Thai BBQ Chicken In The Slow Cooker

     I'm in a cooking rut. It has been hot outside, nothing sounds good when it's hot. I hate to heat up the oven and heat up the house to make food. I'm feeling very blah about food. I decided that I can't live on yogurt, blueberries, and Bakery on Main Maple Granola. Ok, so I COULD.....but it probably isn't a good idea.
     I didn't want any heavy foods with the "Cream of" soups. UGH! The thought of eating creamy heavy sauce and heat make me sick. UGH! I thought about making stir-fry. However, the thought of standing over a hot wok also makes me sick! ha
    I was going to BBQ some chicken last night, however it wasn't thawed out in time. So there goes that idea as well because tonight I'm busy so no time to stand at the BBQ. That left me with the option of throwing something in the crock pot. I already had the chicken out (from last night). So that left me with two things to go on....chicken something in the crock pot.
    I LOVE to make Thai BBQ sauce to slather on chicken when I grill. I love the sweetness of the BBQ sauce and honey with the creaminess of the peanut butter. YUM! So I decided to see if I could replicate the taste in the slow cooker. Here is my result.

Thai BBQ Chicken in the Slow Cooker

2 Small/Medium Sweet Potatoes, washed, peeled, and cut into chunks
1 Package Chicken Breasts (could also use boneless thighs)
1 Small Onion, sliced
1/4 C. Water

Sauce:
1/2 C. BBQ Sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's)
2 Heaping tablespoons of Peanut Butter
2 T. Honey
1 tsp Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp. Chopped Fresh Cilantro

Generously spray your slow cooker with cooking spray. Place the sliced/diced sweet potatoes in the bottom of the cooker. Pour the 1/4 C. Water over the sweet potatoes (it will not cover the potatoes). Place the chicken breasts over the top of the sweet potatoes. Combine the sauce ingredients with a whisk. Spread the sauce over the chicken breasts (sauce is very thick). Lay the sliced onion on top of the sauce covered chicken.

Cook on high for 3-4 hours.

Layer 1 is sweet potatoes

Layer 2 is the chicken breasts

Combine the sauce ingredients.

Whisk until thick and creamy looking.

Spread the sauce over the chicken breasts (layer 3).

Top with the sliced onion (layer 4).

Cook on high for 3-4 hours.

Smells good!

 

Ok, so after making this there are a couple of things that I would change. I think I would leave the sweet potatoes out. They seemed to flavor the chicken more than I thought they would. So then everything kind of had the same flavor. I think I would maybe add some garlic to the sauce. It was good. It wasn't exactly like my BBQ chicken that I make on the grill, but it was still good.

-Jessica

Sweet and Sour Meatloaf Meatballs in the Slow Cooker

     I'm going through a food rut.....nothing sounds good. I hate putting effort into meals when nothing sounds good. So I decided that I would adapt a recipe that I love into a crock pot recipe. I didn't want to try anything new while my taste buds were so blah!! I knew that I already loved these flavors and I thought I just may love them more if there was less effort involved! ha

Sweet and Sour Meatloaf Meatballs in the Slow Cooker

1 lb Ground Turkey
1/2 c. Minute Rice
1/3 c. Milk
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
1 T. Parsley
1 Egg
1/2 C. Diced Onion

Sauce:
1 8oz. Can of Tomato Sauce
1/2 C.  and 2 T. Brown Sugar
2 T. Vinegar
2 tsp. Mustard

Combine the ingredients together to make the meatballs. Don't over mix.

Form the meatballs and place into a slow cooker sprayed with cooking spray. Continue until you have used all of the meat mixture.

Combine all of the ingredients for the sauce. Whisk until combined. Pour over the meatballs.

Cook on low heat in the slow cooker for 3-4 hours.

Combine all of the meatball ingredients.

Mix until combined, but don't over mix (you don't want to overwork the meat)

I have an ice cream scooper that is my meatball scoop. It is ONLY used for that. It makes making meatballs SO much easier and less messy!!

Spray the inside of the slow cooker with cooking spray and line the bottom with meatballs.

Mix the ingredients for the sauce.

Pour the sauce over the meatballs. Cook on low heat for 3-4 hours.

Mine ended up staying on "warm" for several more hours until I got home to eat....they still looked and tasted good!

I hope you like this yummy crock pot recipe. Enjoy!!

-Jessica

Crock-Pot Minestrone Soup- gluten free of course

     I'm always on the look out for easy peasy recipes. I like things that taste amazing with little effort and clean up. Call me a dreamer I guess! Crock-pot recipes seem to really fit that bill. I ran across a recipe for Minestrone soup in the most recent issue of All You Magazine. It inspired me to turn it gluten free. I also bumped up the veggies and beans. I like soup that isn't too "soupy" and has an abundance of veggies. I think the end result fits my requirements.

Crock-Pot Minestrone Soup- gluten free

2 T. Margarine
4 ribs of celery, sliced
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1tsp. Italian Seasoning
10-15 baby carrots, diced
4 C. Chicken Stock (1 32oz. Carton)
1 28 oz. can Crushed Tomatoes, with liquid
salt and pepper to taste
2 C. Gluten Free Pasta
1 C. Kale or Escarole, chopped
2 Cans Cannellini Beans (white kidney beans), rinsed and drained
1 Can Garbanzo Beans, rinsed and drained
Grated Parmesan for serving, optional

In a skillet, melt margarine. Saute the onion, garlic, and celery until tender. Add in the Italian Seasoning. Stir to combine and remove from the heat. Dump the celery, onion, garlic, and seasoning mixture into the crock pot. Add in the carrots, salt, pepper, chicken stock, and crushed tomatoes into the crock pot. Cook on low heat for 4-6 hours.

Thirty minutes before serving, stir in pasta, garbanzo beans, cannellini beans, and kale. Turn the heat up to high and cook until the pasta is tender. Serve hot topped with Parmesan cheese.

Dice the celery into small pieces.

Saute onion, celery and garlic.

Dice the carrots. Add them to the crock pot with the broth, tomatoes, celery, onion, garlic, and seasoning.

Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Wash the kale and cut the stems off. Dice or tear the leaves into small pieces. Add into the crock pot with the garbanzo beans, cannellini beans, and pasta.  Cook on high for approximately 30 min. more or until the pasta is tender. Serve hot topped with Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy the soup. I thought it was yummy!!!

-Jessica

Trashy Taco Soup

     Today I was looking at a recipe that I had found on Pinterest, however the link led me to this recipe site that did not include the recipe that I had pinned. I decided to look at the yummy pictures on that website anyways. I saw a recipe for taco soup. The soup looked thick in the picture. I like thick soup. I think that has something to do with the lack of good crackers in the gluten free world! ha
    I decided to click on the picture of the soup and see what it entailed. It led me to yet another website. I finally landed on an actual recipe and not a series of links that got me lost! ha This lady created a yummy taco soup, or rather it sounds like her Mom may be the creator. Her post says "Thank God and Mama for this trashy-good Taco Soup." I of course adapted her recipe and am paying homage to the blogger, or her Mama in the name of my revamped recipe. I'm calling mine Trashy Taco Soup. ha  I'm pretty sure that blogger and I would get along well. She is a fan of Fritos! Who doesn't love a frito?

Trashy Taco Soup

1 pound ground chicken, turkey OR Beef
1 diced onion
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (10-ounce) can RO*TEL® diced tomatoes and green chilies
2 cans tomato sauce
1 (15-ounce) cans black beans , drained and washed
1 (16-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and washed
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (1-ounce) envelope taco seasoning
1 (1-ounce) envelope ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix

Garnishes: Corn chips, cheese, sour cream, green onions

In a skillet, fry ground meat and onion until meat is no longer pink and onion is translucent. Drain any liquids off of the meat. Dump meat and onion into your crock pot. Add in beans, seasoning mixes, tomatoes, Rotel, corn and stir until mixed.

Cook on Low heat in your crock pot for 6-8 hours OR can be cooked on the stove top. If cooking on the stove top simmer on low for 45min.- 1hour.

Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

    One of the great things about this recipe is that you can adjust it to what your family likes. If you don't like tomatoes you can leave them out. If you hate black beans use more pinto. Or if you are like me and don't happen to have a can of black beans, then you can use something else. I had to use northern beans because for some reason there were no black beans in my pantry. For meat I used ground chicken because that is what I had. I love that the recipe is so versatile! I also love that it can all be thrown in the crock pot without a zillion dirty dishes.

Enjoy!!

-Jessica

Loaded Potato Soup (crockpot recipe)

    I think the weatherman hates me. It is supposed to ice/snow. I'm not a big fan of snow, and I am even less of a fan of ice. Especially when there are so many people who have to travel to see loved ones this week for the holidays. However the stinkin' weatherman did not let me have a vote on the weather this week.
    I'll show him........I'll cope with his cruddy weather by making soup, in my shiny new crock pot!! HA! Take that weatherdude!!
     I worked VERY hard for this new crock pot. My Mom's side of the family had our annual Christmas gathering this weekend. We always bring a gift for a gift exchange. We have played the Dirty Santa game the last several years. It is pretty fun.
   The first gift I picked was this shiny crock pot and I was excited about that. However it was soon ripped from my grasp and replaced by a cooking scale, which was ripped from my grasp. The third gift I opened was a nice cookbook and some very nice knives. My own little brother stold that from me!!! (I'm pretty sure he is now on Santa's naughty list for that move). After loosing the knives, I decided to seek revenge and go take my crock pot back. So I stole the crock pot back. Which resulted in a long drawn out battle between about 5 of our family members. The hot items that went round and round were a set of nice scissors, lottery tickets, MY crock pot, a light that you wore on your head and something else that I can't even remember right now. I think I had the crock pot stolen from my hands about 20 times. It was a fun game and I actually ended up with the shiny crock pot in the end! We were all laughing so hard trying to track down the gift we wanted.
    I decided to put the new cooking beast to good use today on this cold-gross-rainy-soon-to-be ice/snow day. That's what we were talking about before I got off on my tangent about the wild dirty santa game. I made some loaded potato soup, which is like an amazing loaded potato in a bowl! I even added some ham to the recipe tonight (I didn't put it in the recipe below though).

My beautiful shiny new beast of a crock pot.

Loaded Potato Soup

4 pounds new potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 small onion, chopped
2 (14 oz) cans chicken broth
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 pint half-and-half
Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, green onion slices

Layer sliced potatoes in a lightly greased 6-quart slow cooker; top with chopped onion.
Stir together chicken broth, salt, & pepper; pour over potatoes and onion. (Broth will not completely cover potatoes and onion.) Cover and cook on HIGH 3 to 5 hours or until potatoes are tender. Mash mixture with a potato masher; stir in half-and-half. Cover and cook on HIGH 20 more minutes or until mixture is thoroughly heated. Ladle into bowls, and serve with desired toppings

Place potatoes and onions in the crock pot. Pour the broth over them and put on the lid. If you want to make it even easier you can use hashbrowns!

Don't forget your favorite toppings. Mine happen to be some cheese and bacon Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm!

Crock-Pot Sweet Potatoes with Applesauce

     Well today is November 3rd. That means Turkey Day is only 21 days away. I am going to attempt to share a few of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes (gluten free style, of course). It seems that Thanksgiving is a gluten filled holiday. I personally think it is one of the hardest to navigate. I opt to make my own gluten free foods and then take a plate of my safe food to dinner. I usually also take a side or dessert that can be shared with everyone. I find that it is just easier and less stressful for me to do the "take my own plate" thing. It may be more work for me, but in the long run it is better because I don't end up sick. So the day before Thanksgiving I cook a turkey, stuffing, rolls, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and a veggie. I then make a plate or two, depending on how many dinners I have to attend. Those either go into the freezer or the refrigerator and go along with me to turkey dinner.

     Ok, onto the recipe of the day. Today is a yummy side dish. It is a great one to make because it can either go into the oven or into the crock-pot. It isn't difficult to make and my family thought it was pretty tasty. I made it last year for one of our big Turkey Day feasts.  This recipe came in an email last year from Gluten Freely. The original recipe can be found here: Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Applesauce and now onto my version......

Crock Pot Sweet Potatoes with Applesauce

Ingredients:

6 medium (2 pounds) sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 1/2 cups applesauce (I prefer to use cinnamon applesauce for this recipe)

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1 teaspoon pie spice

Instructions:

1. Place sweet potatoes in 2- to 3 1/2-quart slow cooker. Mix remaining ingredients; spoon over potatoes.
2. Cover and cook on low heat setting 6 to 8 hours or until potatoes are very tender.

This recipe can also be made in the oven. Generously spray a pan with cooking spray. Follow the same steps above for mixing. Cover with foil and Bake at 400 deg. until potatoes are fully cooked (approximately an hour).




I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

-Jessica