Tasty Tuesday (appetizer and meal)

I'm excited to share with you guys two amazing recipes! One appetizer and one meal idea, so let's get started!

First off, I have to send out a HUGE thank you to Shari @ The Daily Dish for sharing this really yummy, crowd-pleasing appetizer recipe with me! I mentioned yesterday that on Friday MG and I went to a dinner party that his friends were hosting. MG's friends are a tight knit group--they've known each other since early on in college. They are all really nice but it's kind of hard to get "in" with the girls of the group because they have been friends for so long. So, upon getting this invite, I wanted to make something that would impress, and Shari totally came through for me with her Grape, Goat Cheese and Pistachio Truffles. I was in such a rush when making these that I didn't take a picture but here is the picture from Shari's blog so you get an idea of what they look like:

{via}

MG's and mine looked a bit different because when he used the processor to grind up the nuts, it turned it into more of a powder than the nice chunks from Shari's original post that you see above. We also did not roast the nuts beforehand.  BUT, it turned out fab. People were talking to me about it two days later! 

BIG shout outs to Shari!

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Now, the meal that I'm going to share with you is healthy and yummy, and not hard to make, at all! I was looking for a healthy recipe that I could have for dinner last night (and bring for lunch a few days this week) and went to my go-to website for yummy-ness: A Year of Slow Cooking. I went to the 'Light and Healthy" section and saw "General Tso's Chicken" listed. I LOVE General Tso's, but I never would classify it as "healthy"...or light for that matter.

This isn't really General Tso's. It's more a chinese chicken with veggies and yummy sauce recipe. The full recipe is here. This is how mine turned out:

What you need:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken, cut into small chunks

4 garlic cloves, minced (I just bought the jar and used about 3 tsp)

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon dried ginger (make sure you use a TSP...I grabbed the TBSP by accident at first--luckily I realized that mistake before I added it into the mix)

2 tablespoons soy sauce (I used the Lite Soy Sauce to avoid over salting myself)

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (add more to taste at the table if you'd prefer more heat)

1 (16-ounce) package frozen stir-fry vegetables (to add later)

All you do is cut up the chicken into the small chunks and add them into the crock pot (a 4 quart crock is a good size). Then add in all of the other ingredients (garlic, brown sugar, ginger, soy sauce and red pepper flakes), except the frozen veggies. Stir it up to make sure the chicken gets an even coat. Turn the Crock pot on LOW for 5-6 hours (I did 5). At this point, add in the frozen stir fry veggies, stir it up some, and turn the crock pot up to HIGH for another hour.

Right before it was done, I made some of Uncle Ben's Minute brown rice. I did add a little bit more soy sauce to my dish after it was done just for a bit more flavor (since I had the rice, and there wasn't a lot of sauce at the bottom of the crock pot). Overall, it was yummy and felt like I was eating stuff that was good for me, without sacrificing on taste.

The website says this serves 4. I would say it's more like 3 servings (or 2 adult and 2 child portions). So, now I have lunch for today and tomorrow that's really healthy and delish!