First Slow Cooker Recipe!! Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Okay so a few people I know always brag about how they use a slow cooker to cook dinner and it's so amazing and so easy. Being a Asian woman I have only used my slow cooker to keep food warm. So here I go to try this out. I found a buffalo chicken recipe to try. Now I was convinced this would NOT work. I mean it just sounds too weird to me to not slave over a stove for dinner.

Ingredients:
4 skinless boneless chicken breast
1 bottle buffalo wing sauce
1 package dry ranch salad dressing mix
2 tablespoons butter

Place the chicken breasts into a slow cooker. Pour in 3/4 of the wing sauce and the ranch dressing mix. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Once the chicken has cooked add the butter and shred the meat with two forks. Pile the meat onto a roll and remaining buffalo wing sauce to serve. I also added diced tomatoes mixed with shredded lettuce and ranch.

So my husband take a bite. Makes a face. Then tells me "you need to take a bite". I take a bite and almost vomit in my mouth. This is gross. In the sense that it is too spicy (and I never say that) and just a lot of "blah". Then the husband says "if you had served this to me 11 years ago we never would have gotten married". Sad! Needless to say this recipe will never be used in my house again.

All you crazy slow cooker people ... SEND me your recipes!

XOXO

Valentine Cookies ... kinda late but better than never!

So I totally flaked out on making my husbee something special on Valentine's Day. To be fair, I did buy him a custom box of See's Candie so he really has nothing to complain about.

I was craving something sweet last night so I decided to make some cookies. Since I have all these Valentine's Day baking decorations I decided to put them to good use.

M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks butter (room temp)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoon vanilla
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 oz bag mini chocolate chips
1 bag M&Ms & sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a stand beat the butter and sugars until well beaten. Beat in eggs one at a time and then add vanilla until well combined.

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Alternate dry ingredients and chocolate chips.

DO NOT MIX IN M&MS OR SPRINKLES IN WITH THE BATTER.

I used a whoopie pie pan to make my cookies. Using a ice cream scoop I scooped batter into the whoopie pie pan. Then press M&Ms and sprinkles onto the top of each cookie and bake.

I baked my cookies for 9 minutes each. I like soft cookies. I let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before removing them onto a cooling rack. This recipe made exactly 3 dozen cookies for me.

XOXO

Banana Bread

What happens when you don't eat bananas fast enough. They turn brown! Have no fear! Make banana bread!

Now my husband and I eat a banana a day each so it's pretty rare that we have over ripe bananas in our home. However, this time due to me purposely buying too many we have extra bananas. Whoot whoot!

For the bread:

3 whole ripe bananas

1 tablespoon whole milk

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Streusel topping:
1/2 stick of soften butter

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

a pinch of salt

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Make sure to scrape down the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix well after each egg.

In a small bowl mash the bananas, cinnamon, and nutmeg with a fork. Mix in the milk

In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined. Add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Pour batter in prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes.

Prepare the streusel topping by combining the butter, flour, brown sugar in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter or fork blend the ingredients. Add a small inch of salt and chopped walnuts and toss. After the 40 minutes remove and sprinkle topping evenly and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes.

Slice and serve with butter or honey.