Slow cooker Coconut Curry Chicken

I love putting a whole chicken in my slow cooker for an easy weekday meal, and this recipe is so juicy and tender that I think we will be slow cooking our chicken like this many more times to come. The BF isn't a huge curry fan, but the flavors are so subtle that even he was delighted with how the chicken turned out -- hooray! The coconut milk makes the chicken extra tender, it basically melts off the bone!


Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons green curry
• 1/4 cup sriracha
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

 Directions:

1. Do ahead: Place the chicken in a gallon-sized ziploc bag and add the rest of the ingredients. Let the chicken marinade overnight. 
2. Empty all of the ziploc contents into your slow cooker and cook over high heat for 6-10 hours. The longer the chicken cooks the more the meat will fall off the bone later. 
3. Once the chicken is cooked turn the heat off. Use tongs and a fork to take the meat off the bones, discard the bones or freeze them in a bag for making broth in the future. Let the chicken soak up the juice in the slow cooker as you prepare the rest of your meal (I like this served on top of rice with sauteed asparagus, snow peas, and basil!). Serve hot. 

Slow Cooker Chipotle Barbeque and Lime Chicken

My slow cooker is my best friend in the kitchen. When I want sauces and sides to be the stars on the plate, I usually throw a chicken or a hunk o' beef in the slow cooker. I knew we were going to have soft tacos for dinner tonight, so last night before bed I added the marinade to the chicken and let it defrost overnight. Now, I have an arsenal of hot sauce, so if you don't have chipotle sauce on hand you can find it in, surprise, the hot sauce section of most grocery stores. Otherwise, you can add any other hot sauce you like to the mix (like tapatio or cholula!).

The chicken goes well with Mexican flavors, but I plan to use my leftovers in a lasagna!
If you are looking for sides to accompany this dish, check out my post here!

Makes enough for 8 soft tacos plus leftovers
Ingredients:

• 1 cup bbq sauce
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup chipotle sauce
• 1 roasting chicken

Directions:

1. The night before, marinade the chicken in all of the sauces (you can put it all in a large ziploc bag or in a plastic-wrap covered deep dish). 
2. In the morning, place the chicken and the marinade in a slow cooker over high heat. Cook for 8-10 hours. 
3. Remove the chicken from the slow cooker using tongs, and carve it. Add the meat back into the sauce of the slow cooker, and keep it on low heat until serving time. 

Udon with Chicken and Asparagus

The BF and I ate this last night, and it took approximately 10 minutes of work... it was amazing! The best part about this meal is that it was super filling and I had everything in my pantry/fridge, so it required very little effort.

Serves 2 large portions (or enough for 2 servings + lunch leftovers)
Ingredients:

• 2 frozen chicken breasts
•  1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sriracha
• 10 stalks of asparagus (or however many you want!)
• 2 servings of udon noodles (available at most supermarkets, usually portioned out in packaging)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

Directions:

1. In the morning, put the chicken breasts and the teriyaki, soy and sriracha in a slow cooker. Turn the heat to low and let it cook for 8-10 hours. 
2. When you are ready to eat, bring a pot of water to boil and add the udon noodles. Boil for 2 minutes then drain and set noodles aside. 
3. Chop the chicken and asparagus. Preheat a large saute pan to medium heat and add the chicken and asparagus, then soy sauce to taste. Stir often and cook for 2 minutes, then add the noodles. Stir and cook for about 1 more minute, mainly to reheat the noodles and mix everything together. Turn the heat off, and right before serving mix in the sesame oil.

Enjoy!

Slow-cooker Chicken and Asparagus with Cream Spinach

I'm moving this weekend, so for a while now I've been avoiding the grocery store and trying to make use of the random food supplies I have on hand. This started out as a way to use up a bunch of asparagus and ended up becoming a delicious dish that I am going to make again soon, because it's basic ingredients that I have on hand more often than not, and it required like 10 minutes of work. Who doesn't love that?


Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, sliced lengthwise into 3 strips each
• 4 frozen spinach portions (or 1 cup thawed and drained)
• 8-10 stalks of asparagus, halved with tough ends trimmed off
• 3 tablespoons cream cheese
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• Salt/Pepper/Cayenne to taste

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a slow cooker over low heat and cook for 5-7 hours, until chicken is cooked through and cream sauce has thickened. Serve hot! It's yummy over fettuccine or spiral pasta, spooned on a bowl of steamed rice, or even in a bun!

Red Wine Short Ribs with Mushrooms

I have a secret -- short ribs are really, really, really easy to make. They just sound like they are complicated and froufrou-y. Do you know what the key is to juicy, tender, melting short ribs? Time, baby, time. If you pop your short ribs into the oven for an hour, they will be tough and dry and you'd probably feel bad giving them to your dog to gnaw on. However, if you put them in a slow cooker on low for 12 hours you will end up with short ribs that slide right off the bone when you go to pick them up, meat that falls apart if you even whisper at it (you will whisper at it, you'll be whispering sweet nothings when you open that lid and take a whiff).
So all you need to do is gather the ingredients, put them in your slow cooker, and then forget about it for 12 hours. Easy.

Serves 4


Ingredients:

• 6 short ribs
• 1/2 bottle red wine (I used Shiraz)
• 2 cups water
• 1 fresh sprig of rosemary
• 12 white mushrooms

* I use water and not broth because I find that broth, even the low-sodium kind, is too salty for this kind of cooking. We want to leave an unadulterated red wine taste in these ribs!




Directions:

1. Clean your mushrooms by wiping them down with a damp paper towel. Slice the stems halfway down to cut off the dry ends, then chop each mushroom in half. 
2. Place your mushrooms in the slow cooker followed by your short ribs and the sprig of rosemary. Pour the red wine and water into the slow cooker then turn it on low. Cook this for 12 (or more!) hours. 
3. When you are ready to take the ribs out, use a pair of tongs to take them out of the slow cooker, then using a slotted spoon take out the mushrooms as well. 

How to serve it:
I placed a big spoonful of mashed potatoes in the middle of each plate, then topped it with 1 short rib and 3 mushrooms. If you want a juicier plate, add a spoonful or two of your reduced red wine from the slow cooker.

I found that when I went to remove the ribs from the slow cooker they were so melty that they literally fell off the bone back into the sauce, so my servings were less of a rib and more like spoonfuls of melt-in-your-mouth meat.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Short Ribs

After recently eating grilled beef ribs and wanting more more more and then peeking at Pioneer Woman's blog this last week, I knew I was done for. Not to mention, the grocery store had a special on short ribs, so I think it was a message from the universe saying go for it, Gail, eat some short ribs this week.

Short ribs are hearty, delicious, and perfect for the pre-holidays in the fall.

Because I've spent the past few hours hemming and hawing over which version of short ribs tickles me the most, I've decided to give you all of my versions because they are all sooooo good and soooooo easy. Like, sad easy. Like, you will have a moment of panic when you are finished assembling everything because you'll think that you forgot half the recipe. It just makes these short ribs that much more glorious, in my book.
 

Ingredients:
4 short ribs
2 cups of sauce

Sauces:

• Peanut sauce (Thai style)
• Barbeque sauce
• Enchilada sauce
• Green chile sauce
• White wine + 2 tablespoons each butter/flour
• Red wine + 2 tablespoons each butter/flour
• Cream + beef stock, equal parts

Directions:
Put the ribs in the slow cooker, top with sauce, and cook on high heat for 5 1/2 hours, flipping the ribs and stirring the sauce halfway through.

Enjoy!

What to serve with the ribs:

• Sauteed mushrooms
• Roasted Asparagus with garlic and lemon
• Roasted squash
• Stuffing
• Creamed spinach
• Rice/Quinoa
• Mashed taters
• Green bean casserole

Pea Soup with Ham

I went on a little trip at the beginning of the month to Vancouver Island, and while I was there I was given a big bowl of pea soup. Now, unless my memory fails me, before then I had never tried pea soup. What a mistake that was! I know, I know, I keep telling you I'm not a "soup" person, and here I am telling you, "Eat this soup." Trust me, there is a reason for my inconsistencies. It's called deliciousness.

Anywho, I gobbled the bowl of soup and I couldn't stop thinking about the pea soup all day. The recipe is courtesy of my bf's mom--her food is always delicious, and she was kind enough to share her recipe. I made half a batch which is going to be enough for at least a week's worth of lunches/dinners for meeeee. And no one else.

The only differences in our recipes is that I used plain old ham, whereas she was able to find a ham bone and strip the meat off of it for the soup and cook it with the bone for flavor. I also threw everything in the slow cooker for about 5 hours before hitting the stove since I wasn't around long enough to keep an eye on the pot. In the end it was a similar outcome, but hers was better (probably because it was made with motherly love and a ham bone.. that's just my opinion). So, because my recipe was a little on the weird side, I'm giving you her recipe, just how she emailed it to me:

Pea Soup with Ham (created by a mommy, tested by GG)

I put about 3 cups of peas in water - to just cover them - boil that quickly and then put aside for about an hour to soften the peas.

then add to the peas:  

- the ham bone (if you have one - if you have a ham with a bone then cut off as much of the ham as possible and reserve it to put in almost at the end

- a finely diced onion, 

- thyme, 

- garlic powder (or garlic), 

- a bit of salt and pepper 

-  8 cups of water 

and bring all of the above to a boil, then turn down to simmer for about 90 mins to 2 hours - stirring occasionally and may have to add more water.

then when peas really mushy almost dissolved add 1 cup shredded carrots and 1 cup diced celery and cook another 30 mins or so until all really mushed together 

add ham and cook a bit more (at any time you may need to add a bit more water)

taste add seasoning to taste more thyme, salt and pepper etc.  

and voila!

It doesn't get much better than this! Of course, if you want you can do all of this in a slow cooker for about 10 hours, but the stove-top method brings more flavor.

Thank the universe for shared recipes! Enjoy!

Beef Stew with Red Wine

I'm not really a "stew" or "soup" person--unless it's beef stew. I'm usually an Irish stew gal, going straight for the Guinness and beef broth, but this time I thought I'd try something different. Vegetable broth and red wine = just as delicious as the Guinness!

I am in the middle of a love affair with my slow cooker. I bought it this last summer, and I've been using it religiously ever since. I've made pulled pork, briskets, whole chickens, chicken soup, potatoes, lentils, curry, you name it. But I hadn't made stew until this week. Which may or may not be a good thing, because if I'd made the stew sooner my slow cooker probably wouldn't have seen anything but stew. for. ev. er.

I slow cooked this baby for 15 hours, but if you like your carrots not so melt-in-your-mouth (weirdo), then you probably just want to keep it to 8-10 hours like a regular boring person might do. This will last me all week, with at least one big bowl each day for lunch. If I still have quite a bit by Sunday, I will probably throw the stew into a pre-made pie crust and make a beef pot pie!

Here is my recipe for The Best Beef Stew EVER. Or, just Beef Stew if you want an unbiased title.

Serves: 8 portions
Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups baby carrots
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4-6 baby red potatoes
• 3 stalks of celery
• 4 cups of water
• 1 1/2 cups red wine 
• 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• 3+ tablespoons flour 
• 1 pound stewing beef

Directions

1. Turn your slow cooker onto low heat and throw in everything but the flour and beef. 
2. After 4 hours of cooking time, put a heavy skillet on medium-high heat and once the pan is hot throw in a drizzle of oil and the pieces of beef. Sear the meat--total cooking time is around 5 minutes.
3. Throw the beef into the stew, mix, and add the flour. Check the stew again after the stew has been cooking for 6 hours total, and if you want it to thicken more add tablespoons of flour. 
4. Here is where you can either stop and turn off the slow cooker to let it stand and cool for about 45 minutes, or if you want your stew to melt in your mouth, leave it on medium for another 3-5 hours. When you are satisfied with the stew's meltiness, you can turn off the slow cooker and at that time add more flour if you still want to thicken the stew, and let it sit for 45 minutes. I don't like to add too much salt or pepper when it's still hot, so I usually add spices straight to the bowl I'm eating out of rather than the whole pot.

Enjoy!