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: Herbed Turkey

Turkey is one of my all time favorite foods. Ironically, this was my first time cooking it--I've always been a little intimidated by the size and time the bird needs to cook. But when I saw the turkey roast on sale at the grocery store and remembered that my mother-in-law cooks her turkey roasts in the crockpot, I thought that I could do this. I mean, it's pretty hard to screw up anything in the crockpot, right? And I must stay, I've never tasted turkey more moist and flavorful before. I can't wait for turkey roasts to go on sale again. And maybe I'll even tackle cooking a whole turkey come Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Recipe adpated from here.

Ingredients:
3 pound turkey roast (I used Butterball), skin removed
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chicken broth (I used low sodium)

Directions:
In a small bowl, stir together garlic powder, salt, paprika, Italian seasoning, and pepper. 

Brush the turkey roast with oil then rub the spice mixture all over the turkey. Place in slow cooker and pour in chicken broth.  

Cover and cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours or until turkey is tender.

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 Chicke

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

Slow Cooker Recipe: Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

 Last Friday was both a good and bad day in the kitchen. I tested out of new pumpkin oatmeal cookie recipe that I was super excited about. A pumpkin cookie and oatmeal cookie combined, it sounded like a match made in heaven. However, I wasn't impressed with the cookies. Not only did they have no pumpkin flavor, they were bland all around, at least in my opinion, but I hold oatmeal cookies to a very high standard. Eric wasn't thrilled with them either. But Chuck and Edye, his parents, loved them--though they couldn't taste any pumpkin either. I'm still in love with the idea of pumpkin oatmeal cookies so I'll have to invent my own eventually, but probably not until next fall.

Now onto the good--kind of. I have wanted to make squash soup for years; I just never got around to it. I've also always wanted to carved a butternut squash into a jack 'o lantern a la Martha Stewart.

But after cubing and peeling a butternut squash, I lost that desire. As much as I love to use fresh ingredients, next time I think I'm using frozen squash cubes. Anyway, this squash soup turned out superb. I did have some mishaps while making it though. I've mentioned before that I have carpel tunnel. While as I was pouring the soup into the food processor, I dropped it. Squash soup went everywhere--the counter, the wall, the floor, my hair, down the front of me. Luckily, most of the soup was already in the food processor. Sigh.

I paired the soup with my southwestern chicken paninis. I also think the soup would really go good with Paula Dean's Grilled Apple, Bacon, and Cheddar Sandwich with Red Onion Mayo. I've made this sandwich before and it's divine. However, I use my own red onion mayo recipe.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
2 pound butternut squash, peeled and cubed
3 to 4 cups chicken stock*
1 tablespoon dried basil**
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
6 ounces low fat cream cheese, cubed

Directions:
In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onion and saute.


Add onions, squash, 3 cups chicken stock, and basil to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. In batches, pour the soup into a food process and blend until smooth. Return the mixture to the slow cooker and add the cream cheese. Some people like a thicker soup, other prefer a thinner soup. Add the remaining chicken stock until you reach the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for another 30 to 60 minutes. Stir occasionally.

*Reduce the chicken stock to around 2 to 3 cups and you have a yummy squash sauce to pour over pasta, chicken breasts, cheese ravioli, or to use in a lasagna or casserole.

**You can change up the flavor of this recipe so easily. Just sub out the basil for oregano, sage, nutmeg, or pumpkin pie spice. I also think that a little bacon crumbled on top of a bowl of this soup would be delicious.

Between all the cooking I did today, I think the recipe that stole the day was the  roasted winter squash seeds. I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I had forgotten that butternut squash even had seeds until I opened it up. I immediately wondered if I could roast them. Guess what? You can and there are delicious. So next time you have butternut or acorn squash, save the seeds and roast them!

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Also Check These Fall Recipes:  
Apple Rings
Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting
Cheese Tortellini in a Pumpkin Sauce
Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry with Pumpkin Dip
Mini Pumpkin Pies
Baked Apple Chips
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies
Pumpkin Caramels!

Slower Cooker: Alfredo Green Bean Casserole

This is another recipe I tested out on my parents over Memorial weekend. My mom was a little skeptical of this dish. She had never tasted Alfredo sauce and when she tried a bit, she wasn't impressed. But I told her to trust me. Alfredo sauce is great for picking up other flavors like garlic or roasted red pepper, which she loves. Well, after sampling this casserole, she said she's never going back to your typical green bean casserole.

This recipes comes from Pillsbury with a few small changes.

Ingredients:
2 pound green beans (fresh, frozen, or canned. I used canned, drained)
1/2 cup roasted red peppers (jarred or homemade), cut in strips*
1 1/4 cups Alfredo sauce (I prefer Bertolli, never Ragu)
1 cup water chestnut, drained and sliced (optional)**
1 cup French fried onions
Pepper, to taste

Directions:
Whenever I use the slow cooker, I always spray the inside with cooking spray. It makes cleaning it so much easier. So spray the inside of the slow cooker with cooking spray.

Add the beans, water chestnuts, Alfredo sauce, pepper, and roasted red peppers to the slow cooker. Stir to combine.

Cover and cook on Low for 3 to 4 hours, stirring after an hour and a half. Before serving, stir in the French Fried onions.

*Jarred roasted red peppers are so expensive so I make my own roasted red peppers in the oven. My mom thought I was nuts, making my own roasted red peppers. She even came into the kitchen to watch me make them because she didn't believe it was as easy as I said. I recommend making your own using the link above.

**I am the only person I know who likes water chestnuts. So I left them out of this recipe. However, I would have loved to have them in the casserole.

I can't wait to make this casserole for Eric's family, especially his mom. She loves red pepper just like my mom and this dish has such a prominent, delicious red pepper flavor. Eric does not find red peppers as exciting and tasty as the rest of us so I might had crumbled bacon topping to the top of the casserole just to entice him to try it.

Enjoy!

~Krissy