CrockPot Pineapple Chicken Recipe

Day 140.

This is a very simple dish--and chances are you have all four ingredients already! The sweetness of the pineapple works great with the salt from the soy sauce and the touch of spice from red pepper flakes.

The Ingredients.

--enough chicken for 4

--20 oz can of pineapple chunks

--1/4 cup soy sauce (Tamari wheat free or La Choy are gluten free)

--1 t red pepper flakes

The Directions.

plop the chicken into the crockpot. I used frozen breast tenders. Drain the pineapple, and add the chunks with the soy sauce and the red pepper flakes.

cook on low for 4-6 hours, or on high for 3-4.

The cooking time will depend on how thick your pieces of chicken are, and if they are frozen or not.

My frozen breast tenders only needed to cook on low for 4 hours.

Serve over rice, quinoa, or on a bed of fresh spinach.

The Verdict.

We ate this over spinach and ate outside. It was a hot evening, and we were in swimsuits. The kids had a ball feeding the guinea pigs any spinach that fell to the ground. I liked the flavor a lot, and the kids ate the chicken and picked at the pineapple. I did open a fresh can for them, though. Eating hot pineapple weirded them out. I added more red pepper flakes to my dish, and I can't remember what Adam did.

Our chicken was dry. I'm always a touch disappointed when I use the frozen breast tenders after using thighs for a while. The breast pieces just don't retain moisture the way the thighs do. I don't seem to remember this while I'm at the store, though.

CrockPot Cream Cheese Chicken Recipe

Day 144.

Cream cheese chicken is usually one of the first dishes tried in a crockpot. It is delicious. There are many different variations, but the standard recipe revolves around a can of cream-of-something soup, a package of Italian salad dressing mix, and a block of cream cheese.

I have a freezer full of cream of mushroom soup, so I made this recipe fully from scratch. But it's okay with me if you use the packaged stuff. It's really good either way.

But the made-from-scratch way gives you lots of bragging rights.

The Ingredients.

--2 cups homemade cream of mushroom soup

--frozen chicken--enough to feed four adults

--2 T Italian seasoning

--1/2 t celery seed

--1 T onion powder

--1 T sugar (weird, I know.)

--1/4 t black pepper

--1 t kosher salt

--2 cloves minced garlic

--block of cream cheese (to add later)

or you can make it with:

--1 can cream-of-something soup

--1/2 cup chicken broth

--frozen chicken pieces

--packet of Italian salad dressing mix

--2 cloves minced garlic

--block of cream cheese (to add later)

The Directions.

Put everything except for the cream cheese into the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and begins to shred. Shred the chicken with two large forks, and mix in the block of cream cheese. Switch the crock to high and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is fully melted.

Serve over pasta. We used Trader Joe's brown rice fusilli.

The Verdict.

This is really, really, really, really good. I like the original cream cheese chicken an awful lot, but this truly did taste better. The homemade mushroom soup just tastes better and gives it that "restaurant" flavor.

My six-year-old retorted that this was the very best pasta she's ever had. I let her skip bathtime.

CrockPot Chipotle Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

Day 153.

This was a fun dish to prepare because I had no idea what I was doing. I completely made it up. And not only did it cook nicely in the crock, it tasted good.

always an added bonus.

The Ingredients.

--enough chicken pieces to feed 4

--10 oz package of mushrooms

--1/2 chopped onion

--3 cloves minced garlic

--1 small sweet potatoes (peeled and chopped in chunks)

--2 green onions, chopped

--1 diced red bell pepper

--1/2 cup chicken broth

--1 t chipotle pepper

--1 t paprika

--1/4 t black pepper

--1 cup sour cream (to add later)

The Directions.

Add the chicken to the crockpot. I used frozen breast tenders. Prepare the vegetables and add on top of the chicken. Put in the broth, and add the spices. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until the chicken is done and is beginning to shred.

Before serving, stir in the sour cream. If needed, heat on high for 30 minutes to bring back to desired serving temperature.

Serve over pasta or brown rice.

The Verdict.

This is a wonderful dish. The heat from the chipotle is nicely mellowed by the sour cream and the sweetness from the sweet potatoes. I would serve this to company---very yummy.

My kids ate this, but I did separate the chicken and the mushrooms for them, and gave them the rice in a separate bowl.

Blogger is giving me problems with extra spaces. It's quite annoying.

CrockPot Moroccan Chicken Recipe

Day 156.

I've been reading a lot of cookbooks lately, and the flavors of Moroccan food have intrigued me. I played around with ingredients I had on hand and put together a Moroccan CrockPot Chicken dish---that is good. It's not mind-blowing, but it's good. I think it needs more spice to please me, but the flavors were pronounced, and because it wasn't too spicy, I got the kids to give it a try. They particularly liked the raisins.

updated 1/12/09: I have since made and updated this recipe. The spices are now spot-on and are quite tasty. I'd recommend using chicken thighs instead of breast pieces--about 6 or so.

The Ingredients.

There are a lot. Don't freak out.

--frozen chicken pieces--the equivalent of 4 breasts

--1 cup salsa

--1/4 cup chicken broth

--2 t Tobasco sauce

--1/3 cup toasted almonds (I threw my raw almonds into the microwave for 2 minutes)

--5 cloves smashed and chopped garlic

--1/3 cup raisins (I used black, but I think golden would be better)

--2 t honey

--1 t cumin

--1/2 t cinnamon

--1/4 t chipotle chili powder

--1/2 t saffron threads

Moroccan food is traditionally served with couscous. We used quinoa.

The Directions.

Put the frozen chicken into your crockpot. If you are using fresh, this will cook awfully quickly because there isn't anything in the crock but chicken and sauce. If you are up to it, mix the spices, salsa, and broth in a separate bowl and pour evenly over the chicken. I didn't do this, and dumped everything in on top, then gave a stir when the chicken thawed a bit. Add the raisins and almonds.

Cover and cook on low for 4-8 hours. I used frozen breast tenders and because the pieces were so thin, our dinner cooked in 4 hours and was ready at noon. oops.

I served the chicken on top of saffron quinoa.

The Verdict.

I liked this, but wanted to love it. I could taste the different spices on their own, but once the chicken met the quinoa, the flavors disappeared. I think I would have liked this stuffed into a corn tortilla wrap or a pita, more than with the quinoa. When I make it again, I will increase the tobasco and the cumin. The vinegar in the tobasco gives a nice flavor that weirdly goes well with raisins.

This is a recipe I could tweak and play with for quite some time.

CrockPot Bacon and Cheese Chicken Recipe

Day 170.

I was blog surfing the other day and found a recipe entitled Bacon Cheeseburger Chicken. I knew that this was something that I had to try, and printed it out on the spot.

The internet loves bacon. It cracks me up how the love of bacon makes it's way through the blogosphere---I read about bacon on parenting blogs, life blogs, DIY blogs, and business blogs. Probably because I'm allergic to pork, I don't have an amazing love affair with bacon. I have discovered that beef bacon is very tasty, and according to my pork-eating family and friends, it tastes marvelous, and maybe even better.

But I don't crave the flavor of bacon. Now chicken and apple sausages are another thing...

I actually used turkey bacon for this recipe, since I had a bunch left over from the jalapeno poppers.

The Ingredients.

Adapted from Bacon Cheeseburger Chicken

--2 T olive oil

--4-6 chicken breast halves, or equivalent bird pieces (I used 8 breast tenders)

--12 pieces cooked and crumbled bacon

--1/4 cup teriyaki sauce (I used Tamari's wheat-free that I found at Whole Foods)

--1/2 cup Ranch salad dressing

--1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

The Directions.

Put the 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the bottom of your crock and spread it around. If you are using thighs or fattier cuts of meat, this step is probably optional.

Put the chicken in the crock on top of the oil.

In a small bowl, combine the teriyaki sauce and the ranch dressing. I kept tasting this---the flavor is so bizarre and tasty; I've never had anything like it.

Pour sauce over the top of the chicken. Add the shredded cheese and the crumbled bacon to the crock, getting between the chicken pieces, if you can.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4. The cooking time will depend on how thick your chicken pieces are, and if they are fresh or frozen.

Since I used the tiny breast tenders (frozen) our dinner cooked in only 3 hours on high.

The Verdict.

We all loved this. It didn't remind us of a cheeseburger, though, and most of the dinner conversation revolved around the name and how it would be misleading to throw in the word "burger." I thought the use of the word was cute, but ultimately, I lost 1 to 5. (my brother and his wife were over for dinner. Hi Andy! Hi Karen!)

Very tasty. Thank you to Kevin and Amanda!

CrockPot Salsa Chicken Recipe

Day 177.

I got an email last week from Beckie, who suggested that I make her salsa chicken recipe. I'm so glad that I did! This is a super easy, super delicious meal, that is very low in fat, and filling. We had it over some rice, and scooped up the extra sauce with corn tortillas.

The Ingredients.

--6-9 chicken thighs, or equivalent body parts
--1 can rinsed black beans
--1 cup chunky salsa
--1 cup frozen white corn

The Directions.

Put your chicken in the crockpot; mine was still frozen. Top with the rinsed black beans, salsa, and corn.

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. Cooking time will vary depending on whether or not your chicken is frozen, and how big the pieces are.

If you decide to use breasts, increase your salsa by 1/2 cup. Breasts are drier than thighs.


The Verdict.

This was a really yummy dish, and I liked how low in fat it was. If you don't have enough meat in the house, or would like to stretch the dish, you can add a 1/2 block of cream cheese, a cup of sour cream, or a can of cream-of-something soup to the ingredients. I really liked it like this, though---but I know that I've made something similar in the past with a creamyish sauce.

Thank you, Beckie! This was a great meal for my family, and I'm enjoying the leftovers as nacho topping.

CrockPot Vietnamese Roasted Chicken Recipe

Day 182.

We eat a LOT of chicken in our house. I grew up on boneless, skinless chicken, and we had it quite often. When I started cooking and shopping for my own family, I followed suit and make sure that we have plenty of chicken parts in the freezer.

The problem with eating a lot of chicken is that you get bored.

Really bored. And you start to hate chicken.

and maybe you begin to kind of want to gouge your eyeballs out with a fork at the idea of another boring dry chicken meal.

This is not a boring dry chicken meal. This is the opposite. This chicken is juicy, full-of-flavor, and downright adventurous.

I was inspired by reading this post at Sunday Nite Dinner. I still have fish sauce in the house from when I made the Pho, and was excited to have another use.


The Ingredients.
Adapted from Sunday Nite Dinner.

--4-6 chicken thighs (my thighs had skin and bones)
--1 1/2 Tbl gluten free soy sauce
--1 1/2 Tbl fish sauce
--1 1/2 tsp white sugar
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--4 cloves chopped garlic
--1 Tbl canola oil
--foil (optional)

The Directions.

I tried the foil trick of balling up pieces of aluminum foil to line the bottom of the crock in order to create a crispy skin. It didn't really work, but it was a fun experiment.

I put the chicken on top of the foil balls.

Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl, and pour over the top of the chicken. My chicken was frozen solid and I worried that the flavor wouldn't sink in as nicely as it would if I had marinated it for a while--it was fine.

Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours, or on high for 3-4. The cooking time is dependent on how thick your chicken pieces are, and if they are fresh or frozen.

The Verdict.

Make this. Eat this.

The skin didn't get crispy the way that I was hoping it might by using the foil balls. But, the chicken was moist and fell apart---the sauce is an amazing flavor that I haven't had before. I will definitely make this again. I'd like to try the sauce on drumettes as an appetizer.

We ate it over white rice---and practically licked the remaining sauce out of the crock.

super yummy.

CrockPot Thai Curry Recipe

Day 191.

Hello! Have I mentioned yet that I'm on TV today?! Hold me.

When I filmed the segment, Rachael gave me two curry recipes. She had heard through the producers about my sad attempt at making a coconut curry recipe, so gave me two recipes that her kitchen staff perfected for the Crock-Pot--one Thai, and one Indian.

I finally (it was so hard to wait!) made the Thai version yesterday. I'm going to make the Indian version today, and will post that recipe tomorrow.


The Ingredients.

- 1 13.5-oz can coconut milk
- 1 T brown sugar
- 1 T soy sauce (La Choy is gluten free, and so is Tamari wheat-free)
- 1 T Thai red or green chili paste, or more to taste (I used red, and went with 1.5 T)
- 1 t fish sauce (optional. I put it in because I was thrilled to have another use for fish sauce!)
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1/2 large eggplant
- 1 sweet potato
- chicken thighs (I used 5 frozen boneless, skinless)

And! 1-inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated. I bought this. I totally forgot to use it. It's probably for the best, since we aren't huge ginger people.

The Directions.

Combine the sauce ingredients: coconut milk, soy sauce, brown sugar, chili paste, and fish sauce in the bottom of your crockpot stoneware. Taste. If you think you need more chili paste, add some, carefully. It's hot stuff!

Add the chicken pieces to the sauce, flipping them over a few times so they get nice and saucy.

Wash and cut the vegetables, and add to the crock.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6. This is done when the chicken is fully cooked and the vegetables have reached desired tenderness.

I cooked ours on high for 5 hours. The vegetables were soft, but not squishy, and the chicken was cooked, but still had shape.

Serve over white rice.

The Verdict.

This is good, very good! Rachael and her staff know what they are doing! The prep time was right about 20 minutes, and although it looks like a bunch of ingredients, it came together easily. If you are assembling the night before, put the chicken in the sauce to marinate, but keep the vegetables separate until the morning when you plug in the crock.

This dish is full of flavor that is so on-the-money. It was not too spicy, and the kids ate a good amount--mostly the chicken. And one of them dipped it in bbq sauce, but whatever.

I'm excited to try out the Indian, and do a side-by-side comparison!

Indian Curry
Indian Chicken
Vegetarian Curry
Thai Coconut Soup
Lamb Vindaloo
Tomato Curried Potatoes
Indian Spinach with Potatoes

CrockPot Indian Curry Recipe

Day 192.

Curry, day 2! This is the Indian version of the curry recipe that Rachael gave me on the show. The flavors are again spot-on. This is just as good, if not better, than the take-out coconut curry we order. Lots.

But maybe not anymore, since now we can make it Whenever We Want.

The Thai Curry Recipe is here.

The Ingredients.

It sounds like a lot, but many of the spices are (hopefully) staples in the spice rack.

- 1 13.5 oz can of coconut milk (don't use the light, it doesn't taste as good. or use the light and then stir in heavy cream at the end. Your tongue wants the thick stuff... trust me.)
- 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
- 4-6 frozen skinless, boneless chicken thighs
- 1 T tomato paste
- 2 T curry powder (not a typo, it's a lot, but it's good. Curry isn't spicy, just flavorful)
- 1 t ground coriander
- 1 t ground cumin
- 1 inch peeled and grated ginger (I didn't use that much, I don't particularly care for ginger)
- few dashes of hot sauce (I used Tobasco)
- 1 yellow onion. chopped
- 2 or 3 cloves of smashed and chopped garlic
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 of an eggplant, chopped (I didn't peel)
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped (I hate peeling sweet potato, so used a knife and lost a lot of the flesh accidentally)

The Directions.

Assemble all of your spices, coconut milk, tobasco sauce, and tomato paste. Combine the sauce ingredients in the bottom of your crockpot. The sauce will be a lovely yellow.

Add the chicken, flipping it over a few times to coat it nicely. Pour in the garbanzo beans.

Wash and chop all of the vegetables, and then add to the Crock-Pot. Don't worry about stirring them in the sauce. Let them sit on top of the chicken and steam away.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 4-6. I cooked our dinner on high for almost 6 hours. The chicken was fully cooked, but still had shape, and the vegetables were soft and quite nice.

Stir carefully to mix flavors. If you stir too rough, the sweet potato will fall apart.

Serve over rice; I used brown.

The Verdict.

Delicious. We had family over for dinner, and they all really enjoyed it, and took home leftovers. This was really good.

The kids were not interested in trying it at all. They had buttered brown rice.

and taquitos.

Adam and I were so pleased with these two curry recipes, and will definitely put them into our dinner rotation in the years to come.

As for a side-to-side comparison... we noticed that if you eat one and then the other back and forth, your tongue gets confused and everything tastes alike.

These are two distinct dishes, the Thai is a touch sweet and has a spicy kick, where as the Indian is creamy and rich with a beautiful curry taste. There is no spice (unless you add it) in the Indian curry dish.

Like many dishes made in the Crock-Pot, the flavors are even more pronounced the next day.

other dishes you might like:

Thai Curry
Indian Chicken
Vegetarian Curry
Thai Coconut Soup
Lamb Vindaloo
Tomato Curried Potatoes
Indian Spinach with Potatoes

CrockPot Indonesian Chicken Recipe

Day 198.

Suzanne emailed me this Indonesian Peanut Butter Chicken recipe last week, and I immediately printed it out. I had everything on hand, and knew that it was something that I needed to make.

So I did.

In the CrockPot.

Suzanne said that she had originally gotten it from Leanne Ely's book, Saving Dinner. I subscribed to Leanne's dinner service emails for a while when I was first married---I liked the variety of the dishes, and it was a valuable service for our family while we were learning how to meal plan.

The Ingredients.

--enough chicken parts to feed a family of 4. I used 17 frozen drummettes and wings.

--2 T soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari wheat-free are GF)

--2 chopped cloves of garlic

--1 1/2 t sesame oil

--1/4 t cayenne pepper

--1/3 cup peanut butter

--1/2 t ground ginger

--garnish with sesame seeds and lime wedges; optional

The Directions.

--put the peanut butter into your crockpot and turn it to high so it can begin to melt

--add the other sauce ingredients

--stir to mix

--add your chicken; toss to coat. My chicken was frozen solid and kind of all stuck together. It didn't seem to matter.

cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. This is done when the chicken is cooked through and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will become, but it may fall off the bone if you cook too long.

If your crockpot isn't at least 2/3 full, keep an eye on it so the peanut butter doesn't burn. You may need to stir a few times.

The Verdict.

This was pretty good, and the kids liked the little drumsticks a lot. Adam and I both thought that it needed either honey or sugar and some red chili pepper flakes. I don't know if Leanne was assuming that we were going to use natural peanut butter, or the sugary kind. If I made this again, I'd add 2T of either white or brown sugar. And I'd sprinkle red chili flakes on the grownup portions.

I really liked the squeeze of lime.

Thank you SO much, Suzanne! This was a great middle-of-the-week dinner for us, and it took about 6 minutes to prepare. Other than the garlic, there was no chopping---yay!

If you'd like to go vegetarian, I made peanut butter tofu earlier in the year with a slightly different peanut sauce. I remember liking it lots.

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psst. The CrockPot Give-Away contest is still open until Friday, 5pm Pacific. You need to open the comment section on the giveaway post and leave a comment there; it's too much work (for me!) to go through the other posts and copy and paste your comment into the giveaway post. Please go comment there! please. xoxo :-0

CrockPot Coq au Vin Recipe

Day 200.

Two hundred!!!!

yippee! It's not bad that I have count-down going in my head, is it...?

Egads, this is a delicious company-pleasing dish. It will knock the socks, slippers, or steel-toed boots off of whomever you serve.

Thank you greatly to Bethany, who emailed me this marvelous recipe.

The Ingredients.

--6 to 8 frozen chicken thighs

--6 slices cooked and crumbled bacon (I used turkey, but you could use PORK)

--8 oz sliced baby portabella mushrooms (they are right next to the regular mushrooms)

--1 cup baby carrots

--1 chopped yellow onion

--3 cloves chopped or minced garlic

--1/2 t black pepper

--1/2 t kosher salt

--1/2 cup chicken broth

--1 1/2 cup cheap red wine (you can use non-alcoholic wine, if you wish)

--2 large fresh thyme sprigs (I really think the fresh thyme is the key, here. Go steal some from your neighbors garden.)

The Directions.

Cook your bacon. I used turkey bacon, and baked it on a broiler pan. Dump the frozen chicken into your crockpot and start layering in the rest of the ingredients. This is really a no-fuss (albeit amazingly gourmetish) preparation. Just throw it all in.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. You could cook it on high for 4, but it won't taste as good. The flavors meld so nicely when cooked low and slow.

Serve with mashed potatoes or your favorite pasta. We did brown rice fusilli.

The Verdict.

I am hiding the leftovers in the back of the fridge so I can eat them all. This has such a great depth of flavor---the bacon provides a nice smokey flavor and the fresh thyme gives it a restaurant aspect that is such a nice surprise.

It is purple, which means that it was automatically a hit with my girls.

Thank you so much, Bethany!

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Today is the last day for the Crock-Pot Give Away!

CrockPot Spanish Braised Chicken Recipe

Day 211.

The kids and I went to the "good" library over the weekend and I checked out a bunch of cookbooks. One of the books was put out by Cook's Illustrated, and was called The Complete Book of Poultry.

There are probably a good five hundred recipes in this book, but narrowing down what I was going to attempt first was rather easy---I had all the ingredients in the house for this one!

The Ingredients.

1 T of butter (not pictured)
4 large chicken breast halves
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 t dried thyme
3 bell peppers, sliced (I used red and orange)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced in rings
1/2 cup cooking sherry (you could use apple juice)
2 t orange juice
12 large green olives, chopped

The Directions.

Plug in your crockpot and turn it to low. Add the butter to the bottom of the stoneware insert. Add the chicken--my chicken was frozen, but thawed would work, too. Add all of the dried spices to the chicken. Cut the peppers and onion, and chop or mince the garlic, to add to the mix. Top off with the cooking sherry and orange juice. Chop up the green olives, and sprinkle them on top.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I cooked our chicken for 6 hours, and the meat was cooked, but still a bit dry inside. I chopped each breast in half, and added it back to the pot for another hour. The chicken was then quite juicy.

The Verdict.

All four of us enjoyed this dinner. The kids dipped their chicken into barbecue sauce, but they always do. Adam said it was one of the best chicken dishes he'd had, and was pleased with the moistness of the breast. I enjoyed the peppers, onion, and olives a lot.

There was a lot of juice left in the pot---I'm thinking you could easily put in 6 breast halves.

CrockPot Chicken Cordon Bleu

Day 219.

This sounds fancy. It is.

But it is also incredibly easy and fast to assemble.

You should make it.

Right now.

Jacqueline, who doesn't have a blog, but is thinking of starting one (and we should really edge her on...psst. Jacque... all the cool kids are doing it) sent me this recipe a few weeks ago. I made some tweaks, but this is still most definitely her recipe. It's delicious.

The Ingredients.

--4 chicken breast halves, pounded thin
--4-8 slices of ham (I used honey smoked turkey breast because of the whole PORK thing, which I've been told tastes the same. If it doesn't, please don't burst my bubble. I feel fragile today)
--4-8 slices of swiss cheese

--can of your favorite cream-of-something soup
--2 T low fat milk

UNLESS you're a crazy California hippie like me. Then you can use instead:

--1 T butter
--3 T flour (Pamela's)
--1/2 cup low-fat milk (soy in our case)
--1/2 cup chicken broth
--1/4 t salt
--1/4 t black pepper

The Directions.

I used a 6qt oval Smart-Pot for this recipe. A 4qt would have been better. My crock wasn't full enough. If you only have a large, consider upping to 6 breast halves--(psst. if you do up it, you don't really need another can of soup. Unless you do 8 halves. Then you should use another).

Spray crockpot with cooking spray.

Pound chicken breasts flat (put them in a ziplock before you pound so chicken juice doesn't spray all over the kitchen grossing you out, and necessitate a call to the local Hazmat team).

Put a slice of the ham and a slice of the swiss cheese on the chicken breast and roll it up. Put it into the crockpot, seam side down. If desired, top with another piece of ham and cheese. Continue with the other pieces. It's okay to stagger-stack the chicken. It will still cook nicely for you.

If you are making your own "special soup," make a roux on the stovetop with the butter and flour, and whisk in the broth, milk, and spices. Pour on top of the chicken.

or! open can of cream-of soup. Pour into crockpot. Put the 2T of low fat milk into your empty can and swirl it around to get the remaining stuck on good stuff. Pour that in, too.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. This is done when the chicken is cooked through and has begun to brown on top. I took ours out for exactly 4 hours on high. It was cooked through, but could have stayed in longer to gain some color.

The Verdict.

This is very good. I liked that it wasn't breaded---I've ordered Cordon Bleu in restaurants before and the breading on it reminded me of a frozen chicken patty and it grossed me out. This was tender and quite flavorful. Adam is excited to take leftovers for lunch.

We ate rather late, and the kids didn't get to try it yet, but they will for lunch.

Thank you, Jacque, for sending this to me/us!

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Stef, from The Cupcake Project has launched a VERY cool new blog where she interviews Food Bloggers. She has done some amazing interviews with some *very* talented and famous people, and today she included me. I am so not worthy, but Stef made me sound like I was. Thank you, Stef! Click on over and leave a comment. Everybody likes comments.

CrockPot Hoisin Chicken Wings Recipe

Day 223.

I love wings. I used to think that my love of wings was limited to those of the Buffalo variety, but in the past year or two my love has grown. I will gladly order a sampler appetizer platter of wings, or skip the pizza when out and stick just to the wings.

I've made teriyaki wings this year, and some sweet and spicy. Yesterday, I felt like Hoisin.

The Ingredients.

--2-3 lbs frozen chicken wings or drummettes
--1/2 cup prepared Hoisin Sauce (or your own, recipe down below)
--1/4 cup honey
--4-5 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
--1 inch of ginger, peeled and grated
--1 T sesame oil

Homemade Hoisin Sauce

4 T of soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari-wheat free are GF)
2 T peanut butter
1 T molasses or honey
2 chopped garlic cloves
2 t sesame oil
1 t hot sauce (I used Thai red chili paste; Tabasco or similar would work)
1/8 t ground black pepper

The Directions.

I used a 4 qt round crockpot for this dish. It was a perfect size.

Dump chicken into crockpot. Add the Hoisin sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, and sesame oil. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. Stir well to mix flavors.
Cook on high for another 30 minutes.

The Verdict.

These were great! I love chicken wings.
My three-year old ate 7 or 8 and asked for me to make them for her birthday.

CrockPot Brown Sugar Chicken Recipe

Day 231.

It should be noted that this chicken has been named "Candy Chicken" in our house. I don't think my kids have ever eaten so much chicken in their lives. If you are bored with dried out, boring chicken, you must try this.

You simply must.

Go.

Now.

Go to the store and buy the ingredients.

go.

The Ingredients.
courtesy of Confessions of a Wacky SAHM

--12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 6 boneless, skinless breast halves
--1 cup brown sugar (it's okay. you can brush your teeth after.)
--1/4 cup lemon-lime soda (stay with me...)
--2/3 cup vinegar (I used white wine, but think regular white would be fine)
--3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
--2 T soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari wheat free are GF)
--1 tsp ground black pepper

The Directions.

Use a 4 quart crockpot for this recipe.

Plop the chicken into your crockpot. Cover with the brown sugar, pepper, chopped garlic, and soy sauce. Add the vinegar, and pour in the soda. It will bubble!

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The chicken is done when it is cooked through and has reached desired consistency. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.

Serve over a bowl of white rice with a ladle full of the broth.

The Verdict.

Seriously. Go to the store. This is what's for dinner.

CrockPot Barbecued Chicken and Cornbread Casserole

Day 235.

131 days left. I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Our family really liked the tamale pie I made earlier in the year, and I was impressed at how easy it was to throw together and cook in the crockpot. This is a twist on that dish---with a pairing almost as perfect as peanut butter and jelly: barbecued chicken and cornbread.

The Ingredients:

--1 pound of cooked, or practically cooked chicken, cubed or shredded (I browned my chicken for a while on the stove, then lost interest. It was almost cooked, but not yet edible.)
--1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut in 1-inch chunks (optional.)
--1 red onion, diced (optional. I didn't use this, although I intended to, and am kind of kicking myself for the accidental omission.)
--1 cup frozen or fresh corn
--1 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (18 oz)
--1/4 cup hot water

cornbread topping:

use a mix and follow the directions on the box (minus the oil or butter), or mix together the following:

--3/4 cup corn meal
--1 1/4 cups of flour (I used a Bob Red's Mill GF mix--we were out of Pamela's)
--1 cup milk
--1/4 cup sugar
--1 egg
--1 tsp baking powder (only if using regular all-purpose flour)

The Directions.

I used a 4 qt round crockpot for this---it was the perfect size.

Spray the inside of your stoneware with cooking spray. Cut up the chicken and sweet potato, and add to the crock. Add the corn. Empty the contents of the barbecue sauce bottle, and then add 1/4 cup of hot water to the bottle, shake, and pour that out, too. Mix well with a spoon.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cornbread topping. You don't need to mix well, I just used a fork. Spread the topping on to the chicken mixture.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Ours cooked on low for exactly 6. If you are planning on being out of the house, cook for the shorter amount of time. You can always switch to high to brown the top when you get home.

The Verdict.

We all really liked this a lot. I can't wait to make it again, or a different variation.

CrockPot Chicken with Gingered Peaches Recipe

Day 252.

We're nearing the end of summer, which makes me want to gobble up as much fruit as humanly possible. I have been reading in a lot of food blogs lately that a great way to use up fresh fruit is to stew or braise it with meat--you get both a sweet and savory flavor.

Adam and the kids went to Costco on Saturday (mostly for the $1 hot dogs) and came home with a huge box of white peaches. When I told them that I was going to use a few in the crockpot, I think they thought I was going to make some sort of dessert.

The peaches in the box weren't quite ripe--they were still hard to the touch and didn't have much flavor. I figured roasting them at a low temperature would release the sugar and they'd be perfect.

The Ingredients.

--4 skinless chicken breast halves
--1/4 tsp ginger
--1/4 tsp cloves
--1/4 tsp pepper
--1/2 cup brown sugar
--juice from one lemon
--1/2 cup water
--2 ripe peaches, cut in wedges

The Directions.

Put the chicken in the bottom of your crockpot (mine was frozen). I used a 6 quart crock, but a 4 or 5 quart would work just fine.

Top with the cut peaches. Toss the peaches with the dried spices the best you can. Add the brown sugar, lemon juice, and water.

Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 4-6. I cooked our meat on low for almost 7 hours. The chicken was very tender, juicy, and fully cooked.

The Verdict.

This was weird. Everything worked well----the chicken cooked nicely, and the peaches tasted good on their own.

The kids ate the chicken and weren't interested in tasting the peaches.

Adam and I ate it and then later (out of earshot of the kids) decided it was just too weird to eat hot peaches with chicken. Hot peaches are to be eaten with ice cream.

We threw the kids in the car, got milkshakes from In n' Out and watched the sunset at the beach. It was a very enjoyable evening, but I don't think it had anything to do with my dinner.

I'm not going to make this again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kim, of Today's Creative Blog, is hosting a Silent Auction to benefit the Nielsen Family, who were badly injured in a small plane crash. Stephanie is an active blogger and crafter through her site, NieNie Dialogues.
Kim has many amazing things lined up for the auction---this is a great way to help and get started on your holiday shopping. Please help in any way possible.

xox
steph

How to Make Chicken Pot Pie in the CrockPot

Day 249.

Chicken pot pies are a staple in a lot of homes---it started as a way to use up all the leftovers from the fridge, but now has changed into a meal made all on it's own.

I haven't had very many pot pies. I've never ordered one at a restaurant, and am only really familiar with the frozen ones put out by Marie Callender's. I figured that since the tamale pie and the bbq chicken topped with cornbread transferred so nicely to crockpot cooking, a chicken pot pie would too.

Adam thought it tasted like stuffing. It kind of did. My taste buds are all out-of-whack from a funky cold. Everything kind of tastes like metal.

The Ingredients.

Filling:
--2 chopped up skinless chicken thighs or breast halves (raw, but chopped up)
--1/2 cup chopped carrots (these were fresh, but frozen would work)
--1/2 cup frozen corn
--1/2 cup frozen peas
--1/2 t marjoram
--1/2 t thyme
--1/2 t celery seed
--1 t onion powder
--canned cream-of-something soup (or see homemade alternative down below)
--2 T low fat milk

Homemade Soup Alternative:
make a roux on the stove top with the butter and flour, then whisk in the other ingredients.

--1 T butter
--3 T flour (Pamela's or other GF baking flour)
--1/2 cup low fat milk (I used soy)
--1/2 cup chicken broth
--1/4 t salt
--1/4 t black pepper

Biscuit Topping:

--2 cups biscuit mix (I used Bob's Red Mill biscuit mix. I much prefer Pamela's but my favorite store has been out of it for a few weeks)
--1/2 T white sugar
--1/2 cup melted butter (that's a whole stick)
--3/4 cup low fat milk (stick with 2% or lower; I used soy)

The Directions.

I'm already tired of typing. This is a long one. Sorry.

I used a 4 quart crockpot for this recipe. There really wasn't too awful much filling---I used what I had on hand, but if you have a large family or would like leftovers, I'd double the filling.

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Chop up the chicken and put it into the crockpot. Dump in the vegetables. Add all of the spices. Stir in the cream-of-something soup and add 2T of milk to the can, squish it around to get all the good stuff out of the can, and pour in the rest. Stir well.

In a mixing bowl, make up the biscuit topping. The dough will be pretty playdoughy, and I pretty much mixed it with my hands. Spread the dough on top of the chicken and veggie mixture.

Cover and cook on high for 3-5 hours, or on low for 6-7. This is done when the biscuit topping is golden brown, and is hard to the touch in the middle. I cooked ours on high for 4 1/2 hours, and it got a bit too crunchy on the very edges.

If you find that your crockpot seals really well and you have a bunch of condensation building up, you can prop open the lid with a wooden spoon or chopstick. I tried the paper towel trick with this dish, and wasn't impressed. I laid a double-layer of paper towels over the top of the crock, then put the lid back on. The condensation made the paper towels really wet, and they drooped into the food. Also, when I took off the lid and then removed the towels (they were very wet and very hot) I got a blast of steam on my hand that hurt. I'm going to stick with venting with a chopstick.

The Verdict.

This was neat to try, and I'm glad that I did, but I don't see making it again unless someone specifically requests it. We're just not huge chicken pot pie people. My brother really likes chicken pot pie though. I should make it for him. I love it that with stuff like this you can play around and use whatever meat and veggies you have in the house.

The filling was good. Adam's right, it tastes like stuffing. Is that the marjoram?