I am always looking for a new and different slow cooker meal. I personally could eat a tomato-based sauce with meat over rice, pasta, polenta, you-name-it every day. My husband would prefer something new every now and then, which is fair.
So this time, I attempted to make a takeout favorite — Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken!
This recipe is really simple, but it can become a legit salt lick if you aren’t careful about your ingredients. Be sure to use lower sodium soy sauce and unsalted cashews!
Salty-sweet combinations are just. The best. My favorite involve chocolate; the saltiness really enhances the chocolate flavor!
These Brownies are an absolutely delicious salty-sweet combo. The super chocolately, fudgy brownie is made with Endangered Species Chocolate Almond Spread with Cocoa (and 3 other different kinds of chocolate!) while the crust is make of a deliciously salty pretzel/graham cracker combination.
The Almond Spread adds a different lay of flavor to the brownies. To keep the almond flavor noticeable in the brownies, I also used some almond extract. If you don’t have almond extract, or don’t want as much almond flavor, you can use vanilla extract.
What makes these brownies even more tasty is that the chocolate spread used in the brownies also helps give back: Endangered Species Chocolate donates 10% of net profits annually to 10% GiveBack Partners. In the past three years, Endangered Species Chocolate’s (ESC) 10% GiveBack program has donated more than $1.2 million for its carefully chosen beneficiaries!
ESC recently announced its 2016-2018 partners: Rainforest Trust and Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN). The organizations will receive 10% of ESC’s annual net profits (or a minimum annual donation of $10,000, whichever is greater) to fund projects they deem most important to achieving their conservation goals.
Rainforest Trust has saved more than 11 million acres of tropical forests to-date, but ESC’s 10% GiveBack program will be vital in expediting the organization’s goal of preserving 20 million acres by the year 2020. WCN funds projects in 24 different countries where the 10% GiveBack program will contribute to helping a myriad of at-risk species.
Past 10% GiveBack partners include SEE Turtles, SEEtheWild, Chimp Haven and, most recently, the Xerces Society and African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).
Endangered Species Chocolate was also kind enough to send me some extra jars of their delicious spreads to give away to one I Can Cook That reader! Details after the recipe.
Ingredients:
For crust:
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1.5 cups crushed pretzels (about 2 cups mini pretzels before crushed)
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SplendaHoliday #CollectiveBias
Can you believe Thanksgiving is this week?? This year has just flown by!
Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. It’s a day spent with family and friends over good food, just enjoying each other’s company.
We spend Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle’s house. Every year, I bring a little something up to contribute to the meal. For the past few years, I’ve done desserts. My sister put in a request for a chocolate cake this year because in her words, “there’s not enough chocolate at Thanksgiving.”
We usually have quite a few desserts for the taking, so I decided to make the cake with less added sugar with the help of SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend.
SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend works just like regular brown sugar, but with half the calories. I picked up a bag at Walmart (it can be found in the baking aisle with the other sweeteners, or on Walmart.com).
I love the flavors of Hazelnut and Chocolate together, so I tested out a recipe for chocolate hazelnut cake with chocolate frosting this past weekend.
The cake uses ground hazelnut in the batter to add a nutty, buttery flavor as well as a really nice texture to the cake.
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DelightfulMoments #CollectiveBias
It’s no secret that I love all things Pumpkin. I have over 20 posts on my blog including pumpkin/pumpkin spice, but haven’t posted a pumpkin-themed recipe yet this year, what an oversight!
To make up for my lack of pumpkin posts, I’ve got a pret-ty awesome recipe for you today that can be used as a super decadent breakfast (perfect for snow days or holiday mornings with family!) or a really delicious dessert.
This recipe for Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Spice French Toast Casserole is flavored with International Delight’s Pumpkin Pie Spice Creamer, which I picked up at my local Walmart. (It can be found in refrigerated bins near the milk, or at the end of an aisle in a refrigerated case.) The creamer adds a swirl of seasonal spice flavors into your coffee (and recipes), inspired by pumpkin pie. Yum!
This recipe pairs wonderfully with a cup of hot coffee flavored with International Delight’s Pumpkin Pie Spice Creamer; Walmart also sells single creamers as well. I picked up some of the French Vanilla Single Creamers, which I added to my coffee to enjoy with this breakfast.
As family gathers for the holidays, this recipe is the perfect addition to breakfast or brunch. It’s simple to make and uses the slow cooker to keep your oven and stove free for preparing the main holiday meal!
International Delight wants to hear about your holiday spirit by sharing a video, photo or story through their website. You can win a $5,000 holiday brunch with all your favorite International Delight products! Learn more here.
Ingredients:
French Toast Casserole:
1 lb challah bread, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 eggs
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 cups almond milk (or regular milk)
1 cup International Delight Pumpkin Pie Spice Creamer
1 (8 oz) can pumpkin puree
Crumble:
3 tablespoons unsalted margarine or butter, melted
Each year in the fall, OXO adds a little sticker to select baking items to help spread the word and raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. A portion of the proceeds from each product sold with the sticker is donated to the cause.
Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is a recognized 501c(3) public charity duly incorporated under the laws of the state of New Jersey. Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. 100% of proceeds raised by Cookies for Kids’ Cancer fund pediatric cancer research.
In addition to the proceeds from sold stickered products, OXO will be donating $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blog post dedicated to this campaign in October (up to our $100,000 commitment*.)
*In 2015, OXO will donate up to $100,000 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer through product proceeds, bake sale matches and other fundraising efforts
So, here is this year’s blog post for #OXOGoodCookies! I have been in a chocolatey mood since participating in #Choctoberfest last week, so why not add a bit more chocolate to our lives?
These cookies really bring the chocolate: dark chocolate cocoa powder gives the cookies their dark color, espresso granules enhance the chocolate flavor, and chopped hazelnuts add some crunch!
Ingredients:
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (or light brown sugar with 1 tablespoon molasses added)
Note: I received products to use in this recipe from Just Hemp Foods. All opinions are my own.
Today is the last day of #Choctoberfest! If you haven’t already, be sure to go enter the giveaway now!
Because it’s Sunday, I have my mind on the week ahead. I really struggle to have an on-the-go breakfast option that actually tastes good and doesn’t load on the calories. I love making homemade muffins because then breakfast is set for the week, but it’s kind of tough to justify much nutritional value in most muffins.
But these little guys are amped up with Just Hemp 50% Protein Powder, which is a plant-based protein powder with essential amino acids vitamins and minerals. The powder is gluten-free, soy-free, and lactose-free, and can be added to just about anything! Each 4 tbsp serving contains 0.7g omega-3’s, 2g omega-6’s, and 6g of fiber.
Hemp protein powder is a great substitute for some of the flour in a baked good, up to 25%. I also happened to have some overripe bananas on hand, and still have some dark chocolate chips leftover from my #Choctoberfest baking, so I made these yummy gluten free banana chocolate chip hemp muffins for my fiance and me to enjoy all week! (This recipe can be made with normal flour instead of almond meal as well, it just won’t be gluten free.)
One of my favorite cookbooks is Love and Olive Oil‘s Breakfast for Dinner. (I did a post highlighting their Huevos Rancheros Tacos a while back.) So it’s probably not surprising that I make a few recipes from this cookbook on a regular basis. One that I love to make in particular is their version of the Hawaiian dish Loco Moco.
Typical Loco Moco is usually made with white rice, topped with a hamburger patty (or spam), a fried egg, and brown gravy. Love and Olive Oil’s version substitutes coconut sticky rice for the white rice, uses ground pork instead of the hamburger patty, and finishes the dish off with a sweet-spicy-salty soy sauce reduction rather than brown gravy.
I decided to alter their recipe slightly to give it a local spin; this version is topped with pork roll (or Taylor ham) instead of the ground pork, and this recipe for New Jersey-style Loco Moco was born!
Pork Roll is originally from Trenton, New Jersey (hence the name of this post), but can also be found in parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The pork product is thinly sliced and pan fried and is a staple in most breakfast places in the area.
Did you know that May is National Barbecue Month? The weather is perfect for going outside and grilling, and with Memorial Day behind us, it’s time to take full advantage of grilling season!
I’ve partnered with Four Roses Bourbon to make an oh-so yummy summer barbecue-themed dessert. A lot of the steps of this can be made ahead of time to make serving the dessert easy enough for a weeknight.
This dessert includes ice cream, grilled fruit, a spiced bourbon butter sauce, and toasted pound cake pieces… what more could you ask for?!
If you follow my Instagram, you may have seen what “tough” research I had to do this weekend for this post. With the 3rd Annual South Street Spring Festival just days away (Saturday, May 2), I visited Sweet Life Bakeshop at 7th and South to try their signature Banana Pudding.
This. Pudding. Is. Fantastic. I gobbled up the whole thing in minutes, so I’m surprised I even was able to get a photo of it beforehand!
Sweet Life Bakeshop’s banana pudding will be available at the South Street Spring Festival, along with nearly 30 other eateries, bars, and food trucks, so come hungry! From 11am to 8pm this Saturday, 8 blocks of South Street (between Front and 8th) will be shut down and turned into a huge (and free) block party!
Headhouse Plaza will also be in on the fun, so be sure to check out 2nd Street between South and Lombard. The plaza will be transformed into a giant lawn concert complete with grass, lawn chairs, games and beach balls!
Along with all of the delicious food, South Street will feature more than 40 bands on three stages and seven performance areas. Over 100 boutiques, small businesses and other other retailers will cater to your style, beauty, health, fitness and other shopping needs. In conjunction with the Festival, Brauhaus Schmitz will host the third annual German Maifest on the 700 block of South Street, with German beers, dancers, music, food, flower headbands and even a Maypole. Outside of Atomic City Comics (638 South Street) look for free giveaways and character appearances during Free Comic Book Day.
Whew! Ok so, to highlight one of the amazing offerings, I decided to make a spin on Sweet Life’s banana pudding — Peanut Butter Banana Pudding Cheesecake Bars! This recipe is adapted from a Southern Living Banana Pudding Cheesecake recipe, but adds in some peanut-buttery goodness and then is topped with a drizzle of chocolate and some fresh whipped cream.
Bob’s Red Mill has been providing gluten-free flours, cereals, baking mixes, and grains for over 30 years. The company is so committed to it’s gluten-free promise that they even have a separate gluten-free packaging division to ensure their products are purely gluten-free.
Camilla V. Saulsbury’s new cookbook showcases the breadth, depth and versatility of Bob’s Red Mill’s gluten-free grains. As more and more people move towards a gluten-free lifestyle (either due to allergies or other health reasons), one of the easiest ways to transition to a gluten-free diet is to embrace the many grains available that are naturally gluten-free.
The cookbook, Bob’s Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook, includes 281 whole-grain recipes for entrees, side dishes, baked goods, desserts, etc. that include grains such as amaranth, quinoa, millet, and teff. The book also includes a section describing the grains, their uses, and how to store them.
There are a bunch of really delicious sounding recipes in the cookbook, but I wanted to try a baked recipe because that seems to be the toughest type of recipe to make gluten-free and still maintain the same texture and taste.
This recipe for Gluten Free Coconut Cardamom Carrot Bread uses a mixture of sorghum flour, millet flour, and potato starch to make a gluten-free bread. The bread is flavored with grated carrots, coconut flakes, and cardamom.
Before sharing the recipe, I thought it might be helpful to give some information about the different ingredients used in this recipe that may be a bit unfamiliar.
Sorghum Flour is a good source of protein, iron, dietary fiber and antioxidants. Sorghum promotes a healthy metabolism due to its high magnesium and copper levels. The starch and protein in sorghum flour take longer than other similar products to digest, making it particularly helpful for those with diabetes. Sorghum flour adds slight sweetness to baked goods and can be added or substituted in any recipe that calls for flour. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 months or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Millet Flour is a good source of protein, essential amino acids, and dietary fiber, as well as manganese, phosphorus, and magnesium. Millet flour helps keep the digestive tract operating smoothly and lowers the risk of diabetes and heart disease. It has a light, mild flavor and works well in sweet or savory baking. Millet flour delivers a cake-like crumb to baked goods. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months or in the freezer for up to 12 months.
Potato Starch is used as a thickener for sauces, soups, and stews, or is used in baking with a combination of other flours (rarely by itself) and is a natural way to add moistness to many baked goods. Store potato starch in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 6 months or in the freezer for up to 1 year.
Virgin Coconut Oil can be stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator. When kept at room temperature, coconut oil will go in between being a liquid and a solid, which doesn’t affect the oil’s quality. It’s easier to measure out larger amounts of coconut oil when it is a liquid, so run the jar under warm running water before opening to liquify when measuring for this recipe.
So I’ve been feeling pretty crummy for the past few days. And I’ve been craving soups like crazy. One of my favorite options when I want a comforting meal is ramen, specifically Shio-style from Nom Nom Ramen in center city Philadelphia.
Ramen is typically made with pork belly, but I couldn’t find any in my supermarket so I went with beef. So this Slow Cooker Beef Ramen is definitely not a traditional style ramen.
I have been meaning to make this recipe forever; seriously, years. I don’t know why it took me this long because it’s a pretty easy recipe, but for some reason I kept putting it off. And boy do I regret that. It’s so tasty! Honestly, what isn’t better with some peanut butter?
Chicken Satay is skewered chicken marinated in a peanut sauce that is typically eaten as an appetizer or street food. By adding a side of brown rice, this turns into an easy dinner!
This recipe actually has you ground your own peanuts with some other ingredients to make a sauce rather than starting with peanut butter. The result is really tasty!
Ingredients:
1/3 cup unsalted dry-roasted peanuts
1 tablespoon toasted cumin seeds
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (~2 limes)
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 garlic cloves
1 shallot, peeled
1/3 cup light coconut milk
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 serrano chile, stem removed
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
Carrots are a staple on most Thanksgiving tables. My dad loves super mushy carrots, which just don’t do it for me. I want a bit of a crunch! So this recipe for Cardamom Glazed Carrots from Cooking Light is perfect for me; sorry, Dad!
The cardamom adds a lightly floral taste which works so nicely with the fresh ginger. This recipe takes just 15 minutes to make so it’s a great weeknight option as well. The recipe serves 6, so multiply as needed.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or margarine to make vegan)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch pieces
I absolutely love cranberry sauce. This not-too-tart and not-too-sweet Thanksgiving staple is always a favorite of mine.
Now I don’t turn my nose up at the canned stuff, but this homemade version for Cherry Port Cranberry Sauce is a really simple alternative. It’s also a bit of a chunky sauce instead of the smooth canned version, so it has a really nice texture to it. Plus, it can be made in 20 minutes!
If you don’t want to use port in the recipe, you can substitute in pomegranate juice.
I don’t know how this is even possible but I’ve never had Sloppy Joes before making this recipe. It was not in my family’s dinner rotation, my camp never served it, and I never came across it at a friend’s house when sleeping over.
Well, my wait is finally over! Traditional Sloppy Joes are made with beef but I for this Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes recipe, used a mixture of ground beef and Johnsonville Bratwursts removed from their casings. The recipe is adapted from one I found on MyRecipes.com.
note: I was sent free coupons for Johnsonville products. Opinions are my own.
