Loaded Chicken and Potato Skillet

This recipe is similar to the Loaded Baked Potato Casserole recipe we’ve already made but it doesn’t require you to turn on your oven. Always a plus in the hot summer months!

Loaded Chicken and Potato Skillet

Ingredients

• 3 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed
• 4 strips of bacon, cooked & crumbled
• 2 chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• Season Salt
• salt & pepper
• 2 cups cheddar, shredded
• Optional Toppings
  • sour cream
  • green onions

Directions

1. While bacon cooks, peel and cube potatoes. Boil on stove and remove from heat when cooked {soft & mushy}.
2. In a large skillet, cook chicken until brown on both sides and no more pink inside.  Remove from heat & cut into cubes.
3. In the same skillet, heat olive oil and add peppers.
4. Add potatoes to the pepper mix, sprinkle with season salt and onion powder and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
5. Add chicken, salt and pepper, bacon, and cheese.
6. Cover the skillet with a lid and remove when cheese is melted.
7. Top with optional sour cream and green onions and enjoy!

Thanks to Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour for this great recipe!

Egg and Bacon Breakfast Wreath

Ingredients

• 1 can of Pillsbury Crescent rolls 8 count
• 5 large eggs
• 1 cup of shredded Colby and monterey jack cheese
• 8 slices of bacon, cooked

Directions

1. Cook the bacon
2. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.  Scramble the eggs on the stove according to your preference.
3. Lay out crescents on a parchment lined pizza pan as shown above.
4. Add the cooked bacon
5. Then, layer 1/3 of the cheese, your scrambled eggs, and another 1/3 of your cheese.
6. Fold creasents over towards the middle
7. Top with the remaining cheese and bake for 17 minutes or until the cresants are golden brown.

 

Photo and recipe source: Bacon Time with the Hungry Hypo 

Easy Ham and Cheese Quiche

• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• salt
• pepper
• 1 cup chopped cooked ham
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 9″ unbaked pie shell (or make your own crust!)

Directions:

1 Beat eggs with milk, onion powder, salt and pepper in bowl.
2 Add ham and cheese.
3 Pour into pie shell.
4 Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
5 Let stand for several minutes before serving.

Find the original recipe here.

Helpful Tip Tuesday: Green Smoothie Packs

Remember last week I hinted that you can even freeze fresh spinach? You can! Just put it in a ziploc bag and get as much air out of it as possible to minimize frost bite. You won’t be able to use it in anything like salads but it is perfect to use in any dish you cook (or that you wilt the leaves) and for green smoothies!

A little more than a year ago, I started making green smoothies for lunch each day for me and my son. A perfect, delicious way to get in your vegetables! I’d buy the fruit for cheap at Superstition Ranch Market, chop and freeze them and then use it for smoothies. BUT each day, I’d pull out the bag of bananas, the bag of strawberries, the bag of blue berries, the fresh spinach, etc. It took a lot of time when you have  a starving toddler pulling at your clothes saying, “Mom I’m hungry!!”

“Light bulb!” (please go back and say it like Gru in “Despicable Me” 😉 )
Why don’t I just freeze everything together in individual packs?!?!

I’ve made up several smoothie packs and they work GREAT!

A couple of tips:

• Cut up all of your fruit in small pieces so it’s easier on your blender
• Add more liquid than normal so it blends easier
• Get as much air out of the bag as possible before you freeze it to reduce frost bite

I just use the sandwich sized bags and it’s perfect for me and my son.

It isn’t exact science! I put in 2 handfuls of spinach, 1.5 ripe bananas, and then about 1 cup of other fruit chopped up.

Here are some of my favorite combinations:

• Spinach, banana, strawberry and blue berries
• Spinach, banana, strawberry, and pineapple
• Spinach, banana, strawberry, blue berries and pineapple
• Spinach, banana, strawberry with orange juice (added when you blend it)
•  Spinach, banana, and mixed berries

When it’s time for lunch, I pull out a pack from the freezer. Put vanilla yogurt and your other choice of liquid (milk, water, juice) in the blender first. Break apart the frozen pack into the blender. Pulse the blender a few times and then let it blend up! If it’s too thick just add more liquid.

It is a quick and easy meal plus a delicious way to eat spinach that even a 2 year old will love!

 

 

Fabulous Friday: Coconut Quinoa Granola

Last week I had about an hour to kill before my 2-year old’s bedtime. So I decided we’d try to make a new granola recipe. I had already started the process only to realize I was out of brown sugar. Shoot. Well thank goodness for google and I found a recipe on how to make your own brown sugar. With only that minor setback, the granola creation was a success! This granola turned out to be the perfect snack, breakfast, yogurt topper, and more. Even though it made  almost 10 cups, we had it devoured in less than a week. It is just so good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coconut Quinoa Granola

• 3/4 cup oil
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 6 cups oats
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup quinoa (optional)
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
• 1 cup craisins or raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray and set aside.
3. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine oil, honey, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  Stir occasionally.
4. While that is heating, in a large bowl mix together the oats, coconut, quinoa, and nuts.
5. When the sugar is dissolved and it is almost to a boil, pour the hot mixture into the large bowl and stir until oats are completely coated.
6. Spread the granola out on the 2 pans.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes make sure to stir every 10 minutes and rotate the pans between your oven racks as well.