Slow Cooker Spicy Chicken Cacciatore

Anyone who knows my husband (his name is Richard) knows that he LOVES spicy food. And when I say LOVES (in all caps), I'm not exaggerating. At any given time in our house, you can look in the fridge or pantry and find at least one supremely spicy snack that Rich regularly devours when he returns home from work each day. Ghost pepper peanuts and Ass Kickin' Original salsa are among his favorites, I believe, but he'll pretty much take anything that totes an "insanely hot!" warning on its label. When I tell him something is (or should be) spicy, it's a bit of a double-edged sword; he's both excited to try it and doubtful that he'll actually agree. 

I'm telling you this as a bit of a warning; when I made this recipe, Rich said "this actually has some heat to it." So yes, it's a bit spicy. But it's also unbelievably good. Don't like spice? Reduce the crushed red pepper, or leave it out all together. I'm pretty sure you'll still love it. 

Cooking Light gets all the credit for this one, and I've linked the original recipe for you below; as you'll see, I really only made slight changes.  

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

Original recipe by Phillip Rhodes, Cooking Light (March 2014) - click here for original recipe

All-purpose flour

2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs

1 tbs olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 large red bell peppers, chopped

8 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup dry red wine

1/2 cup tomato puree

2 tbs capers

2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp black pepper

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1 can unsalted petite diced tomatoes

2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

Add flour to shallow bowl and dredge chicken thighs in flour. Shake off excess.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil, swirling to coat. Add chicken thighs and cook for 4 minutes on each side. 

Add chicken to slow cooker and reduce heat under skillet to medium. 

Add onion, bell pepper and garlic to skillet and cook for 4 minutes, stirring often. Add wine and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Add to slow cooker.

Add tomato puree, capers, crushed red pepper, dried oregano, black pepper, kosher salt and diced tomatoes (with juice) to slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 hours.

Serve over mashed potatoes or polenta as desired and sprinkle with parsley. 

Until next time...

Cheers!

Red Beans and Rice (Slow Cooker)

Happy Friday!

This week has been a big week for me - it was the first week in my journey as a stay-at-home mom to my beautiful little Bug! I am SO beyond blessed to have this opportunity, and I'm so excited to watch her grow and learn.

There were a lot of things I wanted to get done over these last five days - I was VERY ambitious with my "to do" list. While I didn't exactly cross everything off of that list (okay, I maybe got to about 30% of it. Still proud!), I wanted to be SURE that there was one thing that I definitely did. That one thing was to write in this blog. Lucky you! ;)

Don't get me wrong, I got plenty accomplished - I deep-cleaned my kitchen, did the grocery shopping for the week, cooked dinner every night (with the exception of last night, when we ate leftovers), and spent a whole heck of a lot of awesome time hanging out with Bug. We had two really nice days here in GA this week, so we went on walks and hung out at the park for a bit. I'm absolutely loving our "new life" so far!

I'm looking forward to not only having more time to cook, but more time to blog as well. Be on the lookout for new recipes at least a few times a week! If you haven't already liked the Facebook page, be sure to go ahead and do so to make sure that you don't miss out on any of the yummy goodness I'm posting.

Today's recipe is a slow cooker dinner that I've been meaning to post for quite awhile now. Honestly, I'd normally focus more on "spring"-y recipes here in March, but good grief -Winter just wants to keep hanging around this year! Feel free to cook up this Louisiana favorite to help you warm up after playing in the snow all day.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Slow Cooker Red Beans & Rice

Adapted from Cooking Light, September 2014

2 cans red kidney beans

1 tablespoon olive oil    

1 pound andouille sausage, quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into 3/4-inch pieces

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 1/2 cups chopped poblano chile

1 cup diced celery    

Click to see savings

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

10 garlic cloves, crushed

1 (12-ounce) can lager-style beer (I used Yuengling)    
4 cups unsalted chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper   

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 bay leaves

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions, divided

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

 

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add oil to the pan, swirling to coat. Add sausage and cook 6 minutes or until browned. Add onion and next 5 ingredients (through garlic) and cook 8 minutes. Stir in beer and bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.

 

Place sausage mixture in slow cooker. Add beans, stock, red pepper, black pepper, and bay leaves. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.

Discard bay leaves. Stir in 1/4 cup green onions and vinegar. Serve over rice; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup green onions.

 

Until next time...

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Slow Cooker Special: Shredded Chicken

Happy Fall! I'm so happy that I can officially say that now. I love this time of year!

Today's slow cooker special recipe is a little bit unconventional (as in, it's not really a complete recipe), but I'm really hoping that you'll find it as helpful and enjoyable as I do. Recently, I've found myself purchasing rotisserie chickens almost every time I go to the grocery store, usually so that I can shred it and use it to make one of a few of my favorite recipes (I'll tell you exactly what those are in just a minute). Honestly, though, it's kind of a pain - and somewhat messy - to pull apart by hand. So, I decided that there had to be an easier, less messy way to get the same result...and lo and behold, there is!

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 (14 oz) can low-sodium chicken broth

Salt and pepper

Place chicken breasts in slow cooker and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Pour chicken broth into crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker and place in a small bowl; using a fork, shred the chicken. Store in a sealed container in refrigerator for use in your favorite recipes!

I use this chicken in several of the recipes that you can find on this site, and I've included links to a few of them below for easy access. In the below picture, I've taken the Chicken Salad Cups recipe from the Origami Owl post and simply used the chicken salad mixture on a sandwich with toasted sourdough bread. Yum!!

Chicken Salad

White BBQ Chicken Baked Potatoes

Chicken & Prosciutto Salad w/Asiago

Until next time...

Cheers!

Slow Cooker Special: The Chicken Philly

Happy Tuesday! I hope you're all having a nice week so far. Mine has been quite productive, which makes me happy. You know what they say about finishing the way you start? Maybe, if I'm lucky, my productivity will last all week long...and not just in the workplace! I certainly have plenty to do at home, as I'm sure you can understand.

Today's super easy but oh-so-delicious recipe was inspired by a post I saw on Pinterest recently. I only saw the pictures, but they were enough to spark my interest. Quite honestly, I'm a little surprised that I'd never thought about doing it before! So here you have it, a slow cooker Chicken Philly that you will LOVE...made possible by Pinterest, at least by inspiration. I served them with baked garlic & paprika potato wedges (that recipe is for another day, but I promise I'll share it with you, too!).

By the way, I always said I'd never join Pinterest because I knew it would be a time sink...and guess what? I was right! I am now addicted.And that, my friends, is NOT good for productivity. Sigh. Such is life. ;)

Slow Cooker Chicken Philly Sandwiches

1 1/2 lb. chicken tenders

1 large green pepper, sliced

1 small vidalia onion, sliced

1 tbs McCormick Grill Mates Roasted Garlic Montreal Chicken seasoning

2 tbs water 

2 tbs butter

salt and pepper to taste

8 slices provolone cheese

4 hoagie rolls

Place 2 tbs butter in the bottom of slow cooker. Add onions and peppers, then layer chicken on top. Sprinkle seasoning, salt and pepper over all ingredients. Add 2 tbs water. Cook on low 6 hours. Shred chicken and stir to mix ingredients. Cook on low an additional 30 minutes. 

Spoon chicken philly mixture onto hoagie rolls and top with provolone cheese. To melt the cheese, place sandwiches under a pre-heated broiler until cheese is bubbly.

Until next time...

Cheers!

Slow Cooker Special: Poblano Jalapeno Chili

It's been a little while since my last post, but don't worry - I still have more slow cooker recipes to give you, even after September comes to an end! My life has been pretty crazy over the last couple of weeks, so I'm sorry for my brief absence. It seems like, lately, even fitting in sleep has been a chore!

Today's recipe is one that my husband and I like so much that we apparently wolfed it all down before I could take a picture. Oops. My mistake! While the meal finishes up in the slow cooker, you will need to put in a little extra effort on the front end (you'll see what I mean when you read the recipe - it's not too bad). This chili is perfect for game day or a relaxed weekend afternoon, and it makes enough that you'll have leftovers for one of those weeknights where heating up is about all you can/want to handle.

After all, isn't chili kind of the quintessential fall meal? It's great for serving guests, versatile depending on flavor preferences, and, generally speaking, it's easy to put together. There are a lot of ingredients in this particular recipe, but don't let that overwhelm you. The end result is truly delish, which makes the effort completely worth it. Thanks go out to Cooking Light for this one. I hope you enjoy it!

FYI - You won't need to finely chop any of the chiles or onion in this recipe - a rough chop will work just fine. 

Poblano-Jalapeno Chili

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

1 tbs canola oil

3 cups chopped onion (1 large)

1 cup chopped, seeded poblano chile (2 large)

8 garlic cloves, minced

1 12-oz Mexican beer (like Corona)

1 tbs chili powder

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

3/4 tsp kosher salt

2 1/2 cups lower-sodium marinara sauce

1 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

2 15-oz cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 14.5 oz can diced, fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained

3 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded*

1/2 cup light sour cream*

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves*

*optional

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add ground beef. Cook 10 minutes or until browned. Drain and remove from pan. Wipe pan clean.

Return pan to stovetop over medium-high heat. Add oil and swirl to coat. Add chopped jalapenos, garlic, onion and poblano and saute 10 minutes. Add beer, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits. Cook for 12 minutes (liquid should evaporate by half). Add chili powder, cumin and salt and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.

Add beef, chile-onion mixture, marinara, broth, beans and tomatoes to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 3 hours. Serve with cheese, sour cream and cilantro, if desired.

Until next time...

Cheers!