Crockpot Honey Garlic Hens {+Life Post Residency}

Posted in Crockpot, Entrees, Life by Cavities & Cravings

I finished my pediatric dental residency three months ago and life is feeling rather surreal. This is the first time in my life that I haven’t been a student and boy does it feel strange. By strange, I really mean freaking amazing!! How the hell did I make it through dental school and residency? I still remember applying to dental school and truly convincing myself that I would never get it in. Sometimes I worry I’ll wake up and it’ll all be dream…

Coresident Love

I started life in the real world, aka my first big girl job, a few days after my last day of residency. Talk about jumping right in. As a result, my summer flew by! Time flies when you’re having fun. Hah! Thankfully husband and I were able to take a mini vacation at the end of August. We did a three day cruise to the Bahamas and back. Although it was quick, it was much needed and I am thankful we got the opportunity to go. Not so sure I would do a cruise again, but it was so nice being able to escape life for a few days. I tried to convince husband that we should move to the Bahamas and I could open a practice there. I obvi did not win this argument since I’m currently sitting on my ouch in Ohio.

In the midst of a crazy summer work schedule, I made these Honey Garlic Cornish Hens in the crockpot and they turned out delicious. This is a recipe that I will be making again. You can substitute the Cornish hens for chicken drumsticks, thighs, or breasts. I served these next to some roasted yellow squash and a salad. Try this when you’re looking for a quick, flavorful crockpot recipe!

Ingredients:

2 Cornish game hens
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup honey
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional for spice)

Instructions:

1.Place cornish game hens in crockpot.

2.Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl. Pour over hens in crockpot.

3. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

22Nov2013

Sunday Morning Breakfast Casserole

Posted in Breakfast by Cavities & Cravings

Ahh breakfast, my favorite meal of the day. What’s not to love? Breakfast casseroles are pretty fantastic because they are easy to throw together and they satisfy that need for egg-cheese-biscuits-sauasage all in one bite. Mmm mmm good. I wanted to share this recipe because it is so easy and convenient to throw together! This is a great recipe to have handy during the holiday season to feed the masses.

Enjoy 🙂

Ingredients:

1 can buttermilk grands biscuits
1 lb pork sausage
8 eggs
3/4 cup of milk
1 green pepper, chopped
1 tomato, diced
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Brown pork sausage and drain. Place in casserole dish.

3. Open biscuits and cut in to bite size pieces. Place in casserole dish.

4. Mix together eggs, milk, cheese, green peppers, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Add egg mixture to casserole dish and mix well.

5. Bake in oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Let dish sit for 5 minutes before digging in.

7May2013

Shredded Crockpot Chicken Tacos

Posted in Crockpot, Entrees by Cavities & Cravings

Time continues to fly by! How is it already May? Speaking of time flying by, I have officially started my fourth year of dental school! Eeee! It’s a bitter sweet excitement really. Bitter because I have met so many great people in dental school and I am not quite ready to say goodbye, but so so sweet as I have worked so hard to get here. Well… good thing I dont have to deal with these mixed emotions for another year… we’ll just tuck them away for now.

Enough being sentimental and on to a delicious meal!

This is a great crockpot recipe that I have made a couple of times now! I love that all you have to do is throw all the ingredients in the crockpot.

Enjoy 🙂

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts
1 cup Zesty Italian Dressing
1/2 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
8 ounce can black beans
1 medium diced tomato

Instructions:

1. Place all of the ingredients in the crockpot.

2. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

3. Shred chicken and place back in the crockpot for 30 minutes.

4. Serve on hard or soft tacos with shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream.

13May2012

Crockpot Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Posted in Crockpot, Entrees by Cavities & Cravings

Sometimes when I look back on these crazy weeks that we have I wonder how we really got through them. Last week over a three day span, I totaled 10 hours of sleep… that’s not healthy. But nonetheless, we manage to survive each and every time. (Stay strong Wolfpack!) I am thankful that this upcoming week isn’t looking too bad.

One night last week we had these delicious shredded chicken caeasar sandwiches for dinner. They turned out extra tasty and were so simple to make. It can’t get much easier than this.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1.5 cup chicken broth/stock
1/2 to 1 cup of your favorite Caesar dressing
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
4-6 regular sized hamburger buns

Instructions:

1. Place chicken in a crockpot with 1.5-2 cups of chicken stock, cover and cook on low heat for ~6 hours.

2. Remove chicken from crockpot and place on cutting board. Pull chicken in to shreds.

3. Drain excess chicken stock from crockpot and place chicken back in the crockpot. Add dressing, Parmesan cheese, parsley, and pepper over the top. Stir well. Cover and cook on high heat for 30 minutes or until mixture is hot.

4. Spoon mixture in to each bun. Top with extra shredded Parmesan cheese and lettuce, serve.

11Feb2012

Lemon and Thyme Chicken

Posted in Entrees, Uncategorized by Cavities & Cravings

Here’s a quick and tasty baked chicken recipe I made one night this week. Turned out to be so easy and so full of flavor. We really enjoyed it with a side of roasted potatoes and vegetables.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp olive oil
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup of chicken broth
1 tsp lemon pepper
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 lemon cut into 4 wedges

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute, until garlic is a golden yellow color.

3. Add the chicken broth, lemon juice, lemon pepper, oregano, and thyme to the pan. Pour the mixture into the baking dish.

4. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt, freshly cracked pepper, and lemon pepper to taste. Place the chicken in the baking dish along with the lemon wedges.

5. Place into the oven and bake, basting occasionally with the garlic lemon sauce, for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear.

5. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest for 5 minutes. Drizzle the garlic lemon sauce on top of the slices of chicken and serve.

Modified from the blog For the Love of Cooking