and Jelly Gluten Free Grain Bars from Heather’s French Press


southwest-chicken-tacos-small
Southwest Chicken Tacos from Sunshine In My Pocket


Crockpot-Pizza-Soup-20130821-4728-text


vegtarian-quinoa-fajitas
Vegetarian Quinoa Fajitas from Cook the Story


Slow-Cooker-Red-Chil-from-{i-love}-my-disorganized-life
Slow Cooker Red Chili from {I love} my disorganized life


Caprese-Chicken-Bake_Real-Housemoms
Caprese Chicken Bake from Real Housemoms

Don’t these all look so good? There were so many more delicious recipes! I hope you’ve enjoyed this Back To School Week…have a Great school year.

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the-finished-taco-2

Southwest Chicken Tacos (A Favorite Crockpot Recipe) #BackToSchoolWeek

Sometimes life is hectic. Some days require a little dinner help…from your crockpot. I love coming to home to the smell of a delicious dinner that has been cooking away all day!

I first got this recipe from my sister. She loves the spice cumin. I have never been a real big fan of cumin. But when I added a few ingredients and cut down on the cumin, I found this recipe became a FAVORITE quick crock pot dinner with my family. (Thanks, sis! *wink*)

southwest-chicken-tacos

I love that I can take a few cans of ingredients from the pantry and some chicken from the freezer and throw them all together in the crockpot and Voil’a…dinner!

easy-ingredients

I will post the complete recipe in a bit. But first, a note on that Herdez salsa. The Herdez salsa pictured above is the one I like to use, but I’ve tried the Ranchero salsa, too and it adds a bit more heat. You could use your favorite salsa if this brand is not available in your area.

Put the chicken in the crockpot, then add all the remaining ingredients. Turn the crockpot on High for 4 hours or Low for 8 hours. Beautiful. Then shred up the chicken using a couple forks and stir it all together.

When you are ready to eat, just assemble your toppings (shredded cheese, lettuce, homemade salsa, sour cream, guacamole…whatever you like!) and put your taco together.

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Oh…please do use those tortillas that you cook up yourself (find them at most grocery stores and Costco). These tacos taste SO much better on those fresh cooked tortillas.

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Easy, delicious crock pot dinner! It has a smoky Southwest flavor from the cumin, and a little added heat from the chiles and salsa. If you like more heat, you can increase the heat in the salsa or add some chipolte chili powder!

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Enjoy!

the-finished-taco-2

Did you enter the giveaway yet? Enter the Back To School giveaway here!
There are some amazing prizes: like a $75 Pick Your Plum prize (I love them!), a Cuisinart 3-in-1 Cooker (perfect for this recipe!), a smoothie maker, cooking supplies, a Pack-It lunchbox cooler…and more! I hope you win!

There’s a whole lot of Back To School Ideas this entire week:

#BacktoSchoolWeek Graphic

And just a reminder, there is our back to school PinChat coming up:
Join us on Sunday, August 25, 2013 for a PinChat! For more information on how it works, click here

Comments { 6 }
last-eaten-salad

Taste Test Tuesday — Sweet Pork (Cafe Rio Copycat) with NO cola involved

There are a lot of Sweet Pork (Cafe Rio Copycat) Recipes out there. But have you noticed that most of them call for Coke or Dr. Pepper? Well, I’ve tried my fair share of these recipes in the past…but since I strongly dislike colas (yes, all of them) I found that I did not like those recipes that included them! {Plus, I sorta have an aversion to cooking with soda pop.}

SO, I’ve been searching for a good recipe for sweet pork that didn’t have cola in the ingredient list. I’m happy to announce that I found a couple recipes and then put them up to the Taste Test Challenge!

The great thing about these recipes is: you put all the ingredients in the crock pot to cook all day (easy!), then just shred up the meat and add in the sauce. I love that!

sweet-pork-2

After I cooked up both recipes, I put a taste of each on small plates for our judges. And then, when they picked their favorite, they got to make an entire sweet pork salad (or burrito). Now those are some lucky judges!

Sorry about the half eaten salad in this next picture…it was SO good that I forgot to take a picture before I ate most of it!

sweet-pork-salad

We used the following for our salads:

Fresh cooked tortillas
Cilantro Lime Rice
Garlic Black Beans
Lettuce
Peach Mango Salsa
Kari’s Garden Salsa
Cheese
Cilantro Lime Dressing

Oh. My. Goodness. I think these homemade salads are SO delicious! (They do rival the restaurant — however, there is something lovely about having all the ingredients ready and a salad made-to-order for you at the restaurant!)

Just to make sure of our results, I took both cooked recipes to my brother and sister-in-law (who just had a baby! yay!) to try out. The difference was, they would warm theirs up for dinner the next night. And they both liked the SAME one.

THE RESULTS:

Surprise! It was a TIE. I know, I know. I can’t believe it either.

So today, I am going to share with you my mother’s recipe for Sweet Pork.

And I will link up to the other cola-free Sweet Pork recipe as soon as I get permission!  Permission granted! Here is the Sweet Pork Recipe that was a favorite among 50% of the judges! (Thank you to The Sisters Cafe for such an awesome recipe!) If you do try this recipe, be sure to try their Garlic Black Beans as well…so good!
[Note to judges: this was recipe 1 for all of you that picked the first sweet pork sample as the winner]. This one has a small hint of a spicy kick to it (probably from the enchilada sauce) that was delicious, and this one was definitely quite a bit sweeter than the other.

And the other 50% of the judges liked my mom’s recipe! {recipe to follow} This was, in my opinion, the easiest of the recipes. You just mix together all four ingredients (yes, only four ingredients!), add on top of the pork roast, cook it up all day, take out the pork and shred it up, and add back in some of the sauce (not all of it….it makes a lot of sauce!) [Note to judges: this was recipe 2 for all of you that preferred this one]

*Recipe here

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I used the green can of El Pato (jalepeno salsa). The yellow can said “hot” and I was a little scared hesitant to try it. If you like a little more spice, try the yellow can.

el-pato

last-eaten-salad

So there you have a couple of the BEST cola-free Sweet Pork Recipes! Give them a try and let me know what YOU think! I just love a good Sweet Pork Salad. 🙂

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last-table-picture

4th of July Picnic in the Backyard

4th-of-July-BBQ-picnic

It’s that time of year for BBQs, Picnics, family gatherings! I love an easy backyard picnic for the 4th of July and today I am sharing with you a fantastic  (and easy) family meal!

The menu:

So Tender BBQ Ribs (check out this easy tip for getting the most tender ribs in a short period of time)
Lemon Picnic Pasta (my favorite picnic food!)
Salad with shredded carrots, cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers
Chocolate Chip Muffins
Watermelon

The decor:

Root Beer Bottles filled with Primroses
Easy Paper pockets

setting-the-table-with-bottles-and-candy

I had so many empty Root Beer bottles from our Root Beer Taste Test and I just knew they would come in handy! So I took some scrap fabric in red and white gingham, tied it around the bottles and added some stars and jute rope. I just traced and cut those stars from scrapbook paper that I had in my stash. It’s great to use what you have around the house for a centerpiece! Then I cut some primroses from the backyard and put them in the center of our table. Cost: $0!

When you serve BBQ ribs, you need some wet napkins right? So I made a double-sided pocket and put some Wet Wipes in one side, and Laffy Taffy (for a few jokes) on the other side. Then I set it all up outside on the backyard patio.

the-food-island

I set up the food buffet-style for our guests to pick and choose what they wanted. Easy foods like watermelon, muffins, and make-your-own salad are perfect for an outdoor meal! And back in the silver bowl is my favorite Lemon Picnic Pasta!

the-bbq-ribs

And don’t forget those BBQ ribs! (There’s my hubby the Grill Master…thank you for the perfectly grilled BBQ ribs!)

Here’s the secret for easy and FAST bbq ribs: first, pressure cook them in water to cover half-way up the ribs and set the timer for 45 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally. Be careful when you remove them from the pressure cooker…they are already SO tender and ready to fall apart! Then, put them on the grill and brush on your favorite BBQ sauce. Grill for a few minutes on each side. Oh, these ribs are so delicious and so tender…better than restaurant ribs! (really)!

two-plates-of-food

We had so much food that we literally had to use two plates! I picked up those darling gingham plates from the Dollar Store and they sure made it look like a real picnic. 🙂

With just a few touches and a little extra attention, you can throw together a fun and easy picnic BBQ that everyone will love. I wish you a happy and safe 4th of July!

the-table-together

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its-a-hit

Ginger-Lime Grilled Beef Salad

Today is my wedding anniversary and what better way to celebrate and praise 14 years of wedded bliss than with a perfect and delicious recipe?! This is special tribute to my husband who is a grill master (you are awesome, Honey!) and he will grill anything I ask him to!! I love that we are such a perfect couple for this: I love to cook and deliver up great recipes, he loves to grill them…:)

Summer is perfect for grilling and for salads…and when you have a recipe that combines the two, you have the perfect summertime dinner!

We love this recipe at our house. In fact, whenever my son comes home from college, he requests it! It is easy to make and nice and light for summer. It’s a fast recipe too…just marinate the meat in the morning, then grill it up for dinner! I can’t even begin to tell you how flavorful and delicious this recipe is, you’re just going to have to try it yourself. 🙂

ginger-lime-grilled-beef-salad

To make the marinade, use some simple ingredients. I always keep these ingredients on hand so I can whip this up at (almost) any time!

the-ingredients

Less Sodium Soy Sauce, Chili-Garlic sauce, ginger root, lime juice, and a little brown sugar (not pictured). Those ice cubes in front are actually frozen lime juice…if I can’t use my limes up in time, I just squeeze them and freeze the juice. And did you know that you can freeze ginger root?! It’s true…I’ve had this ginger root in my freezer for a few months and it’s still delicious and fresh tasting in this marinade! (see the full recipe below)

Just mix together all these ingredients, then reserve some aside to use later as your salad dressing. Pour the rest into a resealable bag with the meat and add a little extra lime juice. Then make sure to coat all your meat and store it in the refrigerator until ready to grill. I found that if you marinate for four hours or longer, the taste is SO much better. So make sure to stir this up for marinating earlier in the day.

You can use either Flank Steak or London Broil for this recipe. I’ve tried both and we all seem to like the Flank Steak the best. I will be experimenting with other cuts of meat, I’m sure and I’ll report back. 🙂 Now just grill up the meat:

four-grilling-pictures

(Here’s the picture to prove it: My husband is the best at grilling…Happy Anniversary, Honey!)
And while that is on the grill, get your salad ready:

get-the-salad-ready

I like to use the organic salad mix from Costco. It has spinach and arugula, but sometimes I just make a simple romaine bed of lettuce for this recipe. It’s always just delicious! I will add tomatoes or green pepper from the garden, and sometimes I shred up a carrot to add, too. Mmmmm….

salad-and-meat-on-a-plate

Let the meat rest for a few minutes before you slice it thinly. This allows the meat to retain more of it’s juiciness! Since everyone at my house likes their salad different, I will put the additions on the side so it’s more like a salad bar…then you can build your own salad and top it off with a bit of the grilled meat. Add a little (believe me, this is flavorful stuff so you only need a little!) of the reserved dressing and enjoy!

{The recipe suggests that you add all the ingredients together and combine with the reserved salad dressing, but at my house everyone likes different amounts of the dressing (or none at all) and so I just let everyone make their own plate.}

add-dressing-two-squares

 

its-a-hit

See, it’s a hit! No leftovers!

*Recipe here

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Try this recipe and until next time, have a delicious summer!

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