Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan

I must clarify: Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan-ISH*. That's what happens when I adapt recipes to be crock pot friendly. Because sometimes it's not as much about authenticity as it is about having dinner ready when I get home.

Skip the breading part because it would fall apart in the crock pot anyway, and simplify. I don't think you're ready for how easy this is:

Put in a crock pot:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 jar of spaghetti sauce

Cook on low heat all day, until you come  home from work. I've let this go for as long as 12 hours and it's totally fine.

Serve with brown rice and steamed vegetables. Dinner is done in no time, especially if you already have cooked brown rice in the freezer.

Typically chicken parmesan would also be served with mozzarella and parmesan cheese melted on top, but I was in NO mood for that extra step tonight. And you know what? The world did not implode.

*Even if Chris said it looked like some "slop he'd eaten in Afghanistan."
*Could also be described as chicken spaghetti. Go ahead, serve it over noodles.
I don't care what you call it, it's still pretty tasty.

Black bean zucchini enchiladas

I've been trying to fix a meatless meal at least once a week, and in general serve more vegetables with our meals. Great strides have been made over the past couple of years, but sometimes the same old vegetable gets boring and needs to be incorporated a different way-- or hidden!

I first heard of shredding carrots into ground meat from a friend who used the trick to fit more vegetables into her son's food and also stretch her meat budget. I thought it was a genius idea, and have used it myself a few times. [Like in these turkey meatballs- made GF by using crushed chex instead of bread crumbs]

As most of my recipes go, this one started with another sad old zucchini sitting in the fridge. I don't know why I always have sad vegetables sitting in the fridge. Wait, yes I do. I just talked about not liking vegetables. Moving on.

Black bean enchiladas were on the menu tonight. Black beans have made an appearance on our meatless menu more than a few times. [tacos, with sweet potatoes] They're just so easy and tasty and filling. It was super easy to add the zucchini to the party. Since zucchini shreds really easily using a cheese grater, minimal extra work is required.

Black Bean Zucchini Enchiladas

In a pan, heat up 1 clove minced garlic in a splash of oil until it's browned.
Stir in:
1 (15 oz) can of black beans, drained
1 (4 oz) can of chopped green chiles
1 zucchini, shredded
1/4 block of cream cheese
1/2 t. cumin
salt, to taste (depends how salty the beans and chiles are)

Heat the mixture until the cream cheese melts and it thickens. How thin it starts depends on how well the beans are drained, and how much moisture the zucchini releases.

Once it's ready, spoon the filling into GF corn tortillas. Roll them up and place face down on a cookie sheet or a casserole dish. I line mine with tin foil because easy cleanup rules.

Pour a can of GF enchilada sauce over the top, and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until everything is nice and hot and the cheese is melted.

Serve with greek yogurt/sour cream and of course avocado. I add a couple of chips to scoop up the stuff that falls out of the enchilada.

For the record, hubs complimented me on this meal 3 times.
Makes 8 enchiladas

This week's menu

This week's menu is brought to you by a new springtime menu background, and an actually planned menu! Also by the fact that we've finally eaten enough the deer sausage that there is now room for other types of meat in the freezer. I went to HEB this weekend and stocked up. Renewed flexibility! It was good to use up what we had, though.

What did you miss? Most notably- A pretty decent vegetable quinoa soup that I threw together after a weekend of steaks and hot dogs (can't complain), a ground turkey and noodle casserole that hid some shredded zucchini, and St. Patrick's day corned beef and cabbage, courtesy of mama.

So here's what we've got cookin' this week:

Monday- Black bean Enchiladas
Tuesday- Grilled Pork Chops
Wednesday- Chicken Parmesan- going to try it in the crock pot
Thursday- Sloppy Joes
Friday- Fish

Still lacking inspiration, so pop in and leave a comment about what you're eating this week!

Zucchini salad

Tonight I noticed I had all of the ingredients for this Spiralized Raw Zucchini Salad. Pinned solely because I'm trying to eat more vegetables.

I didn't ever plan on trying it. But I lack inspiration lately and all the ingredients were right there on the counter. I admit, I was skeptical at first. Zucchini and avocado? I wasn't sure the flavors and textures would jive. But I had the ingredients and rather than let the veggies get all sad and rotten, I forged ahead. It turns out, they do jive. Very well.

So yes, a salad. I'm posting a salad recipe.  No lettuce! No kale! No baby spring greens! But I call it a salad because I'm not sure what else to call it.

The simple fact that I'm posting a salad-ish recipe should tell you how good it is.

When Chris saw what was for dinner, he scoffed and asked where the meat was. See? Another clear sign that we need to eat more vegetables. Nothing but vegetable skeptics around here. Halfway through eating it, though, I got a thumbs up and a request to add it to the regular rotation. That's right.

I modified the recipe slightly, but the original one includes basil and chive and can be found at the link above.

Zucchini Salad

1 zucchini, ends trimmed off and spiralized
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1/2 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt, to taste
fresh black pepper, to taste
1 diced avocado
shelled cooked edamame
cherry tomatoes, halved

Put everything into a bowl and toss to mix. Done.

Honestly this would probably be served in the future as a side, or with some cold leftover chicken like a pasta salad. It's a great basic recipe that can be mixed with whatever happens to be in the fridge-- my favorite!

This week's Eats

Doubling up on the veggies this week after a trip to the farmer's market, and a reinforced cholesterol check.

Monday- Artichoke and kale shrimp with quinoa
Tuesday- Roasted vegetables with chickpeas
Wednesday- Mushroom chicken with pasta, carrots, and peas
Thursday- Scalloped potatoes with kale and sausage
Friday- Fish with roasted veggies and salads

Frittata

The other day I told Chris I was making a frittata for dinner. When it came out of the oven in all its glory, he looked at it and said, "Oh, you made a quiche." To which I replied, "No, I made a frittata."
While we conversed back and forth about what to call it, we both agreed that it was tasty.

This is one of those loosey goosey recipes that pretty much involves using up leftovers in our house. A little bit of this? A little bit of that? Typically I plop them into a soup, but this time I went with a frittata.

The idea is simple. Eggs, veggies, herbs... whatever you want.

This particular frittata involved:
6 eggs, beaten and seasoned with salt & pepper, with a splash of milk
1/2 cubed potato
1/4 c. chopped sweet peppers
1/4 c. chopped onion
1 c. frozen broccoli
1 sprig of rosemary, stripped and chopped finely
1 sprig of sage leaves, chopped finely
1 sprig of parsley leaves, chopped finely
the last handful of sad old salad; spinach and arugula, chopped
a bit of shredded cheese

I sauteed the potato, peppers, and onion in a cast iron skillet until they were softened up. Then added the eggs straight into the hot pan with everything else and mixed it up. Baked at 350 until a toothpick inserted into the center came out clean. I want to say 20 minutes? I didn't really time it; just checked it when it started to smell good.

The cool thing about making everything in the skillet is that when you add the eggs to the hot pan, it kinda forms its own crust.
The other cool thing is that you can serve this type of dish for breakfast or brunch or dinner and it pretty much fits the bill.

P.S. If we had it readily available [aka leftovers], I would have added sausage and fresh tomatoes.

P.P.S. The Frittata vs Quiche debate, resolved.

This week's menu

Back at it!
This week's menu: Based on what meat I could locate in the freezer, and the fresh produce that was already in the fridge. Aimed for a very low grocery bill this week. Lacking creativity for a meatless meal... good thing those ravioli Ash picked up for me are GF!

Monday- Ravioli with tomato pesto (from a jar- no shame!) and broccoli
Tuesday- Roasted chicken with sauteed sweet potato and cauliflower
Wednesday- Chicken tortilla soup
Thursday- Sauteed shrimp and any remaining fresh veggies into a stir-fry type of thing. Maybe with brown rice?
Friday- Originally planned on leftovers but might have friends over so I'll have to think of something to cook... I'm thinking Chris should grill some already seasoned chicken that I know is in the freezer somewhere, plus a link of the deer sausage... and those awesome grilled baked potatoes. And blackberry cobbler for dessert. There. Done.