Creole Chicken with Succotash

This is a great simple dinner I got from a Southern Living cookbook I own. I always have to double it for my crew. It is great though to have a delicious dinner waiting in the slow cooker after a busy day!

You don't add any liquid to this recipe but the frozen vegetables and the chicken will provide plenty.

Creole Chicken with Field Pea Succotash

16 oz package frozen field peas with snaps

10 oz package frozen vegetable gumbo mix

16 oz package frozen corn

2 cubes of chicken bouillion

4 tsp Creole seasoning, divided

1 1/2 tsp paprika

6 skinned, bone-in chicken thighs

Mix  first four ingredients and 2 tsp of Creole seasoning in a lightly greased 6 qt oval shaped slow cooker. Combine paprika with remaining Creole seasoning and rub over chicken. Arrange chicken on top of vegetable mixture. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours until done. Serves 4-6

Recipe Source: Southern Living   

Overnight Apple Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal

This is the way I currently make oatmeal most of the time. It's easier than trying to cook it in the morning! 

 

Overnight Oatmeal

2 cups regular or steel cut oats

6-8 cups water

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp butter

1 apple, peeled, cored, diced

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Spray slow cooker with nonstick spray. Mix ingredients in crockpot. Turn on low heat for 8 hours and then stir when finished. If you use regular oats, it is a smoother porridge-like dish. If you use steel cut, it will have a nice chewy texture. 

Caution: The raisins will swell up and be very soft. I like them this way. You may not. 

Modified from Mels Kitchen Cafe. (Removed maple syrup & blueberries, added butter, apples & raisins, changed sugar, increased cinnamon)

Cabbage Beef Soup

From RS president at church. Yay for a tasty way to eat cabbage! Kind of like a taco soup in taste.



Cabbage Beef Soup
2 tbsp oil
1 lb ground beef
1/2 large onion, chopped
5 cups chopped cabbage
16 oz can kidney beans, drained
2 cups beef broth

24 oz tomato sauce
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Brown beef and onion in skillet. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on high 4-6 hours or low 6-8 hours. Stir occasionally. Or leave on stow on low for about 4 hours. Makes about 10 servings.

Serve with cornbread or biscuits.

Tortilla Soup

My favorite tortilla soup recipe.

Tortilla Soup

4 Tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
2 Tbs parsley
1 4 oz can diced chiles
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
16 oz beef broth
32 oz chicken broth
1 can corn, undrained
1 tsp cumin
1 can kidney beans
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp steak sauce
1 cup water
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
Cooked bratwurst
1 cup rice

Combine in slow cooker and cook for 4-6 hours on low or 2-3 hours on high.

Serve with shredded cheese, tortilla chips, cilantro and sour cream.

Spicy Braised Peanut Chicken

Another tasty recipe from this friend. I loved how easy this was to get into the slow-cooker and how I had everything on hand. It is North African in style, and is delicious with the chicken thighs and couscous, but you could easily substitute chicken breasts and rice if that's what you have on hand.

It is really tasty comfort food. It is also cheap if you get a good price on chicken thighs! I got a package of 10 thighs for $3.50, add the tomatoes ($0.60) & rotel ($0.80 for 2 cans) being on sale and its about $5 for this dinner.

Spicy Braised Peanut Chicken
1 Tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
8 chicken thighs, skins removed
1 large onion, chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained (RoTel)
1 can (14.5 oz) crushed or diced tomatoes, undrained
2 Tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups hot cooked couscous

Heat oil in 12 inch non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken in oil about 4 minutes, turning once, until brown.

Mix onion, diced and crushed tomatoes, honey, cumin and cinnamon in 4-5qt slow cooker.Place chicken in slow cooker. Spoon tomato mixture over chicken.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours or until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.

Stir in peanut butter until melted and well blended. Serve chicken and sauce over couscous.

Serves 4

Latin Chicken w/ Black beans & Sweet potatoes

A friend recommended this recipe to me. It reminds me of yummy coconut curry chicken and sweet potatoes in name, but flavor wise, it is very different. Not hot, like I expected, but spicy, mildly sweet maybe, reminding me a little of chicken mole.

It is written for the slow-cooker, you could adjust and bake in a casserole in the oven much faster, but I love slow cookers for providing my family with tasty dinners that I can prep easily in the morning and forget about until that evening. The recipe comes from Good Housekeeping. They even provide nutritional information if you want to track that. Me, I know its healthy, it has sweet potatoes & black beans & salsa in it. Lots of veggies, lots of color, lots of nutrients. But is it tasty? Oh yeah.

I did not use regular paprika instead of smoked paprika (don't have it) or the chipotle chiles (don't care for them). I also forgot the lime juice & roasted red pepper. Oh - and technically I used turkey broth, but is that a real change? We make our own broth, and freeze it. I've got a ton left from Thanksgiving still. Anyway it was still great, even with the forgotten ingredients from me being so hungry. (The house smelled wonderful!) (And the cilantro, lime juice & roasted red pepper would be really good mixed into the potato mixture, I recommend trying it.) Bonus - side dish built in to meal! How much easier can you get?

Slow Cooked Latin Chicken with Black beans & Sweet potatoes
Ingredients

3 pound(s)	bone-in skinless chicken thighs
2 teaspoon(s)	ground cumin
	Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon(s)	smoked paprika, or 1⁄2 tsp. chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1/2 teaspoon(s)	ground allspice
1 cup(s)	chicken broth
1/2 cup(s)	salsa
3 clove(s)	(large) garlic, crushed with press
2 can(s)	(15 to 19 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
2 pound(s)	sweet potatoes, peeled cut into 2-inch chunks
1	jarred roasted red pepper, cut into strips (1 cup)
1/3 cup(s)	(loosely packed) fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
	Lime wedges

1. Sprinkle chicken thighs with 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper. Heat 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot; add chicken thighs and cook until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate. Remove skillet from heat.
2. In same skillet, combine smoked paprika, allspice, chicken broth, salsa, garlic, and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin.
3. In 6-quart slow cooker, combine beans and sweet potatoes. Place chicken on top of potato mixture in slow cooker; pour broth mixture over chicken. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook as manufacturer directs, on low 8 hours or on high 4 hours.
4. With tongs or slotted spoon, remove chicken pieces to large platter. Gently stir roasted red pepper strips into potato mixture. Spoon mixture over chicken. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

Easy Apple Pork Roast

The perfect way to eat pork...baked with apples. Add a slow cooker and you have an amazingly simple recipe for yummy food.

I left it on 10 hours (gone all day), and it was still fine, I just smushed the baked apples on my meat to help with moisture. Yum.

Apple Pork Roast
1 1/2 lb boneless pork loin, cut into 4-6 pieces or 6 boneless pork loin chops
4 medium apples, sliced (sweet, not sour apples, yellow delicious, gala, etc.)
3 Tblsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Place pork in slow cooker, cover in apples

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in bowl, sprinkle over apples. Cover, cook on LOW 6-8 hours.

Enjoy!

Apple Butter Canning

Hee hee. Did you catch my corny joke in the title? :P

It is Apple season again and that means applesauce and apple butter in our house. I did try apple jelly this year which was interesting, but not my favorite. I don't think I will ever do it again. That would probably be a better topic for another post.

So my favorite Apple Butter recipe actually comes from a random Crockpot cookbook I got one year for Christmas from brother in law. The book can be found here: Slow Cooker Recipes.

I checked out the copyright in the front of the book and it says that I can't quote anything in the book without written permission so I can't write the recipe here. Boo.

But I googled the title and found it published somewhere else so here is a link to the recipe: Chunky Sweet Spiced Apple Butter.

Note - mine isn't chunky ever, at least in my opinion. But the flavor is awesome. We love it in our oatmeal for homemade apple cinnamon oatmeal.

The beauty of this recipe is how easy it is. Peel apples. Pile stuff in crockpot, leave for 8 hours on low and then mash up a little more before canning it.

I always double the recipe, I'm going to try quadrupling it next week, as the original recipe just makes enough to fill one regular mason jar. I use the larger jars because we use it so quickly and because they are cheaper.