Crock Pot Chicken and Black Beans

Chicken and Black Beans is a favorite of mine.  Recently I thought, I need to try this in the crockpot.  I figured it would be fairly easy to adapt to the crockpot.  In the end, I didn't like the crockpot version as much as the regular one, but I think a big part of that was the black beans.  I didn't have any canned beans so I ended up using beans from a bag and I don't think they were cooked enough.  I don't like undercooked beans.  But I think I will add this as a crockpot meal and next time I'll make sure I have canned beans to use.

Chicken and Black Beans
~3 servings as prepared

3 chicken breast, frozen
1/2 lb black beans, soaked/prepped
1 14 oz can of tomatoes
1 chipotle pepper, seeded and chopped + some adobo sauce
1 small red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped

To serve:
Tortilla chips
1 avocado, chopped
shredded cheese
sour cream

Directions:
Place frozen chicken in bottom of stoneware.  Cover with tomatoes, beans, chopped onion and peppers.  Cook on low for ~5 hours.  (I think I cooked on low for 2.5 hours and then changed it to high for another 1 in hopes of getting those beans softer).

To serve, place chips in a bowl.  Add chicken and black beans.  Top with cheese, sour cream and avocado.

Crockpot Spanish Rice

Crockpot Spanish Rice

Servings ~2-3 (as prepared)

Ingredients:
1/2 lb beef
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
8 oz tomato sauce (try Rotel's green chile tomato sauce for an extra kick!)
1/2 14 oz can diced tomatoes (I was using up some freezer stock)
1/2 cup rice, uncooked
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Chili powder
~1 T Worchestire

Directions:
Spray crockpot with Pam.  Put in beef (cooked or raw).  Top with green pepper, onion, tomatoes, tomato sauce, seasonings and worchestire sauce.  Cook on low for 2.5 hours.  (Again, cook time depends on how full your CP is.  I have a large CP, 6 qt maybe? and this recipe as listed only filled maybe 1/4.  The original recipe calls for cooking on low 6-7 hours).

Serve as is or consider topping with shredded cheese or filling a tortilla.

I put this all together Monday night and put the CP in the refrigerator overnight.

This Week's Meal Plan

Here's this week's meal plan (since I didn't post it last week):

Sunday - Tilapia and Bean Salad   Crockpot Chicken and Green Chile.  Turned out I was too wiped to cook even fish, so I experimented in the crockpot.  I had a large jar of green chile stew.  I put some frozen chicken breast in the CP, chopped some onion, and dumped half the jar in.  It was delicious.  The rest of the jar I'm saving for turkey leftovers and am actually going to make a stew out of it.

Monday - Chicken Parm Salad Subs (made on Sunday) - I used this recipe, but modified it.  I didn't use mint, or fresh parsley.  I used shredded chicken breasts instead of a rotisserie chicken.  I've used rotisserie chicken before and its delicious (more moist than just using chicken breasts), but I was being lazy and cheap.

Tuesday - Crockpot Honey Nut Chicken - I used this recipe, but modified it to taste (no tabasco)

Wednesday - Ham and Mozzerella Croissants and Corn

Thursday - On Your Own

Friday - DATE NIGHT!!!

Saturday - Tacos and Beans

Basil Chicken with Feta

We've had a slight hiccup in our meal plan.  Last Saturday we planned to eat out, but we had been out already and our little man was getting tired.  So instead of just getting something fast to go, we decided we'd just go home, put the little guy to bed and have a frozen pizza for dinner.  And since we didn't eat out last Saturday, we decided we could eat out this past Saturday.  So I had a meal scheduled for Saturday that we didn't end up using/needing.  It was a new recipe and one for the crockpot (because I need to increase my crockpot arsenal).  So I decided I'd scrap the weekly fish on Sunday to do the meal on Sunday.  This actually worked perfectly because we ended up taking our boat out Sunday and I would have had zero energy to cook dinner.  Plus it was awesome that dinner was ready when we were ready!

Basil Chicken with Feta in Crockpot
~4 servings (recipe says to use 4 qt crockpot)
4 chicken breasts, frozen (original recipe calls for 2lb of chicken thighs)
1 14 oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 14 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 cup of pitted green olives
1/4 cup basil leaves
8 oz feta

Place the chicken in the dish, top with tomatoes, beans, olives.  Scatter basil leaves and top with feta crumbles.  Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3.  (I used a 6qt CP and cooked on low for 3.5 hrs and let it keep warm for 4 hours).

This meal was ok, but not one of my favorites.  I thought it was pretty similar to the crockpot Meditterean Chicken dish.  The feta did something weird in the crockpot.  This was my first time using a block of feta instead of the usual already crumbled stuff.  So I'm not sure if that was it or not.  I think next time I'll add the feta much much later.  I used basil from our garden which was awesome.  We didn't like eating the basil after it cooked though.  I'm not sure I tasted much basil flavor either, but I definitely smelled it while it was cooking.

Loaded Potatoes

I did something new! I baked potatoes in the crockpot and next to those potatoes, I put a pyrex dish with chili in it!


I was home on Wednesday so instead of microwaving the potatoes for dinner (Wednesday's dinner theme is quick, the quicker the better!), I thought I'd like to try the potatoes in the crockpot. I had read that if a dish is oven safe then you can use it in the crockpot. Apparently this is a good method if you are making a smaller dish than the size of your crockpot calls for. I was nervous.

Loaded Potatoes:
2 large potatoes, cleaned, forked and wrapped in foil
1 can of chili and beans
a few green onions, chopped
sour cream
cheese
other potato toppings

The chili goes into the pyrex dish and the potatoes next to them. I cooked on high for 3 hours. The chili was over cooked (but not burnt) and the potatoes were perfect! Then top the potatoes with all the fixings!

If I use this method in the future and I do not plan on being home, I will probably cook the potatoes on low for 4-5 hours and then add the chili (in its on bowl) after I get home from work. The chili just needs to heat through.

Crockpot Ranch Chicken Recipe

Today, right now, as we speak, I'm working on dinner.  Tuesday's are crockpot days!  And I love that!  I almost forgot to do some prep work last night for this meal, but I eventually remembered.  At the very least, I like to set out the ingredients and recipe the night before so all I have to do in the morning is throw everything together.

Here's how I made it:

Ranch Chicken with Potatoes
~2 Servings (with maybe some leftovers)

2-3 chicken breast, frozen
5-6 tiny to small potatoes
1/2 bag (small bag) of baby carrots
1/2 onion, sliced
1 can (10oz?) cream of chicken
1 pkg dry ranch seasoning
1/2 cup of milk

Mix the cream of chicken, dry ranch and milk together in a small bowl.  Add frozen chicken to the crockpot, add potatoes, carrots, and onions.  Cover with the cream mixture.  Cook on low for 3-4 hours.

We've had this meal a few times now and it's a good one.  The original recipe calls for pork chops, but I don't like pork chops.  Feel free to use either, but don't ask me how to cook pork!

Ok, here's the deal with crockpots.  The cook time really depends on how full the dish is.  The less full, the less cooking time you will need.  Through trial and error (read severly burned, dried out meals), I've learned the right cook time.  You just need to experiment.  My cook time might be a little less if I didn't keep it in the CP all day.  But I've learned that when it's keeping warm all day I really only need it "cooking" for about 3-4 hours.  I have a large crockpot (6 qts maybe??) so when I make meals for 2, I only fill the stoneware about half way sometimes even less.

Maybe one day I'll do a post with CP tips.  But for now, just remember, if you are starting it before you leave for work and it will be warming all day, aim on the short cooking time.  When you get home you can check it out and if it's undercooked, you can easily turn it on high for an hour and probably be fine.  If you are going to be home when you are cooking, just check on it and add more time if needed.  Good luck!

Chicken Jumbalaya

This week’s new recipe was chicken jumbalaya. Brian’s dad was visiting this weekend and I thought this would be a good dinner for Sunday. Brian and I had soccer so we didn’t end up trying it until Monday. I was a little nervous about serving it without trying it first, but I was reassured that it was tasty.

This was a pretty simple and easy recipe and it used the crockpot. I actually made quite a few modifications to the recipe which isn’t something I usually do the first time making something.

The recipe called for frozen onions and peppers and that’s not really my thing. I prefer fresh, and I didn’t think this should affect the recipe too much. Also the recipe called for diced tomatoes with jalapenos. Instead I used Rotel tomatoes with green chilis. I chopped up the onion and bell peppers and into the crockpot they went. Then I added the canned tomatoes, turkey sausage (which was already cooked), raw chicken and water. The recipe I was following also said to add the seasoning from the jumbalaya rice package. Well the rice that I got didn’t have the seasoning packaged separately from the rice so it didn’t go in yet. This cooked up in the crockpot while I was sleeping (definitely lazy cooking!) which was about 3 hours on high. Then I added the packaged rice (and seasoning). At this point I was worried that there wasn’t enough rice. I used about 20 ounces of canned tomatoes and the recipe only called for 14 ounces. After I got the rice in the pot, it just seemed that there wasn’t enough so I added about ¼ cup of plain brown rice too. Then I let it cook for another 45-50 minutes on high.

Well, there is a lot of rice now. I think there would have been plenty without that extra amount so I probably won’t do that next time.

Here’s what it looked like stewing in the crock pot.

Here’s the recipe (modified):
Servings: 6
1 medium to large white onion – chopped (larger pieces)
2 bell peppers – chopped (larger pieces) I used green and orange for the colors
2 - 10.5 oz cans Rotel tomatoes with green chili, undrained
2 cups water
8 oz turkey sausage, cubed
8 oz chicken breast, sliced
1 – 8oz packaged jumbalaya rice

Add onion, peppers, canned tomatoes to crockpot. Add water. Add sausage and chicken. (If your rice has the seasoning separate, add it now). Cover and cook on high for 2.5-3 hours or low for 5-6 hours. Then add rice, cover and cook on high for another 45 minutes or until liquid is soaked up and rice is tender.