Slow Cooker General Tsao's Chicken

Remember when I had that recipe fail {here}?  Well I was determined to get it right!  I found a great recipe and adapted a few things and it turned out just the way I thought it should.  The sauce was delicious!  It was thick and dark and gave the chicken a great flavor!   It had a hint of sweet to it and it was really unique to the other chinese dishes that I have made.  Because we all know that my family is obsessed with Asian inspired meals!  This turned out great!

Rating: 4 stars  Difficulty of Recipe: 2 stars
Review:  I used a crockpot liner to cook the chicken in.  It made the cleanup so easy and made the chicken so tender and full of flavor.  You can also make this recipe on the stovetop if you don't want to make it in a crockpot.  This was great and I will be making it again!

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 T hoisen sauce
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 T ketchup
• 1/4 tsp dry ginger
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (more or less to liking)
• 1 T cornstarch

1.  In a mixing bowl, mix together water, hoisen sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, ginger, and crushed red pepper.

2. If you aren't using a liner for your crockpot, spray crockpot with cooking spray and add chicken.  Add sauce on top.

3.  Cook for 4-6 hours on low.  Remove chicken and cut into chunks.

4.  Whisk cornstarch in the sauce to thicken it up.  If it isn't quite to desired thickness, slowly add more cornstarch teaspoon by teaspoon.  But be careful because it can thicken up fast.  

5.  Add chicken back to the crockpot and allow to heat through for another 15 minutes.

6.  Serve over hot rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds if desired.

You might also enjoy:

9 five star slow cooker Asian Inspired Meals

Stay up to date with The Recipe Critic!

Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter | Google +

Mini Key Lime Pie

Since visiting The Keys on our cruise, I have been CRAVING key lime pie.  Since being home I have been searching for a good recipe that would cure my craving for it.  Since I like things in mini individual sizes, I thought that I would create them just like my mini cheesecakes.  I was shocked at how delicious and close these tasted to the key lime pie in Florida.  They were amazing!  They were perfectly moist and had the perfect amount of lime in them.  I took them over to my parents for dinner and they couldn't even wait to eat them.  My hubby isn't even a huge fan of key lime pie and loved it!  It was so fun being able to remember all of the fun memories we made in the Keys with one delicious bite!

Rating: 4 stars  Difficulty of Recipe: 3 stars
Review:  Loved everything about this recipe and it is surprisingly easy.  The only thing that I would change is the graham cracker and better ratio.  I misread the original recipe and put in 3/4 cup butter instead of 3/4 stick of butter!  Oops!  Although still amazing I will definitely be reducing the amount next time I make them! :)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, crushed (about 12 squares)
• 3 T Sugar
• 3/4 stuck butter (about 1/3 cup)
• 3 egg whites beaten
• 2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 cup lime juice
• 1 T Lime zest
• 1/3 cup nonfat greek yogurt

Instructions:

1. Crush the graham cracker squares in a food processor or place in a gallon size bag and roll with a rolling pin.  

2. Add sugar and butter and mix into the crushed graham cracker.

3. Press 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of a cupcake liner.  I put 1 T in and then pressed down with 1/4 cup measuring cup.  You have the option to bake this at 350 degrees for 8 minutes so that it can harden.  I skipped this part and it turned out great!

4.  In a sperate bowl, mix together egg whites, condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest, and greek yogurt.  Mix well.

5.  Fill the cupcakes about 3/4 of the way full with the mixture.   Bake for 12-15 minutes and cool.

6.  Top with whip cream and garnish with lime if desired.  Store in the refrigerator.

Recipe adapted from 3 pastries a day

The famous Key Lime Pie Factory!

You might also enjoy:

Skinny Mini Cheesecake

Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake 

Skinny Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

Stay up to date with The Recipe Critic!

Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter | Google +

Pin it to Win it! Canon Camera Edition

Enter now to win a Canon Prize Package worth $500!!!

Step 1: Pin the image above.

Step 2: Follow all the bloggers listed below on Pinterest.

Step 3: Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. For additional entries, follow some awesome new blogs on Facebook!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Healthy Oatmeal Apple Raisin Cookies {Guest Post}

This has been a busy month of trips for me!  But I have had so much fun having so many awesome guest posters on my blog.  Do we have any hockey fans in the house?  I am headed to Denver to see the Blackhawks vs Avalanche game.  It will be so fun to go to especially since the Blackhawks are undefeated!  Then I will be heading in a week on my husbands company retreat in San Diego, and then we are celebrating our anniversary the week after!  Phew March is making me tired!  

I am excited to have Ruthie today visiting my blog.  We met at a blog conference and she is really the sweetest person I have met!  I absolutely adore her blog, and I especially love her cooking tutorials.  Her recipes always look delicious and I can't wait to try out these cookies!

Hi to all of The Recipe Critic's friends... I'm Ruthie from What's Cooking with Ruthie and I am SO excited to be here with all of you today!

I guess it’s that time of year when we’re all trying to shred a few of those winter pounds… I’ve written about my weight loss story here (part A & part B) AND even though I am a foodie- I try to make my recipes as healthy as possible without sacrificing any of the flavor

 These moist and flavorful Healthy Oatmeal Apple Raisin Cookies are a delicious example...

Healthy Oatmeal Apple Raisin Cookies

1 C whole wheat flour 
2 C whole oats 
1 tsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp baking soda 
1/4 tsp sea salt 
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg 
2 Tbsp canola oil 
3/4 C sugar (or 1/2 C agave) 
1 C applesauce 
1 tsp vanilla 
1 apple, finely diced 
(I used ...) 3/4 C raisins 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon in small mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer combine egg, oil, apple sauce, vanilla in large mixing bowl; mix well. Add dry ingredients to wet, one cup at a time, mixing with each addition. Stir in apples and raisins by hand. Scoop by tablespoonful onto sprayed cookie sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.

   You'll totally love these Healthy Oatmeal Apple Raisin Cookies. They'll hit that sweet spot without doing too much damage to the waistline. Which is a win-win this time of year! While we're thinking about skinny desserts here are a couple more you may enjoy...

Healthy Omega 3 Cookies

Skinny Pumpkin Bars

Browned Butter Banana Bread Brownies

I met Alyssa a couple of weeks ago at a blogging conference and I was thrilled to be able to help her out with a guest post while she is off catching some sunshine on vacation... I'm completely envious, by the way!

I'd love to have you stop by and visit with me at What's Cooking with Ruthie or connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy Cooking!

Ruthie

Slow Cooker General Tsao's Chicken

It has been quite the week for me.  I just returned home from a cruise and I am trying to get caught up on everything before me and the hubby leave to Denver for the weekend.  We are going to see the Blackhhawks vs the Avalance Hockey game!  I was so busy today that I wanted to be able to throw something quick and easy into the crockpot.  The ingredients seemed good and it was a weight watchers recipe.   And after I forgot about my awesome brownies in the oven last night, I didn't want another recipe fail!  This recipe was a bummer.  This chicken had no flavor.  It was such a huge disappointment.  And it is so hard to have something that you anticipate being so good flop.  I am not sure if the recipe called for too much chicken broth and the other flavors in the ingredients didn't pull through or what, but this was very bland.  

I usually have at least one or two recipes that don't turn out on my blog a week.  But with a busy life I don't have time to post them or rate them.  But we all have recipes that fail.  So I am going to try to post them when I can and I would love to hear feedback on how you would change the recipe.  And sorry that the picture is low quality.  I lack motivation to edit a picture on a recipe that didn't turn out.  But you can tell that it isn't what you expect in General Tsao's chicken.  It just looks bland.  Not saucy at all. Oh well.  I was able to dump out the sauce.  Shred the chicken.  Add BBQ sauce.  And have a delicious BBQ salad!

Rating: 1 star  Difficulty of Recipe: 1 star
Review:  I am definately going to try to change some things around to try to have it taste better and more what I would expect.  Maybe try reducing the chicken broth to bring out some more of the other flavors.  What would you change:

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups canned chicken broth
• 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsps white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 medium scallions chopped
• 2 medium garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts

1. Spray slow cooker with non stick cooking spray.  Lay chicken breasts in bottom.

2. Combine in seperate bowl, chicken broth, soy sauce, sugar, white wine vinegar, ginger, garlic cloves and pepper flakes.

3. Pour over the chicken and cook for 4-6 hours in slow cooker on low.

4.  When finished, take chicken out of slow cooker and cut into chunks.  With the juice in the slow cooker, whisk in the cornstarch slowly to thicken the sauce.

5.  Return chicken to slow cooker and heat through.  

6.  Garnish with scallions and serve over white rice.

I really wish I had made this for dinner.  The sauce is so thick and the flavor is amazing!  It would have been just as easy to throw into the crockpot and tastes just like it is from a restaurant!

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken 

Stay up to date with The Recipe Critic!
Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter | Google +

Bite Sized Mini Pavs {Guest Post}

I am ecstatic for my guest poster today!!  I absolutely love Tamsyn.  Not only is she an amazing crafter, mom, and person, she is from Australia!  Every time I talk to her I want to say g'day mate!  Or put another shrimp on the barbie!  I love keeping to date with all of her fun adventures on her blog.  She has the most adorable little boys and I just can't get over her cute little baby!  Tamsyn is such a sweet person and I am so glad that I have gotten to know her through our blogs.  I am excited she is sharing a dessert from Australia and I can't want to make it.  Let me turn the time over to Tamsyn and you will be talking like an Aussie in no time!

Any of you that are friends with an Australian will know that when it comes to dessert we love our Pavlova. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, smothered in freshly whipped cream and topped with fruit, what's not to love! It really is the perfect dessert, and in honor of being asked to guest post over here I thought I would share my spin on the classic Pav (which is Aussie for Pavlova). Now if you're going to eat Pav like a true-blue Aussie there's a few things I should share with you first. One of the most important being that all words can and will be shortened... Pav for Pavlova, barbie for barbeque, footy for football, snag for sausage and so on. Although more often that not once we've shortened a word we normally add an 'o' on the end. Afternoon becomes arvo, journalist becomes journo, documentary becomes doco. Got it? Good!

Alright now that you're all taking like Aussies, let's get cooking ;).

Bite Sized Mini Pavs

2 egg whites
1/2 cup castor sugar (super fine sugar)
300ml heavy cream
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
fruit of your choice (passionfruit, berries, kiwifruit, mango etc)

Preheat your oven to 300 and line two trays with baking paper.

Beat your egg whites until soft peaks form. Start adding the sugar little by little, continuing to beat the mix until it's thick and glossy (around 5 minutes).

Spoon or pipe your meringue mix into 24 little meringues, then bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes (I always stick to around 20 minutes because I love my meringues to be soft in the center - yum!).

Allow the meringues to cool completely in the oven with the door ajar.

Top with cream and fruit and serve immediately (oh and if you catch yourself saying 'you little beauty' as you eat these you'll know you totally nailed it!).

Stay connected with Max and Me!

facebook | pinterest | Twitter

Southern Caramel Cake Cookies {Guest Post}

Have you noticed a new and improved blog?  Yeah it was designed by this cute girl.  I have been a fan of Something Swanky for a long time.  The treats that she makes all look absolutely amazing.  She is so talented in blog design and making awesome treats.  I was thrilled when she wanted to guest post for me and I knew that it would be good.  And you better believe that I am making these delicious cookies as soon as I get home from my cruise!

Hiya RC readers! Ashton here from Something Swanky. I'm super excited to be hanging out over here at Alyssa's place today!! I was fortunate enough to get to spend some time in person with Alyssa at the BYB conference, and I just think she is so amazing.

I've seen lots of Skinny Recipes over here lately in preparation for Alyssa's cruise. And I can't wait to make some of them myself! But, I'm afraid I'm here to ruin the diet.

These Caramel Cake Cookies are a spin off of my Red Velvet Cake Batter Cookies (my new faves, by the way) which were a spin off of Sally's Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

It's a great basic cake mix recipe. For this adaptation, I used Duncan Hines Caramel Cake mix, omitted all of the sprinkles and chunks (although I think pecans would be awesome), drizzled caramel over top, and sprinkled with sea salt.

Oh, yeah. Caramel Cookie heaven :)

Southern Caramel Cake Cookie with Sea Salt
Adapted from: Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 and 1/4 cup caramel cake mix
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 6 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 6 Tbsp. shortening
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 
• 2 dozen Kraft caramels, unwrapped
• 2 tbsp water
• 1-2 tbsp sea salt for sprinkling

 Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together together flour, cake mix, and baking soda. Set aside.
2. In a stand mixer bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until creamy.
3. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not OVERMIX the dough.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Scoop by rounded tablespoons of the cold dough onto a a parchment or silicon lined baking sheet. Shape your cookie dough balls to be “taller” than they are wide. Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are obviously done. The centers will still appear very soft, but the cookies will set as they cool.
6. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
7.  Microwave the caramels and water together for 1 minute (addition time if needed). Drizzle over top of the cookies and sprinkle with sea salt.

Be sure to connect with Something Swanky here:

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | G+