This is another one of those recipes that sat on my radar for quite some time before I actually decided to give it a try. And I must say, that in the process of combining all of the ingredients on the stove I was really hesitant. In my mind, chips+chicken broth= mushy mess. Boy, was I wrong! This dish is awesome. Its all of the traditional Mexican flavors that I love all combined in one easy skillet meal. I changed up the original recipe to make it more pantry-friendly, and I was really pleased with the results. I know we are all looking for ways to use up some of those Tostitos in our pantry. Pull them out and try this! It is so good, and so different than other Mexican dishes that you've tried. I promise!
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/4 onion, minced (about 3 tablespoons)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-3/4 cups chicken broth
5 cups Tostitos, then broken into pieces
1 can Rotel, drained
1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
Preheat the broiler. Trim the chicken breasts of any excess fat and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in an oven safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook on both sides until golden-brown, 5-7 minutes total (the chicken will NOT be cooked through at this point). Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Add the remaining oil, onion, garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the broth and scrape up any brown bits, and bring to a simmer.
Stir in half of the tortilla chips. Nestle the chicken into the broth and cook over medium low heat until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board, and when cool enough to handle, shred into bite-sized pieces.
Return the chicken to the skillet (over low heat) with the drained Rotel, 1 cup cheese, and 1 tablespoon cilantro or parsley. Stir in the other half of the tortilla chips until they are incorporated and moistened (the mixture will be thick).
Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and broil until the cheese is melted and browning, 2-3 minutes. Top with remaining cilantro or parsley and serve with refried beans or a salad.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Annie's Eats and Pink Parsley)
This is one of my new favorites! This was so simple and so delicious. I love how everything just cooked in one pot. You could also double this without much effort if you needed to feed a larger crowd. Most of these ingredients are going to be in your pantry or your freezer. Publix had BBQ sauce on sale this week. In fact, some brand is usually on sale most weeks. This is the perfect recipe for summer barbecues. And the best part is that it cooks inside on the stovetop. So you won't have to cancel your plans if we experience afternoon thunderstorms!
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs.)
salt and pepper
1-1/2 cups chicken broth (or water)
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1-1/3 cups BBQ sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
hot pepper sauce
6 buns or rolls, split
shredded cheese (optional)
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place in a heavy pot with the onion, garlic and just enough chicken broth to cover (about 1-1/2 to 2 cups). Add the BBQ sauce, vinegar and a few drops hot sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the sauce and shred with two forks or your fingers.
Boil the sauce, uncovered, until reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Season with pepper. Add the shredded chicken and heat through. Spoon the mixture onto the rolls and top with cheese.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Rachael Ray)
We actually had a little time to get hungry today because we didn't eat until lunch! Because we were at the Magic Kingdom until 3:00 AM the night before we slept in. We headed over to Hollywood Studios for the afternoon. The crowds weren't bad at all! I was really expecting crazy crowds for Memorial Day, but we got lucky. We actually walked right on to Tower of Terror at 2:00 in the afternoon!
Day Three Lunch: Mama Melrose's at Disney's Hollywood Studios
I knew that all of our meals were going to be great, but this one was better than I expected. I guess when I was doing my planning I was expecting just an Italian pizza joint. This place was WAY more. It was fabulous. Elizabeth and I both ordered the same thing for the one and only time during the trip. Since we were on the dining plan, we would always try to order the most expensive thing on the menu to get the most for our money. I noticed at most of the restaurants there was a good difference in some of the prices. Like at Mama Melrose's for example. You could order a simple pizza for about $12 or you could order the tuna steak like we did for about $23. If I was just paying out of my wallet, I would have gone for the $11 entree. But not today. We went all out.
We started out with 2 appetizers. I ordered the Antipasta platter for two. They still let it count as one appetizer. I love meats and cheeses and this plate was such a great sampler of all of the Italian snacks. I really enjoyed the marinated mushrooms. The Parmesan cheese was great. I saved some of it for my tuna entree. Yum Yum Yum!
Elizabeth ordered the Tomato Mozzarella Stacks with a Balsamic Glaze. I'm not a huge fan of raw tomatoes, but the mozzarella was fresh and fabulous. She dipped over onto my plate a few times too :)
For our main entree we both ordered the wood grilled tuna steak. It was served over a bed of Creamy Tomato Risotto, warm vine-ripened diced red and yellow tomatoes, and Olive-Caper Butter. It was insanely good. Probably one of my favorites the entire trip. Seafood is not something I usually enjoy (Crazy, I know!) but I love a good tuna steak. And this was one of the best! I sincerely recommend eating here if you go to Disney World.
I was craving Tiramisu, so I was excited when I saw it on the menu. But, it wasn't the Tiramisu I was expecting. It was sort of a Tiramisu ice cream of sorts. Honestly, not something I enjoyed. I should have ordered the Warm Chocolate Truffle Cake! That was something I would have liked!
Day Three Dinner: Citrico's at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort
After playing at Hollywood Studios for a few hours we headed back to our room to get ready for dinner. This was going to be our nice dinner! We made reservations at Citrico's at the Grand Floridian Resort. This one took 2 of our meal tickets and boy was it worth it! First of all, the Grand Floridian is absolutely stunning. I stayed here with my family one of our last trips to Disney as a family when I was younger. I loved being able to send my Mom pictures with my phone to bring back some of those old memories.
The dinner was sensational. We both started out with appetizers. Elizabeth ordered the Sauteed Shrimp. They were sauteed with lemon, white wine, tomatoes and feta cheese. I don't normally like shrimp, but these were fabulous! When I asked our waitress for a copy of the menu, she brought me back some recipes. One of the recipes was for these shrimp! I will make these one day. Although, not sure when. I'm not sure when we'll ever be able to cook with fresh shrimp from our waters.
I ordered the Arancini. Crispy Risotto with Crimini Mushrooms, Asiago Cheese, and White Truffle Aioli. They were so good. I've seen recipes for this sort of thing, but never actually made them. I've never even made Risotto, so maybe I should start there first!
I knew before we even left for our trip that I was going to get the Filet when we got to Citrico's. I was saving my steak dinner for this night. It was all I expected it to be. It was called the Filet Sicilian- Oak-grilled Filet with Spanish Onions, Peppadew and Banana Peppers, Carrot-Potato Purree, and Roasted Vegetables and Veal Glace de Viande. Oh. My. Gosh. It was THE MOST tender steak I have ever put in my mouth. It cut like butta :) So delicious! The carrot-potato puree was really good. That is definitely something that I could recreate at home. I did something similar with broccoli, so I'll have to try that soon.
Elizabeth wanted to dive in and order the most expensive thing on the menu. She got brave and ordered the Braised Veal Shank with Carrot-Potato Puree, Roasted Vegetables and Toasted Citrus Gremolata. Holy Moly. That was a piece of meat! We got so tickled with that big bone sticking out. They even brought out one of those tiny little forks, which we were assuming you were supposed to use to eat the marrow. Who knows. We didn't try it! But all we could sing was, "She don't eat meat, but she sure likes the bone!" Good laughs :)
And, as always, dessert was awesome. I truly think that was my favorite part about the trip. All of the desserts! Since I had Tiramisu on the brain, I had to order it when I saw it on the dessert menu. Yum Yum Yum! I almost licked my plate :)
Elizabeth ordered the Warm Chocolate Banana Tart with a Godiva Chocolate Crown. It was a magnificent looking dessert! It was the perfect ending to such an amazing dinner! The service was great. We just loved our waitress. In addition to the menu and recipes she brought us, she also brought us Mickey straws for the kids, fresh biscotti, and an entire loaf of the fresh black olive bread. Oh yeah...I almost forgot. The bread that we had for a starter was a fresh artisanal black olive bread. Scrumptous smeared with butter. Oh, la la!
When we left Citrico's, we headed over the Animal Kingdom for Magic Hours. We only had about 3 hours, so we really tried to make the most of it. It started to rain about an hour before the park closed. Everybody left because some of the rides shut down due to lightning. We took advantage of that and waited around for them to open Expedition Everest back up. We got to ride it twice in a row with NO wait! It was the most fun! Definiltely a great experience! The night got closed up with a wet ride down Cali River Rapids. That was my first and last time to ride that ride. I'm just glad that we were already wet from the rain and went straight to our car. We got soaked!
Day Four: Lunch in Epcot before coming home
Lunch: Le Chefs de France in Epcot's France
We had one meal voucher left so we wanted to take advantage of it before heading home that last day. We decided to get up early and spend half of a day in the parks. We started at Magic Kingdom for Magic Hours and caught some of the rides that we missed a couple of nights before. Then we hopped over to Epcot to do some shopping and eat in France. It was incredibly hot that day, so it was so nice to step inside the restaurant and cool off in our beautiful window seats!
Elizabeth, as always, was ready to live on the edge. The most expensive thing this time for the appetizer was Cassolette d'escargots de Bourgogne au Beurre Persille. You guessed it. Snails. Of course I had to try it. Yuck. It was such a texture thing. All I could think about was the fact that I was eating snails, and had a hard time getting it down. It took all I could to swallow the little sucker!
I will never eat escargot again. The salad and cheese on my plate were much better!
I got an imported cheese plate and enjoyed it much better! I wrote down all of the names of the cheeses, but between here and there I've misplaced it. Go figure!
Everything on the menu was something completely different than anything I've ever had. This restaurant was one of my least favorite. Not because of the quality of the food, just because its flavors and combinations that I'm not used to. I would have rather gone back to Mama Melrose's :) I ordered the Steak hache Angus, champignons et Bearnaise, Salade ou frites. Basically it was a hamburger with a tomato-mushroom relish and skinny fries. It was different, but pretty good. Of course they had Croque Monsieurs that I would have loved, but those were too cheap! I was going to get the biggest bang for my buck with the meal plan!
Elizabeth ordered the Salmon Filet with Ratatouille. Her oldest son loves salmon, so it was sort of for him :) He would have loved that place. Creme Brulee is also his favorite and they had that there too!
And for dessert,
Elizabeth's Apple Cinnamon Crpes with Berries and Vanilla Ice Cream
And I got a fabulous chocolate cake!
**I'm too tired to dig out the menu to get the description of what we ordered. Until I do...there's the pictures :)
And we also got a visit from Remy himself from Ratatouille! Such an incredible trip. But, boy, was I ready to get home to my babies!! I couldn't get on the road fast enough. And we won't mention that little detour that Elizabeth and the GPS had us take!
Don't forget to check out Day One and Day Two!
I have GOT to quit making all of these sweets for my house! I don't know how to say "NO", and so when I make this mess I eat too much of it! I loved this cake. I figured it would be tasty just because of the mixture of oranges and pineapple. But this cake turned out wonderful! I loved how moist it is, and I love the addition of the coconut I added to the original recipe. I could have just eaten the whipped topping with a spoon! My Mother-in-law is having her birthday Wednesday, so maybe I should have saved this cake until then. Oh well...I'll just have to make another one :) This cake is a lovely salute to summer.
1 box yellow cake mix
1 11-oz. can mandarin oranges, undrained
2 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce (I only had the chunky kind)
1/2 cup coconut flakes (optional)
2 8-oz. cans crushed pineapple, undrained
1 3.4-oz. package instant vanilla pudding
1 carton Cool Whip, thawed
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 8-inch round baking pans (or 1 9 X 13-inch pan). In a large bowl, beat the cake mix, oranges (undrained), eggs, coconut and applesauce until well blended. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl combine the pineapple (undrained) and instant pudding mix. Fold in the Cool Whip. Invert 1 layer onto a cake plate. Top with half of the topping. Invert second later on top. Spread the remaining topping over the second layer. Garnish with orange slices. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Because this frosting is made with Cool Whip, it needs to be stored in the fridge.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Let's Dish)
I love zucchini and finding new ways to cook it. I'm the only one in my house that eats it, so it doesn't get cooked often unless its cooked into something. I like slicing them lengthwise down the center and roasting them. Even cooking thin slices in some olive oil with salt and pepper is good. Annie made this sound so wonderful on her blog, Annie's Eats, that I had to give it a try. Zucchini has been on sale this past two weeks at Publix so I stocked up. This was so good! My little Emme really liked it too. I thought that shredding it with a box grater would take forever, but it didn't. I loved the flavor this had. If Clay had not been working, I would have made him try it. I think he would have liked it! I will definitely make this again. Annie's Eats never disappoints!
5 medium zucchini (about 2.5 lbs), ends trimmed
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 onion, finely minced
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1-2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
black pepper
Shred the zucchini with a large box grater. Toss the zucchini with the salt in a colander set over a medium bowl; let drain 5-10 minutes. Wrap the zucchini in a kitchen towel, in batches if necessary, and wring out the excess moisture.
Add the zucchini to a medium bowl with the minced onion and 2 teaspoons of the olive oil. Toss well to coat.
Heat the remaining teaspoon olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the zucchini mixture to the pan and distribute in an even layer. Cook without stirring until the bottom layer browns, about 2 minutes. Stir well, breaking up clumps, and cook once more until the "new" bottom layer browns, about 2 minutes more (I tossed mine one more time). Off the heat stir in the lemon juice and season with black pepper. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Annie's Eats)
I have been eyeballing this recipe for quite some time. I just love muffins. And ones that taste like Snickerdoodle cookies? Well, that makes for a winner in my book! I think this "muffin" could easily pass for a cupcake. In fact, the batter is made like several other cake batters I've done with the alternating of dry and wet ingredients in the end. Smear a whipped cream cheese frosting on the top and you've got the cupcakes for your next Birthday Party! Seriously, they're that good. And definitely indulgent for breakfast. We only have a few left, so that should tell you how good they are :)
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2-1/4 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1-1/4 cups sour cream
1/2 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon for rolling
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper liners. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time and mix until each is incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the sour cream, to the sugar/butter mixture; starting and ending with the flour scraping the bowl if necessary. Using a large scoop or spoon, scoop out muffin batter and drop into a shallow bowl filled with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll the muffin around in the mixture until it is completely covered. Place in prepared muffin pan. Continue scooping dough and rolling in cinnamon sugar mixture until all batter is used (you should get about 2 dozen). Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
Enjoy!
(adapted from Let's Dish)
