fresh toppings Archives - Pretty Little Apron

*This Fiesta Grilled Chicken is the perfect grill recipe for all of my Tex-Mex people! You will love everything about this grilled chicken that is rubbed with a ton of spices and grilled to perfection. The best part? Topping it with fresh cilantro, cheese, avocado, and sour cream! You may grill this so much eventually your family will hate you, just like I did! 🙂

Fiesta Grilled Chicken || Grilled chicken rubbed with a ton of spices and flavor, then topped with fresh cilantro, cheese and sour cream. Need I say more? || www.3boysunprocessed.com

There are a few recipes I’ve made so many times my wonderful husband just flat out hates now. Shouldn’t he just be happy that he has a wife that is cooking for him? I think so, I really really do!

*Side note: Mac n cheese is the other recipe he could do without me ever making again. Honestly I’m wondering what is wrong with that man. HA! I’m on a quest to produce the perfect mac n cheese, so he better suck it up and continue to taste test!

It occurred to me the other day that my family totally over-did this recipe at the beginning of the summer. We had just purchased a grill (holla at that cheapo $100 grill from Amazon!!) and we were grilling EVERY-SINGLE-DAY. Now, you have to realize, there is a very good reason for us to be over grilling. At our previous residence we couldn’t have a grill. It killed me a little bit inside every time we drove by someone’s house that smelled like sweet delicious summer time grilling. I hated the place we were living at a little more every time I had to smell that smell knowing that the grill master in me needed an outlet. I had in my mind that when we finally got a grill we had somehow “made it.” Yes, it was like my Benz. Only it was a grill, and I needed it in my life.

Newsflash: WE MADE IT. 🙂

Now that that really emotional and sentimental news has been broadcast all over the internet I think we shall move on.

One thing about grilling chicken that is a MUST for me is making sure your chicken isn’t too thick in any spots. I never grill chicken without pounding it first because there is nothing I hate more then when grilled chicken has a really fat side that takes forever and a day to cook through. If you have ever been at a restaurant and wondered why their grilled chicken that is seemingly so simple was 1,000 times better then your at home grilled chicken it is probably that their chicken was nice and even, with no super thick parts to take away from the yummy seasoning. My point: Flat chicken rocks!

The way I pound chicken (that may be obvious to some and totally new to others) is very simple:

Mise en place: Translation… Get everything out before you start because once you have raw chicken on your hands you don’t want to have to go back to get your stuff out!
Things you will need: Meat tenderizer aka keep my hubby in line hammer (totally just kidding don’t send me hate mail), cutting board, piece of plastic wrap or press n seal, chef knife, large bowl.
I always filet my chicken first by cutting it in half length wise. This isn’t rocket science and yes, sometimes I end up with a few pieces that are extra thin and that’s totally fine with me!
Place chicken on cutting board, put piece of plastic over chicken to ensure you don’t splatter everything you own with raw chicken bacteria.
Using the meat tenderizer lightly pound chicken as flat as desired. Don’t be shy, yet don’t go ape shit on it. Unless of course you are looking to get some aggression out. 🙂

Serving Suggestions

With flour tortillas (check those for trans fats! partially hydrogenated oil always seems to be lurking in these products) wrapped up with all the yummy toppings.
With grilled peppers and onions.
With a side of cilantro lime brown rice.
And of course with as much cheese on top as humanly possible. Oh and sour cream, because you can’t have one without the other!

*This Slow Cooker Turkey Sweet Potato Chili is a fall favorite that is packed with nutrition and so delicious! With fall right around the corner you need this in your life! Throw all the ingredients in the slow cooker, and have a fantastic dinner waiting for you at the end of the day. P.S. It’s also a great way to hide extra nutrition in chili for kids who are skeptical of sweet potatoes!

I’m just going to come right out and say this….. I put sweet potatoes in chili way before it was cool on Pinterest. Like, years ago! I didn’t do it on purpose the first time, it went down like this:

I bought the expensive pre-cubed butternut squash at the grocery store and I never used it. My husband nagged me about it until one day I was like FINE I’LL PUT IT IN THE CHILI now shut up about me buying random stuff at the grocery store and let’s move on (the man has a point here though I must admit). So I threw the squash in my regular chili recipe and it was fantastic! How exciting it was when he arrived home after work and I had a new creation to share that made me look like a culinary genius. 🙂 Sweet and spicy for the win!

After the squash I gave sweet potatoes a go because we always have them on hand for making the kids sweet potato fries. I actually loved sweet potatoes even more, and the rest was history! That is until the Pinterest Pinnies were all like:

“Sweet potatoes in everything, all day everyday!”

“Sweet potatoes on fleek!” (still have no idea what that one means)

“Sweet potatoes all up in my chili!”

“Put sweet potatoes in your chili because it is cool now!”

You get the point. Everyone else figured out it was a rockin’ combo and then all of a sudden I was just a regular person again. *sigh*

Back before my culinary genius bubble burst I was actually using a stovetop chili recipe, however for my birthday last year my I received a brand new slow cooker from my mom! If you have followed other slow cooker recipes here, you might remember I had an ancient slow cooker that my mom was gifted for her bridal shower in the 80’s. No clue who bought that for her or why they thought she would ever use it (girl doesn’t cook) but it got me through a few babies and my first apartment. Shout out to the random relative who made that purchase and RIP awful baby poop colored slow cooker! With my shiny new slow cooker I realized how much tastier chili was in the slow cooker vs. on the stove top and I don’t think I will be looking back anytime soon! Shiny new slow cooker for another win!

Recipe Tips

I cut my sweet potatoes in small cubes (pictured below), however when the chili was done they were pretty well cooked. So much so that they disappeared into the chili a bit. I found this really awesome, however if you are looking for a chunkier finish I would cut them a tad bigger then what is pictured below.
I added 2 jalapeños and it was bit spicy for us. The spiciness was muted in the leftovers though and that is when it was just right! If you are not into spiciness at all, of course just omit the jalapeño all together.
As mentioned above, this chili gets better and better everyday in leftovers! It is a great meal to make at the beginning of the week to have a healthy lunch for the next few days.
I tend to keep chili simple because a speech professor once told me the acronym K.I.S.S. or keep it simple stupid! This sticks to me with chili because when folks are looking for good chili recipes they don’t want to have to go to the grocery store and buy ingredients that they will use 1 tablespoon of and never see again because it is so far back in the pantry.
I have found (thanks to the back of a Goya bean can) that 2 Tablespoons of cumin, 2 Tablespoons of chili powder, and 2 teaspoons of adobo seasoning are the PERFECT spice combo for chili. This is my go-to amount of spices and it has never failed me. You can certainly play around with it but that combo will give you just enough flavor without being overpowering.

Then we have this close up shot that is so detailed you can literally see that I cut the avocado with a butter knife. Sheesh that expensive macro lens was worth it!