Old Fashioned Banana Nut Bread

An excellent old fashion banana nut bread that your grandmother would have made. Deep banana taste that is moist and nutty.
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Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage

A quick and easy pasta dish with spicy Italian Sausage. Made from scratch with a tasty home made marinara sauce.

I started by browning a good quality Italian Sausage with chopped onion. Then added a modified version of my 30 minute marinara sauce. Mixed with cook pasta some mozzarella and topped with more mozzarella.

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Kick Tail Taco Soup in a Crockpot

A fine slow cooker recipe for a winter or football weekend. Kick tail spicy with a ton of great taste. This is a thick soup, maybe more "taco chili" but since I used soup recipes to make it, I'll stick with soup.

Most recipes start with some burger and taco seasoning. I started with a modified version of my spicy taco meat. The main complaint about most taco soups appears to be the mild spices. I bumped it up and add a jalapeno. I added all the spices to the meat so it would retain some flavor and not have it all washed out in the soup. Excellent, just right.
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Chicken Tostadas

A tasty Mexican dish. Braise some chicken in spiced up broth then shred, spice some more and add to a toasted tortilla and then top with your favorite toppings. Nothing can go wrong with all that going for you.

I had a couple of skinless boneless chicken breast that I had slated for a roasting but they were huge and would not roast well. Plus I want Mexican tonight so I modified one of last years top posts Spicy Mexican Shredded Pork Tostadas (Tinga)  into a chicken recipe. Excellantoooo...


Rating

 Almost a five.

Notes: You can braise the chicken on the stove top like I did. Or a couple of hours covered in a 300 degree oven or even 3-4 hours on high in a crock pot. Take your choice.

Trim about 1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast. That is 3 normal size ones or two huge breasts. Slice into 1/2 inch slices.

In a large pan, combine a 14oz can chicken broth, one medium chipped onion, 2 T chili powder,1 t cumin, and 1/2 t garlic powder.

 Add the sliced chicken.

Bring to boil, then cover and decrease heat to simmer. You can braise the chicken on the stove top like I did. Or a couple of hours covered in a 300 degree oven or even 3-4 hours on high in a crock pot. Take your choice.

 Simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

 Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred with two forks. Discard liquid.

Add 1 t oil to pan and add the chicken back over medium high heat. Add 1 T chili powder, 1/2 t salt, 1/2 t cumin, 1/4 - 1/2 t cayenne and 1/4 t chipotle powder. Then add 8 oz tomato sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes until starting to brown a little.

Making the Tostadas

Add about 1/4 cup vegetable oil to a flat bottom pan and heat over medium high heat until shimmering. 

 Poke a fork multiple times into a six inch corn tortilla. Place in oil and hold down with a spatula.

Brown on each side for about 2 minutes then move to a paper towel covered plate to drain, sprinkle lightly with salt. Repeat until you have the desired number of tostadas.

Assemble to your preference. Suggestions: sour cream, cheeses, tomato, green onion, cilantro, avocado or whatever you want.

Chicken Tostadas

by DrDan at 101 Cooking for Two January-8-2012

A tasty Mexican dish. Braise some chicken in spiced up broth then shred, spice some more and add to a toasted tortilla and then top with your favorite toppings. Nothing can go wrong with all that going for you.

Ingredients

• about 1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast
• a 14oz can chicken broth
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2 T chili powder
• 1 t cumin
• 1/2 t garlic powder

Part Two

• 1 T chili powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t cumin
• 1/4 -1/2 t cayenne
• 1/4 t chipolte powder
• 8 oz. tomato sauce

The Tostadas

• 1/4 cup oil
• six inch corn (or other) tortillas
• salt if you want

Instructions

1) Trim about 1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast. That is 3 normal size ones or two huge breasts. Slice into 1/2 inch slices.2) In a large pan, combine a 14oz can chicken broth, one medium chipped onion, 2 T chili powder,1 t cumin, and 1/2 t garlic powder. Add the sliced chicken.3) Bring to boil, then cover and decrease heat to simmer. You can braise the chicken on the stove top like I did. Or a couple of hours covered in a 300 degree oven or even 3-4 hours on high in a crock pot. Take your choice.4) Simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred with two forks. Discard liquid.5) Add 1 t oil to pan and add the chicken back over medium high heat. Add 1 T chili powder, 1/2 t salt, 1/2 t cumin, 1/4 - 1/2 t cayenne and 1/4 t chipotle powder. Then add 8 oz tomato sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes until starting to brown a little. 6) Make the Tostadas. Add about 1/4 cup vegetable oil to a flat bottom pan and heat over medium high heat until shimmering. 7) Poke a fork multiple times into a six inch corn tortilla. Place in oil and hold down with a spatula.8) Brown on each side for about 2 minutes then move to a paper towel covered plate to drain, sprinkle lightly with salt. Repeat until you have the desired number of tostadas.9) Assemble to your preference. Suggestions: sour cream, cheeses, tomato, green onion, cilantro, avocado or whatever you want.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 2 hour Total time: 2 hour 5 mins Yield: 8 serving

Updated

January 8 2012

DrDan

Top Posts For 2011

For 2010 I had two Top Ten lists. One was the most popular posts and the other my choices. There was some overlap but not a lot. This year I'm doing my personal top ten but will start out with a few of the most popular.
 
This year there are two outstanding posts and one static page in terms of popularity.

THE MOST POPULAR - in reverse order

#3 The Recipe Index

 

Yep it is extremely popular. Almost always in the top 2-3 visited pages on any day. A very big surprise to me but everyone seems to enjoy it.


#2 Simple Oven Baked BBQ Split Chicken Breasts

This is just what the title says. An extremely simple over bake BBQ chicken. This would have been in my top ten but now I have a spot for another recipe.

#1 Simple Crock Pot Chicken Stew

Sometimes you get a surprise. Sometimes it's a huge surprise. I love this stew and everybody else apparently agrees. This is usual #1 or #2 on any Google search for crock pot or slow cooker chicken stew. About 15% of blog traffic comes from this one post.  You too can spend about 15 minutes prep time and have this tasty dish to keep you warm this winter.

MY TOP TEN PICKS

This is somewhat like picking your favorite child. But here we go.

#10 BBQ Shredded Pork Loin in the Oven
Lean, healthy and tasty. A shredded pork from loin for a few or for masses. Cut the recipe down or triple it as needed.

 #9 Chicken Parmesan

It is a wonderful company recipe and I have used it several times as the evening meal before a major holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Great for casual dining and conversation with wine.


#8 Simple and Excellent Crock Pot Beef Stew

I love beef. I like pork and chicken but I LOVE beef. Too much Iowa in me I guess.  I present to you the best beef stew I have ever had... thick, meaty with wonderful taste plus it's simple and easy to make.

#7 Crockpot Southwest Pork Tenderloin Chili

I have always said that pork and Mexican are made to go together. Well, I just proved it again. With only 10 minutes of prep, a crock pot and 8 hours, you can have a very healthy wonderful taste meal.
With only about 3-4 grams of fat per serving this will fit any diet. But I don't want you to think of this as a diet dish. This will blow any other chili out of the water on taste.

#6 Spicy Garlic Grilled Split Chicken Breast

An explosion of taste. I have so many split chicken breast recipes it was hard to choose but this one rose to the top.

#5 Spicy Mexican Shredded Pork Tostadas (Tinga)

A highly modified ATK recipe that has become a household favorite. Packed with taste and just what Mexican means to me.


#4 Cheddar Bay Biscuits a la Red Lobster
My own take on these pure evil little devils. Give them a try tonight. In fact I just had them again a few hours ago.

#3 Spicy Taco Meat Less than 25 Minutes

Absolutely wonderful taco meat. Once you do this you will never go back to the package mix.
 
#2 Oven Baked Kansas City BBQ Beef Brisket

Simple and wonderful BBQ the way it should be with little fuss and muss.

#1 Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Death by carrot cookie is my choice when I have to go. And double the cream cheese frosting please.

That's it for now. I hope you all enjoy this review.  Our diets starts today and I'm back to 60 plus hour weeks. Posts may be few and far between for a while but this is my mental break so we will see how it goes.

Have a wonderful 2012
DrDan


Updated

January 1 2012

DrDan