Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

I just made a whole chicken in the slow cooker for the first time and it was the best chicken I have ever made, ever.  So moist and so easy.  I normally brine a chicken for 24 hours before roasting it in the oven and it still isn't as moist as it was when made in the slow cooker.  If you like a crispy skin on your chicken though, you won't get it in the slow cooker.  My family usually just removes the skin so it wasn't a big deal to us.

Forgive the bad picture. I wasn't planning to blog it until it came out so yummy!

First, before you doing anything with the chicken or spices, grab some foil and roll 4 balls of foil to put under the chicken.  She shows you how over at No. 2 Pencil and trust me, she's right.  I chose not to follow her recipe because she used a pre-mixed spice blend.  I have found that the spice blends at the store are often not friendly to the Elimination Diet restrictions and I prefer to balance spices myself.

Spice Blend - Mix together in a small bowl.

2 t. salt
1 t. paprika
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion flakes
2 t. black pepper
1 t. red chili flakes

Chicken
1 whole chicken, 3.5-4.5 lbs.
3-4 T. EVOO or butter
1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic

After mixing the spices, grab your chicken.  Don't rinse it.  If your chicken came with the neck, I recommend placing it on the bottom of the cooker next to the foil balls for later use in making stock. Place chicken in slow cooker atop foil balls.

Rub the chicken with oil or butter. (I use EVOO.) Then rub the chicken with spices both on top and under the skin for extra flavor.  Chop the yellow onion into 4-5 wedges.  Roughly chop the garlic cloves.  Place onion wedges and chopped garlic into the bird's cavity.

Cook the chicken on low for 4-5 hours.  (Time and temperature will vary by cooker type.)  Use a meat thermometer to check if chicken is done.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Thursday was a chilly, windy day - the kind of day that begs for cookies to be made.  I was craving No Bake cookies, but we didn't have any Quick Oats in the pantry.  So I went on an Internet hunt for something with peanut butter, chocolate and oatmeal.  I found the most remarkable cookie on one of my favorite blogs, Brown Eyed Baker.

The only variation between our cookie and the original is that we used mini-chocolate chips, which happened because that is all we had on hand, but it turned out to be fantastic.  I am certain this is our new favorite cookie.  It's a simple but perfect combination - the peanut butter is subtle, the oatmeal adds a crunch and the mini-chocolate chips perfectly distributed chocolatey-ness throughout the cookie.  

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pintried - Chick-fil-a Nuggets & Cinnamon Rolls

I have gone back and forth on whether or not to publish this round of posts because I'm adding very little information to something that is already out there in the blog-o-sphere. Obviously, I decided to go ahead and publish. I realized that I appreciate reading other people's reviews of things they have Pinned then tried so here's my review. Take it or leave it.

Chick-fil-A Nuggets

This were amazing!  I mean it - so good and other than cutting ours into larger pieces I didn't need to change a thing.  I made the honey mustard sauce too then turned it all into an absolutely divine fried chicken salad.  I think next time I might grill them, just for the health factor but the pickle juice in the marinade - GENIUS!  And I stumbled across this recipe while I was looking up the recipe for these...

Mini Crescent Cinnamon Rolls

Honestly?  Not as good as I thought they would be.  I think I have some pretty high standards for cinnamon rolls though.  I normally make them from scratch and they come out all doughy and buttery and wonderful.  These were okay but not divine.  But I will tell you why they are really worth making.  My toddler can help in every step of the process and she loved making them with me just as much as she loved eating them.  Sure, these are quick and fun because they're tiny but the greatness is really in the fact that she took ownership in them and enjoyed sharing them with her family.  I tweaked the icing for these a bit because I didn't have maple syrup.  We made maple-vanilla icing that tasted a lot like maple bar donuts.

Maple-Vanilla Icing:
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon skim milk (more or less depending on your desired consistency)

Whisk skim milk into powdered sugar until slightly thicker than your desired consistency.  Then add the flavorings.  If it is still too thick then add some more milk, too thin add some sugar.  But I recommend a goal of too thick because the icing is smoother if you add milk than if you add sugar back in.  When you add sugar a lot of times it gets clumpier or grainier.

ETA:  After I posted this I found this little Pinterest Challenge on Better Life Bags.  Personally I made myself a board called THIS WEEK.  It is entirely for pinning the things I intend to make from Pinterest in the current week.  I pick them out on Sunday - everything from crafts with my kids to cooking and baking - then work through them all week long.  So far, I'm loving it!

Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit Muffins

I found this recipe on my newest internet love - Pinterest. They're fun, they're tasty and they're so easy! Check 'em out - Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit Muffins

. Oh, one small point, I had to turn down the oven to 375 rather than 400. At 400 the biscuits burned slightly on the bottom by the time the eggs set. I had to then lengthen the cooking time, checking them every few minutes until the eggs set.

Chocolate Glazed Donut Muffins

I don't recall exactly how I first stumbled across these beautiful creations but I do know I immediately pinned them. The version I made and pinned came from Joy the Baker's blog.

I love muffins - they're handy. I can make them ahead of time. They fit in one hand. They travel well and are pre-portioned.

I love donuts - they're yummy. But...they're no treat for the hips, so a baked version has to be better right?

I love chocolate - enough said.

So what could be better than combining all those things together?!

As with all things, I had to make a few changes...

I eliminated the nutmeg because I didn't want a nutmeg flavor to them.
I used skim milk because that's what I had on hand.
I used vanilla yogurt rather than plain because that's what they had in small sizes.
I used semi-sweet chocolate rather than unsweetened because we like our chocolate to taste really chocolatey.

Overall, easy to make and worth the time invested, though I really thought they tasted like a dense version of my vanilla cupcakes.

The chocolate glaze was perfect. I may never make icing/frosting for any cupcake ever again. The glaze was prettier and easier and yummier than any other recipe I have ever made.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

It seems we always have some form of chocolate chips in the house, so when I needed to whip up a breakfast side dish at the last minute I immediately thought of chocolate chip muffins.  I don't have a tried and true muffin recipe so off to google I went...I decided to try the Joy of Baking Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe.

I chose the Joy of Baking recipe because it was detailed and simple, which is always helpful with a new recipe.  I found the batter to be a bit wet but I only added a tablespoon of flour for fear of making the muffins chewy or dry.  In the end they did turn out a bit too sticky so I think if I try this recipe again then I will try a bit more flour.  Or....does anyone have any suggestions?

  

And minutes after the muffins were in reach, Lil' Hoot had her hands on one.  The muffins have been taste-tested and deemed edible, very edible.

Cooking with Kids - Monkey Bread

I love cooking with Lil Hoot. Yes, cooking with kids takes longer, makes a bigger mess and can often yield more unpredictable results, but we have already made so many fun memories and have so many great pictures. She actually started in the kitchen with me just before her first birthday. Our first recipe together - Monkey Bread!

I am certain that the reason I choose Monkey Bread is in no small part because of my fond memories of making Monkey Bread with my grandma as a kid. We may have only made it once - I really don't know, but I loved the name, the process and the end result so the whole thing sticks in my mind. We used canned biscuits and cut them up, but since I have a fondness for making things entirely from scratch, I used this Monkey Bread recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  You can, of course, just substitute canned biscuits, most recipes I have found call for 2 cans, usually Grands! biscuits (which are by far the best of the canned taste-wise).  I might have bought a bundt pan just for the purpose of making this bread.

I have little to add to this recipe, she's incredibly detailed, but here's our experience...

First, Lil' Hoot was only a year old so I made up the dough during her nap and let it rise so it would be ready for her to help afterward.  If you have older children and are just using biscuits then grab the kitchen scissors and let 'em help with the whole process!

Second, if you do choose to make the dough from scratch - I did not own a stand mixer at the time and I did mix it all by hand, totally doable.  It is better that it be slightly wet rather than slightly dry (as I found out later).
Third, who needs a fork?  Prepare for butter everywhere.  Prepare yourself that your child will eat plenty of butter and sugar throughout this process.  We just dipped the pieces in each bowl with our fingers.

Fourth, she does note this in her recipe - taking it out a smidge earlier is better than later otherwise you get a dark (rather tough) crust.  Personally, I found the glaze can make up for some dryness though.

And, in keeping with tradition, we made this Monkey Bread to take to a family gathering at my grandma's house.  She helped me make the glaze and I know we added some extra vanilla but I don't recall how much.  The glaze isn't too picky, just add a little bit at a time until you get it to the point that you like it. 

Then serve and enjoy!  Happy baking and don't forget to include your kids.  They learn valuable life (and math) skills while bonding and making memories that everyone will love for a lifetime.