Maple BBQ Pulled Chicken

Last post, I talked about pulled chicken. I haven't shared the recipe yet, so here it is.


Such a sad picture

I don't trust slow cookers. Not that I don't trust them to do their work. I don't trust leaving the house with a slow cooker on all day. Call me cautious. Call me paranoid. I just don't want to have to call the fire dept while I'm at work.

I don't own a slow cooker. Instead, I have this multi-cooker/deep fryer/steamer/electric pot thing. I can pretty much cook whatever I want. I got the brilliant idea of using it as a slow cooker. I can control the temp from 200F-350F (or was it 400F?). I decided one lazy Sunday afternoon, I would throw everything into the pot and cook on 200F. It worked, except instead of taking 6+ hours, it only took 2, so dinner was ready super early.

I've made pulled chicken at least three times now, once for my family who visited and twice for myself. I take the leftovers to work all week. Great on buns, in tortillas, and in spinach salads. I used McCormick's roasted spices and fresh jalapenos from my garden.

As you can see, I didn't take many pictures. I was just too hungry.

Maple BBQ Pulled Chicken

Three bone-in chicken pieces (I used leg and thigh)
1 large yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
3 jalapeno pepppers
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ginger
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin powder
1 1/2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop onion, garlic, and jalapeno peppers. Add those and everything but the chicken into your cooker. Stir to mix. Turn the heat on.

2. While heating up, remove the skin and fat from the chicken pieces. Put into your cooker and cover with sauce.

3. Let cook for a few hours. Flip the chicken every hour or two and keep them covered in sauce. The chicken is done when it's falling off of the bone.

4. Remove chicken from the sauce and turn off the heat. Take a slotted spoon and go through the sauce, making sure no bones were left behind. Once cool enough to handle (or use forks), shred the chicken and place back into the sauce. It should still be hot at this point, but turn the heat back on if needed. Serve on buns.

Recipe (and a better description) can be found at Choosy Beggars.

McCormick Roasted Spices Giveaway

So I'm slowly coming out of my blogging coma. McCormick probably hates me now because it's probably been at least two months since they let me sample their roasted spices collection. Although I haven't blogged about them yet, I have been using them. A lot.


Like in my fajita mix.


Or in my pulled chicken.

And other stuff I haven't photographed. I believe I used the cinnamon in some baking.

McCormick has been generous enough to provide me with two sets of their roasted spice collection - one to keep and one to give away. Just in time for the holidays, no? In order to enter, leave a comment about which one of these four spices (cinnamon, cumin, ginger, or coriander) you would use the most.

Earn one additional entry for tweeting about this giveaway with @chocolatemoosey mentioned. Once you do that, leave a comment and let me know your twitter name.

Earn another additional entry for posting a link on your Facebook account. Leave a comment letting me know you did that.

Deadline is Saturday, December 4, 2010. Open to US addresses only.

Baby Cones

Wow, so it's been about two months since I last posted. Here I am, almost at month five in my new town. Some mornings I wake up, finally happy with moving in the right direction. Other mornings I wake up, wondering what the hell am I doing here. "The only way we get there is one step at a time."



Did you know they now make baby ice cream cones? I didn't know that until the one guy at work brought in these baby ice cream cone cupcakes his wife made. After about five of us asking him where his wife got the cones, he called her and told us only one chain carried them. Although that chain isn't nearby here, it is very popular back towards Pittsburgh.



If I had a bakery, these would be on the menu, along with matching holiday sprinkles. I decided to bake a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. You take any cake recipe, fill each cone 2/3 of the way, bake in a mini muffin tin for 15-20 min at 350F, and let cool before frosting. I bet you could do a brownie mix instead of cake (although I wonder if it would rise enough?)


Aw it melted

One problem I had with them was after storing them in an airtight container, the cones got really soft. They weren't that soft before storing them, so...eat them all before storing? haha