Spiced Chicken Legs in the Crock Pot

I love using my crock pot.  It makes cooking so easy sometimes!  I threw in a whole bunch of spices and used this recipe as a guide.  I didn’t have time to marinate the chicken with the spices overnight like the recipe suggested, and my chicken didn’t come out “sticky” like the title suggests.  I felt like the chicken had somewhat of a kick to it with just the right amount of flavor, and enough moisture that the chicken literally fell off the bone.

Spiced Chicken Legs in the Crock Pot
10 (approx.) chicken legs
1/2 small yellow onion (diced, enough to spread on the bottom of the crock pot)
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp french thyme
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chili powder

Directions
Mix all dry ingredients in a small bowl.  Line the bottom of your crockpot (or Instant Pot) with the diced onions.  Dip the drumsticks into the spice mix and place in crock pot.  Cook on low for 8 hours or until cooked thoroughly.

I first mixed all dry ingredients in a small bowl.  I diced up my onion, and line the bottom of my crockpot with it.

I then took each drumstick and rolled the meaty end into my spice mixture.  I then placed all of the legs into my crockpot.

8 hours cooked on low…

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Every summer I find myself with an abundance of delicious figs from my in-law’s fig tree.  This year, we have soooo many, I figured I needed to find a way to use some other than just eating them by themselves.  I normally don’t eat figs with the skin on, however I was too lazy to peel the skin off, so I left it on.  I didn’t want to put anything in the salad that overpowered the sweet fig taste, so I treaded lightly on accompaniments.

Simple Fig Salad
Ingredients
1/2 of a 5oz container of mixed greens
5 figs, sliced vertically
3/4 macintosh apple, peeled and diced, I prefer organic
1/4 cup crumbled feta

Dressing
balsamic fig vinegar
olive oil

Combine all salad ingredients in a big bowl.  Drizzle with balsamic fig vinegar and olive oil and toss until lightly coated.  Note: The balsamic fig vinegar doesn’t overpower the flavors of the figs themselves, however I’m not sure how regular balsamic vinegar would taste.

Ever since my new kitchen was “completed” back in July (I use quotes as I am still picking out a backsplash so it isn’t fully complete yet), I’ve been “finding” things still in the box/I never used/never knew I had.  This All-Clad Panini Press is one of those things I wish I would have realized I had earlier!  Once I opened it, I didn’t want to stop using it.

Besides a regular grilled cheese (with tomato and avocado on sourdough)…

I decided I wanted to try and experiment with different sandwiches that would be hard to flip in a pan like a traditional grilled cheese, and take advantage of the cast iron (what feels like 20lb) press.

Then came my herbed meatball spinach pesto panini.

Herbed Meatballs Spinach Pesto Panini
Ingredients
2 slices of bread (I used sourdough-a treat in my house as I try not to buy bread at all!)
shredded mozzarella (amount depends on the size of your bread)
handful of spinach leaves (again, depends on the size of your bread but I stacked them on)
basil pesto, enough to spread on a slice (or both if you want)
butter to spread on the outside of the bread
5 small meatballs (approximate)

I spread margarine on both sides of the bread, and pesto on the inside of 1 slice.  I cut my meatballs in half, and piled on the cheese and spinach.

I placed my sandwich onto the pan and pressed…

I did flip it to get it golden brown on both sides, and…

Yum!

Beer bread.  I honestly had never heard of it until I mentioned to my coworker I was invited to a Tastefully Simple party.  I ended up buying 4 boxes that night- 3 for my coworker and 1 for myself.  I then knew why she was wanting 3 boxes at a time! 🙂

After spending what feels like nearly half my life on Pinterest (my husband would agree)- there it was, a recipe for honey beer bread that seemed simple and easy to make. I made the loaf not even 24 hours ago and it’s entirely GONE.  My husband said this is “one of the top five” things I’ve ever made him.  Adapted from Gimme Some Oven, here it is:

Honey Beer Bread
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of honey or agave nectar
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, melted (I used salted)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a loaf pan and in a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Using a spoon, stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed.  Pour half the melted butter into the loaf pan. Then spoon the batter into the pan, and pour the rest of the butter on top of the batter.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Serve immediately (best when warm!).

I mixed all of my dry ingredients and added the beer.  I probably should have used a bigger bowl.

I then spooned it into the baking pan and poured the remaining butter on the top.

I placed it in the oven and thankfully I checked on it, as it started to rise into the broiler in my oven!  I had to move it to the side. (I have a double oven range so the top oven is smaller.)

The final product!!

 

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year!  We got married last October, so I felt like I wasn’t able to enjoy apple picking, pumpkin picking, and all of the cooking and baking that goes with it.  Although it’s still summer, I decided to start my fall early with some yummy pumpkin swirl brownies.  I adapted the recipe from Betty Crocker’s website, and of course, I tweaked it a bit.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies
Ingredients
Filling
3oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1  egg
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice*

Brownies (I used boxed)
I prepared them as instructed on the box

*the original recipe called for nutmeg, however I’m not a huge fan of nutmeg and thought it would be interesting to try pumpkin pie spice instead.

time & temp
40 minutes, 350°F

I preheated my oven and sprayed the bottom and corners of a 9 inch square pan.

In a small bowl I mixed together the filling.

In a separate bowl I mixed together the brownie mix as instructed on the box.

I put 3/4 of the brownie mix in the baking pan, and spooned the filling over the top.  I then put the remaining brownie batter on top.  I then used a knife to swirl together the brownie mix and filling.  In the oven it went, and 40 minutes later…

They were cakey in texture, so I think next time I’d use Ghiradelli’s brownie mix which is more rich, instead of the Pillsbury one I used.  Depends how you like them!