Slow Cooker » I'd Rather Be At The Beach

Slow Cooker Chicken Breast Dinner

Dec 062019

1 pound boneless skinless chicken strips
4-6 red potatoes washed and cut into wedges
1 pound fresh or frozen green beans
1 small can sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 packet chicken gravy mix
1 cup water (or chicken broth)
2 tablespoons melted butter (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Spray, butter or oil your crock pot insert.
Combine the water/broth, melted butter and seasoning packet and Italian seasoning. Set aside.

Layer chicken, potatoes, green beans and then the mushrooms.
Pour liquid mixture over the top.
Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours. Or on high for 3 1/2 to 4 hours.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Freezer Meal Directions:
Place chicken strips, green beans and mushrooms in a large freezer bag.

Mix the broth and seasonings as in step #2 above. Pour over chicken mixture.
Make a note on your label (and maybe your calendar) that you’ll need the potatoes to make this recipe.
Lay flat, squeeze out as much air as possible, label and freeze for up to 6 weeks.

To Cook:
Defrost the chicken mixture overnight in the refrigerator. Wash and cut the potatoes and lay in the bottom on the slow cooker. Pour chicken mixture over the top. Cook as per step #5 above.

Thoughts:
I used boneless skinless chicken tenderloins, a small bag of Honey Gold Potatoes, and carrots instead of the chicken strips, red potatoes, and green beans. I didn’t use mushrooms and didn’t add salt and pepper until my food was plated. I really liked the flavor, and the chicken was extremely tender.

I will make this again.

Weekend Cooking

Slow Cooker Root Beer Pulled Chicken

recipes, Slow Cooker, souper sundays, weekend cooking

Sep 142019

Slow Cooker Root Beer Pulled Chicken
Serves 6

1/2 cup Root Beer
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tablespoons Prepared Yellow Mustard
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1/8 teaspoon Ground Ginger
2 pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts cut into 2 – 3 inch cubes

In a medium mixing bowl mix together all of the ingredients except for the chicken until well combined to create the sauce

Add the cut up chicken to a gallon zippered storage bag

Pour the sauce over the chicken in the storage bag and gently massage the chicken into the sauce & zip the bag closed

Allow the chicken to marinate overnight in the refrigerator

Pour the ingredients into a 6 – 7 quart slow cooker

Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours

Serve on buns or rolls (gluten-free if you are on a GF diet) as sandwiches

You can click on the link to the recipe for how to freeze/cook this

Thoughts
This is so quick and easy to get ready for the fridge, and tastes really good. The only things I did different was that I used Costco Rotisserie Chicken Breast Meat instead of chicken breasts which made it much easier than cutting the chicken into cubes. I also used my 8 qt. slow cooker instead of a 6 – 7 qt.

I also didn’t serve on buns, I ate a scoop of it on a plate and ate it with a baked potato.

It was very good but since the flavor wasn’t quite as bold as I like, when I make it again I’ll double the sauce ingredients. The recipe says it makes 6 servings but for us it was a lot more than that. The two of us ate it twice and there was still enough for another two meals. The next time I’ll put half in a separate baggie and put it in the freezer to make later, and I plan on using the Slow Cooker program on my Instant Pot.

Weekend Cooking

Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

Paula Deen’s Slow Cooker Potato Soup

recipes, Slow Cooker, souper sundays, weekend cooking

Jan 202017

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Paula Deen’s Slow Cooker Potato Soup

1 bag (30 oz) frozen hash-brown potatoes
2 cans (14 oz ea) chicken broth
1 can (10.75 oz) cream of chicken soup
1/2 C chopped onion
1/3 tsp ground black pepper
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

Optional Garnish: minced green onion, shredded Cheddar and bacon

In a slow cooker, combine potatoes, broth, soup, onion, and pepper. Cover, and cook on low for 5 hours.

Stir in cream cheese, cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until combined.

Garnish with green onion, and/or Cheddar and bacon if desired.

Thoughts
I’ve always made homemade potato soup using my mom’s recipe. This time I thought I’d look for a recipe online and see what I could find. I found this recipe by Paula Deen and thought I’d try it.

I wondered how the ingredients would work since I’ve never used cream cheese, chicken broth, or cream of chicken soup. It was easier than easy to make, and the ingredients didn’t cost much.

The soup was good, but I think I’ll stick with my mom’s recipe most of the time, and use this for when I’m not feeling like peeling a bunch of potatoes.

As you can see, I took the photo without the optional garnishes. It was fine without them, but they do add a bit more flavor.

Hosted @ Beth Fish Reads

Hosted @ Kahakai Kitchen

Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs With Vegetables

recipes, Slow Cooker, souper sundays, weekend cooking

Jun 112016

Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs With Vegetables
Adapted from this recipe

1 cup chicken broth
12 medium chicken thighs
1 1/2 tsps leaves dried basil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground curry powder
1 package mixed vegetablesRinse chicken and remove skin, leaving the bone in.

Place a layer of thighs in the bottom of the crock pot.

Sprinkle with seasonings. Repeat until all thighs are in the pot.

Pour a cup of chicken broth down the side of the pot, being careful not to disturb the seasonings.

Cook on low setting of Slow cooker for 6 hours.

Add mixed vegetables, recover and cook for 1 1/2 hour or until vegetables are heated through.

Adaptions
I had a pack of 12 boneless skinless chicken thighs thawing in the fridge so I checked online to see what I could make with them and found this recipe. The original recipe called for turmeric which I thought I had, but I didn’t, so I used curry powder instead. I had a bag of frozen vegetables in the freezer which had peas, baby carrots, baby corn, and sugar snap peas so that’s what I used.

The original recipe said to cook on high for 4 hours, but I like cooking with the crock pot on low, so I cooked it for 6 hours. After I added the vegetables I cooked for an hour but they were still not warm enough, so I cooked for another 30 min. or so.

Thoughts
This was SO good! The seasoning on the thighs stuck really well and I thought it was perfect. If you don’t like your food really spicy you might want to cut back a little on the seasonings.

The chicken was mostly falling apart and it was all very tender. You could eat the chicken and vegetables without the broth, but I added quite a bit and it was more like a soup or stew.

This was really quick and easy to prepare, and was very yummy. I liked it so much I had it the next day for lunch. I will be making it again.

Hosted @ Beth Fish Reads

Hosted @ Kahakai Kitchen

New Years Day Dinner:
Slow Cooker Southern Black Eyed Peas & Pan Fried Cabbage

recipes, Slow Cooker, weekend cooking

Jan 012016

Every year for New Year’s Day, I make a pot of black eyed peas, cornbread and cabbage. This year I wanted to make them a little different so I searched online and found these recipes @ Mommy’s Kitchen

Southern Black Eyed Peas
1 – (16 oz) package dry black-eyed peas
4 – cups water or
2 – cups water and 2 cups chicken broth
1 – tablespoon vegetable oil
1 – ham hock
2 – cups cubed cooked ham
salt and pepper to taste
1 – pinch garlic powder
1/2 – 1 onion, diced
1 – (14.5 ounce) can whole or stewed tomatoes (pureed)

Sort through your peas for any pebbles or stones.

Cover the peas with water, you want to make sure there is enough water so they don’t dry up.

Soak peas overnight.

Drain the water from the peas and place peas in a slow cooker

Add the 4 cups water or broth and water, onions, seasoning, tomatoes, ham hock and ham

Stir well to mix

Cover and cook on high for 5 hours then turn to low for about 2 hours or until the peas are tender

Remove ham hock and any meat from the bone and add to the peas

Ladle into bowls and serve

Southern Pan Fried Cabbage
3 – 4 – slices bacon, cut into pieces
1/4 – cup vegetable oil
1 – teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 – teaspoon ground black pepper
1 – head cabbage, cored and sliced or cubed
1 – small onion, chopped
1/2 – cup water
1 – pinch white sugar
2 – beef bouillon cubes crushed or granules

Place the bacon and vegetable oil into a large pot over medium heat

Cook for about 5 minutes, or until bacon is crisp

Add cabbage, onion, sugar, salt, pepper, water and crushed bouillon cubes to the pot; cook and stir the cabbage as it cooks

Cook until tender but still crisp, about 10 – 15 minutes on medium heat

I’ve never soaked beans overnight and was a bit worried about them being bloated in the morning, but they weren’t. For the recipe, I used 2 cups of water and 2 cups of chicken broth. I’ve also never put any kind of tomatoes in beans, but since I love me some maters I was excited to see how they’d turn out. For the cabbage I used 1 large bouillon cube and crumbled it up. Man oh man, both the beans and cabbage were soooo good! My son ate two big bowls which surprised me since he’s not really a fan of tomatoes, and I always have to nag him before he’ll eat cabbage, but he tried it without me asking him to. And he ate it all!

We both loved these two recipes and I’ll definitely be making them again.

Weekend Cooking is hosted @ Beth Fish Reads