Tag: Main Meals

Ridiculously Easy Chicken Tacos (Crockpot Recipe)

chicken-taco

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Typically, the best things in life are free.

My son’s infectious laughter
The beautiful bond between my husband and my daughter.

Or close to free.

In many cases, at least pretty darn cheap.

However, sometimes the best things in life cost a lot of money and are worth every single penny (a vacation or two come to mind!).

Lucky for you, this recipe falls into the “pretty darn cheap” category.

3 ingredients + 1 crockpot= delicious dinner your family will rave about!

Plus, unless you have a very large family…this recipe easily makes enough chicken for TWO meals. (you could use the leftover meat to make baked taquitos!)

Which makes it practically a freebie, right? 😉

Enjoy!

Ridiculously Easy Chicken Taco Crockpot Recipe

Ingredients: 

  • 3-4 large bone in chicken breasts (or you can use boneless skinless chicken breasts…I just had some frozen bone in chicken breasts in the freezer!)
  • 1 packet of taco seasoning (or make your own homemade taco seasoning) *If you are sensitive to salt, look for a lower sodium taco seasoning packet*
  • 1 jar of your favorite salsa

Directions:

  1. Throw all the ingredients into your crockpot and turn on low for 8-10 hours (less if using boneless chicken).
  2. If you use bone in chicken, take it out and shred it (around 30 minutes before you plan to eat) and return it to the juices for another 30 minutes or so.
  3. Serve with your favorite taco fixings!

Enjoy!

Ridiculously Easy Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
  • 3-4 large bone in chicken breasts (or you can use boneless skinless chicken breasts…I just had some frozen bone in chicken breasts in the freezer!)
  • 1 packet of taco seasoning (or make your own)
  • 1 jar of your favorite salsa
Instructions
  1. Throw all the ingredients into your crockpot and turn on low for 8-10 hours (less if using boneless chicken).
  2. If you use bone in chicken, take it out and shred it (around 30 minutes before you plan to eat) and return it to the juices for another 30 minutes or so.
  3. Serve with your favorite taco fixings!
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Find more family friendly recipes here: 

Chicken with Rice: A One Pot Meal

Pecan Pie Bites

Cheesy Ground Beef Bean Dip

Easy Weeknight Lasagna

My Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

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This might seem like an ODD time of year to post a recipe for Chicken Noodle Soup.

It’s July after all, and hot soup is the last thing on our minds most days.

Until that summer cold comes along and knocks us out.

We moved last month and the mixture of moving, swimming, going on playdates, etc made for excellent “getting sick” conditions in my family. In fact, my husband is STILL battling his cold.

So last week, I set to work on making a big huge pot of my yummy Homemade Chicken Noodle soup!

This soup is fabulous. The secret is a bit of a shortcut I stumbled on by accident a couple of years ago.

You START with an already cooked rotisserie chicken from the supermarket.

Now you don’t HAVE to go this route. You can just purchase your own whole chicken, but I really do recommend you roast it and season it first. Something about that already cooked chicken makes this broth AMAZING.

You might not have a need to make this homemade Chicken Noodle Soup this summer, but bookmark it for the fall. Because you’ll want to make it (sick or not) once the weather cools off!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

Broth

  • Rotisserie Chicken
  • 1 Onion cut into chunks
  • 2 carrots cut into large chunks
  • 4 stalks of celery cut into chunks
  • About 6 cups of water (more if your chicken is pretty big. You want the water to cover the chicken just about)
  • 4 chicken bouillon cubes (optional, it does make the broth a lot saltier…we like it that way though!)
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • poultry seasoning (I usually do about a heaping tablespoon. I use Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning Blends ~ Poultry Magic, 2-Ounce Bottle)

Soup

  • Chicken picked off rotisserie chicken
  • diced onion
  • diced carrot
  • diced celery
  • Amish Kitchen Wide Egg Noodles (you can use any  noodles, these just make the soup extra special to me)

Directions: 

  1. Go ahead and pick the chicken off the rotisserie chicken and set it aside. I like to cut it into bite sized chunks.
  2. Fill your pot with all of the ingredients for the broth and bring to a boil.
  3. Bring down to a simmer and let simmer until the chicken carcass falls apart easily.
  4. Using a large colander, go ahead and strain your broth into another pot. Be careful, you can easily burn yourself.
  5. You can either throw away what remains or find some way to make use of it. (I typically pick out any chicken that fell off the bones and use that in the soup and then throw the rest away).
  6. Now you’ll want to put your diced veggies into the soup. Use as much as you want. Depending on how you want your broth to veggie ratio to be. If I’m sick with a sore throat, I tend to want minimal veggies/more broth. If I am looking to be filled up, I use more veggies.
  7. Simmer until the veggies are soft, then add in chicken and noodles. Bring to a boil and then let simmer once again until noodles are soft.
  8. You might want to season a bit more at this point. You can control the salt in this soup by adding more or less, but chicken soup is always slightly on the salty side so keep that in mind for maximum flavor.
  9. Serve!

I hope you enjoy this fabulous soup. I know I do!

My Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
Ingredients
  • Broth
  • Rotisserie Chicken
  • 1 Onion cut into chunks
  • 2 carrots cut into large chunks
  • 4 stalks of celery cut into chunks
  • About 6 cups of water (more if your chicken is pretty big)
  • 4 chicken bouillon cubes
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • poultry seasoning (I usually do about a heaping tablespoon. I use Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning Blends ~ Poultry Magic, 2-Ounce Bottle)
  • Soup
  • Chicken picked off rotisserie chicken
  • diced onion
  • diced carrot
  • diced celery
  • Amish Kitchen Wide Egg Noodles (you can use any noodles, these just make the soup extra special to me)
Instructions
  1. Go ahead and pick the chicken off the rotisserie chicken and set it aside. I like to cut it into bite sized chunks.
  2. Fill your pot with all of the ingredients for the broth and bring to a boil.
  3. Bring down to a simmer and let simmer until the chicken carcass falls apart easily.
  4. Using a large colander, go ahead and strain your broth into another pot. Be careful, you can easily burn yourself.
  5. You can either throw away what remains or find some way to make use of it. (I typically pick out any chicken that fell off the bones and use that in the soup and then throw the rest away).
  6. Now you’ll want to put your diced veggies into the soup. Use as much as you want. Depending on how you want your broth to veggie ratio to be. If I’m sick with a sore throat, I tend to want minimal veggies/more broth. If I am looking to be filled up, I use more veggies.
  7. Simmer until the veggies are soft, then add in chicken and noodles. Bring to a boil and then let simmer once again until noodles are soft.
  8. You might want to season a bit more at this point. You can control the salt in this soup by adding more or less, but chicken soup is always slightly on the salty side so keep that in mind for maximum flavor.
  9. Serve!
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Chicken with Rice: A One Pot Frugal Family Meal!

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I love to try to recreate dishes I had as a child/teen from scratch.

Never really knowing if I have the ingredients correct or not, I tend to go on taste alone.

This is one of those dishes that I’m pretty sure I’m not recreating authentically…but it doesn’t really matter because it tastes so darn good.

Plus it’s a rather frugal meal that can feed a large group for very little cash.

Essentially, this dish can be made from a cheap pack of chicken thighs, some chicken broth, some peppers and some rice.

Under $10 for a huge pot that could feed a large gathering/family, or split the meal and have some for tomorrow’s lunch.

My chicken with rice might not be authentic Arroz Con Pollo…but it does taste muy yummy!

Chicken with Rice

Ingredients:

  • 1 pack of chicken thighs (10 chicken thighs)
  • 2 cups of white rice
  • 4 cups of chicken broth
  • 3 multicolored bell peppers diced
  • 1 large onion diced
  • olive oil
  • 2 packages Sazon (purchase here or make your own Sazon from ingredients you likely already have on hand)
  • salt & pepper to taste

Directions: 

Heat a small bit of olive oil in a deep pot (this pot is going to need to hold 4 cups of chicken broth, rice, and chicken and it’s going to need a lid…plan accordingly!)

Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper (I like to use kosher salt)

Start cooking chicken skin side down. Cook each side about 5-8 minutes. (NOTE: You can remove chicken skin after cooking. We are going to use the fat that renders off of the chicken skin to cook our veggies though, so at least cook it with the skin and than remove before the next step)

Place cooked chicken in a closed container (it’s okay and actually preferable if it is NOT cooked through. It will finish cooking later).

Add diced veggies to your pot and season with salt and pepper. Cook until slightly browned and tender. Add your sazon packages or two servings of your homemade Sazon.

Add rice to your pot and stir around to “brown” the rice for just a few minutes. This gives the finished rice a bit more of a “toasty” flavor.

Pour the chicken broth in the pot and add the chicken back in. Bring to a slight boil then cover and reduce heat to a simmer.

Cook until rice is tender and chicken is cooked through. This can vary based on the heat you use, your pot, etc. For me it’s generally around 20-30 minutes. Just keep your eye on it and stir it every 5-10 minutes.

Allow to sit off the heat for around 10 minutes to let the rice fluff.

Enjoy!

Find more recipes here.

Kid-Friendly Weeknight Recipe: Asian-Style Crusted Chicken

Guest Post by Meredith

Are you interested in guest posting on Family Friendly Frugality? Please email me heather @ familyfriendlyfrugality.com

If you have picky eaters in your family, a couple things are probably true. First of all, you probably have a lot of boneless chicken breasts in your freezer since they can be used in so many different meals, and secondly, you probably end up repeating the same meals over and over again. If you’re stuck in a recipe rut because of picky kids, try bringing them into the kitchen to help cook. Kids who help make what’s for dinner will be much more likely to eat—or at least try!—an unfamiliar dish, and it can serve as quality family bonding time, too!

This Asian-Style Crusted Chicken is a great go-to weeknight meal that your kids will love helping out with. It has a lot going for it in the kid-friendly department: it resembles chicken fingers, involves dipping sauce and—here’s the best part—popcorn is one of the main ingredients! Kids will love helping to crumble up the popcorn for the chicken coating and will be excited to be eating a dinner made with a movie-theater treat.

At just 325 calories per three piece serving, though, you can feel good about serving your family a nutritious, good-for-you meal. Because the chicken is dipped in an egg substitute mixture rather than shell eggs, this dish is lower in fat and calories than many other breaded chicken recipes. This is also one of those easy recipes for dinner where you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry already—try it out and watch it work itself into your weeknight dinner rotation!

Asian-Style Crusted Chicken

Prep Time: 20 min

Total Time: 30 min

Serves 4 (3 pieces each)

Calories: 325

Ingredients:

  • PAM® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
  • 2 cups popped Orville Redenbacher’s® Smart Pop!® Butter Microwave Popcorn, crushed into
  • crumbs
  • 1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup Egg Beaters® Original
  • 1 teaspoon La Choy® Soy Sauce
  • 12 boneless skinless chicken breast tenders (12 tenders = 1 lb)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup La Choy® Sweet and Sour Sauce

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375°. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set it aside.
  2. Combine popcorn crumbs and peanuts in a shallow dish; set aside. Whisk together Egg Beaters and soy sauce in another shallow dish. Tip: For an easy way to crush your popcorn, place popped popcorn in a gallon resealable bag and crush it with a rolling pin.
  3. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Dip each tender in the Egg Beaters mixture, then roll in the popcorn mixture. Place coated tenders on your baking sheet.
  4. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn tenders over. Bake for 5 more minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the centers. Serve with sweet and sour sauce for dipping. Enjoy!

Author Bio: This is a guest post by Meredith K. on behalf of ReadySetEat. For more easy chicken recipes and other quick weeknight dinner ideas, visit www.readyseteat.com.

Scratch Made Chicken and Dumplings Recipe – A Southern Mom

I told you yesterday when I posted the homemade cream of chicken soup recipe that you could use it in a recipe I would post today.

Well here’s the recipe! From Scratch Chicken and Dumplings. You will LOVE it!

You can make it on the stove or if you have a working slow cooker (I do not, you can read more about that after the recipe!) you can make it in your slow cooker!

——> From Scratch Chicken and Dumplings

Check Out My Enchilada Casserole Recipe!

Who here loves Enchiladas!?

Here’s a quick and easy weeknight enchilada casserole that uses an unusual ingredient!

I think you’ll love it! We do!

Click here to check out my Enchilada Casserole recipe. 

Enjoy!

A New Chicken Alfredo Pizza Recipe PLUS A New Website Announcement!

I’m starting something a bit new! From now on, the majority of recipes, crafts and tutorials will be posted on my new blog “A Southern Mom“.

The reason for this is that Family Friendly Frugality has always been very deal focused. That’s great because I love great deals!

That said, I work really hard on the tutorials, recipes and crafting posts but they get lost in the shuffle here on FFF really easily.  Spending 6 hours on a post only to have it buried by deal posts that take 20 minutes is a bit frustrating at times! I don’t want to stop the deals though, so I’m splitting the blog apart!

Even though other bloggers think I’m insane for trying to do the whole 2 blog thing (and they are most definitely RIGHT! 😉 ) …I’m going to give it a go.

Today I posted the following recipes on A Southern Mom:

My Pizza Dough Recipe

and

Chicken Alfredo Veggie Pizza Recipe (Practically Health Food)

I have a basic sewing series coming up on A Southern Mom soon and plenty of recipes to post as well!

I hope you’ll join me over on A Southern Mom, but I know it can be tough to keep up with so many blogs. I will post a link to any new posts on A Southern Mom here on Family Friendly Frugality from now on (or at least for the time being). 6WWE-D26KSH-2X5S

I want to give a big shout out to Laura at Thrifty Wifey for doing the design of A Southern Mom. She’s awesome and so easy to work with. She has a great eye and helped me out when I honestly wasn’t even sure what I wanted. Thanks Laura!

Head on over to A Southern Mom and say hi!

Roast Beef & Mushroom Tacos w/ Avocado Salad

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This recipe was submitted by a wonderful reader. Thank you Amy Jestus for contributing such a yummy recipe to Family Friendly Frugality! It’s going on my menu plan for next week!

Do you have a favorite recipe you’d like to share? Email me heather @ familyfriendlyfrugality.com 🙂

Roast Beef & Mushroom Tacos w/ Avocado Salad

(The base for this recipe came from Rachel Ray, which I’ve “tweaked ” – because it’s what I do! **smiles**)

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 pd chuck roast
  • 2/3 C. soy sauce
  • 2/3 C. Water
  • 2/3 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 onion (thinly sliced)
  • 1-2 jalapeno (stemmed & seeded, I leave them just cut in 1/2 to infuse some spice w/o having to dig them out for my kids, otherwise you may chop them finely & really “kick up the heat”)
  • 8 oz sliced mushrooms (I prefer baby portobello)
  • 3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced or minced)
  • 2-3 avocados (cubed)
  • 1/2 onion thinly sliced and rinsed to lessen the bite
  • the juice from 1-2 fresh limes
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Slow cook the chuck roast, soy sauce and water for 8 hrs. Remove & shred beef.

In a large skillet sauté the following: olive oil, onion, jalapeno, mushrooms

Once the mushrooms have released their own juices add salt & pepper to taste. Then add meat, & 1/4- 1/2c of liquid from roast. & heat through.

Meanwhile (or before you start): in a separate bowl prepare the avocado salad by mixing the avocados, onion, lime juice and salt & pepper to taste.

Load into a warm flour tortilla.

Garnish w/ sour cream & chips!

 

 

Roast Beef & Mushroom Tacos w/ Avocado Salad
#ratingval# from #reviews# reviews
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Recipe Type: Entree
Author: Amy Jestus
The base for this recipe came from Rachel Ray, which I’ve “tweaked ” – because it’s what I do! **smiles**
Ingredients
  • 1-2 pd chuck roast
  • 2/3 C. soy sauce
  • 2/3 C. Water
  • 2/3 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 onion (thinly sliced)
  • 1-2 jalapeno (stemmed & seeded, I leave them just cut in 1/2 to infuse some spice w/o having to dig them out for my kids, otherwise you may chop them finely & really “kick up the heat”)
  • 8 oz sliced mushrooms (I prefer baby portobello)
  • 3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced or minced)
  • 2-3 avocados (cubed)
  • 1/2 onion thinly sliced and rinsed to lessen the bite
  • the juice from 1-2 fresh limes
  • Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Slow cook the chuck roast, soy sauce and water for 8 hrs. Remove & shred beef.
  2. In a large skillet sauté the following: olive oil, onion, jalapeno, mushrooms
  3. Once the mushrooms have released their own juices add salt & pepper to taste. Then add meat, & 1/4- 1/2c of liquid from roast. & heat through.
  4. Meanwhile (or before you start): in a separate bowl prepare the avocado salad by mixing the avocados, onion, lime juice and salt & pepper to taste.
  5. Load into a warm flour tortilla.
  6. Garnish w/ sour cream & chips!
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