Flavorful Chicken Taco Salad

Flavorful Chicken Taco Salad is a quick and easy meal for a busy weeknight.  I stumbled over this recipe on Pinterest a few years ago and the pin didn't have any information. It was easy to figure out the plan of creating just by looking at the picture.   Since my family loves Mexican cuisine, I knew this would be a hit with them.

Flavorful Chicken Taco Salad

One really big time saving thing for this salad is you can cook your chicken ahead of time. I used my pressure cooker and cooked all of the chicken I would need for the week on Sunday afternoon. Then I divided up the meat in containers for each day.  When I made this on Tuesday, it took all of 15 minutes to have it ready for the table. It was that quick!

I served the chicken cold in our salad, but you could serve it warm. Also, I heated the black beans and corn just to make sure they were not harboring any microscopic bacteria that might have been in the cans. Once they boiled for a minute or two, I drained and rinsed them in cold water. But again, if you choose, you can serve them warm along with the chicken.

For the dressing, I searched for a Taco Ranch Dressing and found many. I knew I would be able to mix my own dressing by either making it all homemade or using up the bottle of ranch dressing that was tucked away in the refrigerator door. ~ That is exactly what I did.

Since I first shared this recipe back in 2013, I've tried cooking the chicken differently - grilled, boiled, and pressure cooked. The grilled gives it a much better taste because of the char. Boiling the chicken needs a little flavoring to help it out. Pressure cooking does give the chicken a more flavorful taste over the boiling. Maybe because the juice is the actual stock from the chicken with no water added. Either way you choose to cook your chicken, you won't be disappointed with the salad outcome.

Just a tip to consider, add a little taco seasoning to the water if you boil the chicken, or instead of water maybe use chicken broth.

I know what you are thinking, the recipe calls for tomatoes, where’s the tomatoes in the picture?  I'm not a tomato person and the plate shown was mine and not my husband's.  Yes, I prepare and eat supper with the camera.

Flavorful Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 head lettuce chopped     (or bag of salad mix)
• 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 can whole kernel corn drained    (or 1 cup of frozen (thawed))
• 1 small onion diced
• 1 bell pepper diced
• 1 tomato diced
• 1 1/2 cups crushed tortilla chips

Dressing ingredients:

• 1 cup ranch dressing
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 2 Tablespoons Taco Seasoning

Directions:

In a small bowl mix together the dressing ingredients and set aside.

In a large bowl add all the ingredients except for the tortilla chips, mixing well. Right before serving, toss in the the tortilla chips and serve.

Do you enjoy taco salads? What's your favorite type of meat to add to it?

Pintos and Sausage Stew

The only thing I truly love about the winter season is the winter foods. It’s the perfect time of year for a good soup or stew. The warmth coming from a pot of something good on a stove is comforting. This Pintos and Sausage Stew is just that, comforting and so good.

Pintos and Sausage Stew

This past week we dealt with frigid, arctic temperatures of -20 degrees for several days. I spent the early part of one of those days cooking this recipe and I am so glad I did because it is out of this world. The stew is healthy and loaded with protein – lots of protein.

Living where we do, I know there will be some recipes that I have to improvise on ingredients because they are either not carried or delivery trucks are not on schedule. This was the case with this recipe. Chard, yeah none to be found in Miles City, along with the smoked sausage and Habanera pepper. So I used turnip greens, polish sausage, and a jalapeño pepper. I can only image what this stew must taste like with the called for ingredients. I’m sure it is like my Jambalaya which calls for Andouille sausage – we’ve come to tolerate it with polish sausage.

Since I was cooking this while my husband was at home, I decided to precook my pinto beans so I would not have to wait for them to cook in the stew. I also grated the carrot for our taste, but I’m thinking the next time, I will slice it and give it a try that way. When the beans were finished cooking and ready to add them to the other ingredients, I reserved a half of a cup and mashed them so they would help thicken the stew.

After eating two bowls of the stew, my husband suggested serving this with rice. I cooked a cup of rice and tried them together. It was very good, the rice helped carry the flavors of the sausage and the pepper a little more.

Which ever way you decide to serve the stew it will be fabulous!

Pintos and Sausage Stew

Ingredients:

•  1 cup of dried pinto beans or 2-3 cans of pinto beans
•  ½ cup cooked beans reserved
•  2 tbsp oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 small carrot, shredded
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (seeds removed)
• 1 package, polish sausage, sliced
• 5 cups of chicken broth
• ½ cup cooked turnip greens (drained)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook pinto beans until soft, don’t drain.

2. Heat the oil and sauté onions and carrots until soft. Add the garlic, jalapeño pepper continue sautéing for about 3 minutes, add the sausage and cook until it begins to brown. Pour in the beans, broth, turnip greens and salt and pepper, mix until well combined. Cover, reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes. For a thicker stew, mash the reserved beans and add to the pot. If the stew is thick enough, just add the beans. Before serving, taste and adjust salt if necessary. Allow to cool slightly before serving. Serve with toasted bread, crackers, or even rice.

If you use precooked or canned beans, you won't need to cook for 30 minutes; just long enough for them to be heated through and the flavors to blend together.

Taffy Apple Salad {Day 25}

Taffy Apple Salad is a fruit salad like no other. I found this recipe in the newspaper when we lived in western Montana. I remember when I clipped it I thought I would probably never make it since it is a creamy fruit salad. I’m not a fan of creamy, mayonnaise-y fruit salads. It took me two years before I gave this recipe a try; I cannot believe I waited so long. I guess the lasting impression of soggy creamy fruit salads with mini marshmallows from family reunions  and church dinners in the past did an injustice for the ever so famous fruit salads everyone seems to love.

Taffy Apple Salad

The two things I changed in this recipe were the amount of whipped topping and the type of apples to use. A full tub of Cool Whip seemed to overtake the recipe, so I use only half a tub. The original recipe also called for Red Delicious; to me they are the worst tasting apple out there. I like a good crunchy apple with a good taste, and the Red Delicious just doesn’t do it for me.

Macintosh, Gala, and Fuji apples are our favorites to eat, so these are the apples I use for this salad. I’ve even tried the yummy Honeycrisp apples when they are at their rock bottom price. Have you tried those? If not, you need to! They are a little more on the expensive side, but so worth it.

When I made this during the Christmas holidays back home for get-togethers I leave the peeling on one red apple and add one Granny Smith to the bunch so it would give the green and red colors for the season. ~ A nice touch of color!

While I normally don’t buy tubs of whipped topping, I have found that homemade whipped cream doesn’t hold up like the store bought for this recipe. – Just something to think about.

The original recipe calls for peanuts and I personally love how the peanut flavor works with everything else, but I have also used pecans and walnuts. So use whatever nuts you want.

Taffy Apple Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 cups apples, peeled and diced
• ½ (8 oz) carton whipped topping
• 1 8 oz can crushed pineapple with juice
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 2 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg whisked
• 1 cup chopped peanuts

Directions:

Dice apples and give them a quick soak in some lemon/vinegar water to keep from browning and drain.

Place apples in a large enough bowl for mixing everything together.

In a medium pan mix sugar, flour, vinegar, egg, and pineapple, cook until thick. Let cool.  When letting the pineapple mixture cool, I don’t let it cool completely. This will help the cool whip melt a little and not be so whippy.  When cool, add peanuts and whipped topping and mix well and pour over apples. Mix until the apples are coated. Refrigerate until serving.

The longer the salad is refrigerated the better it tastes.

Have you missed any days of the 31 Days of Homemaking Series? You can catch up HERE.

Chicken Stew

I love a good stew! I remember the first time I ate CHICKEN STEW, I kinda crinkled my nose because of the tomatoes. I do not like tomatoes, nor do I like to eat soups, stews or chili with huge pieces of tomatoes. I dislike the thought of having a tomato swimming around in the juice with me trying to scoop around it. Sadly, I have passed this on to my tomato eating son. Yeah, I know!

Chicken Stew

Back to the first time eating chicken stew... A dear little lady where I used to teach school worked in the kitchen. Some days she would make special things to eat for the staff members. One day chicken stew was the specialty, after eating it and scooping around tomatoes, I realized how yummy it was. After talking with her about the tomatoes, she told me, "You can't have a stew without the tomatoes". Boy, did that throw a wrench in my plans! Over the years, I have learned to just deal with my tomato problem by crushing the tomatoes. When a recipe calls for tomatoes, I pull out my stick blender and give them a whirl.

Most recipes that I have found for  chicken stew calls for the whole bird. Well, if I use a whole bird, I cook it the day before so I can get the fat off the broth once it's cooled down. When I'm in a crunch on time, I use boneless/skinless chicken breast and it works just fine if not better in my opinion.

When shredding the chicken, place it in your mixer with the paddle attachment. It shreds the chicken down rather quickly if the meat is still warm, so if you want bigger pieces keep a watch on it.

The last time I cooked this recipe, I cooked it on the stove using chicken breasts. But in the past, I have cooked it in the crock-pot using chicken that I cooked the day before. The longer it simmers, the better it tastes. In fact, I think it tastes better the next day for lunch.

Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6-8 cups water (enough to cover bird)
• 2 cans tomatoes
• 4 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 can whole kernel corn
• salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Directions:

Cook chicken until done. Remove chicken from broth, when cooled, pick meat off the bones and shred. Remove as much fat from the broth as possible. Simmer potatoes in 1-2 cups of broth in a smaller saucepan until done, do not drain. Mash them just a little, so they will help thicken the broth. Add corn, onions, tomatoes, garlic powder, salt and pepper to the large pot of broth. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add potatoes and chicken and simmer slowly with lid off for at least 30 minutes.

Enjoy!