What are you Planning for Dinner Tonight??

Since I got that great deal on Chicken thighs at Target this week, I searched and found a new, delicious sounding recipe:

Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 3/4 cup honey
• 3/4 cup lite soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1 (20 ounce) can pineapple tidbits, drained with juice reserved
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water

Directions

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook chicken thighs just until evenly browned on all sides. Place thighs in a slow cooker.
2. In a bowl, mix honey, soy sauce, ketchup, garlic, ginger, and reserved pineapple juice. Pour into the slow cooker.
3. Cover, and cook 4 hours on High. Stir in pineapple tidbits just before serving.
4. Mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Remove thighs from slow cooker. Blend the cornstarch mixture into remaining sauce in the slow cooker to thicken. Serve sauce over the chicken. 

 
I will let you all know how it turns out.  What's on your menu for tonight???

Wonderful Wednesday Recipe: Sticky Chicken

OK- this is one of my favorites! It is just like a rotisserie chicken you would buy at the store.. Best part is, you can prep a few at a time and freeze for an easy ready to go meal later. AND you can always get more than one meal out of this.

Sticky Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper ( I cut down on this esp when feeding kids)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3-4 lb. roasting chicken
• 1 cup chopped onion

Directions

1. In a small bowl, thoroughly combine all the spices. Remove giblets from chicken, clean the cavity well and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken, both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin. Place in a resealable plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.  (At this point you can freeze it and defrost when ready to cook)


2. When ready to roast chicken, stuff cavity with onions, and place in a shallow baking pan. Roast, uncovered, at 250 degrees F for 5 hours. After the first hour, baste the chicken occasionally (every half hour or so) with pan juices. The pan juice will start to caramelize on the bottom of the pan and the chicken will turn golden brown. If the chicken contains a pop-up thermometer, ignore it. Let chicken rest about 10 minutes before carving.

Makes 4 servings. 

 

You can also cook more than one at a time.  They make great leftover chicken for any other recipes you may have that call for cooked chicken, or yummy sandwiches!

I also make a great Chicken soup/broth.  Just boil the carcass, with some carrots, celery and onion, drain and use for soup or broth.  Pull out the extra chicken- you would be amazed at how much chicken is still left on the bones, even after you have carved it all off!  For broth, place drained liquid in fridge.  Remove top layer of fat that rises to the top.  Freeze in small bowls, and then pop them out and keep in the freezer in a large freezer bag.  Defrost as needed, and Wahlah- chicken broth for any recipes that may call for it!
 

Wonderful Wednesday Recipes~~ Banana Crumb Muffins

Wonderful Wednesday Recipes will be my new midweek feature. When I buy bananas from the reduced produce area, I often have some that turn brown before we eat them all. This is actually a blessing in disguise, as that is when they are best for baking! And if you don't have time to bake with them right away, did you know you can freeze them? Thats right, just peel them, put them in a zipper lock bag, mush them, and freeze. When you are ready to bake, take them out and defrost, mush them up some more and add them in to your favorite recipe. Here is a delicious one to try:


Banana Crumb Muffins

Batter:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

Streusel Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease muffin tin. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 Tbsp. flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Do you have a favorite banana recipe you would like to share?