Honey Sesame Chicken

Lately my afternoons have been starting out with me camped out on the floor outside Boy #2's room waiting for him to fall asleep for his nap. Otherwise he constantly gets out of bed and I'm constantly coming upstairs to put him back in bed. I think he's heading towards dropping his nap, but so far he still takes one most days, thankfully. Some days I sit here for a very long time. Other days he falls asleep pretty quickly. Normally I have my phone with me and do something like catch up on Scrabble or Words With Friends or Draw Something, but today I brought my laptop up and decided to do a blog post. I just uploaded our Easter pictures and that included some dinner pics from recently. It was a tough choice which one to do because we've had some tasty things, but I figured I'd start with this one. I tend to be somewhat against cooking chicken in the crockpot because it ALWAYS seems to turn out dry. Dry chicken is not delicious, and personally I like to eat delicious food. This one sounded tasty and since there was a sauce with it, I thought that maybe it would be okay...because sometimes dry chicken can at least be masked with enough sauce.

Honey Sesame Chicken
Source: Adapted from Table For Two blog via Pinterest

1 to 1.5 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Cornstarch
Sesame seeds

Place the chicken breasts in the crockpot insert and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.
In a medium sized bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, ketchup, oil, garlic powder, onion powder, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine well. Pour over the chicken in the crockpot.

Cook on low for 3-4 hours or high for 1 1/2-2 1/2 hours.

When done, remove chicken and cut into chunks. Prior to putting the chicken back in the stockpot, combine some cornstarch in water and whisk it into the crockpot to thicken up the sauce a bit. Throw the chicken back in and stir around to recoat the chicken in the sauce.
Serve hot over a bed of white rice or quinoa (optional) and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

*****

The original recipe called for chicken thighs, but I only had chicken breasts. And the original recipe had more honey and less ketchup and real garlic and real onion, but I didn't have enough honey, I accidentally used too much ketchup, and I was too lazy to chop up garlic and onion. Hey, at least I'm honest. Also, since I'm being honest, I forgot to get this started when I had planned, so I had to throw my chicken into the crockpot frozen and say a prayer and cross my fingers it was done in time for dinner. Thankfully it was. And you know what? It wasn't dried out!!! Perhaps using frozen chicken and checking the chicken when you think it might not be cooked yet are the keys? Maybe I've just been leaving it in the crockpot for too long all these years. I don't know. But, I do know that this was DELICIOUS and my whole family really liked it. I opted to serve it with quinoa instead of rice because I only had brown rice and not enough time for it to cook, plus I love the nutritional content of quinoa over rice.

This is definitely something we'll have again, especially since most of the ingredients are things I always have on hand.

Mary's Tortilla Soup

Last year when my dad passed away, my BFF Jen Clementine set up meal support for my family, which was a huge lifesaver. Honestly it's the only way my kids were going to get fed because I was not functioning at all. My friend Mary brought us this soup one night, and it was so good. My vegetarian brother was tempted to give up his non-meat eating ways to have some, he thought it looked and smelled so good. I was really excited to make it again, but given my family's soup aversion I never had. Plus it always seems weird to me to make soup in the summer in Phoenix. Who wants to eat soup when it's over 110 degrees outside?! But, after the Ham and Beans was decently received, I figured it was worth making. Our Wednesday and Thursday nights for the past month and half have been crazy busy with my bible study group meeting at our house on Wednesday nights and Boy #1 having soccer practice on Thursday nights, so I have been on the lookout for crockpot meals to make my life easier.

Mary's Tortilla Soup


Chicken Tortilla Soup

3-4 chicken breasts (frozen ok)
2 cans corn
2 cans chicken broth (14oz)
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can cream of potato soup
1 can green chilies
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 can tomato sauce (8oz)
16 oz sour cream (I use the light)
1 handful of cilantro

Put it all (except sour cream and cilantro) in the crock pot on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. Take out the chicken and shred it, then add back in. Add the tub of sour cream (you need to temper it so it doesn't curdle). Garnish with cheese, avocados and chips.

*****

I'm not sure if the husband had any of this last year when Mary brought it over since he wasn't that hip on soup, but he LOVED it this time. He requested this be the only tortilla soup I ever make again. Boy #1 thought it was okay, Boy #2 devoured it and asked for seconds. Woo hoo! It was really so easy to make, especially being able to just throw frozen chicken breasts in with everything else. I also added in a can of black beans because I had them on hand and thought they'd be a nice addition. I used regular tomato sauce, but I bet using El Pato sauce instead would be tasty as well. Hmmm...I'll have to try that next time.

I picked up some ciabatta rolls the same day we were having this, sliced them in half and put them under the broiler to brown them a bit, then spread with butter and sprinkled on some shredded cheddar cheese and put back under the broiler to melt the cheese. I figured Boy #1 wouldn't be that excited about the soup, so I wanted there to be something with the soup that he'd like. He thought the cheese rolls were the best thing ever. He kept saying, "Mom this cheese bread is just too good!" Ah, bless him.

This soup will probably be in high rotation in our house this winter. Thanks, Mary, for such a great recipe!

Oh, and the amazing cheese bread:

Crockpot Cornbread Stuffing

I guess I should have worked a little harder to get this particular recipe posted before Thanksgiving in case anyone was short on oven space and needed a crockpot side dish. Oops. This is another recipe I found via my friend Heather. She shared a link from recipes inspired by the book and movie, "The Help." I've read the book (fantastic!) but haven't seen the movie. I love southern food and culture, so I was all over the link and went crazy pinning (as in, pinning to Pinterest.com) most of the recipes featured. Normally I prefer regular stuffing, like with normal bread, not cornbread. But I'm game for anything when it comes to stuffing/dressing, so I figured it was worth a try.

Crockpot Cornbread Stuffing
Source: MyRecipes.com


5 cups crumbled cornbread
1 (14-oz.) package herb stuffing
2 (10 3/4-oz.) cans cream of chicken soup
2 (14-oz.) cans chicken broth
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 cup diced celery
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter, cut up
Preparation

1. Combine first 9 ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Pour cornbread mixture into a lightly greased 6-qt. slow cooker. Dot with butter. Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours or until set and thoroughly cooked.

*****

I'll be honest, I was a little nervous this was just going to be a soggy, disgusting clump when I opened the crockpot to serve this up with our dinner. I'm happy to report that I was proved wrong and it was quite tasty! I love stuffing, so it was great to just let this cook all day and then serve it up with a pork roast for dinner. I made up two boxes of Jiffy cornbread and used a box of Stove Top for the bread components. I forgot to dot the top with butter, but I don't think it made a huge difference. This would also be tasty with some Craisins and toasted pecans mixed in at the end, maybe even some cooked, crumbled sausage. I'll definitely make this as a side dish again. But be warned--it makes A LOT!

Ham and Beans

When I was growing up, my grandpa would love it when he'd have a ham bone because he could make ham and beans. Honestly I was never really a fan growing up because of my bean aversion, but now that I'm learning to embrace and love the bean I figured it was worth a shot, mostly because I came across a ham bone in my freezer that I needed to use and we were low on grocery money this particular week. Grocery prices lately are driving me nuts, by the way.

I asked my mom about my grandpa's recipe but she didn't know specifics, so I did some searching on Food.com. This sounded good and like what I remembered my grandpa making. Good enough for me!

Ham and Beans
Source: Adapted from Food.com

1 lb great northern bean
1/2 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
8 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
7 cups water
4 teaspoons chicken bouillon
1 ham bone

Rinse and sort thru beans (has anyone ever really found a rock in these?). Cover with water and let sit overnight.

In the morning, drain water, rinse again and place beans in the crockpot. Dump in all of the other ingredients (except ham bone) and give it a few good stirs.

Put the ham bone in the crockpot, cover and cook on high for 6-8 hours.

Remove the bay leaf, ham bone and fish out any bones that may have fallen off during cooking. Stir the beans a few times. Remove 1 cup of the beans and place in a bowl, mash them with a potato masher or back of a spoon, then return to the beans and stir; this helps thicken it up a bit.

Take off any meat left on the ham bone, chop and return it to the crockpot.

Stir again and serve!

Nutritional info:
Calories 106.2
Calories from Fat 3
Total Fat 0.4 g
Saturated Fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 51.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 19.9 g
Dietary Fiber 6.0 g
Sugars 1.5 g
Protein 6.7 g

*****

I really didn't know how my family would react to this as none of them are big soup fans. Turns out the husband and Boy #2 love soup! Boy #1 not so much, but as Meatloaf says, "Two out of three ain't bad." this will be my go-to recipe when I have a ham bone that needs to be used up. Not that it happens very often, but now at least I can hold on to them and use them instead of passing them on to my mom. Sorry, Mama!

Creamy Chicken Dijon

I know I've mentioned before my great aunt who is (well, was as she passed away a few years ago) a James Beard award winner for a cookbook she authored. One of the cookbooks she wrote was a low carb slow cooker one. My mom had a copy and gave it to me the last time I did Phase One of the South Beach Diet. I hadn't used it, then when I was meal planning for this past week I got it out to see what was in it. I had originally slated this for Wednesday night because I knew we'd be getting home late, but then plans ended up changing, so I didn't make it. I had meant to make it for Saturday night then but forgot. So it then became our Sunday night dinner.

Creamy Chicken Dijon
Source: Low-Carb Slow & Easy by Frances Towner Giedt

2 large leeks, white part and 1 inch pale green
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp crushed dried tarragon
1-1/2 ounces prosciutto, cut into 1-inch wide strips
1/2 cup white Burgundy wine or low-sodium canned chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream

Cut the trimmed leeks in half lengthwise and wash well. Thinly slice on the diagonal. Place the leeks in the bottom of a 5-quart or larger crockery slow cooker.

Rinse the chicken; discard any fat. Pat dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. In a small dish, combine the Dijon mustard and tarragon. Spread on the chicken pieces and wrap strips of the prosciutto around each piece. Place the chicken on top of the leeks. Pour the wine over the chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2.5-3 hours. Transfer the chicken to a heated serving platter. If cooking on low, increase the temperature setting to high. Whisk the cream into the pan juices and cook, uncovered, until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Spoon the sauce over the chicken. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Info (per serving):
222 calories, 12 grams fat, 24 grams protein, 5 grams carbohydrates

*****

The store where I did the bulk of my grocery shopping last week didn't have leeks. I tried another store. They only had organic leeks, which I was okay with, except that they all looked horrible. You know how if you leave green onions in your fridge too long they get kind of slimy and stick together? That's about what these leeks looked like. I wasn't paying good money for bad leeks. So I skipped that part of the recipe. And I couldn't find any tarragon in my pantry, so I used Italian seasoning instead. I also used all chicken breasts because I didn't have any chicken thighs on hand. And since wine isn't allowed in Phase One, I used chicken broth instead of a white Burgundy wine. And half and half instead of cream. So really I kept very little of the original recipe intact.

We were all kind of ho-hum about this. My sauce didn't really turn out, and the chicken really needed some sauce. My kids resorted to dipping theirs in ketchup. I have some ketchup issues, but if it got them to eat...fine. And they both did eat all the chicken that was on their plates. Whenever I cook chicken in the crockpot, it's so dried out when we eat it. That's my only real complaint. And the dijon mustard didn't provide a whole lot of flavor like I thought it would. I think this dish done in the oven instead of the crcokpot would turn out a lot better.

Sadly, it's probably not something I'd make again. Also sadly, my memory card wasn't in my camera, so I didn't get a picture of it.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

So much for my return to blogging earlier this week...I caught the stomach bug my kiddos had and somehow the idea of making and eating the Thai chicken basil stir-fry I had slated for Monday was not at all appealing on Monday. The boy has swim lessons at 5:00 this week, and Tuesday and Wednesday night make it kind of rough since I have a Bible study group each of those nights. Last night we had crockpot bean burritos, and tonight I had planned a crockpot chicken and dumplings recipe, but upon reviewing it this morning I realized it wasn't going to work because the dumplings have to be added in the last 30 minutes of cooking, and I don't want to stick the husband with that responsiblity. So I did some quick searching and found a barbecue pulled chicken recipe I'm going to make instead.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches
RecipeZaar Recipe #242547

Ingredients
1 medium onion, thinly sliced or 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Sauce
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 pinch salt

Cut the onion in half and slice into thin half rings. Line the bottom of the crock pot with the onions. Trim the chicken breasts and place on top of the bed of onions. Mix all of the sauce ingredients together and pour on top of the chicken covering completely. Cook for 6 hours on low setting. The sauce thickens and turns into a dark rich brown during cooking. At the same time the onions dissolve into the sauce. When the chicken is falling apart tender, take two forks and shred the chicken.

Serve on top of split buns.

*****

To keep this simple I think we're just going to have some frozen fries along with it (assuming the husband is up to tossing those in the oven for me), some kind of vegetable, and a salad.

*****

Okay, never mind...I now have no idea what we're going to have for dinner because the crack in my crockpot insert has gotten worse, to the point where I can't even use it now. I'm so very, very, very, very annoyed. I do have another crockpot, but it's still packed and 1) the idea of rummaging through boxes in my garage to find it when it's 105 outside is soooo not appealing to me, and 2) it's really too late to start cooking this anyway for it to be done on time for all of us to eat.

Some weeks (like this one) I wonder why I even bother meal planning at all...

Eggplant Pasta Sauce

I mentioned in a previous post that my father-in-law came to visit recently to go see some hockey playoff games (Red Wings vs. Coyotes) with the husband. I wanted a crockpot dinner for one of the nights so we'd be sure to eat dinner before they had to leave for the game. I'd received an eggplant in my produce co-op the week before and needed to be using it. I found a pasta sauce recipe in one of my slow cooker cookbooks that used eggplant, so I thought it would be a great choice.

Eggplant Pasta Sauce

1 lb. eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 14-oz cans Italian diced tomatoes (with garlic, oregano, and basil), undrained
1 6-oz can Italian tomao paste with roasted garlic
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 tsp minced garlic
1-1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1-1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
4 cups hot cooked penne

Spray inside of slow cooker with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients except pasta and cheese in slow cooker and mix. Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3.5-4 hours. Serve over hot, cooked pasta and top with parmesan cheese if desired.

*****

I didn't have any mushrooms on hand, so instead I added in some diced zucchini. I also thought two cans of tomatoes didn't look like it was going to be saucy enough, so I added in a third. None of them were the Italian style, so I just added in more of the Italian seasoning to compensate for it.

This worked out perfectly to make for that night! We ended up being gone most of the afternoon, so I wouldn't have had much time to get something together for dinner. This way all I had to do was boil some water, throw in the pasta, and dish it up. I made Barefoot Contessa's Garlic Ciabbata Bread to go along with it. This sauce was really good, and I loved all the vegetables in it to make it chunky and give it a nutritional boost. Everyone really enjoyed the sauce--my kids even ate it up! This was a great crockpot spaghetti sauce that I'll definitely make again!

(Note: This made quite a bit, so I froze about half the sauce. It was definitely better the first time around...it lost a lot of the flavor and the vegetables didn't really hold their texture once frozen. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely better when it was fresh.)

Italian Stuffed Acorn Squash

I got a bounty of vegetables from my produce co-op last time, and there were two acorn squash in there. Like I've said before I'm still learning to embrace the squash, but my friend Jen had made a stuffed acorn squash recipe awhile back that looked really good. I was excited to have acorn squash so we could try it. I also had everything on hand for it which was a double bonus.

Jen originally found this recipe on RecipeZaar.com. She modified hers for the oven instead of the slow cooker like the recipe calls for, so if you want to know how to do it that way, check out her post on it.

Italian Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 large acorn squash, halved and seeded
olive oil
1 cup water
1/2 cup wild rice
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds or pine nuts (I have used sunflower seeds too)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese

Directions:
Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. Brush squash halves with olive oil and place in slow cooker (slice off bottoms to level, if necessary). Pour 1 cup water into the cooker, around (not into) squash.

In a small bowl, combine wild rice blend, pumpkin seeds or pine nuts, minced garlic, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and spices; stir until well-mixed. Stuff rice mixture into each squash half.

Slowly pour about 1/2 cup vegetable broth into each squash cavity until full (don't let stuffing overflow). Pour any remaining broth around squash. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Just prior to serving, sprinkle with crumbled cheese.

*****

For some reason, I was really hesitant to make this. I don't know why, but the day we were going to have it I kept putting off adding everything to the slow cooker. i don't know why, Jen and her family had really liked it. Perhaps my squash aversion. I finally got around to it, although since I had two squash I doubled the recipe--only to find out that just three halves would fit in my crockpot. Jen had said her son, who is the same age as the boy, ate a quarter of one, so I figured the kids could split a half.

I was concerned the squash itself wasn't cooking, but I checked it at one point (I know, I know...never take the lid off a slow cooker) and stuck a fork in it to find it was already pretty tender. I think my total cooking time was about 3.5 hours on low. It maybe could have gone a little longer for the rice, but we had to eat at a certain time to get to our Bible study groups.

The husband and I really liked it. REALLY liked it. I loved the feta sprinkled on top, it added a great creamy flavor to the other ingredients. The husband and I found that 1/4 of a squash was really filling. I realized as I was cutting a half in half for the kids that the baby hasn't had nuts yet, and since there are some nut allergies in our family I was hesitant to give it to him because of the pine nuts, so he got chicken nuggets. The boy I don't think even took a bite. Whether he didn't like the look of it or he was jealous his brother was getting chicken nuggets I don't know. But, really one squash would have been enough for our whole family which makes this super economical.

I don't know if I'd make it again because of the kids, but I might do it when it's just the husband and I eating. I definitely recommend the recipe, though!!

Crockpot Tamale Pie

One of the cookbooks I got for Christmas was Stephanie O'Dea's Make It Fast, Cook It Slow. If you don't recognize her name, you might recognize her blog--A Year of Slow Cooking. I've been to her blog several times, and I can't believe how many of her recipes I want to try.

I was flipping through it and saw this one and thought it sounded great--healthy, vegetarian, and I had everything on hand for it. The husband and I are both going to Bible study groups on Wednesday nights, and they both start at 6:30. So it's going to be crockpot dinners for awhile on Wednesday nights.

Crockpot Tamale Pie

1 can drained and rinsed black beans
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 can drained corn
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1/2 t paprika
1/4 cup diced onion
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 package corn bread mix (plus ingredients required for mix...milk and egg)

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray. Dump in the filling ingredients--cheese, too!-- and stir well to distribute the spices. You will not be able to stir this again, so please check to see that the spices aren't in a clump anywhere.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cornbread topping. When finished, pour evenly over the filling, spreading with a spatula if needed.

Cover and cook on low for 4-7 hours or on high for 2-4.

*****

Her actual recipe included making your own corn bread topping, but I had some mix in the pantry and figured there was no point reinventing the wheel, so to speak. And I skipped the onion and just used onion powder instead because I was feeling lazy.

So, she's not kidding when she says to spray the crockpot with cooking spray. I didn't really spray mine enough and some of the edges of the cornbread stuck to the sides. I think mine cooked for a little too long because it was a bit dry. It was still good, but had I checked on it sooner it would have been better. I think I like my normal Tamale Pie recipe better than this version, but this was still good and easy.

The golden top in the crockpot before we dug in:


(I really wish I had better lighting in my kitchen!!)

Asian Pork Loin

My friend Michele is a very talented photographer. We were supposed to meet up on Tuesday afternoon to take some one year pics of the baby (a month late, but whatever). I was meeting her at 4:00 about half an hour from our house, so I wanted something in the crockpot for dinner since I figured we'd get home around dinner time. I pulled out at Southern Living slow cooker cookbook that I rarely use and flipped through. I had just bought a pork loin roast, so when I saw this recipe I thought it would be a good choice. Plus I had almost all the ingredients on hand.

Asian Pork Loin

1 2-pound lean boneless center-cut pork loin roast
3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1 Tbsp minced fresh garlic
2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp water

Trim fat from roast. Combine orange juice and next six ingredients in a large zipper top plastic bag. Add pork, seal bag, and marinate in refrigerator 8-24 hours.

Place pork and marinade in slow cooker. Cover with lid; cook on high heat for one hour. Reduce to low heat setting and cook 7 hours.

Remove pork from cooker; let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Pour cooking liquid into a 4-cup glass measuring cup or bowl. Let stand 5 minutes Skim fat from surface of liquid. Combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl; stir until well blended. Add cornstarch mixture to cooking liquid and stir well. Microwave on high 3 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring halfway through cooking time.

Slice pork, serve with sauce.

*****

I was glad I looked at this recipe on Sunday and saw how long it needed to marinate because I would have been mad had I gone to throw everything into the crockpot Tuesdasy morning and saw that. I had some oranges I got from a local produce co-op, and I'm not a real big fan of oranges (except Cuties...I love Cuties!!), so I used them for the juice called for in the recipe. Brilliant, eh. I cut back on the red pepper because the boy doesn't like spicy.

*****

We ended up having to cancel pictures because we had a random thunderstorm in Phoenix yesterday. I know, of all days, right?! But it was still nice to have dinner in the crockpot and not have to worry about it at all. I had even bought Minute Rice so dinner would be ready super fast when we got home. Oh well! Anyway, I don't think this is a keeper. All we could taste was heat, not flavor. I expected the sauce to be sweeter but it was super spicy. Normally I dig some spice in my food, but this was over the top. It was really the sauce that did it, the meat itself wasn't that spicy. I was glad I hadn't put any sauce on the kids' meat. I had mine in the crockpot for six hours on low, and it was pretty dried out. I think with less heat it might be okay, but I don't know if it's worth making again.

Crockpot Deviled Chicken

Okay, if I'm going to follow this new format I decided on--to post after the fact instead of before--I need to either post right away the next day or at the very least keep my meal plan from the prior week so I can remember what exactly it was that we had. I checked my "Cooking Blog" photo folder, and this was the only new thing in there. I just uploaded pics, so I know there aren't any on the camera that I just forgot to upload. Well, that's not entirely true because I did take pics of last night's dinner that need to get uploaded. Anyway, I guess we had all repeat dinners last week and that's why I didn't take any pictures. I swear before I had kids I had a fantastic memory, but if you have kids you're familiar with both "pregnancy brain" and "mommy brain." I don't know how that woman with 19 kids does it...I'm pretty sure if I had that many kids I'd be walking around with my mouth hanging open and a dazed look on my face.

I don't even remember how I decided to make this. I think I had slated chicken of some sort but wasn't really excited about the recipe I had chosen, so I went to RecipeZaar.com to find something different. Or maybe I just wanted something that could go in the crockpot. Regardless, I searched for crockpot recipes that had chicken. I had everything on hand for this one, and it sounded pretty good...and I had enough time for it to cook!

Crockpot Deviled Chicken
RecipeZaar Recipe #41882

3 lbs skinless chicken breasts or skinless chicken legs or skinless chicken thighs
2-4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup prepared mustard
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoon curry powder

Place chicken in slow cooker. Combine all remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cook for 4 to 6 hours on high or 6 to 8 hours on low.

*****

I didn't change it around a whole lot. I used chicken drumsticks because I had some in the freezer that needed to be used soon. I used dijon mustard instead of regular, and I went kind of easy on the curry powder because the husband doesn't like curry. So hopefully he doesn't read this and find out there was curry in it. I also went easy on the butter to make it slightly healthier.

This was really tasty, and it was so easy to throw together--especially since all the sauce ingredients are things I always have on hand. A lot of the comments on the recipe said they thickened the sauce and poured it over the chicken, but I didn't bother. They also served it over rice or noodles, but no one in my family is really a rice fan, so I skipped it. Plus I think I was out of rice anyway. Hmmmm...now I remember why I ended up making this. I was going to make a Rick Bayless dish with chicken, rice, and beans, but I didn't have enough rice. See? If I can get some kind of trigger I'm much better at remembering! We had some leftover roasted butternut squash and a frozen peas/carrots blend as side dishes.

This is definitely something I'd make again. We all really liked it, although I think I would maybe cut back on the honey. I didn't measure it so it's entirely possible my estimate of half a cup was actually more than that. It was just a little bit on the sweet side, so I think I'd cut back the honey (or measure it) and be a bit more generous with the curry powder.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I have some massive blog updating to do! I was really trying this week to get back into a normal groove and get my house back in order after all the traveling we've been doing, but in doing that my blog fell to the wayside.

As I said in my last post, my challenge this week was to make dinners using only ingredients I had on hand. I cheated only a little and had to buy some chicken broth and brown rice, but that was it. I was excited to realize I had everything on hand for this recipe because it's one we really like, but for some reason I don't make it very often. I definitely need to add it to the rotation more often!

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I had some andouille sausage in the freezer that needed to be used up, so I cooked that in a skillet to render off some of the fat, then I sliced it and threw it in the slow cooker. The husband and I always enjoy this when we have it for dinner, the boy ate it okay, but I was SHOCKED that the baby shoveled it down! He ate about as much as I did! He's going to be my spicy food kid for sure, even though it wasn't that spicy, but I have to imagine for a baby it was.

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

Man, we have had a crazy few days at our house. The husband leads a ministry team at our church, and we had a BBQ here yesterday afternoon for everyone that serves on the team. Saturday was spent getting the house cleaned and ready for that, then we went to my mom's for swimming and dinner. My uncle grilled steaks which were fantastic! I definitely over-indulged. Yesterday was church then last minute BBQ stuff and then the BBQ. It was fun and we were able to get to know the people serving on his team a little better. We did it potluck style, so everyone coming brought a side dish or dessert, so all we had to do was grill hamburgers and hot dogs. Most people left the food they brought, so when everyone left I surveyed the kitchen and called my friend Jen B. to see if they would want to come join us for dinner because we had an insane amount of food leftover. We had a great time with them--I think we were laughing just about the whole time. The boy loves playing with their son, so they had a good time too.

I wanted something easy for dinner tonight that I could put in the crockpot early in the day and just let it go so dinner would be ready when we were. I saw a package of sliced peppers in my freezer that I bought on my last Trader Joe's excursion, and seeing those reminded me of this recipe that we really liked when I first made it, but then I hadn't made it again since then.

Here's my original post:

Crockpot Beer Chicken Fajitas

The husband went grocery shopping for me while I cleaned house on Saturday and could not find the fajita seasoning anywhere in the store. I told him to forget about it, and I went to Walmart today and bought two packets. Then I totally kicked myself when I looked at the ingredients after putting them in the crockpot and saw that MSG was the second ingredient. Yuck. That's when I kicked myself because I remembered my cousin had sent me a recipe she uses for homemade fajita seasoning. Ugh. Next time!!

I also had a little beer mishap. I couldn't in good conscience let half a beer go to waste, even though it was 11:30 when I was putting this in the crockpot. I put the beer bottle on the kitchen table and went to sit down next to the boy while he was eating his lunch and somehow knocked the bottle over. Obviously it was a sign that I shouldn't have been drinking before noon.

I'm not sure what we're going to have with this. I had to return that Rick Bayless cookbook I was holding hostage from the library, so I borrowed Jen B's copy of it because there were some salad dressing recipes in it I wanted to try, but of course I'm missing main ingredients for each of them. I have a southwestern vegetable blend in the freezer I'll probably heat up and then just have a salad on the side.

Slow Cooker Pinto Beans

I don't know why I've been slacking on posting lately. Monday was a pretty bad day at our house, and our dinner was easy, just tofu stir fry. Yesterday I don't know why I never got around to posting. Who knows. This is what we had. I'd seen a recipe for slow cooker pinto beans in a vegetarian cookbook I have and thought I'd try it. Then I saw my friend Jen B. had a recipe for them, and there is also one in my new favorite cookbook, Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday. I decided to kind of combine all of them into one and see what I got.

Slow Cooker Pinto Beans

1 lb. dried pinto beans
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 slices bacon, cut into chunks
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp Ancho chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp coriander
1 can beef broth
5 cups water

Sort through beans for any debris, pebbles, or sticks. Throw everything into slow cooker and cook on low 8-10 hours. When beans are done, strain liquid into a separate container and save for another use. Remove bay leaves and any other chunks you don't want in there (although I left the bacon in and thought it was yummy).

*****

I made refried beans out of some last night. For that I used two tablespoons of butter and probably two cups of the beans and a few ladlefuls of the cooking liquid and mashed it up first with a potato masher and then I switched to using my immersion blender. That worked a lot better.

Oh man...these were fantastic beans!! The flavor of them was so much better than anything I've ever had in a can. I think I'm a homemade refried beans convert now. I used them last night for tostadas, and for that I just fried some tortillas in oil to get them crispy (my oil took forever to heat up--I didn't think we were ever going to eat!) and then topped with the refried beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa. They were quite tasty!! I had leftovers for lunch today and was just as pleased as I was last night!

Pot Roast

The husband's best friend is here visiting from Mississippi for the weekend. I haven't seen him in years, so I didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen working on dinner, so I put a pot roast in the crock pot. I always love pot roast, and it's so easy I figured it was a good way to go. I bought some yummy looking rolls and am going to make a big salad to go with it.

The boys and I (along with my mom) are heading to Boise tomorrow for the weekend for my best friend's baby shower. (Hi, Brooke!! One more sleep!!) I'm in charge of the food for her baby shower, so I may at some point post all the recipes we're doing for that. Anyway, yet another reason I wanted something easy tonight since I need to pack and get us all ready to go. It's really amazing how much crap you have to take with you with two kids--even for just a weekend!

Here's the link to my pot roast recipe:

Claire's Pot Roast

Have you ever looked at the ingredients for cream of mushroom soup? I think I'm pretty done using it, after I use the can in my pantry. I'm reading a really interesting book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. I highly suggest reading it if you have any interest at all in healthy eating. Anyway, it makes me want to do away with all processed foods of any sort. Really I've been able to cut down on them quite a bit to the point where I rarely buy them, but I'm trying to be completely done with them. Sorry for the mini rant...I'll step down off my soap box now and get back to hanging out with the husband and his friend.

Crockpot Marinara Sauce

I think I've mentioned that the boys and I are heading to San Diego for a week with my mom and Jen B. and her son. Since I don't want the husband to get pizza every night while we're gone, I thought I'd make lasagna on Saturday night so he'll have leftovers to eat throughout the week. I was looking through a vegetarian cookbook last weekend and saw a crockpot recipe for marinara sauce. I thought I could throw it in the crockpot today and it would be all ready for me to make lasagna with it tomorrow.

Crockpot Marinara Sauce
2 cans (28 oz each) crushed tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 large onion, chopped
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients in slow coker. Cover. Cook on low 8-10 hours.

*****

I used regular crushed tomatoes, and instead of the basil and oregano I just added in Italian seasoning instead. My house smells AMAZING with this cooking. It makes me want to have pasta for dinner tonight, but I don't want it two nights in a row.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I really like cooking Sunday dinner in the crockpot. It's so nice to get the whole afternoon with my family instead of them getting to have fun while I'm in the kitchen. The husband always calls his parents on Sunday after church, so while he and the boy were talking to them this morning I got this in the crockpot. And now all I have to do is put on some rice to cook in an hour or so. Fantastic!! In fact, I'm sitting outside in our backyard enjoying this FABULOUS 80 degree day while the boy runs through the sprinkler. This is why I love living in AZ (and I'll try to remember that in a couple months when I'm complaining about how freakin' hot it is).

Anyway, we've had this before but not in a long time. I was looking for something in my freezer and saw some frozen sausage, and I knew I had kidney beans in the pantry, so I added it to the menu for this week. It kept getting pushed back for varoius reasons, but it's worked out great now that we're having it tonight.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
3 cups water
1 cup dried red kidney beans
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 (14-ounce) package turkey, pork, and beef smoked sausage, thinly sliced (such as Healthy Choice)
1 bay leaf
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups hot cooked long-grain rice
1/4 cup chopped green onions

Combine first 12 ingredients in an electric slow cooker. Cover with lid; cook on high heat for 5 hours. Discard bay leaf; stir in salt. Serve over rice; sprinkle servings evenly with green onions.

*****

Instead of the red pepper and black pepper I added in some Cajun seasoning instead. And my sausage wasn't Healthy Choice, it was Hillshire Farm. I'm so excited for this dinner. I went grocery shopping this afternoon, and the house smelled amazing when I walked in from that. I think we'll probably just have a salad with this and call it good.

I had planned on making a really yummy dessert for tonight, too, because blackberries were on sale this week, but the store was all out of them. I'm so bummed! I did get a rain check at least, and I may stop in there tomorrow to see if they have some so I could still get them and have the rain check for later. On a bright note, I finally spent less than $80--I only spent $37! I feel like I must have forgotten some important things because that seems like way too little to have spent.

Get ready for some yummy dinners this coming week--I'm really excited for the menu line-up I have planned!!

Carnitas

We ended up not having dinner last night because we were still so full from lunch. Well, the boy had chicken nuggets, but the husband and I weren't hungry. We went on a hike in the morning with some friends and then came back to our house and got Mexican take-out for lunch from Carolina's. Lordy mama, was it ever good. Definitely some of the best Mexican food I've ever had. Their tortillas have won awards for being the best in Phoenix. Were they ever!! I wanted to wrap myself up in them. I was glad I had the husband pick up a dozen, although it took a lot of self control on our parts to not chow down on all of them yesterday.

I had planned on trying a new risotto recipe tonight, but I wanted to use the tortillas for something other than just snacking. I recently checked out a make your own take out cookbook from the library, so I checked the Mexican section of that for ideas. I saw a recipe for carnitas and went, "That's it!" The recipe for them in that cookbook sounded weird, so I started Googling. I wanted something I could do in the crockpot, and I found a basic recipe to follow and then decided I'd change it up a bit. I love carnitas, so I'm really excited and hope this turns out well. The recipe below is how I'm doing them.

Crockpot Carnitas
1.5 pounds boneless pork ribs
4 cloves garlic, each cut into four pieces
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1 small can diced green chilies
1 bottle beer
Tortillas
Burrito fixings (tomatoes, cheese, olives, onions, lettuce, cilantro, guacamole, sour cream, etc.)

With a knife, cut several small slits into the ribs. Insert pieces of garlic cloves in roast. Place pork in slow cooker. Sprinkle cumin, coriander, and chili powder over pork. Sprinkle cilantro and chilies over pork. Pour beer into crockpot. Cover. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until pork is done. Once pork is cooked through, remove from slow cooker and shred with two forks. Add in some of the cooking liquid. Serve with warm tortillas and burrito fixings of your choice.

*****

I'm totally excited for this, and I'm excited to smell them cooking all day. This will be a great way to use up the remaining tortillas from yesterday's feast. I think I might make some of Jen B's pinto beans to put in the burritos, too. I found a recipe on RecipeZaar.com for carnitas where you cooked beans with the pork, but I don't have any dried pinto beans, and I really wanted to make this today. So I figured I'd make Jen's beans instead. I seriously cannot wait for dinner tonight--I don't know what I'm more excited for, the carnitas or having more of these tortillas!

*****

My review of this is tricky because I woke up with a nasty cold and have no sense of taste. To me they tasted like they could have used some more flavor or spice, but they may have been right on. I think I read somewhere that when using dried spices in the crockpot you should use more because of the long cooking time? Or maybe that was for fresh. Hmmm. Either way, I think jacking up the spices some more would help and maybe adding some fresh cilantro to the shredded meat as well as putting it in the crockpot. I'm always looking for a new way to use boneless ribs, so I'll probably try this again. Jen's pinto beans were really yummy in the burritos with the carnitas.

BBQ Veggie Joes

We had this last night. I still need to figure out dinner for tonight because what I had planned just isn't sounding good, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet to figure out what to have in, oh, an hour.

I was looking at lentil recipes on RecipeZaar.com and thought this sounded good and easy.

BBQ Veggie Joes Recipe
#77364 by ratherbeswimmin'

1 cup dried lentils, sorted and rinsed
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
salt and pepper
5 pita breads, cut in half to form pockets (6-inch diameter)
lettuce leaf

Add lentils and water to a saucepan; bring to a boil; lower heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes.

Add celery, carrots, onion, ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and lentils w/ water into a 4-quart slow-cooker.

Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10-12 hours or until vegetables are tender.

Just before serving, add vinegar and salt/pepper to taste.

Fill pita pocket with a lettuce leaf and 1/2 cup lentil mixture.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

*****

This was okay. I didn't have enough ketchup, so I used 1/4 cup ketchup and an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce, but I didn't take into account that tomato sauce tastes different than ketchup, so the flavor was a little too tomato, the husband said it smelled like tomato soup. I don't know if I'll bother trying it again. It made a ton, and since we weren't totally wild about it, I don't know if we'll want to have it again after we get through all the leftovers. Oh, and we had them on hamburger buns...I don't do well with pitas.

Verde Pork Enchiladas

One of the blogs I follow, Gumbo Ya Ya, had a really good sounding recipe posted recently for Pork Chili Verde. You might remember me mentioning last week a recipe I had planned to make but was missing a main ingredient...that was this. That day as I was thinking about this recipe I thought, "Why couldn't you do it in the crockpot?" So I decide to change it up a bit and do it that way. Because I live on the edge like that and am such a non-conformist. Yeah right. I used most of the same ingredients called for in the original recipe, just changed up the method a bit.

Verde Pork Enchiladas
1 1-lb pork loin roast
1 28 ounce can green enchilada sauce
1 small can diced green chilies
whole wheat enchiladas
shredded Mexican blend cheese

Place pork roast in slow cooker and pour green chilies and enchilada sauce over roast. Cover crockpot, cook on high three hours or until pork roast is cooked through. Remove roast and shred meat with two forks. Mix in a few ladels of sauce from the crockpot.

Coat an 11x7 baking dish with cooking spray. Cover bottom of dish with some of the sauce from the crockpot. Spoon some pork down the middle of a tortilla, top with cheddar cheese, and roll the enchilada. Place seam side down in baking dish. Repeat until all the pork is gone. Pour sauce over the enchiladas (however much you want) and then cover with cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 for 25 minutes.

*****

I ended up having enough pork to make seven enchiladas which fit perfectly in my dish. You could, of course, use a bigger pork roast and fill a 9x13 pan with the enchiladas, I just happened to have a one pound roast in the freezer.

This was SUPER TASTY. We all really liked it. It was so easy to do the meat in the slow cooker, too, although next time I'd probably put some seasoning on the meat first to give it a little oomph--maybe some onion powder, garlic powder, and maybe a little chipotle chili powder for some added spice and heat. This is something I will definitely make again. I put the roast in my crockpot in the morning and then assembled the enchiladas during naptime and stuck the pan in the fridge. it made dinner super easy!!