Chinese Food

We have had a rough time finding reliable inexpensive Chinese food out here.  Luckily, my mom shared a recipe with me a few weeks ago that I think will cover our Chinese food urges while we continue to hunt for "the chinese food place".  She sent along this great slow cooker recipe.

Slow Cocker Sweet Garlic Chicken

from Six Sisters' Stuff

Ingredients

4-6 chicken breasts
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon-lime soda
2-3 Tablespoons minced garlic
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 Tablespoons corn starch
2 Tablespoons water
Rice or noodles, cooked
Red pepper flakes (optional)

Steps

1.  Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken (frozen, thawed or fresh) inside slow cooker. Mix together brown sugar, vinegar, soda, garlic, soy sauce, and pepper together. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.
2.  Take chicken pieces out of slow cooker (mine basically fell apart) and pour remaining sauce into saucepan. Place saucepan over high heat. Mix together corn starch and water, pour into saucepan, and mix well. Let sauce come to a boil and boil for 2-3 minutes, or until it starts to thicken and turns into a glaze. Remove from heat and let sit for a minute or two (it will continue to thicken as it cools down).
3. Sprinkle red pepper flakes on top if desired. This can be served over rice or noodles, I also like it with a baked potato on the side (It's good on top of the potato too!)

Finished Product
This was really tasty.  A few things to note - I used 1 pound of thawed chicken tenderloins and cooked on low for 6.5 hours.  This left my chicken pieces dry.  I would really recommend using some big chicken breasts so that they stay moist.  The sauce was super yummy.  I think next time I might switch out the lemon-lime soda (I used 7up) for an orange soda.  I did not sprinkle the red pepper flakes on at the end.  The hubby likes his spicy - so we just add to our individual servings.  I served the chicken over basmati rice, which I have taken a real liking to lately.  A definite keeper and big thanks to my mom for passing this one along.