Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Pasta

There is no denying that I have been on a mission, for several years now, to find the perfect recipe that comes even remotely close to Red Robin’s Sante Fe Chicken Pasta, which unfortunately they replaced it with Southwest Chicken Pasta and there is absolutely no comparison between the two, I’d rather have the original Sante Fe Chicken Pasta.

Sante Fe Chicken Pasta had a great kick to it, a creamy alfredo sauce with chipolte peppers, sweet red and green peppers. slivers of sautéed red onion served over a bed of penne pasta and grilled chicken breast on top – YUMMY!  Over the years I’ve tried several “Sante Fe” type recipes and they just don’t come close enough for me so, I keep trying.

When I found this recipe, Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Pasta, on Pinterest through allthecooks.com; http://www.allthecooks.com/crockpot-buffalo-chicken-pasta.html.  I did make just a few minor additions, I added sliced red, green and yellow peppers (half of each one) along with a small red onion slivered.  I tossed it in about an hour before dinner was scheduled to be ready.

I knew this wasn’t going to taste like the Sante Fe Chicken Pasta I was craving but it sure did look delicious and I was hoping that the buffalo wing hot sauce would give it enough of a kick for me.  I’m happy to say this recipe was quite delicious and easy to make.  Go ahead, give it a try.

CROCK POT BUFFALO CHICKEN PASTA

What You’ll Need:

1 pound ·  Chicken breasts, bite-sized pieces

1 can · Cream of chicken soup

½ cup · Hot sauce, like for buffalo wings

1 ½ cup · Shredded mozzarella cheese

½ cup · Crumbled blue cheese

Sliced red, green and yellow peppers

Sliced red onion – thin

3 cup · Uncooked penne pasta

1 ½ cup · Sour cream

Directions:

• Season chicken with salt and pepper and put in crock pot
• Add soup and hot sauce and stir
• Cook on low 4-6 hours or high 2-3 hours
• About an hour before adding the cheeses and sour cream add your onion and peppers
• Stir in cheeses and sour cream
• Turn off crock pot
• Cook pasta according to package directions – Drain.
• Add to crock pot
• Stir well and serve

Source:   allthecooks.com; http://www.allthecooks.com/crockpot-buffalo-chicken-pasta.html

Mongolian Beef – Slow Cooker Style

WoW, not only has Monday arrived on what seems like the heels of last Monday, it’s also the last Monday of September.  September seemed to fly by much quicker than I would have liked it to, the grandbabies just went back to school it can’t possibly be September 30 already….I’m not ready to slide into October!!

Working, even part-time, has attributed to the days just flying by.  When I was home full-time one day just kind of melted into the next but now that I’m out of the house six hours a day and hanging out with little Eric a few days a week before coming home I’m back on a schedule of sorts so as I check off things that need to get done and routine tasks time just flies by.

Fall and winter are not my favorite times of the year.  Now is the time I start my countdown to next spring with holidays; Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.  Come on…..let’s bring them on, celebrate and move on to the next.  January 1st the excitement increases, now it’s a down hill slide into Spring; slushing through Valentine’s Day,  breezing into Easter Sunday and Memorial Day until summer arrives once again, bringing warm temperatures, lots of color and time outside.

But, it is fall and with the changing of the seasons and temperatures comes heartier meals; soups, stews, sauces.  I pinned this Mongolian Beef recipe from the “Meet Penny” blog at http://www.meetpenny.com/2013/06/recipe-crock-pot-mongolian-beef/  while surfing on Pinterest.  I pinned it a while ago and kept passing it over all summer, waiting for the weather to get a little cooler and for Joshua’s flag football season to begin so that I could throw it into the crock pot and have a (hopefully) delicious meal when Walt and I got home.

I made this dish a few weeks ago and it was fantastic, Walt and I both loved it.  Of course I made a few minor little changes…

• Instead of using the London Broil or the beef tip roast I just used 2 lbs. of stew beef and the beef was amazingly tender*
• Instead of dry sherry I used a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water**
• I purchased already slivered carrot strips – next time I will slice the carrots, my thin carrot slivers got lost in the meat and the sauce, I’d rather have carrot slices that I can pick with a fork***
• I used ground ginger instead of fresh****

This was the perfect dish to come home to on a Sunday afternoon after a football game.  We walked through the door and the house smelled wonderful, I made rice (not instant) and we were ready to eat.  Give it a try, I bet you’ll love it too.

MONGOLIAN BEEF – SLOW COOKER STYLE

 What You’ll  Need:

1.5 – 2 lbs. Stew beef*

1/4 cup corn starch

1 medium onion thinly sliced

3-4 large carrots sliced thinly***

1/4 tsp. ground ginger****

2 cloves minced garlic

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar and 2 tbsp water to equal 1/4 cup (Replaced 1/4 cup dry sherry)**

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

• Toss beef strips/pieces in cornstarch and set aside
• Mix remaining ingredients in your crock pot and place beef over top (Don’t mix in sauce yet)
• Cover and cook for 6 to 8 hours
• Gently stir the beef into the sauce mixture and serve over rice

Source:  http://www.meetpenny.com/2013/06/recipe-crock-pot-mongolian-beef/

Slow Cooking On A Slow Sunday

After a bad start to the weekend, Friday was not a good day for me, the rest of the weekend was fantastic.  Saturday we celebrated Kaylee’s birthday with a party at their karate school which I am going to share in a separate post.  On Sunday we did absolutely nothing and it felt great!

The day wasn’t completely lazy.  I worked on my Sunday post, jotted down some ideas for my basket website which I am revamping, I put a pot roast in the slow cooker following a new recipe which I’ll share with you today and I chatted back and forth on Facebook with my niece Tiffany in California about recipes and spices.   It was a very relaxing day.

Today I’ll be running errands, picking up a few Christmas gifts and getting some things down around the house.  I have three little Christmas Candy bouquets to finish up for someone and a few gift baskets to make so I’ll be working on those too.

Yesterday I made Pepsi Cola Pot Roast.  This was a very tender pot roast and it is tasty.  I will admit that my favorite is still the Three Envelope Pot Roast.  I don’t know what I was hoping for, maybe a Pepsi cola taste or something so I felt that I was left looking for “something,” and even though it is tasty and super tender, it lacks the same great taste as the three envelope version.  I won’t say that I won’t make this again because I will.

Walt loved the roast but if we’re being completely honest here there isn’t much of anything that I make that my little pooh bear papa doesn’t love especially if it has anything to do with meat, mashed potatoes and gravy.  Meat, mashed potatoes and gravy are to Walt what honey is to Winnie the Pooh.

So today I’ll leave you with Pepsi Cola Pot Roast, if you try it let me know how it turns out.

Pepsi Cola Pot Roast

What You’ll Need:

1          3-4 lb. Beef Roast

1 Pkt.  McCormick Au Jus (Or Brown Gravy)

1 Pkt.  McCormick Slow Cooker Savory Pot Roast Seasoning

1 Cup  Water

1 Can   Pepsi (or Coke)

Directions

• Place roast in slow cooker
• Mix the packet of Slow Cooker Savory Pot Roast Seasoning with the water
• Pour over roast
• Add the can of Pepsi
• Sprinkle the Au Jus over the top
• Cook      Low:  8 Hours       High:  4-6 Hours