Tasty Tuesday: Pinterest Reviews

I have been trying to use my Pinterest pins once in a while, so this week you get not one but two recipe reviews from my Pinterest Boards. One is originally from my "Breakfast Recipes to Try" Board but got moved, and the other one is from my "Desserts To Try" Board.

Crockpot Breakfast Casserole from All Kinds of Yumm







As you can see from the pin photo caption, this was not a hit. 5 out of 6 of us ate it. 1 out of 5 liked it.
I moved the pin to my "Pinned Recipes Tried - Just Okay". I have since wavered a little in my original decision to likely not try it again. I might try it again with bacon and a different style of hash brown. Maybe some onions. :) And probably on a camp-out in the dutch oven.

Kiss'n Cupcakes (these didn't have a name so I named 'em) from http://foodtalk.pinapic.co/?p=200






This one went over a little better. I mean, cupcakes? It's hard to ruin those.

I used a Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge cake mix and Hershey's Kisses.
I followed the very difficult directions of baking the cupcakes for 5 minutes then setting a Kiss (unwrapped of course) on top of the mostly raw batter, then finished the baking.

I served them warm. They cooled for 5 minutes tops. Probably not even that. The one I cut open to photograph was still exceedingly hot. :)

As you can see, the kiss held it's shape (no surprise to me, since they do that with Peanut Butter Blossoms.) One of the pins I saw for this described them as a "molten" center. It was not exactly "molten" as described in that particular pin, but they were very soft and warm. Definitely not the gooey fudgy type liquid I expect in a Molten Chocolate Cake.
This pin was accurate in that it does sink to the middle, though closer to the bottom and even all the way to the bottom and create a chocolate center. A soft chocolate kiss center. :)

I think overall they are a fun treat, and I will make them again. I am going to get the mini kisses though and sprinkle 3 or 4 on each one to spread the chocolate around a bit more.

Have a great week!

Tasty Tuesday: 2 Recipe Reviews

We have tried 2 new recipes this month so far,  Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup and Secret Ingredient Mac and Cheese.

 Both were a hit with the majority of the family and will be staying in the recipe rotation.

With the soup, I put the cooked and crumbled bacon directly in the soup before I served it, just because it would make a more fair distribution. :) Some of us like our bacon a LOT and would leave little for anyone else.

The Mac and Cheese got a substitution due to the cost of the Frank's Hot sauce being $4+ a bottle and the store brand $0.97. One of these days I will get the Frank's just to see how it compares heat-wise.
Everyone liked this one a lot, even the Mac and Cheese hater who said it was okay. Everyone that is, except the boxed Mac and Cheese lover, who would not even taste it.

Give them a try and if you like them, give the chefs some love!

 

A Pinterest Recipe Review: Slow Cooker Chicken

Source: get-on-the-floor-0.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

First of all, let me say that the original link to this recipe seems to be bogus, but the details are in the pin itself so I went with it.  When I cooked it, It DID NOT look like the pin photo. In any way. At all. (The pin chicken obviously had been browned in some way, grilling or something. That does not happen in a slow cooker.)

See:

And it doesn't have a very descriptive name, so I added a word to it.

 My Review:
The flavor of the sauce is good, but the chicken did not really need to cook for as long as it did. My chicken was dry-ish. If it was bone-in or full chicken breasts, maybe it would need that long to cook.
That could have been because I just put frozen tenders in the slow cooker. I am going to make this again with fresh chicken and cook it less time.

I also may make a second batch of the sauce and simmer it to serve with the chicken. The sauce left in the slow cooker looked kind of gross. :) (See above photo)

My kids found it to be just okay. I want to try it again with the above mentioned tweaks.

The recipe/pin had no title, just the ingredients and basic instructions.
I fleshed it out a little but this is the recipe as given in the pin.

 Slow Cooker Sweet Chicken

1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup light soy sauce

2 pounds chicken breast tenderloins

Whisk first 3 ingredients in a small bowl to combine.
Add 2 pounds chicken breast tenderloins (I use 2 -3 tenders per person I am serving) into the slow cooker.
Pour sauce over the chicken in the slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low 6-8 hrs.

 Serve with rice.

Feel free to pin this recipe from here to start a new pin with a link that works. :)

I served this with homemade Fried Rice that my friend DeLaine gave me the recipe for.



Delaine’s Fried Rice

2-4 cups precooked rice (leftovers work well) 
2-3 Eggs
Oil
Green onions, diced
¼ tsp garlic powder
Vegetables (diced carrots, peas, broccoli, pineapple etc.)
5 TBSP Soy Sauce divided
1 TBSP Oyster Sauce
1/8 - 1/4 tsp Asian Chili Sauce

Scramble 2-3 seasoned eggs.
Add 2 tbsp oil and sauté green onions, ¼ tsp garlic, carrots, peas, and broccoli and 1 tbsp soy sauce.

Add cooked rice, then make a funnel in the center of the rice and pour in 3-4 tablespoons of soy sauce, about a tablespoon of oyster sauce and a little squirt of Asian Chili Sauce.  Cook at medium high heat stirring frequently until lightly browned.

*Amy's notes:
  I don't have a wok, which is highly recommended (apparently) for fried rice. To make enough for my family I have to do my batches in a large pot. Mine always ends up kind of steamed and the veggies overdone while I am trying to get the rice to brown up. I have made small batches for lunch that work fine in a frying pan. Also, taste the rice and add more of the sauces to taste. More rice = more sauce. (Ask me how I know. :P)


 

Tasty Tuesday: Becki's Cheesy Potato Soup revisited

Sunday dinner.       Hmm.
We get home from church at 4 and after 3 hours of church, we are generally quite hungry.

Enter the slow cooker.

I have a few really good go-to recipes for my slow cooker, but I really need to expand my horizons. Lat Sunday I had planned on making Becki's Cheesy Potato Soup, which I have shared on Tasty Tuesday  before, but it is a stove top version. I decided to see if it would translate to the slow cooker so I could have a relatively easy dinner prep after church.

Here is what I did to make it in the slow cooker.
 I put my diced potatoes, onions, grated carrots (I skipped the parsley) in the bottom of the crock. I heated 2 cups of water in the microwave with the bullion cubes in it and then poured it over the veggies. I added about 4 more cups of water to the crock, to cover the veggies and turned it on low. Total cook time was bout 4 and half to 5 hours. When I got home I added the cream (about 1 cup) and the butter and the cheese, gave it a stir and let it sit for about 10 more minutes, then added about 2 TBSP of cornstarch in about 1/3 cup of water, just enough to make a slurry, and stirred that in. Then I let it cook for 15 or 20 minutes more, on low, and then served it up. It was just as delicious and required less effort.

Becki’s Cheesy Potato Soup Slow Cooker Version – Becki Johnson
(I think Becki got this from someone else, so please excuse me if I owe you credit.)

15 Medium-Large Potatoes (peeled and cubed)
2 Large Carrots (grated)
1 Medium Onion (grated)
1/3 C Knorr bouillon (powder) (bouillon cubes- all 6 cubes in the pkg)
1 Tbsp fresh parsley (Chopped)

Place potatoes carrots, onions,and parsley in a slow cooker pot, and cover with water. Heat 2 cups water and bullion in microwave , then stir to dissolve. Pour over vegetables, then add water to just cover the vegetables. Cover and cook on low 4-5 hours.

When potatoes are tender, add:

Heavy Cream (enough to thicken, about 1 cup, or to taste)
1 Stick of butter cut into tablespoon sized slices
2 Cups cheese
Stir to combine.
Cook about 10 minutes for cheese to melt.
Stir again, and if needed add 2 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 cup cold water, and add to soup to thicken. Cook another 10-20 minutes and serve warm.

Linked up to Debbie's Tuesday at the Table

Tasty Tuesday: Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This soup is a deliciously easy slow cooker meal. My family gobbled it up and wanted more! (Well almost everyone. Picky Littlest Miss licked the bottom of her spoon and turned up her nose.)
 I got the recipe from Mandy at Creative Cents.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 small onion diced
1 box long grain & wild rice {rice & seasoning packet....I used Rice A Roni}
2 cans cream of chicken soup
4 cups chicken broth

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove chicken to shred, then return to crock. Stir and serve.

I bet this would be great to use up leftover turkey if you still have some!

Digital kit by Corina Nielsen.