Crock-pot Pulled Chicken Barbecue

One of my daughters has wholeheartedly embraced the internet and its conveniences. She buys diapers, soap, paper products and much more at a reduced rate saving fuel, money, and countless hours in her crazy busy schedule as a professional.

She found a website that tailors her food to her lifestyle with recipes, shopping lists, and even delivery far cheaper and faster than she could do on her own. In addition she avoids buying junk food that would tempt her at the store.

Recently she gave a birthday party for her son--my grandson. She did it at home and saved a bundle by preparing all the food with a little help from Grandma. One of the dishes was Crock-pot Pulled Chicken Barbecue. It was quite a hit and I decided that I would play around with the recipe and make it my own. I prepared it for a  CAPA (Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association) meeting and everyone loved it. Try these tender tasty fragrant little stuffed buns. I promise you won't be disappointed. Doesn't it make your mouth water just thinking about that tangy, sweet sauce?

 Pulled Chicken Barbecue

Ingredients:

3 pound frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 large chopped onion
28 ounce bottle barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's)
1/2 cup Italian dressing
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp. honey
Small whole wheat buns (Remember you need enough for a party.)

Directions:

Place frozen chicken breasts into crock pot. Chop onion and sprinkle over chicken. In a mixing bowl combine the rest of ingredients and pour over the chicken and onions. Cover and set temperature to low for about 6-8 hours or 4-5 hours on high. (I cooked it overnight on low.)When done remove lid. Smell that aroma while you use two forks to pull the meat into small bits. (Recipe makes about 20-30 sandwiches.) There is no salt added since there is salt in several of the ingredients. Go ahead--sample it. I know you want to!

It's great served with potato salad and coleslaw. Come on Grandma you and the kids can help with this.

Letter Pancake Saga

Occasionally I make pancakes for breakfast for my grandchildren.  It’s a quick meal that they really enjoy and in which I can hide nutrients—a little applesauce anyone?  Today though was a little different.

My granddaughter sat in the middle of the kitchen floor when I asked, “What do you want for breakfast, Sweetie Pie?  How about some pancakes?”

“How about some Baby Bear pancakes with honey?” she replied.

“Yes, but how about Baby Bear’s letter pancakes, two letters, B.B.—for Baby Bear,” I said.

“Great idea, Grandma, but wait, how about L.P. instead?”

“Wow, you know your initials! Right you are—L.P."

And so it began, the letter pancake saga. Every time I made pancakes, no matter what flavor they were, we turned them into letters and used them to write words.  When Little Bear, her brother, joins in the game we have even more letters.

They are learning to read and write and don’t even know it.  How about taking a bite off the right side of a capital ‘H’ and turning it into a lower case ‘h’?  How could they turn an ‘I’ into an ‘i’?  What letters should we use tomorrow?  I bet they could think of many more ideas—especially with a little help.  Oh, the joys of having a teacher grandma—Granny Nanny, that is!  Can you think of other ways to turn a meal into a learning experience?

Aunt Lucy's 3-2-1 Cupcakes

I have only one problem with baking a cake—I don’t stop eating until it’s all gone. My solution has always been to only make cakes for special occasions when we will have company to consume it or we give it away.

I live in a community of seniors and I love to cook. Whenever I bring my sweet tooth granddaughter home to bake, we make cupcakes or muffins and pass them out like Santa or the Easter Bunny. This teaches my granddaughter the joys of cooking and sharing, and to be moderate in her consumption of sweets.

But if you are not into baking and occasionally want a quick cupcake, try this recipe that my sister Lucy posted on Facebook.

It is called “3-2-1 Cake” and is ready in one minute.

 

1. Begin by combining one box of Angel Food Cake mix and one box of any other flavor cake mix you choose in a large zip lock bag.
2. In a custard cup combine 3 tablespoons of the dry mix and add two tablespoons of water. Stir. Place in microwave and bake 1 minute on high.
3. Remove cupcake and cool for one minute.
4. Add a dollop of whipping cream and enjoy. If you have a grandchild to share with then make two, but put the mix away until another day—out of sight out of mind.
5. You can have your own little tea party with a sugar cube in the tea and a giggling sweetie pie beside you. Now don’t you feel like royalty?

Happy New Year Sleepover

My four and a half year old granddaughter and my two and a half year old grandson came to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa on New Years Eve. They were jumping for joy, tossing coats, dumping toys, and investigating every inch of our small space. Since they hadn’t eaten we made plates and tried to calm them down so they could sit and eat, but it seemed to be a lost cause. We finally decided to divide and conquer.

Grandpa tried to assemble Bam-Bam’s tool bench with him, but soon discovered that a first time sleepover was far too exciting to concentrate on nuts and bolts. Large pieces of the new toy kept disappearing or being transformed into trampolines, or rocket ships. The job was finally scuttled in favor of a large floor puzzle.

The princess and I finished making Challah. We kneaded the dough and separated it into three parts, two we put in loaf pans and the rest the princess shaped into fluffy buns with happy faces—Grandma’s braided bread was far too boring for a New Year’s Eve Party.

The princess gently placed the fluffy bundles on a greased cookie sheet, patted them, and then finally covered the little faces with a towel like sleeping babies under a blanket.

Next we ate popcorn and toasted the New Year with “champagne”. Don’t tell the princess it was just fizzy grape juice, or that it is not really midnight. The Prince can’t get into pretend; he is a boy who just likes grape juice. Then we settled down to a movie that dad brought over entitled, Despicable Me. It had a villain, abused as a child, who was transformed into a good father by three little orphaned girls.

By 10:30 we had warm happy-face buns and chocolate milk with marshmallows. The children were happy they have kind parents and grandparents who love them—not like the orphans in the movie. We settled down for a story and last a long winter’s nap with Grandma sandwiched in between and Grandpa sleeping on the couch.

I lay there thinking how lucky we are to be able to nurture our grandchildren—to be here when they need us. There are so many children who don’t have grandparents or who don’t get to be near them. I believe grandchildren are the reason God put us on earth. We are truly lucky. Happy New Year, may you be so lucky!

No Need to Knead Bread

My four year old granddaughter ate a variety of vegetables and fruits when she was younger, but the older she gets the pickier she becomes. Last weekend she and her little brother came to have dinner with Poppy and me. I had prepared a healthy nutritious meal ahead of time: there was roasted chicken, pasta salad, a green vegetable salad, No Need to Knead Bread, and for dessert, chocolate zucchini muffins with fruit.

Both children were hungry and started eating right away. Lana had never tasted my No Need to Knead bread and being a carb-eating child, I was sure she’d like it. But she was reluctant to taste anything with green specks on top. I talked her into “just one small bite” and she loved it. While she worked on the second piece, the bread basket disappeared. Since she wanted more, she took her brother’s. So you have the Princess’s stamp of approval on this bread that is easier to make than a cake mix.

I love making breads as you’ve probably guessed by now. I have tried many different recipes for peasant breads, some were too refined, some too soft or didn’t have that homemade flavor. But this recipe was just about perfect. It’s not only delicious, but it has a wonderful chewy texture and is one of the easiest and most versatile breads I have ever made. In fact this recipe is so easy that I have written it in my children’s book. It doesn’t have to be kneaded—so I have renamed this yeast bread the No-Need-to-Kneed Bread. Be sure to let your Prince or Princess help with this one.

You will need: A large mixing bowl, wooden spoon, measuring spoons and cups, and a large jellyroll pan brushed liberally with extra-virgin olive oil, and sprinkled with cornmeal. Set aside.

Ingredients:
2 cups of warm water Toppings:
2 teaspoons of yeast Fresh Rosemary
2 teaspoons of salt Pepper
4 cups of unbleached flour
Crushed garlic
Grated Parmesan

Directions:

Pour the warm water, about the temperature of a baby’s milk, into a large bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Stir just until the yeast is dissolved, then add the salt and flour. Mix until the flour is just moistened and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Spray a piece of plastic wrap with olive oil spray, and place on top of the bowl. Cover with a dish towel and keep in warm and draft free place. Let it rest for about an hour or until the dough is spongy and about double in size. Brush olive oil onto a jellyroll pan sprinkle with corn meal and set aside.

The next step is the most difficult. When the dough has risen until about double, carefully remove the towel and plastic wrap. Spray or brush olive oil on your hands and on top of the dough. Carefully cup your hands and work your way around the edges of dough while the bowl is tipped over the baking pan. When it is completely on the pan, drizzle more olive oil on top, and gently pull apart leaving small holes. This should be about the size of a large pizza. Don’t be afraid that it will end up flat. It is very forgiving and will rise to the occasion.

Sprinkle the dough with coarse salt, chopped fresh rosemary, pepper to taste, crushed garlic, or a sprinkling of dried garlic. Grated Parmesan or your favorite cheese sprinkled on top is fine too. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes until your masterpiece is light brown. Serve with Italian food or after baking 20 minutes add some marinara sauce and pizza fixings. Place back into the hot oven and bake until it's bubbly and beginning to brown. We have done this at our home, and it has become our favorite pizza crust. With a green salad this will serve six to seven people. Even your picky eaters will love it.

Have you got any good recipe for your picky eaters? Send them to us. Maybe we can try them.

Stealthy Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Food is my passion, but I realize that I’m consumed with finding not just delicious, nutritious, and appealing sustenance, but also finding ways to get my grandchildren to eat them. After polishing off two meals one day last week, I realized that my granddaughter had eaten only carbohydrates and dairy all day. Now she was begging for a chocolate muffin before dinner. It was time for Grandma to convince her to eat something from the vegetable kingdom.

“Princess, you haven’t eaten fruits or vegetables all day. It’s very important for your health that you eat vegetables and fruits—a rainbow of color that covers half your plate at every meal.”

She thought about that for a moment then said, “But Grandma, the other half of the plate can be brown, right?”

It was very hard to keep a straight face, but I continued, “Yes, but some of the brown needs to be meat, bread, beans, or nuts. Now can we have some cucumber slices or celery trees with humus just to last until dinner?”

She sighed deeply and said, “Okay.” I put a sandy beach of humus on her plate and planted some palm celery trees around it. She ate most of it. That’s when I decided we would make some chocolate zucchini muffins and hide some vegetables in her favorite food—chocolate.

First we began with the following ingredients:
3 eggs
2 cups of sugar
¾ cup of canola oil

The princess beat the eggs and sugar and then added the oil a few spoons at a time until the ingredients were thoroughly blended.

Next we measured and mixed the dry ingredients:
2 cups flour
¾ cups cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
Then I combined the contents of both bowls and added 1 cup of dark chocolate chips while the princess lined the 12 muffin cups with paper liners. She was happy as she snacked on the chocolate chips—two for the bowl and one for the mouth. Then I took out the grater and two glossy green zucchini which I began grating into a bowl.

Eying me suspiciously the princess stopped chewing the chocolate and said, “Grandma, what are you doing with that zucchini?”

I continued to grate listening to the life-blood of the squash swishing through the tiny blades. “I’m going to put two cups of this living rainbow green vegetable into the muffin batter to keep you healthy and strong.”

“No-o-o-o, Grandma! Don’t do it. You’re going to ruin my muffins,” she said as she sprang from the stepladder and left me to finish the detestable task of spoiling a perfectly delicious chocolate dessert.

Ignoring her, I mixed the two cups of grated zucchini into the batter watching the green disappear. She writhed on the floor and mumbled that mixing vegetables and sweets wouldn’t work.

“Look, Sweetie Pie, the zucchini disappeared,” I said and scooped half the dark chocolate batter into the muffin tins and the rest into a greased loaf pan.

“But the zucchini is still there even if you can’t see it—right Grandma?”

“That’s right,” I said and placed the pans in the oven preheated to 350 degrees. The loaf had to remain in the oven for about 55 minutes until set, but the muffins were ready in about 25 minutes.

I removed the muffins from the oven as the warm chocolate fragrance wafted through the air—my mouth watered. I took the muffins from the pan and placed them on a wire rack to cool more quickly. Within five minutes I tore the paper from one and bit into the moist richness. “Um-m-m, better than a brownie, I said. “Delicious!” I held out my arm with the half eaten muffin, closed my eyes and tilted my face to heaven and inhaled.

The princess grabbed the muffin and took a bite, “Oh, Grandma, you’re right. I can’t see the zucchini or taste it. It’s magic! Can I have another one?

Yes, Stealthy Granny strikes again!

Imagination Cupcakes

My sister Wilma, an extraordinary grandmother, who has lived through many a power outage, came up with this idea that allows children to create their own cake. Since we had just come through hurricane Irene, I thought it would be a great way to get rid of all those long-shelf-life foods we purchased before the storm. Fortunately for us, all we lost was internet and cable TV, so we just needed entertainment. We scanned the pantry and found a yellow cake mix, cooking oil, cocoa, some already prepared pudding cups, mini chocolate chips, coconut, and powdered sugar. In the frig we found blueberries, eggs, butter, and cream cheese. The Princess pulled out the step stool; we turned on our imaginations and got started.

We followed the directions on the cake mix box and my assistant pastry chef used the wire whip to mix the basic batter then lined the cupcake pans—next came the fun part. Since the recipe would make 24 cupcakes, we figured out the math and made six of each kind. We divided the batter into four small bowls.

In the 1st, we added a handful of blueberries, mixed them and poured them into six cups.

In the 2nd, we added cocoa and mini chocolate chips and poured them into six more cups.

In the 3rd, we mixed in cocoa, put a heaping tablespoon of batter into each cup, and then added a spoon of butterscotch pudding before adding another spoon of the batter. Not only were those filled, but they erupted like little volcanoes in the oven!

In the 4th bowl, we added 2 tablespoons of flaked coconut, poured each cup half full of the batter then put in a spoon of lemon pudding and covered it with the rest of the batter. They also erupted. We put all of them into a preheated oven at 350 degrees and baked them until they sprung back when touched lightly.

Since our objective was to use things we had on hand, we made cream cheese icing but you could use canned icing. We topped off the blueberry with plain icing marked with a single blueberry. To both the chocolate cupcakes we added cocoa. Those with chocolate chip we topped with more chips and the others we iced then put just a tiny bit of chocolate syrup coming out of the volcano.

Finally the lemon ones were covered with plain cream cheese icing then topped with coconut. If we had fresh lemon, a tiny bit of lemon zest would have been a good way to tell what was inside, but that didn't keep it from being the most popular cupcake.

Your imagination can take you a long way and cooking with children can give you lots of ideas. Look in your cupboard and see what you can do with those ingredients before their expiration date comes around. Sometimes we just need a little push to see what we can do with leftovers.