Pineapple Grilling Sauce

I've been big on grilling sauce made from fresh fruit the last few months. I threw this one together today in about 5 minutes total, plus 2 hrs in the crock pot.

2 quart bags full of frozen pineapple--probably 2-3 pineapples worth
1 cup honey
1-2 tbsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 inch fresh grated ginger
pinch of kosher salt
15-20 grinds of fresh black pepper
1 vanilla bean (split & scraped....and put the whole thing in the pot)

Cook on high for about 2-3 hours, and then transfer it to the blender and puree. This made exactly 3 pints for me. :)

Tonight I slathered it on grilled pork chops, and served it with grilled zucchini/red onion/yellow bell peppers, orange honeydew melon and a green salad. Absolutely, positively wonderful!

Cherry Teriyaki Sauce

This is easily the *BEST* thing I have ever eaten--out of my kitchen or otherwise. So unbelievably yummy!! And it is completely Paleo-friendly!

6 fresh dates, pitted
1/2 pound fresh or frozen & thawed bing cherries, pitted
1/3 cup of HOT HOT water
3-4 cloves of fresh minced garlic
1" fresh minced ginger
3/4 cup coconut aminos (you can use soy sauce if you don't care about the paleo aspect)
1/2 tsp salt (omit the salt if you use soy sauce)
2 tbsp coconut sugar
2 tbsp lemon or lime juice

Blend the dates, cherries and hot water until smooth. Pour into a pot along with all of the other ingredients and simmer. As is, this would make an awesome marinade for meat. Tonight, however, I quadrupled it and threw this into my crock pot on high with frozen chicken breasts. I cocked the lid in the last hour or two so the sauce could reduce once the chicken was cooked through, and I garnished it with green onions when I served it. :)

(adapted from strictlypaleoish.com's Paleo Teriyaki Sauce recipe)

Crock Pot Baked Beans

These beans are always a crowd pleaser. I forgot to take photos the last time I made them, but I did take a quick photo of a plate of leftovers before they were inhaled.... ;)

How yummy does that look?? Seriously? Thick, gooey, just yummmmm!

Anyway....it's simple, really. You'll need good bar-be-cue sauce (I really love Longhorn BBQ sauce for stuff like this, and you can get it at most local grocery stores if you happen to live in the WA-OR-ID area), 1 large red onion, 1/2 a pound of bacon, approximately 1 cup dark brown sugar, 1 or 2 jalapeno peppers, and 2-3 cans of plain old everyday baked beans. Not the "grilling" ones, just plain baked beans. Tip: The generic baked beans are better than the name brand for this, so don't waste your money. ;) You could really add whatever you like, but this is what I use.

Start by opening the beans and dumping them into the crock pot. Go ahead and turn the crock pot on to "High" now. 

Slice the onion super thin, and caramelize it in a heavy bottom pan over medium-low heat with about a tablespoon of vegetable oil. This will take a while, so be patient, and stir it now and then so it doesn't burn. Some onions have more natural sugars in them than others...if your onions don't start to brown after about 15 mins, turn the heat up slightly and add a spoon full of sugar. You could probably skip this step, but I like the extra flavor this provides. Add the caramelized onions to the beans.

Chop the bacon into small pieces and brown them until they are crispy in a skillet, and add it to the beans.

Finely chop the jalapenos, seeds and all. Add the jalapeno, sugar and BBQ sauce to the beans.

Cover the crock pot, and cook on high until everything is hot and bubbly. Adjust the lid so it is cocked a bit to let steam escape, and cook until the beans reach a thickness you like. All crock pots are different, but on high, it takes about 4 hours in mine to reach the consistency above. I like them to stay where I put them on the plate, not spread out all over the place.

Super simple & super yummy!! Great side dish for bar-be-ques and pot lucks! 

Taco Chicken (Crock Pot)

I've had a couple people ask me for this 'recipe' (if you could call it that, really), so I thought I'd post it here. It's awesome stuff to have around, and cheap to make. It freezes well, too, so you could make a huge batch and freeze it. I make it in 3 lb batches, and then we have taco salads all week for lunch. :) You could use it for tortilla soup, tacos, enchiladas, fajitas (I'd throw it on a grill pan and char it up pretty good before serving for fajitas, but I like that extra smokey flavor for fajitas)...I've even had a friend tell me she poured scrambled eggs over a spoonful of this chicken for breakfast. Not sure I'd go that far, but it is pretty versatile. :)

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I use the frozen ones as they come in 3 lb packages and they're pretty cheap--uh, HELLO?! $7 for 3 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts!--but you can use fresh if you have them on hand....you could use thighs if you prefer dark meat, too.)

16 oz jar of your favorite salsa (or make it yourself, whatever), the thicker the better, though.

3-4 teaspoons taco seasoning (I use my friend Katherine's recipe, which totally rocks... http://pleasegivepeasachance.blogspot.com/2008/04/are-you-buying-taco-seasoning.html )

Peel of a tangelo (I know, I know, this is weird, but the first time I did this, I happened to have just peeled a tangelo for my husband's lunch, so I used that, and now I just make a point to buy tangelos when I'm planning to make this for dinner. haha! You could probably use an orange or tangerine peel, though. :) Just make sure you use the whole thing.)

That's it, really. Throw it all into the crock pot (I have a painfully small crock pot and normally have to defrost one of my chicken breasts partially and cut it into chunks to get it to fit in there). Set it to High and cook it till it's falling apart. Crock pots vary so much, it seems. My last one, I could leave chicken breasts in it from 8 am till 6 pm and they'd be perfect....this one, chicken is cooked in less than 4 hrs even on low, and it'd be burnt if I left them all day...so use your better judgment. You know your crock pot better than I do. haha!

It will be soupy, so when I'm ready to serve, I use a slotted spoon to fish out all of the chicken (pick out all of the tangelo/orange/tangerine peels and discard them), and put it into a bowl or a pan and shred it all up with 2 forks. Then I add about 2-3 cups of the liquid from the crock pot back to it and mix it up pretty well. 

Best. Stuff. Ever.

(Edited to add a photo, by request. I used it in quesadillas tonight.)

*Edited June 4th, 2012*

So, I thought I'd add a few more photos of this marvelous stuff! :)

(To freeze: Portion it out into standard ice cube trays, freeze overnight, and then pop the cubes out and place in a Ziploc bag....each cube is just enough for a quesadilla; two cubes for a taco, etc.)