What's For Dinner: Slow Cooker Spicy Brown Sugar and Citrus Chicken Breasts

Two slow cooker meals in one week? What is going on around here!? While I tend to reach for my slow cooker solely in the cooler months, as the temperatures begin to rise around these parts, I'm finding I have less and less desire to turn on the oven -- particularly since our house lacks air conditioning. 

I was at a loss as to what to cook for dinner the other night, so, after confirming that our fridge didn't have much to offer, I took a quick look into the deep freezer in the basement and came upon some frozen chicken breasts. No time to thaw, but no need for the slow cooker. (Yay!) All I had to do was whisk a quick sauce together, pour it over the chicken, set the slow cooker to low, and my work was done (at least for the next six hours). This chicken dish has quite a bit of spiciness going on -- if you'd prefer a milder flavor, leave out (or use less of) the red pepper flakes and chopped jalapeño. 

Slow Cooker Spicy Brown Sugar and Citrus Chicken Breasts (printer-friendly version)

makes 4 servings

4 6-oz frozen organic chicken breasts

1/2 cup brown sugar

zest from 1 lime

juice of 1 lime

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (5-6 cloves)

1/3 cup white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons soy (or tamari) sauce

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon finely chopped jalapeño pepper (seeds and ribs removed)

1 cup diced red pepper (seeds and ribs removed)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1. Coat a 2- or 4-quart slow cooker bowl with cooking spray. Place the frozen chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, lime zest, lime juice, lemon juice, garlic, white wine vinegar, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Stir in the chopped jalapeño and diced red pepper.
3. Pour the sauce over top the chicken. Place the lid on the slow cooker, set to low, and cook for 6-8 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and has an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
4. Once cooked, remove the chicken from the slow cooker. Stir in the cornstarch and turn the temperature setting to high. Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
5. Serve the chicken over quinoa, rice, or noodles. Pour the sauce over the chicken before serving.

What's For Dinner: Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

This coming Sunday marks the beginning of Daylight Savings Time, and though I am not looking forward to losing an hour of sleep (I suppose I could just go to bed earlier...), I am so looking forward to more light in the evening. Rule #1 of food blogging is using natural light for photography, and since I typically don't start cooking each evening until the sun has begun to set, I have been failing at this rule all winter long. (Many food bloggers prep all their posts over the weekend, I, ahem, am not quite that organized ... and/or I'd rather spend the weekend cross-country skiing, catching up on sleep, or running errands (aka, making the 45-minute drive south for a chai latte) -- perhaps that is why my blog isn't yet a household name? Hmmm...) All this just to say that the other night I cooked up a batch of sweet and sour pork chops in my slow cooker, and though the post-sunset photograph (above) doesn't do them any justice, the resulting pork chops were actually quite delicious. The last time I made pork chops in my slow cooker, I was pining for a more substantial sauce, and the thick sweet and sour sauce in this recipe definitely does the trick.

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork Chops (printer-friendly version)
makes 4 servings

4 boneless organic pork chops
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons corn starch

1. Place the pork chops in the bottom of a 4-quart slow cooker bowl.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, honey, ginger, soy sauce, ketchup, and garlic.
3. Pour the mixture over the pork chops, covering them evenly.
4. Cook on low for 4 hours, or until the pork chops are tender and cooked through. Prior to serving, stir in the corn starch to thicken the sauce.
5. Serve over rice.

 (adapted from this recipe)

What I'm Giving: Vanilla Brown Sugar Body Scrub

It's one week until Christmas Eve, and I am so not prepared. Leaving my Christmas shopping to the very last minute is not a new thing for me -- in the past I've been a rather successful Christmas Eve power shopper. However, now that my family is spread across the country, waiting to shop until the night, let alone the week, before Christmas doesn't quite work so well given the additional time needed to allow for shipping.

Also, given that these days the nearest large shopping district is much greater than a five-minute walk away, any shopping I do either needs to involve some major strategizing, or it needs to be done online (insert angst about last-minute shipping rates here). : )

Since I can't take advantage of all those last-minute holiday sales, I think I instead need to grab the reins and think outside the box for holiday gifts this year. I thought I'd put together a week of handmade, less-processed gift ideas that can easily be made in the comfort of your own home from easily-obtained materials -- many of which may already be in your kitchen cupboards. Some of these ideas will be food-based while others will not.

I thought I'd start off the week with a not-edible, but rather tasty-smelling vanilla brown sugar body scrub. I love these scrubs -- but I don't love the price and some of the ingredients that can be found in store-bought versions. My body scrub contains the basics -- brown sugar, oil, and vanilla extract -- plus a few additional ingredients (jojoba oil and vitamin E oil) to make your skin super-soft and smell delicious.

Vanilla Brown Sugar Body Scrub (printer-friendly version)
makes enough to fill one 8-oz jar*

1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup almond oil
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon jojoba oil
~10 drops vitamin E oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Add the brown sugar to a small bowl. Mix in the almond oil, honey, jojoba oil, vitamin E oil, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
2. Spoon the mixture into a container with a lid.
3. To give as a gift, wrap the jar with a ribbon and tie on a little scoop.

*Use a shatter-proof container if you intend to keep this in your bath/shower.

Made from Scratch: Brown Sugar

One of the recipes that I made over the weekend (which you'll see later this week) called for brown sugar. Since I'm living the unprocessed life this month, I figured I ought to make my own. Brown sugar is just regular (highly-processed) granulated sugar that has the molasses added back in. Molasses is actually a byproduct of the process used to make refined (granulated) cane sugar. To make my brown sugar, I used organic blackstrap molasses -- this type of molasses results from the maximum extraction (or three boilings) of sugar from sugar cane. Interestingly, this thick brown, sticky, and syrupy liquid is actually considered by many to be good for you -- it is high in nutrients such as manganese, copper, iron, calcium and, given the process in which it is made, relatively low in sugar. I went back and forth about whether or not molasses can be considered an unprocessed ingredient, as it results from the processing of another ingredient ... but in the end I wanted to use a recipe that called for brown sugar, and I decided that it was good enough that at least I was making my own brown sugar from scratch.

Light Brown Sugar (printer-friendly version)
makes one cup

1 cup raw sugar (alternately, you just use normal granulated sugar)
1 tablespoon unsulphured organic blackstrap molasses

1. Place the sugar into a medium bowl. Add the molasses.

2. Use a fork to combine the ingredients, taking care to smoosh out all the blobs of molasses. [Alternately, you could use a handmixer or electric stand mixer to do the work for you.] For dark brown sugar, stir in an additional tablespoon of molasses.
3. Store the brown sugar in an airtight container or plastic zippered bag with all of the excess air squeezed out.

(adapted from this Joy the Baker recipe)