GRILLED HAWAIIAN CHICKEN

Where has this recipe been all of my life? I heard rave reviews recently, so I went hunting for the recipe online. As usual, I found a bunch of them and mixed and matched ingredients and techniques to come up with a new chicken dinner that we love!!

This chicken is quick, easy and extremely flavorful. Try it, your family will love it (the pineapple juice makes the chicken very tender).

A word about this photo...... while it isn't the best photo, it IS fairly representative of how WE like our grilled chicken (lots of dark crispy edges). When you are grilling it, just remember that the sugar in this recipe tends to burn if your grill heat is up too high.

2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2  cup soy sauce

1/2  cup brown sugar

1/3  cup ketchup

1/4  cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons fresh ginger root grated

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/4  teaspoon cayenne pepper  (see note below)

Mix all ingredients (except the chicken). Remove 1 cup of the mixture and put it in the fridge (you'll use this for basting the chicken when it is on the grill).

Put the chicken pieces into a large Ziploc bag and pour the rest of the sauce over it. Marinate/chill  the chicken for at least 6 hours or up to 12 hours.

Remove the chicken from the sauce (make sure you throw away the sauce the chicken has been marinating in). Grill over medium charcoals (basting with the clean sauce you saved earlier...NOT the marinating sauce)  for about six to eight minutes per side (or if you like them a little crispy, like we do, a couple minutes longer.

ENJOY !!!

Note about the cayenne:  Picky-picky husband does not like freaks out when it comes to super spicy food, so I only used 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper in this recipe. Normally, that amount would send him running but, because there is so much sugar in this recipe, it counteracts the "heat" of the cayenne and you can hardly tell it is in the recipe (add more if you like a little heat).

EASY CROCKPOT CHICKEN and NOODLES

Crockpot chicken and noodles is pure comfort food in our home. Easy and inexpensive, it pleases everyone.........even picky-picky husband !!

This is one of those super yummy recipes that just doesn't photograph well......... but trust me, it's GOOOOOOD !!!

1 pound of boneless-skinless chicken breast

2  10.75 ounce cans of cream of chicken soup

4 cups of chicken broth or stock

1 small onion diced

1 cup chopped celery

1 large carrot grated

1 cup peas

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Flat wide egg noodles

Spray your Crockpot with a little cooking spray to make cleanup easier. This recipe (as written) requires a nice big Crockpot. If you only have a smaller one, just make half of the recipe.

Dice the onion and celery and grate the carrot. Sautee in a little butter until the onions and celery soften a little.

Put the sautéed veggies, soup, broth and pepper into the Crockpot and stir or whisk it around until it is smooth. Add whole (boneless-skinless) chicken breasts and cook on low for three hours.

After 3 hours, the broth will look a little thin, but that's ok because the noodles with thicken it as they cook. Remove the chicken and cut it into pieces, then return it to the Crockpot.

After 3 hours (on low), add about 3-4 cups UNCOOKED egg noodles and the peas. The noodles will expand (and drink up some of the gravy) so be careful how many noodles you add. It also depends on what KIND of noodles you use, so use your best judgment as to how many dry noodles you put in.    

Depending on what style noodles you are using, it can take as little as 20 minutes for the noodles to cook. If you use a thicker noodle like a Penne, it can take as much as 45 minutes.

If you use the flat egg style noodles, be careful how vigorously you stir them, because they break easily once they start to get soft.

ENJOY !!