Slow-Cooked Orange-Ginger Chicken

I have to admit that I've only recently tried out using fresh ginger. And, I must say, the smell of it alone is enough reason for me to keep using it! It smells so good! So, if you've never tried it before, you should. I used what I needed and then minced the rest in my little Ninja and froze it. Then I just break off a chunk when I need some. (Alternately, you can grate it off the frozen hunk, but I think it's easier to just break it).

This recipe originally called for making these into lettuce wraps, but I think it's better just served over rice. But, you can try the lettuce wraps if you want. I also decided that I would rather eat the orange slices on the side, not added to the chicken, but I don't really like warm oranges... You can also add some vegetables like bell peppers or whatever you like. So, there are some alternatives for you.


(Picture from Lisa's Kitchen Blog http://www.livingthecountrylife.com/blogs/lisas-kitchen/2012/06/18/slow-cooker-orange-ginger-chicken/)

Slow Cooker Orange-Ginger Chicken
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. orange juice
4 tsp. soy sauce
4 tsp. ginger, freshly grated or from a jar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes, or a dash of cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 orange (zest and fruit)
3 green onions, sliced
rice, white or brown
lettuce (optional)

Place chicken into a greased 5- to 6-quart slow cooker. In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, vinegar, juice, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes and the zest of one orange. Whisk to combine and pour over meat in slow cooker, turning to coat. Cover and cook 3-4 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low, or until chicken is cooked through and tender.

Prepare rice, using some of the juices from the crock pot, if desired.

While the rice is cooking, remove chicken pieces to a cutting board and shred into bite-sized pieces. Return to slow cooker. Cut orange segments into bite-sized pieces and fold into the mixture, if desired. Add the scallions as well.

Serve over rice, or if using lettuce, scoop some rice and chicken onto a lettuce leaf to eat.

Recipe adapted from Lisa's Kitchen Blog at www.livingthecountrylife.com 

Tiernan's Triple Chip Cookies

T wanted to make cookies with me today and he thought cookies with tons of chips sounded really good so we made triple chip cookies. He went with me to the basement to find a good (Tiernan approved) variety of chips and we came up with white chocolate, milk chocolate, and cinnamon chips which was a great combination. The cinnamon chips are really the stars of these cookies, adding just the right flavor.

Tiernan was putting cookies on the trays and as he scooped the dough into the cookie scoop he kept saying "I just have to squarsh this in" - haha! Do I detect some of Dad's Nebraska roots in there? Then one time after squarshing the dough into the scoop he had a bit left on his hand and he licked his whole hand in one smooth lick. I told him to hop right down and go wash his hands and he said to himself, "Oh, I should have left it there."  :)

T is so proud of these delicious cookies!! He's made sure that everyone has had at least one, I think he's had about 12, and he's wondering if perhaps he could sell them at a stand, you know, like a lemonade stand but with cookies. They're that good!

We tweaked this recipe from Bakerella by changing the chips we used and also she said the cookies were crispy the next day and I prefer to avoid that if possible so we used shortening for half of the butter. (There may not be any left to test tomorrow so I'm just assuming they would be soft that way.)

Tiernan's Triple Chip Cookies

1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C shortening
3/4 C white sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C white chocolate chips
1 1/2 C milk chocolate chips
1 C cinnamon chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixer bowl, mix butter, shortening, and both sugars for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs and mix until thoroughly combined. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; mix until thoroughly combined. Add chips and stir until incorporated into the batter. (It may look like there are more chips than batter but just go with it - you'll be glad you did.)

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Use a cookie scoop to form cookies and place 2" apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove to cooling racks to cool as long as you can keep hands away from them...

Makes 5 dozen.

These are scrumptious as a veggie or an appetizer!  I didn't even know mini bell peppers existed, but they do and they're just a tad sweeter than regular bell peppers.

Mini Sweet Bell Peppers

Ingredients

• 1 (1 lb) container miniature bell peppers
• 1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2/3 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
  

Directions

1. Cut tops of peppers and, if necessary, clean out peppers.
2. Warm cheese in microwave, then add garlic and parmesan, mix well.
3. Spread mix into pepper and bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees (or until peppers are soft).
   

Au Gratin Potatoes

Jeff loves Au Gratin Potatoes so I decided to make them from scratch for his b-day dinner.  Everyone who would try them loved them...i.e. me, Jeff and Amelia.  : )  And they're really not hard to make. 
The original recipe calls for sliced onions to be layered with the potatoes, but I just used a little onion powder in the sauce instead, since Jeff would not have eaten these otherwise.  : )

Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes

4 medium russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4" slices
1 onion, sliced into thin rings (or about 1/4 tsp. onion powder)
salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C. milk
1 1/2 C. shredded Cheddar cheese *

Preheat the oven to 400°.  Butter a 2-quart casserole dish.
Layer 1/2 of the potatoes into the bottom of the prepared dish.  Top with the onion slices, if using, and add the remaining potatoes on top of the onions. 
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
In a medium size saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Mix in the flour and salt, and stir constantly with a whisk for one minute.  Stir in milk.  Cook until mixture has thickened.  Stir in cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds.  Pour cheese over the potatoes, and cover the dish with aluminum foil.
Bake 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven, or until potatoes are done.

(To speed it up a bit, I pre-cooked the potatoes in the microwave for about 10 minutes and then sliced them up.  Then I only had to bake this for about 30-40 minutes in the oven.)

Serves 4

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Maple Fudge

This fudge is just divine.  It might be easy to eat the whole pan without even thinking about it so it's one of those recipes to share. :)  I used fat-free evaporated milk (which is just made with skim milk) and it worked great.  Nothing better than healthy fudge!  haha.

Maple Fudge

1 C butter, cubed
2 C packed brown sugar
1 can (5oz) evaporated milk
1 tsp maple flavoring (such as Mapleine)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
2 C powdered sugar

Line an 8-in square pan with foil; spray foil with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and milk.  Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat.

Stir in maple flavoring, vanilla and salt.  Add powdered sugar; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes or until smooth.  Immediately spread into prepared pan.  Cool completely.

Using foil, lift fudge out of pan.  Remove foil; cut** into small squares.  Store in an airtight container.

Yield: 1 3/4 pounds

**It's easiest to use a really long knife and make one cut straight down otherwise the fudge will crumble into non-square but still delicious pieces.


From Taste of Home

I really don't like corn dogs from the store or fast food joints, but these are super tasty.  Jeremy loves corn dogs and I tried baking corn dogs to make them a bit healthier, but that didn't work so I gave up and tried these.  They're yummy!

Corn Dogs

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2003

Prep Time: 20 min

Inactive Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 5 min

Serves: 8 corn dogs

Ingredients

• 1 gallon oil
• 1 to 1 ¾ cups yellow cornmeal (enough to make a fairly thick batter)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons (approximately 1 large) jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely minced (optional)
• 1 (8.5-ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1/3 cup finely grated onion
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch, for dredging
• 2 packages hot dogs
  

Directions

Special equipment: 8 sets chopsticks, not separated
Pour oil into a large heavy pot and heat to 375 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cayenne pepper. In a separate bowl, combine the jalapeno, corn, onion, and buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients all at once, and stir only enough times to bring the batter together; there should be lumps. Set batter aside and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Scatter the cornstarch into a dry pie pan. Roll each hot dog in the cornstarch and tap well to remove any excess.
Transfer enough batter to almost fill a large drinking glass. Refill the glass as needed. Place each hot dog on skewer, and quickly dip in and out of the batter. Immediately and carefully place each hot dog into the oil, and cook until coating is golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. With tongs, remove to cooling rack, and allow to drain for 3 to 5 minutes.

Browned Butter Snickerdoodles

These are scrumptious!

Browned Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies

by Monique of Ambitious Kitchen

Prep Time 40 Minutes Cook Time 10 Minutes

Servings 20

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients

• FOR THE COOKIES:
• 2-½ cups All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoons Cream Of Tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoons Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 2 sticks Unsalted Butter
• 1-¼ cup Dark Brown Sugar
• ½ cups Granulated Sugar
• 1  Egg
• 1  Egg Yolk
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla Yogurt
• FOR THE ROLLING MIXTURE
• ¼ cups Granulated Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
  

Preparation Instructions

For the cookies:
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and set aside. NOTE: Make sure your baking soda and cream of tartar are fresh!
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low speed just until combined.
Chill your dough in the refrigerator (important!) until the dough is cold about 30-60 minutes. If you desire a puffier cookie, keep the dough in the fridge overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Once dough is chilled, measure about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. Meanwhile, mix the rolling mixture ingredients in a bowl. Roll balls in the cinnamon-sugar rolling mixture. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. If you desire a thinner cookie, flatten the tops of the cookies a tiny bit (very tiny) with your hand.
Bake the cookies 7-9 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.