Orange Chicken

This is a crockpot recipe that I ended up just making in the skillet, and it tasted amazing! My new roommates loved it too, so I'd say it was a definite success.

I did a terrible job of taking pictures during the process of making the chicken, but I did have enough patience to take a picture of the finished product before wolfing it down!


First, I cut the chicken into cubes and lightly breaded it with flour. Then I put the chicken in a warm skillet with a bit of olive oil and let it cook. I then started mixing the orange sauce in a bowl. Once the chicken appeared golden brown, I dumped the sauce into the skillet and let it simmer while the rice cooked.

Thanks to http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-orange-chicken-295686 for the inspiration!

This recipe yielded enough for 3 generous servings of chicken, served over white rice.


Ingredients

-8 small chicken breasts
-1/3 cup all-purpose flour
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-2/3 cup orange marmalade
-1/2 cup mustard
-1/2 cup ketchup
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-2 tablespoons brown sugar
-3 chopped scallions

Directions

1. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Toss the chicken in flour until each piece is lightly coated.

2. Heat a skillet with the olive oil. Place the chicken into the warmed skillet and allow to brown.

3. Mix the marmalade, mustard, ketchup, soy sauce, and brown sugar in a bowl.

4. Once the chicken appears almost completely cooked, add the marmalade mixture to the skillet and allow to simmer for approximately 10 minutes.

5. Serve over rice. Add the chopped scallions on top of the chicken.

Note: To make in the crockpot, bread the chicken same as step 1, then toss all of the ingredients except for the scallions into a crockpot and allow to cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Pesto Ranch Chicken

Here's a delicious slow cooker recipe that's really easy and makes a fantastic dinner!  The recipe I borrowed is intended to serve 8, but I've modified it to serve 2 and make extra sauce, because I love soaking up extra sauce with noodles, rice, or bread rolls after a meal is over.

This recipe requires only 4 ingredients! (The chicken is already in the crockpot in this picture)

You simply add all of the ingredients into the crockpot, stir them up a little, then let them cook, and about 6 hours later you have tender, flavorful chicken breasts that go perfect either over noodles, over rice, or as the original recipe website suggests, with mashed potatoes and a salad.

Unfortunately I do not have a photo of the finished meal on a plate - I live in Oklahoma, and this meal happened to be what I ate on the day that one of the many F5 tornadoes we've been unlucky enough to get this summer touched down way too close to home.  So after work I ran home, scooped it quickly into some tupperware as the sky turned darker and greener, and drove quickly to a building with a basement just as the sirens went off!  I will try to put a picture of the finished meal up next time I make this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 3 oz pesto sauce
• 1/2 packet dry ranch seasoning
• 1/4 c chicken broth

Directions:

• Place all of the ingredients into the crockpot.  Stir to mix the flavors and coat the chicken.
• Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

Inspiration from: http://picky-palate.com/2012/09/20/pesto-ranch-crock-pot-chicken-thighs/

And if you would like to donate to the relief efforts of one of the devastating tornadoes that recently hit Oklahoma, please do so here: https://servemoore.com/give/

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Today is a big day for me, it's my surprise Mother's Day celebration day!  My lovely parents are driving up to visit me since I am now officially done with final exams.  Since I have an incredibly long, 3-day weekend summer vacation before my amazing summer job begins, my parents decided to come visit me, since coming home is slightly out of the question.

So now it's my turn to surprise them, by celebrating Mother's Day today (since they're leaving Sunday morning)!  I've decided to try something completely new: pot roast in the slow cooker.  I've never made anything with beef more complicated than meatballs, so this is going to be an experiment.  I found this recipe on Pinterest, of course, and have pretty much followed it exact.  It looked pretty simple to me!

For this recipe, I only used 3 ingredients with the meat: cream of mushroom soup, dry onion mix, and water.

I put all of the soup ingredients into the crockpot, then added the roast and submerged it into the mixture.  Then I left it to cook while I went and took my last final exam of the semester! :) 

The meal came out delicious - the meat flaked away with a fork and melted in your mouth!  It was amazing, and my mother enjoyed it too, so it was a very successful Mother's Day celebration!

Ingredients:
(Serves 8)

• 2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 5 pounds pot roast

Directions:

• In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix, and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture.
• Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 8-9 hours minimum.

Serving suggestion: serve with some fresh vegetables, such as bell peppers, and some nice bread or rolls that can soak up all of the delicious gravy!

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen chicken breasts
• 1/8-1/4 cup hot sauce (depending on how spicy you want it)
• 1/4 packet of dry ranch dressing mix
• 1/2 tbs butter
• 2 tortillas (flour or corn, whichever you prefer)
• 1/4 cup tomatoes, chopped (appx)
• 1/4 cup green pepper, chopped (appx)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (appx)
• Guacamole and sour cream

Directions:

Place frozen chicken breasts, hot sauce, dry ranch dressing mix, and butter into slow cooker.  Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

Place tortilla on a baking pan.  Lay down a layer of cheese, layer of cooked chicken, layer of tomatoes and peppers, and final layer of cheese on top of the tortilla.  Top with the second tortilla and broil on high for 5-10 minutes, or until tortilla is slightly brown.  Flip and repeat on the other side.  Serve with guacamole and sour cream.

Personally, I feel like the buffalo chicken didn't really work with the Mexican food.  The chicken was delicious by itself, but the buffalo spices with the Mexican toppings and tortilla just didn't work for me.  I think I'd like to make this into a sandwich, and substituting the guacamole and sour cream with ranch.  Maybe also change vegetables to celery?  I'll experiment some more.  I highly recommend the chicken though!  And of course, taste is subjective, so just because I am not a fan of the quesadillas doesn't mean you won't be, I found a comparable recipe on Pinterest that reviewers loved!

Inspiration from: http://www.a-kitchen-addiction.com/buffalo-chicken-quesadillas/