Chicken Chili Mac in the crockpot

Hey all! Proud to say I'm now at 21 weeks, cooking again, working out and feeling good!

Last week we found out that baby #4 is a boy. He's following two boys and a girl and big sis was really hoping and praying for a girl but she is begrudgingly coping.

Anywho - thought I'd start off with something easy, tasty and cheap:)

Here's my Chicken Chili Mac...

This crockpot meal was so simple, I started it before taking my kids to the swim club, and all I had to do was add the macaroni when we came home and then eat! My kids gobbled it up after a long day of swimming (and then my youngest conked out about 15 minutes later).

What's in it?
- two chopped green peppers
- one onion
- one tomato (I would have added more but it was all I had today, diced tomatoes would have been really good too)
- two cans of chili beans
- three chicken breasts
- chili powder, cumin, cilantro and salt to taste
- water (enough to cover the ingredients)
- 1 pound macaroni
- shredded cheese (your choice) for a topping

Everything but the macaroni went into the crockpot early in the day.

When I got home I removed and shredded the chicken, added the macaroni and let it cook till tender, then I put the chicken back and it was ready to serve.

I'm thinking I'll use the leftovers for some Baked Chicken Chili Mac and Cheese. Mmmmmm

Sorry for the silence - news to share

Sorry for the silence. However, I have news to share. At the moment I have not been posting or reading many food blogs because I can't seem to stomach it. The reason is that I'm expecting! So in a few weeks, hopefully, the first trimester will be through and I will like food again.

Right now anything healthy and anything with a red sauce is quite repulsive to me, which is killing me, but I really like macaroni and cheese:)

Rachel Ray's "Moo Shu Noodles"

Another one of Rachel's (recipe here) and it was a big family hit. I cut some corners to save some pennies on this one. All the veggies were bought from produce junction and I used button mushrooms instead of shiitake and thin cut pork chops with the bone in instead of boneless (they were cheaper and I got them on manager's special).

The fettuccine was Shoprite's brand, I didn't use egg ones because I couldn't find them.

shredded ginger and scallions

Instead of using hoisin and soy sauce I just used up the rest of my Soyaki from Trader Joes and added a little bit of soy sauce (I don't like things too sweet).

After I browned the meat I sauteed the ginger and scallions and then added the mushrooms, finally the nappa cabbage.

Another note - I've started using bouillon or "better than bouillion" instead of the stock in the box to save money. I've also been looking for the low sodium ones.

The vegetables made a lot of juice so I took some out and whisked in flour to thicken the sauce.

The finished product.

This fed my family of five and had three individual meals leftover for lunches. I find that when I put them away in individual meals the leftover actually get eaten and I can also freeze them for later (who needs Lean Cuisine on Stoufer's:).

Crockpot Sausage Meal

My money savers on this one were sausage, sold on manager's special (that means it's discounted because it needs to sell that day and then can be taken home and frozen, or used right away) and potatoes from produce junction, one bag gave me two large meals (lots of leftovers)

Simple meal to throw in before you go out and leave it to cook in the crockpot. First you brown the sausage (leave it whole or in large pieces which you will cut right before serving) and then stick it in the crockpot with diced tomatoes, the cut up potatoes and whatever spices you like (garlic and basil are winners in this dish).

Before serving remove the sausage and cut them (much easier to cut when fully cooked) add them back in and serve.

Two out of three kids actually asked for seconds and hubby made it the next days lunch.

Part of the $5 dinner challenge, though I don't know the exact cost, math was never a strength of mine:)

A few more Flat Belly Diet Meals

Tuscan Chicken - I found this surprisingly good served over greens, normally it would be pasta or some type of grain. The MUFA was the almonds.Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast - this was a big hit and also the first time I've attempted a stuffed chicken breast (any tips appreciated) the spinach was sauteed with onion and sundried tomatoes, plus it had a little bit of grated parm in it. As you can see the pine nuts were the MUFA.

Leftover Ham & Cheese Strata

Here's a really simple and delicious meal to help use up leftover ham. It's from the Rachel Ray show so you can get the recipe here. Basically, the only things I changed were, I used frozen asaparagus (defrosted), I used shredded cheddar (pretty cheap) and used my own bread machine bread.

Don't make my mistake, I forgot to grease the dish which made it very hard to get out:)

Simply pour the beaten eggs over the broken bread and then top with ham, asparagus and cheese. Then bake.

Mmmm

Pretzel Crusted Chicken

I had made this a while ago and forgot to post but I just ran across the picture. Anyway, this is one of my absolute favorites (my family's too) so I had to share.

Original recipe is from Rachel Ray but I just ad lib now. Really simple.

Chicken tenderloins (buy frozen, they're so much more affordable) dipped in egg, then ground pretzels (I use the food processor) and a second round of egg and pretzel (keep your cost down and buy the no name store brand pretzel, no one will tell the difference), then simply fry till done.

They're topped with a mustard cheese sauce. Easy route, just melt some shredded cheddar and mix in spicy brown mustard, longer route, but still easy, make a rue with butter and flower, add some chicken broth and milk and then add cheese and mustard.

Then top with chopped dill pickles. To me you can't get any better than that!

BTW - the side is Trader Joe's frozen marinated and grilled eggplant and zucchini.