Running Mama Cooks

The crockpot definitely saves my life on the nights that I teach at the gym. The last thing I want to do is cook after getting home at 8 and having to put both kids to bed! I didn't have a plan for dinner tonight but after taking a look through my cabinets and fridge, I put together this Chicken Taco Soup. I was hopeful that it would come out tasty, and I was right! It was super flavorful, had a little kick, was ready when I got home and, best of all, is super low in points!

I have to pat myself on the back, this was a great one!

Seems like everyone has their own version of this recipe, here's mine! Easy and delicious!

Salsa Chicken

Ingredients:

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 jar mild salsa
1/2 onion thinly sliced
1 packet low sodium taco seasoning
2 cups frozen corn
Cooking spray

Directions:

Coat crockpot in cooking spray. Place chicken breasts on bottom and cover with salsa. Mix in the remaining ingredients and cook for 6-8 hours on low. Shred chicken. Serve with yellow rice or tortillas with your favorite toppings.

Or Taco Meat"love" as Cecily was calling it tonight!

This recipe was inspired by my father in law, Gary. Some of my favorite dinner ideas come from him, he is a great cook and is very creative.

This was tasty and a fun twist on regular meatloaf! I used ground turkey breast and it was very moist, and pretty low in fat (if you skip the queso! lol!)

Taco Meatloaf
A Running Mama original recipe

1 lb ground turkey breast
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 tbs olive oil
1 egg
1 packet low sodium taco seasoning
1 10oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies (I used RoTel), drained
1 cup whole grain tortilla chips, crushed
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
2 tbs taco sauce
1/4 cup salsa con queso

Preheat oven to 400

Heat olive oil over medium heat and saute onions until tender.

Place tortilla chips in a ziplock bag and crush until pieces are very small. I used a rolling pin.

Mix all ingredients except for the taco and queso sauce until well combined. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and add meatloaf mixture.

Brush top of meatloaf with taco sauce

Bake for 35 minutes. In the meantime, place salsa con queso in a microwave bowl and heat until hot. Once meatloaf is sliced, drizzle hot queso over meatloaf.

serve with sour cream, chips, salsa and any other condiments you like with tacos!

Zach's Rating - ****

I think I can officially add caramelized onions to my list of pregnancy obsessions. SOOO good. I prepared them before leaving the house for boot camp class tonight and the house still smelled amazing when we got back almost an hour and a half later!

We happened to have a half pound of turkey sausage on hand so I browned it up with some chili powder and cumin. Zach makes killer quesadillas, always crispy and perfect, so he prepared them using flour tortillas, cheddar cheese, salsa, sausage and onions. Definite winner!

Here's a look at the inside

For my Mexican dinner tonight, I decided it would be fun to attempt making my own fresh salsa. I was really surprised at how easy it was and how good it turned out!!

I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. Here is a link to the Original Recipe

Fresh Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

3 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup finely diced onion
5 serrano chiles, finely chopped (I used a poblano pepper instead)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lime juice

Directions

In a medium bowl, stir together tomatoes, onion, chili peppers, cilantro, salt, and lime juice. Chill for one hour in the refrigerator before serving.

I used my food processor to chop all the veggies and then smoothed out the salsa in the blender at the end. Yum!!!