Slow Cooked Sticky Chicken

I’ve been getting a lot of use out of my slow cooker this summer. It allowed me to prepare delicious meals without having to turn on the oven and heat up the house….the electric bill was high enough with trying to keep the house cool without adding additional heat to it. I also liked that I could put something in the slow cooker and leave the house for a few hours to run some errands and know that when I got home, dinner would be ready, or at least ready with just a little extra effort on my part. We didn’t have to pick up fast food or stop in to eat at a restaurant….so it saved us money on eating out/take out as well.

 I’ve been cooking roasts, green beans, pulled pork and barbequed chicken….actually I’ve been using it to cook a lot of chicken. Michael and I like chicken….we really like chicken. We really are a little weird that way. If someone would ask us if we would rather have steak or chicken, we would choose chicken most of the time. That’s how much we like it. Anyway, over the summer I came across this recipe for Slow Cooked Sticky Chicken, actually saw it on FaceBook and think it was a review of an America’s Test Kitchen recipe. Since trying this recipe for the first time, I think I’ve made it about every other week since….it has become one of our favorites.

Slow Cooked Sticky Chicken
Printable Recipe
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbs of minced ginger (I did not have any ginger, so I used 1 teaspoon of ground ginger)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp of cayenne or red pepper
3 lbs chicken, breast, thighs, legs, etc.
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup tomato paste

1. Combine 1/4 cup sugar,  2 tablespoon soy sauce , ginger, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Add chicken and toss to coat.
2. Place in a slow cooker and cook on low for about 4 hours or until done.
3. When done place chicken in a broiler proof dish.
4. Combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar, water, and tomato paste, and remaining soy sauce. Brush on chicken and cook under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until chicken is slightly crisp. But keep in eye on this while it is cooking under the broiler, things can cook quickly when broiling. (You may be tempted to skip the broiling, but it really does help give this a nice sticky and good texture.

Tips
I like to broil the chicken a little while before brushing on the sauce and then I put it under the broiler again. I feel like the skin of the chicken gets a little more crispy that way.

Don't be afraid of the cayenne pepper, it adds very little heat to this dish. Michael and I don't like a lot of heat in our food and we eat this with no problem. If you like heat, you can always add more.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoon soy sauce , ginger, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Add chicken and toss to coat.

Place in slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours or until done. My slow cooker cooks faster than some so is usually done in about 3 hours.

When done place chicken in a broiler proof dish. I usually use a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil.

Combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar, water, and tomato paste, and remaining soy sauce.

Brush on chicken and cook under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until chicken is slightly crisp. But keep in eye on this while it is cooking under the broiler, things can cook quickly when broiling.

Just looking at this makes my mouth water.

I used to make this with assorted pieces of chicken but Michael likes dark meat more than white and I can eat either so I started using thighs, wings and legs. Then one day while we were at Sam’s Club, we noticed that they had great prices on chicken thighs (also on legs) so we now buy those to use in this dish.

The chicken made this way is moist and tender and by sticking it under the broiler (twice) the skin gets crisper than if it hadn’t been. There is a little Asian flavor to the sauce, due to the soy sauce and ginger, but it isn’t very strong so I would imagine even someone who isn’t fond of Asian food would still like this.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Several months ago I saw a post on FaceBook about a giveaway on the blog A Well Seasoned Life, for the chance to win one of two Gooseberry Patch cookbooks. In spite of being the kind of person who never wins anything, I decided to take a chance and entered hoping to win either of the cookbooks. I didn’t need either one but I’m of the belief that one can never have too many cookbooks, although if you saw my house, you might say that isn’t true……I do have a lot of cookbooks. I love books, I love to read, and I love to read cookbooks, I read cookbooks the same way I would sit and read a novel. Anyway, much to my surprise, a few weeks after I posted a comment to win one of the books, I was contacted by Kim of A Well Seasoned Life, telling me that I had won one of the cookbooks, Mom’s Very Best Recipes. Several weeks later I received my new cookbook and immediately sat down and perused the book, placing little sticky notes all through it for recipes that I would like to try.

A few days ago I took some chicken backs and other chicken parts that I had frozen after cutting up a couple of chickens, and decided to make some stock. I just have to say that there is nothing better than homemade stock, if you’ve never made it before; you should give it a try….it’s really very easy to do. I know there are some good stocks in the supermarkets and I use them frequently but once you’ve made your own, you’ll know the difference. Ok, enough said on that subject. I couldn’t decide what to do with the stock, didn’t really want to freeze it, had made chicken and noodle soup a few weeks ago and didn’t want to make that again, would love to have some chicken and dumplings but Michael doesn’t care for that, so eventually decided to make soup. While I was trying to decide what kind of soup to make, it was suggested that I make chicken tortilla soup. Well, that sounded good but I had never made it before and needed to find a recipe. Suddenly, a light bulb goes on in my head (Believe me, that doesn’t happen very often, especially now that I’m retired…not a whole lot of thinking going on up there now days.), I should go through my new cookbook to see if I can find a recipe there. So I reached for Mom’s Very Best Recipes and actually found one.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Print Recipe

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups cooked chicken, diced

2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes, drained

1 16-oz can corn, drained

1 16-oz can pinto or red beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/3 cup salsa

2 tablespoons taco seasoning mix

Garnish suggestions: sour cream, shredded Mexican-blend cheese, corn or tortilla chips 

1. Combine all ingredients except garnish, in a stockpot over medium heat. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Top individual portions with desired garnishes.

3. While soup is simmering, make some crunchy tortilla strips toppers. Brush or spray olive oil over both sides of flour tortillas. Cut tortillas into narrow strips and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes, turning once or twice, until crisp and golden.

Servings: 6-8

My Notes

I didn't have cooked chicken so took two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and poached them in the chicken broth for 30 minutes. It came to a little more than two cups but I used it all anyway.

Since all the companies are now down sizing their products (Who do they think they're, fooling?) it isn't possible to purchase the size cans listed in the ingredients. Just purchase the next size, which is generally about 1/2 ounce smaller than called for, they work just fine.

The recipe doesn't call for it, but you may want to add salt and pepper to taste.

The soup is very mild, if you want more heat, use a hotter salsa, add jalapeno peppers or whatever pepper and/or spice you desire.

If you like to crumble up crackers in your soup, try using tortilla or corn chips instead, it's very good.

 This is the cookbook that I won....lucky me!

 Two cups chicken

Two cans diced tomatoes

 On can of corn

One can pinto beans, can use red beans or even a combination of the two.

Salsa - I used a medium hot salsa because Michael doesn't like a lot of heat. I thought it could have used a hot salsa and may try that next time.

Taco mix seasoning

Add ingredients to the 4 cups of chicken broth and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

While soup is simmering prepare the tortilla strips by brushing or spraying olive oil on both sides of flour tortillas and then cutting the tortillas into thin stips.

Place on a baking sheet and

bake at 375 degrees for 5-7 minutes, turning once or twice until crisp and golden.

Garnish with tortilla strips, sour cream and cheese.

This was a good soup…a little on the mild side for my taste but as I said earlier, Michael doesn’t like a lot of heat. It can easily be made hotter by changing the salsa, adding peppers and other spice, whatever suits your tastes. I would imagine the milder soup would be more appealing to children since many of them don’t care for hot and spicy food. I like the fact that it was super easy to prepare…..a great recipe when you’re either in a hurry to get a meal on the table or just tired and don’t want to have to spend a lot of time preparing dinner.

Thanks Kim of A Well Seasoned Life and Gooseberry Patch for giving me this wonderful cookbook.  I can’t wait to try more of the recipes.

Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken

Can you really make a rotisserie chicken in a slow cooker? That’s what I asked myself after seeing a recipe on how to do this. I quickly forgot about making a chicken in the slow cooker until last week, when I saw a video on YouTube showing someone doing this. It looked interesting and, since I like using my slow cooker and would like to use it more often, I decided to make one of my own. Fortunately, Giant Eagle had roasting chickens on sale this week, two for the price of one, so I decided to purchase a couple to test this process.

Slow Cooker Chicken

Printable Recipe

This chicken is moist and tender, just like rotisserie chicken. The skin doesn’t get crisp like rotisserie chicken but we don’t normally eat the skin anyway. If you want a nice brown and crisp skin, just bake the chicken in a 350 degree oven long enough for the skin to crisp up. There will be a lot of rich broth in the bottom of the slow cooker which can be used to make gravy.

1 4-5 pound whole chicken
oil or cooking spray
Seasoned salt
garlic powder
pepper
marjoram
aluminum foil

Rinse and pat dry chicken.
Spray slow cooker with cooking spray.
Spray or coat entire surface of chicken with oil.
Spread generous amounts of seasoned salt, garlic powder, pepper and marjoram in the cavity and on the outside of the chicken.
Make four or five aluminum foil balls and place in the bottom of the slow cooker.
Place chicken on top of the aluminum foil balls. This keeps the chicken out of the drippings.
Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 6 hours.

Notes:
1) If you are using a larger slow cooker, you can use a larger chicken. My chicken was about 6 1/2 pounds and fit snuggly in my 6 quart slow cooker.
2) Use any seasonings you wish, the ones listed are just what I had on hand.
3) Know your slow cooker - if you have a newer model it will probably cook at a higher temperature than an older one, so the chicken may not take 6 hours to cook. I suggest checking the chicken after about 3 hours. Mine was done in about 3 1/2 hours. Chicken is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

One roasting chicken - I was using a larger slow cooker so I could fit a nice sized chicken in it. The chicken I used was approximately 6 1/2 pounds.

The seasonings I chose were, marjoram, garlic power, pepper and seasoned salt. I wanted to use onion powder but didn't have any. Guess I need to make another Penzey's run...bummer. :) Feel free to use whatever seasoning you like.

After rinsing and patting dry the chicken, season liberally making sure to put some inside the cavity as well. I also seasoned the back.

Place four or five aluminum foil balls in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Place chicken on top of the aluminum foil. This will keep the chicken from sitting in the drippings.

I checked the chicken after about 3 1/2 hours, mostly because Michael went into the kitchen and commented on how the chicken was cooking, and was glad I did because it was done.

The drippings in the bottom of the slow cooker. I think I left a wing or two behind.

I was surprised at all the nice rich drippings I did get. After removing that top layer of fat, I used it to make some delicious gravy.

The chicken was very good, moist and tender and as I said earlier the drippings made yummy gravy. As you can see by the picture, the chicken doesn’t get that nice brown crispy skin that is on the rotisserie chickens we buy, but that wasn’t a problem for us since we don’t eat the skin. If you want a crisper skin, put the chicken in the oven for a few minutes until the skin is browned to your liking.

At first I was a little upset that my chicken was done so early but later decided that it actually worked out for the best. I had the meat removed and sliced, the carcass and other parts of the chicken dealt with (in the freezer to make stock later). When dinner time arrived, all I had to do was put some chicken in a baking dish (I also put a small amount of chicken broth in too to keep it from drying out), cover and put in the oven to warm up, make some mashed potatoes and the gravy. Needless to say, we enjoyed it immensely. I will definitely make this again!

The Barefoot Contessa's - Perfect Roast Chicken

One of my favorite Food Network hosts and cookbook authors is Ina Garten…. I really enjoy watching her show, The Barefoot Contessa. Most of her recipes look very good and I find her to be knowledgeable and her on air personality to be, entertaining and calm, and she doesn’t grate on my nerves like so many of the newer hosts. I think I have almost every one of her cookbooks but am embarrassed to admit that as much as I like her, her program and cookbooks, I’ve only prepared one of her recipes. Years ago I made a brownie recipe and it was fabulous!

I’ve wanted to roast a chicken and wanted to do something a little different than my usual way and had been looking at her Perfect Roast Chicken for about a year or so. I think the thing that kept me from using her recipe was the fact that it called for fennel…I have had no experience with this vegetable…ever. I had no idea what to look for, how to prep this vegetable or whether I would even like it….but part of my cooking experience is to try something new, at least once in a while. How am I to grow as a cook if I don’t try different foods and recipes and techniques….and I have been stuck in a rut lately. So, I pulled out some cookbooks and looked on line to read up on fennel, went to the supermarket and bought one, along with the rest of the ingredients for this recipe and went to work.

Perfect Roast Chicken
by Ina Garten - Barefoot Contessa
Print Recipe

1 roasting chicken (5-6 pounds)
Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons butter (1/4 stick) melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

I’ve never cooked with or eaten fennel before….it reminds me of anise…has a mild licorice flavor. I thought, especially after it was roasted and became caramelized that it was quite tasty. I rinsed it off then removed the green tops and just used the bulb.

Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken then stuff with thyme, lemon and garlic.

Brush with melted butter. I love these silicone brushes!

Salt and pepper, tie legs together and tuck under wing tips.

Toss carrots, fennel, onion and thyme in olive oil.

Place chicken on top of vegetables, place in oven and roast for 1 1/2 hours...or until the temperature (taken in breast) reaches 165 degress F.

Place chicken and vegetables on a platter, cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes then slice chicken and serve.

The chicken was delicious....it was moist, tender and I could definitely taste the thyme. The roasted vegetables in the bottom of the pan were nicely roasted and caramelized. There were plenty of drippings in the pan for gravy...I just chose not to make any. I decided to serve the chicken with some recently purchased fresh green beans that I cooked in the slow cooker.

Turkey Meatballs

I’ve wanted to get back to eating healthier and have been searching for recipes that are low fat, low calorie and low carb….recipes that are especially diabetic friendly. One day while sitting at the car dealership for two hours waiting for my car to have some repairs done, I was catching up on reading my magazines and I was going through my Woman’s Day trying to find some interesting recipes. I have been getting Woman’s Day for the past year and I don’t’ know why….I know I didn’t subscribe to it. It’s not my style magazine….too much about beauty, families, children and pets….none of which have much to do with my lifestyle. The only saving grace is that there are always a few recipes and some information on health. It just so happened that the issue I was reading that day contained an article titled, “Comfort Food Without the Guilt” by Joy Bauer who is a nutritionist. There were four or five recipes in the article and all of them looked very good (that is unusual, most of the time I may find one or two in articles like this, if I'm lucky) so I pulled out that section and saved it to use later.

Last week after the Fourth of July weekend and days of eating a diet loaded with fat, sugar and carbohydrates and delicious as it all was, I decided it was time to try something new and healthier. I pulled out the pages that I took from the Woman’s Day magazine on healthy comfort foods and decided to make the Turkey Meatballs and a marinara sauce. I followed her recipe for Turkey Meatballs, with the exception of the ground turkey, I used ground turkey breast instead of just plain ground turkey and since her marinara sauce recipe was similar to mine, prepared mine instead.

Turkey Meatballs
Print Recipe

Marina Sauce or store bought sauce*
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/4 pound ground turkey breast
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup old-fashioned or quick cooking oats (not instant)

In a 5 quart saucepan, prepare marinara suace or bring store bought sauce to a gentle simmer.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the onion, carrot, garlic powder, Parmesan, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.

Add the ground turkey breast, egg whites and oats. Mix thoroughly until ingredients are well combined.

Shape the meat mixture into approximately 20 meatballs.

Carefully place all meatballs in the marinara sauce. Do not stir, stirring will cause the meatballs to break apart. If meatballs are not completely covered with the sauce, don't worry. Cover the pot and simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Remove the lid and gently stir the meatballs to thoroughly coat them with sauce. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.

*If using store bought sauce you'll need two jars (26 oz. each)

Chopped onion, grated carrot, garlic powder.

Add grated Parmesan.

 

 Add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.

Mix in ground turkey breast, oats and eggs.

Shape into balls...should end up with about 20.

Place in marinara sauce .... do not stir.

Place lid on pan and simmer gently for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove lid, gently stir meatballs coating completely with sauce and simmer uncovered for another 20 minutes.

Even though I was looking forward to trying this recipe, I had a few reservations…were the meatballs going to be as satisfying as the ones I make using meat? When making meatballs, I always bake mine in the oven….were these going to be completely cooked by just simmering in the sauce? Well, I was worried for nothing….the turkey meatballs were incredible! They had a wonderful flavor and were moist…..probably because they “were” cooked in the sauce along with addition of the grated carrot in the meatballs and yes, they were completely cooked.

These would make great meatball sandwiches but I decided to continue with the health conscious theme and served them over whole grain pasta. The pasta was an added plus….it cooked in less time than regular pasta and it too had a wonderful taste and texture. Who would have thought that healthy could taste so good!