The last couple of weeks I have made it a point to make at least one of our weeknight meals in the crock pot. Sort of a little personal kitchen challenge I guess you could call it.

I found this recipe on Skinnytaste last week when I was working on this roundup of slow cooker chicken recipes for Babble. When I saw it I looked at the ingredients and knew that I would have to try it out on the family very soon. It’s a very simple and straightforward recipe, my favorite kind, and once everything is in the crock pot the only thing left to do is cook up some rice and you are good to go!

My husband LOVED this. My kids…eh, well, let’s just say, it was a little ambitious for them. They ate the chicken and the rice with some of the broth, but they were not excited about all the vegetables on their plate. Their veggies became my veggies, and I did not complain at all.

I highly recommend a splash or two of your favorite hot sauce for a little kick.

And because I didn’t change a thing to the recipe (that doesn’t happen very often with me!), I’m just going to send you directly to Skinnytaste to find the recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken a la Criolla (along with very helpful nutritional info!). If you haven’t been to Skinnytaste before, well, you are in for a treat because her blog is full of incredibly healthy deliciousness!

If you follow me on Facebook then you may remember me teasing you with some seriously delicious food that we were cooking up while in Montana with Bush’s Beans a couple of weeks ago. We spent an entire day cooking alongside chefs Jeffrey Saad and Connie Gutterson, learning new techniques and experimenting with new flavors, of course beans being the star ingredient.

(Photo Credit: Crackle Photograpy)

One of the recipes that I couldn’t get enough of is this Cumin Chicken with Black Bean Stuffing. No disrespect to the chicken, but I could seriously eat a huge bowl of this ‘stuffing’ on its own for dinner and be a happy camper. It is so good. It’s filled with all my favorite things…roasted peppers, spices, tortillas and black beans…a bowl full of goodness that gets even better after a squeeze of lime.

(Photo Credit: Crackle Photograpy)

The chicken is prepared so incredibly simple and delicious that I made it for my family within a few days of me getting home from my trip. I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and threw them on the grill and my husband and kids seriously inhaled it and asked for more. The chicken is seasoned very simply with salt and pepper and a little oil before grilled, then brushed with a brilliant 2-ingredient mixture of sweet agave syrup (or honey) and toasted cumin seeds. If you have never used whole cumin seeds before, this is the recipe to experiment with. You quickly toast them up in a dry skillet then add them to the agave (or honey) and voila…you have yourself something delicious.

(Photo Credit: Crackle Photograpy)

BUSH’S® Cumin Chicken with Black Bean Stuffing

Recipe created for BUSH’S® Beans exclusively by Chef Jeffrey Saad, culinary expert and television host of numerous food-and cooking-related shows.

Servings: 4 to 6

Preparation Time: 40 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients: Measure It

For Chicken:

5 pounds whole chicken

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 tablespoon cumin seed (note: toast seeds in warm skillet first until fragrant for additional flavor!)

3 tablespoons agave syrup or honey

For Stuffing:

1 each green pasilla chile*

1 each jalapeño pepper*

4 each corn tortillas (6 inch)

1 can (15 ounces) BUSH’S^® Black Beans or BUSH’S^® Reduced Sodium Black Beans, drained and rinsed

¼ cup chicken stock

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼  cup fresh cilantro, chopped

6 wedges lime

 Additional Supplies:

Aluminum foil

Grill pan

Directions:

1. Cleanout inside of chicken, rinse chicken inside and out with cold water. Pat dry with paper towel and cut chicken into pieces.
2. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and lightly cover with oil. Mix cumin seeds with agave syrup and set aside.
3. Set one side of clean, well-oiled grill to medium high heat and the other side to medium low heat. When grill is hot, using tongs, place chicken skin side down on hot side of grill until there are nice grill marks (about 5 minutes). Then flip chicken over (skin side up), place on cooler side of grill, close grill lid and let chicken cook (3-5 minutes for breast meat; 12 minutes for bone in leg/thigh meat).
4. In the last two minutes of cooking, brush cumin seeds and agave syrup on both sides of chicken and cook each side for one minute. Chicken is done when internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.
5. Remove chicken from grill and let rest at least 10 minutes before serving.
6. For Stuffing: Using metal tongs blacken chile and jalapeño peppers on the grill for 3 minutes per side. Place chile and jalapeño in small bowl, cover with foil tightly. Let sit for 10 minutes. Once cool, wipe skin off (do not rinse under water). Discard stems. Discard seeds (unless you want it spicier). Chop chile and jalapeño into ½-inch pieces. Set aside.
7. Using metal tongs, place tortillas on the grill for 30 seconds on each side or until slightly charred. Chop tortillas into ¾-inch strips.
8. Pour black beans in medium-sized grill-safe pan. Add chile, jalapeño, tortillas, chicken stock, paprika and ¼ teaspoon salt. Place the pan directly on the grill and heat just until mixture comes to a boil. Remove pan from heat and set aside to cool briefly.
9. Serve chicken with a side of black bean stuffing and garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

*Substitution: Use ½ cup canned roasted chiles in place of green pasilla chile and jalapeño pepper.

Note: this recipe was written for cooking on the grill, but of course a grill pan and skillet on the stove top will work just as well!

***************************************************************************************************

Bush’s Beans wants to share a little bean love with all of my wonderful readers by offering this giveaway. I know the cold months are coming and most of you probably won’t be able to grill outdoors so this awesome Staub Grill Pan might help out with that, don’t ya think? Good luck!

Giveaway:

Staub Grill Pan
Apron
Silpat
Bean Strainer
Recipes (made at the event)
Spices
Coupons for free cans of Bush’s Beans

Starts today, Wednesday, November 2 and ends Wednesday, November 9 at 12 noon (EST)

(Sorry, giveaway open to US readers only. Winner will be chosen randomly using Pick Giveaway Winner plugin application – winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to claim prize or another winner will be selected.)

To enter into the giveaway:

Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite way to cook with beans.

Additional Entries can be earned by:

(leave a separate comment after you complete each item, each comment will count as an entry)

1.  “Like” Bush’s Beans on Facebook.

2. “Like” Aggie’s Kitchen on Facebook. (if you already a fan, let me know, that counts as an entry!)

3. Follow @BushsBeans on Twitter

3. Follow @AggiesKitchen on Twitter (if you already follow, let me know, that counts as an entry!)

4.  Share about giveaway on Twitter: “I want to win a grill pan from @aggieskitchen and @bushsbeans http://tinyurl.com/6y9glcu!

5. Share about giveaway on Facebook with link to this post.

6. Subscribe to Aggie’s Kitchen RSS feed.

My friend Cheryl is also hosting this same giveaway…head over to Tidy Mom for more chances to win!

(and of course…I’m required to tell you…)

Disclaimer: Bush’s Beans paid for my trip to Montana but all opinions on this blog are and always will be my own.

One of my favorite go to dinners any night of the week. Flat Out pizzas. It’s one of those meals I can always count on. I can make them my way, their way, everyone’s way. And it’s not too much trouble either.

My latest Flat Out pizza creations are on Babble today. Have a great weekend!

One of my all time favorite dishes to make is Chicken Piccata.  I love pretty much every layer of flavor that goes into a dish like this…the salty capers, the freshness from the lemon juice, and of course the white wine and butter that just balances it all out.  The piccata sauce is so versatile in that it can pretty much be made with anything…for instance this Grouper Piccata.  I have had Shrimp Piccata on the brain for a while now too…and hope to get to cooking it in the near future.

A dish like this isn’t too hard to learn to make, and can be pretty impressive when having friends over for dinner.  Serve it with pretty steamed vegetables and a salad and you’ll feel really good about everything on your plate.

If you don’t have an open bottle of white wine hanging around (I’m not drinking much white right now for some reason…because it’s winter maybe?) Holland House White Cooking Wine is a great pantry staple to have around.  You can use it in pretty much any dish that calls for white wine such as my favorite Linguini with White Clam Sauce recipe or this Chicken with Artichokes dish.

If you need ideas on what to cook with vinegars and cooking wines visit Holland House’s website or Facebook page where you can find recipes, shop for vinegars and cooking wines or sign up for their SPLASH Recipe Club.

(Disclaimer:  Holland  House provided me with a generous sampling of products and compensation.  My opinions, as always, are my own.)

For some reason I find myself constantly ordering Greek salads when I go out to eat.  I think it started during our Friday night family outings to the local pizza place for a “night out” right after my little girl was born (this tradition, though less frequent, still exists by the way…same place, same night, same waitress, same food ordered…it’s “comfort”).  The family would order a nice greasy pepperoni pizza while I tried to be “good” and order a Greek salad with grilled chicken, dressing on the side.   My salad came out  as my meal and I just tried to ignore the ooey gooey cheesy pizza on the table.  I did treat myself with my son’s pizza crust each time as a reward though.  And not that I didn’t enjoy every minute of eating my yummy salad full of almost-every-single-thing-that-I-love-in-the-world-foodwise (garlic, tomatoes, peppers, onions, olives, feta cheese…)…I mean really, what’s not to love about Greek salad?

I made this dinner the other night for a sweet friend of mine who gave birth to a precious baby boy a little over a week ago.  I wanted to bring her a nice dinner salad, one that could be easily eaten at any time and one that filled you up.  Greek salad with grilled chicken immediately came to my mind…and now after writing this I am almost wondering if there was a subconscious connection to the whole “new baby thing” … hmmm.

Whatever the reason, I made one for my friend and I made one for us.  I started by making a good size batch of my homemade version of Greek dressing.  I marinated some of the chicken breast in that same dressing before cooking on the grill.  Lots of therapeutic chopping later…dinner.

(don’t forget to shake shake shake…)

Greek Salad Dressing
Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

(printable recipe)

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves pressed or minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
pinch of dried thyme
big pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper

Combine lemon juice, vinegar, oregano, thyme and salt and pepper in bowl.  Using a whisk, slowly stream in olive oil and whisk into vinegar mixture.  You will see it thicken up a bit (emulsifying) while combining.  Store in a jar with a tight lid in the refrigerator after using.  Always give the dressing jar a couple of shakes before serving.  In my opinion, best at room temperature, so take it out a few minutes before using.
For the salad, any, some, or all of the following:

chopped romaine lettuce
chopped green and red peppers
chopped cucumbers
chopped tomatoes
sliced red onion
feta cheese, cubed or crumbled
peperoncini
kalamata olives
cooked and sliced grilled chicken (or shrimp), marinated in Greek Salad Dressing

Make it look as pretty or messy as you want to be. Layer it nicely on a plate for presentation or toss it all in a bowl and mix it up if that’s what you are in the mood for.

Serve with Greek Salad Dressing and this quick focaccia bread.

Enjoy.

PS…I’m also over at Reluctant Entertainer today featuring my super easy and fun Grilled Banana Boats! Go check it out!

Here’s the recipe a lot of you have been asking me for…

After getting back from my trip to Napa, I couldn’t wait to make this chili for my family.  I convinced my children to try it using an idea I got from my new friend Connie Gutterson…she asks her kids to rate some of the recipes she makes for them…my son totally bought into the “rating game” and ate a nice bowl himself.  My daughter, she didn’t care so much about the rating part, she just dove in and gobbled up her share.  I had to restrain myself from showing too much excitement so they wouldn’t get suspicious…

Sammy (age 5) rates this “5 spoons” and “3 thumbs up”!

I added a little quinoa to the chili to make it even more nutritious.  My kids think of quinoa as “rice”…whatever works right?!

Another tip I learned from Connie…Be sure to “fry” your sauce before adding in the liquids.  What that means is cooking down the roasted pepper and tomatillo puree in a little olive oil along with the onions and garlic until it “pulls away from the pan”…doing this enhances the flavor by concentrating and thickening up the sauce a bit.

Enjoy!

(Oh…and to keep things on the up and up here’s a little disclaimer…Bush Beans covered the costs of my trip but does not pay me to say nice things about them.)

Bush’s White Bean Chile Verde with Sonoma Pesto
Recipe created for Bush Beans by Connie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D., nutrition instructor at The Culinary Institute of America, mom and author of “The Sonoma Diet.”

(Printable Recipe)

1 lb tomatillos
1/2 lb poblano chiles
2 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups finely chopped yellow onion
1 TB minced garlic
1 tsp Mexican oregano (use regular oregano if you don’t have Mexican)
3 cups chicken stock
2 cans (15.5 oz) BUSH’s Cannellini Beans, with liquid
2 TB chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
4 cups chard, stemmed, cut 1 inch wide strips
salt and pepper, to taste

* Optional Toppings
Salsa Verde (purchased)
Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt
Sonoma Pesto (see recipe below)

1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400°F.
2. Place tomatillos and poblano chiles on sheet pan. Roast in oven until peppers have blistered and tomatillos are soft. Remove from oven. Place tomatillos in blender. Once poblanos are cool enough to handle, remove seeds and skins. Add to blender, blend until smooth.
3. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan. Add onions, cook until caramelized, approximately 5 minutes. Add garlic and oregano, cook until aromatic.
4. Add tomatillo mixture, cook for 10 minutes until slightly thickened.
5. Add stock, beans and their liquid. Bring to simmer, cook for 20 minutes.
6. Add cilantro, chicken and chard. Bring to a simmer, cook for 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Sonoma Pesto

1 bunch fresh cilantro
1 serrano chile
1 tablespoon pine nuts or peanuts
1 clove garlic
2 ounces olive oil
zest and juice from 1 lime
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all pesto ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Drizzle the pesto on top of the chile verde and finish with salsa verde, as desired.

My slow cooker has been a huge help lately.  I’m really trying to use it on days where I know I’ll be in and out of the house and won’t be able to really spend a lot of time preparing any kind of dinner.  I’ve been asking around Facebook for your favorite crock-pot recipes and one of my friends mentioned shredded barbecue chicken.  Sounded good to me.

On Saturday as I was getting ready to throw everything in the crock-pot I realized that I didn’t have any “regular” barbecue sauce in the pantry.  That is seriously unlike me, since I tend to stock up on sauces in a ridiculous kind of way.  I did however have a “gourmet” Guava Barbecue sauce that I always pictured over chicken on the grill in some nice warm weather…I guess I thought it might be in a way “too good” for the crock-pot.  Well…I got over that real quick and opened the bottle.  With a little spontaneous creativity I added an almost empty box of raisins and sliced onion to the chicken and sauce and plugged it all in…and hoped for the best.

Well let me tell you, the best it was.  It turned out so good!  We ate it on sandwiches that night, but I’ve been eating the leftovers cold on a salad for the last two days for lunch.  That night I paired it up with another “on the fly” creation…shredded romaine, shredded carrots, thin sliced jalapenos and leftover poppy seed dressing from my recent Spinach and Orzo salad.  The sweetness from the chicken paired up very nicely with the spicy/sweet from the salad…will definitely be making this one again!

Slow Cooker Island BBQ Chicken
Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

2lbs skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle of barbecue sauce (preferably a fruity one i.e. guava, mango or papaya.  I used Tom’s Guava BBQ Sauce found at Fresh Market, check your specialty markets or grocery stores for similar products) —- (see edit note below)
2 splashes balsamic vinegar
medium onion, sliced thin
1/4 cup raisins
salt and pepper, to taste
your favorite sandwich buns (I used Arnold’s Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins)

Place chicken breasts into slow cooker and sprinkle salt and pepper to both sides. Add sliced onion and raisins. Pour 3/4 bottle of barbecue sauce and 2 splashes balsamic vinegar over chicken and combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. When cooking is complete, take 2 forks and gently pull apart chicken breasts. Take remainder of barbecue sauce and pour over chicken and combine. I like to add a little water to the bottle and swirl to pick up any leftover sauce and add that as well. Let shredded chicken sit in crock-pot uncovered for about 15 minutes to warm up in additional sauce. Add shredded chicken to your favorite sandwich bun and enjoy!

Edited to note:  If you are unable to find “fruity” barbecue sauce (like I was unable to today), try adding a couple of teaspoons of mango chutney and/or fruit preserves.  I added mango chutney to sweeten up the sauce and give it a little something something from the tropics. 

Spicy Slaw Salad
Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

1 heart of romaine, shredded thin
1-2 carrots, shredded
1 jalapeno, quartered lengthwise and sliced very thin
Jamie’s Poppy Seed dressing

Combine salad ingredients and gently toss with dressing.

I’m a big lunch person…and what I mean by that is that a few slices of turkey between two slices of bread usually doesn’t cut it for me.  I enjoy having a good lunch…I usually work out in the mornings so let’s just say I have a nice appetite right around lunch time.  I play with different salad ideas a lot because it’s so easy to prepare for them if you take the time to think ahead (precut veggies, bagged lettuces, leftover roasted veggies, crumbled cheese and deli meats…ideas are endless).  And once I find a salad I like, it usually makes an appearance more than once a week.

This recipe for chicken salad caught my eye over the holiday break.  I found it in the Home Cooking The Costco Way cookbook that Costco gives out at their stores usually once a year.  My sister in law Paula is nice enough to pick one up for me each time, and I’m so thankful for that because the three Costco cookbooks I have are full of great recipes!  Most of the recipes include products they carry but can easily be substituted with similar products if unavailable.

I liked this chicken salad…I’m a big fan of hummus and not so much a big fan of mayo so this recipe really worked for me.  I used leftover rotisserie chicken from the deli and Sabra Lemon Hummus.  I also squeezed additional lemon for dressing over my plate since I was eating it more as an entree salad.  The photo in the book suggests serving the Hummus Chicken Salad in lettuce cups or wraps, which looked delicious.  This recipe makes 4 servings so store it in some tupperware in your fridge for an easy lunch or light dinner!

Hummus Chicken Salad
Recipe from Home Cooking The Costco Way

(Printable Recipe)

1/2 cup Sabra Hummus (or your favorite hummus, though I love Sabra!!)
2 tablespoons finely diced celery
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped red bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
1 cup cubed grilled chicken breast (or any leftover chicken)
1 tablespoon water (I omitted this, instead used lemon juice)
Bread or salad greens, for serving

In a large bowl, stir hummus, celery, green onions, bell pepper, salt and a sprinkling of pepper.

Add chicken and water (or lemon) and stir until mixed thoroughly.

Serve with bread or over your favorite salad greens.

Makes 4 servings.

Also last week the Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club met up sharing delicious Soups and Stews.  I unfortunately was unable to participate due to too much traveling and not having it together but I didn’t want you to miss out on what the ladies cooked up!  Here’s what was on the menu: