chicken burritos, cauliflower fritters and spaghetti squash au gratin

I tested three dishes I found on Pinterest this week, and holy cow they were amazing! I implore you to try at least one of them. Your taste buds will thank you.

*click on the name of the dish to go to the original recipe.*

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

from SkinnyTaste

THIS IS NO LONGER A REVIEW OF SANTA FE CHICKEN. :) We loved this recipe after tweaking it quite a bit, but then my friend clued me in to a much easier and just as fabulous (though not quite as healthful) way of making what I call "chicken burritos.” Here it is, folks:

In a crockpot, place 3 chicken breasts, 1 jar of medium salsa, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of corn and 1/4 cup of diced canned or jarred jalapeños. Cook on high 3-5 hours or on low 6-8. Remove chicken and shred with a fork, then return it to the crockpot. Serve the chicken mixture wrapped in a warm tortilla with sour cream and cheese. It's also great over rice (or you can put rice in the tortilla like they do at Chipotle).

Cauliflower Fritters

from SkinnyTaste

You might recognize this dish from my round-up of cauliflower recipes. Andy begged me to make them as soon as he saw that post. These crispy little fritters were FANTASTIC. I wasn't terribly hungry so I ate two and nothing else. They were easy to make and easy to cook, but next time I will halve the recipe. The original recipe makes 24 fritters!

My notes: I used a large head of cauliflower and figured it had to be around four cups worth. I also boiled it instead of steaming. I used dry parsley because I didn't have any fresh. (Here is a helpful how-to on subbing dry herbs for fresh.) Next time I will probably try using parmesan cheese instead of pecorino romano, because the cheese flavor wasn't strong considering how sharp and salty the cheese is. Plus, pecorino romano is more expensive and I always have parmesan on hand. One reviewer said using cheddar worked nicely, too. I also plan to add scallions (green onions) next time. **Use one tablespoon of olive oil to start!** Andy was using my laptop while I was cooking so I had him call out the ingredients to me. I put the entire 1/4 cup of olive oil in the skillet and realized my mistake as soon as I began frying the fritters. Everything turned out fine but the fritters browned better and tasted less oily once I had cooked the first batch. I put my fritters on a cooling rack with a paper towel underneath to let the oil drip down, but if you use the right amount of oil you probably won't need to do that.

Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin

from Dandy Dishes

Please tell me you've tried spaghetti squash. It is so so so good and it's also really fun to make! (Click here for a great recipe using spag. squash plus directions on how to cook the squash). People who have made this au gratin dish claimed it tasted like hash brown casserole, so of course I had to try it! We devoured it. 

My notes: I used dried thyme, but other than that I followed the recipe and the dish turned out perfectly. Next time I think I'll add some sautéed mushrooms and serve it as a main dish instead of a side. 

Happy cooking!