Crispy Chicken Taco Salad

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Mark this down as one of my biggest kitchen wins!

Taco salad is a staple in our house. Its easy to throw together and relatively cheap. You can customize it to fit your tastes and if you’re missing an ingredient or two its not the end of the world.

However, this week we made one of my wife’s new favorites. We’ve combined crispy, zesty fried chicken with our traditional taco salad mix ins. Add a bit of our Tomatillo Salad Dressing on top and BOOM! This hearty salad keeps you full for hours without making you feel heavy.

The secret to the extra crunchy chicken is crushed cornflakes. This is the first time I’ve breaded anything with them, and I must admit I liked it more than I thought. You can’t taste the cornflakes and it gives them an extra crispy texture we all love!

Crispy Chicken Taco Salad

Chicken, Dinner, Fried, Meals for a Crowd, Mexican, Non-Traditional, Salad, Sauce, Summer

Crispy Chicken Taco Salad

Ingredients

For the Chicken

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 cup buttermilk
8 cups crushed cornflakes
4 cups flour
1/2 cup garlic powder
1/2 cup onion powder
3/4 cup taco seasoning
1/2 cup black pepper
10 eggs
1/4 cup of milk

For the Salad

1 head of lettuce
2 orange bell peppers
1 red bell pepper
1 large tomato
1 can black beans
1 can corn
Tomatillo Salad Dressing

Instructions

Slice the chicken thighs into 2-3 thin strips each.
Place chicken and buttermilk in large ziplock bag or bowl. Remove as much air as possible, and place in the fridge. Marinate for at least 2 hours. You can keep it in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
In a large bowl, combine flour, garlic powder, onion powder, taco seasoning, and pepper. In a shallow dish, beat eggs and milk together. Place cornflakes in a third bowl or dish.
To bread chicken, shake buttermilk off each piece and then dredge in flour mixture. Shake off excess flour and dredge in egg mixture. Dredge in flour and eggs again, then bread in crushed corn flakes.
Place breaded chicken on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. As pan fills, layer more parchment paper and chicken as needed. Place baking sheet in freezer for at least 2 hours, allowing breading to adhere to chicken.**
Preheat deep fryer to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place chicken in oil and fry for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Place on pan lined with paper towels to drain excess oil.
Chop up lettuce, bell peppers, and tomato. Drain and rinse black beans. Drain corn. Toss veggies in a large bowl.
Slice the chicken into bite size strips. Place chicken on top of salad and serve with Tomatillo Dressing.

Notes

**You can freeze the chicken to keep on hand. After chicken is fully frozen, place pieces in an air tight container and place back into the freezer. Cook as described above. Chicken can be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Made this recipe and loved it as much as we did? Let us know! We’d love to hear from you!

June 10, 2019

Tomatillo Salad Dressing

Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Our first subscriber request! This one goes out to you CL!

This copy cat dressing from one of America’s favorite Mexican restaurants is to DIE FOR! Its smooth, tangy, savory, and light – meaning you can smother your salad in it and not feel guilty.

Its an easy dump and blend recipe. Anyone can do it! Especially when you have the power of a Ninja blender to back you up.

You’ll need to start with a ranch dressing base. You can either make your own, or use the store bought stuff. I HIGHLY recommend the homemade kind. It has a stronger, fresher flavor, and free of chemicals and preservatives the stuff from the store has.

Tomatillo Salad Dressing

Dinner, Jalapeno, Meals for a Crowd, Mexican, Salad, Sauce, Sides, Spicy, Summer

Tomatillo Salad Dressing

Ingredients

2 cups of buttermilk ranch OR 1 1/2 cups of homemade ranch (see ingredients below)
4 cups of loosely packed cilantro
5 small tomatillos
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 TBS fresh lime juice
1 jalapeno

For the Homemade Ranch

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp dried dill weed
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried chives
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 TBS fresh lemon juice

Instructions

Quarter the tomatillos. Slice jalapeno in half and remove seeds and inner membrane.
Place everything in the blender. Blend until smooth and well combined.
Keep in an air tight container for up to 1 week.

This week we’re going to try this on a Crispy Chicken Taco salad. I will link it as soon as we’ve tried it out!

Thanks again to our subscriber for suggesting this recipe! Want to see your favorite recipe on our blog, or want to see us try something you’ve been eyeing? Drop it in our suggestion box at the bottom of the page!

June 7, 2019

White Meat Burgers

Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Grilling is one of my favorite things – being out in the open air with the smell of food wafting around you while your family hangs out in the shade nearby (I live with a couple of vampires). There are not many things better.

What is not great is when you have to pay high hamburger prices to make up delicious juicy burgers – not to mention red meat is not exactly the best for you. Our family usually doesn’t buy hamburger, and have actually lost a lot of our taste for it. (Don’t get me wrong, we still love a good burger!) So when I grill, I mix it up by grinding our own burger and making it out of a combination of pork and chicken.

These burgers come with all the hearty, juicy flavor you expect from a burger without making you feel heavy. Not to mention its much easier on the wallet.

We recently made this for a family party and everyone loved them! Even though they are half pound burgers(!), almost everyone had a second one.

We grind our own meat, but you can always get ground meat from the grocery store. We do highly recommend grinding your own meat. You can save a lot of money and the grind is always fresh!

White Meat Burgers

Barbecue, Chicken, Comfort Foods, Dinner, Meals for a Crowd, Meat, Non-Traditional, Pork, Summer

White Meat Burgers

Ingredients

4 pounds ground pork
2 pounds ground chicken dark meat
1/2 pound ground chicken skin
1/2 cup onion powder
1/4 cup garlic powder
Salt to taste
Minced garlic to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine pork, chicken, and skin with your hands, blending well.
Add seasonings and mix with hands.
Using a burger press or your hand measure out desired size patties and make them as round as possible. This recipe yields 13 half pounders or 26 quarter pounders.
Using your thumb, lightly depress center of eat patty.
Allow patties to rest in the fridge from one hour to overnight.
Heat grill to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grill patties until cooked through. Cooking times will vary by grill – ours took 6 minutes on each side. Check temperature to determine when they are done. The USDA recommends meat to be cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove from grill. Allow patties to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Top with your favorite burger toppings!

May 31, 2019May 31, 2019

Strawberry Summer Salad

Summer time is the perfect time to fill up your plate with a healthy hearty salad! My wife loves to smother hers in ranch, but I like something a little lighter.

I’ve been experimenting with vinaigrettes lately, and I love how this Blackberry Vinaigrette ended up. I knew I had to make a salad to fit it. This one turned out so beautifully! My wife was swooning over how easy it was to make this look good with its pop of vibrant colors against the dark green of the spinach.

Eating this salad as a side or on its own will make you feel healthy without sacrificing taste!

Strawberry Summer Salad

Appetizer, Cheese, Fruit, Salad, Sauce, Sides, Summer, Vegetarian

Strawberry Summer Salad

Ingredients

1 bunch of spinach
1 lb fresh strawberries
1 15oz can of mandarin oranges
8 oz crumbled feta cheese
Blackberry vinaigrette

Instructions

Remove stems from spinach. Loosely chop the spinach into bite size pieces and add to a large bowl.
Remove stems and slice strawberries. Add to the bowl.
Drain can of mandarin oranges. Place oranges on a baking sheet or plate lined with paper towels and lightly dab to remove excess liquid. Add to the bowl.
Serve, sprinkling feta cheese and light dressing over individual servings to taste.

Notes

Please note the dressing has a very strong flavor. Use lightly or it may overpower other flavors.

Next week we’re publishing our first subscriber suggestion post! What recipes do you want to see on our site? Please submit all requests through the form on the bottom of this page and we’d love to write a post about them! (While you’re at it, don’t forget to subscribe! )

May 30, 2019

Blackberry Vinaigrette

Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

I grew up on the Oregon coast, where green forests meet the wide Pacific Ocean. A big memory of mine growing up in this woodland paradise is going out with my big sisters and picking blackberries. The bushes were EVERYWHERE! They grow like weeds out there and if the bush was on public land it was up for grabs. We had to watch out for spiders, but we’d come home with buckets of berries. I’ve always loved them!

I’ve been experimenting with salad dressings lately, and this one has taken the cake! I found a similar recipe online but it didn’t seem quite right. So I added my own twist to it. I was not disappointed! Its tangy with just the right hint of sweet that pairs perfectly with spinach (like a salad we made over the weekend, link coming soon!) and other dark greens!

Blackberry Vinaigrette

Salad, Sauce, Sides, Summer, Vegetarian

Ingredients

6 ounces of blackberries (fresh or frozen and thawed in the fridge overnight)
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup plain yogurt
3 TBS honey

Instructions

Put all ingredients in blender, blackberries first.
Pulse a few times, then blend thoroughly until fully combined and smooth.
Vinaigrette can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Shake if separation occurs.

Notes

Please note this dressing has a very strong flavor. Use lightly or it may overpower other flavors.

Want another berry style dressing? Try out this Strawberry Vinaigrette over a summer salad!

May 20, 2019May 20, 2019

Make Ahead Freezer Hash Browns

Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Our family loves breakfast! Every Saturday morning we have to resist running to the nearest fast food place or diner to indulge.

We made it a bit easier on ourselves by cooking up these make ahead hash browns. Then we can fry them up with a side of eggs in the comfort of our own home! Not to mention we can use them in recipes that call for them.

We wait to make these until potatoes go on sale. When we made these up we found 10 pound bags of russets for $1 a piece during a case lot sale! We ended up buying 80 pounds and freezing them in various ways. (We’ve already shared our recipe for make ahead freezer french fries here!)

Make Ahead Freezer Hash Browns

Breakfast, Comfort Foods, Freezer, Potatoes

Make Ahead Freezer Hash Browns

Ingredients

Russet potatoes

Instructions

Preheat oven for 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Thoroughly scrub potatoes. Using a fork, poke several vent holes in each potato.
Bake the potatoes for one hour or until just fork tender. Place potatoes in the fridge until cooled.
Shred potatoes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Using a cookie cutter or mason jar lid, portion out how much potatoes will be in each hash brown. Shape potatoes into thin oblong ovals.
Place hash browns onto parchment paper in a single layer. Once pan is full, you may put down another layer of parchment paper and another layer of hash browns if needed.
Place sheet into freezer until potatoes are frozen solid – usually overnight. Place frozen hash browns into freezer safe bag. Hash browns are good for up to one year in the freezer.

Using the hash browns in a casserole

We recommend thawing the hash browns in the fridge overnight. Drain any excess liquid, then use as directed in the recipe.

Baking the hash browns

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place frozen patties on a greased cookie sheet in a single layer.
Bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown, flipping them halfway through.

Frying the hash browns

Preheat your deep fryer to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
Fry hash browns for 2-4 minutes or until golden brown.

May 16, 2019

Oven Baked Chicken

Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Nothing is better than getting home after a long day of work than the smell of baked chicken and mashed potatoes! Pair it with a salad and you’ve got a healthy and hearty meat that will keep you feeling satisfied!

We personally like getting chicken quarters and separate them ourselves. For one, its typically cheaper that way. Two, the pieces are usually larger.

We always wait for them to go on sale at our favorite local discount grocery store. The last time we found them for $0.25 per pound! So we grabbed a ton and put them in our freezer. We’ve slowly been working through them, drastically lowering how much meat we’ve had to buy lately.

You’ll need a baking sheet and rack to keep the chicken out of its own grease as it cooks. That keeps it healthier and makes the skin extra crispy!

Oven Baked Chicken

Chicken, Comfort, Comfort Foods, Dinner, Meals for a Crowd, Meat

Oven Baked Chicken

Ingredients

6 chicken quarters, separated (or 6 thighs and 6 drumsticks)
1 TBS black pepper
1 TBS onion powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp Kamodo Joe Poultry seasoning
2 tsp smoked paprika

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine all seasonings. Mix thoroughly.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sprinkle seasoning on one side of chicken and rub in. Flip chicken and repeat for the other side.
Place chicken on a baking rack on a baking sheet, skin side down.
Bake 50 – 60 minutes, flipping halfway through. Chicken is done when the largest thigh reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Craving barbecue instead? Check out this recipe!

May 9, 2019May 9, 2019

Peach Cobbler

Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Summer time brings barbecues, warm nights, and delicious fruits and veggies in season! One of our family’s favorites are peaches. And nothing says summer like warm peach cobbler topped with creamy vanilla ice cream!

Though cobbler is best with fresh peaches, peeling and simmering them takes a lot of time. We found this delicious recipe that uses canned peaches that is so easy! We brought it as dessert to a family night and everyone loved how buttery it is. Someone in Lexi’s family even scraped the pan before we left to get every last bit.

Peach Cobbler

Dessert, Fruit, Summer

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients

1 cup of flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1- 29oz can of peaches in heavy syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Once combined, add the sugar and mix thoroughly.
Place butter in 9×13 baking pan and place in oven to melt. Be careful not to burn the butter.
Partially open can of peaches and pour syrup into bowl of flour/sugar mixture. Add milk and mix until you get a thin batter.
Carefully remove pan with melted butter from oven. Pour batter over butter. Arrange peaches over the batter.
Bake for 1 hour or until the batter rises around the peaches and the crust is golden brown and thick. Serve warm.

Not in charge of dessert for the barbecue? We’ve got you covered if you need to bring the main dish or the salad!

As fruits and veggies come into season, what is your summer favorite?

Comment below!

May 6, 2019May 6, 2019

Summer Spinach Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette

Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Its time for us to get on the lighter side of things. We’ve been eating a lot of meat, pasta, and potatoes, and boy are we starting to feel it!

(Not that those things are unhealthy on their own. Moderation in all things!)

Though I am not always a fan of cooked spinach, its one of my favorite veggies when it is raw. I love green fruit smoothies, and my favorite salads are chock full of it.

These are one of those. This salad can seem overly simple – but it has the best qualities of a good salad! Its tangy, has a bite of salt, savory greens and a sweet pop with berries. What ties it all together is the smooth vinaigrette that’s perfect for summer!

It goes together so easily! Especially when you use a good blender like our Ninja to make the vinaigrette.

Summer Spinach Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette

Appetizer, Cheese, Meals for a Crowd, Salad, Sauce, Sides, Summer, Vegetarian

Summer Spinach Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients

Spinach
Feta cheese, crumbled
Fresh blueberries

For the Vinaigrette

1/2 pound of strawberries
2 TBS honey
1 TBS rice wine vinegar
1 TBS lemon juice
2 TBS olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions

Remove stems from strawberries. Chop to make them easier to blend.
Add strawberries, honey, vinegar, lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper to blender. Pulse a few times to get more contact with the blades, then blend until desired consistency.
Remove stems from spinach leaves. Roughly chop if desired.
In a large bowl, combine spinach, feta cheese, and blueberries to taste. Pour over desired amount strawberry vinaigrette or leave vinaigrette on the side. Mix thoroughly and serve.

Notes

Left over vinaigrette can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Shake if separation occurs.

This would be a great side for our ravioli, or served at your next barbecue with our grilled chicken!

What is your favorite type of salad? Comment below and we may feature you in our next post!!

May 2, 2019May 2, 2019

Grilled Chicken

Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Growing up, my dad barbecued rain or shine, winter or summer. Its one of my favorite ways to cook, and since he moved away I haven’t had much of a chance to.

That was until this week when I finally had saved up enough to get my very own grill! (Review of that grill coming soon!) The stars aligned and we got chicken quarters for $0.25 a pound!! So I cooked them up on by new grill and instantly felt closer to my dad.

You can use your favorite BBQ sauce! We personally love Kraft’s sauces, especially Hickory and Mesquite. This time we used Hickory.

Grilled Chicken

Barbecue, Chicken, Comfort Foods, Dinner, Meals for a Crowd, Meat, Sauce, Summer

Grilled Chicken

Ingredients

10 lbs chicken leg quarters, seperated
2 TBS garlic powder
2 TBS onion powder
1 TBS black pepper
1 TBS yellow curry
1 tsp sea salt
35 oz BBQ sauce (it takes us 2 bottles of our favorite)

Instructions

Heat up your barbecue grill to 400 – 425 degrees Fahrenheit, or medium power if your grill doesn’t have a temperature gauge.
While the grill is warming up, mix spices in a medium bowl. Liberally sprinkle spice mixture onto each piece of chicken, covering both sides.
Place chicken on grill for 35 minutes for thighs, 30 minutes for drumsticks.
Put barbecue sauce in a medium bowl. Using a grilling brush, coat the top of the chicken with barbecue sauce. Cook for an additional 10 minutes for the thighs and an additional 5 minutes for the drumsticks.
Flip the pieces and coat with sauce a second time. Cook for another 5 minutes, flip and coat one more time. Chicken is done when the largest pieces reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss our upcoming recipes! Its summer time, so we’ll be grilling until we’re sick of it!

Cason Cooks

Posts

Crispy Chicken Taco Salad

Tomatillo Salad Dressing

White Meat Burgers

Strawberry Summer Salad

Blackberry Vinaigrette

Make Ahead Freezer Hash Browns

Oven Baked Chicken

Peach Cobbler

Summer Spinach Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette

Grilled Chicken