Slow Cooker Peanut Butter & Chocolate Pudding Cake - Low Calories

Looks good doesn't it?

Ok, I am REALLY getting into my old crock pot (and I mean old, I have had it since 1983!). It's just too easy to make things in, especially these days when I have about zero energy for meals that take lots of prep work and cooking.

Now I have discovered that I can make some low-calorie desserts for my husband and I in the crock pot. We are, as most always, trying to lose weight but still crave some sweet goodie after dinner, so I am working on new creations in the crock pot.

Here is one I came up with this week. Can be enjoyed hot from the crock pot with some low-calorie ice cream, ice milk or Rice Dream non-dairy frozen dessert etc if you want, or you can pour some fudge sauce on top, sugar free if you are trying to cut out the sugar and some calories.

Slow Cooker Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pudding Cake- low calories

For the Peanut Butter Cake portion:

3/4 c. Cake Flour
3 teaspoons Somersweet
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 c. non-fat milk
1 tablespoon plain, natural unsweetened Applesauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 c. Peanut Butter (natural, unsweetened, creamy or chunky as desired)

For the Chocolate topping "pudding":

3 tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I used Dutch processed)
5 teaspoons Somersweet
1 c. boiling water

Butter/grease the bottom, corners and up the sides about 1 inch of the crock pot before turning it on or placing any ingredients into it.

Combine the flour, 3 tsp. Somersweet and baking powder. Add milk, applesauce and vanilla. Stir with whisk until smooth. Add peanut butter and stir with spoon until mixed completely. Put into the crock pot and level out evenly if necessary.

How it looks with the Peanut Butter batter leveled out.

In a small/medium bowl, stir together the Cocoa, 5 teaspoons Somersweet and the boiling water. Whisk till completely blended. Gently pour over the peanut butter cake batter in the cooker. DO NOT STIR IT. Just let the cocoa mixture rest on top.

How it looks once you have placed the Cocoa mixture on top of the Peanut Butter batter.

Cover the cooker and cook on HIGH for about 2 hours. Be careful any time you remove the cover (which you should not do while it's cooking) that you do not let any water collecting on the lid run down into your dessert.

How it looks in the crock pot when it is done (in this photo, I had already removed one serving).

Crock Pot Kalua Pork with Cabbage

Slow Cooker Kalua Pork with Cabbage, with some cracked pepper on top

One thing I really miss when I'm away from Hawaii is Kalua Pork. You may have eaten it if you have ever been to a Luau dinner. That is the 'real' thing where the pig is slow cooked in an "Imu" or earthen oven. The word 'kalua' in Hawaiian comes from 'ka', meaning 'the' and 'lua' meaning 'hole'. The Hawaiians used the Imu which was a pit in the ground, to steam whole pigs, breadfruit, bananas, sweet potatoes, taro, chicken, and fish.

The Imu acts like an underground pressure cooker. It takes alot of time and labor to prepare an Imu, so it was (and still is) mostly used for group meals, festivities, or religious ceremonies.

An Imu, a lua or round pit, is about 2 feet to 4 feet deep with sloping sides. The diameter and depth matches the amount of food to be cooked. The pit also contains not only the food, but rocks and vegetation. The excavated dirt or sand is kept next to the pit so that it can be used to cover the Imu later. Kindling material and wood is put in the bottom center of the pit, then stones, about the size of a closed fist, are then positioned on top of the wood. The kindling wood is lighted and the fire heats the pit and the stones. As the wood turns to charcoal, the Imu stones drop inward on the hot coals. After a few hours the stones are at their maximum heat and are then leveled out.

To steam the food in the Imu, green plant materials are needed. The Hawaiians used some of the traditional plants such as banana stumps, ti leaves, honohono grass, banana leaves, and coconut palm leaf.

The wood used usually is 'Kiawe' which is a cousin of Mesquite. This gives the pork the awesome smoked flavor. You can duplicate this at home in your slow cooker (crock pot) by using liquid smoke. I use Wright's Mesquite Liquid Smoke as it is easiest to find in most supermarkets. The Hickory type is also good.

A picture of the liquid smoke I usually use, from B&G Foods' website.

Here is my recipe...me ke aloha....

Slow Cooker/Crock Pot Kalua Pork

Pork Shoulder Roast or alittle fatty Loin Roast cuts, 1 lb or amount as desired
Water (to cover meat, one cup at a time)
Liquid Smoke (1 tablespoon to each 1 cup of water used)
Hawaiian Salt (about 2 tablespoons for each 1 cup of water used)

Place raw pork into the slow cooker pot. Cover with water (about 2 cups for each 1 lb. of meat). Add liquid smoke. Add Hawaiian salt. Cook on low for 5 hours.

This photo is just after adding everything to the slow cooker pot. See how the water is covering the pork quite a bit.

After 5 hours has past and around 2 hours before you want to serve, add roughly chopped cabbage as much as you like. I add alot (about 1/2 to 3/4 of a head of cabbage) and then mix around until it is almost covered by the water/juice. It will steam a bit as it is cooking so there is no need to cover the cabbage entirely by the water as you have done with the pork. Cover the crock pot with the lid.

I usually then turn the cooker up to high until serving (about 2 hours after having added the cabbage).

Enjoy hot from the crock pot with side of corn on the cob, potato or macaroni salad and/or steamed white sticky rice. The Kalua Pork can stay warmed and served for several hours (say at a party for example) by keeping the crock pot on low.

Here is some of the Hawaiian Salts I use. It comes in ground or course. Click here to read about Hawaiian Salt.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Chiba, Japan

Well now they've gone and done it. There is a new Krispy Kreme Doughnuts located about 10 minutes away from our home in Japan, at the Minami Funabashi La La Port shopping mall. Krispy Kreme has several locations in Tokyo proper, but now they are spreading out from there. We have never gone to any of the shops in Tokyo since the waiting time in line is usually 1 hour if you are lucky, it can easily be 2-3 hours. I have also heard of people waiting even 4 hours! We decided to check out the La La Port location and there was only about 15 minute (or less) wait time. We got there before I snapped this photo, there was no one outside waiting at the time.

Click here if you would like to read a fairly detailed article about Krispy Kreme in Japan (by Japan Inc).

So this location at La La Port, looks mostly like any US version of Krispy Kreme, except not as big inside and not as much merchandise for sale. The order board is in Japanese and English, helpful for folks like me! Not that I NEED to be making use of it very often (trying as usual to lose some weight!). You can see the doughnuts going thru the process of being made as with most of KK's shops. Boy does it smell GOOD in there! PLUS they were handing out free just made (still hot!) glazed doughnuts to all of us waiting in line. That was nice, but Ken and I joked that we should leave after that as that was all we wanted was one doughnut.

We ended up getting a dozen for our neighbor (as a peace offering since Daisy had chewed the wallpaper in their entry off a bit) and about 4 doughnuts for Ken and I to share with each other. The next day when we got on the scale, we had LOST weight so the big joke now is 'we need to go on Krispy Kreme diets to lose weight'....if only huh?

The left row of people waiting is for those who want to select various types and amounts of doughnuts, the open row (at the time of this photo it was clear) is an "express"  for those who want to purchase boxed dozen (for take out) of the glazed doughnut only. It's very popular in Japan (the regular glazed doughnut) and many people buy 2-3 dozen (or more!) to bring home, take to the office, or give to friends or neighbors (whom are usually thankful to have the doughnuts without having had to wait in line for them).

The wonderful, and always fun to watch, doughnut making machine.

Orange Chicken, Panda Express style

I have been trying to make Orange Chicken like the kind at Panda Express. My husband LOVES their Orange Chicken and will eat it every day when we are near Panda Express locations (because there are no chances for him to eat it in Japan). So I tried to make it at home. It is not easy but after the 5th try, I think I have got it as close to the real thing as can be done at home, and without a big Wok. I don't own a Wok...no space!

Anyway, we tried it tonight and it was delicious! I also have a recipe for Orange Lilikoi Guava chicken in a crock pot that I will post soon. It's similar to this Orange Chicken except it's all done in a crock pot. You lose alittle of the crunch of the fried chicken pieces but also it's healthier since there is nothing fried!

And now.......

Terri's Homemade Orange Chicken, Panda Style

For the sauce, mix together in a bowl:

1 cup Orange Marmalade (for lower calories use a sugarless variety)
4 tablespoons Shoyu/Soy Sauce (low sodium Shoyu is ok too)
1/2 cup Barbecue Sauce (any type you like, I used a Honey Mustard type)
dash of salt (about 1/4 tsp.)
1 teaspoon of thin sliced red chili peppers, fresh or dried
2 teaspoons of Organic Turbanado Sugar (optional)
1 tablespoon Lilikoi Juice concentrate (optional, I used Aunty Lilikoi's)

After thoroughly mixing these ingredients together, place them all in a crock pot and cook on low for 5-6 hours. You may check on it and stir once or twice.

For the Chicken:

1 1/2 - 2 lbs Chicken, thighs or breast as desired (I used both in equal amounts)
1 Egg beaten
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp ground White Pepper
1/2 cup Cornstarch
1/4 cup All Purpose Flour

After the 5-6 hours are past, cut into large bite sized pieces the chicken meat. Beat egg in a medium/large sized bowl. Add chicken, salt and white pepper. Mix together thoroughly and set aside.

Put oil in a pan or deep fryer and heat to frying temperature.

In another bowl, mix the cornstarch and flour. Add the chicken mixture, and mix until well and evenly coated. Add the chicken pieces in small batches. Removed from oil when browned on both sides (if using a pan to fry, you may need to manually turn over the pieces one by one to assure even cooking.

Place on paper or rack to drain.

After all the chicken is fried, put into a large bowl, or a smaller bowl in batches, and pour some of the Orange sauce from the crock pot over the fried chicken. Mix around until the chicken pieces are coated with the Orange sauce and serve.

**note, next time I am going to try adding some sauteed/stir fried crushed garlic to the Orange Sauce to see if that will spiff up the flavor a bit. Also my husband said he would prefer it alittle spicier so I will add more red chilies next time too.

ENJOY....