Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

January 30, 2013 by

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

After making honey sesame chicken last spring, I have been determined to make more take-out recipes. And if I could make them in the slow cooker, that’s even better!

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

Chicken Teriyaki is another one of my favorite take-out dishes, so I wanted to give it a try. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. Make sure you use low-sodium soy sauce, otherwise the chicken will be very salty (and not in a good way).

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

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Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 6 hours

Total Time: 6 hours, 10 minutes

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs. chicken breasts
  • 3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3 tbs. orange marmalade
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 1/2 tbs. cold water
  • 1 1/2 tbs. corn starch
  • cooked rice
  • sliced green onion and/or sesame seeds (for garnish)

Instructions

  1. Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, cider vinegar, honey, ground ginger, garlic, brown sugar, and the orange marmalade. Pour the mixture over the chicken and cook on low heat for 5-6 hours.
  3. Remove the chicken and shred with a fork. Set aside.
  4. Dissolve the corn starch in a small bowl with the cold water. Pour the sauce from the slow cooker into a sauce pan. Heat on medium heat. Stir in the corn starch mixture. Bring the sauce to a light boil, whisking constantly until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat.
  5. Place the shredded chicken back into the slow cooker (now turned off or on warm) or into a bowl, Pour the sauce over the chicken and mix until the chicken is covered in the sauce.
  6. Serve over rice and/or veggies. Garnish with green onion or sesame seeds.

Notes

Slightly adapted from Cooking Classy

http://eat-drink-love.com/2013/01/slow-cooker-chicken-teriyaki/

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki
Filed Under: Chicken, Entrees, Low-Fat · Tagged With: , , , , , 13 Comments

Crock Pot Ranch Chicken Tacos

October 19, 2012 by

Crock Pot Ranch Chicken Tacos

Fall= crock pot season. My crock pot has been living on my counter these last few weeks. I love how easy it makes my life! Throw a bunch of crap in the pot, turn it on, and come home to a delicious dinner. How awesome would it be if there were crock pots for other things in life? Like…cleaning your house, paying bills, jury duty, you know, pretty much one for everything you hate doing in this world.

Let’s talk tacos. Tacos are rad. I could eat tacos every day…maybe….

These ranch chicken tacos are pretty flippin’ awesome! The chicken is so flavorful, I could just eat it with a fork and totally skip the tortilla. Aside from tasting awesome, they are also low in fat! Choose your toppings wisely and you will have yourself a healthy and seriously tasty meal! We make this at least once a month in our house.

Crock Pot Ranch Chicken Tacos

The ranch flavor isn’t too overwhelming in these, but you can definitely taste it. If you want a stronger ranch flavor, you can use less of the taco seasoning and/or extra ranch seasoning. Or you could also drizzle some ranch dressing on your tacos in place of sour cream!

Crock Pot Ranch Chicken Tacos

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Crock Pot Ranch Chicken Tacos

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours, 55 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Serving Size: 2 tacos

Calories per serving: about 250 calories per serving

Ingredients

    For the chicken:
  • 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. boneless chicken breasts
  • 2 cups low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth
  • 1 package taco seasoning
  • 1 package ranch seasoning mix
    • For the tacos:
  • Flour or corn tortillas
  • Suggested toppings: shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, diced avocado

Instructions

  1. Place the chicken into the slow cooker. In a bowl, whisk together the chicken broth, ranch seasoning mix, and taco seasoning. Pour the mixture over the chicken.
  2. Cook the chicken on low for about 3 1/2 hours. Remove the chicken and shred with a fork. Place the shredded chicken back into the slow cooker and cook for another 10 minutes.
  3. Spoon some of the chicken into a tortilla and top with desired toppings.
http://eat-drink-love.com/2012/10/crock-pot-ranch-chicken-tacos/

Crock Pot Ranch Chicken Tacos
Filed Under: Chicken, Entrees, Low-Fat · Tagged With: , , , , , , , 19 Comments

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

April 11, 2012 by

You know how when you go out of town for a long weekend, then drive back to your house and then feel like doing absolutely nothing? Yeah, that was me yesterday after we finally got home last night. I wanted to put on jammies, order in, and relax. But nooo, we had to go to the grocery store (which you know I do not enjoy) because we had no food in the house, and worst of all, it was dinner time. Oh Lordy. The grocery store was out of control. We could barely find a place to park. There were people everywhere. And the produce section was wiped clean. Couldn’t get green onion, couldn’t get cilantro, couldn’t get good strawberries. WHY?! It’s like there is really nothing to do in this town except go to the grocery store.

And after a long day at work today, another slow cooker recipe was definitely in order. Hubs loves to order Chinese, but I don’t like to order it very often as it is not the healthiest thing to order. I’ve been wanting to try some new Chinese recipes that I can make at home. I love sesame chicken and I love honey chicken. What better idea than to combine the two?! This version skips the heavy breading and you can tweak the sauce to meet your needs. I used a little honey, low sodium soy sauce, and reduced sugar ketchup. Serve this chicken over rice, quinoa, noodles, and/or veggies!

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Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 hours

Total Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast
  • 1/3 cup honey (1/2 cup for sweeter sauce)
  • 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tbs. ketchup
  • 2 tbs. diced white onion
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tbs. sesame oil
  • 1 tbs. canola oil
  • 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1 tbs. cornstarch dissolved in water (2 tbs. for thicker sauce)
  • salt and pepper
  • sesame seeds

Instructions

  1. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place into the slow cooker. In a bowl, whisk together the honey, soy sauce, oils, ketchup, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes. Pour the mixture over the chicken. Cook the chicken on high for approximately 1 1/2 hours on high or 3 hours on low.
  2. Remove the chicken from the slow cooker. Pour the cornstarch dissolved in water into the sauce. Stir, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes until the sauce thickens.
  3. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces. Place the chicken back into the slow cooker and stir into the sauce to coat. Add additional salt and pepper if needed. Serve over rice, noodles, and/or steamed veggies. Sprinkle the top of the chicken with some sesame seeds.

Notes

Recipe Adapted from The BabyCenter Blog

http://eat-drink-love.com/2012/04/slow-cooker-honey-sesame-chicken/
Filed Under: Chicken, Entrees, Low-Fat · Tagged With: , , , 30 Comments

Slow Cooker Chili Lime Pulled Pork Tacos

April 2, 2012 by

Do you ever get an urge to really clean your house? I don’t mean just your usual dusting and vacuuming, but a REALLY good cleaning? I officially declare this past weekend Spring Cleaning Weekend. That’s what went down in this house. We dusted everything, scrubbed the kitchen and bathrooms. I even cleaned all of the baseboards. Holy dust, Batman! I washed all the rugs and blankets. Now I just have to re-organize our pantry and I think I will feel complete.

I also spent a good part of Friday and Saturday night going through the monstrous stack of cooking magazines I have collected over the last few years. Seriously, I had magazines going back to 2008. I went through each one and pulled out all of the recipes I wanted. Then I got a binder and page protectors and got to work on making my cooking magazine cookbook. The old magazines get to be hauled down to the recycle bin by my poor husband. Hope he doesn’t break his back carrying them down the stairs.

With all the cleaning happening, I wasn’t feeling up to making a big dinner. A slow cooker meal was definitely in order. We love Mexican food in this house. We could probably eat it everyday and be really happy. Instead of our usual chicken or beef tacos, I opted for pork this time around. This was a great meal to eat after all the cleaning!

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Slow Cooker Chili Lime Pulled Pork Tacos

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 7 hours

Total Time: 7 hours, 10 minutes

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. boneless pork shoulder
  • 1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 limes)
  • 1 tbs. chili powder
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1/2 tsp. oregano
  • 2 cups beer (pale ale, I used Corona; or 2 cups chicken broth)
  • tortillas
    • Toppings (all optional)
  • Cheese
  • Sour Cream
  • Avocado
  • Black Beans
  • Tomatoes

Instructions

  1. Add the pork shoulder to a slow cooker. In a small bowl, mix together the lime juice, chili powder, salt, garlic, cumin, and oregano. Pour the spice mixture over the pork. Add the beer to the slow cooker.
  2. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.
  3. When the pork is done, remove the meat from the slow cooker onto a cutting board or dish and shred with a fork. Add the meat back into the slow cooker to soak up all of the juice. Serve in warmed tortillas with desired taco toppings.
http://eat-drink-love.com/2012/04/slow-cooker-chili-lime-pulled-pork-tacos/
Filed Under: Entrees, Pork · Tagged With: , , , 38 Comments

Slow Cooker Lemon Rosemary Chicken

March 2, 2012 by

One of the things I really hate about North Florida during this time of year is the weather. The pollen just seems to rush in and it gets worse and worse every year! I know it’s here because my car is covered in it! But, the worst part of it is the havoc it wreaks on my sinuses, which in turn, triggers my asthma! Despite all the inhalers, allergy pills, nasal spray, and nebulizer treatments I have been doing, I still can’t seem to stop coughing my lungs out! Needless to say, it’s kind of been a miserable week!

I just realized I said nasal spray in a post about food. Kind of gross, no? Anyway, let’s move on to this here chicken. I’ve had a hankering to pull out my slow cooker and come up with a new recipe. I wanted something light and simple and this chicken fit the bill! It was so tender and just broke apart and the lemon and rosemary gave it such delicious flavor! I also stuck some carrots and potatoes in there. I love one-pot meals like this one!

Slow Cooker Lemon Rosemary Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients:

– 2 lbs. boneless chicken breasts

– 1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

– 1 1/2 lbs. baby red potatoes

– 2 cups baby carrots

– 2 lemons

– 2 cups chicken broth

– 1 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

– salt and pepper to taste

– Optional: 2 tbs. flour or cornstarch (for gravy)

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on each side about 3 minutes until each side is browned.

2. In a slow cooker, layer the carrots and potatoes on the bottom. Slice 1 lemon into thin slices and layer over the vegetables. Place the chicken breasts over the vegetables and lemon slices. Pour the chicken broth and lemon juice from the other lemon over the chicken. Then sprinkle evenly with the dried rosemary. Cook on low for about 6 hours or on low for 4 hours.

3. To make the gravy, remove the chicken and veggies from the crockpot and cover to keep warm. Pour the broth into a sauce pan through a mesh strainer and heat on medium heat. Mix the flour with a little bit of water until it is dissolved and add to the broth. Whisk until the gravy has thickened. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve over the chicken and veggies!

Notes: If you are not a big lemon person, you can skip layering the lemon slices over the veggies and just use the juice from one lemon.

Filed Under: Cookies, Entrees, Low-Fat · Tagged With: , 22 Comments

Crockpot BBQ Shredded Chicken

October 24, 2011 by

Ah, Monday. We meet again. Oh, how you torture me with your long work day. All I wish is for you to go by quickly so I can go home, get in pj’s, and watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills…

We had another pretty lazy weekend and I am not complaining! With only a week to go until Halloween, there has been quite a lot of great scary movies on! I’m not usually a fan of scary movies, but when October comes, I just get sucked in. But, really, I mostly just like the classic horror films, like Halloween. Obviously, the first is the best one, but for whatever reason, I always watch all of the sequels every year, including the one with Busta Rhymes where he says things like, “Happy Halloween, B#%&@!” I mean, the movie is so stupid, but I can’t look away. ‘Tis the season!

Now, enough rambling and onto this BBQ shredded chicken…In continuing with my lazy weekend, I just didn’t feel like spending the day in the kitchen yesterday. It was time to pull out the Crockpot again! This BBQ shredded chicken really couldn’t be easier to make, which makes it perfect for lazy days or long work days!

Crockpot BBQ Chicken

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

– 6 Chicken Breasts

– 1 bottle of BBQ Sauce (We like Sweet Baby Ray’s)

– 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

– 1 tsp. red pepper flakes

– salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Clean and trim fat off the chicken breasts. Add to slow cooker. Add 1 cup of the BBQ sauce and the apple cider vinegar. Cook on low for 5 1/2 hours.

2. After 5 1/2 hours, remove chicken and shred using a fork. If you don’t want your chicken to be too liquidy, you can pour out the liquid into a bowl and save for later. Or you can leave the liquid in (I do recommend leaving at least a little bit of the liquid in to avoid drying out the chicken). Add the shredded chicken back to the slow cooker. Add the remaining BBQ Sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low for an additional 30 minutes. Serve.

Notes:
- If you are a big BBQ lover (like my husband!), then you can also reserve some of the BBQ sauce to just spread directly into your sandwiches.
Filed Under: Chicken, Entrees, Sandwiches · Tagged With: , , , , 24 Comments

Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast

September 26, 2011 by

After last week’s sugar high, I am ready for some good dinners this week. Fall means time to pull out the crock pot and put it to some good use! Sundays are my cooking days and I always like to try to make a nice dinner for Sunday nights. It was a pot roast kind of night. This pot roast is SO easy to make and while it makes a lovely Sunday dinner, it is also great for any night of the week because you just have to throw it all together in the slow cooker and let it go! And while I only made this for the hubs and I, it would be perfect for a dinner party! The gravy for this pot roast comes out so flavorful and delicious and the meat is perfectly fork tender!

Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Adapted from All Recipes

Makes 6 Servings

Ingredients:

– 2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

– salt and pepper

– 2 1/2 to 3 lb. pot roast

– 2 cans condensed 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup

– 1 package onion soup mix

– 3/4 cup red wine

– 1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. In a pan, heat olive oil. Try to trim away any large pieces of fat on the roast. Sprinkle salt and pepper to both sides of roast. Sear meat on both sides until brown.

2 In slow cooker, mix together the soup, onion soup mix, wine, and water. Add roast and cook on low setting for 7-8 hours or on high setting for 4-5 hours. If adding carrots or potatoes, I recommend adding these during the last 1 1/2-2 hours of cooking.
Filed Under: Beef, Entrees · Tagged With: , , , 46 Comments

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

June 21, 2011 by


Have you ever had one of those weeks where everything you cook is just…blah? Yeah, that’s me this week. I made more homemade pizza on Sunday and I wasn’t happy with the way the dough came out. I made teriyaki salmon last night and wasn’t happy with that dish either. Well, tonight’s dinner got me out of the dinner rut. Can I just say how much I love the crock-pot? It is perfect for busy moms, dads, and of course, grad students on the go! My friend, Raquel, gave me one as a wedding gift last year and I can’t believe I have gone so long without having one! So far, the only recipes I’ve really used it for are pot roasts and tomato sauce. I’ve been wanting to attempt pulled pork sandwiches, so I hit up my beloved AllRecipes.com and went through many of the pulled pork recipes that were there. I ended up making up my own recipe by taking bits of multiple recipes based on what ingredients I had in my pantry. This pork was tender and moist! It was so good that my husband had 3 sandwiches. Serve these sandwiches with some roasted or mashed potatoes and a big salad and you’ve got yourself a mighty fine dinner!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Adapated from AllRecipes

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

– 1 5-6 lb. boneless pork butt or pork shoulder

– 1 yellow onion, sliced thin

– 2 tbs. packed brown sugar

– 2 tsp. paprika

– 1 tsp. salt

– 1 tsp. black pepper

– 1 cup apple cider vinegar

– 1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce

– 1/2 tsp. cumin

– 1 tsp. ground mustard

– 1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Directions:

1.Turn crock-pot on low heat. Slice onion into thin slices and place at the bottom of the crock-pot. Rinse pork and pat dry. Combine salt and pepper, paprika, and brown sugar. Rub mixture all over the pork and place into the crock-pot.

2. Combine cider, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and red pepper flakes. Drizzle mixture over the pork. Cook on low heat for approximately 10-12 hours.

2. Remove pork from crock-pot onto a large cutting board (scoop out onions if you want to eat them). Drain liquid or pour into a sauce pan if you plan to make a gravy. Using a fork, shred pork and serve on toasted buns with homemade gravy or your favorite BBQ sauce!

Notes:
- I made my own gravy using all of the liquid from the crock-pot. To make your own gravy, pour the liquid into a sauce pan. Using a mesh skimmer, skim off fat from the top layer. Add 2 Tbs. of flour and heat mixture, stirring constantly until four is well-combined and cooked. Then add 1 cup milk, and 1 cup of water or additional milk. Keep stirring and bring gravy to a boil. Serve immediately.
Filed Under: Entrees, Pork · Tagged With: , , , 3 Comments