Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken

Oh yum, yum!! Tonight for dinner I pulled out the Crock Pot and tried a new recipe I found on Pinterest Honey Garlic Chicken. 

I'm always trying to find Asian inspired meals that I can make at home in lieu of ordering take-out. So far, I haven't found any that really WOW me. This one finally did just that. 

Normally I would change a recipe from bone-in chicken breasts to boneless but I chose not to make the change this time. I also didn't get skinless but did remove the skin during the shredding process and did not serve it. 

The other change I made was that I did omit the red pepper flakes. Although Matt does like spicy food, it seems that whenever I use red pepper flakes he doesn't like the spiciness. Also, Emily is not a spicy girl....that is when it comes to food. I also omitted the garnishes. I know presentation is important but not when your hungry and when no one really cares that much about how their plate looks.

Oh the flavors were yummy although I can see where the spiciness of the red pepper flakes would be a good compliment so you may want to try it that way. For us, this meal got a 4 thumbs up and is pretty effortless to make, that is a win - win in my book.

Try it and let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Buffalo Chicken ....YUM!!!!

Last night's dinner was a total success even though I completely messed up the cooking portion. This is what happens when you think you know what to do and don't read the recipe directions entirely. This recipe can be found at the original site skinny taste. 

So how exactly did I "mess" this up? Well, I actually put the wing sauce in with the chicken as it cooked, not waiting to add it at the end once the chicken was shredded. Oops! Although the chicken was very tasty, the hot sauce flavor didn't really permeate the meat like I thought it would during the cooking process. So, I would recommend following the true directions in the recipe, which I will be doing the next time.

Another thing I changed was the cooking time. Instead of 4 hours on high in the crock pot, I did 6 hours on low. Oh and I completely omitted the last 30 minute cooking portion of the directions too (won't be doing that again). The time change was more out of convenience with our activity schedule and really didn't effect the meal's outcome in any way.

Okay, maybe I didn't prepare the chicken properly but it was still very tasty. It did require more hot sauce when assembling the wraps though. Matt had his chicken on tortilla wraps with extra hot sauce. He has an iron stomach when it comes to spicy food, just like his Grandpa Joe.  I had mine in lettuce leaves adding carrot, celery, hot sauce and a little bit of lite blue cheese dressing. Dave had his like mine only on tortilla shells. Emily, well, she had an away volleyball game which got her home later in the evening so she opted for Greek yogurt instead. So, that would give this meal a 3 thumbs up, majority rules, so it is now added the family menu binder.

Definitely try this recipe, especially if you like/love Buffalo chicken and let me know what you think. Oh and please, follow the recipe directions. 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

A Family Fall Saturday

Today was one of those warmer fall days that you just had to take advantage of and we did!

As most of you know during the week, I'm up at 4:30 each day in order to get to the gym by 5 and a workout in by 6. Well, Saturday is my day to sleep in and I'm happy to say that I was not disturbed and got out of bed after 8. I know, some of you are saying that is still early but for me it is 3 1/2 more hours of shut eye. 

Most Saturday mornings Dave heads to the gym by 7 and brings home bagels and coffee.  Today he was right on schedule for my rising.

After a short quiet time in the morning, I headed to the basement to start laundry and Dave to the store to by a second rake. 

I knew that the day was an "at home" day so I chose to make a Crock Pot recipe from my weekly chosen recipes. I got that started to be ready around 5:30 as we would be heading to our church tonight for movie night.

When Dave returned from the store, he and the kids got busy raking the leaves. It is funny, we have no trees on our property and our neighbor's huge oak tree was removed about 2 years ago but we still get a good amount of leaves on our lawn and caught in our shrubbery. It was fun seeing the family pitching in on a home chore. While I was taking pictures, there happened to be an elderly lady walking with her care giver (you can see them in the first picture). I said "good morning" to which they responded "good morning". I took the next two pictures and walked a short distance behind them heading to our side door when I heard the elderly lady say, "It is so nice seeing a family working together." It warmed my heart that the actions of our family made an impression on her. It is those small acts that show God's love through us. 

The kid's were good at pitching in and I didn't hear any complaints. Then again, I was mainly in the house doing inside chores of laundry, dinner prep, coupon clipping and a handful of other tasks. I think they most enjoyed the shoveling of the leaves ...... little do they know this is preparation for this winter's snow shoveling. 

It is always nice after a day of  housework (and to be honest a little napping on the couch in the sunshine), to know that a hot meal is being prepared in the Crock Pot and dinner decisions do not need to be made.

Tonight I decided to make Crock Pot Cheesy Italian Tortellini that I found through Pinterest at the website Keeley Mcguire. This is such a simple meal with the sauce cooking for 6 hours and the tortellini and cheese going in for 15 extra minutes at the end of the cooking process.

Let me tell you this was absolutely yummy!! Everyone gave it a big thumbs up and I will be making it for our company that is coming at Thanksgiving time.
As always, thanks for stopping by!

Cookies and Cashew Chicken

Today was my day to get back into cooking mode when it comes to our evening meal. 

Well, I was so inspired by the thought of cooking the meal I decided to make today also a "homemade, from scratch cookie baking day". I admit that I usually use cookie mixes just to make things go a little faster. 

Okay another confession, I've had the ingredients for these Pumpkin Scotchies cookies on had for several weeks but just haven't been inspired to bake. Today's cold, flurry flying morning put me in such a mood. I found the recipe for these cookies off Pinterest from the website The Girl Who Ate Everything. They are very yummy and perfect for this time of year. Love the combination of pumpkin and butterscotch!! 

Of course, I made these while the kids were at school and sampled a few (just 2) to make sure they were edible. When I went to pick up Matt who waits with me at the school for Emily's hour and a half of basketball practice, I surprised him with two of the cookies, which he gave a big thumbs up!!! Emily tried one when she came home...also a thumbs up!! Dave has yet to try them but if he approves there is a batch waiting to accompany him to work tomorrow. This recipe made a lot of cookies....too many for us to eat. 

All this cookie excitement did not distract me from my mission to make dinner. I decide to make the Crock Pot Cashew Chicken recipe I found also through Pinterest at the website  Daydream Kitchen. 

The cooking time is for 3 hours on low so I assembled the ingredients and turned on the Crock Pot just before heading to the kid's school. I heated some rice to serve the cashew chicken atop. So, the rating are thumbs up from me and believe it or not my "chicken snob" Emily. Matt was a so so mainly because he didn't like the cashews. Fortunately, my Crock Pot has a warmer setting so I was able to feed Dave this same meal just a little while ago when he came home from work. He gave it his approval so it looks like we have another recipe to add to the family binder. 

As always, thanks for stopping by! 

Dinner's on the Table

My meal planning/cooking "schedule" has been so off lately.

I only got Emily's soccer schedule somewhat under control where I could plan meals, when it ended and a week later basketball season started. With a short practice time (3:15 - 4:30), I find myself staying at the school with Matt every weeknight with the exception of Wednesday. Thankfully Matt and I do use that time to get his homework completed. However, if I don't have my act together prior to school pick up and practice dinner becomes a rushed mess!

In the midst of all this craziness, I did make a few meals that turned out somewhat successful and have been added to our family menu planner. 

The most recently successful meal was Baked "Fried" Chicken. I found this recipe at the website bakerette. The meal was very easy to make the longest part being the soaking of the chicken in the buttermilk, which was only for 30 minutes. I used Smart Balance butter to make it a little more "healthy". It truly did have that "fried" chicken flavor. Emily is my chicken "snob" so if she likes it I know that it is good. Well, she liked it. Matt was the only one that wasn't all that thrilled with the meal but it is worth another attempt to see if I can get him to give it a thumbs up. What was also nice about this meal is that it was easily reheated for when Dave came home a little later that evening and it didn't dry out. 

One of the pluses to this Pesto Chicken Alfredo casserole is that it makes two portions one of which can be frozen. I found this recipe at the website Amanda the Virtuous Wife. We did eat the one portion which was fantastic. Out of that portion, we still had enough leftovers for another meal. This meal tastes good enough even to serve to company. We have yet to eat the frozen portion, so I cannot advise whether or not it truly does freeze well. Everyone gave this meal a thumbs up with the only ingredients being left on their plates the diced tomatoes and spinach - I try to get those veggies in there but they always push them aside. 

This is another freezer-friendly pasta casserole I made. I found it at the website Money Saving Mom. It was very easy to make. Instead of ground beef, I did opt for using sweet Italian sausage which in my opinion gave it a kick of flavor.  In the future, I would half this recipe for our family as the 9x13 casserole portion fed us for one night, two of us for leftovers and we still had more left. Being not a big "leftover" eating family the better option for us would be to do a half recipe. 

The final recipe I want to share is slow cooker Honey BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (no picture taken) which I found at the website Uncommon Designs. We had company over for dinner one Saturday and I served these sandwiches. I myself am not a big BBQ fan but my husband is so I gave it a try. They were very yummy. I served it with coleslaw and potato salad. Definitely a good option for a football party. 

Well, there you have it the few recipes I've made lately. I'm hoping to get my "meal planning/cooking" act together and use the crock pot a little more now that basketball season has started. 

As always, thank you for stopping by!

Picante Roast & Rice

This is another new meal we tried over the last few weeks. Its one for the crock pot which is such a life saver on those baseball nights.

The roast recipe, 3 Envelope Picante Roast, I found on the website Deep South Dish via Pinterest. Everyone really loved it and it was yummy as leftovers too!! I paired it up with "Chipotle" Cilantro Lime Rice found at the Skinnytaste website also found via Pinterest. This rice was so yummy!!! The two paired together were the perfect combination. Both of these recipes have been added to our family recipe binder. Pinterest definitely has been a great source for recipes and has seriously replaced my "need" for buying cookbooks. 

Slow Cooker Creamy Spaghetti - YUMMY!!

A few Sunday's ago, I decided to make a meal in the crock pot I could serve for lunch after our morning at church.

I decided to try this Creamy Spaghetti dish I found on the blog Six Sisters. Hopefully the link will lead you directly to the recipe but if not, go to the "recipe index" and look under "Main Dish" for "Slow Cooker Creamy Spaghetti".

I did make two modifications to the original recipe. Instead of using a pound of spaghetti, I used Barilla Plus which is 14.75 oz.  Also, it says after 3 hours of cooking to add a can of chicken broth and an additional jar of pasta sauce, I only used the chicken broth. It recommend cooking for another hour, I only cooked it until I knew it was heated through. 

This was absolutely yummy! It reminded me a lot of the creaminess your find in a vodka sauce, minus the vodka. In my opinion, it is good enough to feed to company and makes plenty.  

As you can see, Matt and his face loved it.  This dish got a 4 thumbs up rating from the family.

The Food Rating are In

Yay, I am back in the weekly dinner menu routine again.  
I took the time on Monday to make up a menu plan for the next month.  Our family has favorite "easy" meals but I find that I really do like to cook and expose the family to new food. 
We have instituted a food rating here to determine if a meal should be added to our family menu binder. It is a pretty simple rating: thumbs up for "yummy, make it again", thumb side ways for "okay, but not great" and thumbs down for "please not again" - majority rules. 
So, here are the new "items" we have tried so far this week:

Skinny Chicken Parmesan Muffins:

This meal got a thumbs up from everyone. The recipe can be found at Skinny Mom.  I think the kids love this because it was shaped into a muffin. Also, Emily had no complaints that it was made with chicken.

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork:

Everyone but Emily liked this meal. We tried to tell her "at least its not chicken".  I don't know where I go the recipe from but here it is:

Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour Pork

Crockpot: 4-6 High; 8-10 Low

1/2 c chopped onion

2-4 lb. hunk of pork

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 c water

1/2 c ketchup

3 T red wine vinegar

2 T brown sugar

2 T soy sauce

1 t dijon

1/2 t pepper

salt

Arrange onions in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place pork on top and spread garlic on pork.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over pork. For best results, cook on LOW 8-10 hours, or HIGH for 4-6. 

Red Velvet Gooey Butter Cookies:

It was time to try a treat. I found this recipe at Tidy Mom. Everyone knows how much I love red velvet so making this cookie should be no surprise. This one got 4 thumbs up, no surprise there either.

Baked Potato Soup:

Made this soup tonight for dinner. The recipe can be found at Skinny Taste. This one had mixed ratings:  Emily, side thumb; Matt, thumb down; me, side thumb; Dave, thumb up. Matt, doesn't like mashed potatoes so the fact the he gave it a thumbs down wasn't a surprise but he did eat the whole bowl. I liked it but wasn't "wowed" by it. 

So far it has been more good than bad ratings and we have more to go this week too!!  

Brrr, so cold.....Mmmm, yummy soup!!

I've gotten back into the menu/meal planning mode this week and I'm off to a great start!

Pinterest has once again provided a winner recipe. This soup is made in the crock pot, so easy and so perfect for this very cold spell we are having here in NJ. 

The recipe for this Creamy Tortellini Soup can be found at the blog Heather Likes Food. It got a thumbs up from all four of us and I would highly recommend it. So easy, so delicious!!!!