Crock Pot Roasted Chicken is My Favorite!

Slow cooker season has started! I love using the crock pot, almost as much as I love roasted chicken.  It may just be my favorite meal of all time.  Give me some roasted chicken, a sweet potato, and some veggies and I am a happy girl.  Add some stuffing and cranberry sauce and I am in heaven.  

The idea of putting a whole chicken in the crock pot and coming home to deliciousness sounds perfect, so lets do it!

Never Stop Cooking ~Melissa

Crock Pot Roasted Whole Chicken

Ingredients

4-6lbs oven roaster chicken

Seasoning of your choice (mine is below)

2 Lemons

Directions

Place chicken in the crock pot.  I like to remove most of the skin before I cook the chicken, keeping the fat content down.

Season chicken with your favorite seasonings.  My seasoning blend is below. Slice the lemon and squeeze the juice all over the chicken.  Place the lemon slices in the cavity and tucked around the chicken. Do not add water.  Cook chicken on low for 7-8 hours or until the chicken reaches 185 degrees.  Remove the chicken and slice it up, or just use a fork because it WILL fall apart!  

Nutritional Facts

Depending on what part of the chicken you are going to eat, will alter your nutritional information.  Below is the nutritional facts for white meat and dark meat (both without the skin)

1 Serving (4 oz) white meat no skin: Calories 186 Fat 4g Cholesterol 96mg Sodium 84mg Carbohydrates 0g Fiber 0g Sugar 0g Protein 35.1g

1 Serving (4 oz) dark meat no skin: Calories 232 Fat 11g Cholesterol 105mg Sodium 105mg Carbohydrates 0g Fiber 0g Sugar 0g Protein 30.9g

Seasoning for Crock Pot Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

3 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Sunday Funday - Week Three

Sunday Funday, can the Steelers win a game!?  The Steelers played the Chicago Bears this week, so I decided to create some lower fat Chicago style deep dish pizza. 

Deep dish pizza either calls for toppings or lots of cheese to fill it up.  I went with the toppings so I could keep this a lower fat, healthier option.  The easiest way of doing this would be to add lots of veggies, but it's football season.  Veggie pizza and football don't seem to go hand in hand.  So I took my italian beef meatballs which are low in fat and carbs and loaded them on this pizza.  Since I have an obsession with having to eat your veggies,  not one of my football meals will be without one, I made a BLT salad with a buttermilk mustard dressing.  

Hopefully only my Chicago Deep Dish is better than the Steelers tonight.

Lets go Steelers!

Next week, we play the Minnesota Vikings...juicy lucys coming your way!

Never Stop Cooking ~Melissa

Week Three Menu

Deep Dish Meatball Pizza

BLT Salad

Pretzel Bites with Pizza Sauce

Deep Dish Meatball Pizza

Ingredients

1 pre-made refrigerated pizza dough

6 Italian beef meatballs (recipe to follow), sliced

1/2 cup pizza sauce

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

2 Tbsp parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Cover a large cutting board with a dusting of flour and corn meal.  Roll out the pizza dough (make sure you let the dough come to room temperature first).

Place dough into a cast iron skillet sprayed with cooking spray.  If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, try using a round pie or cake pan to get the deep dish affect. Once you have the dough evenly spread out in the skillet, spread the pizza sauce leaving about a half an inch sauce free for the crust.  Spread the sliced meatballs evenly on top of the sauce and half of the mozzarella and parmesan on top of the meatballs.  Bake pizza for ten minutes.  Remove pizza, and top with the remaining cheeses and bake for an additional ten minutes.  

Remove from skillet and cut pizza into six slices.

Nutritional Facts

Servings per pie: 6

1 Serving: Calories  Fat 2.9g Cholesterol 23.2mg Sodium 51.2mg Carbohydrates 0.5g Fiber 0g Sugar 0.3g Protein 8.9g

Italian Beef Meatballs

Ingredients

1 lb 93% lean ground beef

1 slice whole wheat bread (I use Arnold’s), torn

1/4 low fat milk

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp dried parsley

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Place torn bread and milk in a bowl, letting the bread absorb the milk.  

In a mixing bowl, combine beef, cheese, garlic, basil, and parsley.  Season the mixture with salt and pepper.  Add in bread and milk mixture and mix ingredients together.  Form mixture into 12 meatballs approximately 1.5 ounces a piece.

Place meatballs on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes, turning over halfway through.

Nutritional Facts

Servings per recipe: 12

1 Serving: Calories 63 Fat 2.9g Cholesterol 23.2mg Sodium 51.2mg Carbohydrates 0.5g Fiber 0g Sugar 0.3g Protein 8.9g

BLT Salad with Buttermilk Mustard Dressing

Ingredients

lettuce, shredded

tomatoes, diced

cooked bacon, crumbled

store bought croutons

buttermilk mustard dressing (recipe below)

Buttermilk Mustard Dressing

2 Tbsp mayonnaise

2 Tbsp grainy mustard

2 Tbsp lowfat buttermilk

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried or fresh chives

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Make the dressing by combining all ingredients.  Toss dressing with the lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon. Top with croutons for the bread in the blt!

Nutritional Facts

Buttermilk Mustard Dressing

Servings per recipe: 6 Tbsp

1 Serving: Calories 34 Fat 2g Cholesterol 2mg Sodium 131.4mg Carbohydrates 0.5g Fiber 0g Sugar 0.4g Protein 0.3g

I love lentils

I love lentils.  I love sweet potatoes.  I love kale.  So, when I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I had to try it. 

http://www.eatliverun.com/spicy-lentils-with-sweet-potatoes-and-kale/

I did change a few ingredients and made a few additions.  Overall, this meal is one you want to sit inside on your couch on a rainy day, and just devour a huge bowl along with some crusty italian bread.  Yum!


Never Stop Cooking ~ Melissa

Spicy Lentils with 
Sweet Potatoes, Kale, and Turkey Sausage

Ingredients

1/2 cup lentils

1/2 large carrot, peeled and small diced

small diced onion (change)

3 cloves garlic (change)

1 stalk celery, small diced

3 packed cups kale, chopped (change)

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped (change)

1/2 red pepper, diced (change)

1/2 tbsp crushed red pepper (addition)

4 italian turkey sausage links, removed from casing (addition)

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped into small 1/4-1/2″ cubes

2 tsp cooking oil

2 cups low sodium chicken broth (change)

salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium sized pot. Once hot, add the onion, celery, carrot, red pepper and sweet potato and cook for about six minutes, until softened.  Add the sausage and break up with a wooden spoon.  Add the garlic and kale and continue cooking until kale wilts and the sausage is cooked through.

Add the lentils, bay leaf, rosemary, crushed red pepper and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30-40 minutes until lentils are tender and have absorbed most of the liquid.

Season with salt to taste and remove the bay leave before serving. 

Nutritional Facts

Servings per recipe: 4

1 Serving: Calories 339 Fat 13.3g Cholesterol 62.5mg Sodium 1144mg Carbohydrates 30.8g Fiber 10.3g Sugar 5.7g Protein 26.5g

Mexican Monday and Monday Night Football

Happy Monday Night Football.  Since the Steelers are playing tonight, I decided to continue my football food challenge tonight, and combine Sunday football, and Mexican Monday.  As the weather is turning into fall, the crock pot is going on tonight and fall vegetables are being roasted in the oven for this tailgating meal.

My chicken tortilla chili combines the flavors of chicken tortilla soup with the consistency of chili (for my soup hater of a boyfriend).  This big bowl of chili is loaded with fiber and very low in fat, besides being super easy!  Top it with cheese, tortillas, sour cream, or whatever you think of that can make this meal even yummier! 

Lets go Steelers!

Never Stop Cooking ~Melissa

Week Two Menu

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Chili

Chili Rubbed Roasted Acorn Squash

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Chili

Ingredients

1 lb chicken breast

2 (14oz) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies

1 can black beans

1 cup corn

1 green pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 cup salsa

3 tbsp tomato paste

3 tbsp taco seasoning (recipe to follow) or one packet of taco seasoning

Optional: cheese, tortilla chips, sour cream, hot sauce, and cilantro

Directions

Put all ingredients into a crock pot seasoning with salt and pepper.  Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.  

After the allotted time, remove the chicken from the crock pot, shred, and stir it back into the chili, keeping warm until ready to serve.

Serve with cheese, tortilla chips, sour cream, cilantro, hot sauce, or whatever you would like.

Nutritional Facts

Servings per recipe: 4

1 Serving (without optional ingredients): Calories 342 Fat 3.6g Cholesterol 66mg Sodium 680mg Carbohydrates 41g Fiber 11g Sugar 10.6g Protein 37.5g

No More Store Bought 

Taco Seasoning

Ingredients

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper (use 1/2 tsp if you do not like things spicy)

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

Directions

Mix all ingredients together and store in an air tight container.  

I like to make big batches of this so I have it on hand.  I usually use about 6 tbsp to season 1lb of meat.  

Chili Rubbed Acorn Squash

Ingredients

1 acorn squash

1 tbsp chili powder

2 tsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Cut acorn squash in half and remove the seeds.  Slice the squash into 2 inch pieces.

Toss the pieces of squash in olive oil, chili powder, and salt and pepper.  

Lay the squash out on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. 

Roast squash in oven for about 25 - 30 minutes flipping the squash pieces halfway through.

Nutritional Facts

Servings per recipe: 2

1 Serving: Calories 138 Fat 5.6g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 45mg Carbohydrates 24.5g Fiber 4.6g Protein 2.2g

Mexican Mondays

We love Mexican in our house, and I am slowly turning Mondays into a Mexican night without even realizing it.  So as of now, I'm establishing our Monday night dinners at Mexican Monday.  Tonight's dinner is a recipe from a Taste of Home cookbook I have.  

You can find the recipe here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Black-Bean-Chicken-Casserole or below.  I add a little extra cumin (about 1/2 tsp) and start out by cutting my chicken breast into cubes and cooking it over medium heat.  This recipe is delicious.  I could probably eat this everyday.  So try it! Thanks Taste of Home!

Never Stop Cooking ~Melissa

Black Bean and Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 can (14-1/2 ounces) undrained 

1/2 cup salsa

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained

3 cups cubed cooked chicken breast

8 corn tortillas (6 inches)

1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack or Mexican cheese blend, divided

Directions

In a large saucepan, saute onion and green pepper in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the tomatoes, salsa, cumin, salt, oregano and pepper. Add beans and chicken; heat through.

Spread a third of the mixture into a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Layer with four tortillas, a third of the chicken mixture and 1 cup cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas and chicken mixture.

Cover and bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 8-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream, green onions and olives if desired. 

Nutritional Facts

Servings per casserole: 10

1 Serving: Calories 283 Fat 9g Cholesterol 50mg Sodium 664mg Carbohydrates 27g Fiber 6g Protein 24g