Sweet T and a Honey B
Food, Fitness, and the Adventures That Make Life Sweet

Sweet Barbecue Chicken Tacos

It’s Thursday morning y’all and that means we’re over the hump of this gloomy workweek. Also, holy humidity. Did anyone else feel like they needed a shower immediately upon opening their front door this week? Did anyone else’s hair look as unruly as mine?

I’ll admit, the humidity made me feel pretty lazy this week. This, combined with the amount of time I’ve spent at the hospital with my mom, has made it virtually impossible to stick to a routine or retain enough energy at the end of the evening to cook a healthy meal. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bought my breakfast and/or lunch on the go in the past month. And let’s talk about my lack of time at the gym or sticking to my training plan for the Chicago Rock and Roll 10K this coming weekend.. urgh, yes. THIS. Weekend. 
 
But Monday always rolls around and it’s always a good opportunity to begin the week off on the right foot. Moms on the up and up and I’m finally feeling like myself again so I was eager to spend some time in my kitchen and make some dinners for the week. Full disclosure, I had a taste for barbecue and Mexican this past weekend. As I’ve expressed many times before, your favorite meals don’t have to require an abundant amount of ingredients or take a ton of time to throw together. My lack of grocery shopping in the past ten days or so led me to dig through what I already had and I’m thrilled I did because we’ve been eating these Sweet Barbecue Chicken Tacos for the past few nights. We wanted enough leftover shredded chicken to have these for 2-3 dinners as well as extra for topping salads and sandwiches this week but you could always use half of the chicken if you don’t want as much. 
 
They’re a little sweet and a little tangy and combines some fresh lime juice, veggies, and blue cheese for a pretty awesome flavor. I’ve been using this Wholesome Organic Coconut Sugar in a few recipes recently and been pretty pleased. The flavor is just as sweet as brown sugar, but coconut sugar contains nutrients like zinc and iron and also contains insulin- which acts as a prebiotic – aka gut health! It’s also easy to replace brown sugar in your recipes because it’s a 1:1 ratio. 1 cup of brown sugar = 1 cup coconut sugar. 
 
We had some fruit with our tacos but would also be pretty tasty to serve with some black beans or rice. 
 
What flavor combos do you enjoy? What else would you add to your barbecue tacos?
 
 
 

Sweet Barbecue Chicken Tacos

2 tacos per serving

  • 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 4 large chicken breasts
  • 1 cup frozen baby corn
  • 1 small onion – diced
  • 1 roma tomato – diced
  • 1 avocado
  • 2 tbs fresh lime juice
  • Blue cheese crumbles to top
  • Corn tortillas
  1. Whisk barbecue sauce and coconut sugar together until sugar is fully incorporated. 
  2. Place chicken breasts in large crockpot and pour sauce evenly over the chicken. Cook on high for four hours. Once chicken is cooked, shred with a fork and turn crockpot to ‘warm’ until ready to serve.
  3. Combine corn, diced onion, diced tomato, and lime juice in a large bowl. Set aside. 
  4. Warm your corn tortillas. Top each taco with a little shredded chicken, corn ‘salsa’, a couple avocado slices, and 1 tbs of blue cheese crumbles.

Sweet and Savory Salad Ideas

After a weekend filled with corned beef sandwiches, lucky charms puppy chow (who knew that was a thing!?), and a few green beers to celebrate my favorite holiday, Sunday evening brought desperation for something that was going to NOT make me feel like all I wanted to do was sleep. I allowed myself to enjoy some junk food this weekend but in all honesty – I definitely felt it as the weekend came to a close. My body was begging me for some nutrients so my husband and I chose to put together our own salad bar filled with our favorite toppings for Sunday night dinner. I feel like if you add the ‘bar’ aspect to any meal it instantly makes it more fun! We enjoyed shopping for our fixings and came home to assemble our bowls before sitting down to watch a movie. 

It’s no surprise as to what our individual salads looked like – Bryan always chooses a sweeter salad and my choices are definitely on the savory side. He enjoys fresh and dried fruit, nuts, a more tart cheese, and vinaigrette dressings when it comes to his favorite salads and mine are always chocked full of veggies, usually a protein like chicken or turkey pepperoni pieces, avocado (naturally), and creamier yogurt based dressings. We love chopping up everything at once and picking and choosing what to put on top. It’s a HUGE misconception that the only way to eat healthy is to eat salads – but it sure is an easy way to make sure you’re getting you’re getting your fruits and/or veggies, especially after a weekend of not-so-good food choices. The bonus is that recently we’ve found ways to make our salads bowls more interesting than just by adding the typical cucumbers, carrots, or croutons. Some of our recent go-tos include mini turkey pepperonis, Cheese Crisps by Fresh Gourmet (These are incredible because they have that crunch that you might like in your salads but since it’s simply baked cheese, there’s no carbs involved) , salsa, beans, different colored roasted peppers, or chopped apples.

Our ‘At Home Salad Bar’ also made for great leftovers for the next day’s lunches. We packed lunches at the same time we assembled our dinner and it was great getting to sit down knowing that lunches were already made – and we had very little clean-up (HUGE win in my book). 

I would be lying if I said I didn’t take a bite or two of Bryan’s salad. They were both SO good. Our bowls definitely left our tummies feeling full and my body was absolutely thanking me for giving it something that was NATURALLY colored green 😉 

Here are a couple salad ideas for you to try at home whether you are a sweet or savory type person!

Sweet Waldorf Chicken Salad

  • 1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
  • 3 oz shredded grilled chicken
  • 2 tbs dried cranberries (reduced sugar)
  • 2 tbs chopped walnuts or pecans
  • 1/2 chopped granny-smith apple
  • 1/2 cup green grapes (cut in half)
  • 2 tbs blue cheese crumbles
  • 2 tbs vinaigrette of your choice

Assemble all ingredients/toppings and enjoy!

 

Savory Roasted Veggie Salad

  • 1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
  • 3 oz shredded grilled chicken or lean ground beef
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1/2 sliced red pepper
  • 1/2 sliced yellow pepper
  • 1/2 cup matchstick carrots
  • 1/2 avocado, diced
  • 1/2 cup diced cucumber
  • 2 tbs asiago or romano cheese crisps from Fresh Gourmet
  • 2 tbs blue cheese yogurt dressing from Bolthouse Farms (FAVORITE!)

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over low-medium heat and add peppers and carrots to skillet. Cook for approx 5 minutes or until veggies become soft. Top romaine lettuce with cooked chicken or ground beef, cooked vegetables, and remaining toppings. Enjoy!