Recipe: Honey Sesame Chicken in the Crockpot

What's for dinner? That is always the question around here. As I was browsing through Pinterest for keywords such as- easy, dinner, chicken. I came across this Pin, a recipe for Honey Sesame Chicken. Scanned the ingredient list, saw that I had everything I needed (that's always a plus!) and thought I'd try it out. Let me tell you, it was a hit! And trust me when I say that is a big deal in this house! I have such picky eaters! A Pinterest Success in my book!

Honey Sesame Chicken
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken

1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Garnish
1 green onion, thinly sliced
Sesame seeds

Combine onion, garlic, honey, soy sauce, ketchup, olive oil and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Season chicken thighs with salt & pepper and place in crock pot. Pour mixture over chicken. Cover.

I cooked mine on High for about an 1 1/2 hours. Pulled the chicken out, shredded it and added it back to the sauce in the crock pot to keep it warm. Serve over white rice and garnish with green onions and/or sesame seeds.

**For a nice printable version go to the blog where I found the recipe- Damn Delicious

Chicken Tortilla Soup

One of my favorite things about winter are the soups! I love a nice hot bowl of soup on a cold day. One that goes on our soup rotation is this Chicken Tortilla soup. This soup is a great because it's such an easy crock pot soup!

Chicken Tortilla Soup 

1 cup Pace Thick & Chunky Salsa
2 cans Condensed Chicken soup
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts (put these in frozen)
2 cups frozen whole kernel corn
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 soup can of water
1 tsp. ground cumin

*Optional- roasted hatch chili peppers cut into small pieces. They add just a little bit of heat (varies from pepper to pepper) and great flavor.

Toppings
Tortilla Chips
shredded sharp cheddar cheese
fresh chopped cilantro

Stir salsa, soup, chicken, corn, beans, water and cumin in a 4 quart slow cooker.  Cover and cook on LOW for 7 hours. Once the chicken is cooked, shred inside pot with a fork. Serve and add toppings! Ymmy!

Chicken Pot Pie

I used to LOVE Chicken Pot Pies when I was younger but somewhere along the way my tastes changed. I don't think I've had one since I was in Jr. High. Sad. I know. But the other night I decided it was time to try it again AND make it myself! So I looked up a few recipes and finally found one to go along with mine and my families tastes. I did make a small change to it but nothing huge. So this is what I came up with. I hope you like it as much as we did! :)

Chicken Pot Pie

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, boiled
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 can condensed Cream of Celery soup
1 can condensed Cream of Chicken soup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a 9 inch pie dish with pastry. Blanch frozen mixed vegetables for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain. Dice chicken and place in a large bowl. Add vegetables, thyme, celery soup and chicken soup. Stir together. Pour filling into pastry lined pie dish. Arrange top layer of pie crust, seal and flute the edges. Cut slits in the top of the crust to allow for steam to escape. Place pie on cookie sheet. Put aluminum foil around the pie crust edges. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake for an additional 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes and then serve.

Cream of Celery Chicken & Rice

This is one of my family's favorite recipes. My mom used to make it for us, it never lasted for long! :)

Cream of Celery Chicken & Rice

3 skinless boneless chicken breasts, uncooked & cubed
1 1/4 cup rice
1 cube of butter
1 envelope of Onion Soup Mix
1 can of Cream of Celery
2 1/2 cups of water

Melt the butter and mix with Cream of Celery & Onion Soup Mix. Then add rice and water and stir gently in a 13x9 pan. Add cubed chicken. Cover with tin foil and place in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees and cook for about 1 hour or until rice is thoroughly cooked. I like to remove the tin foil and leave in the oven for about another 10 minutes to let it dry out just a bit more.

Chicken Tostada's

Ok, so I've heard them to also be called Tinga's but because I'm so Americanized we will just call them Chicken Tostada's! :) Now if you check my blog for recipes you'll know that most of mine come with more "instruction" than anything! So no difference on this one either! Let's just say I really shouldn't ever go into the recipe book writing business any time soon! :)

Chicken Tostada's

• Shredded Chicken*
• Tostada's (I prefer the brand Perico)
• Sour Cream
• Mexican Cheese, Cotija
• Cabbage/Lettuce (your preference)
• Fresh Salsa

Steps:
1. place tostada on plate
2. cover tostada with shredded chicken
3. add sour cream (if you like it)
4. lettuce or cabbage
5. fresh salsa
6. sprinkle crumbled cheese over top
7. ENJOY!

*Shredded Chicken
For the chicken I usually take some bone in chicken breasts or thighs and add them to a pot of water with a few seasonings; 2 to 3 whole cloves, a piece of garlic, a few slices of onion, salt & pepper. Let boil until chicken is cooked through. Then I'll remove the chicken from the pot and let cool. When the chicken is cool enough to handle I begin removing all the bones and shredding it by hand.

*Fresh Salsa
Dice up tomatoes, jalapenos and onions. Finely chop cilantro and mix all together.

Chicken Taquitos

So last night for dinner I made some Chicken Taquitos. It was something my mom would always make for us growing up and a big hit! Well I make them now for my little girls and Yeah! they are a big hit with them too!

Chicken Taquitos


Chicken
Whole Cloves
Garlic
Salt
Onions
Corn Tortillas
Canola Oil

Bring 2-4 chicken breasts (depending on the quantity you want to make) to a boil in a pot with 1-2 whole pieces of garlic, a few whole cloves, some slices of onion and some salt to taste. When the chicken is finally cooked remove chicken from pot and allow to cool. You could then strain the chicken stock and freeze for whenever you need some.

Once the chicken has cooled I shred it. Once it is shredded I start warming up some corn tortillas, place chicken in them and roll them up. Warming up the corn tortillas makes rolling them up easier, because if you try to roll the tortillas cold they will crack and break.

While I'm working on rolling the taquitos I pour some oil into a deep pan so that when I am done rolling my oil will be ready for me to deep fry the taquitos. When they turn a nice golden color they are done.

You can then add the toppings! Cover them in cheese, melt it, add some sour cream, lettuce and top off with some salsa.

I hope this makes sense to all of you! If you have any questions feel free to ask! :)

Grilled Chicken Breast

This turned out wonderful! It was so full of flavor and was very moist still!

Grilled Chicken Breast

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons dried parsley

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate. While the grill preheats drop the chicken in lemon juice, when ready to grill take chicken out of bowl; discard any remaining lemon juice and then sprinkle with the mixture of onion & garlic powder, ground black pepper, salt and parsley. Cook on the prepared grill 10 to 15 minutes per side, or until no longer pink and juices run clear.

Chinese Chicken Salad

This is what we had for dinner last night and it was a big hit with the girls, they LOVED it! It's super easy and quick to make. I totally forgot to take a picture though. Sorry. :)

Chinese Chicken Salad
2 cooked chicken breasts
1/2 head cabbage
1 pkg. Ramen Noodles (uncooked, crushed)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 Tbsp. toasted sesame seads (optional)
1 green onion, chopped

Sauce:
1/4 cup salad oil (olive or canola work great)
2 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Combine chicken, cabbage, Ramen Flavor Packet, almonds, sesame seed and green onion. Pour the sauce over and refrigerate before serving. Right before serving I like to add the crushed up noodles to keep them from getting to soggy from the sauce.