Chinese Beef & Bok Choy

With the kids heading back to school, the pace is about to pick back up again. 

>Insert deep breath< 

Back to school for us means figuring out the new routines and new teachers, and an all around more hectic schedule with homework, activities, and tons of soccer. We've got a 2nd, 4th and 6th grader this year and all 3 are doing fall sports so we've got a boatload of crazy coming our way this fall. My younger 2 start back this week and my oldest starts back next week. Adding to that madness is the fact that I also start back to work this week and Andrew's schedule gets ten times more hectic during the school year. Oh, and we're still about 2 weeks out from a totally finished kitchen. So yeah, it's crazy busy over in Casa Shen.

Given the hectic pace, one saving grace is to have a list of quick, healthy, easy dinner staples that you can rely on for those busy days and weeks. I've pulled together a list of easy crockpot dinners to get you through even the nuttiest of fall seasons.

Sesame Chicken

This is hands down my favorite crockpot meal. Quick tip? Add an extra chicken breast or two so you have leftovers for the next day for lunch as a repeat meal or in a wrap or salad.

Ingredients:

Boneless chix breast (3-4 breasts)
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c honey
1/2 c low-sodium soy sauce
4 Tbls tomato puree/paste
2 tsp sesame oil
3 tsp cornstarch
1/4 c water
Serve with 2 c broccoli florets, chopped into bite sized pieces + 1 tsp sesame oil for frying
Rice or quinoa, to serve
Toasted sesame seeds, to serve

Directions:

1. Spray the inside of the crockpot with cooking spray to make it easier to clean after. Place chicken in the bottom of the cooker.

2. Combine the onion, garlic, honey, soy sauce, tomato paste and oil in a bowl. Stir.

3. Pour sauce over the chicken and cook on low for 4-6 hours (depending on how much chicken. I use frozen breasts so I cooked it for 6 hours.)

4. 20 minutes before you want to serve, prepare the rice and remove the chicken from the slow cooker.

5. OPTIONAL: Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and add it to the remaining sauce in the slow cooker. Turn the temperature up to high to allow the sauce to thicken. While it's thickening, shred or chop the chicken. Once the sauce has thickened, add the chicken back into the sauce and turn to coat.

6. In a skillet, heat 1 tsp of sesame oil over med-high heat. Fan fry the broccoli until it turns a bright green color and are a little firm to taste (you don't want to overcook it!) If you're a garlic-lover, you could add some garlic to the oil when you saute the broccoli.

7. Lay the broccoli over the rice, top with chicken and sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Enjoy!

Honey Sauced Chicken

This is one of my family’s favorite school night recipes.

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs. (roughly 4) boneless skinless chicken breasts (fresh or frozen – I usually do frozen)

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. black pepper

¾+ cup honey

½ cup low sodium soy sauce

¼ cup chopped onion (or 1/8 cup onion flakes)

¼ cup ketchup 

2 Tbls. coconut oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper, put into crock pot.

2. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup mixture, oil, garlic & pepper flakes. Pour over chicken.

3. If using fresh chicken, cook on low for 3 hours or on high 1 1/2 hours. If you’re using frozen chicken, add 1 ½-2 ½ hours to your cook time.

4. When it’s done, cut chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce. 

Serve over rice. 

If you don’t have the time in the AM or don’t have a crockpot, this can be an easy 30 minute baked chicken meal: Dice chicken and season both sides with salt and pepper, place in 8x8 pan. Pour sauce over chicken and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.

Buffalo chicken wraps

Ingredients:
12 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, whole
16 oz. fat free low sodium chicken broth
1/3 c. hot sauce (we're a Frank's family all the way!)
For the wraps: Joseph's flax oat whole wheat wraps, baby spinach or lettuce, diced tomato, cheese, avocado

Directions:
1. In the crockpot, combine chicken (I usually use frozen breasts), onion, celery, garlic and broth (enough to almost cover the chicken - use water if the 16 oz. of broth isn't enough.) Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours (add an hour if using frozen chicken breasts.)
2. Remove the chicken from the crockpot and put aside 1/2 cup of the broth. Dump the rest. Shred the chicken with 2 forks. 
3. Return chicken to the slow cooker and add the 1/2 cup of broth plus the hot sauce.
4. Cook on high for another 30 minutes. (OR if you're really impatient or have 2 hungry kids hovering over you as I did today, eat it right out of the pot once it's mixed together!)

Preparation options:

• Buffalo chicken wraps (lettuce, tomato, buffalo chicken and if you're feeling feisty, blue cheese crumbles.)
• Buffalo chicken potato skins (bake potatoes (in oven or microwave), cool, cut in 1/2 horizontally. Scoop out  potato leaving about 1/4 inch thick wall. Place potatoes on foil lined baking sheet, season with salt & pepper and bake in 450 degree oven for about 10 min. Remove from oven, add 2 Tbls chicken to fill each skin. Top with shredded cheese and bake for another 5 min. or until cheese melts. Top with 1 tsp blue cheese, shredded carrots and celery.
• Buffalo chicken salad

Chinese Beef & Bok Choy

Sweet and spicy but not so much so that the kids wouldn't eat it. In fact, 2 1/2 out of the 3 kids liked it (the 1/2 is for Addie who ate all of Parker's while hovering near the table and then decided she didn't like it once it was on her plate.) Hayden's standing next to me right now saying "I loved it!" So if that's not a ringing endorsement courtesy of my 9-year-old, I don't know what is. Give it a try!

Ingredients:
2 onions, cut in 1" pieces
6 cloves of garlic, whole
4 thin slices ginger, unpeeled
1 Tbls bean paste (adjust up or down depending on how spicy you like it. If you don't have bean paste on hand, you can dice up a hot pepper and throw that in instead.)
3 Tbls flour
1 1/2 lbs beef chuck roast or stew beef

1/4 c. hoisin sauce

1/4 c. mirin or rice wine

3 Tbls low sodium soy sauce

2 Tbls packed light brown sugar

1 head bok choy, cut crosswise into 2" pieces

Directions:

1. Combine the onions, garlic, and jalepeno in the slow cooker. Sprinkle with flour and toss to coat.

2. Add the beef to the vegetables.

3. Whisk the hoisin sauce, rice wine, soy sauce, brown sugar and 1/3 c. warm water in a small bowl. Pour over the meat.

4. Cover and cook on low for 7 1/2 hours.

5. 30 minutes before it's done, add the bok choy to the crockpot. Increase the heat to high and cook until the bok choy wilts. 

6. Serve with brown rice.

NOTE: This is one of those easy prep the night before kind of dinners. I've never been a fan of crockpot meals that require you to pre-cook some of the components. What good is a crockpot if it still requires cooking?! To prep this the night before, cut the veggies and throw them and the flour  in a tupperware. Mix the sauce in another tupperware and put them in the fridge to make in the morning.

 Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs 

It's hard to find a good, healthy crockpot meatball recipe and we went through quite a few duds before finding this one. Super easy to make and a healthy mix of lean ground turkey (which, if you're not a turkey-lover, you could easily swap out for ground beef, pork, veal or some combination of the above.) 

This is also one of those easy make on the weekend options that you can then reheat during the week. Otherwise just prep it up through the browning stage, throw the in a tuperware in the fridge and then transfer them into the crockpot to cook all day while you're at work.

Ingredients:

1 large egg
1 pound 97-98% lean ground turkey
1 pound 92-93% lean ground turkey
2/3 cup Panko
3 Tbls coconut oil
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 medium yellow onions, sliced
2 x 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes

Directions:

1. Beat the egg in a large mixing bowl. Add the ground turkey, panko, oil, parmesan, garlic, oregano, basil, salt & pepper. Mix until combined (don't overmix!)
2. Roll into meatballs and place on a large baking sheet. 
3. Spray crockpot with cooking spray and place onion in the bottom of the crockpot. Top with one can of crushed tomatoes.

4. Coat a large skillet with olive oil and bring to medium-high heat. Lightly brown the meatballs (6-8 at a time) for about a minute on each side. Don't skip this step - it helps to hold the juices inside the meatballs and keeps them from crumbling inside the crockpot.

5. Layer the browned meatballs in the crockpot on top of the sauce. 

6. Once all meatballs have been added, pour the remaining can of crushed tomatoes over the top. Cover & cook on low for 6 hours.

Good as meatball subs, over pasta or zucchini noodles, or as my current go-to pasta replacement, over broccoli slaw.

Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

This one is from a friend of mine and it is totally perfect for those cold, rainy fall nights. 

Ingredients: 

2 lbs chicken cut up into 2 inch pieces6 cups low sodium chicken broth1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, more or less to taste1 cup chopped celery4 chopped carrots1 small onion, sliced2 cloves garlic, minced1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley1/2 teaspoon black pepperSea salt to taste8 ounces whole wheat pasta

 Directions:

1. Add all of the ingredients, except the noodles, in the slow cooker and cook on low for about 6 to 8 hours. 

2. In the last hour of cooking, add the pasta and continue cooking for about one more hour.  

Crockpot Chicken Carnitas

Ingredients:

4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbls chili powder
1 Tbls cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp cracked red pepper flakes (OPTIONAL)
1 Tbls olive oil
4 good sized boneless chicken breasts
3/4 c. orange juice
2 limes, juiced

Directions:
1. In a small bowl or tuperware, combine garlic, spices and oil.

2. Rub spice mixture over chicken until coated. Transfer chicken to crockpot.

3. Add orange juice and lime juice. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours (or high for 3-4 hours.)

4. Remove chicken, shred and place in oven safe dish. Cover with 1/2 of the remaining liquid.

5. Set broiler to high and place chicken under broiler for 5 minutes. Remove pan, add remaining liquid to it, stir and place chicken back under the broiler for another 5 minutes until edges are browned and yummy.

Enjoy over a salad, in a wrap with beans, rice, veggies, etc..  It also works great in a quesadilla, over nachos, in a burrito bowl or however you like it.

Turkey Stuffed Pepper Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef1/2 c chopped green bell pepper
1/2 c chopped red bell pepper
1 c finely diced onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz each) cans petite diced tomatoes
1 3/4 cups tomato sauce
2 cups reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a large pot, brown ground meat on high heat and season with salt. 
2. Drain fat if any, reduce heat to medium-low, then add peppers, onions and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes on low heat.

3. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, marjoram and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. 

4. Serve about 1 1/3 cups of soup in each bowl and top with 1/2 cup cooked brown rice. 

Clean eating crockpot chicken teriyaki

This is my go-to, weeknight dinner that's super easy to prepare in the morning before work, makes for a great lunch the next day, and is easily adapted to meet my entire family's weird food wants at meal time. 

Ingredients:
3-4 boneless chicken breasts (fresh or frozen)
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup low-sodium teriyaki or soy sauce
1/4 cup molasses 
1/4 cup honey
3 minced garlic cloves
1-2 cups chopped vegetables of your choice (fresh or frozen - I like onions and pepper)

Directions:
1. OPTIONAL (but life-saving when it comes time to clean the pot) Spray the bottom and sides of the crockpot with cooking spray (I use Trader Joe's coconut oil spray.) 
2. Place the chicken breasts in the crockpot and add the chicken broth.  
3. Mix together the minced garlic, molasses, honey and soy sauce and pour over the chicken. 
4. Set the timer for 4 hours on low if using fresh chicken, 5 1/2 - 6 hours on low if using frozen. 
5. When there's 30 minutes left on the timer, add chopped veggies. Price Chopper sells frozen bags of peppers which are easy and hold up well in the crockpot. I typically toss one bag in and then cut up a large yellow or white onion to throw in as well. If you are not home to catch it at the 30 min. mark, you can throw the veggies in when you put in the meat. They'll taste just as good and just a bit more soft than they would be with less cook-time.
6. Depending on how strong of a flavor of teriyaki you'd like, take the chicken out, cut or shred it and if you want a stronger flavor, throw it back into the pot for 30 minutes of stewing. If you're planning to use the leftover chicken for something else (as I often do) and don't want it to be super teriyaki-y, shred or cut it up and then serve it up with a little sauce over the top. 

I typically serve it over the top of brown rice or eat it alone as a carb-free afternoon snack the next day.

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