Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken (Worth a Try.)

Overview
If you are in the mood for Chinese without the expense of eating out or ordering in, this recipe is one to try. It is flavorful, healthy, and surprisingly easy.

Recipe Source

As you read Veggie, Meaty,  Baby! you may notice a pattern in the types of recipes that I try. I prefer simple recipes that require very little effort, few ingredients, easy preparation, and loads of flavor. I like to chop veggies, dump ingredients together, cook and enjoy.  The recipes on bettycrocker.com mesh very well with the type of cooking I prefer. If you haven’t been to bettycrocker.com, I recommend that you check it out.  I found this recipe on bettycrocker.com. My customized version of this recipe is listed below.

Recipe

1 Can (20 oz) Pineapple Chunks in juice (reserve juice)

1 Cup Shredded Carrots

½ Cup Chopped Onion                  

3 Cloves Chopped Garlic

½ Tsp. Ginger

Meaty Version:  2 Pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut in 2 inch pieces or

Veggie Version: 1 Package Morning Star Farms Meal Starters Vegetarian Chik’n Strips and 1 can of White Beans or Chick Peas, rinsed/drained

½ Cup Soy Sauce

½ Cup Packed Brown Sugar

1 Green or Red Bell Pepper, diced

1 Can Water Chestnuts, drained (available in grocer’s Asian food aisle)

¼ Cup Corn Starch

¼ Cup Water

Serve over whole grain brown rice cooked according to package directions.

Top with Sunflower Seeds and Crunch Chow Mein noodles (available in grocer’s Asian food aisle)

1. Drain Pineapple, reserving juice. Place pineapple in small dish; cover and refrigerate.

2. Place carrots, onion, garlic and ginger in 4+ quart slow cooker. Top with chicken or vegetarian Chik’n Strips. Mix soy sauce, brown sugar and reserved pineapple juice; pour into slow cooker.

3. Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 hours or until juice of chicken is no longer pink.

4.  Increase heat setting to high. Add pineapple, bell peppers, water chestnuts, and beans (Veggie Version) to slow cooker. Mix cornstarch and water well. Stir into slow cooker. Continue to cook at high heat setting for at least 30 minutes or until sauce begins to thicken.

Complete Protein= Chicken (Meaty version)
Complete Protein= Chick Peas/White Beans + Whole Grain Brown Rice (Veggie Version)

Tips 
After adding the corn starch mixture and turning the crock pot up to the high heat setting, I did not allow the crock pot enough time to heat up and let the cornstarch do its thing to thicken the sweet and sour sauce.  My suggestion to improve this recipe is that after you turn the crock pot up to the high heat setting, check it every 10- 15 minutes until the sweet and sour sauce thickens. Once it thickens, you shouldn’t have to cook it anymore.

Possible Side Dishes
Cabbage slaw. Fortune cookies. For some added protein, scramble up a couple of eggs and mix in before serving.

Reviews

Veggie- I had been craving Chinese for some time before cooking this meal, and this meal hit the spot! I was surprisingly impressed with the flavor of the sauce, though; the sauce did not thicken appropriately. The water chestnuts, sunflower seeds and chow mein noodles gave this dish a nice crunch that pulled the whole meal together. As we have enjoyed this dish over the week, I have found myself eating out of the refrigerated crock pot while waiting on my dish to reheat in the microwave. That’s always a good sign of a tasty dish in my book.

Meaty- The Meaty of the family is not a connoisseur Chinese inspired meals. In fact, I think I can count on one had the number of times we have been to a Chinese restaurant in the 13 years that we have known each other. The Meaty of the family felt the chicken was nice and tender and soaked up a lot of flavor. He felt the sauce was not to sweet and not to sour; definitely worth a try, though.

Baby- Our toddler was fickle the day we had this meal . He did not have much of an appetite and is cutting a tooth. He took a couple of big handfuls and ate them up. Our son doesn’t use utensils all that well and became a bit frustrated with trying to eat. When I helped him load his spoon, he seemed to enjoy this dish. I heard him say “Mmmmm” several times, but he just didn’t seem all that interested in dinner the night we enjoyed this recipe. Needless to say, the jury is still out according to Baby.

Veggie, Meaty, Baby!  wants to hear from you. Please post comments as you try and customize these recipes to fit your family. Let me know how this dish turned out and what your family thought of this dish.

The Recipe Rating Scale

As you read Veggie, Meaty Baby! you will find that I share tips, recipes, grocery shopping, cooking and dinnertime successes and mishaps! That’s right, I said mishaps! Many of the recipes we try and post are being prepared for the first time in our house. As we try these recipes, I will let you know if the dinner recipe is a success, needed improvement, or was a failure. Why post the failed recipes? The answer is simple. I like to laugh and I’m hoping you will find humor in some of our failures and get a good chuckle out of what went wrong. Likewise, I am hopeful that the stories lead these recipes to be prepared by many other families out there like us who are trying to do it all, have it all and eat it all on a budget!

In an attempt to make viewing my posted recipes more user friendly, I’ve decided to implement a Recipe Rating Scale. After every posted recipe title, you will see one of three ratings. Listed below, find a brief description of what each of them means.

Recipe Rating Scale

Make It!!!- A Make It!!! recipe was a hit with the entire family. It won my family over with its fabulous taste and also packs an affordable and healthy punch.

Worth a Try.- A Worth a Try. recipe has potential. In the recipe description look for my tips and suggestions to try to help this recipe reach its potential.

Yuck.- This recipe was a flop. If you want a good laugh, read this blog.

Black Bean Casserole (Make it!!!)

Overview

This sassy Mexicana inspired casserole packs a punch with its zippy flavor and hearty texture.

Recipe Source

I started my career as a teacher. Prior to my first school year, my supervisor invited our team to her house for a luncheon.  As nervous as I was to burden her with my eating preference, I felt much better about having told her when I tasted this dish. It was a homerun; enjoyed by all! I went back for seconds, thirds, and more. Over the years I have made this recipe many times. I have customized it in a variety of ways by adding more vegetables (corn, green chilies, fresh tomatoes etc.), an egg or two, or cooked with dollops of sour cream in each layer. Listed below, you will find what has evolved to be my basic recipe.

Recipe

2 cups Diced Onion

1 ½ cups Diced Green Pepper

1 14 ½ oz can of Diced Tomatoes, undrained

¾ cup Salsa

2 cloves Garlic

2 tsp. Ground Cumin

3 tsp. Chili Powder

1 tsp. Garlic Salt

2 15 oz cans of Black Beans, rinsed and drained

18 small Corn Tortillas

2 cups Monterrey Jack or Mexi-Blend Cheese

In large skillet, combine onion, green pepper, undrained diced tomatoes, salsa, garlic, cumin, chili powder and garlic salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add, rinsed/drained beans to mixture and mix thoroughly.

Spray a 13 X 9 X2 baking dish with cooking spray. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with 6 corn tortillas. Spread half of the bean mixture on top of the corn tortillas. Top with 1/3 of the cheese. Cover the cheese layer with 6 corn tortillas. Spread the remaining bean mixture on top of the corn tortillas. Top with 1/3 of the cheese. Cover with remaining 6 corn tortillas and top with remaining cheese.

Cover with foil and bake in a 350°F oven for 35-40 minutes. Cheese should be melted on top.

Complete Protein= Beans + Cheese

Tips/Suggestions

·         I insert 5 or 6 toothpicks on the top of the dish before I cover it with foil and bake it to prevent the cheese from sticking to the foil.

·         “Meat up” this meal by swapping a can of the beans for an equivalent amount of ground beef.

·         Whenever using canned vegetables, consider using sodium free or low sodium varieties. 

Possible Side Dishes - Fresh salad, mexi rice, corn bread, pineapple based fruit salad.

Reviews

Veggie- Love, Love, Love! I am so glad it was such a hit with my son. It is officially going into the dinner rotation.

Meaty- The Meaty of the family loves this recipe. He licks his plate clean every time I make this meal - from the basic recipe as listed above to each customized version I have come up with. He likes to mix a little taco seasoning into sour cream and add it to his dish.

Baby- This is the first time our toddler has tried this meal. I was tossing laundry in the dryer while we were reheating this meal. Our son’s plate came out of the microwave first and we sat it in front of him while we heated our plates. From the kitchen, my husband hollered, “I think he likes it! He’s eating it by the handfuls.” I ran back into the kitchen as our plates were coming out of the microwave and to sit down for dinner and my son’s plate was clean. He greeted me as I sat down at the table with, “Mmmmm…….More?” He only knows a few words, but he only uses these words when he means business.

Veggie, Meaty, Baby!  wants to hear from you. Please post comments as you try and customize these recipes to fit your family. Let me know how this dish turned out and what your family thought of this dish.

Proteins- You complete me!

Let me start this blog by stating that I am not a professional nutritionist, dietitian or chef. The thoughts in Veggie, Meaty, Baby! are simply my understanding and interpretation of basic nutritional concepts. Now that I have that out of the way, let’s get started.

I am an ovo-lacto vegetarian. Pause for reaction… Basically, this means, I do not consume meat. I eat eggs (ovo)  and dairy (lacto) products.

When people find out I am a vegetarian, they ask the same questions. The most common are:

1.       Why are you a vegetarian?

2.       Have you always been a vegetarian?

3.       Is your husband a vegetarian?

4.       Are you raising your child to be a vegetarian?

5.       What do you eat that nutritionally replaces meat?

Let’s see if I can answer these questions,

1.       It’s a funny story that I will turn into a blog post one day. I actually won a collegiate speech competition telling the story and wish I could get my hands on the video of the competition or a transcript of my speech.

2.       No.

3.       No.

4.       No.

5.       Just like a meat eater, I eat Complete Proteins. Complete proteins must be consumed in order to maintain healthy functioning bodily systems. Meat is a complete protein. As a vegetarian, I eat non meat sources of complete proteins or combine every day non meat foods to build complete proteins. Because of my family’s main cooking challenge (feeding a carnivore, ovo-lacto vegetarian and a toddler), I customize non meat dinner recipes to include a complete protein.

What does this mini-nutrition lesson mean for you?  The recipes that I find, customize, try and post either contain meat or combinations of everyday non meat foods to nutritionally replace meat. When I post my recipes, I will list the complete protein so you can sleep at night knowing that the meal you have so lovingly prepared and served your family serves it purpose to sustain healthy, growing  and developing minds and bodies.

You will find as you read Veggie, Meaty Baby! I will share tips, recipes, grocery shopping, cooking and dinnertime successes and mishaps! I hope to inspire other couples and parents to cook on a budget and preserve the sanctity of the family dinner.

The Approach- Dinner ideas on $50 per week!

Some of my favorite childhood memories are from the family dinner table. My sisters and I competed to recount our stories from the day while eating the one meal my mom planned and cooked. She was not a short order cook. We were taught to eat the meal that was served or go hungry. Ever since our toddler began eating solid foods, I grappled with the idea of planning meals that the whole family could enjoy. I knew that what we had been doing wouldn’t work, and we would soon be dealing with a toddler who demanded his own dinner menu if we didn’t make changes, fast. I love the family values and eating habits that were instilled in me as a child, and I want the same for my son.

Bad Habits: Our old approach included as high as a $300 per week grocery bill. My husband and I were each planning and cooking 2-3 meals per week that the other one would not eat. We were spending too much and often throwing away leftovers that weren’t eaten before the next week’s cooking extravaganza commenced. Dinnertime was whenever we were ready to eat which was often at different times. I would eat when I got home from work. My husband would eat later in the evening.

The Challenge: The challenge we have always struggled with is feeding a carnivore, an ovo-lacto vegetarian and, now, a toddler. This challenge perpetuated our bad habits and, now, precipitated change.

New Beginnings: At the beginning of this year, we decided to change our approach. We made a new year’s resolution to prepare 3 nutritious dinners to eat on for the week on a $50 budget that appease each of our food preferences. At dinner, the goal is that we are all eating the same meal at the same time.

New Approach: Our approach is pretty simple. Each weekend we swap recipe planning, grocery shopping, and cooking duties. The dinner budget is $50 per week. Whoever is lucky enough to cook for the week does it all on Saturday and Sunday. At dinner, all we do is reheat, serve and eat!

You will find as you read Veggie, Meaty Baby! I will share tips, recipes, grocery shopping, cooking and dinnertime successes and mishaps! I hope to inspire other couples and parents to cook on a budget and preserve the sanctity of the family dinner. 

The birth of a blog- Veggie, Meaty, Baby

Through the years in our gatherings with friends, coworkers play dates and family, I have found that two topics routinely make their way into conversation. Drum roll please…., and these topics should come as no surprise: Family Budgets and Family Meal Planning.  Fortunately, both topics interest me greatly! It seems that I cannot make it through a social event without sharing a recipe or making a suggestion about a recent found deal, sale or budgeting technique. I have been pondering blogging for several years now, but have made excuses as to why I did not have the time to do it or that no one would possibly find my spin on life interesting enough to read. The events of the last couple of months have since convinced me otherwise including: a new year’s resolution we are determined to fulfill- setting and sticking to a $50 per week family dinner budget and the fact that after posting my meal plan for the week, I received a request for my recipes from multiple friends within minutes.  The result of these events is the birth of my Veggie, Meaty, Baby blog.  

Read my About Me section to gain insight into my unique dinner planning challenge and, thus, the inspiration for Veggie, Meaty, Baby!