Whole Chicken in the Slow Cooker

It really doesn't get much easier or more economical than making this chicken. All it takes is a little planning ahead to make really juicy chicken that you can cut up or shred to use in any recipe that calls for chicken. I NEVER buy these things full price, but lucky for us, they go on sale often. A good sale price for whole chickens is .99/lb. When I see them for this price, I buy a couple. If I see them for cheaper, I'll buy like four so I always have some in my freezer. It can be a little overwhelming at first dealing with whole chickens, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be paying so much less for poultry. I still do buy chicken breasts for certain recipes, but far less than I used to.

Whole Chicken in the Slow Cooker

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• Your favorite spices. My go-to spices are salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, and a touch of cayenne. Just a tip - like most everything I do, I have a method for seasoning things. I always season in this order: salt, garlic, cayenne, chili powder, cayenne, pepper. The reason for this is - I don't measure, I season by sight and so I need to see how much of each spice is going on. Salt and garlic first because if you add them after a darker spice, you won't be able to see it and you may add too much. Then I always do cayenne because it's the most potent and if I want to be able to see it to make sure not to add too much heat. Then chili powder and paprika because they're not very potent and last pepper because it's black I can see it over any color spice. I'm crazy, I know.

Directions:

• Put chicken in slow cooker breast-side down. That way, all of the dark meat juices will drip into the white mean making it super juicy:

• Season the chicken:

• Put in crock (nope, no liquid needed) put on cover, turn on low, and let cook for seven hours. After seven hours you will have this:

• At this point, the meat will be falling off the bone so trying to take the whole bird out in one piece is almost impossible and really messy, but you can try. I just take a fork and start pulling out whatever I can, put it on a cutting board, and separate the meat from the bones and skin which I just put back in the crock. After you've gotten all your meat, you can throw it in the fridge for later or use it in a recipe immediately. As for whatever is left in the crock, I will put the lid back on and cook overnight or for several more hours to make broth. The broth is amazing when used to replace any water called for in chicken recipes. Gives so much more flavor. If you don't care to make broth, the rest is trash.

Creamy White Chicken Chili

B's Stovetop Mac and Cheese

This is my own method for making macaroni and cheese. Sure, it could be fooled around with (an possibly improved upon) by adding fancy ingredients and exotic cheeses, but this is just what I make for my family because I always have these things on hand and it's so easy I can make it in about a half an hour.

B's Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry elbow macaroni
• 2 cups shredded cheddar
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 cups milk

Directions:

Here is a very short video on how to make a roux. I recommend watching this first if you are not familiar with making a roux.

Here is an article on making a roux. For mac and cheese, we will be making a white roux.

I highly recommend measuring out all your ingredients beforehand and having them ready. This recipe is simple but does require quite a bit of babysitting and you won't have the time to stop and grate your cheese or measure your milk without risking burning something.

1. Make pasta according to package, rinse, and set aside.
2. Make your roux. To do this, melt butter in hot pan over medium heat and add flour whisking constantly to avoid burning. For a white roux, you do not have to cook this very long as we don't want it to become too dark.
3. Slowly add milk while continuing to whisk. Do this until the mixture becomes nice and thick.
4. Still whisking, add cheese and keep whisking until smooth.
5. Add pasta and mix until combined.

At this point you can plate your mac and cheese and eat it up. However, you could also add some chicken, veggies, or *drool* bacon to make it a more complete meal. You could also dump mac and cheese into a greased baking dish, mix together some crushed up ritz or breadcrumbs with a few tablespoons of melted butter, sprinkle this over the top of mac and cheese, and bake for 30 minutes at 350. After you've perfected this, get creative with spices or different cheeses or pasta. The possibilities are virtually limitless.

Best. Meatloaf. Ever.

As for most of "my" recipes, I cannot take credit for this one. This recipe is originally called "Rempel Family Meatloaf" and I got it from Allrecipes.com. I tried it due to its insane amount of positive reviews and now make it at least twice a month because it is absolutely delicious and is one of those rare dishes that everyone in the family loves.

Rempel Family Meatloaf

Meatloaf Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup crushed ritz
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1 (1 oz) package dry onion soup mix
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 Tbsp steak sauce

Glaze Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp ketchup
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp worchestershire

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix together ground beef, crushed crackers, cheese, and soup mix in a large bowl until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, ketchup, and steak sauce until smooth.
4. Combine egg mixture with beef mixture and mix until evenly combined. I use my hands for this.
5. Press into a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
6. In a small bowl, mix together all glaze ingredients and spread on top of raw meatloaf.
7. Bake in preheated oven for an hour.

White Chicken Enchiladas

Creamy, yes. Cheesy, yes. Amazing, yes. Authentic... not even close. These counterfeit enchiladas are so delicious, however, it won't matter that they're not bona fide Mexican food. SPOILER ALERT I use *gasp* cream of mushroom soup in this recipe, so if the thought of using condensed soup offends you in any way, move on!

White Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions - I often use yellow and it works
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 (4 oz) can diced mild green chiles - I often omit since I don't always have them and they turn out just fine
• 1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup - told you
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken breast meat, shredded or cubed
• 1/2 packet taco seasoning
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Lightly grease 8X8 baking dish.
3. In skillet, melt butter and saute onion until tender.
4. Add garlic powder, then stir in the green chiles, cream of mushroom, and sour cream. Mix well and pour contents into medium size bowl.
5. In the same skillet, add chicken, a little water (about 1/4 cup) , and taco seasoning. Cook until combined and heated through.
6. Add 1/2 cup of the cheddar and about 1/3 cup of the reserved sour cream mixture to the chicken in the skillet. Combine and heat through.
7. Fill tortillas with chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down on prepared baking dish (I'm usually able to fit 5 down and 1 across at the bottom).
8. To the remaining sour cream mixture, whisk in milk and pour over rolled tortillas. Top with remaining cheddar.
9. Bake for 30 minutes.

Amazing Crockpot Greek Yogurt

This yogurt is so simple to make all you need is some milk, a crockpot, a tub of Greek yogurt, a large towel or blanket, and a method for straining. Patience doesn't hurt either. The entire process including chilling and straining/thickening the yogurt takes about 20 hours, but it is definitely worth it.

Crockpot Greek Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon of milk - I use whole or 2%.
• 1 cup or 1 container of favorite plain Greek yogurt to use as the starter. The brand doesn't really matter as long as it contains active cultures. You will only have to buy this once - the rest of the time you will just use the yogurt you've made as the starter.

Directions:

1. Pour milk into crockpot, turn on low, and let sit for 2 1/2 hours.
2. After the 2 1/2 hours, turn off crock and let sit for another 3 hours.
3. After the 3 hours, take your tub of store bought yogurt and mix in a bowl with 1 cup of the warm milk.
4. Slowly whisk this mixture into crockpot with rest of warm milk. Cover, unplug, and cover entire crock with large towel or blanket to incubate.
5. Incubate crockpot for 8-10 hours.
6. After the 8-10 hours you will have very warm, very runny yogurt!
7. To thicken yogurt, place in a colander that has been lined with coffee filters and place over a bowl. Of course, if you have a fine mesh colander you could use that, but I like to just put my yogurt into the filter-lined colander, cover it with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge.

Carefully give the yogurt a stir every 30 minutes or so to make sure the thick yogurt that will collect on the bottom gets mixed in evenly with the rest - this will ensure that the whey you want to strain out can get through the filter, making your yogurt thicker. With every stir your yogurt will be thicker and thicker, so just keep checking on it and stirring it until it is at your desired thickness. Depending on how much whey you strain out, you may have to dump out the contents of the bowl at least once during this process.

This stuff is sour! So just add some jam or honey to sweeten it up. Don't forget to save 1 cup to use as the starter for your next batch!

Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

Oh the pressure of what to post as my first recipe. Should it be my favorite? My kids' favorite? The healthiest? Most photogenic? Well, I stopped stressing and just picked the last thing I made. These strawberry oatmeal bars are gooooood and so simple they can be whipped up in no time. I originally pulled the recipe from my favorite site, Allrecipes.com, and simply adapted it to what my family likes. You can substitute any jam you like (the original recipe called for raspberry) I just happened to have some homemade strawberry jam on hand that I needed to use up and it worked beautifully!

Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup seedless strawberry jam

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Grease one 8 inch square pan, and line with greased foil. If I don't have foil, I just grease the pan with some butter.
3. Combine brown sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and rolled oats. Rub in the butter using your hands or a pastry blender to form a crumbly mixture.
4. Press 2 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.
5. Spread the jam to within 1/4 inch of the edge.
6. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over the top, and lightly press it into the jam.
7. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.

For Chach