Crock-Pot Honey Mustard Chicken

Well, it's been a while hasn't it? lol
I decided that I  should cook something for dinner on my day off this week, since I haven't really tried anything new lately.  Searched online for recipes and found Crock-Pot Honey Mustard Chicken at Lauren's Latest.  The photo made it look so good, I just had to give it at try.

The original recipe uses 2 chicken breasts (or about 1 lb) but for our family of four (two teenagers!) that would not have been enough so I doubled the recipe.

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs)
1 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dijon mustard
1 1/2 cups honey
4 tablespoons butter (salted)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
salt & pepper to taste
4 teaspoons dried chives (for garnish, optional)

Directions:

Place chicken breasts in crock-pot.

Add diced onions and minced garlic.

Add dijon mustard.

Pour honey in.

Add butter.

Place rosemary into crock-pot. Add salt & pepper.

(Forgot I was doubling the recipe and only used one sprig when I was supposed to use two! Oops!)

Cook on high for 4 hours or until chicken is fully cooked.

Discard rosemary sprigs.

Remove chicken breasts from crock-pot, shred, and place back into the sauce. Stir in a few chives for color if desired.

Keep warm until ready to serve.

Serve over rice.

Enjoy!

I must say, the Crock-Pot Honey Mustard Chicken was delicious! The family liked it a lot. My teenaged son even proclaimed it to be the best thing I've ever cooked! Wow!

If you try this recipe (or any of the others) please let me know by leaving a comment below, I'd love to hear from you! :)

Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

Once again, I was perusing Pinterest for recipes when this one for Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken caught my eye.  It reminded me of my favorite dish from Keo's Thai Cuisine, which has sadly closed (temporarily, I hope).  So, I decided to give it a try.

INGREDIENTS

• 
  
• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (About 4 pieces) (I actually used boneless skinless chicken thighs instead)
• 3 Tbsp cornstach
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• ½ cup soy sauce
• 4 Tbsp rice wine vinegar (I couldn't find rice wine vinegar so I used seasoned rice vinegar)
• 4 Tbsp ketchup
• 2 Tbsp sweet chili sauce (the one I found was called sweet and spicy chili sauce)
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 cup cashews

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine cornstarch and pepper in resealable food storage bag. Add chicken pieces. Shake to coat with cornstarch mixture.
2. Heat canola oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken pieces about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken pieces in slow cooker.
3. Combine soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, sweet chili sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and cashews* in a small bowl; pour over chicken. *Cashews will get "softer" if added at this point and cooked with the chicken, if you want more of a crunch, add them right before serving.
4. Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours.
5. Serve over rice. Makes 4-6 servings.

The Ingredients (except for the chicken)

Brown chicken pieces about 2 minutes on each side.

Combine soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, sweet chili sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and cashews* in a small bowl

pour over chicken.

Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours.

We enjoyed the taste of the Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken very much.  The original recipe states that it can be made without browning the chicken first, so I will probably do that next time to save time (even though it states that it is better with the breading)  Also, I was a little worried that it was going to be too spicy, but thankfully, it was not.  I liked that the sauce was a little on the "thicker" side as opposed to other dishes I've made where the sauce is more "liquid" 

Will definitely make this meal again!

Slow Cooker Hawaiian Chicken

Since I haven't really tried cooking anything new lately, and I was going to be at home on "vacation" for a week, I decided to look on Pinterest for some ideas.

I found this one that I had pinned a while ago but never made for Slow Cooker Hawaiian Chicken from Let's Get Cookin' that looked good!

Ingredients:

• 5 to 6 chicken breasts (you can use any cut of chicken) I actually used a 4 lb bag of bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
• 1 bottle BBQ Sauce (I used Kraft Sweet Honey Barbecue Sauce 18 oz)
• 1 20 oz can pineapple slices in juice

Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray or use a liner.

Place chicken in the slow cooker.

Pour the entire bottle of BBQ sauce over the chicken, making sure to coat each piece evenly.

Place pineapple slices over the chicken. You can keep the pineapple slices from sliding around while cooking by inserting toothpicks to hold them in place on the chicken pieces. But as you can see, I did not do this.

Pour the pineapple juice that is still left in the can into the empty bottle of BBQ sauce, replace cover, and shake vigorously. This is to get all of the remaining BBQ sauce out of the bottle. Pour over the pineapple and chicken.

Cook on low for 5 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.

Serve over rice or mashed potatoes. The sauce goes great over rice!

After I decided to make this, I was a little concerned because the recipe did not state what size bottle of BBQ sauce to use and also because I usually like to use the "low" setting if I have time, but the "5 to 8 hours" cook time was such a big "window" that I wasn't sure what time I should get it started.  I didn't want it to be finished too early or too late since we usually eat at around 6:30pm.

I decided that since I was using bone-in chicken thighs, I would let it cook a little longer and ended up cooking it on low for about 7 hours.

The chicken was "fall off the bone" tender and very tasty! The whole family liked it a lot! Definitely something I'd make again, especially since it was so easy to make, as well as delicious! ;)

Chocolate Italian Love Cake

Recently, I was invited to a potluck with an Italian theme.  Yum! I love Italian, although I quickly came to the realization that I don't really make any Italian dishes... I usually always opt for dessert since I am more of a "baker" rather than "cook" so I headed on over to Pinterest to try to find an Italian dessert that I could take to the potluck.  I did a search for Italian desserts and saw the usual, such as tiramisu and cannoli, but I wanted something different.  Then I saw a recipe for Chocolate Italian Love Cake from Chew Nibble Nosh and my search was over!  The recipe seemed simple enough and looked pretty cool with its layers so I bought the ingredients I needed.  The potluck was on a Saturday night and since this cake needed to be chilled for several hours, I actually made it Friday night and then put it in the fridge until the big event.

Ingredients:

• 1 box chocolate cake mix AND the ingredients needed to make the cake according to the package directions
• 2 lbs (32 oz) ricotta cheese
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 box instant chocolate pudding mix (recipe said 5.1 oz, but the one I found in the store was 5.9 oz)
• 1 cup cold milk
• 8 oz Cool Whip topping

(The extra eggs and vegetable oil in the photo were needed to make the cake)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 13x9 inch pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, mix together cake ingredients according to the directions on the box.  Set aside.

In another bowl, beat together the ricotta cheese, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth, using a hand mixer.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared 13x9 baking dish.  Spread to fill pan evenly.  Once the cake batter is in place, carefully pour the cheese mixture evenly over the top of the cake batter.  Spread to cover the cake batter as best you can.  Please note:  cake batter goes on the bottom, cheese mixture goes on top. When baking, the layers "switch" and the cheese part will be under the chocolate cake.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

(Don't worry if the top looks like this, you're going to frost over it anyways!)

Once cooled, stir the box of pudding mix and milk together with a whisk until combined.  carefully, fold the Cool Whip topping into the pudding until combined.

Spread the pudding mixture over the top of the cooled cake. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving.  (It tastes great the next day!)

Enjoy!

So, the verdict:  This cake is pretty tasty, and everyone at the potluck said it was good.  I actually already made it again for Valentine's day for my family and they liked it also!  The only disappointment (for me) was that when it was finished baking, it was "lumpy" so I did not get the nice evenly defined layers like I saw in the photos online.  But, hey, what's more important - looks or taste? Definitely taste!

I hope you enjoyed this post and please feel free to comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts!