Easy Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

This is exactly the kind of thing I've been wanting to cook lately:

Easy  -  (Check!!  You just throw all the ingredients together!)

No heating up the kitchen  -  (Check!!  All it takes is 3 1/2 hours in the slow cooker, no oven or stove!)

Yummy  -    (Check!!  Definitely yummy!)



Easy Slow Cooker Orange Chicken


Ingredients:

4-6 chicken breasts (amount depending on family size!)
1 18oz jar of Sweet Orange Marmalade
1 bottle of barbecue sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray's but to each your own)
1/4 cup of Aloha Shoyu low sodium soy sauce (this is the best soy sauce everrrrrrrrrr)


Directions:

Place the chicken breasts in the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours.  Remove from slow cooker and dispose of liquid.  You can shred, chop or keep the chicken as is.  Place the chicken back into the slow cooker.  In a bowl mix together the marmalade, barbecue sauce and soy sauce and pour over the chicken.  Cook on high for a half hour (make sure you remember to put the lid back on!)  Serve over calrose rice cooked in a rice steamer, yay for sticky rice!!!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal

I'm not sure if this was a dessert or breakfast...... oh yeah, it was breakfast!!  This is so delicious!!


Coconut Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal


Ingredients:

1/2 cup rolled oats
Salt to taste
1/4 cup applesauce
Smidgen of turbadino sugar (just a smidge!!!)
Few drops of coconut extract
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp. melted butter
Dark chocolate chips and unsweetened coconut (as much or as little as you want,need,DEMAND!)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine all ingredients.  Pour all ingredients into a small pan or ramekins - or a vintage yellow Pyrex!  Cook for 20 minutes or until firm.

Southwestern Chopped Salad

It's hot outside so I've been making salads.  After Caleb had this one the other day he said "That was the best salad I ever had.  Only make this salad for the rest of your life."  I responded "What if I make it Asian....".  He quickly said "No." I countered again with "But what if I..."  "No!" I tried again with a "Wha....." and got a "NO!!"  Caleb can be a brat sometimes..........  but I get it.  It's a delicious salad.  I put all the topping options in bowls so the kids could choose what they wanted to put on it and it was a total hit.


Southwestern Chopped Salad


Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, grilled and diced into 1 inch pieces
1 bell pepper, diced (any color - I like red but received some complaints I didn't use green)
1 14oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup sweet corn (fresh or frozen, if frozen make sure to leave time for it to defrost)
1 tomato, diced
1 package of romaine hearts (wash and chop into smallish pieces)
1 avocado, diced
Tortilla chips
Salsa
Spicy ranch dressing

Directions:

You can add all the ingredients together in a large bowl, or you can do like I did and let your family pick and choose what they want to add to their salad.  To make the dressing, Hidden Valley Ranch makes a Spicy Ranch mix that you can use, or you can also add about a tablespoon of taco seasoning to regular Ranch mix when you make your ranch dressing.