Bacon Buffalo Chicken Tachos

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

I am feeling very refreshed this morning after a nice, relaxing weekend. Do you ever just crave ordinary weekends? I often have an Energizer Bunny mentality and “keep going and going and going,” so it felt good to move at a much slower pace on Saturday.

The top item on my “to do” list this weekend was visit a farmers market. I have been guilty of not visiting any of the incredible ones the Indianapolis area has to offer, so William and I biked to the Garfield Park Farmers Market.

Garfield Park is just a little south of Indianapolis, not far from Fountain Square. The park is huge and absolutely beautiful. They also have a beautiful conservatory with an incredible garden.

The farmers market is just past that. They had about 30 vendors, ranging from local farmers to local artisans. We picked up some beet hummus (I like that it’s PINK!) and peach Sriracha jam.

Have you heard of “Tachos”? Essentially, they’re nachos, but tater tots replace the tortilla chips. I’ve seen them popping up more and more lately, and I have been tempted to create my own version.

Since today is Bacon Lover’s Day AND the home opener for the Colts preseason game, I decided to experiment with a bacon buffalo chicken version. Wow. Talk about game day comfort food at its finest.

I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Sometimes my diet is a victim of my creations. But you only live once, right?

Bacon Buffalo Chicken Tachos
Ingredients

• 1 (32-ounce) bag frozen tater tots
• 2 cups shredded chicken (I just used all white meat from one rotisserie chicken)
• 1 cup Buffalo wing sauce
• 1/2 cup Challenge butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup blue cheese dressing (can be replaced with ranch or omitted completely if you don’t like blue cheese)
• 5 slices bacon, chopped
• 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
• Abut 6 green onions, chopped (add more or less depending on taste preference)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying it with nonstick spray.
2. Spread entire bag of tater tots on baking sheet in single layer and cook for 20 to 25 minutes.
3. While tater tots are cooking, combine shredded chicken with buffalo sauce, butter, and garlic powder.
4. Remove tater tots from oven and place in cast iron skillet, casserole dish or pie dish.
5. Cover with shredded chicken and cheddar cheese. Place back in oven until cheese is melted, or about 5 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and top with blue cheese dressing, bacon, blue cheese crumbles and green onion.

BBQ Chicken and Peach Quesadillas with Spicy Peach Salsa

August is National Peach Month, and finally the peaches are on sale and actually look good at the stores!

Peaches are full of wonderful healthy nutrients. In fact, they contain salicylates, which are the same compounds in aspirin. It’s believed these compounds may discourage blood clots from forming.

Normally, I use peaches for desserts, but today I wanted to use this for something savory.

This juicy peach salsa tastes great with this BBQ Chicken and Peach Quesadilla!

Spicy Peach Salsa
Ingredients

• 3 peaches, peeled and diced
• 2 jalapeños, diced with ribs and seeds removed
• 1 red pepper diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
• Juice from 1 lime (about 2 Tablespoons)
• 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Add all ingredients in bowl and stir to combine. 
2. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving with chips, chicken, pork, etc.

BBQ Chicken and Peach Quesadillas
Yield: Makes about 4 quesadillas
Ingredients

• 1 cup chicken, shredded
• 1/2 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 8 large tortillas
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded
• 1/2 red inion, deiced
• 1 peach, diced
• Serve with peach salsa (optional)

Directions

1. Combine chicken, BBQ sauce and chili powder
2. Mix together cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese
3. Heat large non-stick skillet over medium heat
4. Lay tortilla in skillet and sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese mixture on top
5. Add 1/2 cup chicken, red onion, and 1/4 of peach on top of cheese
6. Sprinkle another 1/4 cup of cheese on top
7. Cover with another tortilla to enclose filling
8. Cook until underside is golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes 
9. Flip and continue cooking until other side is golden
10. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling ingredients

Fruit & Yogurt Parfait Cupcakes

After-school snacks were an essential part of my childhood. I always wanted Little Debbie and Pop-Tarts, but my mom wouldn't allow it. One time she even bough unfrosted Pop-tarts and told me that's how they're made now so I would like them less. (In case you’re curious, the frosting really does make a big difference. Don’t ever buy unfrosted Pop-Tarts.)

So most of the time I ended up with yogurt or fruit. Woe is me, I know. But I tell you what, if the yogurt I ate looked like these fruit and yogurt parfait cupcakes, I would have totally chosen them over Oatmeal Creme Pies or Nutty Bars.

Another fun note about this snack is you can make them ahead of time and keep them in the freezer so they're always available.

While we’re on the topic school, I wanted to share a little story with you all about something that happened recently to me. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m going back to school and taking the prerequisite classes in order to get accepted into a dietetics program. I’ve already screwed up once and taken the wrong chemistry class, a waste of time  and money and honestly it still makes me sick to think about.

But when I tried to sign up for the correct chemistry class this semester, I got an error  message. Apparently, I needed to take a college-level Algebra course before I could take the chemistry course. This was upsetting because it was going to set me back even more.

So I told the advisor there has to be some other way. She said the only other way is for me to take the math Accuplacer test and score well enough to test out of it. But she said it’s very hard and no one ever does. That didn’t stop me. I signed up for the test and committed myself to studying. It was hard. Very hard. I mean, seriously, when is the last time you used SOH CAH TOA and secant and cosine?

This week I took the test, and three hours later, I tested out of the math class and was able to sign up for chemistry! I really want to tell that advisor just how wrong she was.

The point of this story is don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t achieve your dream. They don’t know what you’re capable of.

Fruit & Yogurt Parfait Cupcakes

Yield: Makes about 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup granola
• 2 Tablesooons peanut butter
• 1 Tablesoon honey
• 2 cups Greek yogurt, any flavor
• 1 cup assorted berries
• Whipped cream, if desired

Directions

1. Add silicone baking cup to every cavity in muffin tin (if you don't have silicone, paper will do)
2. Mix together granola, peanut butter, and honey. Add spoonful of mixture to each cup and press down firmly.
3. Add enough yogurt on top of granola base so it comes to top of cup. 
4. Place several berries or desire fruit on top and freeze for minimum of 3 hours. It's best to freeze at least 8 hours.
5. Remove from freezer and add whipped cream if desired before serving.

Recipe adapted from Salty Canary