BBQ Chicken Sliders

These little buggers were so tasty, we had them two nights in a row.  Typically it is near impossible for me to get Mr. B to agree to leftovers.  He'd usually rather have a PB & Pickle Sandwich (ick) than what ever tasty dish we ate the night before.  This time however, I told him I was in the mood to reheat & eat & he said, "sounds good."  - What??? did I hear that correctly?  Sure did, so two nights in a row it was!

First of all, this pulled pork style BBQ Chicken couldn't get much easier.  I threw a few ingredients in the crockpot in the am, 8 hours on low, left for work, and came home to dinner practically done.  I had some tasty dinner rolls to make them "sliders" and I threw together a quick batch of the bestie's delicious recipe for Bleu Cheese Coleslaw & dinner was on the table.

BBQ Chicken Sliders
The recipe made enough chicken for at least 12 sliders, you can change amount to suit your needs

4-6 Chicken Breasts

1/2 chopped onion (Update: I made this again without the onion and I actually preferred it.  It was a bit too sweet with the onion added.)

1/2 bottle of BBQ sauce

1 beer

a few shakes of hot sauce +/-

ground pepper

dinner rolls or buns

cheese (optional)

Combine first 6 ingredients in your crockpot.  Set on low for 8 hours.

Remove chicken from crockpot & shred.  See THIS post for my easy chicken shredding method.  Once shredded, you can add back in as much or as little of the sauce as you desire.

Assemble your sliders, serve with this yummy coleslaw, and ENJOY!

Smothered Chile Colorado Burritos

When I saw this recipe from Chef-in-Training on Pinterest I may have drooled all over my keyboard.  It looked SO good, I knew I had to taste it.  When I made it yesterday & got to actually taste it, I couldn't have been more pleased!  It was probably one of the best things I've ever made.  Yeah I really just said that.  ONE OF THE BEST THINGS... and I've made A LOT of things.  Maybe it was how simple they were to make that added to the their AMAZING taste to put them on my top ten list.  Maybe they were just so delicious that they caused me to forget every tasty thing I've ever made before.  Either way, they were DELISH!!!  I would love to eat these again and again and again!  No really, they were that good.  Honestly better than anything like this I've had from a restaurant.

Oh and can I take a minute to talk about how easy they were to make.  Hello, the crock pot!  I love crock pot cooking.  Toss it all in and come home after work & it smells like someone has been in your kitchen slaving away all day.  I've been using my crock pot quite a bit lately.  It may be my favorite kitchen gadget.

Do yourself a favor, make these.  Trust me, it's way to simple to be so darn good!

Smothered Chile Colorado Burritos

1 1/2 lbs stew meat
1lg can or 2 small cans red enchilada sauce (I used 1 of can of El Paso Mild)

2 beef bullion cubes, crushed
1 beer* (any kind will do, I used a bottle of Coors Light)
refried beans
burrito size tortillas
1 cup shredded cheese

Put beef into crock pot. Top with crushed bouillon cubes, enchilada sauce, & beer*. Cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until meat is very tender.


When beef is done it will start to break apart.  I wanted mine less chunky & more shredded so I used the handy dandy kitchen aid mixer method I use for chicken.  Beautifully shredded!  If you want more "chunks" to your meat, you can skip this step.
Heat the refried beans separately. You can use canned refried beans or homemade if you prefer.  Whole beans would be tasty too if that is what you are in the mood for.

Desired amount of beans on to the center of each tortilla. Add about 1/2 cup of beef (give or take) a little cheese, and roll into a burrito.  (Shout out to Mr. Casa de Soria for teaching me how to roll burrito perfection!)

Place burritos into a baking pan. Pour some of extra sauce over the top of the burritos to smother them and sprinkle with cheese on top.

Broil until cheese becomes bubbly, approx. 2-4 minutes.

This recipe makes about 5-7 burritos depending on how big you make them.
*They use of the beer is optional. I love the addition of beer to most marinades and crock pot dishes.  I highly suggest you give it a try.  Don't worry, the alcohol cooks off, so you wont get drunk! ;)

The Best Shredded Chicken

Remember this post?  Well if you do, think of this post as a reminder to make this tasty chicken.  If you missed this one, you can thank me for the repost after you've made this tasty & EASY dish!

It doesn't get any easier than this tasty Mexican style shredded chicken! On a hot day there's nothing better than coming home to a dinner that it practically done. Hot, delicious & no need to turn on the oven! How so? The crockpot! Most of the time we tend to only pull out the crock pot during the cold winter months... but warm days are perfect for your slow cooker, since it doesn't heat up the kitchen. And with the beautiful weather outside, anything that minimizes the time spent in the kitchen preparing dinner is a friend of mine!

I decided to pull this together for Football Sunday dinner with some friends.  In the morning, I threw all my ingredients in the crockpot... then we went about our busy day.  Came home that afternoon and the house smelled great! A few quick steps at that point and dinner was on the table no time.

Simple Shredded Chicken
(This can easily be doubled - this amount fed 4 of us with leftovers)
3 to 4 chicken breasts (mine were frozen)
1 jar of salsa
1 beer
desired seasonings (optional)

Combine all ingredients in crock pot. I chose a medium heat salsa that happened to be on sale.  In the past I've used one w/ black beans and corn.  Any salsa will do.  For the seasonings I went with a couple tsp of my homemade taco seasoning, fresh ground pepper, garlic, and some sriracha for a little extra kick. The lid went on & I set it to low for 8 hours, since that's when we would be ready for dinner.  You can certainly put it on high for 6 hours with great results as well.

When I got home, I removed the chicken from the crock pot and dropped them into my Kitchen Aid mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mixed for a few seconds and had perfectly shredded chicken.  (So easy this way!  no need to stand there with 2 forks shredding, or burning your fingers.)

Return chicken to crock pot and and all those yummy juices while you prepare whatever it is you'd like to use this yummy filler for! We had chicken tacos & burritos. I warmed some tortillas, shredded some cabbage and whipped up some smashed black beans and Mexican rice. Served with desired toppings and we had a fantastic meal! Enjoy!