Crock Pot 5-Spice Chicken {at Stacy Makes Cents}

February 10, 2012 By

 

 

 

5 spice chicken Stacy Makes Cents is a blog I discovered last year, and love. Stacy is frugal (like me) and likes to eat healthy food (like me). I like Stacy! Her blog posts always make me smile, and sometimes laugh right out loud.

Today’s your chance to check out her blog, because yours truly is guest posting there with a delicious (if I do say so myself) recipe for 5-Spice Crock Pot Chicken. (Which, by the way, Stacy features crock pot recipes every Friday, another reason I love her!)

A few months back, I was at Ollie’s (a discount store kind of like Marshall’s or Ross but without the clothes and even messier) and stumbled across a little bottle of Spice Islands’ Chinese 5-Spice Powder. I don’t remember how much it was – maybe $1.99? – but I remember it was cheap. And I like cheap spices. So I bought it.

Problem was, I had absolutely no idea what to do with it! I had never before in my life made or even eaten anything (that I recall, anyway; I suppose there’s always the chance I ate it unaware) made with Chinese 5-spice powder. It was one of those random spice mixes that seemed non-essential to my life.

Until I saw it for $1.99.

Find out what I did with that 5-spice powder by reading my guest post at Stacy Makes Cents. Say Hi to Stacy for me!

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Sizzlin’ Soups: Slow Cooker Chicken and Whole Wheat Garlic Dumplings

February 10, 2012 By

Welcome back to Sizzlin’ Soups! Day2Day Joys, Christian Mommy Blogger, The Humbled Homemaker, Intentional by Grace, The Purposed Heart and myself have had a lot of fun bringing you our favorite heart-warming soup recipes.

In case you missed them, we’ve already featured:

I’ve already tried the Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup (I made the wheat-free, dairy-free version), and my whole family loved it! These are recipes you will want to include in your regular meal-planning rotation, I promise you.
And we’re going to make it easy for you to do just that… we will have a free gift for you after our last installment that you will definitely want to take advantage of! Be sure to subscribe to one of the above blogs so that you don’t miss out on the announcement!
Now on to this week’s soup. It’s my turn, and I’ve had fun experimenting with Chicken & Dumplings in the crock pot. Can you believe, by the way, that I had never even eaten chicken and dumplings before? Not that I can recall, anyway. But it always sounded like such a delicious comfort food, and one I knew I would love.
And I was right! Delicious comfort food that I will definitely be making again and again. I started with this chicken and dumpling recipe at Goodbite.com, and modified it to make it easier and healthier. I don’t believe in sauteing things before I put them in the slow cooker, because that just adds extra work. I don’t do extra work. Keep it to the minimum! So this is simplified for anybody like me who doesn’t have time for extra steps. (I did make use of a stash of frozen cooked chicken - if you don’t have such a stash, you’ll probably want to saute your fresh chicken at least briefly before putting it in the pot.)
Speaking of saving steps, there is one thing about making soup that seems to take for.ev.er. and that is chopping up the ubiquitous celery and carrots that always end up in soup. I’ve recently discovered a trick that significantly reduces my chopping time and makes soup an even easier weeknight menu option. Here it is:
I am probably the last person in Christendom to have discovered this trick… but just in case, I’m sharing it with you. (So tell me, do you chop your veggies this way?)
Note: I used granulated garlic in the dumpling dough because I’m not a huge fan of fresh minced garlic in my baked goods. But if you prefer fresh garlic, you can just use the same amount (1-2 cloves) of fresh garlic in place of the granulated garlic.

Chicken & Whole Wheat Garlic Dumplings

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cooked shredded or cubed chicken
  • 3-4 carrots, chopped
  • 3 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1/2 cup onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 6-8 cups broth
  • 1 tsp each rosemary, oregano, and parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • Dumplings:
  • 1 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt

Instructions

  1. Place chicken, vegetables, and broth in slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or until vegetables are tender. Add herbs; add salt and pepper to taste. About half an hour before serving, stir in cream, then make dumplings. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Beat egg lightly and stir into yogurt. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until you have a moist biscuit-like dough. Drop by large spoonfuls into the soup. Cover and allow to cook on high for 15 minutes or so, turning halfway through if desired.

This is not as QUICK as many slow cooker recipes, because there’s the added step (sorry, couldn’t eliminate that one) of making the dumpling dough. However, you can set the soup going in the morning, then make the dumplings about half an hour or so before dinner-time - that will still save you some dinner prep.
It is very EASY. The only thing to be aware of is not to add too much liquid to the dumpling dough, or you will have a mass of dough that never quite cooks through covering up a delicious pot of chicken soup. Not that I would know from experience or anything.
This is a good CHEAP dish. Soups are so good for using up odds and ends of meat and vegetables, and this is no exception. (If you have corn, peas, or green beans instead of the veggies I used, go ahead and throw ‘em in the pot!) The dumplings take the place of the pasta typically found in a chicken noodle soup with very little extra cost.
I love my HEALTHY changes to this recipe, namely the use of whole wheat flour. You can use buttermilk in place of the yogurt (which is what the original recipe called for, and is just as healthy), but I usually have yogurt on hand, and I found it made the perfect substitute. These dumplings are SO much better for you than the typical canned biscuit recipe most people use. And I think they taste a lot better, too!

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Fall Fest 2010: Happy Autumn!

September 23, 2010 By

Note: If you’re visiting from Amy’s Finer Things or the Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom, Welcome! Thanks for stopping by! This post is the start of my Fall Fest 2010 - if you like what you see here, be sure to follow along via RSS, email, FB or Twitter, and check out all the other great Fall Fest posts here. Thanks again for visiting, and we hope to see you again soon.

Today is the Autumnal Equinox, otherwise known as the first day of fall, although you wouldn’t know it, because around here the temps were in the upper 80s, low 90s. That’s OK, though, it happens every year - in a short time, it will definitely be autumn weather that will last…. who knows how long?! Weather around here is kind of unpredictable in some ways.

At any rate, the harvest proceeds no matter what the weather, and that is one of my favorite things about autumn anyway: pumpkins, squash, apples, and more, but especially the pumpkins. You’ll be seeing a lot of pumpkin around this fall, provided I can buy it! (Apparently, last year there was a canned pumpkin shortage that is just now hitting our area. However, I noticed that Harris Teeter has pumpkins - real live pie pumpkins - on sale 2 for $3, so I’ll get at least a couple pumpkins in! ) Throughout the autumn, I will be sharing with you all the various fun things I’ll be doing with all this marvelous autumn produce. I’ll try new recipes, share my favorites, show you how to prepare them, and more! I’ll also be browsing the blogosphere and bringing you some of the best ideas as I find them. Hopefully, there will be some even more fun things in store, so be sure to follow along if you don’t already! Not every post will be a “Fall Fest” post, but you’ll find them popping up probably at least once a week throughout the fall.

Right now, all I have are 2 acorn squash that I haven’t had time to deal with because I have been fighting the mother of all sinus infections. Thank goodness they last a long time! (The squash, not the sinus infection, although that has certainly outstayed its welcome!) I will deal with them soon, trust me, but in the meantime, I’ll share with you this recipe I concocted the other day that features a great autumn classic, the apple.

Apples are so flexible: they shine in the foreground or provide a steady background; they star in desserts, main meals, and side dishes alike; they range from sweet to sour and soft to crunchy. And what’s more, this time of year, they are very inexpensive, which is perhaps the most compelling reason to take advantage of them.

In this particular recipe, the apple plays a supporting role, but is essential nonetheless. It adds flavor and moisture to the main ingredient, a boiler/fryer chicken. I cooked it with potatoes and carrots so that I had a whole meal in one pot, but you can cook it on its own. In that case, you may consider propping up the chicken in the slow cooker with some balls of foil or a small metal cooling rack.

Apple Ginger Chicken
3-4 medium potatoes
4 medium carrots
1 2-3lb boiler/fryer chicken
1 small-medium apple
2 cloves garlic
1 1″ knob ginger
salt and pepper

Wash and cut the potatoes into wedges and place them in the bottom of a slow cooker. Wash, peel and cut the carrots into thick sticks about 2-3″ long; place in slow cooker. Wash and rinse chicken and remove innards. Pat dry and place breast side down (I find it is more moist this way) in slow cooker on top of vegetables. Core the apple and cut into wedges to fit into cavity of chicken. Peel and chop the ginger into chunks, then place apple, garlic and ginger into chicken cavity. (If you can fit celery in there, a stalk or two would be the perfect addition.) Sprinkle the top of chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Set slow cooker on High for one hour, then switch to Low for 6-8 hours.

This is a great, QUICK, weeknight recipe. Place everything in the crockpot in the morning and dinner is ready when you get home. Add some fresh bread, and you’re all set!

It’s so EASY, too. There’s some prep to be sure, but all in all I’d say it takes about half an hour give or take a few minutes to get it all set in the crockpot.

Whole chickens are so CHEAP for dinner, mostly because they go so far. With this one, we had dinner for 3, plus some leftovers for lunch. Then I made a casserole using some of the cut-up chicken for another family, and still have some more chicken left to make into a pasta salad or chicken salad. On top of that, I made some great broth with the bones and skin of the chicken, so I definitely got my money’s worth on this one!

It’s very HEALTHY, too. I don’t think anyone could argue against such a well-balanced, healthy meal. Maybe throw in another veggie or fruit as a side dish for extra nutrients, and you’re good to go!

 

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A Little Early for Turkey, but….

October 13, 2009 By

… turkey breast was on sale and I couldn’t resist! Anyway, who says turkey is just for Thanksgiving? Not me. If it’s on sale, it’s in season!

I’ve only ever used one recipe for turkey breast, which is quite unusual for me because I rarely make the same thing twice. Although I guess I haven’t technically made it the same way more than twice, because the recipe I use is a nice basic recipe that I can get creative with!

Regular readers will not be surprised when I tell you I use the crock pot to cook the turkey breast. Me and my crock pot! I found this recipe in one of my favorite crockpot cookbooks: Fix it and Forget It.

On with the recipe…


Easy Crock Pot Turkey Breast
1 turkey breast
1/4-1/2 cup apple juice or cider
4-5 whole cloves
4-5 allspice berries
salt and pepper to taste

Place all the ingredients in the crock pot, like this:

You can use more (or less) cloves and allspice berries, depending on your taste. You can also try different combinations of spices, herbs and juice for totally different flavors. For example, a little lemon juice (use less than the apple juice) would go very well with an Italian blend of seasonings.

Cook the turkey breast on high for 4 hours, or on low for 8 hours.


QUICK? Yes! Just throw the ingredients in the crock pot and let it go. I had some mashed potatoes left over from the Shepherd’s Pie I made the other day (if you remember, I made some extra mashed potatoes just so I could use them in another meal), so all I had to do was heat them up, whip up some gravy and an autumn fruit salad (I used pear and apple for the fruits), and dinner was ready.

Can’t get any EASY-er than that! No mixing, no precise measurements. The hardest part was opening the package that sealed the turkey breast!

It was CHEAP because it was on sale for $0.79/lb, which made it less than $5 for the whole turkey breast. We’ll get at least 3 meals out of it, so $1.60-ish for the main dish at each of those meals? Great deal.

And HEALTHY, yes. Besides the famous tryptophan, turkey boasts many beneficial nutrients, including niacin, zinc, and vitamins B6 and B12. Compared to other meats, it is low in calories while remaining high in protein, so if you’re trying to lose or maintain weight, it’s an ideal choice.

Now my only question is, What do I do with the leftovers? Any ideas?


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Just What the Doctor Ordered: Crockpot Greek Chicken

September 4, 2009 By

I haven’t posted much recently because I have been doing the following:
*trying to nurse my Certain Little Someone back to health
*taking him to the doctor (oh, and the ER!)
*trying to rest (and failing)
*trying to nurse myself back to health
*taking myself to the doctor.

One more doctor’s visit tomorrow, and I think (I hope) we’ll be done with that for a while! As it was, today I had a doctor’s appointment for myself right around the time I would normally be cooking dinner; and on top of that, it’s DH’s softball night, so eating later than usual was not an option. Crockpot to the rescue! I love that thing!

I made one of my go-to recipes (if I have such a thing… that means I’ve made it more than once!) from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, that crockpot classic, “Fix it and Forget it”. All kinds of crockpot recipes and variations for everything from roast beef to mac and cheese to cake.

The one I picked today was called “Greek Chicken”. I don’t know what makes it Greek, except for maybe the oregano? At any rate, it’s a good basic recipe with few ingredients, but reliable, and, of course, tasty. Can’t go wrong with chicken, oregano and olive oil!


Here’s how to make Greek Chicken:

Cut potatoes (I used 7 medium red potatoes for 5 or 6 servings) into quarters or large chunks. You don’t even have to peel them, although I peeled some for my DH:


Place several pounds of chicken pieces (I used split chicken breasts) on top of the potatoes. My crockpot cooks quickly, so I always put the meat in frozen. (At this point, you can also add some fresh chopped onion and garlic. I opted out of that for DH’s sake, but it would add a lot of flavor.) Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste, and then add 1 TBSP of oregano. Yes, that’s a LOT of oregano, but it’s perfect:

Then drizzle some olive oil over the top. The recipe called for 1 TBSP, but I probably used about 2:


I set mine to cook on High for 6 hours, but they were done at closer to 5 hours. Serve the potatoes separately:


Now that was QUICK! A few minutes of prep and then I let it go while I finished the housework and went to my doctor’s appointment. When I came back from the doctor, all I had to do was steam some carrots and slice some fresh fruit for side dishes.

And EASY, naturally. I love that this recipe is so simple but it is so tasty as well. Because it’s not only a main dish, but also a side dish, it minimizes the rest of your work in the kitchen for dinner as well.

And CHEAP, of course. You can use any kind of chicken pieces you find on sale, because it’s very versatile. I probably wouldn’t recommend drumsticks, but bone-in thighs and breasts work very well. A whole cut-up chicken would also do nicely. The minimal ingredients make for a very inexpensive dish.

No question of whether or not it is HEALTHY: all wholesome, nutritious ingredients, and delicious as well.

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Cheater’s BBQ

July 6, 2009 By

The crockpot has got to be the greatest kitchen invention of all time. Actually, it’s a toss-up between that and the dishwasher, but the crockpot might have just the slightest edge. Since I’m a cheapskate, I really love the crockpot because it uses less electricity than the oven and you can cook cheaper cuts of meat in it. And since I don’t consider myself a great cook, I also love that you can throw pretty much whatever in the crockpot and it will turn out fine! Or at least edible. Ha!

The crockpot is particularly useful for those occasions when you don’t have a lot of time to cook, especially right before it’s time to eat. Yesterday, to celebrate Independence Day, my church had “Dinner on the Grounds”, which is basically a good old-fashioned church picnic. Everyone was asked to bring a chicken dish and a side dish or dessert. Fried chicken is always a favorite, but I say what is the fourth of July without BBQ? The problem is that since church ends noon-ish and the picnic began at one, there wasn’t much time to actually prepare the chicken. I could have cooked it the day before, but then I still would have to warm it up, and a lot of other people have the same idea, so the line for the microwave and the oven can get pretty long. So I pulled out my trusty crock pot for some “Cheaters” BBQ.

I say “cheaters” because real BBQ is actually barbecued: grilled over a fire of some sort. But Cheaters BBQ is the only kind I have because I currently live in an apartment, and for some reason, they frown on using grills on your balcony!

But there’s nothing “cheater” about the sauce I used. BBQ sauce is one thing I never buy unless I can get it for super cheap (.50 or less) or free, because it’s so easy to make using basic ingredients that cost less than the jar of sauce. Also, when I make it myself, I don’t have to use HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), which is an unhealthy sweetener used in the majority of store-bought BBQ sauces.

These are the ingredients I used for my Basic BBQ sauce:

Nothing fancy, just your basic, plain old barbecue sauce. Not that I have anything against fancier versions (I actually love trying all different kinds of BBQ recipes), but sometimes Quick & Easy is also the Best!

I poured the ingredients in the following proportions (This is an adaptation of a recipe I found somewhere online; don’t remember exactly where - if you know, let me know!) into my handy-dandy Tupperware Quick Shake Container (I use this all the time for sauces and marinades. It has a little disc at the top that helps to blend the ingredients.):



Easy BBQ Sauce

1 c. ketchup
1/3 c. vinegar
1/3 c. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. mustard

See how easy it is to make your own BBQ sauce? Just pour the ingredients in the container, shake and voila! BBQ sauce:


I placed the chicken (any bone-in kind will do; I used split breasts) in the crockpot and poured the BBQ sauce over it:

I set the crockpot to cook on low for 8 hours, but it didn’t take anywhere near that long. I set it going around 8:00 in the morning, and it was perfectly cooked by 12:30. If I want it to take longer, I leave the chicken (or whatever meat I’m using) frozen.

BBQ in the crock pot is QUICK, aside from the time to cook in the crock pot. Five minutes max to mix the sauce and set it going, and then you can do whatever you want while the crock pot does its job!

It’s also EASY. It’s even easier than cooking on the grill, I think, although as I mentioned before, I don’t have a lot of experience with that!

It’s CHEAP, especially if you make a basic sauce or use an inexpensive store-bought BBQ sauce. I also used split chicken breasts, which I got on sale for .99/lb. (A lot of grocery stores have bone-in chicken deals a LOT this time of year.)

It’s also HEALTHY, particularly if you make your own sauce and use minimal amounts of salt and sugar. Making your own BBQ sauce also limits artificial colors and flavors, which can be found in store-bought products as well.

One more benefit of cooking in the crockpot is that the flavors really have a chance to blend together, more so than in other methods of cooking. This “Cheater” BBQ chicken was tender and flavorful, perfect for a Fourth of July picnic!

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