Slow Cooker Brown Sugar & Garlic Chicken

This recipe was originally from Six Sisters' Stuff but I adapted it a little bit for what I like. Funny story about this recipe. I found it a couple of months ago and in the directions it says to cook for 6-8 hours or 4 hours on high. I thought "Great, I can start this in the morning and it will be ready when I get home from work". I've often found that when I make ribs in the slow cooker that have a high sugar content that the sauce tends to burn on the sides of the slow cooker if not stirred every couple of hours so I decided to come home at lunch to check on them. The house smelt amazing when I came in, the chicken looked good and nothing appeared to be burning (This is on low after 4 hours). I went back to work for another for another 4.5 hours and when I got home and it smelt burnt in the house... 8.5 hours was way too long and it was destroyed. Normally I wouldn't attempt a recipe again after killing it but when I tasted the dried out over cooked chicken, the flavor in the meat was so good that I knew i had to try it again.

If the "Funny Story" didn't scare you off then below is the recipe and photos from my extremely successfully attempt. The Chicken had that same amazing flavor and the sauce was really, really good! This was pretty easy to make so I'll be added it to the regular rotation.

Ingredients:
2 - Boneless / Skinless Chicken breasts
3/4 - Cup packed brown sugar
2/3 - Cup white vinegar
1/2 - Cup 7up (or Sprite)
2 - Cloves of finely chopped garlic
2 - Tbsp soy sauce
1 - Tsp of ground pepper
2 - Tbsp corn starch
2 - Tbsp water
1 - Tsp Red Pepper Flakes (separated into two portions)



Directions:
Spray the slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place the chicken inside the slow cooker. Mix together the brown sugar, vinegar, 7up soda, garlic, soy sauce and pepper together. (I whisked it all up)

Pour the mixture over the chicken in the slow cooker. You can use some additional 7up to top it up a little bit.

Cook on low for 4 - 5 hours. Take the chicken pieces out (careful as they may fall apart on you), cover to keep warm. Pour the mixture into a sauce pan. Mix together Corn Starch and Water then combined it with the mixture in the sauce pan.

Let the sauce come to a boil and boil for a minute or two or until it starts to thicken and turns into a glaze. Remove from heat and let sit for a minute (it will continue to thicken as it cools down)

Plate the chicken, spoon sauce over top and sprinkle with Red Pepper Flakes.

Serve with rice and veggies.

(This was the nice plating for the photo but I ended up pouring a lot more sauce all over the chicken and the rice because I liked it so much!)

Weekend of Appetizers!

On Sunday our friends, Dave and Ruth, came to visit. Dave and Ruth haven't been over since before the kitchen renovation (May of 2013) and I always make some appz and drinks when they come by. I had originally planned on getting all the clean done and then making for different appetizers but it didn't turn out like that... I ended up biting off more then I could chew again, over committed with kids stuff in the morning and then I had to rush to get the house clean and everything prepared on time.

As I had mentioned, the original plan called for Spinach Dip, Cheesy Greek Pinwheel's, Ham & Cheese Pretzel Bites and Stuffed Mushrooms... I didn't have enough time to make the Stuff Mushrooms but three out of four isn't bad and it turned out to be plenty of food.

Click on the links below to check out the recipes!

Spinach Dip



Cheesy Greek Pinwheel's



Ham & Cheesy Pretzel Bites

Spinach Dip

This recipe is out of one of those little recipe books you get at the grocery store. This one "tasteofhome" was purchased from the magazine section of Walmart and it actually had a lot of really good appetizers in it. This recipe was originally called "Hot Spinach Spread" but it's a Spinach Dip, not a spread so I'm going with my title :)

Ingredients (Dip):
1 - Cup (250 g) Monterey Jack, Shredded
1/2 - Package (250 g) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 - Package (250 g) cream cheese, cubed
1 - Plum Tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 - Cup of onion, chopped
1/4 - Cup Half-and-Half cream
1 - Tbsp finely chopped seeded Jalapeno pepper (I often skip this and it tastes just as good but it lacks the heat people like to have in their spinach dips)

Ingredients (Chips):
3 - Pita Breads
1/4 - Cup melted butter
2 - Tsp lemon pepper seasoning
2 - Tsp ground cumin
1/4 - Tsp garlic salt

(I'm missing the spices in this picture...)

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the dip ingredients.





Transfer to a greased baking dish



Bake uncovered at 375 Degrees F (I use the middle rack) for 25 minutes or until bubbly



While the Dip is baking, cut each pita bread into eight wedges



Place onto a flat baking sheet

Melt butter in microwave, add in lemon pepper, cumin and garlic salt. Mix together



Spread the butter mixture of the pita wedges, making sure you are getting the seasoning on each wedge



Bake wedges on the bottom rack (or the rack below the middle rack) for 7 - 9 minutes or until crisp





Serve the chips with the hot dip

2013/11/21 Update - My recipe normally calls for a Jalapeno pepper but I never have those around so when I made this again tonight, I added in some Red Pepper Flakes to give it a little bit of heat :)

Cheesy Greek Pinwheel Appetizers

Earlier this month I received the "Kraft What's Cooking Magazine" in the mail. I don't actually get this magazine, my neighbor does, but it somehow came to me so I checked it out, before returning it, and I found this recipe for "Cheesy Greek Pinwheel Appetizers"

Ingredients:

1/2 - Container (125 g) Philadelphia Herb & Garlic Cream Cheese Spread

1/2 - Cup "Kraft Feta with Oregano, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Cracked Peppercorns Cheese" (This cost $8.99 at Sobeys....)

1/2 - Cup Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded

1/2 - Package (250 g) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained

1 - Green Onion finely chopped

3 - Large flour tortillas

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients, except the tortillas, until blended well

Spread mixture evenly on to the tortillas

Roll the tortillas up. Warp individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Unwrap the roll-ups. Trim ends. Cut each roll diagonally into slices. Place the slices on parchment covered baking sheets. Bake for 5 minutes, flip and bake for 5 minutes more.

Ham & Cheese Pretzel Bites

This is a fun recipe to make because it involves making your own dough. Before I did the recipe, I had never made my own dough. I have to admit that I was a little intimidated at first but after doing it, it was pretty easy. The only caution about this recipe is that you have to give yourself enough time to properly make these. The dough takes 2 hours to rise before you can use it. On the plus side, because this is pretty much only bread, ham and cheese the kids will eat it! (I found this recipe on penniesonaplatter.com)

Ingredients:
2 - Tbsp brown sugar
1 - Cup warm milk (110-115 degrees F)
3 - Cups of flour
1 - Package of instant dry yeast
1 - Cup Ham, finely chopped
1 - Cup Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
6 - Cups of water
4 - Tsp baking soda
4 - Tbsp unsalted butter
2 - Tbsp coarse kosher salt



Directions:
Start with your brown sugar, flour and milk warmer



In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and warm milk until dissolved.





In a large bowl, combine 2.5 cups of flour, the yeast and the milk mixture.



Stir until a soft dough forms adding the remaining flour as needed.



Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and gently knead a few times, forming a smooth ball.



Brush the inside of a large clean bowl with olive oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl and tightly cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise in a warm, draft-free area for about 2 hours, until the dough have doubled in size and bubbles appear on the surface

 Turn dough on to a lightly floured surface. Divide into 4 equal pieces. Lightly dust your hands and rolling pin with flour. Roll on of the four sections into a 12 x 4-inch rectangle (my picture doesn't really look like it but.... close enough).

With the long side facing you, press in 1/4 of the ham and cheese into the bottom third of the dough.

Roll as tight as possible.

Cut into 12 1-inch pieces (or as many pieces as you can make depending on the size of your dough). Place the pieces on to a baking sheet that is covered with Parchment paper. Repeat with the remaining 3 portions or dough. Let them rest uncovered for up to 30 minutes, uncovered at room temperature. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add the baking soda and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Boil the pretzels in batches, cooking about 20 seconds each turning once (I wasn't really able to turn them, I just dunked them under the water). They will puff out a lot more. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them back to the baking sheet. Bake until puffed and golden-brown, about 15 minutes. Brush warm pretzel bites with melted butter and sprinkle with salt.

Spaghetti with a Sauce

Some nights I just don't have a lot of time to put something together so that's when I fall back to a pasta and homemade sauce. It's really quite quick and easy to do, or at least it feels like its easy because I'm not using the BBQ or Oven :)

Ingredients:

1/2 - Box Spaghetti

1/2 - Medium Onion

1 - Clove Garlic (I used 3 because I love Garlic)

1/2 - Can (250ml) of Diced Tomatoes

1/2 - Container of Cherry or Grape tomatoes, sliced in half

1 - Tsp of Basil

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 - Tbsp of Olive Oil

Extra Ingredient:

1 - Cup of Shredded Old Cheese

1/2 - Package of Bacon (Cooked)

1/2 - Cup Sliced Green olives

Directions:

Chop up onion and cook in olive oil on Medium heat (6 out of 10) until translucent (4 or 5 minutes). Add chopped garlic, mix around and let cook for a minute or so more. Dump in diced tomatoes and Cherry / Grape tomatoes and let cook for 8 minutes stirring occasionally.

*Side note: All though Cherry tomatoes and Grape tomatoes taste similar, Grape tomatoes are an oblong shape and have a tougher outer skin that makes them better suited for salads. Cherry tomatoes are round and burst when bitten into. Cherry tomatoes are my preference for making a sauce but they aren't always available....

While the Sauce is cooking away, it's time to cook your pasta. I use "Catelli Bistro sun-dried tomato & basil" spaghettini. 

At the same time that you put the pasta on, cook the bacon and grate your cheese. I have another recipe where you cook the bacon in the sauce but I'll save that for another time.

By now you should have noticed the sauce has started to thicken. Add in your Basil, Salt, Pepper and mix well. Turn off the heat and it should thicken up a little bit more while you are drain / plating the pasta.

Scoop the sauce over top of the pasta, then top with cheese, olives and crushed up bacon pieces. Garnish with a pickle on the side. I'd usually do Cheesy Garlic Bread but I had the ingredients left over from the sun-dried tomato breads so I made up a couple of those.

 (Spagatti and Sauce with Sun-Dried Tomato Breads)

Sun-dried Tomato Breads

This is a classic Sunday afternoon appetizer at the Edwards house hold. It's quick, easy and tastes so good! I have to apologies in advance as I make this one so often that I forgot to take pictures until it was almost done...

Ingredients:
100 - Grams of Sun-dried Tomatoes in olive oil (From Sobey's in the fresh olive section)
1 - Green Onion
150 - Grams of Goat Cheese (1 small package or 1/2 a large package)
French Baguette or other Artisan Baguette
Cherry or Grape Tomatoes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Cut baguette into 3/4 inch thick. Using the oil from the Sun-dried tomatoes, brush it onto one side of the the baguette pieces and then place it olive oil side down on to a baking sheet. Put the bread into the oven for about 6 - 8  minutes or until the face down side starts to brown a little bit.

Meanwhile, Chop you the Sun-dried tomatoes, green onion and put them into a small mixing bowel. Using a fork break a part the goat cheese and put it into the mixing bowel. Mix all three ingredients together.

Once the bread is ready, pull it out of the oven, flip them all over (olive oil side up) and then using the fork spread the mixture onto the breads. Put the now coated breads back into the oven for another 4 - 6 minutes or until the goat cheese starts to melt / get a little brown.

Pull the breads out of the oven, top with chopped cherry tomatoes and serve hot!

(I ended up using a Green Olive Artisan Bread this time instead of the French Baguette and it was really good)

Sweet Potato Squash (Fancy)

This weeks recipe turned out to be a bit of a surprise. I had this yellow with green strips squash sitting over on my counter and I had no idea what it was. I made a couple of different squashes before, Butternut, Buttercup, Spaghetti and Acorn so I figured that I could just chop this one up into disks and bake it to see what it tasted like. So without a recipe I went to work.

Here is a shot of the mystery Squash:

Started with the Squash and I decided to peel off the outside skin. Then I decided to chop it into disks... but there were seeds inside. (of course there were! this is a squash!). I had chopped maybe half of the squash so I ended up cutting out the centers of the disks but with the second half I just cleaned it out and kept it as a larger piece (turned out to be a great idea later!). I put a little olive oil, salt and pepper on them and then into the oven (15 minutes at 350, flip and then 6 - 8 more minutes on the second side).

At this point I'm thinking "ok, maybe I can put some cheese, sour cream or green onion on top of this". I go into the fridge and there isn't any sour cream or green onion.... now what do I do? That's when I spotted the beet. I grabbed the beet, pilled it and then cut off some really thin slices. The Squash pieced had been in for the first 15 minutes, so I flipped them and put the beet slices on the pan with them.

Everything tastes better with bacon so I cooked up some bacon to go with it.

Now to layer it all together. I took the larger piece and used it as my base. I put on a couple pieces of the disks and half disk, 3 slices of cooked beet, goat cheese and then topped it off with the bacon. It turned out to taste really good! The goat cheese was a little to strong for this combination but all the flavors did come out when I took a bite. Oh! so what did the squash taste like? It tasted like sweet potato. The funny part here is that I didn't know that until I started writing this post as I needed to look up the squash to figure out what it was. But now I see why it's called a sweat potato squash!

You could easily make this as an appetizer but I used it as an extra side for my staple BBQ Chicken, Spanish Rice and Veggie (in this case it was corn) dish.

(I'm still working out on my plating skills and camera focus angles)