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Workout. Cook. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

I don’t know if you have read on My About Page that when I was at a young age, I was diagnosed with a mild case of Cerebral Palsy. It controls my muscle movement on the right side of my body which makes it difficult for when I am cooking. In the fall of last year, I began to notice that the muscles in my right arm/hand was making it extra challenging to lift a 9×13 baking dish. I realized that I needed to get some professional help for my right arm. This was a huge eye opener for me.

So in October, I took it upon myself to join a gym called Koko FitClub that is in walking distance from my home. I have been going every single day. I love it! I can now easily lift a heavy baking dish out of the oven and cut veggies with ease. The muscles in my arms are much stronger than they were a few months ago. I am happy with my progress and so grateful.

Anyway enough about me… let’s get to some cooking…you are going to love this recipe!

I love the classic Mexican food fajitas. There are a variety of toppings and different ways to make them delicious. But, they are not the healthiest meal. No need to worry though because I have a solution to making this favorite a little healthier without sacrificing flavor and the fear of eating a bland dinner. I recently came across this quick, easy and mostly healthy baked chicken fajitas. This recipe is full of yummy flavors. The sweet bell peppers make the difference.

I guarantee you that this recipe will become a new favorite in your family.

BAKED CHICKEN FAJITAS

3-4 chicken breasts

1 packet taco or fajita seasoning

1 1/2 sweet bell peppers, thinly sliced (any combination or green, red, orange, yellow)

1 medium sweet yellow onion, thinly sliced

8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 Tbsp chopped cilantro, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375˚F.

1. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Place the chicken breasts flat in the dish big enough where they aren’t quite touching, then sprinkle the fajita seasoning evenly over them. You want to make sure that you aren’t making everything too packed in here or it will take a long time to cook. Use a dish big enough so that the chicken breasts don’t quite touch.

2. Mix the bell peppers and onions and spread them evenly over the top and spread the cheese over the top of the peppers and onions.  Again, just make sure you aren’t packing it in too tightly.  Go up a dish size if you need to!

3. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for thirty to forty-five minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (min of 165˚F in throughout the chicken)

Source Easy Family Recipes

A better picture is coming soon.

Court’s Cooking Notes: Every oven will cook differently and the cook time will also be effected by altitude, climate, and oven size, so please check to make sure your chicken is done through.  Try not to over cook since that will lead to tough and rubbery chicken.

Enjoy! If you have leftovers, you can chop or shred the leftover chicken and use it in tacos, enchiladas, nachos, salads, or tostadas to name a few.

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No stovetop required Chili Mac

This ooey, gooey Slow Cooker Chili Mac is pure comfort food that your family will undoubtedly enjoy, and it’s cooked easily in your crockpot!!

Slow Cooker Chili Mac

Ingredients

1 pound very lean ground beef

1 small onion chopped

4 cloves garlic minced

2 (15-16 oz) cans chili beans in chili sauce

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

2 C. beef broth

1 Tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

8 oz. elbow macaroni uncooked

Desired toppings: shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, green onions, corn chips….

Directions

1. Place the raw ground beef in the bottom of your crockpot and break into smaller chunks. Stir in remaining ingredients except for the pasta. Cover and cook for four-six hours on high or eight-ten hours on low.

2. In the last fifteen minutes of cooking stir in the uncooked pasta and cover. Stir and test to see if pasta is to your liking. However, even with the slow cooker turned off the pasta will continue to cook just from the heat of the chili and cook itself so unless your pasta is chewy or crunchy, I strongly recommend only cooking it for the last fifteen minutes of cooking time.

Court’s Cooking Notes

If you wish not to put the ground beef in raw, just brown before placing in your slow cooker at the beginning of cook time.

Source Countryside Cravings

Zesty Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1.5-2 lbs)- You can also use tenderloins or cut up the chicken into halfs or smaller to make it easier to serve if your family won’t be eating a whole chicken breast each. This will usually make it cook more quickly though so keep an eye on it.

8 oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened- You can use light if you prefer, just steer clear of the fat free cream cheese since it won’t melt the same.

1 C. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded- Divide this in half, as half will be used in the mix and half on top. If you don’t have sharp on hand you can substitute any cheddar cheese, or mexican blend.

1/4 C. Frank’s Buffalo Sauce- You can use more buffalo sauce to make it spicier or less to make it less spicy.  I would mix this with the cream cheese first and sample it to make sure it has the right amount of kick for you.

1 Tbsp. Hidden Valley ranch powder- I love using ranch powder in lieu of bottled ranch as I think it delivers better flavor. You can actually buy it in bigger containers now if you cook with it frequently, but if you have a packet, there are about 3 tablespoons in there so you are going to use about a third of the packet. You can also alternately use 1 tbsp of this Homemade ranch mix

Directions

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Prepare a 9X13 baking dish by lightly greasing it with cooking spray. Set aside.

1. Mix the cream cheese, ranch mix, 1/2 cup of the cheddar cheese, and buffalo sauce in a bowl until everything is combined. Make sure the cream cheese is nice and soft before you mix or it won’t work well.  If you forgot to leave it out to soften you can just pop it in a bowl and microwave it for about thirty seconds, stir and add more time if needed.  Then you can mix everything in.

2. Lay the chicken breasts flat in the bottom  of a casserole dish.  If you want to cut the chicken into smaller pieces do it now and place those on the bottom of the dish.  Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the chicken. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the dish.

3. Bake for twenty-five – thirty-five minutes or until chicken is cooked through (165˚F internal temp). I baked my casserole on the middle rack of the oven.  I have never had to cover it, but since the each oven cooks differently, and there are other considerations like climate altitude etc, just keep an eye on it and if the cheese starts to get more brown than you want, you can loosely cover with foil for the remainder of the cooking time to protect it from browning any further.

Source The Pinning Mama

Insanely Delicious Green Beans

ROASTED GREEN BEANS WITH PARMESAN AND BASIL

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 to 1 pound of fresh green beans, (stem end snipped off), trimmed

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper (more or less to taste)

2 Tbsp grated parmesan

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

1. Rinse the green beans in cold water and dry them thoroughly.

3. Next spread the beans on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with olive oil (use your hands), so that all the beans are coated.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, basil. Toss again to coat.

3. Bake for ten minutes, toss, and continue to roast for five more minutes. Immediately sprinkle with parmesan and serve.

Source Rachel Cooks

Two Ingredient Pork Chop Dinner

This slow cooker lemon pepper pork chops recipe is so easy to prepare and is so delicious! Oh, and get this it only calls for two ingredients.

You will need:

1-2 lbs bone-in or boneless pork chops

lemon pepper seasoning

Directions

1. Place your pork chops onto a large cutting board and sprinkle lemon pepper seasoning on both sides of each pork chop. Then place them into your slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for seven-eight hours or high for three-four hours.

Court’s Cooking Notes: You can use chicken as a substitute.

Source Recipes That Crock

Insanely Delicious Chicken Bake

Ohhhh I am SO ecstatic to share this recipe with you. Why you ask?? Because it’s crazy delicious and once your family take a bite they will want it all the time.

Melt in your mouth chicken bake

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

3/4 C. mayonnaise or Greek yogurt

1 C. FRESH Parmesan cheese, shredded

1/2 tsp. seasoned salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/2 C. Progresso Italian bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

1. Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray and place chicken evenly on bottom.

2. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise (or yogurt), cheese, salt, pepper, garlic cloves, and red pepper flakes. Evenly spread mixture on top of chicken, coating entirely. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of mixture.

3. Place pan in preheated oven,and bake for thirty-thirty five minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from oven and use slotted spoon to scoop chicken on top of pasta, rice, or onto plate!

4. Yum!!

Source The Cookin Chicks

Healthy and delicious

Do you hesitate to eat any type of vegetable because of zero taste? Well, that’s about to change cause this saucy zucchini lasagna is your low carb solution for times when you’re hungry for some savory Italian comfort food. It’s also incredibly easy and is an excellent healthy alternative to your typical lasagna. Gluten-free and keto friendly.

I can certainly say that this is my latest favorite recipe. I love it so much that I helped myself to two servings. It’s so flavorful that your family will want more than one portion — more like two or three. This dish will quickly become a new family favorite.

Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients

20 oz zucchini (about two large) ends sliced off and discarded

1 lb extra lean ground beef

1 tsp. garlic

2 15 oz cans tomato sauce or puree

1 C. finely chopped onion (about 1 small)

1 1/2 C. shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 C. finely grated parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp. olive oil

3 Tbsp. dried oregano

2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground cayenne

Directions

Preparing the meat sauce:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add onion and garlic cook until softened, about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add ground beef to the pan, breaking it apart as it cooks. Cook until browned, about five-ten minutes.

2. Add the tomato sauce, stirring it in. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then gradually reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Simmer for about five minutes to thicken the sauce, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the oregano, salt, and cayenne. Stir until well-mixed. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Assembling and baking the lasagna:

4. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly grease an 8×8 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

5. Slice each zucchini along its length into 1/8 inch thick strips. Arrange zucchini slices along the bottom of the baking dish so that they are slightly overlapping in a criss-cross pattern. Evenly pour about half of the meat sauce over the zucchini. Add about 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese on top of the meat sauce.

6. Repeat with another zucchini layer, a meat sauce layer, and a cheese layer. Top with remaining zucchini slices. Add another 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese on top of the zucchini.

7. Bake in the preheated oven until the lasagna is golden brown on top and bubbling, about forty-five minutes. Let cool about ten minutes to allow the lasagna to set and cease bubbling before slicing.

Source Savory Tooth

Slowly Cooked Chicken in Beer

I like cooking with beer. It gives the food a lot more flavor such as meat. The other evening I prepared this Slow Cooker Beer Can Chicken recipe. It called for a whole chicken. But I didn’t have one on hand so I decided to use four chicken breasts instead.

The recipe has both a mild one and super hot marinade option. I’ll add a note on how you can make spicy or non-spicy towards the end of this post. I, of course, went for the mild one because I’m a pansy.

I immediately went to work and started by gathering the ingredients for the marinade, stirring them together. Here’s the fun and messy part. Rubbing it into the chicken. After I marinaded my chicken and cleaned up my big mess, I tossed them into the slow cooker and poured in the beer. I used Miller Lite.

The choice of beer, of course, is up to you.

The original recipe called for dark beer occasionally this is only available during the fall, but in bigger cities, it should be for sale year round. Dark beer is not Guiness, although Guiness would probably produce an interesting flavor. If you’re willing to spend extra on a craft beer, then dark beer wouldn’t be difficult to find.

The Recipe

Slow Cooker Beer Can Chicken

INGREDIENTS

1 5-6lb. chicken (I used four chicken breats)

2 Tbsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. tarragon

2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4-1 tsp. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. onion powder

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1 can (12 ounces) dark beer -OR-lager

Directions

1. Make 4 balls of aluminum foil (about 2-inches in diameter) Place bunched of rolls of foil in bottom of 6-quart slow cooker and pour in the beer.

2. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Pull skin gently way from bird. Combine all dry seasonings together.

Mix ½ teaspoon of seasoning blend into butter. Spread butter mixture under skin of chicken. Next with clean, dry hands, rub remaining spice blend onto chicken.

3. Place chicken on top of foil balls in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for four-six hours, or low on seven-eight hours. Check the temperature – chicken is done when the temperature is 165-170 in the thickest part of the thigh. Continue to cook if needed.

Court’s Cooking Notes:

The spice rub can be made anywhere from mild to very hot depending on the amounts of two ingredients. The primary heat-generating ingredient is cayenne pepper. If you know that everyone you’re serving is into 5-alarm heat, go with the lesser amount of this ingredient when you prepare the rub.

The seasoning next is paprika. Yes! You can use the generic variety found on most grocery store shelves, but this chicken will taste better if you use a smoked variety paprika. Smoked paprika comes either mild or hot. If you use the hot, you are going to add more heat on top of the cayenne, so choose carefully. I used the mild smoked variety here and as I mentioned before, I’d advise you to do so as well, unless, of course, you’re into some serious heat. If you can’t find the more gourmet paprikas in your store, then the generic variety will do, but make sure it’s fresh otherwise it will have zero flavor.

Source Bake at midnight

Double dipped and delicious

My apologies for being away from my blog within the past few weeks. I was out of town visiting my grandma. We had a wonderful time as usual. While I was there I had the pleasure of cooking for her. She loved it! I had a lot of fun!

I’m happy to be home and excited to continue cooking and blogging.

That’s enough about me, let’s talk about cooking. Today I’m sharing with you this double dipped and deliciously crunchy pork chops, coated in a sticky honey garlic sauce that is knock your socks off delicious! It’s so good, you’ll want to use this sauce on everything!

Honey Garlic Pork Chops

Ingredients

Glaze

½ C. honey, or more, to taste

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. soy sauce or Bragg’s

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

¼ C. water

Pork Chops

2 C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. paprika

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

3 large eggs, beaten

4 Tbsp. water

6-9 pork chops, not too thick, you can use boneless pork loin

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 C. vegetable oil, for frying

green onions, sliced

Directions

Glaze

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine honey, garlic and soy sauce. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and water. Stir the mixture into the saucepan until thickened, about one-two minutes. Set aside.

Pork Chops

2. In a medium bowl combine flour and seasonings. Divide into two small bowls, working with just half at a time kept the flour from getting clumped or wet. Set aside.

3. Whisk the eggs and four tablespoons of water together in a separate small bowl. Season pork chops with salt and pepper, to taste.

4. Dip the chops in the flour, then over into the egg, and then back over into the flour mixture once again. This is what puts the extra crispy coating on the chops. Be sure to get plenty of flour on in this last coating. Shake off any excess. Place on a wire rack and continue until all meat is coated.

5. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in small batches, add the chops to the skillet, two or three at a time, and cook until evenly golden and crispy, approximately five-six minutes on each side. Drain on paper towel-lined plate. Try not to turn more than twice, or your breading will come off. Place cooked pork chops in a large bowl, pour warm sauce over and toss well to coat. Top with green onions if desired and serve immediately.

Source Cakes Cottage

Sorry, it’s a little-burnt. Pork Chops can sometimes be a bit tricky for me. They overall still tasted fantastic!

Gather. Dump. Cook. Eat.

Crock Pot Cheesy Pasta and Beef Casserole

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1 – 2 lb ground beef

1/2 C. chopped onion

1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

2 8oz. cans tomato sauce

14.5 oz. can Red Gold diced tomatoes in basil, garlic and oregano

1 lb. penne pasta (I used Ronzoni’s Healthy Harvest pasta)

2 C. shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large skillet, brown the beef and drain the fat. Transfer beef to crock pot, stir in onion, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.

2. Cover and cook on low for eight hours. Cook pasta on stove top according to directions. Stir cooked pasta into beef mixture just before serving. Top with Cheddar cheese.

Source Tammilee Tips

Court’s Cooking Notes:

1. Cook the beef the night before, store it in a airtight container and place it in the refrigerator. That way your meat will be ready for you to prepare the recipe the next day. This will make the cooking process go a lot faster.

2. To make it a little healthier use ground chicken or turkey.

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