Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

This morning, all of Southern California awoke to rain, hail and in some places snow. It turned out to be a perfect day.

Recipe for a Happy Sunday: 
Read for hours in bed
Make soup for lunch
Throw a meal in the crock pot, which took less than 20 minutes
Efficiently get report cards done
Clean apartment top to bottom
Eat yummy dinner
Get back in bed and read some more

I wanted to quickly share the recipe I saw on Pinterest this morning. It comes from a blog, Six Sisters' Stuff.  I think I will be going back to their blog for a few more recipes!


Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken: 
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup honey (I used honey and agave nectar)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
4 tsp cornstarch dissolved into water
Sesame Seeds
My additions:
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 Tbsp sriracha sauce
add veggies & water chestnuts if you'd like

1. Season both sides of chicken with salt & pepper, put into crock pot
2. In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients except the cornstarch and pour over chicken.
3. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or high 1 1/2 hours.
4. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce
5. Dissolve cornstarch into 6 tsps water, stir cornstarch mix into sauce in crock pot
6. Let sauce thicken for about 10 minutes (I took the lid off to thicken)
6. Cut chicken into chunks and stir back in with sauce
7. Serve over rice! mmm!

  I think this mix could make a good salad dressing, minus the onion & add in some rice vinegar??

Sprinkly on sesame seeds before serving... enjoy leftovers all week!

Slow Cooker Tri-Tip

I have been eyeballing the tri tip at the grocery store for the past few weeks. Last Thursday, I finally bought some. I didn't just go for a little personal sized steak, but a 2 pound tri-tip roast!   When I saw it I immediately thought..... slow cooker!

Slow Cooker Tri-Tip
2 lb tri-tip roast
1/2 c red wine
1/2 c water
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 tbsp oregano
Salt & Pepper
(I eyeball almost everything so these are estimates)

Set on low for 8 hours... leave for work... come home to a delicious smelling house!

 

It fell apart with melt-in-your-mouth ease

It turned out with the perfect amount of flavor and moisture locked in with a little crust on the outside. For dinner that night, I made a little mexican type lettuce cup...tri-tip, avocado, red onion, and tapatio drizzled on.  Fresh and comforting!

 

*Tip: After roast is cooked, shred all the meat and freeze half of it. 

Later, you can toss back into a pan and reheat or put into a soup!

Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken

 For my first meal post, I thought I would keep it simple. Nothing quite like a warm comforting crockpot meal to come home to. I started out with some organic chicken breasts and coated them with olive oil, pepper and freshly chopped oregano from my garden.

 

First, I lightly browned both sides. Don't cook through, just enough to see the edges turn white.

I find this helps the chicken stay moist, instead of rubbery in the slow cooker.

 Next, I placed my browned chicken in the crockpot and chopped up a few cloves of garlic. Then I thinly sliced 2 lemons, leaving one half unsliced. Place the lemon slices on top of chicken breasts and squeeze the rest of the lemon juice into crockpot. Added some chicken stock and even added a little splash of white wine for extra flavor. Cook on low for 5-6 hours... 

Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken:

3 chicken breasts

Olive Oil

Fresh oregano

Salt & Pepper 

2 lemons (sliced, leaving 1/2 whole) 

2 cups chicken stock

2 Tbsp White wine

Enjoy over rice, with some veggies or fresh pasta! The leftovers are delicious over a salad too!