Category: Recipes

I saw a recipe for Crock Pot Sesame Chicken come across my FB feed (what did we ever do without the internet or social media??  So many GREAT ideas!) and it sounded amazing.  Let me tell you…it was.  The hubby raved about it (LOVE when that happens) and Little Man inhaled it.  This will definitely be made again and again.  It would also work great if you had a family/friend gathering.  I actually tripled the recipe because I had some really large chicken breasts to use.

Here is the chicken after it’s cooked in the crock-pot for 8 hours.  The recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but I only had bone-in, skin-on.  I removed the skin and cooked it in the crock-pot for 8 hours (with the bones).  The recipe then states to remove the breasts and to cut them up, so I did just that and removed the bones in the process.  You will be returning the chicken to the crock-pot, so be sure to get all the bones removed.  My chicken looks a little more shredded because I wanted to be sure to get every bone out.

Here is the final product in all its glory.  Just plain YUM.  I can smell it right now…mmm :-)

I made some brown basmati rice to spoon the chicken mixture over.  You can use whatever kind of rice you prefer or have on hand.  I’ve made it a point to use brown basmati rice as much as I can because it’s a very healthy rice.  It has the highest content of amino acids (building blocks of protein and muscle).  There’s your science lesson for the day.  You’re welcome :-)  The only down-side to cooking this rice is that it takes 50 minutes of simmering on the stove.  I’ve actually made it in advance, stored it in the fridge and then reheated it for the meal.  Let’s face it…50 minutes is a long time…do what you’ve got to do.  Now, onto the recipe:

CROCK POT SESAME CHICKEN

• 1 1/2 pound boneless/skinless chicken breasts (I only had bone-in with skin on, so I removed the skin and left the bones in…easier to remove after they’ve been cooked)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dried onion
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 3 Tablespoons water
• Sesame seeds

Directions:
1.  Put chicken into crock pot.
2.  Combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, and garlic. Pour over chicken.
3.  Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked      through.  (I put mine in for 8 hrs on low and it worked out great.)
4.  Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce.
5.  Dissolve 2 teaspoons of cornstarch in 3 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. 6.  Stir to combine with sauce. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes        or until slightly thickened.
7.  Cut chicken into bite size pieces and return to crock pot – can leave chicken in and              simmer on low or serve.  (This is when I removed the bones.  Just be sure you’re very        thorough to remove them all.)
8.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice.  (Not a big deal if you don’t have these, just leave them off.  I only have them because I found a jar on clearance…I’m cheap like that.)

Happy Cooking :-)

 

At our previous house, we would garden year-round and I absolutely love planting zucchini. The hubby hated it because it was so vine-y and you’d get little flies all over the plants.  Didn’t bother me one bit…the price you pay for owning a garden, I say.  This little monstrous gem was the last of my crop for this year.  I was so excited to make zucchini bread…one of my faves.

The recipe I used only made one loaf, but I doubled that because I had such a huge zucchini to use.  It took SIX eggs.

Mixing of all the dry ingredients.

Shredding zucchini is a chore, but I found a little helper along the way ;-)  She is so careful and has never cut herself (something I do almost every time) and I pray she doesn’t.  I’m always so scared, but she begs to no end to help out.  Must let them grow up sometime and I’m very happy that she loves to help in the kitchen.  Her future husband (many, many years down the road) will thank me ;)

The shredded zucchini in all it’s glory.  It took FOREVER to shred that beast.  I got about 4 1/2 cups.

Crushed walnuts…a must have in any baked bread or cookie.  Super healthy for you and as a bonus, you get the crunch factor.

I thought the bread was pretty darn good.  Of course, I couldn’t leave the recipe alone and had to do substitutes.  It’s what I do people.  Here’s the recipe:

Zucchini Oatmeal Bread

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups quick-cooking oats, uncooked
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar (since I didn’t have the full 6 cups of zucchini, I substituted 1 cup of honey for the entire amount of sugar.)
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I heart cinnamon…so I doubled this)
• 6 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (I used 1 1/2 c of applesauce)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 cups zucchini, shredded (I only had 4 1/2 cups, so I used that)
• 2 cups walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1.  Combine the first 8 ingredients in a large mixing bowl; make a well in the center of the mixture. Set aside.  (NOTE:  Since I substituted honey for the sugar, I did not mix that in b/c honey is obviously not a dry ingredient.  Instead, I mixed it in Step #2.)

2.  Combine eggs, oil, and vanilla in a bowl; beat with a wire whisk until blended. Stir in honey, zucchini and walnuts. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.

3.  Spoon batter into a greased 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove bread from the pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Let me tell you…the loaves are SUPER HEAVY!  I thought the recipe was great and will definitely make it again.  I liked that it had oatmeal and walnuts in it and by omitting the white sugar and using honey, it made it even healthier.  You could definitely eat a slice for breakfast or have it as a snack.  If you do use all 6 cups of zucchini and plan on substituting the sugar for honey, I probably wouldn’t use 1 cup (maybe 1/2 – 3/4 c) just because it might add too much moisture to the bread and not bake correctly.  Also, when you substitute recipes with applesauce and/or honey, it’s important to keep them refrigerated after baking.  They don’t have the preservatives that regular sugar provides and will spoil rather quickly on the counter.

There you have it…a healthy dessert to make on the weekend and enjoy all week long :-)

Last week I went through a huge cooking/baking spree and we ate really good and healthy. Since moving into the new house, I’ve made meals, but not tried new recipes.  I was missing that and have been craving some good home-cooking.  The only “staple” we really have around here is homemade pizza.  I could do it everyday, but the hubby says otherwise, so we usually do it Friday nights.  It’s a really nice tradition to have with our family.

I apologize, but I didn’t take any pics of the meal…just trust me, both of these are totally worth making.

Oven Baked Pork Chops

3 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp milk
1 cup cornbread mix or 1 cup pork stuffing mix (I didn’t have this on hand, so I used crushed up saltine crackers.  Ritz crackers would be great too.)
4 pork chops

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven tho 425 degrees.
2.  Place butter or margarine in a 13x9x2 pan.
3.  Put pan in oven for 3 minutes or until butter is melted.
4.  Stir together egg and milk.
5.  Put stuffing mix in a resealable bag and crush (or leave as is).
6.  Dip pork chops in egg mixture.
7.  Coat with stuffing mix (or crackers).
8.  Put chops on top of melted butter in pan.
9.  Bake 20 minutes.
10.Turn.
11.Bake 10-15 minutes more.  (I baked mine for an add’l 20 minutes because the pork chops I had were super thick.)

As a side dish, I saw this recipe come across my FB feed and decided to try it.  I’m not a huge potato fan (unless it’s in the form of fries), but I knew the hubby would appreciate them.  Turns out, they were the-bomb-dot-com (I don’t think people actually say this anymore…don’t care…they were)!

Parmesan Upside Down Baked Potatoes (photo via web)

Ingredients:
7 red potatoes, washed and cut in half (I used russetts)
2-3 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
garlic powder
sea salt
freshly cracked pepper

1). Preheat oven to 400F. Melt butter in the bottom of a 9×13 glass pan.  (Now, since I was baking the pork chops at 425, I went with that temp and just put the potatoes on the highest rack in the oven…they didn’t burn at all.)

2). Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and seasonings over butter. Place potatoes cut side down and sprinkle more seasonings on top of potatoes.

3). Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cooked through. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before serving.

These recipes were super easy and quick to prepare.  I even had the kiddos get involved and help measure ingredients.  They have loads of fun doing it and I hope it instills the value of a good home-cooked meal.

So, for the lack of pics of food in this post, I will make up for it by posting some pics of the kiddos and a crazy find at Walgreens.

Little Miss was finally on the mend on Sunday (she’s had a fever for 6 days, followed by a rash), so we headed to the park and took it easy on the swings.  She was just begging to get out of the house.  I have to admit, so was I.  I was going stir crazy being here 24/7. Cabin fever had definitely set in.

This is what happened for about 10 minutes and then he woke up and was ready to go again.

I made a trip to Walgreens on Saturday night and found this on the shelf.  What in the world?!  The dork that I am, I came home and googled the product and surprisingly it got some great reviews.  Apparently it’s for people who have really short hair and want length rather quickly.  Looks like I won’t be needing this any time soon…my hair grows like a weed.  All-in-all, it was an ok weekend.  It’s never fun when one of your kids is sick.  How was your weekend?