Easter is almost here, and my mother-in-law challenged me to find a way to make hard boiled eggs easier to peel! (I think she wants to have nice looking deviled eggs!)
After some extensive research, I found this solution – Hope it works for you! Remember, use older eggs when hard boiling – fresh eggs will not peel as well.
All the best “Dr. Moms” out there know there is nothing better for a cold than rest and a warm bowl of chicken soup! One of my favorite ways to alleviate cold symptoms is a soup recipe that also includes ginger, a natural way to increase circulation (to help ward off the chills) and help loosen the congestion of a cold. This yummy recipe for Ginger Chicken Noodle Soup With Vegetables is adapted from a recipe from Real Simple Magazine. It uses rotisserie chicken, so it is a really easy recipe to assemble.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
To see the original recipe on Real Simple Magazine, click HERE!
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees (if using a pizza stone, place pizza stone in while preheating).
Take 2-4 tablespoons of BBQ sauce and toss with the chicken and set aside.
Place pizza crust on work surface. Mix 1/3 cup BBQ sauce with 2-3 tablespoons of the reserved packet of pizza sauce. Spread mixture all over pizza crust. Add all three cheeses, alternating layers. Add chicken to top of pizza, spreading out to cover. Sprinkle red onion and cilantro over pizza.
Place pizza in oven for 10-15 minutes (until cheese is melted and bubbly). Enjoy!
Simple Tip: For a crowd, make 2-3 of these, keep them in fridge until ready to cook!
Part of the fun of a Super Bowl Party, besides the game and the commercials, is the food! But you don’t want to spend your entire day in the kitchen and be exhausted when guests arrive. I like to prepare a main dish that cooks in a crockpot, where people can serve themselves when they feel like it. Then I supplement with simple appetizers and finger foods. Here are a few of my favorites:
Barbacoa refers to a way of cooking meat that originated in the Caribbean, and eventually was adopted in Mexico and the Southwest. It is where the term “barbecue” came from, but this has nothing to do with an open flame! It is meat, slow cooked with wonderful spices, then shredded and served in a flour tortilla. In this recipe, I’m using chuck roast cut of beef.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Combine vinegar, onion, lime juice, garlic,cumin, oregano, allspice, cloves, salt and pepper, beef stock in a blender and puree.
Place roast (trim off excess fat from roast) in crockpot and pour puree over the roast. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 6 hours. Shred beef in crockpot and serve in soft (and warm) flour tacos. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, beans, or whatever else suits your tastes!
I loved sloppy joes as a kid, but they were always so messy! Well, a simple solution to that is serve them in pita bread halves! Use your favorite sloppy joe recipe (or use mine below!) and serve them in pita pockets! In this recipe, I use Stonefire Authentic Flatbread Pitas (yes, I love their products and use them a lot!). Stuff shredded cheese on top, add a dash or two of hot sauce and you have the neatest sloppy joes on the block! You can make this up ahead of time and put the beef in a crockpot to keep warm – guests just help themselves! Double the recipe for larger groups.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
In a large pan, cook beef, onion and green pepper over medium high heat until beef is cooked. Drain off liquid. Add garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, tomato paste, salt, pepper, water and brown sugar. Stir until thoroughly blended, reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes. Serve in pita halves with shredded cheese and hot sauce as desired.
For a flavor change, try making a variety of flatbreads! Since I am a SIMPLE Solutions Diva, I used pre-made flatbreads by Stonefire Authentic Flatbread Naan because they are light and have a variety of flavors; you can make your own flatbread dough if desired. Prep the flatbreads in advance, then toss in the oven as needed!
This is a nice spicy recipe with an asian twist:
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees (if using a pizza stone, place stone in oven before preheating).
In a bowl, toss chicken with 4 tablespoons of thai peanut sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella on both flatbreads. Divide the chicken mixture between the two flatbreads. Sprinkle with carrots and green onions. Drizzle each flatbread with 1 tablespoon of remaining thai peanut sauce. Place flatbreads in oven for 5-10 minutes until cheesy is melty.
Serve warm!
A BIG THANK YOU to Stonefire Naan for providing me with a large selection so Stonefire Naan Flatbreads to use in this post!
Love Buffalo Chicken Wings but want to avoid the mess and the bones? Try this simple recipe, courtesy of my sister-in-law, Jennifer. This stuff is truly addictive! Serve warm with corn chips or pita wedges.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13×9 pan. Place shredded chicken in bottom of pan and pour hot sauce over the chicken, covering the chicken in sauce.
In a microwave safe bowl, place cream cheese and microwave for 30 seconds (until the cream cheese is softened). Add the ranch dressing and stir well. Pour mixture over the chicken; top the dish with the cheese and place in oven until the cheese is melted and the entire dish is bubbly (approximately 15-20 mins). Serve with chips.
A blast from childhood, these scrumptious bites of chocolate and coconut goo are so sweet, just one or two will do! Make them the day before and store at room temperature.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Coat 13×9 inch glass baking pan with non-stick cooking spray (I actually used a 9×9 pan, made the layers thicker, and cooked them longer.)
Melt butter in the glass dish, and add graham cracker crumbs. Mix thoroughly and press into bottom of prepared pan. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, and nuts. Pour sweetened condensed milk over mixture, making sure it covered entire surface of the pan.
Bake approximately 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars. Store covered at room temperature, well hidden so everyone does not eat them all at once!
Looking for other simple, crowd pleasing recipe ideas for Super Bowl? Try these:
Crockpot Ropa Vieja (Cuban Shredded Chicken or Pork) – Perfect to serve on yellow rice, in tacos or burritos!
Creamy White Chicken Chili – Crowd pleaser!
Simple Flatbread Appetizer Done Four Ways
Chipotle Chicken and Rice Soup – Warm and spicy!
Taco Cupcakes – Perfect for kids to make AND eat!
Toasted Coconut Refrigerator Cake – A wonderful sheet cake serves a crowd.
Simple Cocktails Round Up – Several recipes to choose from!
Roy’s Hawaiian Martini -Large Batch!
Sangria Di Cava – A White Sangria made with champagne
Thank you to WTLV-TV’s First Coast Living for inviting me on to share these yummy recipes!
I love making a hearty soup on a cold winter’s day. This Beef and Barley Soup is easy, flavorful and really warms you up! I love it when my kids ask if I made this from scratch, and I can say “YES”!
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Place cubed steak and flour into a gallon-sized zip-lock plastic bag; close and shake, thoroughly covering steak with flour.
Heat olive oil in heavy soup/stock pot over medium heat. Add flour-covered steak to oil and brown meat. Add water to pot, covering the meat and let simmer until meat is tender (approx. one hour). Note: Do not drain off fluid – this is the homemade beef stock for the soup!
Add thyme, pepper, garlic, bay leaves, tomatoes, and carrots to pot (add salt, if desired). Simmer until carrots are tender (approx. 1 hour).
Add barley and let simmer until barley is cooked (with quick cook barley, takes approximately 20 minutes). Feel free to add 1/2 cup water if soup is too thick.
Serve with crusty bread!
Note: I let this simmer all afternoon, then add the quick cooking barley in the last half hour of cooking.
I did not make up the title of this recipe, but I have to be in full agreement with the title! I discovered this recipe online on the site JaimeCooksItUp.com, a great site with lots of family friendly recipes. My first reaction was, “Yuck, turkey in a crockpot?”, but then I thought about how simple it sounded. And how great this would be for, perhaps, someone with very little room in their kitchen or oven (like apartment dwellers). A perfect way to save space in the mad dash to cook up a Thanksgiving Day meal!
I made the recipe a week ago, with the intention of taking photos of the final product. Well, the final product was so good, there was nothing left to take pictures of! (Photos are taken directly from JaimeCooksItUp.com!)
Though the skin was not golden brown like when you roast the turkey, this dish was seriously good, easy to make, and the turkey was very moist and fell off the bone! And the drippings left in the crockpot make a TASTY gravy!
Ingredients:
Place turkey breast in crockpot (be sure crockpot is large enough- you need to make sure the lid will fit over the turkey!).
In a bowl or measuring cup, mix together the OJ, onion soup mix and cranberry sauce. Pour mixture over the turkey breast, cover with lid, and let cook on low for 8-9 hours.
That is it!! Enjoy!! For my 30SecondMom.com video version of this recipe, Click Here!
Be sure to check out the original post from JaimeCooksItUp.com! I think she’s a cooking genius!
Did you know spices have a shelf life? Humidity, heat, sunlight, and exposure to air can pull the flavor and aroma right out of spices and dried herbs. With the holidays here, now is the perfect time to replace those holiday spices you bought last year! Colleen Messner of The Spice & Tea Exchange in St. Augustine, Florida, has a list of the top spices you should have in your cabinet for the holidays. (And most of them can be used year round!)
Top Spices For The Holidays
Nutmeg – This brown seed, when grated, provides a warm, spicy/sweet flavor to dishes. A whole seed can be stored indefinitely in an airtight container. Best when freshly grated.
Allspice – This spice tastes/smells like a combination of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. I love it on pork tenderloin!
Cloves – This fragrant, nail-head shaped spice is perfect for decorating a ham or whole orange. Imparts a warm and sweet flavor.
Green Pod Cardamom – Cardamom has a strong, unique spicy-sweet taste. Best when purchased in pods, which are removed and discarded before grinding the seeds. Adds great flavor to danish and other pastries.
Star Anise – Sweet/warm spice with a licorice flavor. Great to use in pastries, stews or even asian cooking (It is one element in Chinese 5 Spice Blend).
Candied Ginger – Perfect to use in gingerbread or even chopped as decorative (and tasty!) topping for cupcakes!
Cinnamon – The favorite in the Simple Solutions Diva household! Warm and sweet, cinnamon works well in so many recipes during the holidays!
Storage Tips
Order Fresh Spices and Dried Herbs
If you would like to order any or all of these spices FRESH from the Spice & Tea Exchange, follow this link HERE to be taken directly to the products page of their website!