Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

I found another slow cooker recipe that I was really excited to try. I will caution that this does not taste exactly like the Honey Sesame Chicken we order when we go to a Chinese restaurant or order takeout. That being said, it was tasty and earned the Michael seal of approval. We will likely be making this recipe again.

Ingredients

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs

salt and black pepper, to taste

1 green onion, thinly sliced, for garnish (optional)

sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

In a large bowl, combine onion, garlic, honey, soy sauce, ketchup, vegetable oil and red pepper.

Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Place chicken thighs into the slow cooker.

Add the honey mixture and gently toss to combine. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours and 30 minutes. 

Remove chicken thighs from the slow cooker and shred the chicken before returning it to the pot with the juices. Cover and keep on WARM for an additional 30 minutes.

Serve over rice, garnished with optional green onions and sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

Ground Turkey & Sweet Potato Skillet

While searching around for some new healthy dinner ideas, I found this recipe. I rarely use our cast iron skillet (to be honest, I have a hard time lifting it) so I thought this would be a great opportunity to use it. It was very easy to make and turned out really good! We ate it with some hot sauce and hummus.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb lean ground turkey

1 teaspoon clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup onions, diced

1/2 cup yellow pepper, diced

1 1/2 cup sweet potato, diced

salt and pepper to taste

a pinch of ground red pepper or flakes

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

In a cast iron skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.

Add ground turkey and garlic. Stir occasionally and cook until just browned.

Add onions and yellow peppers and cook for a few minutes, or until onions are gold brown.

Add the sweet potato and seasonings.

Cover the skillet and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. If necessary, add more olive oil or a little bit of water to cook the sweet potato.

While the sweet potato is cooking pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

When the sweet potato is tender, add shredded mozzarella cheese and bring the skillet to the oven to melt the cheese.

When the cheese melts, remove from the oven and serve.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowls

I've been on a slow cooker kick lately. It's great having a meal cooked in one dish, that generally covers two nights worth of dinners. I recently found this recipe that sounded easy enough to throw together quickly. It ended up turning out really well. It will likely go into our week night dinner rotations. We ate it this time around as is with some hot sauce, but next time I will probably add some avocados and fresh tomatoes.

Ingredients

~1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons of olive oil

3 teaspoons of onion powder

2 teaspoons of garlic powder

3 teaspoons of chili powder

2 teaspoons of cumin

1 teaspoon of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3 cups of chicken broth

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained

1 14 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed

2 3/4 cup of instant brown rice

1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend)

Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker. Pour the chicken broth over the chicken and stir in the canned tomatoes, olive oil, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.

Cook on low for 4 hours, or until chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken breasts from the slow cooker. Turn slow cooker to high and stir in instant rice and black beans. Let cook on high for 30-45 minutes or until rice is tender. I used quick brown rice, instead of instant, so my rice took closer to an hour and needed some extra liquid. I just used water, but you could also use broth.

Once the rice and black beans were in, I cut up the chicken into pieces and put it in a bowl and covered with aluminum foil, to try to keep it warm.

Once the rice is tender, add the chicken back in, top with cheese and let cook for a few more minutes on high until the cheese has melted.

Enjoy!

Ground Turkey and Beans Bowl

Igredients

2 cloves of garlic

2 slices of onions

1 package of ground turkey

1 can of beans (we used White Northern beans, but any kind will work)

a few handfuls of spinach (this really cooks down so you may want to use more than you would think you want)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Italian seasoning

Oregano

hot sauce (optional)

goat cheese (optional)

Chop up the onion slices and mince the garlic. While you heat up the olive oil in a pan on a medium-to-high setting on the stove.

Once the olive oil has had a chance to heat up, toss in the onion and garlic. Saute until the onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes or so.

Next, add in the turkey. Once it has been added to the pan, season it with the salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and oregano.

Once the turkey is close to being done, add in the beans and spinach

As the spinach begins to cook down, add the hot sauce to taste.

Finally, serve in a bowl and top with goat cheese.

Enjoy!

Arizona Burrito

Before returning to New York from our latest trip to Phoenix we were sure to pick up two famous Arizona staples: Carolina's tortillas and Holy Moses Hot Sauce. Once back at the apartment, we were quick to combine them for some fantastic burritos. They just don't make them like this back east!

We kept it simple. Rice, beans, cheese, cubed chicken seasoned and tossed in a skillet, and topped off with Holy Moses prickly pear sauce. 

Nothing says Phoenix like Holy Moses on a Carolina's tortilla. 

Thanksgiving Turkey

This was our Thanksgiving Turkey. It was delicious, and we got to enjoy the leftovers for quite a while. Look for our post on turkey pot pie, coming soon, which uses the scraps from this roast turkey. 

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp dried parsley
• 2 Tbsp ground dried rosemary
• 2 Tbsp rubbed dried sage
• 2 Tbsp dried thyme leaves
• 1 Tbsp lemon pepepr
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 (20lb) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 orange, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 7 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth
• 1 (750 mL) bottle champagne 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line turkey roaster with long sheets of aluminum foil that are long enough to wrap over the turkey.

Chop the onion, orange, celery, and garlic. Line the pan with 1/3 to 1/2 of the chopped fruit and vegetables.

Prepare your turkey by cutting any rope tying the legs. 

Remove neck and giblets.

Stir together the parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, lemon pepper, and salt in a bowl. Rub most of the mixture into the cavity of the turkey, leaving some to sprinkle over the top of the bird. Then stuff the cavity with the remaining orange, celery, onion, and garlic. 

Pour the chicken broth and champagne over the turkey, making sure to get some champagne into the cavity (but not so much that all of the seasoning is washed out).

Place the neck and giblets back in the pan in free space around the turkey. Sprinkle the remaining seasoning mixture over the top of the bird until covered. 

Bring the aluminum foil over the top of the turkey and seal. Try to keep the foil form touching the skin of the breast of legs.

Bake:

Bake the turkey in the preheated oven for 3 - 3 1/2 hours until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear. It is helpful to leave a meat thermometer in the bird while is is cooking. The turkey is done when the thermometer reads 180 degrees F from the center of the thickest part of the thigh. (Note: a thermometer touching the bone will not give an accurate reading). When done, remove the turkey from the oven and let rest for at least 10-15 minutes before carving.

Pumpkin Chili

I am so excited that fall is finally here! To me, fall means nice weather, several big holidays to look forward to (namely Halloween), and pumpkin everything! I usually focus on pumpkin desserts but I thought I would try using pumpkin in something savory. I found a recipe for pumpkin chili and made a few modifications. It was so easy and delicious and we're going to have leftovers all week. This is the perfect recipe for a crisp fall evening.

Ingredients

about 1.25 pounds of turkey (you can also use beef)

1 large onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 clove garlic

1 can red kidney beans

1 can white kidney beans

2 cans black beans

1 (46 fluid ounce) can tomato juice

1 (28 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice

1 (15 ounce) can of pumpkin puree

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 tablespoon chili powder (I would probably add more chili powder next time as we like spice and it did not come out very spicy)

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon red pepper

cinnamon to taste (optional)

In a large pot over medium heat, cook turkey until it begins to brown. Drain any excess liquid. Stir in onion, bell pepper and garlic and cook for 5 minutes. 

Stir in the beans, tomato juice, diced tomatoes and pumpkin puree. Note, our pot was not large enough for the contents so we split it up into two pots and tried to divide ingredients as equally as possible. Season with the spices.

Simmer for about an hour, continuing to stir every 5 minutes or so.

While the chili was cooking I threw together some Jiffy cornbread muffins. You can buy a box at most grocery stores and while it is not the best cornbread it's pretty good and super easy. It pairs perfectly with the chili!

Enjoy!

Homemade Thai Curry

The trick to curry is the curry paste. Becca and I were lucky to find a brand we really like called Maesri. This recipe was done with green curry paste, but we have also used their red and yellow pastes, both of which are excellent

First we cubed a chicken breast and chopped some broccoli. 

We then simmered the curry paste in a pan of coconut milk for about 5 minutes with a lid on. We use Trader Joe's Light Coconut Milk. Our ratio is one can of coconut milk (14oz) to just less than a full can of curry paste (amount pictured below). This is just our preference  based on how much curry flavor and spice we like, so variations to this are fine. 

After the coconut milk and curry paste has simmered for 5 minutes throw in the broccoli and chicken. Continue to simmer with the lid on until the chicken is fully cooked. 

Remember, this recipe works great with any vegetable or protein that you may want to include. The night we did eggplant, broccoli, and tofu in yellow curry was particularly delicious. 

Southwestern Turkey Scramble

It has been far too long since we've posted a recipe. We have both been very busy, but have some good news; Michael and I are finally cooking in the same kitchen, in New York City! Michael made up a very easy but delicious recipe that was so tasty that I asked him to make it again the next day so I could watch and make it on my own in the future.

Ingredients

5 eggs

a heaping tablesppon of sour cream (we used light)

1/2 pound ground turkey

cheese of choice (we used goat cheese)

topics of choice (we used tomatoes and jalapeno stuffed green olives)

salsa (we used salsa verde)

In a small bowl whisk the eggs and sour cream together.

Get any toppings ready to throw on the omelet once it's done.

Add seasoning to the ground turkey. We used a combination of hot pepper, "everything rub", and garlic powder.

Brown the turkey in a pan over medium heat until it's almost all the way cooked.

Add the egg and other toppings.

The second time we scrambled the mixture, but feel free to make it into an omelet if you feel your spatula skills are up to par.

Once the egg is close to done, add in the cheese. If you're making an omelet, add the cheese before folding the omelet over.

Plate and add some salsa on top.

Enjoy!