Honey Sesame Chicken

I found this recipe on Six Sisters' Stuff blog! I love that blog, always lots of great things on it!



Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper (I omitted)
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce (low sodium)
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional -I omitted)
4 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tbsp water
Sesame seeds

Season both sides of chicken with lightly with salt and pepper (I didn't want the extra sodium, so I skipped this), put into crock pot. In a bowl, mix the honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes (I actually added some minced ginger in here as well). Pour this mixture over the chicken.

Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours (until chicken is cooked). Take the chicken chicken from the slow cooker, but leave the sauce. Dissolve 4 tsp of cornstarch into 6 Tbsp of water and add to the sauce in the slow cooker. Stir. Cover slow cooker and cook sauce on high for 10 minutes or until slightly thickened. While the sauce is thickening, cut the chicken into small pieces, then put them back in the slow cooker and stir into the sauce before serving.

Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

_______________

DELICIOUS. We all really enjoyed this recipe, we even served it to company. I added some minced ginger to it, and I think it made it very good (although I think it would be very good without it).

I think this is one of our new favourites, and it's very quick and easy to make. I didn't even thaw my chicken ahead of time, just put it in about 30 minutes early.

Oh and the toddler asked for thirds!

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry

We love curries, so delicious. I was excited to try this super easy crockpot recipe.



Recipe from Kraft, in my What's For Dinner magazine (fall 2011).

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry

10 bone-in chicken thighs (skin removed)
1 jar thick and chunky salsa
1 chopped onion
2 Tbsp curry
1/2 cup cream cheese spread

Place chicken ini slow cooker. Combine next 3 ingredients, and pour over chicken. Cover with lid.

Cook on LOW 8 to 10 hours or on HIGH for 5 hours.

Transfer chicken to platter; cover to keep warm. Add cream cheese spread to slow cooker; whisk until cream cheese is melted and sauce is well blended. Spoon over chicken.

________

Review... rather flavourless.... I think it would have been better with more different indian spices. Doubt we will make it again... our favourite chicken curry is still this one: Chicken Curry

Whole Chicken in the Crock Pot

I stumbled on this blog post within days of buying a couple whole chickens on sale:

Source: eatathomecooks.com via Tamara on Pinterest

First, for those that know me, you know I pretty much only cook boneless, skinless meats.. usually from frozen... so it was a big step to buy the chickens in the first place, but this looked way too easy.

The blogpost above is just simple instructions... (here's a direct link to the post: http://eatathomecooks.com/2010/04/whole-chicken-in-the-slow-cooker.html) She also offers suggestions on seasonings and recipes for the left overs.

(Forgot to take picture til I had already started serving it up)



Whole Chicken in the Slow Cooker

Place the cleaned chicken breast side up in the crockpot. Cook on high for 6-8 hours.

I added some Mrs Dash for seasoning and just a little bit of salt. I also added 2.5 cups of water so that I could make some broth at the same time for soup.

It was an easy way to cook a chicken.. I thought it was nice and moist and pretty good.

One issue I had with this was the meat just falls off the bone (which is good), making it impossible to get the chicken out of the crockpot for serving. I ended up just pulling chunks off while it remained in the crockpot.

This method is super easy, so very likely I'll do it again once in a while.

Cream Cheese Crock Pot Chicken

I saw this recipe on Pinterest, and knew it was perfect for me. First, I always forget to take my meats out to thaw, second, chicken and balack beans are 2 of my favorite ingredients in a dish. The simple dump it in and turn it on instructions are also great for me these days... no chopping, or any other prepping.

Source: thelarsonlingo.blogspot.com via Tamara on Pinterest

Cream Cheese Crock Pot Chicken
4 frozen chicken breasts
brick of cream cheese
can of black beans, drained
can of corn, drained
can of diced tomatoes w/ green chilis (mine was diced tomatoes with red peppers)

Put chicken in bottom of pot, and dump everything else on top!
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring every 2 hours or so. I shredded my chicken at 6 hours, and let it stay on warm until dinnertime. (Doesn't look that appetizing in the pot.... must say)



Great served with rice! We enjoyed this recipe, i ended up adding about 3/4 cup of salsa to give it a bit more flavour (could potentially replace the diced tomatoes with the equivalent in salsa next time), and it was yummy.

With the leftovers, I mixed in a bit of cheeze whiz and more salsa and we dipped multigrain tortilla chips in it. Then with another batch of the left overs we put it in our grilled cheese sandwiches, like a panini (I think this was my favourite way of all 3 to eat it!)

Barbecue Spareribs - Crockpot

This is another recipe that I do in bulk (3 or 4x) and freeze. It's from the book Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer (LOVE this book)



5 lbs beef or pork spare ribs
1.5 cups ketchup
1.5 cups water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 cup pineapple

Brown the spareribs in a skillet. Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Place ribs in a freezer bag and after sauce has cooled, pour over ribs in bag. Freeze.

When you want to cook them for that day, you can either dump the whole bag (thawed first) in your slow cooker on low for 7-8 hours, or you can bake it in the oven in a large dish, covered, at 350 degrees for 1.5-2 hours.



These ribs are delicious. I've never been a rib person, but these are pretty darn good! We serve them with rice, or with potatoes, and veggies. Toddler approves them as well!

I generally buy ribs when I see them on a really good sale or marked down, and whip these up for the freezer, since it's quick, easy and with stuff I have on hand most of the time. I am LOVING freezer cooking, so you'll probably be seeing a lot more of it on here. Tonnes of new freezer recipes I've found on Pinterest as well!


I think we're finally starting to settle into our "new" normal since baby's arrival, and I think I could maintain a meal plan again, so I plan to do one up for the month of October, and hopefully get back into blogging.

Broccoli-Cheese and Chicken Pasta

This recipe was good.. but incredibly colourless. I had to add some carrot shavings just to add some colour. We did serve it with a salad though, but usually I don't plate salad with dinner.

This recipe is from 200 Slow Cooker Creations.



Broccoli-Cheese and Chicken Pasta


6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans broccoli cheese soup, condensed
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup dried minced onion
1/2 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper
cooked angel hair pasta

Place chicken in a greased 4.5 - 6 quart slow cooker. Combine all the remaining ingredients, except pasta and pour over the chicken. COver and cook on high heat for 1 hour and then reduce to low heat and cook for 5-6 hours. Serve over hot cooked pasta.



Now I admit.... I was a little preoccupied that day, and ended up doing the entire meal over stovetop... so I didn't actually use this crockpot recipe. I baked the chicken in the oven (I actually halved the recipe as well). Cut the chicken into cubes, and heated up the sauce (used fresh minced onions instead) and chicken together, and poured over the pasta. The recipe was good.. but so colourless. Colourless meals bother me.... Next time I would cook up some broccoli chunks into the sauce as well, for sure.

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

This recipe is from 200 Slow Cooker Creations



It's a new one for us, and was super easy.

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 (8 ounce) can of crushed pineapple
1 (16 ounce) bottle of barbecue sauce
Hot cooked rice

Place chicken in greased 3.5 - 5 quart slow cooker. Combine the pineapple and bbq sauce and then pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours or on high heat for 3-4 hours. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Consensus in our house is that it was quite tasty, and should enter our regular rotation. It was super easy (just dump it in the crockpot and walk away).

Sweet and Sour Turkey Meatballs

This is a new recipe to me. I found it in the Everyone Can Cook: Slow Cooker Meals. This book has lots of yummy looking recipes in it.



Sweet and Sour Turkey Meatballs

1 lb (500 g) lean ground turkey
1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs
1 large egg, beaten
2 tsp peeled, grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
14 oz (398 mL) tomato sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 Tbsp honey
2 tsp cornstarch
19 oz (540 mL) can unsweetened pineapple
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 green onions, thinly sliced

Preheat over to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Roll the meat mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls and set on prepared baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes, or until cooked through.

Plac tomato sauce, ketchup, vinegar, honey, soy sauce and cornstarch in your slow cooker and whisk to combine. Add the meatballs, pineapple (fruit and juices) and bell pepper and gently swirl to combine. Cover and cook on the low setting for 6 hours, or until the meatballs are tender. Sprinkle servings of the meatballs with green onion.


We really enjoyed this recipe. I served it over wild rice and it was definitely toddler approved. This is a dish that will become a regular in our house!

I'm not someone who keeps fresh ginger, or even garlic in the house. I always buy prepared sources for these... since I'm not one for spending too much extra time in the kitchen. These are the ones I had on hand for this recipes.... yup... yummy tubes ;). I also buy some of my herbs this way, I've found that I use them more, and I'm not wasting food by having to throw out the neglected ones. Just one of my shortcuts in the kitchen.

BBQ Chicken

This is an awesome low-fat shredded bbq chicken recipe. It comes from Hungry Girl's 1-2-3 : The Easiest, Most Delicious, Guilt-Free Recipes on the Planet. AWESOME BOOK!

We decided to serve these as wraps.... we used some flax tortillas. I ate the left overs as a lettuce wrap (since I doubled the recipe), and that was SUPER yum! I love my slow cooker!

Slow Cookin' BBQ Chicken

1 cup canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp brown sugar (not packed)
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp cider vinegar
2 tsp garlic powder (I used fresh garlic)
1 1/2 pounds raw boneless skinless lean chicken breasts, halved

Place all ingredients except chicken in the crock pot. Stir until mixed. Add chicken and coat well in sauce.

Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 7-8 hours, until chicken is fully cooked.

Remove chicken and place in a bowl. Shred each piece using two forks. Put back in crockpot and mix back in sauce.

*This was a new favourite in our house... I think it'd be great served over a salad in the summer months.