honey – Page 4 – The Pajama Chef

Crockpot Asian Pulled Chicken

September 17, 2014September 16, 2014 Sarah

Dust off your crockpot–this Asian Pulled Chicken is perfect for a chilly night and is a snap to put together!

I don’t do crockpot recipes that involve multiple steps. Isn’t the point of the crockpot to set it and forget it? So this recipe is super simple: place chicken in crockpot, top with a bunch of seasonings/sauces–without even mixing it!, cover, cook, enjoy. Perfect, huh?! Since I prefer to not even have to CHECK on crockpot meals while they’re cooking, I always like to use a bunch of sauce so the meat doesn’t dry out. For this recipe, I combined orange juice, rice vinegar, honey, and some spices with a myriad of Asian sauces I had hanging about in my pantry: soy sauce, hoisin, and oyster sauce…and some of Star Fine Foods’ Asian Cuisine Cooking Oil to give everything a little extra soy/ginger ooomph. If you don’t have all those sauces, don’t worry. One would be more than enough to make this almost barbecue-like sauce shine.

Once you open the lid, you’ll be greeted with the awesome aroma of chicken bathing in a sweet and tangy sauce. There’s citrus and a little heat and ginger and all sorts of good things in there, making that tender, melt-in-your-mouth chicken tastes even better than it smells. Since it was so effortless, I bet you’ll make this recipe again and again and again! Enjoy!

three years ago: Corn Cake Salad
four years ago: Sausage Pepper Penne

Crockpot Asian Pulled Chicken

Servings: 6
Time: 4 hours
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Ingredients:

2 pounds chicken – a combination of chicken breast and thighs is good, or just one works too
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup hoisin
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Asian Cuisine Cooking Oil by Star Fine Foods [or 1/4 cup olive oil with 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger + 1 teaspoon soy sauce]
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
rice, for serving
cilantro, for serving

Directions:

Place chicken in crockpot. Add all ingredients to crockpot [except rice and cilantro], then cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Gently shred chicken with a fork. Serve with rice and cilantro.

Breads, Recipes

Honey Cornbread

September 12, 2014November 22, 2016 Sarah

This cornbread is sweet, delicious, and honey-scented. You’ll want to make batch after batch to enjoy with your favorite soups and chilis this fall!

There’s nothing better than a warm slice of sweet cornbread! This easy recipe is my absolute favorite cornbread out there. It’s perfect with any dish, but I especially love it with my potato soup. Eating a slice hot out of the oven, slathered with butter and honey, is an experience unlike any other. Mmmm, I can almost taste it now. 🙂 I have no idea how many times I’ve made this recipe for a potluck or dinner with friends, but whenever I do, I always have to suppress the urge to hide a few slices away so I make sure I can have a few pieces leftover for breakfast. I can guarantee that when you take some to a group gathering you’ll be bringing home an empty pan! So you probably shouldn’t steal some from your friends, even though you might want to because it is that good.

The reason this cornbread is so darn delicious is that it’s cake-like. It’s moist and fluffy at the same time… utterly delicious! Even though it makes a huge pan, don’t think about halving the recipe. When I make this, if there’s any doubt that we won’t finish it in a few days, I just freeze individual slices in sandwich bags. Then I can easily throw a slice in my lunch when I’m taking some leftover soup and I can be a very happy camper at lunchtime! Enjoy!

four year ago: Tropical Granola

Honey Cornbread

Servings: 20
Time: 40 minutes
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from Money Saving Mom

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1 1/3 cups milk
2 1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 cup cornmeal

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9×13 or 11×14 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Cream together sugar and butter. A stand or hand mixer works great, but so does a wooden spon. Add eggs, honey, and milk, then mix well. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and cornmeal. Fold dry ingredinets into the wet ingredients until just combined. Don’t overmix–batter will be lumpy. Transfer to prepared pan, then bake for 35 minutes until golden brown.

Serve warm with butter, honey, and your favorite soup.

Linked up with Weekend Potluck and Foodie Friends Friday.

Chicken, Main Dishes, Recipes, Sauces

Baked Honey Chicken Nuggets with Homemade Chick-Fil-A Sauce

August 6, 2014August 4, 2014 Sarah

These baked chicken nuggets and homemade honey mustard sauce are an easy way to satisfy fast food cravings at home!

Even though I love salads, vegetables, and all sorts of healthy goodness, as well as eating at local restaurants, sometimes fast food just sounds SO good. Do you know what I mean? I rarely indulge, except on road trips or nights that I really really have no desire to cook and we have no leftovers. [This is super rare.] To be completely honest, the health aspect is only part of the reason I don’t indulge that often. It’s the cost. It just seems ridiculous to me to spend $7+ on a “good” fast food meal… especially keeping in mind what fast food is really made of. So what to do, what to do. Make my own fast food, of course! Chicken nuggets and chicken tenders are my absolute fave. Always have been, always will be.

True, it takes longer. And it’s not exactly like what you’d get at a fast food place. But seriously… if it’s just the crunch of chicken and the endless vats of dipping sauce that you desire, this will be well worth it! I’m not going to lie; these chicken nuggets aren’t healthy. They’re baked, not fried, so there is some redeeming qualities to them, but healthy they are not. Their breading is held on by an unexpected blend of balsamic vinegar and honey, a combination that’s sweet and savory all at once!

Though you can dip these chicken nuggets in whatever sauce you like–ketchup, BBQ sauce, mustard… might I suggest this homemade Chick-Fil-A sauce? Before seeing this recipe I didn’t realize that Chick-Fil-A had their own special sauce besides their honey mustard, so I can’t vouch for the authenticity of this recipe. I can speak for the taste though–it’s amazingly, utterly, wonderfully delicious! So next time you have a craving for fast food, why not make some at home? I bet you have most of these ingredients in your pantry and fridge right now! I know I do. 🙂 Enjoy!

one year ago: Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
two years ago: Pesto Potato Salad
three years ago: Salmon with Lemon, Tarragon, and Garlic Sauce
four years ago: Summer Mexican Soup

Baked Honey Chicken Nuggets with Homemade Chick-Fil-A Sauce

Servings: 4-5
Time: 45 minutes
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from Macaroni and Cheesecake

Ingredients:

for chicken nuggets

1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, Panko if possible – if regular bread crumbs you may want to toast in a dry skillet for a few minutes until golden brown
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

for Chick-Fil-A sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon BBQ sauce

Directions:

Line a large sheet pan with foil and lightly grease with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together honey and balsamic vinegar. Place bread crumbs in another shallow bowl. Roll chicken in honey then dip in bread crumbs, being sure to coat each side. Place on prepared pan and repeat until all chicken is used. Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

After chicken is in the oven, whisk together all ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate while chicken cooks, about 30 minutes, to allow flavors to marry.

Serve chicken nuggets with sauce, ketchup, etc. Extra sauce will keep in the refrigerator for a couple weeks.

Bars, Desserts, Recipes

Dark Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Blondies

July 17, 2014July 18, 2014 Sarah

These blondies have all of your favorite flavors: chocolate, peanut butter, and honey… and are healthy too! They’re a great gluten free and/or vegan dessert. 🙂

Growing up, my little sister Kathleen would always copy me. Drove me nuts! Whatever I had, she wanted. Clothes, friends, privileges, etc. Man. We’re five years apart, so in my world, this was totally awful. I considered her quite the little pest for many years… but she did too, so I guess we’re even. And let’s not even get into bathroom wars. Can any other sisters relate?! 🙂

Thankfully, today Kathleen and I aren’t antagonistic towards each other anymore, and Ben and I love to hang out with Kathleen and her husband Grant. Too bad we live five hours apart! Kathleen copied me a year or so ago and made her own food blog, Two Happy Bellies. For pretty much the first time ever [in older sister speak], this copying benefited me as I could finally see all her yummy recipes in one place! Before, she’d just email/Facebook/instagram/pin them to me. Now it’s my turn to copy her with these delicious blondies!

These blondies are the closest thing to a healthy dessert you can have without it being fruit or something else super natural [read: WEIRD]. There’s no flour, white sugar, oil, or butter in them… they’re gluten free, and can be made vegan in a snap. The chickpea base may weird some people out, but if you don’t tell ’em, they probably won’t even know. #totallyserious These blondies are completely delicious though, and are so simple to make that they’re sure to become part of your regular rotation. Enjoy y’all!

P.S. I just realized that my sister is the ultimate copycat… she copies me, and her nickname is Kat. Get it?!?? CopyKat! Lol I crack myself up. I should go now. 🙂 Love ya booboo!

one year ago: Eggplant Potato Frittata
two years ago: Baked Flounder
three years ago: Brown Sugar Fruit Dip

Dark Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Blondies - Gluten Free, Vegan Option

Servings: 16
Time: 45 minutes
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from Two Happy Bellies

Ingredients:

1 can [15 oz] garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup peanut butter [or other nut butter]
1/3 cup honey [or pure maple syrup or agave nectar for vegan option]
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3.5 oz dark chocolate bar, chopped or broken into chunks OR 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp chocolate chips [regular or vegan]

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8 inch pan with cooking spray or shortening and line with parchment paper.

Using a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients except chocolate and blend until smooth. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan then top with chocolate, pressing in to incorporate.

Bake for 15-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean AND edges are just beginning to brown. My sister took hers out at 18 minutes and I did at about 20. They might look underdone but they will firm up as they cool.

Cool in pan for at least 20 minutes before slicing. Keep refrigerated.

Linked up with: Weekend Potluck.

Main Dishes, Pasta, Pasta, Recipes, Sides

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Kale and Edamame

July 9, 2014July 8, 2014 Sarah

Spicy peanut sauce, noodles, kale, and edamame meet in an addictive, easy pseudo-takeout meal that can be enjoyed hot or cold–what’s not to love?!

This spring/summer Ben and I have been eating sesame or peanut noodles all. the. time. [Side note: is there an actual difference between them? I’m sure there is. The librarian part of me is itching to google this up and see what I find out, but I’ll restrain myself.] They have replaced our easy mac & cheese from a box dinners. I have a hard time telling you what recipe I’ve used because a) I have many pinned on Pinterest and b) don’t really measure ingredients for sauces like this because I’ve never taken the time to take a few pictures to share the recipe here! But this time I did. Measure and photograph. 🙂 And this time I didn’t use any recipe except what sounded/looked/tasted good to me. It’s a good thing I did, because my noodles were utterly amazing.

Inspired by the lovely Amy of fearless homemaker and HER spicy peanut & sesame noodles, I added mix-ins to my noodles for the first time ever. What a good choice! Adding some kale and edamame made the textures of everything just pop and look pretty. Dontcha just love all that green?! 🙂

Ben walked in the door just as I was mixing everything together and was like, “what in the world is that fabulous smell?! You must be the best wife ever for cooking such an incredible dinner.” Okay, maybe his words didn’t come out exactly like that, but the sentiment was there. I know it. But seriously–these noodles DO smell fabulous. The sauce is the perfect balance of spicy, sweet, and fresh flavors. I used ground ginger in the sauce but if I had had fresh ginger… oh man. Use that if you can.

Though I served these noodles as a vegetarian main course, this is a great base recipe to add some meat. I think grilled chicken or thinly sliced steak would be great. Or even shrimp or tofu. This could even be a side dish if you like. We loved every last one of these yummy noodles, and like all good Asian-ish recipes…you can enjoy them hot or cold. They’re great both ways. In the recipe below I included notes about how to prepare them to be more picnic friendly, but no matter how you make them, I’m sure you’ll love ’em! Enjoy!

one year ago: Ginger Banana Waffles
two years ago: Minty Asian Slaw
three years ago: Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Kale and Edamame

Servings: 8
Time: 20min
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Ingredients:

16 ounces thin spaghetti noodles [any sort of thin noodle would work–Asian of any type, linguini, etc.]
3 cups kale, tightly packed & thinly sliced
1 cup Thai basil, loosely packed & chopped
1 cup edamame, shelled & room temperature
green onions, sliced, for garnish

for sauce

1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
juice of half a lime [roughly 2 tablespoons]
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon Sriracha
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger [use 1 inch grated fresh ginger if you have it]
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
~1/2 cup pasta water, to thin sauce

Directions:

Prepare noodles according to package directions. Be sure to reserve about half a cup of pasta’s cooking water to thin the sauce.

While noodles are cooking, whisk together all ingredients for sauce except for the pasta water.

When pasta is ready, drain, and return to pot [or a large bowl]. Add kale, basil, and edamame and toss. Thin dressing with 3 tablespoons of pasta water, whisk, and the pour over noodles and vegetables. Toss well to coat. If necessary, add additional pasta water to thin sauce further, up to a full half cup.

Serve noodles with green onions for garnish.

Note:

Can be enjoyed warm or cold, but the dressing does really absorb into the noodles after refrigeration [which doesn’t bother me but does affect presentation] so if you’re making these noodles for an event and want to serve them cold, be sure to rinse well after draining to get rid of starch, toss with a bit of sesame oil, and then refrigerate separately from the sauce and veggies. Toss together before serving. I haven’t tried this technique with this recipe, but I have done similar things for other dishes so I assume it’d work well! Using rice noodles [that you don’t boil to cook, thus, they stay cold] might be a good option too.