Chicken Taco Pizza

MY OBSESSION:  If there's one thing I could eat multiple times a week and never get sick of, it's pizza! And it only helps that I am in love with someone who loves pizza more than I do, AND my son asks for pizza for breakfast on a daily basis!

  

While living in Spain or traveling through France, when I encountered a sad or rough time, I turned to pizza... maybe because it comforted me in a way...

It brought me back to all those Friday nights as a kid; pizza night...and book mobile night with my dad<3...bowling night at Nesbits Lanes.

Pizza is also one of many foods that just brings people together; we have it at class parties at school, we order it for football games, and it's the food we often rely on when we socialize and gather with friends and family.  Whatever the occasion, pizza is usually there!  One of my more recent favorite memories of pizza was ordering from Pizza Hut for our first meal in our new house!  We didn't even have any furniture yet, but we sat on the floor and devoured our pizza together... it was beautiful!

 

Pizza is great- it never gets old because there are so many different combinations of toppings and you can literally put almost anything on a pizza crust and it will be the most amazing thing you have ever bitten into; the melted globs of cheese, the crunchy fresh veggies, the spicy pepperoni, the tangy tomato sauce, the taste of fresh herbs...

I could go on and on and on...

 

  Recently, I've been turning to making pizzas on the weekends for Saturday afternoon lunches, and I've discovered it's actually quite practical to make your own instead of ordering one; it's simple, cheap, quick, and delicious! 

I've become a fan of Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Crust for whatever pizza I am making.  This recipe is definitely a pizza with a twist, a Mexican twist, as it uses the Creamy Salsa Chicken that I posted the recipe for in my previous post: Like I said, you should have leftovers of the chicken and this is what I used them for...

Chicken Taco Pizza

Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Crust

Red onion

Jalapeno

Cilantro

Tomato

Taco or Fiesta blend shredded cheese

Chilli Powder

 

While the dough is precooking for about 5 mins., dice your veggies:  red onion, jalapeno, and tomato.

Chop the cilantro and take a sip of your wine : )

 

 



Spread Creamy Salsa Chicken over pre-cooked pizza dough and then top with the diced onion and jalapenos.

Cook pizza until crust just starts to brown on the edges.  Add shredded cheese and sprinkle with chili powder.  Evenly place tomatoes and cilantro on top of pizza.  Cook for just a few more minutes; until cheese is melted.

 

Cool, slice, and enjoy... the flavor is outstanding!

 

 

The BEST kind of pie is a PIZZA pie, and the best kind of conversation happens around a pizza! 

<3 LML

"Multi-purpose" Crockpot Creamy Salsa Chicken

This recipe came from Pinterest and is absolutely delicious! If you know me, you know I've had nearly every type of meat prepared any way you can think of and will try anything and everything that can be rolled up in a tortilla. This is, no joke, the best tasting meat I have ever put on a tortilla. And it's so freaking simple- and I'm all about simplicity.  I used frozen chicken breasts and just dumped all this stuff in the crockpot and let it cook until we came home from school. The only thing I had to do when we came home, was add the sour cream and shred the chicken.   The chicken literally fell apart when I touched it with the fork! 
MUST TRY!


Crockpot Creamy Salsa Chicken

4 chicken breasts (1.875 lbs. from Walmart)
1 packet of taco seasoning (we prefer old el paso)
1 container of fresh made salsa (Walmart market fresh mild salsa 18 oz.)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz. sour cream
Tortillas (try Mission Artisan Ancient Grains!)
Toppings- cheese, jalapeños, onion, tomato, cilantro, etc.


Put chicken breasts in crockpot and top with half of taco seasoning.  Mix together salsa and mushroom soup in a bowl and pour over chicken.  Sprinkle rest of seasoning on top of mixture.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours (or on high for half the time).  Shred chicken with a fork and mix in sour cream.  Let cook for a few more minutes until heated thoroughly.

Use your favorite tortillas- see my favorite in the above ingredient list to change up your tacos a bit- and toppings! 

You WILL have leftovers to freeze or to use in other meals- hence the name "multi-purpose" ; )  I used mine to make a pizza, which I will share in my next post...


Tacos4Life. <3  LML

Choripán Americano

     The word "Choripán" comes from two words; "chorizo" and "pan."  And it is exactly what it's name states:  A piece of chorizo (sausage) in bread, and what could be more satisfying than that?!  Choripán was invented in Argentina as Argentinian street food, but is also popular in Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Chile (where I fell in love with it!)  Actually, I probably fell in love with choripán a long time before I lived in Chile... or a similar version of it at least. 

     Whether at the annual family reunion, or the annual 4th of July party, I could always count on there being hot sausage sandwiches at our parties!  I believe my Aunt Bev was usually the one responsible for the hot sausage.  Everyone would head straight for the crock pot under "Herb's Haven," as it was the definite "must have" at all of our get togethers for years!  Cooked for hours in the crock pot along with onions and peppers, the hot sausage was unbelievable on one of those soft buns- I would devour it.  I'd maybe even have two... one early in the day and one later on at night after having some beverages.  All in all, hot sausage reminds me of my family and the important times we celebrated together.  

     I have many happy memories of hot sausage, so when I encountered a similar food in South America, no wonder I indulged when hanging out with friends and feeling nostalgic of home!   I was introduced to choripán at a welcome asado (barbecue) in Santiago.  I was alone, knew no one, but was greeted with great hospitality and choripán!  I remember how enthralled I was with the new culture and I quickly took to the food.  As I traveled to Puerto Aysen, a tiny isolated town where I would live for the next 9 months of my life, I encountered choripán on a weekly basis.  With not much to do in Aysen, if we were hanging out at someone's house, we would grab some chorizo and bread at the store and fry up some choripanes!  When we traveled on the weekends, we would make sure to bring choripán.  I had choripán in Argentina when I went to visit Pola's family.  I associate choripán with togetherness, good friends, family, great conversation, and travel- pure happiness!  When I was feeling homesick, choripán offered me comfort...and when I gained nearly 40 lbs., it was the reason!

    

    This is not a difficult recipe by any means, but one that I wanted to share because of the story and the cross-cultural ideals that it ties together.  It amazed me that a food that was so important to my family up in Pittsburgh, was just as important to the Chileans at the bottom of the world- when I eat it, I forever will think of my family and of my "Chilean family..."

    Today, hot sausage sandwiches are one of our favorite weeknight meals. My other half, Ricardo, was the one who taught me how to make it this way, quick and easy, if you want to switch it up from the norm.  You should definitely try it and let me know what you think!

Choripán Americano

Extra Virgen Olive Oil

half a green pepper

half an onion

Fresh ground pepper

Seasoned Salt (Tastefully Simple)

Hot Italian Sausage

Brat buns or Hoagie buns

Slice green pepper and onion and sautee in pan drizzled with EVOO.

Season with pepper and seasoned salt and set aside.

Cook sausage and slice down the center to make sure it's done.

Serve on bun with mustard, american cheese, and peppers and onions.  Simple.

Que Delicioso!




Peace, Love, and Choripán  ~LML

A new purpose.

  I think I might have to change the title of my blog... or add a subtitle, because this blog is not just about eating.  I have a new purpose.  In only a few days since I have started blogging about the food that I am cooking, I have revisited and gone through so many memories and (re)contemplated so many of my values and ways of thinking about myself.  And now I am realizing, that every time I make something or eat something somewhere, I am forced to go back, and I am uncontrollably flooded with memories and thoughts of what I have done in my life and where I have been, of family and friends, and of people that I have met, and of ways that I have felt.  I am also discovering that although I have been various places and thought that I was experiencing distinct cultures and foods, that there is just something so universal about it all.  These places, experiences, and traditions are all connected in some way...  ?

So now, introducing............... "Indulging in a passion:  A revision of self through the study of food."


Besos~  LML

Weeknight rush.

     One of my most difficult tasks is coming home from a long school day, picking up the kids, and then having dinner ready by 530 or 6 o'clock...so they can take a bath and be in bed by 645!  Recently I have been trying out some different crockpot recipes, and those I will post later.  Today I will share one of my favorite "go to" recipes for a Monday or Tuesday night that is pretty quick to prepare and that I know everyone will eat; baked pork chops!

     I am a lover of Shake 'n' Bake, but I have become an even bigger lover of my simple DIY "shake 'n' bake." This meal can be prepared in under 30 mins, it depends how you like your chops done.  You can even get some of the things ready the night before, or in the morning before you leave for work to save some time- just mixing the egg and milk, and shake and bake mixture and keeping it in the fridge does save a few minutes...and in this case, every minute counts!

Baked Italian and Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

Extra virgen olive oil  
1egg
1/4 cup milk
Italian bread crumbs
Lawry's seasoned salt
Grated Parmesan cheese
Chili powder
Red pepper flakes
Thin cut pork chops (about 6-7)

 
Preheat oven to 450.
Drizzle bottom of glass casserole dish with EVOO.
Mix one egg with milk.
Mix together bread crumbs, Lawry's, and grated Parmesan cheese. (and here is where I will apologize:  I rarely measure!) so mix together whatever you think looks good.  I pretty much filled a shallow dish with bread crumbs then added equal parts of Lawry's and Parmesan.
Coat both sides of each pork chop in the milk/egg mixture and then do the same in the bread crumb mixture.

                    

Lay pork chops in casserole dish.
We love spicy, but you might not, so this part is optional:  sprinkle each piece with chili powder and red pepper flakes.  
Then drizzle EVOO on top of all chops.  (I bake a few for the kids in a glass pie plate without the spicy stuff!)

                           

Bake for 10-15 mins. Depending on how you like yours done.  I baked ours for 10 and they were slightly pink.
Turn all chops to the other side, and if you are going spicy, season this side too.  Then bake an additional 10-15 mins on that side.
Serve with simple sides such as rice and biscuits if this is a weeknight!!   

                             



Chao- LML

Chili season is here!

       My favorite time of year; football season!  I love the game and everything that comes along with it- cold weather, hot apple cider, busy work weeks followed by lazy weekends, pumpkin spice lattes, sweaters and scarves, and most of all, the FOOD!  Of course, being from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I am a natural born sports fan and look forward to football season like I do to Christmas, but it's not only the game that I love,  it's the atmosphere and the food.  Above all, the fall season means Chili! 

        I am immediately taken back to my mother's house in Plum on a chilly (no pun intended), fall day and my nose is filled with the aroma of chili wafting through the house as it simmers for hours in the huge silver pot on the stove.  My mouth would literally water in anticipation of that first bite.  Chunky green peppers and onions, tomatoes, and beef...it was spicy.  We served it over rice and loaded it with cheese and ate saltine crackers on the side.  Years later she even started to put sausage into her mixture of goodies... We ate leftovers for days!  This was how I fell in love with Chili; a warm, filling, comfort food.

       Now, that I live in Texas, I have sampled many-a-chilis.  I have tried to make a few different recipes, until I think I have finally decided on one.  Even still, I will probably make it spicier the next time.  I also opted for the crockpot instead of cooking it stove top.  Although my recipe is not exactly the same as my mother's, I made it with her and all of our memories in mind. 



Best Crockpot Chili recipe ever!

1-1.5 lb. ground meat, browned

1 can Busch's dark red kidney beans   

1 can Busch's chili ready beans

1 can tomato paste 

2 cans chili ready tomatoes

1 green pepper chopped

1 onion chopped

5 cloves of garlic minced

2 stalks of celery chopped

salt to taste

Garlic salt to taste
Chili powder

Fiesta brand San Antonio style quick chili mix (or other chili seasoning)

Mesquite country seasoning (or other mesquite seasoning)

Shredded cheese

Sour cream

Saltine crackers

Combine and mix beans, tomatoes, and tomato paste in crock pot on high.  Chop green pepper, onion, celery, and garlic, add to crockpot, and stir.  In the meantime, brown the ground meat.  Don't worry about totally cooking it because it will cook in the crockpot (duh)!  Add meat to 

mixture, and stir frequently.  Add salt and garlic salt to taste, followed by chili powder, chili seasoning, and mesquite seasoning. (Sorry I do not usually measure my seasonings!  I just decide how much to use by tasting it!)Cook on high for 4 hours stirring frequently.  
Top with sour cream, shredded cheese, and eat with saltine crackers (or Doritos!)

Do it naked...

or add the fixin's!
                                                                                                                              
Makes the best leftovers!!- gooey goodness to help me get through grading papers!


Chao and good eats...  ~ LML

Mucho gusto conocerlos!

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Lauren and I currently live in Texas.  Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I am a lover of cold weather, rain, Pittsburgh Steelers football, culture, hockey, great food, foreign languages, family traditions, art, music, and good beer.  I am a bilingual teacher and a full-time mother, and I am now pursuing one of my all-time passions; food!  

I have done my share of exploring different restaurants in places all over the world, and indulging in the home cooking of my grandmothers, aunts, and my mother for years.  I have been to Granada, Spain where I sampled the Spanish cuisine of my host mom Menchu, and traveled to the farthest reaches of southern Patagonia where I enjoyed the Chilean cooking of Ms. Pola.  These recipes are fondly sketched into notebooks that I will dig up and recreate. 

Through this blog, I hope to chronicle my new journey. I will share and communicate my vast experiences with food by researching and trying various recipes, and by recreating favorite recipes from my family, my travels, and, my way of keeping up with modern society, Pinterest.  I am not one for lengthy ingredient lists and usually look for simple recipes, so more than likely you will be reading and trying recipes that have been made easier and are realistically do-able for someone who has a demanding job and a family! Que aprovechen!