Pulled BBQ Chicken Tacos with Cherry Peach Salsa

Long title right?  I left you hanging with my BBQ Pulled Chicken there... time for me to post some more recipes!

After the meat is already cooked, the rest of this recipe is really easy.  This is a great weeknight meal- takes minutes to put together.  Especially if you pre-make the salsa like I did!

The salsa is a mixture of cherries, peaches, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1/2 of a minced jalapeño, the juice of 1 lime and sprinkling of salt.

Be careful with the jalapeño and cilantro... it can overpower the whole thing.  I ended up adding more and more peaches and cherries to counterbalance that. So taste as you go....

All you have to do is grab some flour tortillas, scoop some chicken and add the salsa on top.  

Boom. Done.  

Pulled BBQ Chicken Tacos with Cherry Peach Salsa

Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats via Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

1 cup of Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken (or however much you'd like!)

Flour Tortillas (I used Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran and Whole Wheat Flour Tortilla- my fav!)

For the Cherry-Peach Salsa

1 cup of pitted cherries (I just chopped around the the pit)

2 large peaches, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro

1/2 jalapeño

salt

juice of 1 lime

Instructions:

For the Cherry-Peach Salsa- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  You can make it up to two days in advance. Microwave tortillas for 30 seconds... then fill with (STRAINED) chicken and salsa.  Add as much or as little that you like.

It was awesome!  If you're worried about the chicken being too sweet... don't worry.  The chipotle peppers and the jalapeño add a nice bit of heat!  Sweet and spicy- my fav!

I'll post the other recipes in the next day or two... I won't leave you hanging!

Enjoy : )

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken

I've been breaking out the slowcooker quite a bit lately.  It's been making meals come together really quickly.  Last week I made BBQ Pulled Chicken.  The plan was to make Pulled Pork but when I couldn't find a Pork Butt or Pork Shoulder at the grocery store that I was happy with, I decided to make Pulled Chicken instead using a combination of chicken breasts and chicken thighs.*

*Heads up: Notice how Chicken Thighs on the bone with skin are always super cheap? I bought them and trimmed off all the fat then threw the thighs on the bone in the slow cooker.  Once it was ready to shred, the meat just fell right off the bone.

This is a simple recipe that I know I will use over and over again.  And this meat made enough meat for 4 different recipes plus tons of leftovers!

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken

Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats via Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

4 large skinless chicken breasts

4 bone-in skin removed chicken thighs

salt and pepper

1 large sweet onion

4 chipotle peppers in adobo + 2 tablespoons of sauce

1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ Sauce

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

20 ounces of Cherry Dr. Pepper

Instructions:

Cut onion in quarters and place in crockpot.  Add chicken pieces to the bottom of the dish.  Season with lots of salt and pepper.  Add chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, BBQ sauce, brown sugar and Dr. Pepper.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  Remove chicken pieces from crock pot and shred then place back in slow cooker until ready to serve.

In the upcoming days I'll post the recipes of what I did with all this chicken:

Pulled BBQ Chicken Tacos with Cherry Peach Salsa

Pulled Chicken and Cherry Peach Quesadillas

Pulled BBQ Chicken Pizza with Cherry Peach Salsa

Pesto, Nectarine and BBQ Pulled Chicken Pizza with Monterey Jack Cheese

I love making a protein like this that I can use in several meals throughout the week!  All the recipes I made resemble each other but we never felt like we were eating the same thing each night.  And dinner came together quickly because the main part was already done!

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Cakes (& Mushroom Cakes too...)

So I cooked last week.  A lot. I felt like the old me... spending lots of time in the kitchen while little Dylan looked on. One of the best recipes I made was Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Cakes.  They were fun, different and an interesting use of Quinoa that I haven't seen before.

 So they key to making this a Quick Fix Meal is to prep ahead.  The night before I made the Quinoa and Sautéed 2 small chicken thighs. The next day the meal came together wicked fast. (Yes, I wrote wicked - it's part of my vocabulary!)

I loved the subtle spice of the buffalo sauce mixed with the tasty pops of quinoa.  I served this with a salad with feta and sautéed mushrooms but it would be great with celery and carrot sticks on the side.  And blue cheese or Ranch dressing if you're into that sort of thing.  Me, though, I'm scared of white creamy dressings so I stay away.  And there was enough flavor in these cakes that you didn't need extra dressing. Trust me!  My husband though, is a dipper so he served these up with Ranch dressing.

• Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Cakes
• Adapted from Closet Cooking
• Ingredients
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup chicken, cooked and shredded (I used 2 small chicken thighs)
• 1/4 cup hot sauce or to taste
• 1/4 cup onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup cheddar, shredded
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying
• Instructions
• (Prep ahead method- cook quinoa the night before- add 1/2 cup of quinoa to 1 cup of broth and let simmer until cooked about 15 minutes.  Also cook and shred/chop the chicken thighs)
• Mix the cooked quinoa with the chicken, hot sauce, onion, cheddar cheese, egg, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper, adding more panko and another egg if needed. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Form patties and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 4-6 minutes per side, and set aside on paper towels to drain.

So... I actually cooked up about a cup of quinoa so I had extra to spare.  And because I had a ginormous container of portobello mushrooms, I cooked those up to add to my side salad.  But then I thought... what if I update my favorite Mushroom Cakes?   I first made these in January of 2010 and loved them.  So to the food processor I added sautéed mushrooms, garlic, dried basil and mozzarella cheese.  Then I mixed that with an egg or two, panko and the rest of the quinoa.  Seasoned that up with salt and pepper and browned them up in a hot skillet like the buffalo cakes.  I added a guacamole on top. Not the best picture but these cakes were super delicious- and fast!

So two quick, delicious, very different kinds of quinoa cakes.  A fun, creative twist on fritters!

Random Thursday Things

A freelancer friend of mine said to me yesterday, 

"What you do when you're bored determines where your true passions lie...."

Pretty deep right? I thought that was interesting and I've been thinking about it quite a bit.

When I'm bored...

I take photos

I edit photos

I blog

I read blogs

I cook

I read cooking blogs

I read cooking magazines

I shoot video

I edit video

I run

I read about running

and most recently...

I've started taking time-lapse video

Enjoy!

Boston Harbor from Lizzy on Vimeo.

I work above the 30th floor in a Boston high rise building and the views are pretty remarkable in every direction.  This video shows the Boston Harbor (check out the boats and ferry coming in and out),  the Clock Tower (check out the hands moving!) and the airport (you can see planes flying in!).  Pretty fun stuff.  I look forward to shooting more time-lapse in the future.

Oh and I shot all this on my T2i! Best $500 ever spent : )

In unrelated news, Dylan and I match today.  Both wearing Octopus shirts because it's totally normal for a mom to dress like her son right?

Happy Thursday!  I'll be back soon to post about all the delicious recipes I've been making lately.

Mommy 'Vice: Take Video!

The beginning of Mommy 'Vice starts today and it's short and simple.  

You know that awesome DSLR camera you bought to take pictures of your baby {or of food}?  Well, don't forget to switch to the video function once in awhile and get some awesome footage!  Now my day job is a Video Editor so I don't expect everyone to be able to create something like this, but there is plenty you can do just using iMovie.  So get your cameras out and start recording.

{If you have questions on how to shoot video on your camera, reach out to me! We use our DSLR cameras professionally to shoot video as well...}

Sunday Morning from Lizzy on Vimeo.

I'm hoping to put together a video like this together once a month.  This was taken Sunday morning.  Dylan was in such good spirits, I decided to wake up Dave and the rest just came together very organically.

I spent time researching songs- fell in love with Emilie Mover, listened to a bunch of her songs and found the one I used: Made for Each Other.  I later found that it was also used in a Fisher Price commercial!

The lyrics: 

You are exactly one of a kind

There ain't no other I would find

You are eternally on my mind

We're so completely intertwined

And in a perfect world as this

You can wake up every day

And make your way

We dream of the best stuff 

And we can make it happen

We were made for each other

And we sing along with all our favorite songs

And we can make them up

Because we were made for each other

For Always...

I'm always looking for good music like this track to put against videos, so let me know if you have any suggestions!

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed making it.

Happy Thursday!

Quick Fix Meals: Quinoa Jambalaya

The other night I put this dish together with random ingredients I had in my house.  I had no set "plan" but this dish came together in the same amount of time it took to make the quinoa.  Which is no time at all!  I was pleasantly surprised at how EASY this was to put together, but also how much flavor this dish had... with no added seasoning.  I used a spicy chicken sausage and I cooked the Quinoa in chicken broth which flavored this entire dish without the need to add anything additional.  So if you're in the mood for something unique that takes less than 20 minutes to make from start to eating, you gotta try this dish. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Quinoa Jambalaya

Ingredients:

2 cups of Quinoa (I used half cup of red, half cup of regular)

4 cups of Chicken Broth (Sometimes I add a little extra- basically an entire box)

4 Spicy Chicken Sausage Links, sliced and sautéed

1 cup of Cooked Shrimp, sautéed

1 package of frozen vegetables- I used 1 bag of Trader Joe's Organic Soycutash (a mixture of corn, edamame and red peppers)

Instructions:

Add 2 cups of Quinoa to a stock pot.  Add the four cups of broth.  Cook on medium low heat for twenty minutes or until the quinoa is cooked.  You may need to add a bit more broth depending on how hot your stove is.  While the quinoa is cooking, add your sliced chicken sausage to a hot skillet with olive oil.  Saute for 10ish minutes until the sausage is cooked on all sides.  Add your cooked shrimp and saute for a few more minutes.  While you are doing that, remove your soycutash from it's packaging and place in a microwavable bowl.  Microwave for 5 minutes or until it's no longer frozen.  Add to your cooked quinoa along with the shrimp and sausage.  Mix well and serve!

You could easily make this dish vegetarian by using Vegetable Broth and Soy Chirozo and removing the shrimp. I think Soy Chirozo would add the same type of flavor the spicy chicken sausage did.

So because I made so much of this dish, I had enough for 6 large servings.  Having leftovers is a favorite in our household.  Especially now with Baby Dylan, it's great to look in the fridge and know there is food for a few days.  And it's even better to have lunch already made now that I'm back at work!

Yep, I started work last week and it's going well... I'm happy to report that I've been able to bring lunch everyday with meals like this one : )

Mommy 'Vice: Blog's a Changin'

So I've been thinking a lot about this blog and how I want to move forward with it.  I've been a little lost and haven't been posting as much.  Mainly because although Dave and I eat home-cooked meals every night, they are nothing glamourous or worthy of a food post.  Often times our meals are made while I'm wearing Dylan in the Baby K'tan or while Dyl watches on sitting in the Rock N Play Sleeper.

Meaning I have very limited time to get dinner on the table.  So our go-to meals have been proteins we can grill quickly- steak, chicken, burgers or fish that can cook fast in the oven.  I always have salad made and usually some sort of side.  Bulgur Wheat has been my grain of choice lately. We've still been eating fairly well, but I haven't figured out how and what to blog about when it comes to food.  I don't want to show you guys something that isn't special but I do know I want to continue my Quick Fix Meals Series (QFM) so hopefully I'll post more meals in the future.

On the running side of things, I have been running.  Not with any regularity, but I've been getting out there and I've really been enjoying it.  Mainly because I'm not putting any pressure on myself.  I really have no desire to train for a marathon or run any races.  I just want to get out there and enjoy the outside and run.  So what does that mean? It means although I've been running, it's been more of a walk-run.  I run when I feel like running and walk a few minutes every mile. My favorite running spots always include trails.  Lately I've been running at Wellesley College- around Lake Waban.

So I'll be posting here about runs I go on now and again but mainly I'll show you collages of my scenery rather than my mile splits.  Running fast and far just isn't high on my priority list anymore.

So that brings us to the title of this post.  I've been totally inspired by Cup of Jo Blogger Joanna Goddard.  If you don't read her blog, you should.  Her posts are motivational and come from the heart.  She writes a post weekly called Motherhood Mondays and I absolutely adore it.  She writes about everything from breastfeeding to how women balance work and motherhood to best maternity outfits to bedtime routines and everything in between.  She provides personal stories without revealing too much {meaning she doesn't overshare private details} and her words have such strong meaning behind them. You can tell how passionate she is about what she writes. Without copying her ideas I wanted to do something similar on this blog.  It's really hard for me to just focus on food and running when I have this little guy who has become such a huge part of my everyday life.  And to just throw in a couple pictures of him or a monthly post about him here and there doesn't seem right either.

So I've been thinking about this and I want to add a new series to this blog called Mommy 'Vice.  Short for Mommy Advice, clearly.  I want to write about some of my own experiences with motherhood.  I want to blog about short little stories or advice on baby gear.  I want to feature friends outside the blog world who have provided me with tons of insight on being a Mommy. I want to tell you about the meals I create when I have 20 minutes or less. I think creating a feature like this will help me feel better about blogging. Because lately I've been out of sorts with the whole thing... and I want to love blogging again and I feel like this might help.

Plus who doesn't want to see pictures of my little man?

(thanks Becky for my adorable Under Armour shirt!)

So what do you think?