Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

I have been wanting to try cashew chicken in the crockpot for a long time and I finally found this recipe on Pinterest from www.sixsistersstuff.com.  I actually doubled the sauce part of the recipe because we like ours saucy.  Loved this recipe!!!  I forgot to take a picture so I am including the one from the original recipe.

Ingredients:
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thigh tenders or chicken breast tenders
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 T. canola oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 T rice wine vinegar
2 T ketchup
1 T brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (I didn't have this so did 1/2 tsp ground ginger)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup cashews

Directions:
Combine flour and pepper in large Ziploc bag.  Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture.  Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side.  Place chicken in slow cooker.  Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken.  Cook on LOW for 3-4 hours.  Add cashews and stir.  Serve over rice.

Makes 4-6 servings

Zucchini Baked Ziti

 

Holy cow it has been forever since I have posted on here!  Life has certainly gotten away from us and I truly miss enjoying cooking (not just the "throw it together for a cooked if not frozen meal" we have lived off of the last few months).

I don't know if this is your typical baked ziti or not because I put in hamburger but it was Oh, So Good!  I morphed some recipes together and added stuff of my own.  It was fun!  I actually used tomatoes and zucchini straight out of my garden!  Here we go:

Ziti pasta (cooked according to directions on box)
1 lb. hamburger, browned and drained
2 small zucchini sliced and fried in 1 T. Olive oil until brown
Mozzarella cheese, grated

Sauce:
1 cup minced onion
2 T. minced garlic
28 oz crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup water
2 T tomato paste
2 tsp honey
1 T ried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp crushed red peppers
Salt to taste

Cook onion and garlic until onion is translucent.  Add to sauce pan and add all other ingredients.  Cook on low for one hour.

Add all ingredients except cheese to a bowl and toss together.  Put in a casserole dish and top with mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. 

Hamburger Buddy

3 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled

2 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces

10 ounces white mushrooms, large ones cut in half

1 large onion, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 pound 90%-lean ground beef

2 teaspoons dried thyme

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 cups water

1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium beef broth, divided

8 ounces whole-wheat elbow noodles, (2 cups)

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, or chives for garnish

Preparation



Fit a food processor with the steel blade attachment. With the motor running, drop garlic through the feed tube and process until minced, then add carrots and mushrooms and process until finely chopped. Turn it off, add onion, and pulse until roughly chopped.

Cook beef in a large straight-sided skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped vegetables, thyme, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables start to soften and the mushrooms release their juices, 5 to 7 minutes.

Stir in water, 1 1/2 cups broth, noodles and Worcestershire sauce; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

Whisk flour with the remaining 1/4 cup broth in a small bowl until smooth; stir into the hamburger mixture. Stir in the sour cream. Simmer, stirring often, until the sauce is thickened, about 2 minutes. Serve sprinkled with parsley (or chives), if desired.

Slow-Cooker Cranberry Chicken

So Recipe.com gets my vote this week on quick, easy kid-friendly meals.  Tonight we had this recipe and again this new recipe got a thumbs-up from the kids.  You have to understand that I do not put recipes on this blog that my kids don't approve of or that are too hard to do for a working mom. 

Ingredients:
2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken thighs and/or drimsticks, skinned (I used boneless/skinless)
1 16 oz can whole cranberry sauce (I made fresh cranberry sauce)
2 T dry onion soup mix
2 T quick-cooking tapioca
3 cups hot cooked rice

Directions:
Place chicken pieces in a slow cooker.  in a small bowl, stir together cranberry sauce, dry soup mix, and tapioca.  Pour over chicken.

Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2 1/2-3 hours.  Serve chicken and sauce over hot cooked rice. Makes 6 servings.

If you want to make fresh cranberry sauce (super easy and yummy):

Ingredients:
12 oz bag of cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Directions:
Rinse cranberries and pick out bad cranberries.  Bring water and sugar to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Add cranberries and return to a boil.  Boil for 3-5 minutes, stirring the whole time. 

Picante Beef and Bean Skillet

This is another yummy recipe that we tried new from Recipe.com.  It was so good and the kids started eating before Dad got home.  Before I knew it I had to tell the kids to save their Dad some because they were all going back for seconds and thirds.  VERY easy and VERY kid friendly.  Next time I will try to substitute the tortillas for chips, but it was still really yummy with the tortillas.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

1 jar (16 oz) salsa

1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

6 flour tortillas (6in), cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Cook the beef and onion in a skillet over medium-high heat until the beef is well browned, stirring to break up the meat.  Pour off any fat.

Stir in the salsa, beans and tortillas and heat to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low.  Cook for 5 minutes or until the mixture is hot and bubbling, stirring often.  Top with the cheese.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Tried a new recipe...it was a toss up on whether or not the kids liked it or not, but it came to that they liked it after they picked out the peppers and mushrooms.  I concluded I would cook it with them still (this is where all of the taste comes from) and will strain out the veggies for them and just add them back into the adults portions.  Overall, I LOVED this recipe!  I found this recipe at Recipe.com.

Ingredients:

6 oz cooked spaghetti

1-1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

3/4 cup chopped red or green sweet pepper

1/2 cup cold water

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 12oz can evaporated milk

1 tsp chicken boullion

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup cooked chicken or turkey

1/4 cup shredded parmesan

2 T milk

1 T sliced almonds

Directions:

In a large covered saucepan cook the mushrooms and sweet pepper in a small amount of boiling water about 3 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  Drain well; return to saucepan.

In a screw-top jar combine 1/2 cup cold water and flour; cover and shake well.  Stir into the vegetable mixture in saucepan.  Stir in the evaporated milk, bouillon, black pepper and salt.  Cook until thickened and bubbly.  Stir in the cooked spaghetti, chicken, parmesan cheese and 2 T. milk.

Lightly coat a 2-quart square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Spoon spaghetti mixture into dish.  Sprinkle with almonds.  Bake, uncovered, in a 400 degree oven about 10 minutes or until heated through and nuts are lightly toasted.  Makes 4 servings.