4 Ingredient Crockpot Balsamic Vinaigrette Chicken + House Updates

Ok first off I want to send a huge thanks and send lots of v-hugs (virtual hugs, not vajayjay hugs which is what I just thought as I was reading over this, how old am I??) to everyone- friends and bloggy bffs- who has been so encouraging and given me advice over the last 2 weeks. I hate moving. I can't think of anything I want to do less- I get crabby, I can't find anything, unpacking takes a decade, and Harrison and I snap at each other because we can't really snap at the move itself. But every time I logged onto social media, the blog, and my email it was like a virtual cheerleading squad, so thank yall- your comments and e-mails mean a lot! Aaannd I'm officially one of those people who has online friends haha.

This weekend my parents were here to help out around the house and we worked every waking second (minus about 30 minutes for me to throw a 5-year-oldish temper tantrum, eat food, realize I was hangry, apologize to everyone, parents to say "it's ok you've been a hangry person since you were born"- thank you, Mom and Dad for helping out even though I'm such a hangry a-hole). We didn't want to take time/spend money to go pick up food (not to mention I may actually go into cardiac arrest if I spend one more penny) so I threw some of the food I found in the fridge into the crockpot and came up with this delicious dinner of Balsamic Vinaigrette Chicken (I def had to google how to spell vinaigrette). OH also our brand new oven broke and it will take 7-10 days to get the new parts in so please please please share any clean(ish) recipes that don't involve an oven or stove- we also don't have a grill (sadface). At this point it doesn't even have to be totally clean, I just can't do Lean Cuisine or anymore take out. 

Servings: 4 

Prep Time: less than 5 mins

Cook Time: 4 hours in the crockpot

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken breast, thawed ($6.00)
• 1 Cup Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing (I used Paul Newman's, I know it's not exactly clean but it's close enough right now. This weekend I'm going to make my own clean dressing via Pinterest)
• 1/2 onion, sliced ($.50)
• 2 tomatoes, diced ($1.00)

Throw it in the crockpot for 4 hours then enjoy! I had a bag of frozen veggies that I just microwaved (didn't even have to take them out of the bag!!) for 3 minutes to eat with the chicken. Yall this was so freaking good. 

So when I was getting ready to move I told my dad I was frustrated with having incomplete projects to which he said "welcome to home-ownership". I was like NO EVERYTHING WILL BE COMPLETED BY MONDAY. But there are little things that need to happen and boxes unchecked and you know what? I'm still alive. But here's progress on the paint. 

My dad thinks he's so funny because he hung those paper towels from the hand towel ring. I had to leave it so he can share his jokes with the world.

Look at that oven. Sitting there being broken.

Not pictured: the bedroom we painted. Every time I think to take a picture Harrison is sleeping in it, and I don't need to offend the internet with pictures of 250-lb man sleeping in his undies. Not that kinda blog here.

Left on my list:

• Find a rug for the living room area
• Find a side table for the living room area (Goodwill here I come! Taking notes from Meg)
• Hang stuff on the walls (I am the WORST at this- anyone know of a guide for how-to make it look like not just a bunch of crap randomly thrown on the walls?)
• Mount the TV on the wall (oh hey surprise brick wall behind the actual walls that is making this harder than necessary)
• Blinds
• Curtains 

Happy Tuesday and have a great week! Don't forget to leave me links to any of your healthy recipes that don't need to be cooked in an oven/on a stovetop!

OH PS: Zulily has an Under Armour sale today! go get your's! I love me some Under Armour!

Linking up today at Delicious Dish Tuesday, Turn It Up Tuesdays, Tuesday Recipe Swap

Clean Lunch for the Week: Tex-Mex Quinoa Chicken Casserole + Weekend Recap

I made this last week and ate it for lunch every day- it was so easy to cut a slice, pop it into my tupperware and take it to work. It was also freaking delicious and I jazzed it up a little each day with Greek Yogurt or salsa or beans or avocado. Even Harrison liked it!

Servings: 6

Prep Time: 25 mins

Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients

• 2 cups quinoa (cooked) ($1.00)
• 1.5 lb cooked chicken breast, shredded ($2.50)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, diced ($.70)
• 1 bell pepper, diced ($.89)
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 sweet potato, diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes - I used Rotel medium - ($1.25)
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste ($.50)
• 1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese ($2.50)
• 2 Tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 Tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped chilantro (fresh)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Saute the onion, pepper, garlic, corn and sweet potato together in a large frying pan until the onions are translucent (about 5-7 minutes).

Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste and allow to cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix the sauteed vegetable mix, quinoa, chicken and spices together. Dump the mixture into a 9x11 pan Sprinkle mozzarella cheese evenly over top. Heat in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted. 

P.S. Anyone else have an amazingly spring-y weekend? I soaked up every second in the short-lived spring weather! 

To celebrate spring's arrival my friends and I went to happy hour, which turned into all-night-marathon-bar-crawl down U Street and apparently sunglasses inside

My friend Kris visited from Macon, GA (in case you didn't know, Macon is the 3rd biggest city in Georgia AND they're on the weather channel) and we went out and saw the sites. I only ever do the touristy thing when friends are in town so it was nice- plus I like to have a reminder of why this city is so awesome, despite the traffic, the red line and the winter.

Picstitch courtesy of Kris. I have on idea how to even start to do this on Insta.

I also scored big time at my favorite thrift store Martha's Outfitters (yep that's a New Balance Sweat Tech Running Tank, Express black cardi,   Land's End button down,  and Zara cardi. ALL FOR $9!) 

Annd working on an attitude re-adjustment re: this never-ending winter including the impending snow storm forecasted for Tuesday. So instead of locking myself in the house and crying until..July maybe?..I'm embracing the last few days (please let these be the last few) of winter. First step: making my favorite gluten-free crockpot chili from Jackie at Chronicles of a Dietician...it's helping my attitude a little?

What do you do to beat the winter blues? What can I do to make sure I'm like this for the rest of this never-ending winter??

VIA

Linking up today at Monday Morning Gossip, Meandering Mondays, Monday Blog Hop and Much Ado About Monday

Party Chili! Crockpot Tequila Lime Chili

I call this "Party Chili" because it has tequila- yes, actual tequila- in it. Even though I'm pretty sure the crockpot burns off the alcohol in the tequila, it just feels scandalous eating this chili at work every day. It's also delicious, filling, and clean (minus the tequila- but hey tequila is gluten free soo..)

Here's the recipe for the party in a crockpot, that you can take to work with you (bwahaha)

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 6 hours (in the crockpot)
Servings: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground turkey ($3.00)
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 large onion, minced ($.90)
• 1 green pepper, diced ($.90)
• 1 jalapeno, diced ($.80)
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste ($.90)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 Tablespoon chili powder (separated)
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes ($1.50)
• 1 large can (20 oz) crushed tomatoes($1.50)
• 1 can pinto beans ($1)
• 1/2 cup tequila
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 baby can (5 ozs) green chiles
• 1 lime of lime juice ($.75)

In a large frying pan, saute the onions and pepper over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and jalapeno for another  2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the chicken broth and ground turkey and cook (still at medium heat) until browned.

Add in the tomato paste, half the cumin and half the chili powder to the frying pan and continue to cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes. Dump the ingredients into the crockpot. Add the diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, beans, tequila, honey, green chilis, lime juice and remaining spices. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5 hours.

P.S: Looking for a crockpot? I bought mine for $6 at Goodwill!! True story! If you don't trust used crockpots (no judgement), Amazon has great deals- here's what I would buy if I had a budget for kitchen items:

Clean Snacking: Salty & Sweet Edition

"Man it smells like Christmas but it looks like someone took a dump in the crockpot!"*

-the BF's reaction to crockpot cinnamon-sugar almonds. I know it's not pretty, but it is so tasty.

*This was followed by 30 minutes of giggling  over the term "Christmas nuts"

Look I love Christmas food, even red and green M&M's taste better to me than regular M&Ms. So this year I am determined to curb the cravings. Here were two big hit snacks I brought to parties over the weekend, which took about as much work as opening a bag of Christmas candy and binge eating it.

#1: Cinnamon Sugar Christmas Nuts (I know LOL LOL. But they're good and clean and sweet)
Servings: 10
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours (in the crockpot. you don't have to do anything)

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups Almonds (I bought a 5 lb bag for $6 and used some for almond crusted green bean casserole)
• 1.5 Cup Stevia ($2.00)
• 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup ($.50)
• 3 Tablespoons Cinnamon
• 1 Egg White ($.10)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cup water

Stir the egg white and vanilla in a large bowl until it's frothy/bubbly. Now dump the almonds in the bowl and mix together until they are coated in the eggy mixture. In a separate bowl mix together the Stevia and cinnamon. Add the sugar/cinnamon to the coated almonds. Put this into the crock pot, add the honey/syrup and stir well. Heat on low for 3 hours, stirring every 20 minutes (it's about to smell SO GOOD, even though it looks like someone "took a dump in the crockpot"). After 3 hours add the water and stir it well. Continue cooking for another 45 minutes, still stirring every 20 minutes. Once they are all cooked, spread them out over a cookie sheet in a single layer and allow to cool, then enjoy the sweet treat!

 Christmassy Peppers with Hummus
(This is laughably easy, and REAL cute. Everyone was like "what a great snack where did you get this!" ha.)
Servings: (as many peppers as you want to use- 1 pepper = 8 slices)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 0

Ingredients:

• Bell Peppers (red and green if it's a Christmas party..presh)
• Clean Hummus (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have lots of options or you can make your own. I haven't ventured there yet.)

Slice each pepper into 8 slices, lengthwise. Scoop hummus onto each slice and serve.

photographic evidence of the "dump in the crockpot"

make sure they cool in a single layer

Lunch for the Week: Crockpot {spicyish} Tortilla Soup

Disclaimer: This is not my mom's tortilla soup. If you have ever tried her's you probably jumped with joy when you saw the title of this post thinking I was sharing Deb's tortilla soup recipe just in time for winter, but her "recipe" takes a lot of feeling or heart or some kind of mom-power because I have followed it to the T and not had success. So this is the next best thing, and maybe I'll have ole Deb do a guest post (or a few- she is the queen of all things power shopping and dessert baking).

This hearty, meaty, crockpotty, mexicany, veggie-packed, flavor-packed soup has the approval of me, BF and the neighbors. My neighbors hosted a boozy movie night and I offered to bring supper. This was the easiest thing I could have done- I put all the ingredients in the crockpot the night before, stored it in the fridge, and in the morning took it out, plugged it in and let it cook all day. 4 of us ate it at the movie night and it also supplied my lunch for the week.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 6-8 hours in the crockpot
Servings: 10

Ingredients:

• 1.75 lbs of chicken thighs (they have the bone-in, don't worry the chicken falls right off the bones and it's easy to pull them out after it cooks in the crockpot) ($4.00)
• 1 can black beans ($.99)
• 2 cups frozen corn ($1.00)
• 6 cups low sodium natural chicken broth ($5.00)
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes with chiles (with the juice) ($2.50)
• 1 little can (6 ozs) green chiles (you can cut up your own too!) ($1.00)
• 2 medium green bell peppers, diced ($1.75)
• 1/2 large onion, diced ($.50)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder

Combine all all the ingredients in a crockpot. Cook on low for 6-9 hours. When there is an hour left to cook, pull out the chicken using two forks and put onto a plate. Remove all the chicken meat from the bones (it should fall riiiight off the bone). You might have to fish around with the fork a little to make sure you get all the bones out of the pot. Put the meat back into the crockpot and allow everything to cook together for another hour.

Remove the soup from the heat and allow it to set for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Ready to cook

Ready to eat. She's not pretty, but she sure is tasty.

Mashed Plantains with Pulled Pork - Sweet and Salty DELICIOUSNESS

So once upon a time I worked in a school with a large Dominican population where we ate plantains on everything- even on sandwiches ("Miss you never had a plantano pork sandwich??"- as if this is so wild that I had never thought of it). We also put hot sauce on everything including pizza which I have taken with me for life. And that's the story of how I fell in love with plantains and hot sauce (I'm sorry the kids would kill me- plantanos).

Anyway, plantains are the best because they taste good with so many things and you can use ripe plantains for some recipes and unripe for others. This week Giant had 5 plantains for $2 so needless to say we are eating plantains everyday. Taking the idea of a plantano-pork sandwich, I came up with this incredibly delicious meal that, even though the bf complained watching it ("this is going to be gross! smashed bananas? ew sick it looks like you're making mashed potatoes with coconut milk! why do they even call this milk? meat and bananas? I mean I'll try it but"), he LOVED it and ate it for 2 meals the next day.

Also this recipe takes about 5% effort. So easy. 

Servings: 5
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 6 hours (crockpot style)

Ingredients

• 1 lb pork loin ($5.00)
• 1 14 oz can natural reduced sodium beef broth ($1.50)
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced ($1.00)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp onion salt
• 4 ripe (aka brown) plantains (Giant had 5 plantains for $2!!)
• 1 cup coconut milk ($1.00)
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 avocado, sliced ($1.00)

Put pork loin, beef broth, onion, garlic, garlic salt and onion salt in a crockpot on low for 6-8 hours. Once you are done cooking it, use two forks to shred the meat (this should be super easy as the meat will be super tender). Let it sit in the crockpot (crockpot turned off) for about an hour to cool and absorb the juices.

To open your plantains: Cut off both ends (the stem-like stuff), then slice down the middle and remove the peel from the middle out.

Slice your plantains into 1-inch-thick slices. Use about a teaspoon of olive oil or cocounut oil to lube a frying pan and cook the plantain slices for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until browned.

Combine the cooked plantain slices, coconut milk and cinnamon in a mixing bowl and smash together with a big-ish spoon until you get a mashed potato like consistency. Add more milk as needed to ease the smashing.

Scoop out a heaping spoonful of mashed plantains, top with the pork, and garnish with avocado. And of course, add hot sauce freely.

How freaking easy was that?

Pork loin might look like this in the store

or it might look like this

Clean Crokpot Turkey Chili {with a kick}

HEY FALL!

Fall is here it's here it's here it's here! On Sunday I sat on the couch, nursing a Saturday Football Hangover (GO DAWGS!!), reading a book (Devil in the White City- great read, especially when it's a free e-book) with Andi wrapped in blankets with the windows open while chili cooked in the crock pot (which I got from Goodwill for $10- if you don't have access to Goodwill Amazon has great options for inexpensive crockpots here ). It smelled so delicious, tasted freaking amazing, and for like $15 could feed a small village). Here's the breakdown: