Garlic and Brown Sugar Chicken

I wish I knew where I found this recipe, so I could give whoever came up with it credit. But alas, I found it somewhere online, copied/pasted it to a sticky and long forgot where it came from. Tonight though, I made it and holy toledo is it ever good! We will definitely make this again.

4-6 chicken breasts or thighs (I actually used 3 chicken breasts)

1 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup vinegar

1/4 cup lemon-lime soda

2-3 Tablespoons minced garlic

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

2 Tablespoons corn starch

2 Tablespoons water

Rice or noodles, cooked

Red pepper flakes (optional) 

Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken in slow cooker (frozen or thawed, doesn't matter). Mix together brown sugar, vinegar, soda, garlic, soy sauce and pepper. Pour over chicken.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours (that's what I did). 

I actually skipped this next step and may try it next time, but may not because it was awesome without doing it.

Take chicken out of the cooker and pour remaining sauce into a saucepan. Place over high heat. Mix together corn starch and water, pour into saucepan and mix well. Let sauce come to a boil and boil for 2-3 minutes, or until it starts to thicken and turns into a glaze. Remove from heat and let sit for a minute or two.

Serve chicken over rice or noodles and top with glaze. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes if desired (I didn't do that either).

We had ours with basmati rice. It would definitely be good with pasta too. 

Sorry for the somewhat crappy picture. I just took a quick one with my phone.

1930s Era Chocolate Cake

I found this recipe on Pinterest (the website is here: http://tastycheapskate.blogspot.ca/2011/01/wacky-cake.html) and pinned it immediately because I wanted to try it. I was especially intrigued because it was something my sister can eat, as it has no eggs, no milk and no butter. It's even more intriguing because you don't mix it in a bowl first, you do it right in the pan!

When you have a toddler, the less cleanup of things like dishes, the better.


2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (I used about half)
2 cups warm water
2/3 cups canola oil
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a 9x13 inch pan, mix all dry ingredients. Then add wet ingredients and mix thoroughly, until you have something that looks like this:

Bake in a 350F oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely and frost. You can use the frosting that's included on the website I got the recipe from, or you can do what I did and use a jar of betty crocker frosting.

The cake is VERY moist and chocolaty. I'm actually not a huge fan and probably won't be making it often. I kind of felt like I could taste the vinegar, and I didn't like that at all. I wonder if it would be possible to omit the vinegar from the recipe...

Homemade Lemonade

Something Alex has been doing lately is making lemonade. And OMG it's good. I think it's something from like the 1930s or thereabouts, but yeah. So easy, so good, and like with everything you make from scratch, you control what's in it.

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
5 whole cloves
1/3 of a cinnamon stick
2 tbsp zested lemon rind
1 cup lemon juice

1. In a pot, put all ingredients except for the lemon juice. Bring it to a boil and boil down about half.

2. Add the lemon juice, boil down again, this time about one quarter.

3. Strain and then let cool.

4. Pour yourself a glass of ginger ale (or water) with some ice. Add 2 tbsp of the syrup to the glass, stir and enjoy!

*The picture has the syrup itself, and what it looks like in a glass of ginger ale, which is my preferred way of drinking it.

Western Egg Muffins

I found this idea online, and made my own variation of it. I'm sure it's something some people have been doing for years, but it's a new idea for me, and it is definitely something I will make again.

10 large eggs
1/2 cup each of diced onion, green pepper, mushrooms and ham
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used marble)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.

2. Dice onion, green pepper, mushrooms and ham, and sauté in oil or margarine for about five minutes, until starting to get soft.

3. Break 10 eggs into a medium sized bowl and scramble. Add shredded cheese and sautéed veggies/meat, salt and pepper and mix well.

4. Pour mixture into muffin tins, about 3/4 full.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from tin to cool. Makes 12 "muffins".

These muffins can apparently be stored in the fridge or freezer for up to one week. Make sure to cool thoroughly, for at least 30 minutes, before putting into fridge or freezer. To reheat, just pop them in the microwave for a minute, but not too long, or they will go rubbery.

You can, of course, use whatever you want in the eggs. I just went with my standard "western" ingredients, but they would be good with other ingredients as well.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I have been itching to make sweet and sour meatballs for a couple of weeks now, so yesterday, I called up my mother and asked for her recipe. Made them tonight for us and a couple of our friends who we had invited for supper. The only one who wasn't a fan was Charlie, but that's because he's not a huge fan of beef (never has been). I will say, though, like everything else, he gave it a try (two bites) before deciding he didn't like them. Anyway, I will post the original recipe, but I doubled everything for tonight's meal as I was feeding more than just a couple of people.

1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 lb ground beef
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 tbsp corn starch

Mix onion, ground beef and Worcestershire sauce. Roll into 1-inch balls and place on a broiler pan. Broil for 2 minutes each side.

Mix ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, pineapple juice and corn starch in a pot and bring just to a boil.

Add meatballs to sauce and simmer for 1 hour.

Alex's Pork Chops

Alex makes pork chops that are like ribs. It's the only way we eat them these days. So simple and so good.

Pork chops (we usually have pork loin chops, but whatever kind works)
Salt
Brown sugar

Sprinkle both sides of each chop with salt, then rub them with brown sugar. Arrange pork chops on a wire rack in a pan lined with tin foil. Bake in a 350F oven for 1 hour 30 minutes (45 minutes per side).

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

We were getting sick of banana or carrot muffins. So I looked up recipes for oatmeal muffins (preferably oatmeal WITH something else) and came across this recipe. Decided to give it a try tonight and they are quite yummy. They taste like apple crisp in muffin form, if that makes sense. They haven't passed Charlie's taste test yet, as he's in bed, but Alex and I like them.

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I used all purpose because I don't buy whole wheat flour, ever)
1 1/4 cups oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup buttermilk (recipe called for low-fat, but I couldn't get that, so I used regular)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup raisins (optional...and I hate raisins so I left them out)

Preheat oven to 400F.

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper cases or spray with a nonstick cooking spray

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, combine applesauce, buttermilk, sugar, oil and egg. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add applesauce mixture. Stir until just moist. If putting raisins, fold them in at this point. Spoon evenly into muffin cups.

Bake 16-18 minutes.