Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

More pinning! This fabulous recipe is brought to you by the wonderful boards of pinterest. This is following in the experimenting ranks of Melt In Your Mouth Chicken, inspiration for Beet Pasta with Sauteed Asparagus, and Sweet Potato Burgers. I feel like this was just as successful as those and maybe even more so because I might make this one again before the others! And that's how you tell how successful a recipe is... the quicker the turn around on including the recipe in regular meal planning.

Before we get to the recipe I want you to be aware that there was lots of pinning recently! I was working on the blog yesterday and got quite a few posts drafted. There are 3 other posts inspired by pinterest and then quite a few more inspired by the various cooking blogs I read. Social media for the win!

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken from Six Sisters' Stuff blog via pinterest

   Click here for the recipe

I followed the recipe pretty much as is.

Ingredients:

   4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thighs would be fine too)
   Salt and pepper
   1 cup honey
   1/2 cup soy sauce
   1/2 cup diced onion
   1/4 cup ketchup
   2 tablespoons vegetable oil (could also use olive oil or canola oil)
   2 cloves garlic, minced
   1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional - doesn't really add heat, just adds more flavor)
   4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water
   Sesame seeds
Directions:
   Season both sides of chicken lightly with salt and pepper, put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in 6 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened. Cut chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce before serving. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.


First of all I'm sure you're thinking "one cup honey, that's a lot!?!" and it is but we're well stocked with honey since Patrick picked some up at Costco. Like I said at the beginning of the recipe we pretty much followed the recipe exactly. I did however turn the crockpot on low before I left for work so that means we did about 6-8 hours on the low setting. We served with rice and steamed green beans... gotta have a veggie!

Banana Muffins

I made some banana muffins! If you know Patrick then you might be surprised to hear we made banana muffins. He has some weird aversion to "fruit" desserts including but not limited to banana muffins, key lime pie, and lemon pound cake. He does like apple pie though. Patrick also doesn't like overly ripe bananas. 

Patrick note: I'm very consistent. I don't like citrus desserts, and I don't like fruit or vegetable breads! These muffins were pretty good though as far as fruit breads go.

So we had some overly ripe bananas I didn't want to waste, a mother visiting the next day, and wanted something fun to do after dinner that night. All this and more lead us to make banana muffins!!

Mom was coming to town for her annual nursing conference which started on a Thursday. She came up a day early as we were taking our engagement pictures Wednesday afternoon!! When Mom arrived in the morning, we each had a muffin then went to the mall so I could get my hair and makeup done for the pictures. Patrick and I enjoyed working with Carol from Conway Photoshop and had such a fun afternoon. Mom also turned out to be a wonderful lighting assistant.

Now back to the banana muffins!!! I found this banana muffin recipe from Food Network by my fav, Giada, and I knew it had to be good! I've posted the recipe below; we altered the frosting a little bit and noted that below.

Banana Muffins with Mascarpone Cream Frosting from Food Network's Giada De Laurentiis
Ingredients
Muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed
Frosting:
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Directions
   Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
   Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl to blend. Beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the banana. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.
   Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Bake the muffins on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out with no crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a rack and cool slightly. The muffins may be eaten warm or cooled completely and frosted.
   To frost the cupcakes: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the mascarpone cheese and then beat in the honey. Spread the frosting over the muffins. Sprinkle with the walnuts.

   We wanted to make a healthier frosting and omitted the butter and mascarpone. I used the cinnamon and honey cream cheese spread from Harris Teeter. Then I grabbed the microplane zester and grated a baking chocolate square over all the muffins!

Crockpot Potato Soup

Patrick and I both really enjoy a good bowl of potato soup. Once the weather turned cooler one of Patrick's dinner requests was potato soup! We made this one Sunday. We started the potato soup in the crockpot in the morning and then spent the day outside planting mums and pansies. We came inside and our work was rewarded with this potato soup. 

We used inspiration from this potato soup and this potato soup; both we had made before. We decided this crockpot potato soup is equally yummy as the other potato soups we've made before but slightly easier! I did a little googling to figure out what we need to do. 

Can you guess which soup is who's? Does Patrick prefer the muffin plopped in the soup or crumbled?

And this is what we did:

Start with 4-6 potatoes and scrub them very well. Rough chop them into a 1-inch dice. Place all the potatoes into the crockpot and cover with chicken stock. Place on low for 6 hours or until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Then take a cup or so of the stock out and reserve it in case you need to add it back to the soup later. Use an immersion blender (or remove to a blender) to puree the potatoes until they reach your desired consistency. If you want it chunkier a mashed potato gadget will work too.

At this point you can finish the potato soup however you'd like! I would recommend adding some sort of cream (buttermilk or whole milk), pork (bacon bits or ham chunks), sauteed onion or leeks, and some cheese!

While you're finishing your potato soup, cook some corn muffins!

And the answer is: Patrick plops the corn muffin in the soup; Whitney crumbles it up so she can have tasty corn muffin bites!

Sharing a Meal Plan

Recently I've been devoting more time on my days off to figure out a meal plan until my next day off. This allows me to get everything on one trip to the store and eases the pressure off Patrick to figure something out over the weekends. Now he only has to cook it! I usually figure out the meal plan and email it to Patrick with the days and the meals. If the meal is new then I will hyperlink to the website so he can look at it.

This particular week was the last week in August leading up to Labor Day weekend. If I have the day off I might plan something a little more intensive and start working on it before Patrick gets home. If I have to work then I will plan something that can come together a little easier. Here's what I emailed Patrick:

Wednesday -- Crab meat Mac and Cheese with arugula salad or something light
Thursday -- off at 6:15; Hungry Jack (this good for your "burger"?)
Friday -- off at 6:15; having Tim and Richard over for dinner at 7:30 Crockpot BBQ Chicken, slaw, fruit (thinking pineapple / watermelon), chocolate silk pie
Saturday -- off at 7:30; Marie visiting
Sunday -- Marie visiting; day at lake

Look into one of these casseroles to bring with us: Chicken Tetrazzini, Chicken with rice and mushrooms Also what time are you wanting to get down to the lake? Want to do late brunch here in Durham and snacks at the lake in the afternoon? Or leave here early and do lunch at one of those cute lake front cafes?

On Wednesday (my day off) I experimented with a seafood mac and cheese that was inspired by Ina Garten. I actually made the mac and cheese in little ramekins during the afternoon then refrigerated them until Patrick got home. For all the details check out the post from last week. While I was preparing the macaroni and cheese I browned a pound of hamburger for Thursday night.

On Thursday I made one of Patrick's favorite, Hungry Jack casserole. As you can see in the email I asked Patrick "this good for your "burger"? ... I try to incorporate his wishes into the meal plan and ask him if he has any requests before I meal plan. Sometimes he has specifics and other times he just might say "something with hamburger in it". Thankfully Hungry Jack met that condition. Here's that recipe.

On Friday we had one some friends over! As you can see I specifically remind Patrick we have plans and then share the menu. We actually made the chocolate silk pie Thursday night. This got posted last week too!

Then Patrick's mom, Marie, visited over the weekend! She planned a Saturday thru Monday trip. I didn't plan too much here since we weren't sure what we were doing yet. I actually had to work Saturday so Patrick ended up giving Marie a tour of downtown Durham to show her all things related to the wedding! Sunday we took a leisurely drive down to Lake Gaston where we spent the afternoon with my parents and grandparents. I had asked Patrick to be in charge of preparing some sort of chicken casserole to bring down with us to the lake on Saturday. He didn't listen... we made chicken tetrazzini Sunday morning!

Crab Mac and Cheese

Patrick loves mac-n-cheese and he's pretty particular about it! The main thing he's concerned about is making sure the noodles aren't too mushy. One of my days off I was watching Food Network in the afternoon and Barefoot Contessa was on. Ina Garten made a lobster mac and cheese that looked divine! I decided to see if this would meet Patrick's mac-n-cheese approval. As I was pulling the recipe up online I found a healthier alternative from another blog. I followed that recipe and still made a few changes (such as the lobster!) and made an addition that I'll note below.

Lobster* Crab Mac & Cheese
serves 4

Ingredients:
canola oil cooking spray
1/2 lb whole wheat penne
2 cups 1% low fat milk, I used skim
4 Tbsp salted butter, divided
1/4 cup flour
6 oz (about 2 cups) grated gruyere cheese
4 oz (about 1 1/4 cup) grated 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 lb freshly cooked lobster meat, chopped into 1-inch pieces* I substituted artificial crabmeat
2 slices whole wheat sandwich bread, lightly toasted and pulsed in a food processor to form fine crumbs (3/4 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs)
I added a drained can of combo petite peas, pearl onions, and sliced mushrooms.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat an 11 x 7 inch baking dish with canola oil cooking spray. (I used individual ramekins.)
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add in penne and cook until al dente (about 2-3 minutes less than amount of time recommended on the package). Drain.
Meanwhile, heat milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until hot but not boiling. Turn off heat.
Melt 3 Tbsp butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Whisk in flour for 1 minute.
While continuing to whisk, pour in the hot milk and whisk mixture until smooth and thick, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the grated cheeses, salt, and pepper.
Stir in the drained cooked penne and lobster meat (and can of peas) until fully combined. Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Melt the remaining 1 Tbsp butter in the microwave and stir in the breadcrumbs until moistened. Evenly spread the buttered breadcrumbs over the penne, cheese, and lobster mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.

I made these early in the afternoon and refrigerated until Patrick came home from work. We were able to have a nice walk and then come back to warm up the mac and cheese!

Crockpot Barbeque Chicken

At the end of August Patrick and I had some of our ol' pot luck friends over (hi Richard and Tim!). Since the summer weather was nearing the end I decided to serve one last summer hoo-rah meal with barbequed chicken sandwiches, slaw, and pineapple. 

And don't worry if these rations seems a little small, there was a decadent dessert to follow. Unfortunately we forgot to take a picture of the chocolate silk pie but I'll still post the recipe. It was amazing. I'll make it again soon so we can take pictures!

Crockpot Barbeque Chicken (adapted from here)
   from the stick a fork in it blog

4-6 pieces boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle BBQ sauce (the blogger recommended Sweet Baby Ray's which I happened to have in the pantry so used that)
1/4 c vinegar
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp. garlic powder

Mix BBQ sauce with all ingredients listed under it. Place chicken in crockpot. Pour sauce over it and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours. 

I cooked the chicken breasts on low for 6-8 hours just because of work. Patrick leaves for work and gets home before me. So I prepare the crockpot and then he finishes the meal. For this particular dish I got everything ready and turned the crockpot on then when he got home he removed the chicken from the sauce, shredded it, and placed it back in the sauce.

We served the chicken with wheat hamburger buns, cole slaw, and freshly sliced pineapple. 

And for dessert? A delicious chocolate silk pie. Follow the link for the recipe or wait until we make it again and feature it on the blog!

Happy Monday! Blogging Return!

Helloooooo!!

Look what it is today... a blog post! We apologize for the delay in postings. We have been busy but still cooking. This past month we have hosted mothers, taken engagement pictures, discovered a fun spice shop in Raleigh, and meal planned. My mom visited at the end of September; her visit coincided with her annual nursing conference. Our engagement pictures were planned the day before the conference started so she was able to "assist" Carol, our photographer from Conway Photo Shop. All the pictures turned out fabulous and we were so pleased with them! After she returned home she sent us both this email:

Hello.  Sure have missed the blog lately!  I know you have been very busy. Sure was good to be with you last week.  I love the pics.  Going to look at again today. Love you!!

Then Patrick's mom visited (twice, actually!) over Labor Day weekend and this past weekend. On her first trip down Patrick gave her a tour of all things "wedding" so that when she came this weekend we would have plenty of time for the State Fair! We picked her up from the airport and ventured into downtown Durham for brunch at Parker and Otis and browsing at Morgan Imports. Over brunch she expressed her blog concern as well.

So here we are... back to blogging! For our moms! And for you!

Be on the lookout for a feature about that fun spice shop in Raleigh and how meal planning is becoming easier. End of October and November posts will also feature crockpot recipes, baked things, and fall stuff!

Thanks for staying tuned.