Crock Pot Nacho Chicken

What do you call chicken that's not yours?  NACHO CHICKEN!!!  Never gets old.

I love cooking with the crock pot and frozen chicken breasts for days when I know I won't get home until later.  Here's a quick easy and delicious nacho chicken recipe.  I put it over a bed of romaine lettuce and a few crushed chips for a salad (there's enough juice that you won't need additional dressing) with some Mexican cheese sprinkled on top and for my husband, I put a bed of chips, topped it with the cheese and then drizzled the chicken all over it.  Muy bueno!


Ingredients:
4 frozen chicken breasts
1 8oz can of whole kernal corn - drained
1 8oz can of black beans - drained and rinsed
16 oz pico de gallo - I used the huge Costco can we got for Superbowl that of course, did not get finished.. this recipe brought me close, may have to use it everytime we buy that huge thing of salsa!
1 tsp chipotle powder
4 oz of light cream cheese (or half of a normal package size)

Directions:
Put the chicken, corn, black beans, and salsa into the crock pot and cook for 4-5 hours on low.  Shred the chicken, add the cream cheese, and let it sit on warm for another 30 minutes.  To eat, top with shredded cheese and put it over a bed of lettuce or a plate of chips.  Easy peasy!!

I didn't take a photo but will add one when I make this again.  It's a repeater!

Panda Express Orange Chicken

Am I the only ABC ("American Born Chinese") girl who does not know how to cook rice?! I never had a reason to learn (mom or dad always put the rice in, we set the table and cleaned up) and my rice knowledge only goes as far as being instructed by my grandmother the proper way to serve rice (mix it in the pot and then serve it loosely). It's a bit disgraceful ... but true.

So when I got married and my mom gave me a rice cooker, I called her on a few occasions to ask for the proper water to rice ratio. After being scolded one too many times, I started googling it. But google only explained how to cook rice without a rice cooker. So then I started doing it on a whim without instructions. To date, I have not cooked rice successfully even once (and I try to cook Chinese food once a week). Fry rice - now that is different because you make it with old rice (and nasty old rice is fine) but normal rice, not so much. Today was no different. I put the correct rice ratio but forgot to put some water outside of the pot in the rice cooker so it could steam. Smart.

So I boiled some egg noodles instead. Still Chinese. Pretty good for the Panda Express orange chicken I made (cheated and bought the $4.99 Panda Express sauce) that Andy fried (while I fed Jordan!). Now I will never forget how to bread Chinese chicken:

1-2 pounds of chicken cubes

white pepper

black pepper

salt

sesame oil

1 egg

mix 1/4 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of corn starch and mix in with the chicken, cook in hot oil and wala - Chinese breaded chicken!

Then, cook some garlic, ginger and green onions, put the chicken back in and pour the sauce in.