DIVIDED!

Oh wow. So I messed up hardcore. In between trying to finish Christmas cards and fighting a killer migraine of doooom I ran to the kitchen to throw dinner into the crockpot. Evidently I grossly misread the recipe which brings me to my new cooking pet peeve: if you don't use all of the ingredient at once, write DIVIDED on the ingredient list. Impatient people like me cannot be trusted to carefully read through the whole recipe especially when my head is going to explode. I mixed the full amount of brown sugar and soy sauce into the marinade. Oops. After the chicken cooked away in the crockpot for a bit I had to have Mr. Lawyer finish the last step while I mumbled instructions from the couch, it went like this:
"Recipe counter...tomato paste, water....broiler....sticky."
"sugar, paste, water"
"no I already put in all the sugar"
"did you read the directions?"
"....."
On the happy side of things, it still came out delicious! The sauce/coating just wasn't as sticky/thick as it should have been. I poured some of the extra liquid onto my rice and it added some nice flavor to the rice (P.S. If you only order a quart of rice you don't get a fortune cookie! I'm so upset). The chicken was fall off the bone perfect (I love crockpot chicken! So easy to eat!) and the flavor was sweet with a vague asian flavor. It was probably sweeter than the proper recipe but oh well, that's life. At least it still came out yummy! Here is the original recipe....with my added notions.

Slow Cooked Sticky Chicken

(adapted from Cook's Illustrated Slow Cooker Revolution)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup brown sugar, DIVIDED
1/4 cup soy sauce, DIVIDED
2 tablespoons of minced ginger
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne or red pepper
3 lbs chicken, breast, thighs, legs, etc. (we used thighs)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup tomato paste

Directions:
1. Combine 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoon soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Add chicken and toss to coat.
2. Place in a slow cooker and cook on low for about 4 hours or until done.
3. When done place chicken in a broiler proof dish. Combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar, water, and tomato paste, and remaining soy sauce. Brush on chicken and cook under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until chicken is slightly crisp.

P.S. Did you know that you can keep fresh ginger root in the freezer? I love fresh ginger but can never use it up before it goes bad. The last time I bought some I peeled the whole root, wrapped it up and threw it in the freezer. For this recipe I pulled it out, grated it up and voila! Fresh ginger without the waste!