Heavenly Homemakers

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Easy Salsa Chicken Salad Recipe (Less Than 5-Minutes of Work)

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Hi! It’s me. The girl without an oven.

Actually, I have an oven. It’s sitting in my living room by my couch. See? There it is:

gas ovenOh man. If you’re one of my Facebook followers, you might have witnessed my first ever Facebook Live video where I showed off my new stove and made a bad joke about having gas. “Going Live” with you was super fun, so I’ll definitely be doing that more often. Please check it out and join us!

While I type, my favorite guy is going up and down the stairs to complete the transition from electric hook-up to gas. As soon as my pretty new dream oven is hooked up, I will be making a Peach Cobbler to reward Matt for all his hard work getting this set up for me! (To catch you up on the latest, on a whim we checked to see if Craigslist had anything for us. We didn’t have our hopes up. But would you believe, we found exactly one double oven and it is exactly what we want/need – except better?! And we got it for an amazing price!! So thankful!)

During the days I’ve been without an oven I’ve been using my crock pot, my electric skillet, my cast iron griddle, my blender, and my waffle iron quite a bit. As you can see, being oven-less has not been the end of my world.

This Easy Salsa Chicken Salad recipe is actually just a simple variation of my Crock Pot Chicken Tacos. I made this last Sunday when we needed to leave for church in ten minutes but I hadn’t figured out lunch for the day. I got out frozen chicken, ran it under some hot water, plopped it into my crock pot, dumped in some salsa, and left for church.

I said, “Wow, easiest meal ever.” and my boys said, “Mom you say that every day.”

It’s true. I only make food that’s easy. Multi-step recipes are not for me. And yet here we are still eating a healthy, real food diet. Don’t forget how to put the easiest, healthiest side dishes on the table too. Fruits and veggies are the best convenience foods there are!

organic spring mix

Speaking of healthy convenience foods – big containers of Organic Mixed Greens are my favorite fast food to get at the grocery store! Instead of making my Salsa Chicken into a taco last Sunday, I dumped a big hand-full of mixed greens into a bowl, added my tasty chicken along with some tomatoes, black beans, and corn – and I had the best salad! I didn’t even need salad dressing. (Though you can take a look at the yummy options I have listed here.)

Easy Salsa Chicken SaladYum

Easy Salsa Chicken Salad Recipe (Less Than 5-Minutes of Work)
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 pounds boneless chicken thighs or breasts
  • 2 cups salsa
  • Your choice of greens
  • Your choice of salad fixins (I like tomatoes, corn, and black beans for this salad)
Instructions
  1. Place fresh or frozen chicken in a crock pot.
  2. Dump salsa over the chicken.
  3. Cook on low for about 4 hours.
  4. Shred the chicken and serve with your favorite salad fixins.

Easy Salsa Chicken Salad

A similar recipe to this Salsa Chicken idea is this Crock Pot Bbq Chicken Recipe. Dump it into the crock pot and go!

What are your favorite healthy convenience foods?

 

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Easy Homemade Chicken Salad

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I couldn’t very well make homemade pita bread last week without making Chicken Salad, now could I?

Matt happened to be out of town for two days last week on a soccer trip. The poor guy. All I talked about when he came home was how good the new pita bread recipe ended up and how I’d made chicken salad to go in it and served it all with fresh tomatoes from our garden. And how all four boys scarfed it up and came back for more.

And then I had to tell him that all of it was gone – that we’d saved none at all for him.

Yeah. Welcome home, Dad. ;)

Not to worry. I’ll make him more soon. Have you tried the Whole Wheat Pita Bread recipe yet?

Easy Homemade Chicken Salad

Easy Chicken SaladYum

Easy Homemade Chicken Salad
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
  • ½ cup mayonnaise (I use Hain Safflower)
  • 2 Tablespoons pickle relish (I use either homemade pickle relish or an organic variety from Amazon or Vitacost)
  • ¼ teaspoon onion salt
  • 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped (optional)
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together and serve on crackers, on bread, or in pita pockets.

Shucks, get out a fork and eat it plain if you want. It’s good stuff. :)

Recipes and links you might need for your Chicken Salad:

I’m not a fan of hard boiled eggs in my meat salads. You? And you know, if you all leave a comment answering that question, this will make for one of the most exciting blog conversations – ever.  :)

You can also use this recipe to make Turkey Salad with turkey leftovers after a holiday meal. This is one of my favorite ways to use up chicken or turkey leftovers! Chicken or turkey salad makes a wonderful convenience food!

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Simple Crock Pot Shredded Ranch Chicken (for Tacos or Salad)

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Once again, feel free to make this new recipe even if you failed to thaw chicken ahead of time. (See also: Simple Crock Pot Chicken Soup with a Kick, Simple Overnight Saucy Crock Pot Chicken, Simple Overnight Melt-in-Your-Mouth Beef Roast, and Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp – all recipes that do not require thawing meat ahead of time.)

You might be thinking, “Do you ever plan ahead? Don’t you ever thaw your meat? This is what lists are for, Laura. Get yourself a planner!”

ranch chicken salad1

I do have a planner. And a calendar. And several phone reminder alarms that go off all week to remind me of important things to do and places to be.

But my planner, calendar, and phone can’t walk to the freezer to get out the chicken, now can they? So basically, frozen meat is what I have learned to deal with in this life, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. My crock pot gently says, “I’m here for you. I’ll thaw and cook your meat – all at the same time. So you just quickly throw it in here and go about your day.”

Hmm. I think I like my crock pot better than my planner. My crock pot saves my neck, makes my house smell amazing so as to make people think I’m actually working at today’s food, then kindly provides my family with dinner. Meanwhile my planner just bosses me around and tells me what to do all day. Rude.

Planner? You could learn a thing or two from Crock Pot. And Phone Alarms? You need to just sssshhhhhhhhhussshhh once in a while. I heard you the first four times you went off. I know I have a deadline. Can you not see that I’m down on the floor trying to sort through these tax forms? Seeing as you are way over there in the other room, one cannot expect me to just bounce off the floor and spring into the kitchen to swipe your sound off. I can’t afford to be inflicted with a strained muscle if I want to try and keep up with everything Planner is making me do.

And Calendar? I’d much appreciate it if you stop staring at me, mocking me with all your words and appointments. Why don’t you just say, “Stay home. Relax.” once in a while? But no. You’re all, “Take your kid to this, head over to that, so-and-so and such-and-such, be sure to, and don’t forget.”

It’s possible that I may need anger management classes as I learn to deal with the organizational tools that help me handle all my responsibilities. In the meantime, I will happily forget to thaw my meat and let my BFF, the Crock Pot, save me once again with another Simple Recipe.

Simple Shredded Ranch Chicken (for tacos or salad)

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Simple Shredded Ranch Chicken (for tacos or salad)
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2-3 pounds boneless chicken thighs or breasts
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 Tablespoons Taco Seasoning*
  • 3 Tablespoons dry Ranch Seasoning**
Instructions
  1. Place chicken in the bottom of a crock pot.
  2. Drizzle on olive oil.
  3. Sprinkle on seasoning mixes.
  4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  5. Shred chicken and serve with favorite taco toppings on hard or soft shells.

*Here’s my Homemade Taco Seasoning recipe.
**Here’s my Homemade Ranch Seasoning recipe.

Simple Crock Pot Shredded Ranch Chicken (for Tacos or Salad)

I now invite you to enjoy more Simple Recipes (which you can get in eBook form if you like):

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Save even more time and energy when you join Simple Meals!! It’s getting rave reviews!

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“Just Dump Some Sauce on Some Chicken!”

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Frustrated about food, overwhelmed about feeding your family healthy meals, always feel like getting take out instead of cooking? And then are you feeling guilty that this is how you feel day after day? Ok then. I’m about to give you some simple cooking instructions that will change your life: “Just dump some sauce on some chicken.”

Where there is chicken and there is sauce, there is dinner. I know. Profound. No matter if you have boneless chicken, chicken legs, or a whole chicken. Grab you some chicken, grab you some sauce, and “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”

Just dump some sauce on some chicken…

What kind of sauce, you ask? It matters not. I have been known to use salad dressing out of my fridge, or Teriyaki sauce, or Bbq sauce, or salsa, or anything in a jar or bottle that looks like it might possibly taste good on chicken. Sometimes I mix two or more sauces, which is possibly weird but always tasty. And as an added bonus, this helps me clear out random half-empty bottles hanging out at the back of my fridge.

This is about to become your stress-free go-to meal phrase.

Say it with me: “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”

  • Not sure what to make tonight? “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”
  • Tempted to go out to eat…again? “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”
  • Hate cooking and use that as an excuse to eat poorly? No more. “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”

Find you some chicken. Get out some sauce. Pour it right on and let it cook while you do something else you enjoy. THIS HAS TO BE THE EASIEST MEAL EVER.

I so badly want everyone to understand this. Making real, good food for our family does not have to be difficult. When all you have to do is open a package of chicken and pour on some sauce – wouldn’t you agree with me that cooking good food really can be easy?

Also? Chicken cooked in sauce tastes incredibly good.

Let me walk you through this step by step

The Crock Pot Chicken/Sauce Meal:

  1. Get a package of boneless chicken, chicken legs, or a whole chicken out of the fridge or freezer.
  2. Put the chicken into a crock pot.
  3. Get out whatever sauce you have available. Barbecue. Italian Dressing. Sweet and Sour. Teriyaki. A mixture of this and that because you are collecting all the mostly empty bottles of sauce out of the fridge.
  4. Dump the sauce onto the chicken. (There’s no exact amount. “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”)
  5. Put the lid on the crock pot.
  6. Cook the chicken on “low” for 6-8 hours. (A whole chicken may require 10 hours on low.)
  7. Eat the chicken.

The Oven Baked Chicken/Sauce Meal:

Shorter on time? Do this instead:

  1. Get a package of boneless chicken, chicken legs, or a whole chicken out of the fridge. (Thawed meat is best for this method.)
  2. Put the chicken into a 9×13 inch pan.
  3. Get out whatever sauce you have available.
  4. Dump the sauce onto the chicken. (There’s no exact amount. “Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”)
  5. Slide the pan into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes for boneless chicken, 50 minutes for chicken legs, or 1 1/2 hours.
  6. Eat the chicken.

What should you serve with your chicken?

Well that depends on how much time you have, what you have on hand, and what your energy level is.

If you have time to work ahead, I’d suggest making this incredible Stick of Butter Rice. Or these Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes.

Beyond that, I encourage you to pick a fruit and a veggie or three. Perhaps:

But if you don’t want to or have time to prepare or cook anything to go with your chicken, serve it with something like:

  • Sliced apples
  • Oranges
  • Canned pineapple
  • Baby carrots
  • Fresh berries

And if you need something more to round out your meal, you could grab something like this out of your fridge:

  • Cottage cheese
  • Sliced cheese
  • Bread and butter
  • Pickles
  • Olives

There now. You needed a meal for your family. You didn’t have time to cook. You needed a quick solution.

“Just dump some sauce on some chicken!”

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Simple Popcorn Chicken Tacos

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Here’s an idea for you. Make extra Popcorn Chicken to serve in tacos for a super simple meal! Popcorn Chicken Tacos are surprisingly good and of course, super fun.

Here’s our very easy, very delicious Popcorn Chicken Recipe. I love making a double, or triple, or quadruple batch of this chicken and then freezing it to reheat at another time for a super easy meal. As an extra fun variation, I reheat it and we use it to build tacos any way we like!

Simple Popcorn Chicken Tacos

Simple Popcorn Chicken Tacos
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound pre-made popcorn chicken*
  • 8 whole grain flour or corn tortillas
  • Fresh taco fixins like tomatoes, lettuce, black beans, sweet peppers, corn, cilantro, onions, salsa, olives, etc
  • Shredded cheese
Instructions
  1. Rewarm popcorn chicken.
  2. Prepare taco fixins and set out a buffet for each person to build Simple Popcorn Chicken Tacos per their preference!

*Find our Simple Popcorn Chicken recipe here.

Want toasted tortillas? Simply warm them in a skillet over low heat for about 1 minute on each side until they turn lightly brown and barely crispy!

Want More Simple Recipes?

We’ve got a huge list, and it keeps growing!

Join Simple Meals!

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Simple Meals Yearly Subscription
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Your yearly subscription equips you with a 52 week's worth of meal plans, grocery guide, recipes, and bonus tips! Your Simple Meals plan will arrive in your inbox each Thursday morning.
Price: $52.00

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Simple Popcorn Chicken

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There is no popcorn involved in the making of this Popcorn Chicken. You can simply pop it into your mouth as if it is popcorn, and it is definitely coated in butter. But otherwise, it is nothing like popcorn. So sorry for any confusion.

This Popcorn Chicken recipe was one of the very first I shared here back in 2009. I’m sharing it again today and adding it to our Simple Recipes list because this is one of those recipes we all need in our hip pocket!

You can make these ahead and freeze them. You can eat them in a variety of ways. They are super kid-friendly, which is a plus whether you have kids or not. (What? Some grown-ups really like kid-friendly recipes, am I right?)

This Simple Popcorn Chicken tastes good hot or cold. I do prefer it hot, but made ahead and packed cold in a lunch box? Still great!

We love eating this Popcorn Chicken as-is with a few fruits and veggies on the side. But it’s also amazing in a tossed salad!

Simple Popcorn Chicken

Simple Popcorn Chicken
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 3-6 large boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
  • ¾ cup whole grain flour (I use freshly ground white wheat, but you can use any flour you like!)
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • butter
Instructions
  1. In a medium-sized bowl stir together flour, salt, and garlic powder.
  2. Using kitchen shears, cut chicken into tiny bite-sized pieces.
  3. Toss chicken in flour mixture to coat well.
  4. Smear a thick layer of butter on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  5. Pour coated chicken into the dish, spreading so that they are in a single layer.
  6. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Stir chicken and bake another 10 minutes.

Need some dipping sauce to go with your Simple Popcorn Chicken? Here are our favorites:

Want More Simple Recipes?

We’ve got a huge list, and it keeps growing!

Join Simple Meals!

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We love how Simple Meals has been saving family time for so many, and helping people put great food on the table each night! Join us for just $1/week!

Simple Meals Yearly Subscription
Simple Meals Yearly Subscription
Your yearly subscription equips you with a 52 week's worth of meal plans, grocery guide, recipes, and bonus tips! Your Simple Meals plan will arrive in your inbox each Thursday morning.
Price: $52.00

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple 5-Minute Shredded Chicken

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Just in case you have forgotten this truth, here it is again: Cooking meals for our families does not have to be a difficult job. This Simple 5-Minute Shredded Chicken is going to drop-kick the “cooking is hard” lie straight out the window.

Even if you don’t enjoy cooking, you can make this. Even if you don’t have time to cook, you can make this. Even if you can’t afford to spend much on groceries, you can make this. Even if you forgot to thaw meat, you can make this. Even if the idea of making a homemade meal brings tears to your eyes – wipe your tears, find 5-minutes, and make this. Even if you’re allergic to poultry…oh wait. That one is for real. If that is the case, please don’t make this.

To sum up, unless you are allergic to birds, there is no reason you should not make this (overuse of negatives, anyone?). Just make the chicken.

Let’s take a moment to get excited together about why making this Simple 5-Minute Chicken is a fabulous idea:

  • It takes 5-minutes of “work.” This was obvious, but worth shouting about because no one can even go through a drive-thru in 5-minutes.
  • You can make several meals worth of this chicken at the same time, storing it in the fridge or freezer, then pulling it out to add to meals as needed. This means that if you make 3-meals worth of this chicken at once, your 5-minutes of effort turns out 1.6666-Minute Chicken. #mathintherealworld
  • If you have made this chicken ahead of time and you are storing it in your fridge, you now have ready-made chicken which has now become 0-Minute Chicken.
  • Simple 5-Minute Chicken tastes really good and it is real food. We can’t say that about all convenience food, now can we?

Please note that the following recipe is barely a recipe. I am here to make your real food cooking life EASY. Simply get out chicken and get out spices. Place in crock pot, sprinkle, plug in, walk away, enjoy.

Simple 5-Minute Shredded Chicken

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Simple 5-Minute Chicken
 
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Serves: 2-3 meals
Ingredients
  • 3-pounds boneless chicken thighs or breasts
  • Any seasonings you like (I use garlic powder, sea salt, paprika, and parsley flakes)
Instructions
  1. Place chicken in a crock pot and sprinkle with any herbs or spices you like.
  2. Cook on low for 4-5 hours.
  3. Shred chicken to use in any of your favorite recipes or to serve in tacos, or even as a main dish as-is!

How to use your 5-Minute Chicken

Add it to:

Or eat it plain with veggies on the side. So easy and delicious!

Having Alfredo? Just add Simple 5-Minute Shredded Chicken…

Want More Simple Recipes?

We’ve got a huge list, and it keeps growing!

Join Simple Meals!

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We love how Simple Meals has been saving family time for so many, and helping people put great food on the table each night! Join us for just $1/week!

Simple Meals Yearly Subscription
Simple Meals Yearly Subscription
Your yearly subscription equips you with a 52 week's worth of meal plans, grocery guide, recipes, and bonus tips! Your Simple Meals plan will arrive in your inbox each Thursday morning.
Price: $52.00

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How to Cook a Frozen Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot

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What is it with me and frozen meat? Can I not get my act together and actually thaw the meat before cooking it? No, I cannot. I’ve come to terms with it. My chicken has come to terms with it. Gratefully, my Instant Pot has agreed to my terms. And that, my friends, is why we can cook a Frozen Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot in one hour or less! How incredible is it that we can take a frozen solid chicken from the freezer and have a great dinner an hour later!

I’ve been wanting to try this ever since I invested in an Instant Pot. A year and a half later, I finally gave it a go (no time like the present).

I love that my Instant Pot allows me to cook almost every variety of frozen meat! I cook several pounds of frozen hamburger meat in it (in just 30 minutes!). I cook frozen boneless chicken thighs in it. I even cook frozen beef roast in it. Now, introducing How to Cook a Frozen Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot!

How to Cook a Frozen Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot

How to Cook a Frozen Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 3-5 pound whole chicken
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • Sea salt
  • Pepper
  • Parsley Flakes
  • Garlic Powder
Instructions
  1. Set trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot.
  2. Pour 1 cup broth into the bottom.
  3. Set Chicken on the trivet.
  4. Sprinkle with your desired amount of herbs and spices.
  5. Seal and cook at hi pressure for 10-minutes PER POUND of chicken. (i.e. 3 pound chicken=30 minutes)
  6. Allow pressure to release naturally.

This chicken pairs great with Stick of Butter Rice. And of course, you can steam or roast a veggie or two and get out the salad fixin’s. Talk about a super good, super nourishing meal!

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