Crock-pot Sweet and Sour Chicken

4 tablespoons butter, melted 3/4 c. ketchup 1/2 c. white vinegar 3/4 c. brown sugar 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 cloves garlic, minced salt and pepper, to taste dash red pepper flakes or ground cayenne pepper 1 1/2 c. chicken broth 6 boneless chicken breast halves, skin removed 1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks, drained Preparation: Wash chicken; pat dry. Place chicken in slow cooker. Combine melted butter, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, salt and pepper, hot pepper, chicken broth, (I also added a shake or two of ground ginger); pour over chicken. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 7 hours, until chicken is tender but still moist. Add pineapple and cook for 20 minutes longer. Serves 6.

Peanut Butter Bars

These are just like the ones we had for school lunch!

3/4 C Peanut Butter
3/4 C Sugar
3/4 C Brown Sugar
1 1/2 C Quick Oats
1 Egg
1 1/2 C Flour
3/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla


Cream butter and egg then add remaining ingredients and press into greased pan. Bake 20 min. @ 350.

Frosting:
2 C Powdered Sugar
3 Tbs. Peanut Butter
3 Tbs. Cocoa

Mix ingredients with enough milk to make creamy.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

It is that time of year again. Here is an easy recipe for roasting up those seeds:

	One medium-sized pumpkin
	Salt
	Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut open the pumpkin and use a strong metal spoon to scoop out the insides. Separate the seeds from the stringy core. Rinse the seeds.

In a small saucepan, add the seeds to water, about 2 cups of water to every half cup of seeds. Add a tablespoon of salt for every cup of water. Bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.

Spread about a tablespoon of olive oil over the bottom of a roasting pan. Spread the seeds out over the roasting pan, all in one layer. Bake on the top rack for 20 minutes or until the seeds begin to brown. When browned to your satisfaction, remove from the oven and let the pan cool on a rack. Let the seeds cool all the way down before eating. Either crack to remove the inner seed (a lot of work and in my opinion, unnecessary) or eat whole.

Balsamic Chicken

This is an awesome low fat recipe I just came across. You HAVE to try it!

This makes 2 servings...

2 Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 TBS Olive Oil
1 TBS Tomato paste
1 tsp dried Tarragon
1/2 C Chicken broth
2 TBS Balsamic Vinegar
2 TBS Heavy Cream


Season the chicken breasts how you like. Heat olive oil in skillet and cook chicken breasts all the way through. Remove from skillet and keep warm. Add tomato paste and tarragon to skillet. Cook briefly, stirring constantly. Whisk in chicken broth and balsamic vinegar and cook until thickened. Stir in cream and reheat to simmering. Slice chicken breasts and fan out slices on dinner plates. Drizzle sliced chicken with sauce.

Thai Noodles

I made this recipe last night for dinner. I added tofu to the sauce and just used the noodles I had on hand - spaghetti.

It rocked.

The only suggestion I have is to add a little salt to the sauce.

I am going to make this many times in the future. Although the list of ingredients seem long, I had most of them in my cupboard. It really is a very simple dish to cook. It has a really good mixture of spices and flavorings that make it really yummy. My pickiest eater gobbled his up!