Crunchy Honey BBQ Shrimp

I'm the first to admit that I'm not above shortcuts in the kitchen. I love to cook but I hate dirtying 5,000 dishes so I often use shortcuts that allow me to take the semi-homemade approach to cooking. To some that makes me a bad food blogger, but to this working mom it makes me a genius.

Landon is a huge fan of shrimp. He will eat them just about anyway he's presented with them, but he definitely loves them breaded. One day at Costco I bought a two pound box of Seapak frozen breaded shrimp and it has been residing in my freezer ever since. I've been desperate to clear out some stuff in my freezer so I decided to whip up a "glaze"of a sauce for the shrimp and all I can say is YUM. This was a total winner in our house! Considering I still have a ton of these shrimp in the freezer I am sure I'll be making them again. Soon.

Source: Stephanie Cooks Original

Ingredients:
3/4-1 pound breaded shrimp (homemade or frozen- your choice)
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp BBQ sauce
Sesame seeds
Dried parsley

Directions:
1- Cook the shrimp until they are almost done. Remove them from the oven.
2- In a small bowl combine the honey and BBQ sauce.
3- Using a brush, brush the sauce onto the shrimp. Return to the oven for 2 minutes.
4- Remove from the oven again, flipping the shrimp and brushing the sauce on the other side. Return to the oven for 2 minutes.
5- Sprinkle with parsley and sesame seeds. Serve hot.

Double Chocolate Cookies

I am so backlogged with recipes that when I made these cookies they were for my dear friend, Gina's, baby shower at work. She has since had the babies and they are one month old! So...yeah... I'm a little behind. What can I say!

These cookies were a total hit. I have to say, I've made a few versions of chocolate chocolate chip cookies but these take the #1 spot in my book. They were so soft and rich. They were almost likely pillowy brownie bites. I could go for some of these bad boys right now! I might have to make them again soon.

Source: Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup M&Ms

Directions: 

1- Preheat the oven to 350.

2- Melt the butter. Stir in the sugar and stir until well combined.

3- Add the eggs and vanilla, beating until well incorporated.

4- Stir in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine until a dough forms.

5- Hold in the chocolate chips and M&Ms.

6- Scoop by the tablespoon onto baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack.

OMG Crockpot Chicken

As I've evolved as a cook I rely less and less on easy ingredients and focus on more real ingredients. With that said... this meal is the LEAST "real" meal I've made in a long time! There's tons of processed ingredients, it's full of sodium, and therefore delicious. This recipe was all the rage in an online community I'm in so I decided to try it. John loved it. I liked it. I felt like it was a little "fake" tasting, a little salty, but overall tasty. I ended up keeping it on warm for a long time so the sauce dried up a bit. Next time I wouldn't let it sit on "keep warm" for quite as long as I did. I saved the leftover chicken to turn into paninis which I think will be very tasty! If you're looking for a super easy crockpot meal, this is for you.

Source: Complete Recipes

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 packet of dry Italian dressing
1 packet of dry ranch dressing
1 8oz pkg of cream cheese

Directions:
1. Throw everything in the crockpot on low and cook 6-8 hours.
2.After about 4 hours of cooking I usually stir everything together- but if you're not home it's no big deal.
3. Just stir about 20 minutes before serving to really mix together the cream cheese and dressing packets.

Crispy Southwestern Chicken in a Salsa Verde Cream Sauce

If you follow me on Facebook you're aware of why I've disappeared for the past two months! If you don't, I'm so excited to announce that I am pregnant with our second child, due in July. I am just about 14 weeks pregnant now and finally feel great again. Not only did I not blog for two months but I didn't eat or cook! We survived on cereal and pasta with butter. I'm so happy to be back in the kitchen!

So many of the meals I'm sharing are pre-pregnancy. I have a huge backlog of recipes to share that got stalled from my inability to look at pictures of food. This meal was a meal that almost didn't happen. I made this when I was about 5 weeks pregnant and I planned to make it with grilled chicken. When I opened the package of chicken, which was still good, it smelt horrible. I decided to toss it and switch directions of the meal. I used my favorite chicken tenders, Coleman's All Natural chicken tender, and proceeded. This was DELICIOUS. Best of all I usually have all these ingredients on hand so it's an easy meal to make. John and I were both huge fans. The sauce makes it look a bit sloppy but the flavor or the sauce pulls the whole meal together!

Source: Stephanie Cooks Original

Ingredients:
8 breaded chicken tenders, homemade or frozen
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup salsa verde
1/3 cup light cream
Juice of half a lime
1 cup of corn
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
Rice

Directions:
1- Cook the chicken tenders according to packaging directions.
2- Meanwhile, heat the oil and garlic in a sauce pan. Add the salsa verde and heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the cream and lime juice and heat over a low heat for 10 minutes.
3- In a small skillet combine the corn and bell peppers and heat over a low heat, stirring regularly, until hot.
4- Dice chicken. On a plate place rice at the bottom. Top with chicken, veggie mix, and sauce (to taste).