Saturday, April 28, 2012

April 27, 2012

We find ourselves at the end of the week again!!!  This week we only tried one new recipe, but everyone enjoyed it!  We also made an old favorite, so I've included that here as well.  I didn't plan it, but both are slow cooker meals, so if you have some busy nights ahead, perhaps you'll want to give one of these a try!

Crock Pot Jambalaya has been a favorite of ours, and I have shared this recipe with different friends over the years.  It is fairly spicy if you use the ingredients as listed, so keep this in mind when you are preparing it for your family.  I enjoy the level of heat, I don't think it is too spicy, but you might want to scale back that cayenne until you try it.

The slow cooker meal that worked out this week was a whole chicken in the slow cooker.  I hadn't done that before, and at the end of the cooking time it was really falling apart - to the point that it was a bit tough to remove from the crock!  But cooking it as a whole chicken helped the "juiciness" factor - we sometimes find chicken in the slow cooker to be a bit dry.  I also cooked it breast side down to ensure the breast meat was in the cooking liquid the entire time.  The recipe called for 8 hours on low, but we took it out at 7.5 hours, and you could probably take it out a little earlier too if your timing worked out.

Enjoy!


Tried and True
Crock Pot Jambalaya

New Recipe
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Crock Pot Jambalaya



Ingredients 
* 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained 
* 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) beef or chicken broth 
* 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste 
* 2 medium green peppers, chopped 
* 1 medium onion, chopped 
* 3 celery ribs, chopped 
* 5 garlic cloves, minced 
* 3 tsp dried parsley flakes 
* 2 tsp dried basil 
* 1-1/2 tsp dried oregano 
* 1-1/4 tsp salt 
* 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 
* 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce 
* 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes 
* 1 lb smoked sausage, halved and cut into 1/4-inch slices 
* 1/2 lb uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined 
* Hot cooked rice

Directions 
1. In a 5-qt. slow cooker, combine the tomatoes, broth and tomato paste. Stir in the green peppers, onion, celery, garlic and seasonings. Stir in chicken and sausage.
2. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in shrimp. Cover and cook 15-30 minutes longer or until shrimp turn pink.
3. Serve with rice.

Notes
 Even the kids love this!!!  This is pretty spicy as written, so you could leave out the cayenne pepper if you think your family will want to kick the heat level down.  We also used chicken andouille sausage and it worked great.

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken




Ingredients 

*1 (3-5 pound) whole chicken, skin removed 
* 1 cup chicken broth 
* 2/3 cup soy sauce 
* 1/3 cup olive oil 
* 1/2 cup honey 
* 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 
* 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar 
* 4 teaspoons lemon juice 
* 2 teaspoon sesame oil 
* 4 tablespoons minced garlic

Directions
 
1. Remove skin from chicken, and empty inner cavity of contents within. Pat chicken dry with a paper towel, and place inside the slow cooker. 
2. In a bowl, stir together the chicken broth, soy sauce, olive oil, honey, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, sesame oil, and minced garlic. Pour mixture over chicken, and cover. 
3. Cook chicken on low setting for 8 hours, or 4 hours on high setting. 

Notes

We found this to be a decently moist chicken dish for having been cooked in the slow cooker.  I only removed the skin on the breast meat and drumsticks, and I cooked it breast side down.  I only cooked it for a little over 7 hours, and it was fine.  We served it with our favorite side dish/vegetable cauliflower rice!!! A few of us used soy sauce on the chicken and cauliflower rice, but you can add whatever you want.