Cloud Bread - WIN

During one of my (many) attempts to eat healthier I came across an interesting item - Cloud Bread. Light, airy, low carb, low on points, etc, etc. Seriously?

Yah.

So I figured "what the heck" it'll only sacrifice a couple of eggs and if it bombs no harm done. 

Well...it didn't bomb. 

It's kind of crazy to think that eggs and cream cheese can become lovely little slices of round bread, but it can!

The process is a little labour intensive and you need to make sure your mixture is right. But I tried and succeeded on the first time, so it's not a very hard recipe. 

I added a little rosemary and salt on the top, an inspiration from another similar pin. They were light and slightly crispy and went perfect with my sandwich. I only made half a batch (incase of disaster) so I didn't get far in experimenting, but they can be used as pizza dough, sandwich bread, the options can be endless!

They however didn't hold up on the long term. I was the only one eating them, and even after proper storage after a few days they started getting gummy. I tried toasting them but it burnt - that could be the fault of my toaster though. 
So if you're looking for an awesome low everything way to replace bread, this could be your answer!

Vegan Crispy Coconut Cauliflower Tacos with Vegan Mayo - WIN

Let me just start by saying that my family is not vegan. Or vegetarian. I think we firmly land in the meat-atarian category, especially my husband. My brother on the other hand, announced a year ago that he had become vegan. It was quite the shocker, him being the guy who would have a bacon sandwich that included a pound of cooked bacon and two merger slices of bread. But, being the awesome people we are, we embraced is new found veganism and supported his decision. But when my dear vegan brother came to visit and asked me to host is birthday dinner for him and our parents, I suddenly became aware that I had NO idea what to make him! I've cooked many vegetarian meals, but thinking of a meal that everyone, including my kids, would enjoy became a consuming task. Until I came across this little gem.

Vegan Crispy Coconut Lime Cauliflower Tacos with Home Made Vegan Mayo

(it's not as daunting as it sounds)

The first major appealing feature of this recipe is that it didn't require any 'odd' ingredients that required an special visit to a local health food store. It was all stuff I could get easily. The Vegan mayo I replaced with a Vegan Mayo I made myself - the recipe was another Pinterest find.

The second was it could easily pass as non-vegan for my kids. I just told them they were crunchy tacos and they ate them all up!!

See how tasty that looks? Amazing that it looks almost exactly like the pics in the link! How rare is that!

For my first completely vegan meal, it came together quite easily. There was the usually dip - dredge - repeat with the cauliflower as you find with any breaded recipe. As I mentioned before, all the ingredients were things that I normally kept in my fridge or pantry so no special shopping trips or expenses were required. Making the mayo was obviously an extra step. I decided I didn't want a large container of mayo since I already had traditional mayo in the fridge and I'm the only one who eats it in my house. I found the link (see above) which clearly went through three separate recipes for home made vegan mayo - I chose the second with soy milk and olive oil. It was a perfect base for the sauce in this taco recipe, and my brother took the rest with him to eat during his visit.

The cauliflower was crispy on the outside and perfectly flavoured. The coleslaw and aloi were a perfect addition and added a lot of flavour. We added a little dash of a favourite hot sauce for the adults, this recipe is a total winner. And even my brother the vegan agreed!

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Blueberry Orange Oatmeal Muffins - Win

I do love my muffins!

Now that I'm back to shift work and the kiddos are in daycare, I actually get a bit of time to do some large batch cooking. This time was some home made granola bars and muffins. Instead of going to my usual apple muffins, I decided to try something new. Plus I had an orange sitting around that needed to be used.

This is yet another solid recipe from Damn Delicious. I only made two variations, - using vanilla greek yogurt instead of plain, and I omitted the vanilla extract (mostly cause I didn't have any) and using just regular sugar instead of Turbinado. Just as described these are a hearty and tasty muffin, and the smell simply delicious. I mean who doesn't love the smell of orange zest?

The batch whipped up quickly and the keep very well. The only difference is that the recipe states that it makes 11 muffins but I came out with 14. Maybe I just make mine a bit smaller, but keep that in mind when trying this one out.

These muffins are perfect for breakfast or snacks, and will definitely end up in our lunch bags as a tasty and healthy treat.

Enjoy!

Oven Bacon - Win!

We have been doing Oven Bacon for so long that I totally forgot it was one of my original pins! I really can't believe it, it was such a good pin that it got integrated into our weekly lives so easily.

We have a tradition in our house that most Sundays my hubby cooks pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast. The process used to take a ridiculous amount of time before a) we got a griddle and b) we discovered oven bacon. 

No more cooking in small batches and dealing with splatters or unevenly cooked bacon! Now your bacon can be cooked with minimal mess and ends up perfect every time!

The original pin was from Here. We've adjusted our method to baking at 425 because we like crispy bacon and it cuts on time a bit. Tinfoil is essential to minimize mess. This can easily be done on a standard cookie plan with a small edge, or anything you have that's similar. Cook time is 15-20 minutes depending on your temp, bacon thickness, and desired crispyness. I start checking it after about 10-12 minutes and monitor closely. 

Each piece is flat, crispy, and cooked evenly. 

Why didn't we think of this earlier!

mmm...now I want more bacon.

Enjoy!

Super Easy Pizza Dough - Win!

We had some visitors a few weeks ago and got an amazing housewarming present - a pizza stone!
Now I remember when I was a kid, you used to be able to buy uncooked pizza dough. We loved making pizzas, and the taste never compares to frozen or delivered. Sorry, Panago.
I've told myself for years "I have to make pizza dough" but I've never actually done it. Well, with our new fancy pizza stone, I finally have run out of excuses. PLUS it can go on the BBQ! Seriously, this thing is amazing.

The recipe from Mom's Need to Know was super easy to put together (hence the name) and makes four decent sized thin crust pizzas. If you want thicker crust or larger, split the dough in half instead of in four. Right off the bat I made 3 different pizzas using my stone on the BBQ, and froze the fourth bit of dough. I was cooking for 6 people so there are no pics. Sorry!
My second time was whipping up a pizza in the oven (it was raining) before soccer using the extra dough I had frozen before.

Yes, apparently there is still soccer games when you sink ankle deep into the field because it's so wet.
Good thing tomorrow is laundry day.

The dough comes together easily and is really tasty. It makes a perfect crust, not doughy or chewy, or over cooked. It's a really solid recipe. The recipe suggests flour on the pizza stone / pan which is highly recommended so it doesn't stick. Next time I may get cornmeal which may be a nice touch. I've even doubled this batch and it still worked great. It will be more work if you don't have a stand up mixer, and it'll need more time in the mixer if you do. It was also stickier then the first batch, but it worked out perfectly.

 

Making a well, as seen above, is the method used to mix the wet ingredients and the yeast. There are other methods around, but this worked fine for me.

Before and after rising of the double batch

Homemade pizza is awesome since you can pick and choose and make what ever you want. This is easily a recipe you can make, then bake a pizza for one or two people. We really enjoy it on the pizza stone, but any baking pan would do! Try and make your own pizza dough, you'll never go back to take out again!

Enjoy!

One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta - Win!

Yet another winner from Damn Delicious! Seriously, this girl has a lot of solid recipes.

As the move-in-chaos settles down I'm slowly getting back into cooking. But I'm also very quickly getting uninspired and bored of my recipes. Maybe it's because I have a really bad desire to reno my kitchen, I'm not sure. So once again Pinterest came to save the dinner!

One Pot Garlic Parmesan Pasta.

Seriously some of my favourite words in this recipe, one pot, garlic, and pasta. Can't go wrong here! And when I asked my hubby after a few bites what he thought, and the response was "Can't talk - Devouring", I figured this is a good one. The recipe is super easy and involves your every day ingredients. And as advertised, it's an under 30 minute dinner.

I personally had a few hiccups, but that could be because I'm still working out the kinks in my new stove (medium heat is hot, and high heat is 'better call the pizza guy, Mommy just burnt dinner'). Mainly my pot ran out of liquid and I ended up adding about one additional cup of milk while cooking. This could be because a) too much heat or b) too much pasta. SO next time I'll start with a bit more liquid and go from there.

Also, when it says stir...STIR! I had to whip out my wooden spatula and scrape the bottom a few times to keep the pasta from sticking.

I used 1% milk, spaghetti instead of fettuccine, and added a pinch of thyme, and the recipe was amazing. 

Now the pasta alone is obviously vegetarian. It can be served as a side, or you could amp it up with some meat and or veggies and make it a full meal. This time I used grilled chicken and broccoli and it was perfect. Even my son, who has been refusing any dinner that isn't PB&J for about a week, devoured it. The possibilities are endless! Broccoli, asparagus, peas, bean, or even wilt some spinach in there and it would be a lovely addition. And chicken, shrimp, salmon, or lobster if you want to go decadent, for proteins. This can easily go from one pot side to a full balanced meal with a couple additions and still remain an easy week night meal. 

My hubby wanted to lick the bowl. Really. Not kidding. 

This recipe will definitely be in our regular rotation. Check it out for something a little different!

Enjoy!

Honey Garlic Slow Cooker Chicken - Fail

I haven't had a food fail in a while! 
Now I admit part of this was my fault. I've never (knowingly) tried Hoisen sauce before. And I also tend to research my recipes by reading comments, etc before trying them. Actually, the comments was one of the things that drove me to start this blog. I mean how many times do you read "Oh that looks tasty" but no one has actually TRIED it!? Yah, so that was a motivator for this, because I actually try it and write about it.

Moving on...

So I'm continuing my love affair with my slow cooker but looking for new recipes to try. We like our Asian style foods, so the recipe for Honey Garlic chicken from InspiredDreamer sounded perfect. A bit more complex then normal since I had to go purchase Hoisen sauce, something I never had on hand but I figured I'd give it a whirl. The recipe sounded solid enough. Results? Not so much.



The chicken was SUPER salty. Like, you can't taste anything but salt. I even went over the recipe again after we at it to make sure I followed it correctly, which I did. I only eliminated the pepper flakes since my boys don't like spicy foods and added a small dash of chilli powder instead. The hoisin sauce plus the soy sauce make a super salty combination. No honey or garlic taste at all, and thats after 5 (large) garlic cloves!

I may try this recipe again, either seriously reducing the hoisin or soy sauce, or both, or eliminating one completely. But if that doesn't work this recipe will definitely not be returning to this house. And it has sadly been labeled a fail. 

Keeping Fruit Fresh - The Vinegar Soak Method - Win!

I love fruit, but I hate fruit. 
I love the freshness, but hate the not-so-freshness after a couple of days. Like fuzzy bits on my 3 day old blueberries, or mushy spots on my strawberries.

Yesh.

I found this idea a while ago, but never put it to practice. I've decided 2015 will be a me year. No more kids, time for me to get my health on track. And the Hubby is on board, I even have a contract :D So that means my fridge is stuffed full of fresh fruits and veggies.
Veggies aren't so much of a problem. We're big salad eaters and most of the vegetables we buy are hardy enough to last out the week or even more. Fruit, not so much. By the time I get to it it's gone bad. So here I am trying to salvage my berries. There are a few different versions of this vinegar soak, varying on amount of vinegar and time to soak. I won't post links, since I honestly looked at a few to get the general idea then just winged it.

Day One - Friday

Blueberries and Strawberries - Day One Date of Purchase

Purchased one container of strawberries and one of blueberries, all of which were in good condition when I got them home. No fuzzy or soft spots. I check my containers religiously before I buy them, because I HATE seeing fuzzy fruit in the store. Yuck. If you find any - pitch the fuzzy offenders in the garbage.
I proceeded to do a soak using 10 cups water and 1 cup white vinegar for 10 minutes. If you're doing a larger amount use more water/vinegar, but the 10:1 ratio seems to work. I left the berries on a paper towel for a good couple hours to make sure they were dry. Moisture is not your friend, so spread them out so the berries don't touch and they can dry completely. I did not rinse them after the vinegar soak.

Day Four - Monday

Day Four

So I'm totally a convert already. We only have a few berries left and they are still in perfect condition, as you can see. No fuzzy or soft spots, still taste great. No vinegar flavour after the soak, even without rinsing. I've even had to set aside a few berries that we are not allowed to eat to see how long we can go, but so far, this is a definite winner!

Day Seven - Thursday

Day Seven

Only on day seven the fruit started to look a little peaked. The strawberries (the two that remained) were looking a little dried out and there were two blueberries with fuzz on them. But both tasted fine and made it a whole week compared to just a couple days.


A note on the soaks. On day five of my Berry Soak Experiment I went out and bought another container of strawberries and blueberries and set them to soak in the vinegar solution. And since I'm a busy mom of two, I completely forgot about them. Oops! So instead of 10 minutes they sat in the soak for over and hour. However they seem to have had no ill effects and have no bad smell or taste.
And after a few days the 'extended soak', the berries seem to be fairing well. So length of soak does not seem to harm the berries, but learn from my mistakes and set a timer.

Final opinion?
Total winner. Especially in a time of year where berries are out of season, and therefore expensive and arrive at the store not-so-fresh, taking 10 minutes to soak your berries is a definite food and money saver. There is no vinegar flavour at all left over from the soak. This one extra step in you weekly food prep can be a huge saver!

The Quest for the Perfect Soft Boiled Egg - Volume Two

Success! We have success!
After my failed breakfast I was both hesitant and excited to try this again. I found another pin from Pinterest on Soft Boiled Eggs, this one a little different but seemed to produce solid soft results.

And the outcome? 

Perfect soft boiled eggs! Whites were nice and firm, yolks still runny but cooked. Perfect for dipping, or what ever other tasty creations you have for your soft boiled eggs. 

I've tried this recipe a couple times to ensure no-fail status and I am pleased to say the total of 8 eggs I made turned out the same (except for the lone one that exploded).

This is a definite winner for those who have trouble with the perfect soft boiled egg!

The Quest for the Perfect Soft Boiled Egg - Volume One

A couple months ago a friend of mine posted on Facebook about how she was discussing breakfasts with some coworkers and was weirded out that none of them had heard of Soft Boiled Eggs and Toast Solders. None of them.
My brother and I grew up on these tasty breakfast items, we called them Dipper Eggs. Must be my Scottish heritage. It was always a fun morning when we got to draw faces on our eggs, boil them, then lop their heads off and dip out the insides with toast sticks (solders). Yummy!
So back in November my mom came out for a visit to help with the kids while my hubby banked some major overtime, and I told her about my friends Facebook post. And that in turn became a challenge to find egg cups to hold the tasty soft boiled eggs we were going to make the next morning.

You know how many stores we went to that didn't have egg cups, or even know what they were?? 5. FIVE! Then my mom went to two other stores back in my home town and finally at store #7 was able to find lovely little egg cups.

So Christmas morning I open a box and inside was 6 little egg cups. Dipper eggs for breakfast!! Well, not Christmas Day, that was another tasty breakfast I'll report on later.

Getting to the point - Since I have not eaten dipper eggs in about 15 years, and my mom hasn't made them either. So off to Pinterest, cause it's my new recipe Google. There are so many different ways to cook soft boiled eggs!

I decided to go with the 'traditional' method. Once water is boiling, place eggs GENTLY into the water, remove pot from heat and let sit for 5 min as per the instructions. 
Results - FAIL
Eggs were barely cooked, whites were still very runny.

So the eggs (except for the one we cracked into) were returned to the water, plus one more. Boiled for 3 minutes, keeping the pot on the heat this time.
Results - Hard boiled eggs.
The egg that was replaced and not re-cooked was left in for a bit longer (I can't remember the time) and was sort of soft but mostly hard boiled. 
Fail again. But at least edible this time.

I was so disappointed I didn't even take a picture to document my failure.

I will continue to attempt to prefect the soft boiled egg, because I really want my son to experience this awesome breakfast.

Stay tuned for Volume Two

Cauliflower Cheddar Soup - Win

I started this post on Rememberance Day, which is always a hard day for me. Every veteran, every poppy, every song played by bagpipes make me think of my Grandpa, a WWII veteran. He passed away 10 years ago this past April. 
When I have a 'sad day' I tend to want to cook, bake, and roast. Note the 'and'. The only reasons I didn't make a huge batch of cookies on top of our Tuesday feast is we're still digging through masses of Halloween candy and we don't need more sugar in the house. 

But I digress

I pinned this recipe under the 'get more vegetables into my kid' recipes. Sadly, Munchkin doesn't like it, but that's because it's White Soup instead of my normal roasted vegetable Orange Soup. He won't eat it because it's not orange, not because of the flavour. I even tried adding broccoli another time to make it green (his favourite colour) and he still refused to try it on the basis that it's not the Orange Soup. Either way, the Hubby and I still like it!

This soup from Closet Cooking is very easy to make and tastes fantastic. The original recipe calls for cream and bacon bits for topping. Bacon is a treat in our house, so it's not a regular thing I have, and I'm not buying cream just for one recipe. So the bacon was eliminated and skim milk was used instead and I still ended up with a lovely, creamy soup. I also reduced the amount of broth to two cups with no ill-effect. 

Perfectly roasted

Simmering away, smelling wonderful

You can see the large pot of soup in the back of the picture below. You get a good amount for one head of cauliflower. 

I went a little kitchen crazy - soup, roasted veggies, and pot roast. And I made muffins...

The soup is lovely, and the roasting adds a lovely flavour. The second time around I added about half a broccoli head to the roasting (to make it green) and it still tasted great. This is a great make-ahead recipe for a dinner party, and keeps well for 2-3 days.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken - Win

Another Slowcooker win!
This recipe is perfect, with the right amount of sweet and heat. Very very simple to make with only a few ingredients, and can easily be made with frozen chicken if you adjust your cooking time. 

This winner is another via Family Fresh Meals. 
Now the BBQ sauce clearly affects the outcome of this dinner. I moved away from our usual sauce to try the recommended Sweet Baby Ray's, and I think we have a new favourite sauce! Feel free to use your favourite sauce, as long as it's a thicker sauce since you always end up with more liquid at the end of a Slowcooker meal. 

 

I definitely recommend following the suggestion of fresh kaiser buns and coleslaw for this dinner. The coleslaw adds a bit of a tart crunch that works very well. There is just a bit of heat to this chicken, I'm sure you could add in chili or even chipotle powder if you like an extra kick. Corn on the cob and a cold beer round this meal out perfectly. 
I plan to try this again with beef or pork, I think it'll be amazing!

UPDATE
I have tried this with pork and it was amazing. Make sure you use a shoulder cut of pork, since a smaller cut will dry out. Pork won't be our go-to for this recipe due to price, but it's a very lovely treat!
Enjoy!

Microwave Potato Chips - Fail

Who doesn't love chips? Seriously. It's a problem, my love of chips. But they don't love me. Or maybe they love me too much, but just my hips. If you catch my drift. So microwave potato chips? Low on the fat, high on the taste! Seems too good to be true?

It is. 

This recipe needs some experimentation and I will update if I succeed in creating crispy tasty chips in my microwave. But for now, the 3 crispy 'chips' I received out of my one potato amid the soggy and the burnt isn't really doing it for me.
There are varying methods for this recipe which may explain the lack of success. Some say soak/rinse the potato slices first, some use oil and others don't, some use parchment paper. Cooking times vary between 3-6 minutes per side. 
I rinsed my potato slices, used a small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper, and placed the potato slices on a plate lined with parchment paper. I cooked the slices for about 10 min per side in 3-5 minute intervals in order to prevent burning. I only burned the last few. The rest were slightly crunchy on the outer edge but soft in the middle. Not very chip like. 

I plan to continue to experiment and I'll post my final successful recipe (if I get one). If anyone has suggestions, please leave them in the comments!

Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken - win!

I'm slowly falling in love with my slow cooker. The whole "set it and forget it" dinner prep is very appealing. And this recipe is a fantastic addition to my slow cooker recipe book!

The Sesame Chicken recipe literally takes 10 minutes to prep. The sauce turns out lovely and thick, but a bit on the sweet side for our tastes. Next time I may add a bit more spice and cut down the sweetness, but that's just our preference. 
I made a few alterations to the recipe 

1) I replaced 1 tbsp of olive oil for sesame oil. I love the flavour it gives Asian style foods
2) I only added 1/4 cup honey because that is all I had. I added 1.5 Tbsp of brown sugar to make it up, but I may cut it down next time
3) Onion was replaced with onion powder (I forgot I had one)
4) Chili instead of flakes

This was a quick and easy recipe. Four chicken breasts made a huge amount, we had decent dinner portions and enough for left overs. Round out your meal with some quick brown rice and steamed veggies and it's the perfect weeknight dinner with minimal effort

UPDATE
I've made this recipe a few times now. It really tastes better and cuts on the sweetness if you can use real onion, so do so if you can. I'm not an onion fan, so I still reduced the amount and had good results. And 1/4 cup honey and 1-2 tbsp brown sugar was plenty sweet enough for us, so you can adjust this recipe to your own tastes. 

Enjoy!

Simple Sesame Noodles - Win!

Back after a very long break. Pregnancy nausea and cooking don't really go well together :)

This was one of the first recipes I tried as I entered back into the kitchen. I've now made it twice and it was a huge hit both times. Takes about 10 minutes to make, even if you decide to add some protein to it!

Simple Sesame Noodles (with revisions)

12 ounces, fluid thin noodles, cooked and drained (Japanese noodles, linguini, angel hair, or spaghetti - which is what I used.)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar (I used brown sugar)
4 garlic cloves (I only used 3 - they were huge)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp pure sesame oil
1/2 tsp hot chili oil (replaced with 1/4 tsp chili powder)
4 tbsp canola oil (reduced to 1tbsp only)
4 whole green onions, sliced thin (Omitted - I didn't have any)
ADDITION TO ORIGINAL RECIPE - cooked shrimp or 1 inch chunks of cooked chicken, no seasoning added, cooked in sesame/canola oil (1/2 tbsp total)

Whisk together ingredients in a bowl (except noodles and green onion). Pour sauce over warm noodles and toss.
Sprinkle with green onion, toss if you wish
Serve!

This recipe is fantastic cause it fast, easy, and versatile. Again total cooking / prep time is about 10-15 minutes so this is the perfect weeknight dinner. You can easily add chicken, shrimp, or tofu plus a variety of vegetables to this recipe to round it out as a full meal. Personally I find a bowl of noodles a little unsatisfying. Pasta could be swapped for gluten free as well. 
I found the amount of oil used to be WAY too much and I never used the maximum. Next time I may eliminate the canola oil totally, or do two and two of sesame and canola oil. Cutting the oil still provided enough sauce to cover the noodles with a lovely taste. I may swap the sugar for honey next time to see if it adds to the flavour. The onion would be a great addition, so I'll plan to have it on hand next time. This time I simply garnished with sesame seeds for visual appeal. 

Not totally toddler approved - the garlic and sesame is quite potent, but I got a few bites in. 

Overall a definite win and it'll be in our regular menu!

Teriyaki Chicken - Win!

Back to the food!

I have a love - hate relationship with jarred sauces and marinades. Love the convenience. Hate the sodium, additives, and sometimes even the taste. I usually end up adding in some herbs or spices of my own to tweak the flavours.
I've been looking for a good teriyaki sauce for a while, our jarred sauce is getting boring and frankly is way too sweet. And here is another Pinterest win!

Teriyaki Chicken

The modifications I made will be noted.

Ingredients
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp cold water
1/2 cup white sugar (substituted for 1/2 cup BROWN sugar)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup cider vinegar (substituted for 1/2 cup rice vinegar)
1 clove garlic, minced (increased to 2 cloves)
1/2 tsp ground ginger (fresh grated ginger was used)
1/4 tsp black pepper
12 skinless chicken thighs (substituted for 2 skinless/boneless chicken breasts)
Sesame oil for cooking
Vegetables of your choice - broccoli, cauliflower, carrots were my pick
Brown rice

** The following is the cooking instructions I used since I diverted from the original. Please visit The Baking Beauties for the original instructions. 
In a small saucepan over low heat, combine cornstarch, water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger and pepper. Let simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens
While the sauce thickens, wash and slice your vegetables, and dice up your chicken. Heat a pan with the sesame oil. Cook your chicken pieces - you may lightly season with salt and pepper if you like.
Saute your vegetables in a saute pan with water. Don't forget your rice (I used minute microwave rice)
When chicken is cooked you can either leave it in bit sized chucks or take two forks and shred it. Add the sauce to your chicken.
Serve with rice and vegetables. 


I diverted from the original instructions for the sake of time, since they said to bake the chicken and baste it with the sauce. Sounds amazing, but time consuming. So I went to the standard stir fry technique. 

It turned out fantastic. My hubby who is a teriyaki lover really approves of this recipe. The rice vinegar adds a nice bite to the sauce (it can be reduced if you like but don't cut it out). The sauce is nice and thick and covers things nicely.
And yes, it's Munchkin approved.

Another Pinterest food win!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos - Win

After the last slow cooker recipe I was hesitant to try again, but a co-worker of mine put me onto this recipe. She told me her little man ate this and claimed "THESE ARE THE BEST TACOS EVER" so I had to give it a try.

Huge advantage to this recipe? Super simple and you can eat the final results lots of ways. You can tweak the heat level to your liking as well. 

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

INGREDIENTS
3-4 chicken breasts
8oz taco seasoning (I used my own mix - recipe here)
2 cups salsa

Spray slow cooker with non-stick spray, or use a liner to help with clean up. Place chicken breasts into slow cooker, cover chicken with taco seasoning. Pour salsa over chicken and spread it out so it covers everything. 

Cook on LOW for 8 hours. **NO PEAKING**
Once cooked, take two forks and shred the chicken. It will help absorb all the salsa left over and turn into a thicker mixture. 

Serve with rice, on tacos (hard or soft), tortilla chips, whatever you like!

This recipe was fantastic. Really easy to do. I halved the recipe (2 chicken breasts) and we had lots of chicken and even left overs for a couple lunches the next day (still tasty). The Munchkin ate it too! We had it on soft and hard taco shells with the usual fixings. A definite win and a new twist to taco night!

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Chicken Spaghetti - Fail (unless you love onion)

It's not often I have a recipe fail. I tend to pick my recipes carefully according to what my family will eat and what I know I can cook. I'll occasionally push my skills with good result. Even though slow cookers are easy, I'm new to these recipes and slow cooking is uncharted territory. I feel this recipe failed for two main reasons.
1) WAAAAY too much onion. I followed the recipe fairly exactly and I thought the onion would cook down more. It didn't. Every single bite had onion in it. Every.One. So unless you LOVE onion, reduce or cut it out.
2) I didn't like that this recipe required already cooked chicken and pasta. This would be a good leftover type meal - where you have leftovers from other nights and combine them for a new meal. Not much of a time saver when you have to cook chicken and pasta prior to using the slow cooker

Crock-pot Chicken Spaghetti

1 lb cooked chicken, diced
1 lb package of spaghetti, cooked and drained
1 medium onion, diced
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can Rotel (canned diced tomatoes)
16oz Velveeta, cubed
1/2 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste

MODIFICATIONS - when I made this recipe I made 3 modifications 
1) Macaroni instead of spaghetti
2) 8oz of Velveeta (I did't buy the right one) and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3) 1/2 cup water instead of broth (I didn't want to open a whole carton for just 1/2 cup)

Dump everything in the crockpot, give it a stir to combine it all, and cover.  Cook on low about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 


If I ever made this recipe again I'd cut the onion completely and use a little green onion as a garnish at the finish for colour and flavour. The flavour was bland, but it might have just been overpowered by onion. I'd also probably add some mustard or spice into the mix to kick things up a bit. Maybe I'll try this again, but it won't be in the regular rotation since of the extra pre-cooking required. Even the Munchkin didn't like it and he'll eat anything that resembles Mac and Cheese. 

Primal Fudge - Win!

Looking to deal with your chocolate fix? How about healthy fudge? 15 minutes to chocolately heaven? HECK YES!
This recipe is quick, easy and super tasty! It's vegetarian too! Original recipe from here.
This recipe involves coconut oil which is my new favourite thing. I've been using it as a hair mask and on my skin (love it but a heavy scent), and now with cooking in place of oil or butter. It's a lovely alternative and doesn't always leave a coconut taste. If you have never used coconut oil before it is solid at room temperature but it melts even in your hands. I kept a small jar in my bathroom for hair masks and it was constantly liquid in the summer months from the increased temperature (no AC in my neck of the woods). You can use a microwave to melt your oil, but some people believe it ruins the health benefits so do so carefully. Again, you won't need much heat to melt your coconut oil. 


Primal Fudge

Ingredients
1/2 cup Coconut Oil
1/2 cup high quality cocoa powder
1/2 cup smooth almond butter
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup (I used honey)
1/2 tsp vanilla




Melt coconut oil. Blend ingredients (Original recipe says to use blender or food processor, but a spoon/whisk worked just fine for me). 




Pour mixture into lined muffin tins, filling about half full. Chill in fridge for 30 minutes or in the freezer for 10. When firm - remove from tin.



















These are FANTASTIC. They store well in the fridge or freezer and are great for a quick chocolate fix. They get fairly melty once out of the fridge, so eat them quick!

Enjoy!!

Crock Pot Creamy Tomato Pasta - eh, Fail

I think this is the first recipe in a long time that has actually not worked out! This recipe wasn't a total fail but it definitely needs some major tweaks to get into our regular menu routine. I mean it was super easy to put together, but didn't really win us over. The recipe is from here.

Creamy Tomato Pasta
1 24 oz jar Spaghetti Sauce
1 16 oz jar Cheesy Ragu Alfredo Sauce or Ragu Roasted Garlic Parmesan Sauce
1/2 pound large pasta like Farfalle or Rigatoni
Parmesan Cheese

Not Ragu but it's what I had

Directions
Combine spaghetti and cheesy sauce in crock pot. Boil pasta as per directions on package. Drain and rinse (if you choose to rinse your pasta). Pour pasta into crock pot and mix together so sauce covers pasta. Cook on low for 1 hour. Serve with Parmesan Cheese

Sauce ready to go

Directions are dead easy. Taste was a bit off for me, but that's just me. I used an Alfredo sauce because I couldn't find the Roasted Garlic which I thought would have tasted better. It was just a weird taste and a bit bland. I figure next time I'd add in some chilli powder or flakes and some chicken for protein. So like I said, not a total fail but needs some work. But the easy directions is a definite win for me!

Comment if you tried this with modifications! I'll update when I come back to this recipe with adjustments