Monday, June 10, 2013

adventures in pinterest recipes

The adventure continues! For dinner I made crockpot teriyaki chicken and spicy, garlicky, green beans, served over quinoa.


Overall Flavor Rating: A -- Delicious! 
Time/Prep Rating:  A+  --Super easy. I threw the teriyaki in the crockpot to slow cook while I watched some T.V. and went for a run. When I got back, I made my green beans while the quinoa was cooking, and viola! Dinner. 
Things to change next time: use pre-minced garlic to save time. I would also throw the mushrooms in the crock instead of cooking w/ the green beans, and throw in some peppers as well to get this up to an A+ rating for flavor.

Crockpot teriyaki:

1 lb of chicken
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup soy/teriyaki sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 minced garlic cloves

I modified the recipe because I made my own teriyaki sauce, and as such felt no need to add more sugar and garlic (my home-made had plenty). So, I threw the chicken, 1/2 cup chicken broth, and 1 cup home-made teriyaki in the crock pot on low. It smelled divine.

A word about teriyaki sauce. I have found every store-bought bottle I've ever made to be complete and utter crap, so a friend of mine gave me her family's recipe. I don't give out family recipes, but I've perused on-line and have found several that are comparable (example). It took no time at all - or it would have taken no time if I'd bought minced garlic instead of mincing my own. If you have an extra 45 seconds when making dinner, I HIGHLY recommend making your own sauce instead of buying it.

Spicy, Garlicky, Green Beans:

I love green beans. In fact, I love them raw, but they can get boring. This recipe gave me the added pizzazz I've needed. I followed the cooking directions but added some mushrooms that needed to get eaten, and I could not be happier with the results. The beans were crisp and flavorful (it was spicy!), and complimented my main dish fabulously.



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