Slow Cooker Thai-Style Peanut Chicken

     I'm on the fence about peanut butter based recipes. I do enjoy a good satay, but too much peanut butter can overwhelm me and make me run for some white bread and grape jelly. This recipe works around that by using an alarming amount of teriyaki sauce and red pepper flakes. This has, as the chefs would say, umami out the asshole. We swapped in chicken for the pork and were very happy with the results. As always, changes and notes are in blue.

Slow Cooker Thai-Style Peanut Chicken
via Taste of Home Slow Cooker

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless pork loin chops (we decided to use an equal amount of chicken)
• 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• Hot cooked rice
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts (omitted)
• Lime juice, optional

Directions

1. Place meat in a 3 quart slow cooker (we used a 2.5 quart cooker. NOW WHAT!). In a small bowl, combine the teriyaki sauce, vinegar, pepper flakes and garlic; pour over meat. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or until meat is tender.
2. Remove meat and cut into bite-sized pieces; keep warm (the meat, not you. I suppose you could put on a sweater if you're chilly). Skim fat from cooking juices, transfer juices to a small saucepan. Bring liquid to a boil. 
3. Combine cornstarch and water and stir until smooth. Gradually stir into the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in peanut butter and meat. 
4. Serve with rice. Sprinkle with onions and peanuts (if you really want them). Drizzle with lime juice if desired.

Tie Peanuts...Get it?
Good times!

Weekday Meal Project

     I've been doing a lot more cooking than normal lately, and really enjoying it. We've been eating well and not working too hard to make it happen. During that time, I've heard some naysayers claim it's too expensive to eat healthy. I suppose that depends on your definition of healthy. Organic? Yes, that's expensive. We count calories for the most part in my house. We try to keep sodium and fat down, but if you watch calories, everything else falls into place, more or less.
     For a week I made it a point to cook at least four of the five workdays. I wanted to see if I could make quick meals that were not more than 300 calories. I also wanted to do this without breaking the bank. I'm going to tell you what I cooked each night and give an approximate cost assuming you only had the spices on hand. I am basing costs on shopping at ALDI, Wal-Mart and County Market.

Monday: Shrimp Scampi (two servings). 340 calories with rice.
About $3.50-$4.00 per serving.

Tuesday: I had to work late. Bought two 6-inch subs with a coupon. The subs were around 350-400 calories a piece. $5.50

Wednesday: Orange-Teriyaki Beef and Noodles (two servings). 300 calories.
About $3.50-$4.50 per serving

Thursday: Thai Curry Chicken Soup (3 servings). 210 calories.
About $1.00-$1.50 per serving

Friday: Crab and Spinach Enchiladas (4 servings) 265 calories.
About $2.00-$2.50 per serving

     So there you have it. A work week of meals. Good, healthy foods. Total cost? Somewhere in the range of $14.50-$18.00. That's feeding two people, with two nights having leftovers. Only one meal I cooked went over 300 calories, and that was only 40 over. It's not easy to eat right for not a lot of money. You only need to remember one thing.

Shop Smart.

Good times!

Bonus Recipe: Orange Teriyaki Beef With Noodles

    Due to the overwhelming response by one person to request I post a pictured meal, I present to you another fine selection from the Betty Crocker 300 Calorie Cookbook.  As I've mentioned before, sometimes I mess around with recipes. Substitutions and omissions happen with alarming frequency. That occurred with this particular recipe. I couldn't have been happier with the results. So, in the interest of full disclosure, I will print the original recipe in black. All changes will show immediately in blue. Here we go:

Orange Teriyaki Beef With Noodles

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound beef sirloin, cut into thin strips (I used stew meat)
• 1 cup reduced sodium beef broth (this dish is crazy sodium packed. I just used water)
• 2T teriyaki sauce
• 1T orange marmalade
• Dash of cayenne pepper (I left this out and substituted a tablespoon of my hot pepper jelly)
• 1/4 cup sugar snap pea pods (omitted and substituted with a red bell pepper and 2 scallions)
• 1/4 cup uncooked fine egg noodles (omitted and substituted with a pack of Ramen noodles. Save the seasoning packet for something else.)
• 1.5t corn starch
• 1.5T cold water

Directions

1. Heat 1T oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook beef in skillet for 2 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown. Remove from skillet; keep warm.
2. Add broth, stir-fry sauce, marmalade and red pepper to skillet. Heat to boiling. Stir in pea pods and noodles; reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook about 5 minutes or until noodles are tender. (Big changes here. Add broth, teriyaki, marmalade, pepper jelly, pepper and scallion. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5-7 minutes.)
3. Cook Ramen noodles as directed, strain and set aside. DO NOT USE THE SEASONING PACKET.
4. In a small bowl, combine corn starch and water. Stir until dissolved. Pour into broth mixture.
5. Stir in beef. Cook uncovered 2-3 minutes or until sauce has thickened.
6. Serve over Ramen.

Serves 2. About 270 calories per serving

Good times!

Monday Meal: Teriyaki Salmon and Broccoli Packets

     Last week I promised I would post a simple, mid-week recipe. I will do that here shortly. I'm a huge fan of this type of recipe. There's a minimal amount of ingredients, it's super-easy to make, and cleaning up is a breeze. I need that from a mid-week meal. Most of the time, when I get home it's a battle to simply not pile the wife in the car and go out to eat. As awesome as that would be, it would get expensive. We'd also both weigh about 350 pounds each.

With our combined gravities, we shall control the tides!

       That's one of the benefits of this recipe. It is very low in calories, especially if you don't serve rice with it. The sodium is probably a bit high from the teriyaki sauce, but not bad.  If you're watching the money, any brand of teriyaki is fine. When available, I use Soy-Vay.  I find the flavor is better than anything else that I've tried.  As far as cost, if you're willing to buy frozen, it's possible to buy a pound of salmon for under five bucks. The packs usually come in four individually packaged fillets, which I find terribly helpful. Take what you need, everything else stays in the freezer. As for the broccoli, don't feel tied down to that vegetable. I often substitute slices of squash or zucchini. You could pretty much put in any vegetable and it would be fine.  I'm giving you the recipe for a single serving, since they're packaged in foil individually. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 4 ounce fillet of salmon 
• 1 heaping cup broccoli florets (frozen is fine)
• 3 tablespoons teriyaki sauce 
• Square of tinfoil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Lay salmon (if it has skin, skin side down) on a large square of tinfoil
3. Spread broccoli over top of salmon
4. Pour teriyaki over broccoli and salmon
5. Fold foil into packet around ingredients, making sure it's going to hold in the sauce
6. Cook 20-25 minutes or until fish flakes easily
7. Serve over steamed white rice (if you want)