Product-Review: Schlereth's Green Chicken Chile Sauce from Costco

It never fails. I go to Costco for a few items and end up with a cart full of items that I come home with! Especially when there are great samples such as this there! This was definitely an impulse buy.

At Costco they served it with tortilla chips to eat with. I am using this on white rice. But you can use brown rice, quinoa even top this on just some black or pinto beans. Serve with a warm tortilla or even put into a quesadilla,There are tons of uses for a product like this.

It is just slightly salty, but for mass packaging that is what happens. But for under $10 you can make several meals for several people out of this one container. This is the medium and it has a slight kick. If you do not like spicy, then you may want to skip this. Has a great green chile flavor.

Product is pretty thick that is why it works great on rice, beans or into burritos.

If you are making quesadilla's spoon the product out so that you get more thick then liquid out of the container, so the quesadilla does not get soggy.

I am using white rice. But you can use this for many different types of recipes.

Again, you can add to brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, beans. With a tortilla, with chips, in burritos and quessadillas. This is a great flexible product.

Cook your rice ahead of time so that all you have to do is microwave the rice and the Green Chicken Chile Sauce for 1.5 min and you have a great hot meal, that is super fast and really inexpensive.

This chili is so "easy breezy". You can cook on stovetop or even throw into a crockpot.







Ingredients:
1lb Ground Beef ( try to buy as lean as possible)
1+ canned beans ( I use 3 different kinds)
2 cans diced tomatoes (not pictured)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
Chili Mix package

Brown the ground beef in a skillet, drain any excess grease.

Open all cans of beans ( I am using black, pinto and kidney beans) and diced tomatoes. Chop the onion and mince the garlic.

Put the ground beef into the chili pot.

Put one tablespoon of olive oil into skillet and lightly brown the onion. When it becomes translucent, add the garlic.

Once ready add to the ground beef.

Add cans of beans rinsed. (Rinsing the beans helps keep the effect of the beans to a minimum.)

Add the chili mix package and the cans of tomatoes, stir and let cook to allow all the flavors to blend. You can cook for as little as 30 min to most of day; if in a crockpot.

You can add diced fresh tomatoes, jalapeños, or several different spices such as paprika, cayenne pepper, chili powder etc if the chili package is not enough flavor or spice for you.

Add diced fresh onion or shredded cheese on top and a few crackers and it is a complete meal. All for well under $10!

This freezes well and is even better the next day!

Product Review: Chinese Food For Dinner Tonight! Trader Joe's Kung Pao Chicken Vegetable Fried Rice and Chicken Potstickers

 If you are luck enough to have a Trader Joe's store in your area, here is another amazing product review.

If you buy both the Kung Pao and the rice it is around $9 for both. Add the pot-stickers that are under $4 and you have an amazing meal. Tastes better than take out, cheaper and healthier!

The Kung Pao chicken came in 5 packages as shown. Chicken, veggies, sauces and peanuts separate.

Just a little oil on the bottom of the pan on med high heat approx 8-10 min till chicken starts turning a golden brown.

Once the chicken is browned add the frozen veggies.

I thought that the package looked small, but honestly it was a good veggie to chicken ratio. Although, I am a sucker for those veggies!! And I really loved the color that was added to the dish.



Add a little oil to another pan and on med/ high heat the rice 8-12 min.

* I cooked mine on high last few min to give it that "fried" rice taste and added crushed red pepper flakes, since we like things spicy.




You can stop here and add the Kung Pao sauce to the chicken and serve... or...

True to my nature.... I had to kick it up a notch. All great fried rices have fried egg in it, right?...

1 egg in a cup with little salt and pepper, beat quickly with a fork and poor into the pan you had the rice in and swirl the pan around, so you get this nice thin egg pancake.

 Just a minute or two on each side This is a very thin egg pancake.

When the egg is done. I chop it up. ( I use my kitchen shears.)

And add the egg to the rice.

If you get the pot-stickers, they are just around $4 depending on the kind you get. Mine are chicken.

Follow the directions of preference on the package, use either of the previous pans used filled with enough oil to cover the pot-stickers or do as I do.





I use my deep fryer and in about 10 min have beautiful crispy potstickers.

The sauce packets were frozen. I put them in a cup of warm water to thaw. Don't worry about adding it cold to the chicken in the pan. Add the peanuts if you like. Serve the chicken on top of the rice.

Better and less expensive than take-out!

Potato Chip Topped Baked Tilapia

This is a really inexpensive, good for you "Easy Breezy" dinner.

Tilapia is easy to find and inexpensive. It's a great fish for a novice cook because it is easy to season and cooks quickly.

I am still learning to work with seafood. But this dish is so simple, fast and yummy.

You can put any seasonings on it. I will use any of these 3 usually. Lemon Pepper, Asian Lemon Ginger and Caribbean Jerk. You can also marinate in some orange juice or any of the store marinades that go on sale all the time.



Pat the fish dry.

Dry season or marinade at least 5-10 min before you cook. This allows the seasonings to soak into the fish.

I am using the dry jerk seasoning in this dish.

Preheat oven to 350. For easy clean up I lined the baking sheet in foil and lightly greased it.

For fun, I topped the fish with some crumbled potato chips. You can also crumble the chips and coat the fish this way on both sides for a crunchier coating.

Put in the oven for 15-20 min. You can also fry on each side for 2-3min depending on the thickness of the fish. I baked it to make it healthier.

15 min later you have a beautiful crunchy dish. I add a $2.00 bag of salad. Cut cucumber, tomato and an onion into it and walla! Dinner well under $10 and made in under 30 min. With the foil lined baking sheet, it's super quick clean up too!

Bang Bang Shrimp deliciously sweet and sour....

There are many Oriental inspired restaurants that I have tried a similar version of these. They have been known as Bang Bang Shrimp, Mayo Shrimp or Sweet Chili Shrimp. They have a delicious creamy sweet and sour flavor.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs shrimp
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 sweet chili sauce
2 teaspoons shiracha or your favorite hot sauce
1/4 cornstarch or flour
oil to fry





Here in Vegas at Round Table Pizza they have a sweet chili sauce called "Polynesian sauce" that I am using in place of the grocery sweet chili sauce.

This is the perfect sweet, hot and sour. I buy these for $0.75 and use them in sauces and to dip a different bunch of options.








I use a baggie to coat the shrimp, it makes for easier clean up, just throw out the bag! I add a little flour at a time to insure that I do not over coat the shrimp and that would make them doughy.


I am using cornstarch instead of flour as many tempura and Oriental deep crispy fried items use cornstarch. And it worked great. Regular all purpose flour is just fine.













Heat enough oil in the pan on med/high heat to cover the shrimp.I am using my deep fryer. You are looking at about 3-5 minutes.






I put them on a paper towel to drain any extra oil.







In a bowl put all of them in and coat with the sauce of you can use the sauce for dipping.

Bang Bang! "Easy breezy" and all under $10! This would be at least $15 or more at the restaurant.

Trader Joe's Product Review and Easiest Eggplant Parmesan Ever!

These eggplant cutlets from Trader Joe's are amazing!! Pretty much most of their food is. Why mess with the whole hassle of working with the eggplant, the mess of dredging it and frying it when you can have it the "Easy Breezy"way and all for under $10 to feed the family! These are about $5-$6 at Trader Joe's in their frozen food section.




I wrapped my baking sheet in foil for the easy clean up and sprayed with Pam to grease the pan. I put these cutlets single file on the sheet and in the oven 350 degrees for 15-20 min.



I left mine in a little longer because I wanted them crispier.



This was a quick meal night so I used jarred sauce. This is Von's Private Selection Montanara sauce. But any favorite canned or jarred pasta sauce will work.


Once everything was ready, I topped with cheese and honestly was better than any restaurant Eggplant Parmesan  I have ever had, not to mention healthier and less expensive. All under $10 and we had leftovers for lunch.

Rotisserie Chicken use #1 Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup

Rotisserie chicken is a godsend to busy people like me. I can make a few meals out of one. Here is use #1 for a rotisserie chicken.







"Easy breezy" chicken soup in the crock-pot. Set it and forget it; my favorite kind of cooking!

 

I usually put aside some for dinner that night with a salad and maybe a starch such as a rice or potato. Sandwiches for the next day's lunch, some for some sort of soup and of course some for the dog...

For the soup base I use the chicken carcass I picked as clean as  possible, add a few pcs of chicken such as the drumsticks, wings and a few pcs of white meat.

 

You can skip all the ingredients and put in the parts of chicken including the carcass, stick 2-3 boulin cubes into the pot and veggies and you are good to go. And you can adjust seasonings to your liking. I do not like celery so you do not see any here, but the classic recipes all use celery.

 Ingredients:
Chicken carcass and chicken pieces
2/3 cup carrots
12/3 cup mushroom
1 onion
2 teaspoons Magi (or soy sauce)
1 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika (optional)

I use the Reynolds Crock-pot Liners for super fast clean up. Put all the chicken, seasonings, veggies in and enough water to cover. Set on high for 3-4 hrs and low 6 up to 8hrs.

You can take out the carcass and add noddles to the broth last 10 min but they will be soggy. I suggest cooking noodles separately and then adding the broth.













I add a little fresh parsley right before serving. (I try to sneak a green or veggie any chance I get and with this it is delicious.)

If you are using rice or barley which are both delicious, add then about 30 min before the dish is to be done. Super easy, healthy, delicious and under $5 to make!

Stuffed Peppers

 I found these gorgeous peppers at the Mexican market. You normally do not see them with these beautiful green stems. When I saw them I knew that I wanted to make stuffed peppers. These are red peppers and pasilla peppers. They have a slight kick but are not hot. Very flavorful.




I used brown rice but you can use any grain such as white rice, quinoa, barely. 1 1/2 cup rice 3 cups water, and a little butter While this cooks, I will do the rest of the prep.






If you live in the US chances are you have some sort of Mexican market or Carniceria in your neighborhood. I bought 1 1/2 lbs ground pork already marinated. It was on sale $2.99 lb. You can use chicken, beef, chorizo. This recipe is very versatile. If you do not have a Carniceria in your town take any meat and season it to your liking.

When meat is done, drain all the liquid.



This step is optional. Leave out if you have any nut allergies. I tried this in a recipe a few months ago and you did not taste the nuts but it gave the peppers a great crunchy texture.


I took about 8 almonds and chopped them into little pieces.

Once rice, meat, and optional nuts are ready put that in a bowl and add your favorite bean. I used pinto. You can use black, or kidney. Drain and rinse the beans prior to putting it in the bowl.

Using a spoon stuff the peppers. I use the back of the spoon to push all the stuffing in.









If need to know how to clean a pepper please see my " How to clean a pepper."

 Do the same with the pasilla peppers.

No  foil is required. I use  it for an "easy breezy"clean up.


Put enough water in the pan to cover about 1/4 of the peppers. This keeps them from getting dry.




Peppers that do not lie flat such as the pasilla. I used the tops to lean them on.


Heat oven to 425 and cook for 25-30 min. Last 5 min top with your favorite cheese. I used low fat shredded Mexican cheeses here.




If you have any stuffing left, it makes great bowls for lunch the next day. All this and still under $10 for the meal!

Enjoy!