Slow Cooker Creamed Corn

Slow cooker/crock pot recipes always lure me in. They are usually quick and easy to put together and most of the time do not require much prep. This recipe I found on Pinterest from here fits that bill perfectly.

I adapted this recipe by using Husk corn.

SLOW COOKER CREAMED CORN

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours, 15 minutes

Total Time 3 hours, 25 minutes

Yield 6 servings

INGREDIENTS
3 cups Husk sweet corn
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 ounces cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into thin slices

INSTRUCTIONS
Place corn into a slow cooker. Stir in milk, sugar and pepper until well combined. Without stirring, top with butter and cream cheese. Cover and cook on high heat for 2-3 hours.
Uncover and stir until butter and cream cheese are well combined. Cover and cook on high heat for an additional 15 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Ease:

Super easy and quick to throw in to the crock pot. My kind of recipe.

The Family Test:

The girls and I liked it a lot. Adam thinks anything with butter and cream cheese is pure fat so I am pretty sure he didn't even taste it. I had a friend try some and she liked it too. 

Will I make it again?

Yes! I liked the creamy taste better than normal creamed corn and honestly I loved the Husk sweet corn taste over normal canned corn or freezer corn. My only negative thought was that it had too much liquid. Even as I was making it, I thought that this. Husk corn is froze in it's milk so I knew that it would add more liquid to the pot as it cooked. Next time I make this, I will just cut back to maybe 1/2 a cup of milk in the recipe so it won't be as runny.

Let me know if you try it! 

Burritos With Poblano-Corn Salsa

The other day when I was skimming Pinterest, I found this amazing looking recipe for burritos that taste like Chipotle's. They looked super yummy so I was guessing that they probably are pretty yummy. But I had to taste them for myself. (The links for the other recipes are there, but I added the rice one below because I used it when making my burritos.)

This recipe is from Tide and Thyme adapted by me.


Carnitas Burritos with Poblano-Corn Salsa

1 lb carnitas or pulled pork, warmed (I used pulled pork)
2 cups cooked cilantro lime rice
1 (15) oz can black beans (I just used a can, I did not make the recipe)
2 cups frozen Husk corn kernels, thawed
2 poblano peppers
1 jalapeno pepper
1/2 red onion, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
salt, to taste
4 large (12-14 inch) tortillas
sour cream

Poblano-Corn Ingredients

To make the salsa, roast the poblano peppers on a grill, an open flame, or in the broiler until charred all over. Place in a bowl and seal with plastic wrap. Let sit 10 minutes. Meanwhile combine the corn, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt. Once peppers have “steamed”, remove as much charred skin as you can. Dice the peppers and add to the bowl with the other ingredients. Toss to combine, season to taste with salt, and set aside.

Cilantro-Lime Rice

1 Tbsp butter or olive oil
1 cup long-grain white rice (basmati or jasmine)
2 cups water
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
salt, to taste

Heat butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add rice to pan and saute for 1 minute, add water, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 18 minutes. Remove cover and fluff rice with fork. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Add in the lime juice, cilantro, and salt and toss lightly to combine.

To assemble the burritos, warm the tortillas on a plate covered with a damp paper towel in the microwave for about 40 seconds. Lay one tortilla on a flat work surface. Place 1/2 cup rice, 1/4 cup black beans, 1/2 cup pork, and 1/4 cup salsa, and a dollop of sour cream on the burrito. Fold the two sides over onto the top or the filling, then fold the bottom up and under the filling, and roll all the way up. Wrap burrito in a small sheet of aluminum foil to serve.

Ease:

These were a little time consuming because of the roasting of the peppers. The rice took a little longer than usual as well with having to cut up extra cilantro. The recipe was easy to follow otherwise.

The Family Test:

Adam and I really enjoyed them. I made them with pulled pork instead of the carnitas. We agreed that we would both rather have them with chicken next time though. (Maybe grilled?) My favorite part was the mix of the cilantro-lime rice with the sweetness of the Husk corn and the salty flavor of the black beans. Kaylee and Ella did not like them at all, but I think Kaylee would have liked them if I had put them in a bowl with Doritos instead of with the flour burrito tortilla since that is how she enjoys her tacos. In general, neither one of them enjoy tortillas.

Will I make them again?

I think so. Again, I will probably make them with grilled chicken next time. I also will probably do the salsa without the peppers just to make it easier. The flavor of the peppers really didn't increase the taste of the burrito to me and since that was the most time consuming part of all of it, I will skip it next time and see how it tastes. I absolutely LOVED the rice. The rice definitely made the burritos taste like Chipotle. It was worth the extra little bit of time it took to make.

Cheesy Corn Bites

My intention was to do this recipe about a month ago. And it didn't happen. So my cilantro went bad. But hey, the recipe was still a good one. This recipe is a Rachel Ray recipe from this website adapted by me. I will review it below. In the meanwhile, here is the recipe:

Cheesy Corn Bites

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 48 servings

Bite sized cheese and corn appetizers. Super easy to make, and they will disappear quickly!

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup shredded pepperjack cheese

1 large egg

1/2 cup frozen Husk corn kernels

48 scoop-shaped tortilla chips

chopped cilantro, for sprinkling

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350F. Set the chips out on a baking sheet.

In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, cheese, egg and corn; mix completely. 

Place 1 teaspoon of the mixture into each corn chip. 

Bake until the filling sets, about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the corn bites with the cilantro and serve warm.

Ease:

These were super easy to make. The most time consuming part was putting the mixture into the chips.

The Family Test:

The girls and I loved the flavor and gobbled them up. Adam was not a fan because the chips got a little soggy as they sat on the counter. (He was not home right when they came out of the oven so his tasting of them was not fresh.)

Will I make them again?

Yes, but not the same way. I think next time I would rather just spread the mixture of cream cheese, egg, and corn in the bottom of a glass pie plate. Put the shredded cheese over the top. And bake it like a dip. Simply because the chips did get soggy as they cooled. I know you are suppose to eat them right away while they are warm, but if I were making them for guests I would not want them to get soggy chips if they waited to get food or were last in line. The mixture is really yummy and I definitely enjoyed the sweetness of Husk corn in with the spicy pepper jack cheese.

Blueberry Corn Muffins

In my last blog I mentioned that I started working for Husk. "Husk is a local food system in Indiana—farms, processing, distribution, and retail grocery—which provides year-round access to local Indiana foods." It is a company that helps local farmers get their crop in stores for people like me to purchase. Eager to try their sweet corn in different recipes, I found one for muffins that sounded good.

This recipe was originally from Martha Stewart, but I found it via Pinterest here. I did a few things differently. First, I made 24 normal sized muffins versus the 6 jumbo ones that she does. I also added 8 ounces of Husk sweet corn to the mix. When it came to the amount of sugar for the tops, I just sprinkled some over the tops. I did not use a whole teaspoon since I made the normal size muffins

Blueberry-Corn Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
3 tablespoons honey
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 cup blueberries

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray one jumbo muffin pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2) Place softened butter, 3/4 cup sugar, and honey in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs; beat 1 minute more.
3) Whisk flour, cornmeal, and baking powder together in a medium bowl; add to butter mixture in mixer bowl. Beat until combined. Slowly pour in milk, beating on low, until just combined. Fold in blueberries. Divide dough among muffin cups. Brush tops with cold water; sprinkle 1 teaspoon of reserved sugar over each.
4) Bake until tops are browned, centers are set, and a cake tester inserted in center of muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans 5 minutes. Serve at once. Yield: 6 jumbo muffins.

Ease:
Honestly, I was not a fan of the batter. It was not easy to get into the muffin pan. Maybe that was why she made the larger ones.  The recipe was easy to follow, but it took a little while to make them since the batter was so thick.

The Family Test:
They taste delicious. I was a little skeptical of the corn and blueberry flavors together, but it really is a pleasantly sweet taste. Ella does not like corn (so weird), but she gobbled her muffin up. She did notice toward the end of the muffin that there was corn in it and picked out a few kernels, but she kept saying the muffin was "so delicious" so I think it is safe to say that she likes them. Kaylee liked them as well.  Adam hated the corn and blueberry together. He thinks they should be separate flavors.

Will I make them again?
Maybe. They taste really good. But ease plays into my desire to make them again and since the batter was such a pain, it may be a while before I make these again. They also are not quick to grab in my opinion because they really are better if they are warm. Since I like the flavor, I am thinking I will try to find a healthier blueberry muffin recipe that I can toss some sweet corn in to get the same flavor without the sticky cornmeal batter mess.

They turned out pretty though.

Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

Jumping back into cooking after having a baby can be difficult. That is why I have been trying new recipes that look super easy and quick to make. I found this recipe a while back and have had it on my menu or a while. Honestly, I was waiting because I wanted to try it with Husk sweet corn since I am now working for them and still needed to buy some.

But once I had my supply of Husk, I was ready to try this recipe out.

Now for the Recipe:

Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

(that's a mouthful!)

2 chicken breasts, still frozen

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 can corn kernels, do not drain (I used 8 oz of my Husk corn)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix

1 T cumin

1 t chili powder

1 t onion powder

1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese

_________

Put the chicken in the crock pot.

Top with the tomatoes, corn,

the drained and rinsed beans,

ranch dressing, cumin, onion and chili powders,

stir to combine then top with the cream cheese.

This is what mine looked like. :)

Cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring one or twice

 to blend in the cheese. 

Shred the chicken into large pieces

and serve over rice. (I cooked mine on high for 4 hours and my chicken fell apart on it's own.)

Can also serve in tortillas or taco shells.

Serves 4

My final product.

Ease:
This recipe was super easy to make. You simply cannot beat recipes that you just dump everything in. And you don't even have to thaw the chicken or anything so this recipe could not get much easier. Seriously, the "hardest" part was whipping up some rice when it was time to eat. Not hard at all!

The Family Test:
Adam and I really liked it. One of my concerns was that it was going to be too spicy for my family because of the comments on this recipe and another similar recipe. It was not spicy at all! Adam's spicy gauge is usually in line with what the girls can handle and he thought it was fine. Kaylee ate all of hers without much hesitation so I would say she liked it as well. Ella did not like it all, but since she is 2 there really are not many things that I would say she does like so her opinion will not play into whether or not I make this again. Which is next.

Will I make this again?
Of course! It was so easy and tasty that I will definitely add this into my menu rotation. I served this with rice as the author recommended and will do so again, but I had my leftovers with chips and enjoyed that as well.