Remember when I shared with you that you could cook a few different meals from roasting a chicken in the crock pot? The first night you could serve your family a more healthy version of Chicken Chimichangas that are baked instead of fried. For something a little lighter you could serve BBQ Chicken Tostadas with Corn Salsa. Then another night you could have BBQ Chicken Sliders or Chicken Salad with a Tropical Peanut Dressing. The possibilities are endless.  And when you’re done with roasting your chicken in the crock pot, don’t throw out any of the drippings. You can make homemade chicken broth and use the broth in soup or when you’re making dishes like brown rice or quinoa.

I’m starting to keep a ziplock freezer bag with any vegetable scraps storing them in my freezer until I’m ready to make chicken stock and just pull them out and pop them into the crock pot or stock pot if I’m making chicken stock on the stove. If you don’t have a large chicken, you can toss the chicken bones or carcass into the freezer bag too until you have enough for a big batch. Easy peasey!

I highly recommend using the leftovers from “The Best Roasted Chicken in the Crock Pot” recipe, but any chicken bones will do, and you’ll be amazed with the outcome. Get ready to say goodbye to that canned chicken broth forever!

These crispy Ranch chicken tenders are baked instead of fried, but they’re just as tasty!

Chicken strips are simply a crowd pleaser and no matter how often I make them, the family gobbles them up quickly. As delicious as they are, I’ve adapted my way of cooking them in that deep fry oil to a much healthier way by baking them. They are just as juicy, tasty and crispy. Hope your family enjoys the recipe as much as we do.

Crispy Baked Ranch Chicken Tenders

Serves: 4 to 6

Ingredients:

• 2 packages boneless, skinless chicken tenders (usually 3 to 4 boneless chicken breasts)
• 2 cups Homemade Bread Crumbs (I grind up my homemade croutons in the food processor)
• 1 cup Ranch dressing (I make my own, but you could use bottled as well)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Pour some ranch dressing on a plate (or in a bowl).  Pour bread crumbs in a shallow bowl.
3. Dip chicken in the dressing and then coat in the bread crumbs, and place on a baking sheet.
4. Continue until all tenders have been breaded.
5. Bake in the oven for thirty minutes, until the internal temperature of the tenders is 165 degrees F.
6. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce: Ranch dressing, BBQ sauce or Honey Mustard Sauce (recipe below) Yum!

Honey Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/2  cup Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. The sauce can be held in the refrigerator for 1 week.

Happy Friday! Can you actually believe it’s March already? And spring is just around the corner! Yay! That means beautiful Spring flowers and we can get a much earlier start on our garden. I realize I haven’t shared a Friday Family Favorites recipe with you in a while mainly because I fell off my blogging schedule from recipe writing. So, with absolutely NO excuse this week, I’m sharing another one of our family favorite recipes that I haven’t made in awhile.

This is another burrito type recipe my family enjoys. Usually Chimichangas are deep fried, however we like our baked which is a little healthier. I like how versatile this recipe is. You can use beef, pork or chicken or for a more veggie style, use just fresh vegetables and rice. These Chimichangas are fast, easy and delicious!

Here’s a delicious way to enjoy Chimichangas without all the mess from deep-frying.

Baked Chicken Chimichangas

Makes: 10 (depending on size of tortilla you use)

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 (7-ounce) can diced green chiles
• 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 package taco seasoning (I used my Homemade Taco Seasoning)
• 1 (15-ounce) can refried beans (I used my Homemade Refried Beans)
• 10 burrito-size flour tortillas
• 2 to 3 cups shredded cheese (depending on how much cheese you like)
• 1 jar salsa verde
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• Toppings of your choice: sour cream, tomatoes, cilantro, avocado, etc

Directions:

1. In large skillet, add shredded chicken, onions, green chiles, tomato sauce, water, and taco seasoning packet. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer for about 8 minutes, or until thickened. Stir in refried beans.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a rimmed baking pan with parchment paper or foil (spray foil with non stick spray). Spoon about 1/3 cup meat mixture onto tortilla. Top with shredded cheese, and 1 tablespoon of salsa verde. You could use red salsa here, whatever you prefer. Fold up the four sides of the tortilla (see pictures), and place seam side down on prepared baking sheet. Brush lightly with vegetable oil.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with toppings and enjoy!

Enjoy your Friday with the family!

I can’t remember the last time we ordered our favorite take-out chicken dishes from a Chinese restaurant. Going out to eat never really seems to cross our minds. We’ve become so adapted to the life of  having a meal plan , that it’s been so easy to make our meals right at home. You’ll be surprised just how easy it is to make those meals you order from the take-out menu. Like this easy Crock Pot Sesame Garlic Chicken recipe I’m sharing with you today.

Crock Pot Sesame Garlic Chicken

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup honey
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice, reserve pineapple slices for garnish (optional)
• 4 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 6 Tablespoons water

Directions:

1. Season chicken breasts lightly with salt and pepper and place chicken in crock pot.
2. In a small mixing bowl, mix together honey, onion, soy sauce, ketchup, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and pineapple juice.
3. Pour sauce mixture over chicken.
4. Put lid on crock pot and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or until chicken is cooked through. (Crock Pot times vary depending on your crock pot.)
5. Remove chicken from crock pot with a slotted spoon.
6. In a small bowl, add cornstarch to water, mix and pour into crock pot. Turn crock pot onto HIGH and let sauce thicken.
7. Shred chicken by using two forks to pull apart. Return chicken to crock pot and toss with sauce before serving.
8. Sprinkle chicken with sesame seeds over rice, noodles and serve with broccoli (my fave) or your favorite vegetables. garnish with pineapple slices.

One of the easiest recipes I make from scratch is chicken stock. Every time we have a whole chicken for dinner, I save the bones, skin, and strain the drippings for a wonderful flavorful broth or stock to use in soups, casseroles, rice dishes, etc.

Do you see what’s missing? I took the picture before I chopped the onion. It happens. Now on with the recipe.  Making your own chicken stock is easy and very frugal. Sometimes, I can’t always find a good deal on the stocks in the store and why buy them when you could make your own without letting good food go to waste. And besides, using your own broth is much more flavorful in my opinion.

(I eventually did throw the roughly chopped onion in the pot before I turned the burner on.)

I usually freeze my broth in labeled zip loc freezer bags and lay them flat in my freezer. This way they lay flat and don’t take up a whole lot of room in my freezer. Now that we’re down to just one freezer, I can’t afford to waste any freezer space. I always do several  4 cup bags and a few 1 cup bags so I can just pull what’s needed and not let any stock go to waste.

Homemade Chicken Stock

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken or 2 to 3 pounds bony chicken parts
• 2 Tablespoons vinegar
• 2 carrots, peeled and coursely chopped
• 3 celery sticks with leaves, coursely chopped
• 1 large onion, coursely chopped
• 4 quarts cold water
• 1 Tablespoon parsley

Directions:

1. Place chicken pieces in a large stainless steel pot with water, vinegar and all vegetables except parsley
2. Let stand 30 minutes to an hour
3. Bring to a boil, and remove scum that rises to the top
4. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 6 to 24 hours
5. The longer you cook the stock, the richer and more flavorful it will be
6. About 10 minutes before finishing the stock, add the parsley
7. Remove chicken pieces with slotted spoon
8. Strain the stock into a large bowl and put in the fridge till the fat rises to the top and congeals
9. Skim off this fat and reserve the stock in covered containers in your fridge or freezer

Family Home Remedy Tip: Did you know that chicken stock heals the nerves, improves digestion, reduces allergies, relaxes and gives strength?