Tag Archives: savory

Chipotle Salsa!

Best.Salsa.Ever.

So … I am a HUGE salsa fan. I like it HOT. (Can you imagine?)

I started making salsa years ago and when I started I did things the “purist” way … even fire-roasted tomatoes! Well, several children later, I’ve graduated to canned tomatoes and I have to say that they taste every bit as good because all the other ingredients really “make” the salsa!

Here’s my recipe for my favorite salsa, and a few tips for those of you with more “mild” tastes:

  1. If you don’t like SPICY salsa, you can cut down on the heat by taking out the seeds in the jalapenos and all the white membrane that holds the seeds. **word to the wise** Be careful with jalapenos! I’m here to tell ya, I made the mistake one time of taking out my contacts with jalepeno still on my hands.  It.Wasn’t.Pleasant.  WASH YOUR HANDS THOROUGHLY after handling jalapeno peppers.
  2. Chipotle peppers are just smoked jalapeno peppers in yummy sauce. They can be hot. If you want a more mild recipe, simply cut the amount of chipotle pepper but don’t cut it out entirely. That yummy smoked flavor is AMAZING in salsa.
  3. Use fresh ground pepper if you can. It’s the best. 🙂

So without further adieu, here’s my secret recipe! Enjoy!

1 large white onion
1 red pepper
2 cans diced tomatoes – drained
3 jalapenos – seed them to remove the “heat” (I like mine HOT)
4 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of cilantro (yes the whole bunch)
1 or 2 canned chipotle peppers
2 tsp liquid smoke
1 T white vinegar
1 T lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Add these to your food processor and blend FIRST.

  • Onion
  • Cilantro
  • Jalapeno

Adding these first helps keep the tomatoes from becoming “soupy”

Add the tomatoes last and pulse your food processor. The trick is to get it the consistency that you like it. It might take a few tries but keep at it. It’s worth it!

After you have blended those, add your liquid smoke (Optional if you don’t have it. Don’t run out to the store, just buy it for next time.), vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, red pepper & chipotle pepper.

Blend. Add the drained cans of diced tomatoes LAST. Taste for salt and pepper. Remember to PULSE your food processor. You want salsa, not soup. 🙂

This will make a whole lotta salsa! Enough to feed a crowd. Maybe it’s time to have some friends over… !

Enjoy!
Heidi

Easy Creamy Bacon Chicken

When you remember to invite company for Easter dinner, but forget to buy ingredients to prepare the dinner with, you know you are just slightly busy, and that’s the pickle I found myself in this year.

creamy-bacon-chicken

The day before Easter was crazy, too, so after church I was scrambling to prepare food with the ingredients I had in my house.  Surprisingly, a new invention was created that wound up being a family favorite. It is simple, easy to prepare, and delicious. It has a nice visual appeal, as well, and my guests loved it. They even requested the recipe, so I guess “flying by the seat of my pants” isn’t always bad.  Remember that hospitality doesn’t mean you have to host in absolute perfection, and that new creations can be born out of chaos.

Easy Creamy Bacon Chicken

Ingredients

  • 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil
  • Chicken Tenders (amount may vary according to crowd size)
  • one medium size onion, diced
  • 2-3 fresh, minced garlic cloves
  • 2-6 cups cream cheese, depending on crowd size (I used six cups for fourteen people)
  • bacon, cooked and diced (I used a pound of Hempler's Organic Bacon for my large crowd)
  • salt to taste (I use Himalayan salt)
  • pepper to taste (I use fresh ground)
  • organic no salt seasoning to taste
  • 2-6 cups mozzarella cheese ( used six cups)

Instructions

  1. In a large skillet, add coconut oil, and sauté the onion and garlic until translucent.
  2. Set veggies aside
  3. In a large casserole dish, add as many chicken tenders as you need.
  4. Season the tenders with salt on one side
  5. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour
  6. While the chicken is cooking, whip the cream cheese until it is soft and add in salt, pepper, no salt seasoning, veggies, and some of the mozzarella cheese.
  7. Add the cream cheese mixture to the chicken tenders and mix well.
  8. Top the chicken with a good layer of mozzarella cheese, the chopped cooked bacon, and place in oven until cheese is bubbly and brown.
https://heidistjohn.com/blog/recipes/easy-creamy-bacon-chicken

 Serve hot and enjoy!

East Texas Zesty Garlic Guacamole

I remember when I was growing up, my dad used to come home from work and pull out an avocado and chips for an evening snack before dinner.  I would watch him from a distance as he sliced into the avocado and began to mash it up in his bowl, making guacamole.  I thought it was Soooo Gross!!!  Why would he want to eat that slimy green stuff?  I mean, come on Daddy, how weird can you be?  30 years later, it’s one of my favorite appetizers!  I guess Daddy knew what a good thing was back then.

guacamole-recipe

Here in East Texas you’ll find guacamole on the menu of almost any restaurant you go to.  We have an overabundance of Mexican food restaurants in Huntsville…  so many that we sometimes roll our eyes when we learn someone else has opened up yet another Mexican food place.  But, none of these restaurants have our favorite guacamole.

The best guacamole was discovered during our annual Christmas party at our house.  Our best friends showed up with their homemade guacamole that had a noticeable ingredient in it that was new to us… Garlic.  Ever since then, I’ve always put garlic in my guacamole.  I have modified it a bit by adding ranch dressing.  Here is my guacamole recipe that is sure to be a hit at any party!

East Texas Zesty Garlic Guacamole

East Texas Zesty Garlic Guacamole

Ingredients

  • 3 large avocados
  • 1 Roma tomato
  • 2 large cloves garlic
  • 1 lime
  • 2 tsp. Ranch dressing
  • 1 tsp. mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. ground pepper

Instructions

  1. Dice your tomato and garlic cloves and set aside.
  2. Peel and pit your avocados. Then, place avocados into a medium sized bowl and dice them, gently mashing with a fork.
  3. Add juice of a lime, Ranch dressing, mayonnaise, garlic, salt, and pepper. Continue to mash and stir until desired consistency.
  4. Stir in the tomatoes and serve with your favorite tortilla chips!
https://heidistjohn.com/blog/recipes/east-texas-zesty-garlic-guacamole

Cream Cheese Chicken Tenders And Green Bean Tomato Medley

Last night I needed a super simple, healthy, gluten free meal that was quick to prepare. We were just coming down from the high time demands after talent show week for our kids. Since I direct the choir, and work with small ensembles, this kept me running with extra practices, along with other extras thrown in each day of the week. Consequently, time for planning and preparing meals was pretty much non-existent. Time didn’t allow for a trip to the store, so I began searching our cupboards, freezer, and refrigerator, and gathered some ingredients that seemed like they would compliment each other. In other words, I totally winged it! This was a cooking experience on the fly, so when my family decided they love it and want me to make it again, it was a pleasant surprise. If you need a meal that meats this criteria, you just might like this one.

gf-chicken-green-bean

Cream Cheese Chicken Tenders

Ingredients

  • Chicken Tenders (as many as your family will eat)
  • 1 tbsp. coconut oil
  • Salt (Pink Himalayan salt is the best)
  • Fresh, ground, pepper
  • garlic powder
  • Organic No Salt Seasoning (Costco)
  • Cream cheese to taste

Directions

  • In a large skillet, heat coconut oil, and add chicken tenders
  • Season the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and no salt seasoning.
  • When the first side is browned, flip the tenders to brown the second side, and cover.
  • Cook until chicken is no longer pink in the middle.
  • Add cream cheese and stir well.

Serve and enjoy!

 

Green Bean Tomato Medley

Ingredients

  • Frozen or fresh green beans
  • One medium onion
  • One clove garlic, minced
  • Salt (pink)
  • Fresh ground pepper
  • One tablespoon coconut oil
  • Grape or Cherry tomatoes to taste

Directions

  • In a medium to large size skillet, heat coconut oil
  • Add chopped onion, garlic, and seasonings and sauté until translucent.
  • Add green beans, stir well, and cover.
  • Cook thoroughly for about fifteen minutes, stirring from time to time, until beans are tender, but not overly soft (for frozen beans. Less for fresh).
  • Add a handful or two of grape or cherry tomatoes and cook for a few more minutes to warm them.

Serve hot and enjoy a delicious, hot, healthy, gluten free meal with your family! <3

Simple, Satisfying Roast Beef Dinner

roast-beef

Roast is one of our favorite meals, and it’s one of the easiest meals to prepare.  I don’t know why I forget to make it. It’s delicious, satisfying, gluten free, and everyone in our family loves it!  With our busy schedules, I was looking for some easy recipes last week.  My goal is to simply life a little bit and cooking meals that fit the criteria for good nutrition was my project of the week.  I came across my favorite roast recipe and decided it was time to prepare it again.  Oh the aroma that filled our home as we came through the door with hungry tummies after a long and busy day!  I prepared sweet potatoes, asparagus, and green beans, pan fried in coconut oil to go with that succulent, tender, roast. Please excuse me while I wipe up the drool that just landed on my key board, and write roast on my grocery list…..again.

Ridiculously Easy Roast

Ridiculously Easy Roast

Ingredients

  • One roast of your choosing
  • mushrooms (as many as you like)
  • one large onion
  • Fresh, minced garlic (2 cloves)
  • one tablespoon coconut oil
  • Himalayan or sea salt to taste
  • Two bay leaves

Instructions

  1. In a large skillet, heat coconut oil, and add onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Sautee until onion is translucent, and mushrooms are browned and tender. Remove veggies and set aside.
  2. Add roast to the skillet and brown on all sides. Rub salt on each side of the roast, then add to the crockpot. Place veggies on top of roast and top with two bay leaves. Cook on high for seven hours (or according to your own crock pot's heat. Mine is very slow, so high works best). Remove bay leaf and serve!
https://heidistjohn.com/blog/recipes/simple-satisfying-roast-beef-dinner

 

Creamy Potato Soup

Being a full-time, working, homeschooling mom to three daughters means that some days it’s just way easier to grab lunch at a fast food restaurant. Yes, there are those lovely days that I come home and make sandwiches, pack them for my family, then return gracefully to the music store just in time for lunch.  But, then there are the busy days when I ignore my mommy guilt and just drive through for the box of nuggets!

Sometimes my girls do not agree on the chosen lunch options on these fast food days. Out of the three girls, you can almost be guaranteed that one will have an objection about the restaurant I am grabbing lunch from. However, there is one place I can count on to please everyone at lunch time. Schlotzsky’s. My middle daughter is particularly fond of their potato soup. It’s not surprising, really, since she’s our “carbs girl.” If I’d let her, that girl would live off of French bread, mac & cheese, Ramen noodles, and mashed potatoes!

creamy-potato-soup copy

Knowing how much she loves Schlotzsky’s potato soup, I decided I would try my best to replicate it. Of course she was thrilled when she learned that potato soup was what I would be making for dinner! When I was just about finished cooking the soup, I let her have a taste to see if it was good. She very carefully took a sip so as not to burn her mouth. Then, she hesitated and sweetly said, “Hmmm… it doesn’t taste quite the same as Schlotzsky’s.” 🙁 So I replied, “Oh. Okay, well, what do you think it needs?” (I later realized this was a good mom choice on my part, because it gave my daughter ownership to the soup.) So, she suggested more salt and a little cream. And, I think it did improve the taste. Yay!! The best part of the story though, is that my daughter was happy and thought it tasted like her favorite soup in the world!  Just to let you know though, this is NOT a copycat recipe.  It doesn’t taste exactly like Schlotzsky’s soup.  But, it’s close enough for a nine year old girl 🙂

Here is the recipe for my potato soup that made my little girl so happy.

Creamy Potato Soup

Creamy Potato Soup

Ingredients

  • 10 red potatoes
  • 4 gloves garlic
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 8 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 TB. sour cream
  • 1 tsp. ground pepper
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. ground rosemary
  • 4 strips bacon
  • 1/2 tsp. onion salt or powder

Instructions

  1. Chop potatoes and mince garlic.
  2. Heat butter and garlic on high heat for 2 minutes in a medium size stew pot.
  3. Add potatoes and 8 cups of water, boil uncovered for 20 minutes on high heat.
  4. While potatoes are boiling, cook 4 strips of bacon in a skillet.
  5. When potatoes are tender, mash them to desired consistency. (don't drain water)
  6. Reduce to medium low heat and add cheese, sour cream, salt, pepper, onion salt, rosemary, cream and milk.
  7. Simmer for 5 minutes on low heat until soup thickens.
  8. Serve with shredded cheese and bacon crumbles.
https://heidistjohn.com/blog/recipes/creamy-potato-soup

Easy Mexican Chicken Wraps

If you are looking for a nutritious, delicious, simple, and quick recipe to feed a crowd, you’ve come to the right place!

Lately I feel like I see myself flying by and I stand there wondering about that flash that whizzed past. Between keeping up with the schedules of five active children, school, volunteer time outside the home, seeing my nine grandblessings and their parents as often as possible, church activities, grocery shopping, a small photography obsession, the upkeep of a home, and the myriad of other responsibilities, I seriously began to question whether or not I could remember how to cook. We are much more on the go than we have ever been before, which translates to very little time left to plan and prepare healthy, satisfying, meals. They say that necessity is the mother of invention. I am finding that to be true. In this season of life with grown kids, nine grandblessings, and five kids that range in age from nine to sixteen in the house, there are days I feel stretched too thin to be of much use to anyone.  Leaning on the Lord for extra strength and wisdom is not an option. It’s mandatory. In my weakness, He is proving to be strong. He is giving me wisdom far beyond my own, creativity I didn’t even know existed within my soul, and strength to not just make it through each day, but to embrace and enjoy the moments in spite of physical exhaustion.

In one of those recent moments when my physical tank was on empty, God met me right there with fuel to fill it up and get me going again. Clarity of thought broke through the shadows in my foggy brain and out came this amazing meal that my family fell in love with. God is so good, so faithful, and so very real. He takes my breath away with His incredible way of meeting me right where I am and I can’t resist sharing this delicious, simple, meal with you. Veggies and meat all in one dish? I’ll take it!

The kids are begging me to make it regularly. Once again….it’s a win for Mom!

mexican-chicken-wraps-recipe

The beauty of this recipe is the ability to create a small, medium, or large batch with ease, hence the vague measurements. You can be creative with the flavors to fit your own taste. This can also be baked in an oven, or you can make a crock pot meal out of it.

Easy Mexican Chicken Wraps

Easy Mexican Chicken Wraps

Ingredients

  • chicken tenders (you choose the amount for your crowd)
  • red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, diced
  • one medium yellow or white onion, diced or julienned
  • shredded green cabbage
  • guacamole
  • shredded pepper jack cheese
  • Mexican seasoning:
  • cumin (to taste)
  • chili powder (to taste)
  • 1-2 limes
  • green onions (chopped)
  • 1-2 tsps. Himalayan salt
  • salsa to taste
  • 2-4 cloves of fresh, minced, garlic

Instructions

  1. Mix cumin, chili powder, lime juice, salt, half the garlic and salsa together in a small bowl
  2. Add chicken tenders to a casserole dish (I used an 11x14 for my crowd)
  3. Lightly salt each chicken tender, than pour seasoning over the batch and bake in a 350 degree oven until chicken is cooked through (45 minutes-1 hour).
  4. About fifteen minute through the baking time, begin preparing the onion and cabbage by adding 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil to the skillet, and sautéing the onion and cabbage with fresh garlic.
  5. Once the chicken is fully cooked, you can add it to warmed tortillas and top it with guacamole, grated cheese, the sautéed onion and cabbage, fresh, chopped tomatoes, or a combination of topping choices you enjoy most. OR you can serve it sans the tortilla, with brown rice and all the toppings.
  6. We used gluten free corn tortillas fried in coconut oil, for ours, but if going gluten free is not a necessity for your crowd, warmed flour tortillas are yummy and easy to warm in the oven.
  7. The veggies for this can be chopped up ahead of time, for an even quicker preparation process on a busy day.
https://heidistjohn.com/blog/recipes/easy-mexican-chicken-wraps
 

Enjoy!

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
 In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.”