Dry-Rubbed BBQ Chicken

It seems like we've gotten a whole chicken for the past few months in our CSA packages. And while I love Simple Roasted Chicken as much as the next person, it was time to do something new. It's also been too cold to do much grilling, and it seems like I've been either busy or sick too, which cuts down on my cooking time. So what better way to save time than by using my trusty crock pot?

This chicken uses both a dry rub and barbecue sauce. The rub is really easy to make and uses spices you probably already have in your kitchen. And it makes enough for several chickens--and would taste great on pork, fish, or beef too!

To make this easy, here's what's in the rub: chili powder, paprika, garlic, brown sugar, cumin, cayenne pepper, dry mustard, onion powder, pepper, and salt. (I used both kosher and smoked salt, but all kosher is fine.)

I mixed everything together in a bowl, used what I needed on my chicken, and then put the rest in a plastic baggie for future use. Be sure to label your bag though--this looks awfully similar to The Perfect Taco Seasoning.

I got my crock pot out and sprinkled half a roughly chopped onion and a few garlic cloves along the bottom.

Now get out your chicken. Be sure to wash it thoroughly, and dry it really well.

Sprinkle your dry rub all over your chicken (be sure not to touch the spoon to the chicken!) Dig in with your hands and make sure there's spice everywhere. It'll be a little messy.

Once every inch of your chicken is rubbed, place it in the crock pot. This was about a 5 pound chicken, and it fit pretty much perfectly. Even if your chicken seems a little large for your crock pot, you should be fine--it will shrink up and get a little more flexible as it cooks.

Pour your favorite BBQ sauce over the top. This is mild BBQ from ToKen BBQ. They don't sell their sauces in bottles (which is a shame!), but the owner, Tony, was kind enough to give us some sauce to take home when we asked.

Now set your crock pot to low. It will take around 6 hours to finish cooking. No worries if you'll be at work during that time--it's a crock pot, after all.

When your chicken pulls apart easily with a fork, it's ready to eat!















Pour more sauce over the chicken and serve! It will pull right off the bone. Yum! I used the leftover meat in Chicken and Wild Rice Soup the next day. The sauce added a subtle sweetness and a little smokey flavor. Or try it in a summery pasta salad or just go simple and serve as pulled chicken sandwiches.






Recipe: Dry-Rubbed BBQ Chicken

4 tbsp. chili powder
4 tbsp. paprika
2 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. onion
1 tsp. black pepper

1 chicken, 4-5 lbs.

1/2 an onion, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves

your favorite BBQ sauce


Combine all spices; stir well.

Rinse and pat chicken dry. Sprinkle with spice rub and make sure the whole chicken is well covered.

Sprinkle onion and garlic on the bottom of your crock pot. Place chicken on top of onions and garlic. Cover chicken with BBQ sauce. Let cook on low for at least 6 hours.

Chocolate Syrup For Your Sweetie

Uh oh, it's Valentine's Day again. Did you forget? You don't want to go home to your special someone and admit that you spaced out. But how can you make this day a special one he or she will love, with only a moment's notice?

I'll tell you. Chocolate syrup!

Chocolate syrup can make an ordinary day extra special for your special someone. Use this syrup to adorn sundaes, thicken it up to make a dipping sauce for fruit, or make your significant other the best cup of cocoa they've ever had.

Start with a large sauce pot. You'll look at the ingredients list and think you're safe with a small pot, but trust me. A medium- or large-sized pot is your friend. Once the sauce is boiling, it bubbles, and you don't want a hot, sugary chocolate mess all over your stove.

Grab your cocoa powder. I used Ghirardelli powder because it was a special occasion, but Hershey's would do the job just fine. Measure some out and dump it into the pot.

Pour a boatload of sugar over the cocoa. And throw in a pinch of salt.

Give your dry ingredients a quick stir to break up any large lumps of cocoa.

Whisk in some water. You could stir with a spoon, but a whisk will ensure that your sauce isn't lumpy.

Add a squeeze of corn syrup. This will keep your syrup smooth and easier to manage once it's cooled.

Now turn on your stove and get everything heating up. You want your sauce to start boiling. Give the sauce a stir once in a while.

Once your sauce is boiling, set a timer for 4 minutes. The longer you let the sauce boil, the thicker it will be once cooled. If you want a thick fudgelike sauce for dipping fruit, I'd let things go as long as 10 minutes.

After your timer goes off, remove your sauce from the heat and add your vanilla.

If you were planning on adding other flavorings, now would be the time. Liqueurs or other extracts (like almond or citrus) would be nice. Or you could use actual citrus zest and a little juice.







Once your sauce has cooled a bit, you can pour it into whatever container you like. I poured some into a squeeze bottle and some into a small, widemouth jar (I'm planning on sharing with our neighbors.) The sauce will thicken as it cools. I can't wait until it cools--I'm looking forward to a glass of chocolate milk later today!

Recipe: Chocolate Syrup For Your Sweetie

3/4 c. cocoa powder
1 1/2 c. sugar
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 c. water
1 tbsp. corn syrup

1 tsp. vanilla


In a large pot, combine cocoa powder, sugar, salt, water, and corn syrup. Whisk together. Cook over medium heat until mixture boils. Let boil for 4 minutes (longer, if a thicker sauce is desired.) Remove sauce from heat and add vanilla.

Guacamole

One of my favorite chip dips is guacamole! I love avocados, with their creamy interior and mild flavor. And they're just so pretty!

Some people are afraid of avocados because they don't know how to approach them. But they're really very easy to pick out, and very easy to work with.

Select avocados that are firm but have a slight give. The skin should look shiny and healthy, and the place where the stem was should still be green and fresh looking.

If you're good at planning ahead, buy a couple of avocados ahead of time and let them ripen on your kitchen counter. Speed the process up by keeping the avocados in a paper bag.

Just run your knife around the outside of the avocado, so it's cut in half.

Twist the halves apart to reveal the inside of the avocado.

To remove the seed, make sure the avocado is on a stable surface (or hold the avocado in a towel, to protect your hand) and tap the seed gently with the blade of your knife.

The towel is there to protect your hand in case your avocado is on the slippery side. Your knife might slip and you could cut yourself. Be careful!

Twist the knife a little and the seed should pop right out.

Spoon the avocado flesh out of the skin and give it a good mash with a fork or potato masher.

Now it's time for some chopping. I used one avocado. I used a clove of garlic and some jalapeno for flavor--an equal amount of each. You can adjust both of these to suit your taste.

Also, I cut the bottom part off the jalapeno, rather than split the pepper in half. This way, I minimize contact with the inside of the pepper, and I don't have to scrape out the seeds and membrane.

Give the garlic and jalapeno a good, thorough dice.

Dice some red onion, too. It's so pretty with the green avocado.

Cilantro is next on the chopping block. I love fresh cilantro. But I know some people are not fans. If you're not a cilantro lover, parsley would be an okay substitute.

Dice a pretty red tomato to bring out the green in the guacamole.

Zest half a lime. Make sure to get the green part of the lime only--the white part will be bitter.

Cut your lime in half and squeeze the juice out of one of those halves. This not only adds some citrus-y zing, but will also help your avocados stay green.

Stir everything together (and don't forget to salt and pepper everything!)















Serve with tortilla chips and go a little south of the border! If you're making this ahead of time, scrape everything together in a nice pile and cover with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap is touching the guacamole. That will help ensure that your gauc doesn't turn brown.

 

Recipe: Guacamole

1 ripe avocado

1 large garlic clove, finely minced

about 1/4 of a jalapeno pepper, finely minced

1/3 of a red onion, diced

handful of cilantro, minced

1 tomato, diced

zest and juice from half a lime

salt and pepper, to taste

Cut avocado in half. Remove seed, and scoop flesh from skin. Mash the avocado flesh thoroughly.

Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Serve!

Creamy, Cheesy Chip Dip

Sorry for the lack of postings! I've been under the weather. But now I'm feeling fine and am back to blogging!

This is one of my favorite dips to make for friends and family. It's so easy and tastes like something you'd order in a restaurant. It's not healthy for you--but come on, it's got to be better than that fake cheese microwaved with salsa, right?

Begin by opening a package of softened cream cheese.

It's really important that the cream cheese is room temperature. Otherwise you're going to have a heck of a time blending everything together! If you're strapped for time, a mixer and some beaters or a few seconds in the microwave will help you out.

Empty a small container of sour cream into the bowl. Don't throw away the container!

Use the container to measure out your salsa. I add an equal amount, so just fill the sour cream container to the top with the salsa of your choice.

Top everything off with a cup and a half of shredded cheese. I used a Mexican cheese blend but whatever you like (or have on hand) is fine.

I like to add some fire-roasted chiles, too, for some depth of flavor.

I accidentally bought whole chiles, rather than the already-diced kind, so I had to do my own dicing.

There were three chiles in my can--I used a chile and a half. I tossed the other chile and a half into a plastic bag and into the freezer, to use another time.

Don't forget to add salt and pepper! I used a little smoked salt, but regular salt is just fine.

Stir everything together (which should be an easy task, if your cream cheese was soft enough!)

The first few times I made this, I spooned it into a big, oven-safe bowl. But then I realized that we're just two adults here, and that's a heck of a lot of dip. So now I use small, oven-safe ramekins so we can heat them up in individual portions. I get about six ramekins full of dip.













Cover your oven-safe dish with foil and pop in the oven. If you're using a ramekin, it'll take about 30 minutes to heat through. If you're heating everything up at once, it'll be more like 50-55 minutes. You could even heat this up in a bread bowl or a crock pot (set on low!) if you were having, say, a Superbowl party ;) Serve with toast points, pieces of sourdough bread, crackers, or chips.

Recipe: Creamy, Cheesy Chip Dip

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. salsa
1 1 /2 c. shredded cheese
2 oz. (half a can) diced fire-roasted chiles
salt and pepper, to taste


Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine all ingredients. Pour into oven-safe dish. Cover with tinfoil. Bake 50-55 minutes until completely heated through. Serve.

Beef and Bean Burrilados

I asked The Kid what she wanted for dinner and she said, "Can we have tacos?" It was a good request--I had some ground beef that needed to get used. But we just had tacos last week, and we also didn't have any crunchy taco shells, which is my favorite way to have a taco. I have a recipe for chicken enchiladas, but not all the ingredients. I searched through my pantry to see what I had, and came up with this really good recipe.

I wasn't sure how to categorize these! They're obviously not tacos, even though they use taco seasoning. They have enchilada sauce and are baked, but have burrito ingredients. And since I'm not the place with the chihuahua I guess I can't call them enchiritos. So burrilados it is!

There are a few steps involved to assembling these, but it's really a lot easier than it looks. The first thing I did was prepare my meat filling. I started some onions out in a little vegetable oil.

Once the onions started to soften, I added the ground beef and broke it into small pieces.

I added a tablespoon and a half of my Perfect Taco Seasoning to the ground beef. I also added an equal amount of water.

Just a note--I cooked a whole pound of ground beef, but only ended up using about half of it. I saved the rest to make nachos the next day. 

While your beef simmers in the seasoning, you can start your sour cream filling. I used a small container of sour cream.

In a small bowl, I combined the sour cream with half a cup of shredded cheese. A bag of pre-shredded cheese is about 2 cups. Use half a cup here and save the rest of the bag to top the burrilados.

Then I added sliced green onions and some salt and pepper.

Stir everything together and set aside.

Open a can of refried beans. I used vegetarian beans but if you like the traditional lard-y beans, go ahead and use those. I put them in a small bowl and microwaved them for about 30 seconds, just to soften them a little.

By this time, you can remove the beef from the stove and set it to the side to cool a little bit.

I wrapped my burrilados in corn tortillas. I'm usually a flour tortilla person, but when you're baking the tortillas, especially in sauce, corn is better. Flour tortillas can get gummy and fall apart; corn stands up better to the moisture.

I heated some oil in a pan and let each tortilla fry for about 5 seconds a side until they softened and puffed a little. Be careful when you remove them from the oil!

On your work surface, lay out your lightly fried tortilla. Spread a thin layer of refried beans over the top.

Next, lay down a layer of your sour cream mixture.

Spread a spoonful of the taco meat down the center line of the tortilla.

Cover the taco meat with a spoonful of salsa.

Now fold the sides of the tortilla toward the center. Be gentle--you don't want to break the tortilla, and you don't want your filling to fall out. It might take you a tortilla or two to figure out the perfect amounts of filling. Don't worry, even if your burrilados are ugly, they'll still taste good!

Carefully flip the tortilla over and lay it seam-side-down in a shallow baking dish. Continue filling and rolling the tortillas until your dish is full. Mine held 8 burrilados, which was the perfect amount for us.

Preheat your oven to 350F. Open a can of enchilada sauce and pour evenly over all the burrilados.

Top with the rest of the shredded cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes, just until the cheese is melted.














How good do these look? They taste as good as they look! Try these out the next time you're craving a Tex-Mex flavor. Your family will thank you!

Recipe: Beef and Bean Burrilados

1/2 an onion, diced
vegetable oil, for cooking
1 lb. ground beef
1 1/2 tbsp. Perfect Taco Seasoning
1 1/2 tbsp. water

8 oz. container of sour cream
1/2 c. shredded cheese
3 green onions, sliced
salt and pepper, to taste

corn tortillas
oil, for frying

1 15-oz can refried beans

1 jar salsa (I ended up using about 1/3 or 1/2 a cup in total)

1 can enchilada sauce

1 1/2 c. shredded cheese


Preheat oven to 350F.

Saute onions in vegetable oil over medium heat. Once onions are softened, add ground beef and cook until browned. Add taco seasoning and water; let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, shredded cheese, green onions, and salt and pepper.

In a shallow pan, fry tortillas in vegetable oil for 5 seconds a side. Remove tortilla from oil. Carefully spread a thin layer of refried beans over tortilla.

Spread a layer of sour cream mixture over tortilla.

Add a spoonful of ground beef and a spoonful of salsa into the center of the tortilla. Roll sides of the tortilla towards the center; carefully flip tortilla over and lay seam-side down in a shallow baking dish. Repeat for the rest of the tortillas.

Pour enchilada sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle the rest of the shredded cheese over the top.

Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until cheese is melted. Serve immediately.