Velveeta Burrito Meat

Mystery contents

I try not to waste food. You know saving money, children in Africa, and what not. I had half a block of Velveeta left over from Buffalo Chicken Soup and I did not have the ingredients for another batch of soup. I also had an old freezer burned pound of ground beef and left over cilantro. So burritos became a plan.

The challenge with things like this, in my mind at least, is finding something that does not require buying lots more things thus defeating the saving money angle (but still doing nothing for the children in Africa because I am a bad person or something). In this case I bought a thing of shredded lettuce and some wraps. I think that put me back roughly $3 and fed me for three meals.

So to get to the point today is not a recipe I am endorsing so much as an idea: throw a bunch of stuff in a slow cooker. It is a great money savings and relatively fool proof cooking-wise. 

Resources:

1 lb ground beef

8 oz Velveeta

1/2 cup salsa

1 packet taco seasoning

1 onion, diced

Put all ingredients in a slow cooker. Set to low.

In the first couple hours, stir every 30-45 minutes until cheese is mixed in and the beef is broken up. 

Cook for a total of 8 hours.

Commentary:

So I make some some Chipotle rice because it is awesome and to get rid of the old cilantro that was lying around. I rounded it out with some pickled jalapenos and shredded lettuce

Lettuce not pictured, duh.

I layered the ingredients originally. I did this because they just do not really mix well until partially cooked. 

Ugly old beef

Fake cheese.

Seriously onion is the only decent looking ingredient.

Conclusion:
Bought wraps and lettuce to use up Velveeta, cilantro, and old beef. I am pretty sure I came out ahead on this one.

Apple Butter Barbecued Chicken

 

The wifey and I went to the pumpkin patch yesterday. It was a good time. We took a hay ride out to a field with a lot of pumpkins lying around and a corn maze. It was nice, family friendly, wholesome, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then they take you back and there is a farmer's market. That is when shit got real.

True statement.

Despite really wanting to come home with mountains of meat, cheese, peanut brittle, and fudge, I came home with a large jar of apple butter and some cider. So I immediately Googled "apple butter chicken" and found this. Aside: I have no idea why that was the first thing I thought of but it was. While I intend to revisit apple butter chicken in the near future, this was a nice start.

So much apple butter... with such strange pricing.

Resources:

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (~1.5 lbs)

1/3 cup apple butter

2 tablespoons salsa

2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon salt, optional

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 drops Worcestershire sauce

2 drops Liquid Smoke, optional

Method:

Place chicken in a foil lined backing dish.

Combine remaining ingredients; pour over chicken. 

Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 25 minutes or until cooked through.

Commentary:

As usual,  breast halves where roided-out chicken breast halves sliced along the thickness. I try to list weight so we are all on the same page.

I only made half the recipe because I felt like it. Half of 1/3 of a cup is 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons by the way. Look, I just saved you a Google search. You are welcome.

Speaking of halving, two drops is kind of hard to pull off (especially since my liquid smoke is an open neck bottle). So I poured a bit into the smallest spoon I could readily find and dripped from the spoon.

This is about as simple as cooking gets (disregarding pre-made stuff). Mix ingredients in bowl, dump on chicken, bake, and eat (although if I have to tell you that last part, this blog might be too advanced for you).

Mix.

Dump and bake.

Conclusion:

This is good stuff, but nothing to write home about. It was not as sweet as I wanted (the salsa and ketchup really knocked down the sweetness of the apple butter), but it was enjoyable and super easy. Would make again.