Crock-Pot Sweet Chicken Teriyaki

A few weeks ago my stepfather came down to visit and help install a new garage door track thing.  I really wanted to cook him dinner, but I didn't have a day off of work.  He had offered to make shish kebabs with the chicken I had in the freezer, but I had too many horrific memories of being fed black pieces of meat and vegetables from his less than desirable grilling skills (even though he has gotten much better at the art of grilling, according to my mother at least).  Besides, I would have felt terrible making him cook after helping me out with repairs.  Being the somewhat crafty person that I am, I came up with a plan to make something in the crock-pot that I could start before work and finish when I got home.

I hadn't had chicken teriyaki in a long time, and I found a pretty good base recipe on Six Sisters' Stuff (the recipe has been taken down).  Of course, I modified the hell out of it because a meal with that much sugar and no vegetables didn't sit right with me.

I started off by following the original recipe, replacing the granulated sugar with brown sugar, regular soy sauce with low sodium, and garlic salt with fresh garlic and salt.  Okay, so I already deviated from the recipe quite a bit.  

By the time I actually left for work it was already starting to look and smell great.  I gave my mother strict instructions to keep an eye on it and left them to be tortured by the smell all day.

When I got home the chicken was falling apart nicely.  To make the dish seem a little healthy, I added a  large bag of stir fry vegetables and let them cook for a bit. 

It actually came out really good.  It was the first time I made a teriyaki sauce from scratch.  I had no idea it was so simple.  I served it over brown rice.  I have to warn you though, it makes a lot.  If you are not making this for a large group, you will be eating the leftovers all week.

Here is a link to the original recipe using the Way Back Machine.

Here is my modified recipe:

Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts (frozen)

1 onion 

1 cup brown sugar 

2 large cloves of garlic

1 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large bag asian stir fry vegetables

Directions:

1. Mince garlic and slice onion

2. Add all the ingredients except the stir fry vegetables to the crock-pot

3. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours

4. Add stir fry vegetables during the last hour of cooking

5. Serve over rice of your choice

Honey Glazed Chicken

On my days off of work I always get super excited because I actually have time to cook.  Don't get me wrong, I love sandwiches and soup (and even the taquitos I get peer pressured into eating at work all the time), but nothing beats a home cooked meal. When I woke up I took some chicken out of the freezer to enjoy that night, with absolutely no plan on how I wanted to cook it.  Then I got a craving for something smothered in honey, and this was born.

The ingredients are pretty simple: chicken, honey, a fresh lemon, salt, and pepper.  I heated up the honey, to make it easier to work with.  Then I mixed in the juice and zest from half a lemon, added a pinch of salt and pepper, and poured half of it over the chicken and popped it in the oven.

It made the whole house smell wonderful, and came out looking pretty nice as well.  I am a bad judge on how long to cook meat (I was a vegetarian for years), so I always have to cut one or five to make sure they are done.  After I pulled them out I poured the rest of the honey glaze on them, for that extra flavor without that extra burnt honey on the bottom of the dish.

They tasted pretty good too.  They had a nice light flavor.  I served them with some mashed sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli.  Not bad for not having a dinner plan at all.  Next time I am going to add some red pepper flakes, to give it a little kick.

Here is the recipe for the chicken.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken tenders

1/2 cup honey

1/2 lemon, zest and juice

Salt and pepper to taste

(optional red pepper flakes)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Lay chicken out on a greased pan

3. Heat honey in a microwave safe dish for 30 seconds

4. Zest half a lemon into the honey and squeeze in the juice

5. Add spices to taste and stir

6. Pour half of the honey mixture over the chicken and place into the oven

7. Cook for about twenty minutes, or until the chicken is done

8. Pour the rest of the honey mixture over the chicken

9. Enjoy with the sides of your choice

The Pintester Movement - Sea Glass

I am so excited to be a part of Sonja Foust's Pintester Movement!  Her blog is hilarious and makes me feel a lot better about all of my craft/cooking fails.  It always feels better knowing that you are not alone in something.  She has also been such an inspiration to me.  She bravely takes on Pinterest pins, knowing that failure may be the final result, but pushes on anyways.  I would never try as many things that I have found on the internet if it wasn't for her.

To celebrate this moment, I decide to finally do the first craft of this blog!  In true Pintester fashion, I decided to go with something that I have been wanting to do, but the outcome seemed bleak.  I went with turning regular glass into something that looks like sea glass.

The original source for the pin is a photo album with no instructions; only a before and after photo.  There were instructions on the pin itself, but that is like trying to receive instructions through a round of telephone (I used to LOVE that game in elementary school).

According to the pin, you just take plain glass, mix food coloring and Elmer's glue, and paint it on.  There were no specifications on what type of Elmer's glue, so I went with "Elmer's Glue All" (only because the container of cheaper school glue was so old it broke apart in my hands) and there were also no specifications for what type of food coloring to use.  Liquid seemed like it would mix better, so I went with liquid.  

Then, naturally, I couldn't find my liquid food coloring.  I KNOW I have some somewhere, after all I bake a lot.  I ended up giving up the hunt though and running out to the store to buy more.  Earlier in the week I had bought some cheap candle holders.  I was planning on using one I already had, but I didn't want to end up all moody if I ruined it.

As for the proportion of glue to food dye, I just glooped some glue onto a paper plate and mixed drops of food dye until it looked green enough.

I had some difficulty painting the first one.  I was using my super cheap dollar store brushes, because there was no way I was going to use one of my good (or even decent) ones with glue.  However, because the glue was so thick and sticky (giggity), bristles kept on pulling out of the brush and I would have to pull it off of the candle stick and quickly touch up that spot.  There were visible brush strokes, and I did not have high hopes for this project.  Here is the freshly painted product.

I trekked on with the other two pieces, since it felt like a waste to give up and throw out a mound of dyed glue.

After they dried, I was actually quite impressed with the result.  For not having any real instructions they still looked okayish and vintage.  

There were some problems, like drips from putting the glue on a little too thick...

And bubbles from using a cheap brush while trying to work fast.

However, all the brush strokes faded away.  Overall, I call this a win.  I can't display it on my kitchen table where people can inspect it, like I originally planned, but I can put it at a slight distance and it will still look nice.  They will probably end up on the top of a book shelf or up on the catwalk.

Pintrest and Movie Night Finale - Pumpkin Pie White Hot Chocolate

It has been a little while, but I assure you I am still alive and somewhat healthy.  Before I get to the finale of my pintrest and movie night, I have some exciting news; later today I will be participating in the Pintester Movement with my first craft on this blog!  I also have a new recipe waiting to be posted and a Star Trek craft that I pulled off while entirely inebriated.  More crafts are going to be coming, my friend from the Pintrest night is going to have a craft night with me too!

Time to get back on topic.  Our final treat of the night was Pumpkin Pie White Hot Chocolate, to keep off the chills from scary ghost movies of course.  Truthfully, I have always had a weak spot for pumpkin, it is my favorite flavor in the world.

The recipe for this one was pretty simple and didn't require much time.  We just heated milk, pumpkin, and spices in a saucepan until it simmered and then melted in some chocolate.  See?  Super simple stuff, just like train etiquette.

 When it was finished my friend even had awesome clear mugs to show it off in!  

It definitely makes for a much better picture than my clear batman mugs would have.

We actually added more white chocolate than the recipe called for, because four ounces didn't seem like enough.  We pretty much added double.  It still didn't seem sweet enough for me.  Everyone else enjoyed it, and it had a good pumpkin flavor.  I think a little whipped cream on top would have made these much better.  I think I will try it again next fall with the whipped cream and some almond milk.

Here is the recipe, if you would like to try it out for yourself.

Ingredients:

3 cups whole milk

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla

8 ounces white chocolate chips (this is the amount we put in)

pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Heat all the ingredients, except the chocolate, in a medium sized sauce pan until it start to simmer, mixing occasionally so the milk doesn't scald on the bottom.

2. Remove from heat and add the chocolate

3. Stir until mixture is smooth and all the chocolate has melted

4. Pour into mugs and enjoy!

Pintrest and Movie Night - Candy Corn Drink

What is a movie and snacks without a good drink to wash it all down?  For our drink we chose this candy corn drink featured on Better Homes and Gardens.

When we were reading the directions, we figured out that you were supposed to stir it all up before serving it.  We both thought that was pretty lame, since it will only look like candy corn until it is stirred.  Instead, we decided to pour it into separate glasses while we were making it, so each person could experience the candy corn look and mix it up themselves.

The recipe itself is pretty easy and straight forward.  Just to make sure to start it a few hours ahead of time, because the gelatin mixture needs time to thicken.  For this one we just mixed the gelatin mixture together, poured it in our glasses, and let it set in the fridge while we did other things.

Later, we started to hand whip the cream (you could easily use a denser store bought whipped cream for this one, such as cool whip), and then we remembered that she had a mixer.  It is a lifesaver, I do not miss the days in culinary school where they forced us to hand whip our cream all the time.

It was then time for the moment of truth: would the layers stay separated, or was it doomed to mix together?  





(break for suspense)





Amazingly, it actually worked.  We poured it over the back of a spoon and the layers didn't mix together at all!  By that point, I was already impressed.

They tasted pretty good too.  A little sweet for my tastes, I would have preferred it with a little less whipped cream.  Everyone else enjoyed them too.  It had a nice citric flavor, which is a little odd for a fall drink, but the cuteness more than makes up for that.  Another cool thing about it; after you mix it all up, if you let it sit for a while it almost sort of separated into layers again!

Here is the recipe, if you decide to try it.

Ingredients:
1 four serving size packet of lemon gelation
1 cup of boiling water
2 cups of mango nectar
3 1/2 cups orange soda (chilled)
1 cup whipped cream (or make your own with 1 cup whipping cream and 2 tablespoons of honey)
1/2 cup candy corn for decoration (optional)

Directions:
1. Mix gelatin and boiling water in a large bowl until it is all dissolved
2. Stir in mango nectar
3. Pour mixture into a 2 quart pitcher, or divide evenly into separate glasses.
4. Chill about two hours (you want it to be thick, but not a solid like gello)
5. Pour orange soda over the gelatin layer, try pouring it over the back of a large spoon to keep the layers separated a bit better.
6. Top with piped whipped cream and candy corn

Directions for whipped cream:
1. Combine whipping cream and honey in a large bowl.
2. Beat by hand or with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form (when you dip a spoon in and pull it out a peak like a mountain should be seen and not flop over too easy)  Be careful not to over mix.

Pintrest and Movie Night - Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

I am so sorry!  I meant to post this the day after I posted about the bloomin' gooey cheese bread, but life happened.  Here is the sweet continuation of our Pintrest and movie night!

We decided to go with cheesecake stuffed strawberries.

How can someone go wrong with strawberries and cheesecake?  Especially little strawberries stuffed with cheesecake?  Look how adorable they are!

The directions on this one are a little deceptive.  It claims it only takes a few minutes to put together, however prepping the strawberries is a little time consuming.  I was doing that while my friend was making the filling.  It was a little hard hollowing these little sweet suckers out.  I was not as fortunate to have many that were already hollowed out as the person did who wrote the original recipe.  The knife I was using really liked slipping and cutting through the strawberry.  Never the less, they eventually got finished  my friend filling them as I cut, we swapped jobs at the end with similar problems.

They also did not like standing straight up in our pan.  We finally finished filling and balancing to find out we had a good amount of leftover filling.  Really, there was enough for another half a pound or more.  We cut up some extra strawberries and still had more!  We ended up giving the extra to my boyfriend for quality control.

We crushed up two graham crackers in a sandwich bag (it only really needs one) and sprinkled it on top, which is a lot faster than dipping.  We were getting pressed for time at this point.

This is what we ended up with.

They were still pretty darn cute.  Know what?  They were also pretty delicious too.  They also hold up well in the fridge overnight.  My mother came over and snagged some of the leftovers the next day.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

1 pound large strawberries
8 ounce block cream cheese – softened
3 – 4 tablespoons powdered sugar (depends on how sweet you want the filling)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or use almond, lemon, etc.  I think lemon would have worked really well in this one )
Graham cracker crumbs (or crush your own)

Directions:

1.Wash the strawberries and cut off the tops with a paring knife, make sure the inside of the strawberry is hollow, if not make it so with the paring knife.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and cream cheese until well mixed and creamy.
3. Put filling in a piping bag (or a sandwich bag and snip a corner)
4. Pipe filling into strawberries
5. Dip finished strawberries in graham crackers, or sprinkle them on top
6. Enjoy them

Also, these would be awesome with a little drizzled chocolate!  Try it and let me know how it is!

Pintrest and Movie Night - Bloomin' Gooey Cheese Bread

I am so happy I had my first Pintrest night with a friend.  It was so much fun, and a great bonding experience.  Then again, I always enjoy cooking with friends.  We made a special board on Pintrest for our movie night and each added a few things to it.  We ended up choosing and cooking four things from our board (well we chose five, but four out of five is still pretty awesome).  My friend also has this awesome huge kitchen that has so much work space!  It was a nice change from my cluttered little kitchen.  

For the movie snacks we decided to go with a savory item, a sweet item, and two drinks.  I am going to separate the recipes into multiple posts so they are easier for you to find later and read if you want to try them out.  I don't have my normal detailed pictures of the process, because I completely forgot to take any.  I know, I know, what kind of blogger am I?  Hopefully you will forgive me.  Luckily my friend came to the rescue and is allowing me to use her photos of the end results.  

Our savory item was Bloomin' Gooey Cheese Bread.  

We couldn't actually find a recipe on this one, just a picture.  It looked simple enough though, and we are both good cooks so we made it work.

We scored our loaf bread (we couldn't find "regular" white loaf bread, so we went with a garlic one) almost all the way through, cut the block of cheese and onions, and started inserting slices of cheese.  This part was actually harder than it seems.  We found out rather quickly that it gets hard to put cheese slices in about a third of the way through the process.  My boyfriend saw this as a challenge though and was able to put in all the slices, well, at least the ones that he didn't sneak away from us and eat while we were prepping.  

Then we melted the butter with about a teaspoon of pepper and the cut green onions mixed in.  This mixture looked liked we were making a different kind of butter for a different kind of snack.  The kind that stoners make out of weeds, if you know what I mean.  We poured this mixture over the bread and then preheated the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit (about 175 Celsius to my international readers).  We baked it for about fifteen minutes and pulled it out, fingers crossed.

Tada! So it doesn't look as pretty as the pin picture, things rarely do.  It was still really good and really cheesy.  It was easy to pull apart and eat and everyone seemed to like it.  My boyfriend went straight up crazy over it.  Between three of us we almost had it gone after one movie.  It is also rather inexpensive to make, so I suggest to try it.  The garlic bread was a good call, it added another great flavor to the food.  It is hard to go wrong with garlic.  It makes a good appetizer or finger food.

Here is the recipe we came up with:

Ingredients:

1 unsliced loaf of bread (I really suggest you try a bread with garlic baked in, it was a good idea)

16 oz monterey jack cheese (or cheese of your choosing, so long as it melts well) 

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1/3 cup (about) chopped green onion

1 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)

2. Score bread almost all the way through until, you want the top of each "pull" to look like a one inch square and place on a baking sheet (make sure it is a ridged one so butter doesn't spill)

3. Cut the cheese into thin slices and then cut the slices in half

4. Have fun stuffing those bad boy slices into the bread.  Don't give up, I believe in you!

5. Place the butter and and pepper into a bowl or mug and microwave until melted

6. Mix chopped green onions into the butter mix

7. Pour butter mix even over the top of the bread.  Try to do it slowly so more soaks in

8. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted

9. Enjoy them, they will go fast