Avocado Dressing/Dip

This is my made up recipe for an avocado "green goddess style" dressing.  We were having spicy grilled steaks (using my Cajun spice rub recipe here) and wanted to use up an avocado that I feared was nearing to be over ripe (it wasn't luckily). I thought the dressing would be great to have the spicy grilled steak on a green salad, and it was!  

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

1 large avocado, or 2 small (peeled and pitted)

1/2 bunch  of cilantro, washed and bottom 1/3 of stems removed

Juice of 1 large lime, or 2 small

1/4 cup of mayo

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1 clove fresh garlic

1 tsp salt

Add all ingredients into a blender, and puree until the dressing is smooth. Store covered tightly in the fridge. The avocado dressing remains bright green for about a week.  

We also used this for a sauce on tacos later in the week. Yum!

Easy Weeknight Meaty Chili

I got this recipe from a friend who sells Pampered Chef, and immediately thought, YEP, I need to try that. I didn't have their awesome RockCrok to use for their recipe (link here) but I thought I would try it on the stove top and it worked beautifully. I had both ground pork and ground beef, so I decided to use a combination, but you definitely try all beef if you preferred!  

Don't be worried about the unsweetened coca powder in this recipe, it really gives a complexity and smoothness to the chili.  If you're worried, you could cut the qty in half, but honestly, I think you'll like it.  My hubby wants me to make it again using less cocoa powder and more chili powder, which I promised to do next time. 

We're eating more low carb, so i elected to make this without the canned beans, but it would be good either waya. 

Makes enough for 6-8

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

1  medium onion, chopped

1 lb lean ground beef

1 lb ground pork 

4-5 garlic cloves, minced

4 Tbsp chili powder

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tsp cumin

½  can (3 oz/ tomato paste

2- 10oz cans of Rotel diced tomatoes with chilies, undrained

1 1/4 cup water

2 Knorr Chipotle bouillon cubes, or one minced canned chipotle chili (optional)

1-2 cans (16 oz  each) mild chili beans in sauce, undrained (optional, I did not use)

Salt, to taste

Saute the onions in olive oil until they start to soften, add the minced garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Add the ground beef and pork, and cook over medium high heat while stirring. Make sure to leave some big chunks that will add to the texture of your chili. Add in the spices, the canned tomatoes and tomato paste, adding the water at the end.  Give it a stir to combine, and turn the heat to medium low heat. 

Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.  

Add the canned beans (optional) and bring back to a boil. You can serve it over rice, if desired, or just a big bowl of rich chili!

Serve with Sliced green onion, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, jalapeno slices 

(optional)

Elvis Presley Pineapple Sheet Cake

I know now why Elvis is dead.
If this is his favorite cake, then I know he ate entirely too much sugar!  LOL, it is a delicious cake though, and very, very easy to make. 

I was very intrigued when I saw this recipe online, but I was expecting that an Elvis cake would be peanut butter, banana and bacon. I mean, I always heard that was his favorite sandwich?  Obviously Elvis needed the help of a good dietitian.

This is a great recipe to bring to a pot luck, it travels well and it is very moist and yummy.
My advice?  Don't eat cake like this every day...

Note- (This makes a LOT of frosting, you could halve the recipe...)

Serves a bunch

Ingredients

1 package (18.25 ounce) yellow cake mix- prepared per the box

1 can (8 ounce) crushed pineapple, with juice

1 2/3 cup white sugar

1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese

1⁄2 cup butter, softened

4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Prepare cake according to instructions on the package. Bake in a 9 x 13 inch pan. Allow to cool.

Combine pineapple and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Spoon over cooled cake.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add vanilla extract and pecans and mix well.

Spread cream cheese frosting over the cake.

Here's the cooled cake with the pineapple syrup poured over.

I used all of this frosting, but it was thick!  It would be just as good with half as much frosting.

Lazy Girl Chile Verde Pork Stew

This is variation of one of my all time favorite ways to cook pork, Chile Verde.  However, the recipe I have always used calls for tomatoes, which are RED, and not VERDE (green) at all, so it has always bugged me a bit that the end result was a reddish dish.  In this recipe, I have substituted the tomatoes with canned tomatillos instead.

As I was making this, my hubby walked in and said "aren't you going to brown that pork?". To which I answered,"No, I am not" feeling a bit grumpy at being challenged about being a accomplished lazy girl. Now, honestly people, I do realize that browning adds carmalization and therefore, more flavor.  BUT, in this case, there is SO much more flavor ingredients in this dish, you honestly should save yourself some time (and a greasy stove top) by skipping the browning and throwing it altogether in your crock pot.  Set it, forget it, do something awesome with your day and come back to a great dinner.

Serves 5-6 
Ingredients

3lb pork, large, cut into large chunks
1 large can (14 oz) whole tomatillos, with juice
1/2 onion, diced small
1 small yellow bell pepper, diced small
2 jalapenos, diced small
1 small can (4 oz) diced ortega green chilies
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped small (about 1/2 bunch)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp cumin
1 tsp oregano

Topping:

• green onions
• cojita cheese or feta cheese (optional)

Add all the ingredients to the crock pot, and cook for 8 hours on low.  Serve with green onions and cheese, as desired.

Below is a picture of the crock before I cooked it. I didn't brown the pork, as I guess, I am a lazy girl. LOL.  You can definitely brown it before starting your crockpot, and it just might be even better.  Me?  I can't decide if this stew is actually better for having browned the pork first.

Orzo, Zucchini, Feta & Tomato- One Pot Side Dish

A busy day, a hubby caught late at work, a run to Costco in the beginning of the holiday hub bub.  Once you're home, you're a bit tired to think a balanced dinner.  What to make, what to make?

I stared at the fridge, trying to get inspired.  I see an overly large container of feta (my favorite) a lonesome zucchini and some tomatoes.  Not enough for a stir fry (which would also be somewhat weird with feta in it...), but hey (!), what about combining with orzo?  Orzo is a small pasta, that is used a lot in Greek dishes.  Yum.

But... here you go, this came together as the salmon baked (yes, I DID buy it ready to go at the Costco pre-made food section)

This one is great for a side dish at dinner one night and then dressed up for lunches too.  Tossing the leftovers with a bit of Italian dressing would be a nice past salad lunch.  You could throw in some leftover chicken or salmon and it would be tasty too.

Serves 6-8
Ingredients

3 cups of water (with 1/2 tsp salt)
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 cups dried orzo pasta
1 small zucchini, cut into quarters the long way, then sliced
8-10 grape tomatoes, cut into quarters
1/2- 3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 greens onions, sliced thinly

Boil the water,  add the salt and the orzo.  After about 6 minutes, before the pasta is done, throw in the zucchini, crushed garlic and the tomatoes. Cook for about 2 more minutes, Just enough to soften the zucchini a little bit.  Drain.  Toss with the green onions and the feta while it is still hot.  Add a drizzle of olive oil and add more salt and pepper, if needed.  Serve at once, or reheat for lunches.  It would be fine at room temperature too.

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Lazy Girl Creamy Enchilada Verde Soup

Need something easy on a lazy Saturday? Or after a hard day at work?
How about an almost instant soup?

The other day I made Chili Verde Turkey Meatloaf, but had about 2/3 of a large can of green enchilada sauce leftover in the fridge. If you ever have a partial can, you could also freeze the leftovers in a small plastic container, perfect for a recipe like this.


Grab a rotisserie chicken and a can of enchilada sauce, and dinner is almost made.
I must admit, I scrounged around the fridge for veggies that might be good in this soup.  What follows is what I had on hand... you might have other stuff.  Nothing wrong with canned tomatoes, or chopped carrots in this soup.  Use your imagination... 
 
Enchilada sauce has quite a bit of sodium, so you may not need much more in this recipe.  Be sure to completely finish the soup before tasting and adding any more salt.

You could throw all this in the crock pot and let in cook on low for 6 hours, but really, you can do it on  the stove top very quickly.  I used a Costco rotisserie chicken for my re-cooked chicken.  I love that chicken, I buy one almost every time I go there. It's my basic for my homemade easy chicken stock too.
 
Serves 4-6 
Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups Green enchilada sauce
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups diced chicken, cooked and shredded
1 cup onions
1/2 cup celery
1/2 cup red bell pepper
1 cup corn, fresh, frozen or roasted
1/2 cup cilantro
1 tsp cumin
Chili pepper flakes, optional


Saute the onions, celery and bell pepper, over medium heat, in the olive oil for about 5 minutes, until they start to soften.

Add the enchilada sauce and chicken broth, and increase heat to high.  Bring to a boil, then add the chicken, spices and corn.  Taste and adjust the seasonings to you liking.  Reduce to a simmer, and let cook for another 5-10 minutes.  It will thicken slightly as it reduces a bit.

Great on it's own, or you can add some topping suggestions:

• cheddar cheese
• sour cream
• chopped tomatoes
• green onions
• fresh cilantro
• olives
• minced jalapenos
• tortilla chips

Lazy Girl Pot Roast with Easy Molé Sauce

Yummy tender pot roast with a terrific but easy molé sauce.
Molé sauces are known for their complex flavors, each one adding some nuance to the sauce.  Chocolate, fruit, spices, nuts- every cook has her version.  This one was an easy one that I came up with one day when I had a pot roast I wanted to make on a chilly day.
 
This is perfect for tacos, burritos, over rice, over polenta, as filling in tamales.... how do you want to eat it?

Servings: 10 to 12

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Mexican Style Chili Powder

2 tsp Dried Oregano

1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Ground Cloves

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Ground Cumin

2 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 chipotle pepper (canned in adobo sauce), minced

2 1/2 – 3 lb Beef Pot Roast, visible fat trimmed

1 Medium Onion, chopped

1 - 28oz can diced Tomatoes With  Juice

3 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

8– 10 cloves  Garlic, peeled

6 dates, or 1/4 cup raisins (optional)
3 Tbsp peanut butter


Cook on low for 6-8 hours. The meat should be very tender and will shred easily.
Carefully remove the meat from the crockpot and put on a platter.  Add the liquids to a blender and let it settle a bit.  Skim off as much of the fat showing on top as possible.  Blend the remaining liquid into a great sauce.  You will have more sauce than you might need, but this would be great on top of enchiladas, or other grilled meat.

Serve the meat with extra sauce on the side, or shred the meat and mix the sauce with it.

With the meat, I removed whatever fatty bits I could see and then "chunked" or shredded the rest of the meat.  You could also slice it, or serve it whole, serving at the table.

Black Bean and Hot Link Soup

 

Today we took our usual Saturday long walk, but it was SO cold out we needed to warm up when we came home.  Since I still had a lot of hot links in the freezer due to the last Costco run, I decided to make a black bean and hot link soup.  This one is hearty, spicy, somewhat healthy and will warm you up.  
 
This soup started from a very spicy vegetable stock that I made last week (don't worry you can use canned stock).  Often times I will simmer lots of veggies trimmings and make stock, this day I added the cores of the jalapenos... so essentially the seeds.  After about 10 minutes of simmering, I tasted the stock and almost blew the top of my head off!  Immediately, I fished the two jalapeno "cores" out of the stock, hoping it would not get any hotter.  I was left with stock that I couldn't use for my mushroom soup, so I put it in the fridge to consider what to make. It was perfect for this one, so I didn't add the jalapeno that I included below.


You could serve this with a little creme fraiche (or sour cream) and some cornbread on the side!  I have two favorite cornbread recipes, Sweet & Spicy Cornbread or Good Ole Basic Cornbread. I love to make a batch of soup on the weekends and save some for the week's lunches.

This soup was finished in just about 35 minutes, but would be good to do in a crockpot and simmer on low for the day.
 

Makes about 8-10 cups
Ingredients

1 cup onions, diced small
1 cup celery, diced small
1/2 cup carrots, diced or sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, minced (optional) 
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cans black beans, drained (2 are shown, but I did use 3)
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 hot links, sliced and diced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
4 cups beef, or vegetable stock 
Salt & Pepper, as needed 

Saute the onions, celery, carrots and garlic in the olive oil for about 3-4 minutes over medium high heat.  Add the black beans, tomatoes, spices, hot link and beef stock.  Simmer over medium heat for 25-30 minutes.  If you want some thickness to the soup, smash some of the beans with a tomato masher.

Serve and enjoy!

Here it is just before I added the stock and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
 

 

Lazy Girl Crockpot Lemon Artichoke Chicken

Really too hot to cook.
It is super easy to be lazy when it's like this, don't you think?
Why not prep this one the night before and put it to cook before you head to work?

I love my crock pot, no matter the season.
It makes just as much sense in the summer as it does the fall and winter.

This mixture is bold & lemony, very tender and pretty low calorie and carb too.
If you don't really love, love lemon, then I'd only use 1-2 lemons instead of 3. 

One more thing, I was so hot and lazy the day I got this ready to go, I didn't even brown the chicken as so many recipes say you should.  I just didn't feel like it, and frankly, I'm not sure it made that much difference.

Serves 4-6
Ingredients

1 onions,diced
2-3 lemons, each cut into three thick slices (hard ends removed)
1 can whole artichokes, mostly drained of the brine
2-3 garlic, crushed and chopped
2-3 Tbsp capers
1/2 cup white wine (something like pinot grigio, or sauv blanc)
3 chicken boneless skinless breasts, cut into three chunks each
4 thighs, boneless &skinless, cut in half
Fresh Pepper (don't add salt, add at the end if needed)
Fresh parsley, for serving

Add onions and garlic to the bottom of a crock pot that has been sprayed with oil.  

Add cut up pieces of chicken, then slices of lemon, artichoke hearts (with about 1/4 cup of brine), white wine and fresh pepper.  

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove the lemon slices and add the fresh parsley.  Stir carefully as the chicken is very, very tender and will shred a little. Serve over noodles, rice or quinoa.

Here's what I was making on this date over the years:

2 years ago:  Shrimp and Cream Cheese Omelette

4 years ago:  Italian Wedding Soup with Turkey Meatballs 

Other Lazy Girl Crockpot Posts:
Chicken with Coconut, Lime & Peanut Sauce
Chicken Cacciatore
French Onion Pot Roast with Cheesy Toasts
Greek Pork and Garbanzo Stew
Hot Links, Red Beans and Rice
Salsa Chicken
Sesame Chicken
40 Clove Garlic Chicken
Black Bean Chili
Mamacita's Mexican Chicken and Dumplings
Tuscan Pot Roast
Lazy Girl Beef Barley Soup