Crockpot: Lemon Pepper Chicken

Lemon Pepper seasoning has become one of my favorite seasonings over the last year. Try it on corn; just trust me, it's delicious. I even have Eric hooked on it. I already have a hobo meal lemon pepper chicken; it was inevitable that I'd come up with a Crockpot lemon pepper chicken. So moist, so full of flavor. I actually wish I had made more so I had leftovers to eat.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thawed or frozen)
3 tablespoons lemon pepper seasoning
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:
Spray Crockpot with cooking spray (this simply makes cleaning it easier). Add chicken breasts. Pour lemon juice over them then sprinkle with seasoning.

Set Crockpot to Low and cook 6 to 8 hours or set to High and cook 5 to 7 hours.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Chicken Recipes:
Parmesan-Seared Chicken
Parmesan Chicken Casserole
Pesto Chicken Lasagna with Artichokes and Fire-Roasted Tomatoes
Pizza Inspired Chicken 
Potless Chicken Pot Pies
Provincial Chicken
Southwest Chicken Panini Sandwich
Spicy Bacon-Wrapped Chicken
Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Crockpot: Zesty Shredded Chicken Sandwiches

This meal has quickly become one of our favorites. Who knew that just three ingredients in a slow cooker could have this much flavor. Eric only wanted to make one change: add bacon. Of course, that's a change he'd make to almost any recipe out there.

Ingredients:
3 to 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (thawed or frozen both work)
1/2 cup Italian dressing
1 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained

Buns
Cheddar cheese, optional
Kraft Chipotle Mayo, optional
Bacon, optional

Directions:
Grease slow cooker with cooking spray. Place chicken breasts in the slow cooker. Pour dressing over chicken then add the diced tomatoes.

Cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours. Shred chicken with two forks. Assemble sandwiches.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Slow Cooker Recipes:
Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken 
Chile and Tomato Shredded Chicken with Cheese Sauce
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Mashed Potatoes
Orange Chicken
Pumpkin Butter
Simply the Best Macaroni and Cheese
Tomato and Artichoke Chicken

Crockpot: Simply the Best Macaroni and Cheese

My mom bought Arya a reindeer outfit.

This past Christmas was not only the first Christmas dinner I hosted, but also our first Christmas as a married couple, our first Christmas with Arya, and our first Christmas in our new place. So it was a pretty exciting holiday for us. But I don't want to talk about any of that. I want to talk about how freaking amazing this mac and cheese is. It's the best I've ever had; it tops any restuarant, store bought, or homemade version I've ever tried. It's that good. Even Eric and his dad, neither big on mac and cheese, both loved it. My mom and mother-in-law asked for the recipe. And the fact that it's made in the crockpot, all the much better! On Christmas day it was a life saver when everything else had to go in the oven.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
2 cups elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 8-ounce bag of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream (I used low fat)
1 10.75-ounce can of condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Optional Bread Topping:
2 tablespoon butter, melted
3 pieces of sandwich bread, torn into bite size pieces
1/2 tablespoon McCormick Crusting Blend Garlic, Lemon, and Rosemary (or you can use garlic powder, basil, thyme, rosemary, whatever your favorite herbs are)

Directions:

Boil macaroni in water for 7 minutes. Drain.

Place all of the ingredients except the pasta, thyme, and optional bread topping in your crockpot and stir. Add pasta and stir again.* 

Cook for 2 hours on low. Stir in thyme.

Optional: After mac and cheese has cooked, transfer to a casserole dish. In a bowl toss together melted butter, bread, and spices. Top the mac and cheese with the bread and place under the broiler until the bread browns, about 5 to 10 minutes. 

*Since I was making this for Christmas dinner (and for the first time!) and didn't want to screw it up, I did not add the pasta to the crockpot. I made the sauce in the crockpot and add the pasta afterwards. However, I read many, many reviews on this recipe and none of them talked about the pasta becoming mushy. Next time I make this, I'll add the pasta right in.

Now, because I was so busy cooking and entertaining on Christmas day, I kinda sorta forgot to take a picture. But I did take a couple of pictures of some reheated leftovers (oh, it reheats very well) sans bread topping.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Crockpot Recipes:
Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Orange Chicken
Pumpkin Butter 
Tomato and Artichoke Chicken

Crockpot Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken

Slow cookers, Crockpots, whatever you call them, they are fabulous for when you feel lazy. Throw in your ingredients, turn on the machine, and forget about it until dinner time. I'm so happy to add this chicken recipe to my list of Crockpot recipes.  Eric couldn't stop commenting on how amazing it smelled and then he couldn't stop telling me how amazing it tasted. I was a little worried about it being too sweet, but I'm happy to report that it was the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons water

Directions:
Grease your slow cooker with cooking spray and place the chicken (frozen, thawed, or fresh--I used frozen) inside. In a bowl, mix together the brown sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, soy sauce and pepper. Pour mixture over the chicken. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

Remove the chicken from the slow cooker (I shredded mine) and pour the remaining sauce into a saucepan. In a small bowl or glass, stir together the corn starch and water, and then pour it into the saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and allow to boil for 2 to 3 minutes or until the suace thickens. Remove pan from heat and allow to sit for a 1 to 2 minutes so the sauce can continue to thicken.

Pour over chicken and serve.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Crockpot Recipes
 Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Orange Chicken
Pumpkin Butter 
Tomato and Artichoke Chicken

Orange Chicken in a Slow Cooker

Slow cooker or crockpot recipes make cooking so easy and food so incredibly flavorful. When I came across an orange chicken slow cooker recipe, I knew I had to try it. Eric and I are both HUGE orange chicken fans. When we order Chinese, it's usually orange chicken and fried rice. Fortunately, Eric makes a mean fried rice (I actually prefer his rice over that of any restaurant). So I made the chicken, he made the rice, and we had one yummy dinner.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
4 or 5 boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen or thawed, I used frozen)
3/4 cup orange marmalade
3/4 cup barbecue sauce (we used Sweet Baby Ray, our all time favorite BBQ sauce)
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:
Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker. Pour the marmalade, barbecue sauce, and soy sauce over the chicken. Cover and set slow cooker to low. Cook for 4 hours. Partially uncover the slow cooker so some of the liquid will escape; this will thicken your sauce. Cook for another 3 to 4 hours. You can serve breasts whole, cut them into pieces, or shred them. Serve over fried rice.

Eric's amazing fried rice!

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Slow Cooker Recipes
Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Pumpkin Butter 
Tomato and Artichoke Chicken