Tag: cooking

Crockpot

To Die For Crockpot Garlic & Brown Sugar Glazed Chicken

Noelle S.Leave a comment

IMG_7218My roommate is absolutely adorable. Her birthday was last month and since we were on winter break, I didn’t get a chance to celebrate with her. So when the semester started, I told her that I would make her anything that she wanted. You name it, I make it so to speak.

“You know that super delicious chicken with garlic and brown sugar that you made last semester? Can I have that? If it’s not too hard.” *Adorable face*

I assured her that it was one of the easiest things ever and that I could absolutely deliver. I mean, it’s a crock pot meal for corn’s sake. Plus all four of us in my apartment got to benefit from such an excellent suggestion.

This chicken rocks. It’s one of those things you can’t really describe and it leaves you pretty speechless. I found this while perusing Pinterest. I adapted it from the recipe 0n the blog, Ciao Chow Bambina. However, I don’t know where the original recipe is from, since it seems to be everywhere on the internet.

Anyways, it’s the bomb.com. It is super moist, flavorful chicken breast that can be eaten a million different ways and still end up delicious. We made it and served it with white rice on the side. You can also serve it on a sandwich like pulled chicken. MMMMMMM 🙂

Here it goes!

Crockpot Garlic and Brown Sugar Glaze Chicken

Adapted from: Ciao Chow Bambina

Cooking Time:6-8 hours

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast
  • 1 cup of packed brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup apple-cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup lemon-lime soda ( I used Sprite)
  • 3 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Instructions

  1. Spray your crockpot with a cooking spray (like Pam) or grease well with butter.
  2. Put chicken inside crockpot.
  3. Mix together vinegar, soda, garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, and black pepper.
  4. Pour the delicious sauce mixture over the chicken.
  5. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high (if you’re in a rush like me) for 4 hours until chicken falls apart.
  6. Remove chicken from crock pot and serve over rice, pasta, on bread, or by itself (it’s all amazing)

A side note: Since I am a *lazy* college student, the original recipe says to thicken the sauce at the end. As delicious as that would be, as the meme so eloquently puts it: Ain’t nobody got time for that! If you are possessed to go whole hog and thicken the sauce, you just throw the juice in a pan with cornstarch and bring to a boil. You then can put it on the chicken.

IMG_7219Hope you all enjoy! Happy Cooking!

Crockpot

How to make up your own concoction: Pot Roast Edition

Noelle S.Leave a comment

You know those times when you see a recipe on Pinterest that you REALLY want to make, and you then get really sad because you don’t have the ingredients? That happens to be the story of my life. Today, my mom told me that we had a chuck roast that needed to be cooked for dinner and she wanted to know if I had any ideas for how to cook it. Since my experience with pot roast hasn’t been the best (you can read all about that in my post about how awesome crock pots are), I was determined to find something amazing and different. My recipe best friend, Pinterest, gave me many delicious alternatives to pot roast. However, every one I clicked on had at least 2 ingredients that I lacked (cue the sad violin music).

In situations like these, it is easy to start pulling hair out over looking for alternative recipes to fulfill your needs. Believe me,  I’ve been there, and it soon becomes impossible to find something that perfectly matches the ingredients you have in your pantry.

So, the best thing to do is simply to improvise. Which is how this recipe came into existence. I grabbed things that I knew would be delicious and made a meal that surprisingly came out finger-licking good.

Disclaimer on this: This is a guesstimating recipe. There are hardly any solid measurements, and there really doesn’t need to be. Part of cooking in any setting, even in a college one, is experimenting. I made it so that you could follow the recipe without needing measurements. It is also very versatile. We made it into sandwiches and put the sauce over the meat, but you could also serve it over rice or pasta.

So here goes nothing!

Dormitory Chef’s Italian Pot Roast 

Cooking Time: 9 hours (in a crockpot)

Total Time: 9.5 hours

Ingredients for the Roast

  • 3-4 pound chuck roast (boneless or otherwise)
  • Olive Oil
  • Garlic Powder
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Onion Powder
  • 1 packet Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 1 can whole tomatoes

Directions

  1. Place chuck roast in crock pot
  2. Rub olive oil (about a quarter cup) into the roast. Season liberally with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and Italian dressing packet. The key to a successful meal is in the seasoning, so don’t be shy. Rub into the meat on both sides. IMG_7111
  3. Cut onion into thin slices
  4. Place onions over roast IMG_7113
  5. Add tomatoes over the onions IMG_7114
  6. Cook on low for 9 hours until the meat is cooked through
  7. Remove the meat from the pot and shredIMG_7116
  8. Serve any way you want! We shredded the meat and made open faced sandwiches! IMG_7122

Hope you all enjoy! Happy cooking! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Breakfast

Magical Puff Pancake Recipe!

Noelle S.Leave a comment

Now you’re probably reading the title of this post and are thinking: hmm what’s so “magical” about a pancake that puffs? Well dear reader, my answer to that is: EVERYTHING. It is the most delicious (and easy) breakfast thing ever (Besides the cream cheese cinnamon rolls). It tastes like a pancake, but it is eggy and has a crispy exterior that can’t be beat.

If we are being extremely honest with one another, this recipe is from a kid’s cookbook. Back in the days where I still had eggshells in my baked goods from the failed egg cracking attempts, my mom bought me a Pampered Chef cookbook called Let’s Eat! To be even more honest, this is the only recipe I have ever made from that cookbook, but it is a complete winner. Whenever I am home from school on break, my 18 year old brother still requests for me to make this for him for breakfast. It’s that good.

So lets get started shall we?

Magical Pancake Puff

  • Adapted from: Let’s Eat!
  • Baking time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla EXTRACT

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
  2. Melt the butter in a microwave-safe dish for30-45 seconds until melted
  3. Add ingredients to the butter IMG_7095
  4. Whisk the ingredients with a whisk (duh) or a fork
  5. Pour the batter into a greased round plate (you can use either a cake plan, pie plate, or whatever you have available to you. Trust me, it still works) IMG_7097
  6. Place that pan in the oven IMG_7098
  7. Bake in oven for 19-20 minutes until sufficiently puffed and golden brown. You will know when it is done. IMG_7099
  8. Take out of the oven and revel in it’s magical gloryIMG_7100
  9. Enjoy with maple syrup or powdered sugar. Or both 😉

That’s all she wrote ladies and gents! Enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

Good to Know

Spices that EVERY kitchen needs

Noelle S.2 Comments

Variety is the spice of life, or so they say.

For your typical college student on a budget, however, a plethora of spices from all over the world may not be economical, for both your wallet and your cabinet space.

But alas, don’t fret dear reader! There is a way to get a whole lot of bang for your buck by buying certain spices that will jazz up any meal. In addition to that, they happen to be in my opinion, absolute essentials.

Continue reading “Spices that EVERY kitchen needs” →