Crockpot Love

[blairmacg]

Have I mentioned I love my crockpot? :)

Truly, the crockpot is a beautiful thing for someone like me: a single working mom who'd rather spend the hours away from outside-the-home work homeschooling her kid and writing her books.

It's also a beautiful thing for the person I'll be one the kid has finished school: a single working woman who likes good food, but would rather not cook a "special" meal for one (or maybe two) every night.

This week's crockpot happiness was a concoction of chicken, broccoli, potatoes and cheese. Mmmmm....

Ingredients:

2, 3, or 4 chicken breasts, depending on how much chicken you want in the final product. I chopped the chicken into big chunks because I like that better than shredded chicken in most dishes. If you like shredded chicken, just put the whole breasts in and shred them before serving.
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 to 3 cups of broccoli, chopped. You can use fresh or frozen. Fresh will give you firmer broccoli in the end.
2 to 3 cups of potatoes, peeled and chopped. If you're looking to reduce carbs, just leave these out. Add another cup or so of cauliflower and/or broccoli instead.
1 can cream of something soup. Celery, broccoli, mushroom, chicken, potato, whatever.
1/2 to 1 tsp paprika, if you like that flavor
OR
1/2 to 1 tsp nutmeg, if you like that flavor
1 to 2 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 to 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 - 8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

(I usually dump in some thyme or parsley or marjoram in uncertain quantities.)

Dump the chicken, onion, broccoli, and potatoes in the crockpot. In a bowl, mix everything else EXCEPT THE CHEESE with the cream of something soup. Add maybe half a cup of chicken broth (or water in a pinch) to make it smooth and pourable. Pour it over all the stuff in the crockpot. Cook on low for about 6 to 7 hours. Add the cheese about 20 minutes before serving.

Usually I'd put this over spaetzle, but I was out so we had it over rice. That was all right, but I prefer the noodles.

But I will say it's wonderfully warm and hearty on these cold nights...

Comments

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

That sounds delicious!

[blairmacg.livejournal.com]

It is very good, and easy since there's a minimum of fiddling required.

During the week, fiddling is to be avoided. Meals that require fiddling are for the weekends. :)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have two crockpots, one for big things and one for little things for just me. The little things for just me mostly means my porridge in the mornings, but on the other hand, that crockpot cost something like $7 and allows me to make better porridge for myself for years to come, so I think that's totally okay.

Yesterday's crockpot recipe was black bean beef chili. Tomorrow I am trying a new Korean-style pork and squash soup that will involve doing all sorts of weird finishing things with stuff that's been in the crockpot all day. We might not even use the crockpot Saturday...but then again we might, because it's been awhile since we had miso-honey-glazed ribs.

<3 <3 <3 crockpot

[blairmacg.livejournal.com]

I bet that small crockpot would make amazing fruit desserts. (Now contemplating getting small crockpot...)

I'd love to hear how the pork and squash soup comes out! I've a balsamic pork on the menu for tomorrow, and coconut curry for Sunday.

Earlier in the week was apple-bacon sorta-barbeque chicken spiked with smoked paprika. I adore smoked paprika. It seems my son does as well, and I was glad I made such a huge amount of this recipe because Dev made an additional four meals out of it.