Slow Cooker General Tso's Chicken

I am in a ZOOM group through the Madison Library, The International Cooking Group. This month we are celebrating the Chinese New Year. I suggested the recipe for Slow Cooker General Tso's Chicken. The recipe is from Chef Savvy. 

Three hours in the slow cooker set on low. The taste was as good as take-out. There was just enough heat for the 2 of us. When you order this in a restaurant, do people still eat in restaurants? Okay when you order take-out, Support Local, the dish is made with broccoli. Someone in the house does not like broccoli. That is why we used zucchini and yellow squash. Next time I have to make more sauce. You could use chicken thighs but I had the chicken breast in the freezer.

Slow Cooker General Tso's Chicken from Chef Savvy -

Ingredients-
3 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
¼ cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup hoisin sauce
4 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil

Sliced Zucchini and Yellow Squash
green onions for serving, if desired 
     
Method-
Add chicken and cornstarch to a large ziplock bag. Toss to coat the chicken with the cornstarch.

Heat oil in a large skillet or wok.

Saute chicken until golden brown on both sides for about 2 minutes on each side. (Note the chicken will not be fully cooked and that is ok)

Add the chicken to the slow cooker.

Add hoisin sauce, vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil to a medium bowl and whisk until combined.

Pour the sauce onto the chicken and stir to coat the chicken.

Cook on low for 2-3 hours.

Saute the zucchini and squash olive oil and add the slow cooker before serving

We served this over rice. 

I found out that 2021 is the year of the Ox. What does that even mean? 

The Ox is the second of all zodiac animals. According to one myth, the Jade Emperor said the order would be decided by the order in which they arrived to his party. The Ox was about to be the first to arrive, but Rat tricked Ox into giving him a ride. Then, just as they arrived, Rat jumped down and landed ahead of Ox. Thus, Ox became the second animal.

Men born in the Ox year are reliable and trustworthy. They put their entire heart into everything they do. They feel a great responsibility towards their family as well. However, due to their confidence (almost arrogance), they don’t allow anyone to go against their rules. They hold your children to high expectations, even though it might be unrealistic.

Women born in the Ox year are calm and gentle. They will never surrender to fate and rarely think of choosing an alternative. This no doubt leads to a life of struggles. But no matter what, they will walk down the road they choose until the end. Despite this stubbornness, they think and react quickly.

I did a little more research and found out I was born in the year of the Dog. The eleventh sign. According to one myth, the Jade Emperor said the order would be decided by the order in which they arrived to his party. Monkey, Rooster, and Dog were in another country, helping a god defeat evil spirits. After, they set off to the party together. Because they arrived at the same time, the Jade Emperor went by the order they met the god in the other country. Thus, Dog became eleventh.

Yeah just like me, always late to the party.

Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection
or reload the browserDisable in this text fieldEditEdit in GingerEdit in Ginger×Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection
or reload the browserDisable in this text fieldEditEdit in GingerEdit in Ginger×Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection
or reload the browserDisable in this text fieldEditEdit in GingerEdit in Ginger×

Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection
or reload the browserDisable in this text fieldEditEdit in GingerEdit in Ginger×

Crock Pot Cashew Chicken

Chris posted this recipe on my Facebook page. It was delicious. I used Chicken Tenders. The meat was so moist. We both loved this one!

Ingredients-

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thigh tenders or chicken breast tenders

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp canola oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 Tbsp ketchup

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup cashews

Method-

Combine flour and pepper in a large Ziploc bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken for about 2 minutes on each side.

Place chicken in a slow cooker. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in a small bowl; pour over chicken. Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours. Add cashews and stir. Serve over rice.

If you want like sauce and want to have some to pour over the chicken and the rice, double the sauce ingredients.

Makes 2-3 servings.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Potatoes

A bit of nip in the air today. A perfect night for a roasted chicken. Not that I did not want to do much in the way of dinner prep for tonight but the slow cooker makes like so much easier.

I pinned this recipe a little while ago on the Pure Wow site. The only edit I made was to add celery and carrots to the bottom of the slow cooker. And with the drippings, I made a rather nice gravy if I do say so myself! Some steamed green beans from my sister's garden rounded this out to be a lovely Sunday supper. And we have leftover chicken which we will use in maybe a salad later this week.

Click here for the recipe on Pure Wow.

My No-Fail Gravy Recipe-

Ingredients-
2 tbsp butter
2 1/2 tbsp flour
1 cup chicken broth, homemade or canned
salt and pepper
1 1/2 tbsp chicken drippings

Method-
Melt butter in a saucepan on medium-high heat.
Add the flour until it turns brown.
Slowly mix the chicken broth with a whisk.
Whisk constantly until it thickens.
Next, add the chicken drippings and serve hot.

Chicken with Bacon, Leeks and Thyme Scones

Tonight's dinner is from the magazine, Food To Love - Slow Cooker Recipes. This recipe was quite the hit. The chicken was moist. The sauce was amazing. The "scones" well they were spot on! We received approval to make this again.

Of course, I had to alter the recipe. Chris does not like chicken thighs, so I used bone-in chick breasts. I am not a huge tarragon fan and I had fresh thyme in the fridge so the scones were changed to Thyme Scones. And I forgot to add the frozen peas!

Ingredients-
2 tbsp olive oil
2 bone-in chicken breast
3 oz bacon chopped finely
1 leek, white parts only, sliced thinly
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Thyme "Scones" Ingredients-
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tbsp cold butter, chopped
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 tsp fresh finely chopped thyme
1/2 of an egg, beaten
1 tbsp buttermilk

Method-
Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat; cook chicken for 5 minutes, turning until well browned. Transfer to a 5-quart slow cooker.
Cook bacon and leeks in the Dutch oven for 5 minutes, or until leeks are soft.
Add flour; cook. stirring, for 3 minutes. Gradually stir in wine, then broth, cream, and mustard; bring to a boil. Transfer to the slow cooker. cook, covered, on low, for 4 hours. season with salt and pepper to taste.
Make the Scones.
Place the flour in a medium bowl. Using your fingertips, rub in the butter. Stir in Parmesan and thyme. Stir in egg and enough buttermilk to make a soft sticky dough.
Drop level tablespoons of the scone mixture about 3/4 inch apart on top of the chicken mixture. Cook, covered, on the high setting for 30 minutes or until the scones are firm to touch and cooked through.
Serve the chicken mixture topped with scones.

Happy World Cat Day

What do you do when you realize that it is World Cat Day? You change your planned dinner menu of course. We were supposed to have Lasagna Rolls tonight and Roasted Chicken tomorrow night. Guess we will be having the Lasagna Rolls tomorrow.

Archie, our 17-year-old cat, loves chicken. I have a recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken that is so darn easy and delicious. It is a pretty basic recipe.

I had a few other things going on in the kitchen at the time, making Brioche bread for tomorrow's breakfast, making Italian bread for this week, the Lasagna Rolls, and making Stuffed Artichokes for during the week. 

I put everything in the Slow Cooker Chicken recipe in the slow cooker and set to low and moved on to my next kitchen task. After an hour I looked at the slow cooker and thought, "Wow it looks like is not cooking." Yup, I forgot to plug it in. Sigh. I plugged it in and changed the setting from low to high. It was done on time and tasted amazing. I made sauteed zucchini and mashed potatoes for us humans along with gravy using the drippings.

Slow Cooker Chicken Recipe
Ingredients-
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
Salt and Pepper
2 carrots, cut into thirds
2 celery, cut into thirds or quarters
2 1/2 to 3 -pound whole chicken, rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel, neck, and gizzards removed (if any)

Gravy (optional but too good not to make!)
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons all-purpose unbleached flour
Drippings from Chicken
salt & pepper

Method-
Chop vegetables and add to a 6 to 7-quart slow cooker.

Prep the chicken
Bend the wings back around the neck of the chicken.
Use your fingers to separate the skin from the meat. Rub half of the butter under the skin and the other half on top of the skin. Season with salt, pepper.

Lay the chicken in the slow cooker on top of the vegetables. (No need to add water or broth). PLUG IN THE SLOW COOKER. Turn slow cooker on high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 4 to 6 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked through to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.

Remove chicken and place into a baking dish and broil for 4 to 6 minutes or until the skin is crisp. Keep an eye on the chicken under the broiler it can brown up pretty fast!

Carve the chicken and serve with the vegetables from the slow cooker if desired.

Gravy
Remove vegetables and pour chicken broth from the bottom of the slow cooker into a fat separator or use a spoon to remove any extra fat. Strain the liquid.

In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and mix with a wooden spoon to cook the flour. Whisk in 1 to 1.5 cups of the strained chicken broth. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 30 to 60 seconds. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes and season to taste.

Slow Cooker Chicken, Bacon and Potato Soup

When I first saw the recipe on Facebook it seemed like it would be a heavy soup but it was actually a Cooking Light recipe. Surprise! Only 174 calories a serving. Nice! It was delicious and perfect for the rainy cold day this was. And for the #cook90 challenge, this will be tonight's and tomorrow night's dinner.
Here is the recipe with my revisions -

Ingredients-
4 center-cut bacon slices, diced
1 pounds bone-in chicken thighs, skinned  and 1 pound bone in chicken breast, skinned
salt and pepper
2 cups thinly sliced leek (from 2 large leeks)
1 cup sliced carrot (from 2 large carrots)
1 cup sliced celery (from 2 large stalks)
4 cups unsalted chicken stock, divided
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 thyme sprigs
12 ounces baby potatoes
2 cups coarsely chopped baby spinach

Method-
Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1
teaspoon drippings in pan. Set bacon aside.



Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to bacon drippings in pan; cook 8 minutes, browning on all sides. Transfer chicken using a slotted spoon to a 6-quart electric slow cooker, reserving any drippings in pan. Add leek, carrot, and celery to drippings in pan; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in 1 cup stock, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add leek mixture, bacon, remaining 3 cups stock, salt, pepper, and thyme sprigs to slow cooker.

Cover and cook on LOW for 2 hours. Add potatoes; cover and cook on LOW for 2 more hours or until potatoes are tender.



Remove chicken from slow cooker with a slotted spoon; discard thyme sprigs. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces; discard bones. Return chicken to slow cooker; add spinach, stirring until spinach wilts.