Honey-Mustard Lime Crock Pot Chicken

For this crockpot chicken, I did have to go and purchase the chicken drumsticks but everything else I had on hand. The ingredients are very simple and it takes 10 minutes to throw it all together. I found it on this Meal Planning website and it had already been adapted from a non-crock pot recipe on another blog:

8 chicken legs (I removed the skin as crock pot + chicken skin = slime)
1/2 cup honey mustard (or 2 tbsp honey mixed with 1/3 cup Dijon Mustard)
1 lime, juice and zest (or 3 tbsp lime juice)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce

Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker, and stir to evenly coat the chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours or until chicken is cooked all the way through. I cooked on high for about 3 and a half hours. Serve with rice (and steamed broccoli!) to spoon extra sauce on top.

In the spirit of using up some of the things in the freezer, I made a gluten-free crisp with some frozen raspberries and cranberries from our vast collection of frozen fruit.

Now this - I really don't have a recipe for! I was trying to experiment with alternative, natural sweeteners as opposed to putting brown sugar in the topping. The topping is a mixture of rice flour, quick rolled oats (gluten free variety), honey, agave nectar, chopped walnuts & 1/8cup margarine. I baked it in the oven at 350 until it smelled good. Aren't I just the best recipe writer ever??

Both of these dishes were a success! Its amazing the things you can throw together when you really start digging around in the freezer.

Rustic Turkey Stew

Tonight I made Rustic Turkey Stew from my new "Company's Company Tonight" cookbook:

 

I will write the recipe as it is, but I did omit and change a few things:

Ingredients

3 Bacon slices, diced (omited)

1/2cup all purpose flour

1/2tsp salt

1/2tsp pepper

1lb Boneless, skinless turkey thighs cut into 2 inch pieces (I used 2 large turkey breasts)

1tbsp cooking oil (i just sprayed olive oil)

2tsp cooking oil (again, a spritz of olive oil)

2cups sliced fresh white mushrooms

1cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2cup white wine (i didn't put any of this in, for no particular reason)

2 1/2cups chicken broth (i used 3 cups veggie broth to make up for lack of wine)

1lb Baby potatoes (just normal size potatoes)

1cup sliced carrot

1cup sliced celery

1 Bay leaf

Directions

Cook bacon in large frying pan on medium until crisp. Transfer with slotted spoon to paper towel-lined plate to drain. Discard drippings. Transfer bacon to 3 1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker (I skipped this step completely of course).

Combine next 3 ingredients in large resealable freezer bag. Add half of turkey. Seal bag. Toss until coated. Remove turkey to plate. Repeat with remaining turkey and reserve remaining flour mixture.

Heat first amount of cooking oil in same frying pan on medium-high. Add turkey. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionaly, until browned. Transfer to slow cooker using slotted spoon. Reduce heat to medium.

Add next 4 ingredients to same frying pan. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until onion is softened. Sprinkle with reserved flour mixture. Heat and stir for 1 minute.

Slowly add wine, stirring constantly and scraping any brown bits from bottom of pan. Add broth. Stir. Add to slow cooker. (I, of course, did not add wine. My frying pan would not accommodate 3 cups of liquid either so I just put the broth directly into the crock pot)

Add next 3 ingredients. Stir. Add bay leaf. Cook, covered, on Low for 6-7 hours or on High for 3 - 3 1/2 hours (mine was in there for closer to 9 hours and it was still great). Discard bay leaf

It doesn't say it in this recipe, but often slow cooker recipes will say to add cornstarch at the end to thicken up the sauce. I took a little bit of the liquid out, whisked it with cornstarch and put it back in the crock pot for about 10 minutes. I would recommend doing this at the end.

MY REVIEW: This was so good! Normally dishes taste pretty similar when they come from the crock pot but this one was unique. It really didn't have much in the form of seasoning, but the flavor was excellent and the turkey nice and tender. As it does require a little more time for the browning of the meat and sauteing the mushrooms/onions, I did all my prep work last night. It took about 20 minutes in the morning to get everything in the crock pot.

JASON'S REVIEW: It was scrumptious and very filling. The turkey was extremely tender and surprisingly better than anything that's ever come out of an oven.  (bold statement)

2 Part Chicken Soup

We've been living off Thanksgiving leftovers this week! I was left with a chicken carcass and some chicken meat last night so I decided to make chicken soup. I don't know why I have never thought of making chicken stock in the crock pot, but that's what I had simmering over night. Some useful informaton on this subject can be found here. I just threw the bones in with some rosemary, oregano, peppercorns and bay leaves. I also cut up a bit of onion for flavor. I left that to cook over night on low (from 10pm-7am). In the morning, I strained the stock and put it in the fridge - Part 1 complete.

Part 2 - Very basic chicken soup. Sauteed some carrots, onion and celery in a big pot with a spritz of olive oil. To that, I added my stock, some water and the little cooked chicken bits I had left over. I also threw in some rice! I let it cook...until we were ready to eat it. Maybe half an hour? Maybe more.

Now USUALLY when I take pictures, I clear away all the bike paraphernalia. This evening, I thought it important that you see how we usually eat. You'll notice my soup amidst the pit pass, gloves, water bottle, spare tube, pump and helmet light! Oh that red bag is also full of water bottles. Somewhere in there is a container of safety pins (for attaching your race number of course), about 4 race numbers, a random bike part and a toque (fresh with sweat). Honestly, this stuff never leaves the table. We usually eat on the couch but the soup was really hot.

JASON'S REVIEW: It was good. Rice is nice.

MY REVIEW: Rice expands! 2 cups not necessary. Thick and filling though.

In other, unrelated news, I decided that I should make an online portfolio for my design work. I'm very pleased with myself as I haven't made a website for about 5 years. You can check it out here if you'd like. It's still a work in progress but the main stuff is up.

ALSO - If you're counting down the days like I am, it starts in 3 days!! 

Crockpot Chicken Curry

As always, my crock-pot creation does not look pretty! I found this highly rated recipe on the KRAFT website:

 

10 chicken thighs, skins removed (I used 6 and it was enough for 2 dinners and 2 lunches)

1 jar  (16 oz.)  Chunky Salsa

1 medium onion, chopped

2 Tbsp.  curry powder

1 cup Fat Free Sour Cream 

I added half a can of chickpeas too!

 

PLACE chicken in slow cooker. Combine salsa, onions and curry powder (chickpeas); pour over chicken. Cover with lid.
COOK on LOW for 8 to 10 hours (or on HIGH for 5 hours).
REMOVE chicken to serving platter; cover to keep warm. Add sour cream to slow cooker; stir until well blended. Serve over the chicken. (This step was done a little differently.... I always find chicken breaks apart in the slow cooker no matter what I do. Instead of trying to take it out, I just stirred the sour cream in with everything. It worked out just fine - there just wasn't any huge chunks of chicken)

JASON'S REVIEW: He's not home but he liked it.

MY REVIEW: This was very good and I would probably make it again. It's the most curry powder I've ever used in one recipe but the flavor was not too strong. We had it with nan bread and salad tonight but for lunches I made up some rice to go along with it. I always really hate warming up curry in the microwave at work because everyone says the taste lingers in there but THAT'S TOO BAD.
 

Slow Cooker Pineapple Chicken

This was adapted from a recipe I saw on the KRAFT website. Here's what I put in mine:

1 white onion, cut up
some baby carrots
5 chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
1 yellow pepper, cut up
1 red pepper, cut up
1 can of pineapple
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2cup reduced fat catalina salad dressing
a couple small scoops of brown sugar (original recipe called for 1/2 cup but no)
some ginger (fresh would have been better)
some dried crushed red chili pepper flakes

Put the onions and carrots in the crockpot first. On top of that goes the chicken.

Mix up just the liquid from the pineapple (keep chunks for later), soy sauce, salad dressing and spices. Pour it over the chicken. Leave the crock pot on low for 7-8 (or 9) hours.

After that time, mix in the peppers and pineapple and leave in for about another half hour. I think at this time it probably wouldn't hurt to remove some of the liquid and mix with cornstarch to make a thicker sauce.

I put this on top of some whole wheat egg (yolk-free) noodles.

MY REVIEW: This was very good. Next time I will do the cornstarch idea just because it was a little runny. Other than that - yum! And I have successfully trained my taste buds to tolerate red, orange and yellow peppers. I'm glad because they are such pretty colors. I don't think I can do green... but damn I've come a long way.

JASONS REVIEW: It will propel me to achieve greatness.

Crockpot Chicken

This post is not so much about the THINGS I put in the crockpot as it is about the fancy way I discovered to both measure and serve rice. If you measure it (in the size of measuring cup you want to eat) and then plop it out on your plate, it looks fancy! Put a little parsley on top of it and it looks down right gourmet.

On a side note....in the crock pot there was an orange pepper, a yellow onion, baby carrots, chicken thighs and stewed tomatoes. It was seasoned with oregano, basil and black pepper. The brocoli was just left over from my lunch (no matter how hard I try, I cannot eat raw broccoli without dip) and was thrown in for about the last 10 minutes just to steam. In total it was in the crock pot for about 11 hours and did not burn. It was served with a fancy rice mound and the leftovers will be my lunch and Jasons dinner tomorrow.

MY REVIEW: Can't go wrong in the crockpot! Super easy and tender chicken thighs as usual. The only downside to crockpot cooking in my opinion is that it always looks like dog food when you take it out. Thank goodness for fancy rice mounds.

JASON'S REVIEW: He's still riding his bike but he better like it.

EDIT: It was the most excellent thing I've ever put in my mouth.

Sarcasm noted.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

This picture is so unappetizing!

Everything that comes out of the crock pot looks the same sadly. Tonight we had skiing at 6:30 so I rushed home to put some chicken in the slow cooker so it would be ready when we came home. Again, I never measure anything and every time I make this it's different - all depends on what's in the fridge!

4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts (I have used thighs and they work great too)
2 cans of soup (cream of anything you prefer... mushroom, broccoli, potato.. we actually used cheddar cheese soup once and it was pretty good - this time I used mushroom)
salsa
peas
carrots
potatoes
paprika
salt
pepper

So I always put the root veggies on the bottom - after I spray it with some non-sticky stuff of course. So potatoes and carrots on the bottom. The chicken goes on top of this. Sprinkle it with your seasonings... salt, pepper, paprika... anything you prefer! When I'm growing my own herbs in the summer I tend to get a little more creative with this. In a separate bowl, mix your soups and some salsa. You basically want to make enough sauce to cover your chicken. If you're only doing 2 breasts, you could use 1 can of soup. Jason likes to have the leftovers with rice so I usually make it extra saucy with 2 cans. Once the sauce is mixed up, spread it over the chicken so it covers everything. Throw the lid on we cooked on High for about 4 hours. Low would be 6-8 I think? I don't know.. nothing ever burns in there. I'm usually gone for at least 9 hours a day and I've left the crockpot on low many times.

MY REVIEW: It was so nice to come home and smell dinner cooking. I really love using the crockpot and must make an effort to try something once a week in there! I'm glad we made the extra because now we have lunch tomorrow too.

JASONS REVIEW: "Delicious as usual"

Also, to anyone who follows this, I know I have slacked lately but I promise I have some ideas up my sleeve! Perhaps some Valentines Day treats.... or some appetizers for the Academy Award Party I am making my parents host because they have a sweet TV and we don't even have cable? Stay tuned.

COMPLETELY NOT FOOD RELATED but on a side note, I skied down some hills that I never ever thought I could in a million years and the only time I fell was when we were playing tag at the end of class. We didn't have polls and I got competitive.