Sweet Hawaiian Crockpot Chicken

Okay, so the first word that caught my attention was crockpot.
I have a crockpot and use it frequently. With three children ages 5 and under, kindergarten and preschool schedules to navigate, piano lessons to teach and volunteering with my church besides, I am always looking for something I can do quickly and leave alone all day.

The words "sweet" "hawaiian" and "chicken" all combined to delicious temptation.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/562356_4398507975515_139846884_n.jpg

The ingredient list was simple, small, and affordable! Pineapple juice, "light" soy sauce, "light" brown sugar and chicken. A good friend suggested fresh ginger. Excellent suggestion! She bakes the most delicious goods. Here's her page: Bonnie Nork's Custom Baked Goods

Now the slow-cooking. I stepped away and let the sauces sink into my savory chicken on low for 6 hours. (The recipe calls for 6-8 hours on low, but my crockpot waxes hot so 6 hours was more than sufficient)

All cooked, the meat didn't really look like it had been grilled (and the perfect photo did, of course).

So, I displayed the food on rice, which was how we served it up.

And the final verdict?
This dish is moist and juicy, the sweet balance was just right, but the savory kick it needed just wasn't there.
My husband is really the foodie in our house, and he was at a loss for words as to just what was missing.
I know what it was missing.
High-intensity sodium flavor.
If you eat "authentic" Hawaiian, which we have wonderfully experienced here in our town, you'll know the difference. A local restaurant called North Shore Hawaiian Plate Lunch serves some of the best teryaki chicken I've eaten. (Which I think is what the original recipe attempted)

So, for a "healthy alternative" or low-sodium teryaki chicken recipe, this one is edible.
Not a waste of ingredients, but it just seemed bland.

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

After two failed recipes, I found joy in my first Facebook-posted success.

It wasn't the title, but the gooey chocolate chips melting in this photo that first held my tastebuds and then my eyes.

http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j374/Texanerin/grain_free_chocolate_chip_cookie_dough_bites_2_watermarked.jpg

After seeing this photo, aren't you also drooling?

 

My tips on this recipe are: 

Number One, husk your chickpeas.

 

My experience with chickpeas in recipes is that they leave a bitter taste no matter how well you have rinsed and drained (and in this recipe, patted dry) those little balls of garbanzo.

It has prevented me from making my own hummus until now.

 

Number Two, if you are unable to use a food processor and are using a blender like I did, break this into about three parts as to save your motor from unnecessary wear and heat.

 

I purchased a store-brand 15oz can of chickpeas (also labeled garbanzo beans) and used the entire can once I had husked and repeatedly rinsed the peas. I used Adams Natural Peanut Butter (creamy-the kind you have to stir as the oil from the peanuts is an inch deep on top of your PB when you open the jar). We have local honey at our grocery store, so I added those three ingredients and mixed and blended, in three smaller batches, then mashed the baking powder into the large lump of dough.

 

The original poster of this recipe mentions that the dough isn't great by itself. 

True statement.

I am a guilty person when it comes to eating dough.

I actually prefer raw cookie dough to cookies most of the time.

 

That being said, these cookies were actually pretty good. They weren't as crisp as cookies with flour, but after 10 minutes on an air-bake cookie sheet at our "high altitude", there was a bit of crispness as I bit into my cookie(s).

 

Final Verdict?

Garbanzo beans mixed with peanut butter take away from the peanut flavor, so it's a reduced-peanut flavor, which really made for a nice, mild cookie with lots of chocolate chips.

I yielded 18 cookies from her original ingredients. 

~Tammy

Sugar-Free Oatmeal Cookies

Oh these had the promise of deliciousness!

I love, love, love cookies! Especially Oatmeal cookies. My mom let me bake long before I was allowed to cook anything for our family of seven. Quaker's Oatmeal Cookie recipe is still my go-to for crisp on the outside, gooey on the inside, delicious grains with moist raisins cookies.

(http://leanmoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/bananacookies.jpg)

This photo circulated with the tempting words, "Sugar-Free Oatmeal Cookies".


As my youngest sister was getting married in the spring and I had been attempting to lose weight, the thought of a "healthy" cookie was more than I could resist.

The ingredients seemed simple enough-mashed bananas, almond milk, oats, raisins, applesauce, vanilla and cinnamon. I mixed and followed the recipe. It seemed to be very very wet, but the photo showed golden crispy "cookies", and I believed it.

Shame on me. You should never believe anything you read or see pictured on the internet. 
Except for this blog.
I would never lie to you.
You can definitely believe me.

 

These are NOT cookies. I saw a comment under this recipe on one of several recipe sites I visited that made me laugh out loud.
      "someone dear to me tried this recipe (substituted milk for almond milk) but said turned out really rubbery discs.... is there something we need to do differently? flavor was ok but really rubbery texture. tysm for your help!"

I think they summed it up pretty well. If I were trying to make banana bread lumps and didn't want to use flour, then this recipe might be an acceptable substitute. 

Yes, I described these as lumps. They have a terrible color when cooked, too. They have an unappetizing bluish-gray tint normally reserved for the morgue. Not a hint of life or golden glow as the photo would lead you to believe.
(I may re-name these zombie cookies.)

For those of us expecting anything remotely cookie-like or crisp, we must avoid this recipe at all costs!

The flavor wasn't terrible, but the texture was something I could not ever recommend.
~Tammy

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

We like to eat healthy in our house. I also have a sweet tooth. Any time I see a recipe for a healthier version of a cookie, I'm going to at least read the ingredients.

I enjoy baking, cooking, doing it from scratch, making things myself, inspiring others to create.

When I first heard of a cauliflower pizza crust, I didn't think much of it. I saved the recipe, but never tried it.
Go figure when it circulated on Facebook among my friends with a pinned photo of this amazing healthy pizza with no flour in the crust, that I would once again think it was worth a shot.

(http://www.eat-drink-smile.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/caulifower-crust-pizza-whole-580x773.jpg)

I do not have photos of this torturous fail, but I found plenty of other blogs from people who did not have success. First of all, I do not have a food processor. I do have a blender, so that's what I tried to use to puree the cauliflower. The biggest problem? The crusts just wouldn't hold together.
And my husband's initial reaction when they were baking? "What is that awful smell?!"

Baked cauliflower, to be blunt, smells like somebody just passed some terrible gas.
My recipe recommended baking in a tin pan and "flipping it" after an amount of time, which I followed carefully. I coated the pan so it wouldn't stick.
The eggs stuck.
The entire souffle or omelette that was posing as a crust simply fell apart when I tried to flip it.
I had spent 1 1/2 hours in the kitchen putting this all together and tweaking the second, third and fourth crusts when I finally went to the store to buy a pre-made pizza crust so my children would at least have dinner.
(and of course, there were none to be found, so I bought rolled up pie crusts and called it good)

Pizza made on a pie crust is palatable but not the texture you'd expect for pizza. Flaky crust never seemed a logical mix with tomato sauce and toppings, but when you have three children 5 and under, you get the first thing you can find!

My two cents? If you want pizza, eat pizza. If you want healthy cauliflower egg food, make yourself that tasty cauliflower omelette and skip the hassle of trying to get it crisp!

~Tammy

Recipes sound so good

Many of you out there have, like myself, been able to avoid the temptation of Pinterest.
www.pinterest.com
Now that I understand Pinterest, it does seem convenient instead of bookmarking every website I visit. Still, I am intrigued when a marvelous, scrumptious photo appears on my Facebook newsfeed.

(http://leanmoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/bananacookies.jpg)

These words entice, ensnare, entangle you with tags like "Healthy" "Easy" "Gluten-free!".
And, the instructions underneath prompt you to "Share on your timeline so you won't lose this recipe!"
Multiple people click "share", the Pinterest page is spread on and on.

But, when we attempt to make the photographed item, how many times does it actually turn out?
Would your family actually eat it?

I know there are some humorous blogs in existence with multiple photos of "Pinterest fails". Though this may end up sharing some definite fails, I am hoping to simply try recipes that interest me and share the results with you.
I'll try to share some photos of my processes as I go.
I hope you benefit from my successes and failures as we determine whether or not it's too good to be true.

~Tammy