Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken

Years ago a good friend of mine (Jamie, who I've referenced several times here, and many of you know) made us a teriyaki chicken and rice dinner that was to DIE for. When she offered to make a meal after Malakai was born Ben requested it specifically- same for when we had Desmond.

I don't have her recipe, and I don't think I could make it quite like hers anyhow, but I went searching for my own slowcooker recipe. I found this one on Pinterest and usually just change it to use what I have on hand. For example, I NEVER have red wine vinegar or ground ginger so I just leave those out and it still turns out delicious.

Here is my adaptation of this recipe, which is currently in my crockpot for tonight's dinner.

Ingredients-
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I toss them in straight from the freezer)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbs. oil (take it or leave it)

(Note: Jamie makes hers less spicy for us, but I'm pretty sure she usually includes sriracha sauce)

Directions-
Place the chicken in the slow cooker. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl, pour it over the chicken. Cook on low for 8 or high for 4 hours. I usually do the latter because often I forget that I want to do a crock pot dinner until around lunch time. Mornings are a bit nutty around here, I often don't get my coffee until we've been up for 3-4 hours.

Something random: I always run my crock pot in the garage. Once our entire house (all 900 square feet) smelled of this recipe for days and I couldn't stand it. So I prepare it in the kitchen and then set it on top of my washing machine to smell up the garage. It's much more pleasant than pulling on a garlicky shirt out of the closet the next day.

Anyway, once it's done and I bring it in I throw together some rice. While the rice is cooking I take two forks to shred the chicken, sometimes right in the crockpot, sometimes I take it out and then add it back to the sauce. I stir it and let it soak up some sauce. Once the rice is done just spoon the chicken and sauce over a bed of rice.

This usually makes enough for Ben + I, plus a small portion for Kai (Des will try it for the first time tonight), and there is plenty left over for Ben's lunch the following day. It is still very yummy as a leftover. It's also incredible with a side of roasted or stir fried green beans, which is how Jamie served it to us that first time.

Enjoy!

pizza turned calzone: a whoops dinner

I have been meaning to prepare a homemade pizza for dinner for weeks now. Every time I remember, it's too late to give the dough adequate time to rise. Somehow Tuesday afternoon I remembered and all of the pieces fell together for me to get things done in time for dinner...at first.

I followed this recipe for the dough, except I only let mine rise once and it was plenty. Not sure why this recipe calls for twice. I was able to mix the dough and get it ready while Malakai played in his crib just after happily waking from a 3 hour nap. I then let it rise while we played and cleaned up the house a little bit.

For the sauce, I just sauteed 2 teaspoons or so of minced garlic with a little red onion. Then let it simmer with a can of plain ol' tomato sauce. I had a 15 ounce can and probably used about 12 ounces, but easily could have used less.

Next I shredded about 8 ounces of mozzarella cheese. I then took the raised dough and tore off a small chunk for a mini pizza for Malakai. It turned out fairly thick, but on my Pampered Chef baking stone it only took about 10 minutes to bake all the way through. This little cheese pizza turned out great, and it was so cute.

Speaking of the pizza stone, I had only used it once and it was over a year ago. I wasn't quite sure how to use it so I read up a bit online. I read that it should be seasoned with olive oil and be in the oven while it's preheating to 425 or so. I followed those directions and ended up with a house full of smoke from the oil.

whoops.

In preparation for the next pizza I got out the corn meal to keep the dough from sticking to the cutting board or pan. Except what I had purchased was corn starch.

whoops.

So I sprinkled flour instead, which is what the directions on the above recipe calls for anyway. I then rolled out the rest of the dough, added the remaining sauce and mozzarella as well as a sprinkling of parmesan + romano cheeses. Then I doled out the pre-sliced pieces of pepperoni.

{see how nicely everything seems to be coming together?}

I was nervous about transferring the pizza from my wooden cutting board to the hot baking stone in the oven, and rightfully so. It turns out the dough had stuck to the board. As I tried to pick it up, I was worried about making a hole in it, but there already was one despite how thick I had rolled it out.

whoops.

Ben + I went back and forth about what to do. I tried picking it up with two spatulas, then using both hands, all while Ben was holding the cutting board over the open oven. We were both trying to figure it out while stifling laughter. I was simultaneously about to laugh + cry. I didn't know what to do.

Next,  I tried flouring a thin plastic cutting mat and sliding it underneath the raw pizza. I got it about halfway and it wouldn't go any further. I told Ben that we were either having uncooked pizza for dinner or a giant ball of messy dough + cheese. Then, I realized...that's kind of what a calzone is.

I decided to fold the pizza in half in one last ditch effort to save our meal (and quickly because Ben had to be out the door for worship practice in 30 minutes). I was able to fold it over, quite messily, but it worked. Then I scooped up the dough with both hands while Ben held the cutting board over the oven and I quickly dropped it on.

SUCCESS! So far.

{this picture exhibits all of my feelings in that moment}

{Ben thought it necessary to take a photo of the weirdness as it baked}

I set a timer for 15 minutes and quickly googled how to bake a calzone. It turns out they're supposed to bake at a slightly lower temperature, so I switched it down to 400 and watched carefully. I took it out around 12 minutes or so. It was cooked all the way through!

Since my original plan hadn't been to make a calzone, I had way too much meat and cheese in the middle. I also hadn't sealed the edges properly, so when I cut it  the cheese + sauce came flowing out.

whoops.

Meanwhile, Malakai is chomping away at his perfect little pizza and I'm wishing I would have just made a bunch of tiny pizzas and avoided this issue altogether. That, or used more flour.

When Ben + I finally sat down to eat we were pleasantly surprised. As messy as the whole thing was, and as disappointed as I was that it didn't turn out as planned, it was VERY good!

What kitchen bloopers have you experienced lately?

Mom P's Lasagna

I actually made this lasagna 2 weeks ago and am just now getting around to posting about it. I had plenty of other baked goods to share with you so this one got put off until now. Yes, I'm posting about dinner at 8am. Gives you time to make it to night if you want!

This is my mother-in-law's recipe for lasagna. It's simple + yummy. She gave it to me with a handful of other recipes with my Christmas gift. I didn't realize until making it this time around that I am now also "Mom P." and I had to smile to myself while I was cooking with my little one under foot...

{really underfoot}

So the ingredients first because I always skim through the list of stuff I need when looking at a new recipe. Then either keep reading because I happen to have all those ingredients in my house at that moment, or save for another day when I've had a chance to go to the store. We don't keep a lot of exotic ingredients in my house, so I have to be really inspired to make something to go out to the store and get something for one specific recipe. 

3/4 cup chopped onion (in keeping with the above I used what I had left which was about 1/4 cup)

2 cloves minced garlic 

2 Tablespoons oil (I used olive oil)

1 lb. ground beef (I used turkey)

3 cans, 8 oz. each, tomato sauce (or whatever combo gets you to about 24 oz.)

2 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

8 oz.  cottage cheese (which is 1/2 a container, I used more )

1 egg

8 oz. mozzarella cheese

3 oz. parmesan cheese ( I think I used 6 oz. we really like cheese!)

9 pieces lasagna noodles

Whew! That's a lot of stuff. I used pre-minced garlic so a teaspoon equals about one clove. I had to pick up the turkey, tomato sauce, cottage cheese + mozzarella while stocking up on regular items at the grocery store in order to make this. 

First, cook onion + garlic in the oil until tender. 

Then add ground beef/turkey and cook until brown. Combine tomato sauce, oregano, salt + pepper. 

Simmer 30 minutes or until sauce is thick. 

I let mine simmer while I worked on boiling the noodles, grating the mozzarella + making the cottage cheese mix....

I don't buy pre-grated cheese. So to prepare the 8 oz. I needed I just cut a 1lb (16 oz.) block in half and grated it with a box grater. I've tried the mandolin slicer in the past...not great with cheese. 

Next, try not to trip over your child, if you have a toddler who is awake, I'm sure they are still underfoot.

For the cottage cheese mix, add 8-12 oz. cottage cheese and 1 egg into small bowl and mix well. Cook the lasagna noodles according to the directions on box or 12-15 minutes. Drain water + rinse in cool water. I set my noodles on tin foil while I was working on other things so they wouldn't stick to each other since they were done before I was ready to layer everything. 

Arrange 3 noodles in greased 9x13 pan. Cover with 1/3 of meat sauce, 1/3 of cottage cheese mix, parmesan cheese + sprinkle a little mozzarella. Do this twice more for 3 layers. The rest of the mozzarella goes on top. 

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Can also be prepared ahead of baking + refrigerated. 

I also baked some pre-made biscuits and steamed some green beans for this meal. Malakai loves lasagna. It's one of few meals that works for all 3 of us so far. 

{enjoy!}

As always, if you try any of the recipes I post, let me know! I'd love to hear how it turned out for you and any changes you may have made. 

eating pretty

Why is it that when food looks good it usually tastes so much better? I even get more excited about what I'm eating when it's on our nicer dishes.

Tonight I actually started dinner early {usually I  wait til Ben is home to play with Malakai} and had time to prepare everything and make it look good. We had this wonderful bowl of deliciousness just a couple hours ago. On our nice set of dishes of course.

{excuse the photo quality, took these with my cellphone}

It's obviously super simple, but here's what I did in case anyone is interested.

Ingredients:

• Seasoned ground beef (leftover from last night's soft tacos, I had cooked 1lb)
• White rice
• 1 can corn
• 1 can black beans
• 1 container favorite salsa 

Not pictured

• sour cream
• iceburg lettuce
• tortilla chips
• salt, lime juice + hot sauce to taste

Since I had the ground beef cooked already the bulk of the time was cooking the rice. For the two of us I just made one cup and we have leftover. While that was cooking I got the salsa mix ready. 

I love black beans so one day I decided to make a black bean + corn salsa. I didn't have all the ingredients I needed so I just emptied a can of corn and a can of black beans into a bowl with about half a small container of our favorite salsa. I added lime juice and salt and it was GOOOOOD! So I continue to cheat and make it this way because we like it so much. We usually use this mixture for dipping but this time I heated some up and put it on top of the ground beef. 

I cut up some avocado and added that to the top. After I took these pictures I also added some shredded iceburg lettuce and tortilla chips. When we sat down to eat we both added a dollop of sour cream and I added more salt and some hot sauce. So yummy and a great mix of veggies + proteins!

a night out and a day in

Date night last night was a lot of fun. We parked between the restaurant and the theater so we could walk to dinner and then to the show. We spent a bit too much on food and drinks, but it's not very often we get to go out so we decided to ignore prices and get what we wanted. 

{Ben & the Don's Manhattan}

Lucky Noodle is such a fun restaurant, it's really popular and quite unique in it's Italian + Thai fusion. Ben got the pad thai and I got pan roasted halibut with risotto. After eating way too much we walked to the theater and settled in for the show.

The opener was a bit weird, and there were the usual Conan quirks, but it was a good time. My biggest complaint however was the volume. I STILL have a headache! It was kind of a late night as well, but something Ben and I really needed. We were exhausted when we got home, but in a good way.

Today Malakai and I are sick. I'm hoping it's just a cold. Thankfully we have his "well baby" appointment on Friday. Our insurance covers these but not sick appointments, so it couldn't come at a better time.

Kai had 2 or 3 colds when he was a newborn. One was at 3 weeks old and it tore me apart. Now that he's (almost) 9 months old it seems that it's harder on him now that before. He won't let me put saline or the aspirator in his nose, he gets frustrated when he tries to drink because of his congestion, and worst of all he's not sleeping well. 

For his naps the last two days I've been putting my pillow in his crib. We tried under the mattress like we used to when he was little but it just makes him slide down or roll to one side or the other. So, just for naps he gets to be elevated on my pillow and he is sleeping so much better. Plus he just looks too cute on a big pillow, doesn't he?

It's funny how parents can sometimes be hesitant to talk about how cute they think their own child is. I was working in the nursery at church last Sunday and these parents were talking to each other about their 17 month old daughter and how cute she was. I thought it was so sweet and it made me feel better about how cute I think my own child is, and less shy about saying so. I mean, look at him!

this past week

I just noticed that I haven't updated for a week. It's been a blur of activity around here over the past week.

We had friends over for dinner for the first time since Kai was born. I always feel held back by our tiny home, but am glad we decided to entertain at our place. I love feeding people, making them feel comfortable and welcome. I can't wait for the day when we have a bigger home with room for more people. Someday I want our house to be the one that my kids and their friends are always hanging out at.

Speaking of our small house, the doorways are ridiculously narrow. On Friday night we were so excited to put together Malakai's jumper/activity center and started in the living room but realized that it would be WAY too big to move from room to room. We decided it's permanent location should be the nursery, but the bebe bean was sleeping so we postponed that activity. We still haven't come back to it. Tell me- does anyone else have the Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumper?

What do you think of it?

Halloween was fairly low-key for Malakai and I. Daddy however was at the Oregon vs. USC football game with his parents and brother. It was an intense game and Oregon won! Beforehand we took Kai to the pumpkin patch down the street from my parents' place. It's a rural area so it was very quiet and we got to take a ton of pictures, here are a few.










okay, that was more than a few. I always have a hard time picking my favorites and only posting two or three.

The rest of the weekend flew by and here it is already Tuesday. Yesterday I did laundry all day and still have enough to do laundry all day today- but instead I'll just do towels.

Next on the to-do list...finding a time to go grocery shopping and DOING IT!