Marshmallow Carmel Popcorn

This is a recipe that has been bouncing around Facebook forever.  I finally decided that if I'm really going to remember to make it I'll have to put it on this blog.  It does look delicious!  (I have no idea who to contribute the original recipe to.  It has appeared on many friend and food page feeds.)

Marshmallow Carmel Popcorn

• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. butter
• 9-10 marshmallows
• 12 c. popcorn
• Microwave brown sugar and butter for 2 minutes, add marshmallows & microwave until melted.
• Pour over popcorn.

Stir well and enjoy!  

Robert's Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

Our friend Robert invited us to a party last weekend.  He served a plethora of delicious Mexican themed foods, but my favorite was the slow cooker shredded chicken he made for chicken tacos.  He graciously shared his "thrown together" (as he put it) recipe.  Of course he made a party amount so you can divide this recipe as you need to suit your family or do what I did and make the whole thing so there will be plenty for the freezer.

Robert's Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

(I'm not a food photographer.  This photo came from the Kraft website.)

Ingredients:

6 boneless chicken breasts

4 C. Water

1 medium size (16 oz.) bottle picante sauce 

1 small can (10 oz.) red enchilada sauce

4 packets chicken taco seasoning

1 large onion, diced

handful (about half a cup or to taste) shredded cilantro

taco shells or tortillas

taco toppings as preferred 

     (I like them with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded Mexican cheese blend and avocados or guacamole.)

Directions:

Put everything except shells and toppings in the slow cooker.  Cook on high 4-6 hours.  Stir occasionally, shredding chicken as you can.  At the end of this time, shred the rest of the chicken and cook on low for another hour.  

Serve with shells or tortillas and toppings.  Smile because it's SO good.  

Over 500 Dutch Oven Recipes!!!

I found the best thing ever yesterday!  A site with over 500 user submitted Dutch Oven recipes!  I think I'm in heaven.

Click the picture so you can be in Dutch Oven Recipe Heaven, too!

Better Than Fries Baked Potatoes

This one has been all over Facebook and Pinterest forever, but a friend sent it to me today and I thought "Hey, I should keep that handy 'cause it was good!"  I have made this.  Mine didn't turn out golden and crisp like the one in the picture, but they were still darned tasty.  I'd love to do this for a baked potato bar.  I can almost taste it smothered in chili and cheese or taco toppings.  

(This photo apparently came from LifeHackable.com, but I've seen the idea in dozens of places.)

Knife Skills: Section An Orange

Kids Activities Blog recently posted about a knife skills video they found on Craftsy.  I really liked this part of the post, so this is what I'm sharing here.  If you're interested in the rest (including links to the Craftsy video and a photo of coring a jalapeño the easy way) follow the link above.

With a paring knife:

Slice off each end.

Use the knife to slice down the side of the orange between the flesh and white layer.

Clean up any leftover white – the more cuts, the less waste.  Clean that stuff up!

Slice each segment out.

The leftover orange now resembles a book with pages that can be juiced to get all the good stuff!

Cabbage Steaks

Here's another recipe I found on Facebook.  I want to pin it, so I'm reposting it here.  If this is your recipe, please contact me.  I want to give you credit and link to your page!

This is a simple side dish worthy of a dinner party and couldn’t be easier to make. Four ingredients, a couple of minutes to prepare and toss in the oven for an hour.

Ingredients
1 (approx 2lb) head of organic green cabbage, cut into 1″ thick slices
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3 large garlic cloves, smashed
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
spray olive oil OR non-stick cooking spray

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F and spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Pull outer leaf off cabbage (it’s usually dirty and nasty looking), cut cabbage from top to bottom (bottom being root) into 1″ thick slices.

2. Rub both sides of cabbage with smashed garlic.

3. Use a pastry brush to evenly spread the olive oil over both sides of the cabbage slices.

4. Finally, sprinkle each side with a bit of kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

5. Roast on the middle rack for 30 minutes. Carefully flip the cabbage steaks and roast for an additional 30 minutes until edges are brown and crispy. 

Serve hot and Enjoy!

Alton Brown: How to (Safely) Slice a Mango

Alton Brown is one of my favorite TV personalities.  His new youtube channel is not only a treasure trove of great cooking advice, it's also dang funny!  Since my children love mangoes but I always have trouble cutting them, I thought I'd be smart to save this video where I'll remember it exists.



*I also recently discovered a tool from OXO that slices the pit out of a mango with no guess work about where said pit might be.  Alton wouldn't approve because it's a unitasker, but it's something I've purchased and used happily many times this summer.  Why it never occurred to me to use a peeler to remove the skin before slicing the mango I'll never know.  (I've been doing the unsafe open palm grid slice and it's quite inefficient.)
Buy the OXO mango slicer here:

Pinnable Image! Alton Brown How to Slice A Mango