This week I think my subconscious goal was to go for dishes that packed flavor — and rather opposite ones at that.
Monday night I decided to try a sweet Hawaiian crock pot chicken recipe. I’ve eyed similar recipes that incorporated pineapple with baked chicken, so I knew I’d be adding that for a bit more flavor (plus I just love pineapple). And I think everyone knows how I’ve been feeling about crockpot dishes lately.
I must have gone overboard with some of the liquids (pineapple juice, to be specific) since my sauce wasn’t quite as thick. When I added in the pineapple, I also threw in corn starch in hopes of thickening it up a bit. No such luck, but it didn’t phase me too much – especially for the leftovers. I’d also added red pepper flakes, and next time I might add honey as well. Perhaps that would thicken up the sauce a bit (as would not using so much pineapple juice, Liz…).
Later in the week I opted for spaghetti squash buffalo chicken. Although I started with this recipe in mind, I ended up creating my own dish just based on what I had on hand already.
I wasn’t really in the mood for chicken given how much I’d had of the Hawaiian chicken, so instead I used ground turkey. That was cooked with garlic and red pepper flakes before I added in Frank’s hot sauce to simmer. I mixed that in with the spaghetti squash, threw on some green onions and viola!
At first it was strange adapting to the texture given I’ve only had buffalo sauce with chicken, so ground turkey and spaghetti squash took some adjusting. But it was delicious nonetheless, and I almost think I prefer the ground turkey. By the end of the meal, my nose was running. It packs just enough heat but I think the squash almost keeps the fire at bay.
It’s hard to believe there was a time that I wasn’t sold on spaghetti squash and crockpot recipes!
Life After School 