Crock Pot Sweet & Sour Chicken

Gotta love crock pot recipes!! This actual recipe I have made in the oven as well here and it is sooo good, so I thought this was an easier version...yummm, and took no time at all to prepare! I served over hot cooked brown rice, enjoy!

ingredients:
~2 tbsp Ketchup
~1 cup water (I used chicken broth)
~1/2 cup white vinegar
~1 tbsp soy sauce
~1 cup brown sugar packed
~1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts Boneless skinless, cubed! (I used frozen chicken breasts & shredded them before adding the cornstarch mixture)
~2 tbsp. Cornstarch
~2 tbsp water

Combine first 5 ingredients in the crock and mix up. Add chicken and cook on low for 6-8 hours OR on high for 3-4 hours.

Combine cornstarch and water in small bowl. Stir into slow cooker. Cook on high setting for about 15-20 min. stirring often, until thickened. Serves 6 Serve over rice or noodles.

Chicken Kiev & Potatoes with Onions

OK!!! I have been a bad wife lately...not cooking because I have been too tired & too lazy! But not anymore...my NY's resolution is to get out of this rut, and start cooking at least 5x a week (takeout on the weekend acceptable:) As many of you know, we have been renovating the basement, which has been an on-going project since before Thanksgiving...so you can imagine what the basement looks like & house right now!! You know when you have projects going on, you have stuff put everywhere that doesn't really have a home?? Which really sucks, because I get ready in the morning in the bathroom in the basement & the laundry room is down there as well....well, good news the carpet is being laid this Friday!! Even though there is a little tile work left to be done, it is to the point where we at least have carpet and can go down there to watch tv (thank god, just in time for the superbowl;)

Anyway, I really loved this chicken it was adapted from Rachel Ray...it was so flavorful & yummy, and you know how I don't like frying food, but this was perfect for a saturday or sunday dinner. The potatoes & salad went perfectly as well - except I would add some more seasoning to these, and make sure to cook them for at least 20 minutes because I forgot & they were a little not done in the middle! Enjoy!!!


Chicken Kiev
ingredients:
~Vegetable oil, for frying (I used extra virgin olive oil, EVOO)
~4 (6 to 8-ounce) pieces boneless, skinless chicken or 4 (6-ounce) thin cut chicken cutlets
~10 blades fresh chives, chopped to about 2 tablespoons
~A palmful fresh parsley, finely chopped to about 2 tablespoons (I used less dried)
~A palmful fresh dill, finely chopped, about 2 tablespoons (I used less dried Thyme)
~1 clove garlic, finely chopped
~6 tablespoons chilled butter (I used Light butter)
~1 cup flour
~2 eggs
~1 cup plain bread crumbs (I used Panko)
~A wedge lemon
~Salt and pepper
~Plain, round toothpicks
Serving suggestion: Potatoes and Onions and salad

Directions:
In a large, deep skillet, heat 1 1/2 inches vegetable oil over medium high heat. The oil needs to be 360 degrees F for frying. If you do not have a frying thermometer, add a cube of white bread to hot oil. If the bread browns in a 40 count, the oil is ready.

Cover work surface with waxed paper. Arrange breasts on paper. Butterfly small chicken breasts, cut into flesh and across, but not through the breast, and open them up. The 6-ounce thin cut breasts may just be removed from package and arranged on waxed paper. Cover breast meat with a second sheet of waxed paper. Pound out cutlets to 1/4-inch thick with a small heavy skillet or a rubber mallet. Be careful not to tear meat. Roll up waxed paper and breasts and set aside.

Combine chopped herbs on cutting board with chopped garlic. Cut 4 (1 1/2 tablespoons) pieces of cold butter and coat each piece liberally with the herb garlic mixture.
In 3 disposable pie tins, set out flour, eggs beaten with a splash of cold water and bread crumbs. Uncover chicken and squeeze a wedge of lemon over breasts. Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Place an herb-covered piece of butter on each piece of chicken. Wrap and roll cutlets tightly up and over the butter cubes. Discard pie tins used for breading. Secure stuffed chicken with toothpicks. Roll stuffed breasts in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs.

Fry the Kiev bundles 7 to 8 minutes on each side until deep golden brown all over

Potatoes & Onions:
ingredients:
~1 1/2 pounds (about 3 potatoes) round, white thin skinned potatoes
~1 large sweet onion (I also added a clove of garlic chopped)
~Coarse salt (I also added mrs. dash blend)
~1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 turn of the pan (I used evoo)
~2 tablespoons butter (I used 1 tbsp. but more evoo)
Directions:
Heat a 10-inch heavy skillet over medium high heat.
Slice potatoes and onions very thin. Salt potatoes and onions. Add oil and butter to the pan.

When the butter foams, add potatoes and onions to the skillet.

Place a dinner plate on top of potatoes and weight it with any heavy object: a sack of flour, heavy canned goods, etc. Let the potatoes and onions crust, 2 to 3 minutes, then turn, replace weights, and let them crust again. Keep turning the potatoes and onions over for about 20 minutes, until they are evenly golden and crusted.

Crockpot Chicken Lemon Rice Soup

This was so good & super easy!! I have a love affair with Chicken Lemon Rice Soup...or anything with lemon & chicken in it ;) I found this recipe & altered it a little to make a soup consistency & it worked out perfect. For leftovers, just add a little chicken broth to make the broth thinner while you are warming it up. Enjoy ;)

ingredients:

~1 cup long grain converted white rice

~1 small onion, diced (you can add celery too)

~2 Tbsp. olive oil

~8 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

~1/2 cup dry white wine

~1/2 cup chicken broth

~1 cup fresh lemon juice (I added a little cooking Sherry as well)

~1 dash Tabasco sauce

~1/3 c. milk

~6 boneless chicken breasts

~salt and pepper to taste (I added 1 tsp. of pepper & lemon pepper)

Put first 9 ingredients in slow cooker. Stir. Place chicken breasts on top. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low 5-6 hours.

Serves 6.

Best Ginger Snaps EVER!!!

Merry Christmas week everyone!! I hope you all are having a great time off & enjoying your families ;) It has been a crazy last couple of weeks, and I have to admit that I am really not proud that there is absolutely NO ornaments on our Christmas tree yet! I have had no motivation to put them up....especially since our puppy Chloe will try to eat them! She will be 5 months old already this week! Anyway, I will have the next couple of days off and I will hope to blog some more recipes...especially for New Year's Eve, when we will have some people over to reveal our updated basement!! (which is why our house is a little torn up right now)

Well we had our annual Christmas cookie party on Sunday with my mom & aunts...I made Ginger Snaps & Peanut Butter kisses....mmmm I think I ate all the ginger snaps myself when I got home with my huge container of cookies!! Enjoy - Pictures to come!

I doubled this recipe to make approx. 100 cookies

ingredients:
~1 cup sugar
~¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
~1 egg
~¼ cup molasses
~2 cups unsifted flour
~2 teaspoons soda
~½ teaspoon salt
~½ teaspoon cinnamon
~¼ teaspoon ground cloves
~¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 375°. Cream sugar and butter. Beat in egg and molasses. Stir in remaining ingredients until well mixed. If desired, chill dough for easier handling. Shape dough into 1 inch balls; roll balls in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Bake 9 to 12 minutes or until edges are set. Makes about 48 cookies.

Beer Cheese Dip

Perfect for a Holiday Party!! My mom gave me this recipe from her friend Karen...enjoy!!

~2 8 oz pkg. cream cheese softened

~1 envelope Dry Ranch dressing (Hidden Valley)

~1 can beer

~1 med. onion chopped really fine (more if you'd like)

~2-3 C. fancy finely shredded cheese

I use a mixer: Whip cream cheese until smooth, add onion, dry dressing, mix again. Add 1/2 can beer until consistency you'd like. Can add add'l beer if needed. Drink the remainder! lol Fold in shredded cheese until all mixed. Add more cheese to taste. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours to blend flavors. Serve with pretzel crackers, or any kind of cracker, or serve in hollowed out bread and serve with bread from inside as well as crackers. Yummy!!

crock pot creamy chicken & potato soup

It's that time of year again to enjoy the crock pot!! With us being so busy lately, I am really trying to cook with the crock pot more...I love these recipes that just combine a bunch of things, but they come out tasting sooooo good! There is enough for lunch today and dinner tonight too ;) I combined 2 different recipes for this soup, enjoy!

ingredients:
~4 chicken breasts (I use frozen)
~1 1/4 c. chicken stock (depending on how thick you want the soup)
~1 can cream of chicken soup
~8oz. low fat cream cheese
~1 tsp. salt
~1 tsp. pepper
~1 tsp. poultry seasoning (I use Frankenmuth chicken seasoning)
~1 small white onion, chopped
~1 green pepper, cut into rings
~4 carrots or baby carrots, chopped (I omitted)
~12-15 small red potatoes, cut into quarters

Directions:
Coat bottom of crock pot with cooking spray. Cut veggies and add carrots to bottom if using. Place chicken on top, and add remainging veggies. Beat together chicken stock, soup, and cream cheese and pour over top. Add seasonings.
Cook on Low for 5-6 hours. Shred chicken with forks before serving!

Turkey & Rice Casserole

yummmm, I never thought I would be a fan of casseroles until I made this! We had some leftover Turkey from Thanksgiving & my mother in law makes a similar dish to this with chicken...so that gave me the idea to use water chestnuts instead of mushrooms in this recipe (we dont like mushrooms!). I also used Rice instead of noodles too...I don't have a picture because we ate it all up to fast, it was sooo good & easy!

Ingredients:
~1 package (10 ounce) frozen peas, thawed under cool running water
~2 cups diced cooked turkey
~1 1/2 cups cooked noodles (I used 1 cup cooked Basmati Rice)
~4 tbsp. butter or margarine
~1/4 cup chopped onion
~8 ounces sliced mushrooms (I subbed with Water Chestnuts)
~1 can (10 1/2-ounce) cream of mushroom soup (I used Cream of Chicken)
~1/2 cup milk
~salt, to taste (I added pepper as well)
~1/4 teaspoon curry powder
~1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning (I used Frankenmuth Chicken Seasoning)
~1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preparation:
Combine turkey, rice, and peas in a buttered 2-quart baking dish or casserole. Melt all butter in a saucepan. Sauté onion and mushrooms (water chestnuts) until tender; blend in soup, milk and seasonings and cook, stirring, until well blended and hot. Pour soup mixture over the turkey and noodle mixture; top with shredded cheese. Bake in a 350° oven for about 25 to 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly.Serves 4.