Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore

This made the house smell A-MAZING! I'll add some capers towards the end next time.

Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore
Taken from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 12 oz. tomato paste
• 6 oz. sliced mushroom
• 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 rib celery, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt

Directions:

• Place the onions in the bottom of the crockpot.  Layer the chicken over the onions
• In a large bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients.  Pour over the chicken.
• Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours.  (I did 8 hours and it was a bit dry b/c I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  Next time I will probably reduce it to 6 hours.)
• 1/2 hour before the end of cooking time, roughly shred the chicken with two forks, then stir to combine.

Crockpot Roast

This is a spin on pot roast that's cooked in the crockpot. I've done many different variations on this, but here's tonight's version.

Crockpot Roast

Ingredients:

• 2 pound chuck roast, all visible fat removed
•  Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• olive oil
• 5 medium carrots, thickly sliced
• 6 medium red potatoes, cubed (omit if you are strictly following the SBD, or use sweet potatoes)
• a few generous dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 2 6-oz. packages sliced mushrooms
• 2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, reserve 1 cup of the juice

Directions:

• Liberally season both sides of the chuck roast.  Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and sear the meat on both sides.
• In a crockpot, place the carrots and potatoes.  Season with TSSS.
• Place the seared meat on top of the veggies and add a few generous dashes of Worcestershire sauce.
• Add the mushrooms, diced tomatoes and reserved juice.  Season with TSSS.
• Cook on low heat for 8 hours.  Towards the last hour, stir the veggies with a wooden spoon.

In the past, I've also added a large sliced onion, celery, as well as peas.

Crockpot Taco Chicken

Whenever I think of the crockpot, I conjure up images of drafty cold winter days or damp rainy weekends in my head. Admittedly there are few things better than coming home from a long day of work or school on a cold winter's day (when it gets dark out at 4:00pm) to a warm house filled with savory foody fragrance.

But considering how easy crockpot cooking is, shouldn't it be used year-round? Get up in the morning, throw everything in the crockpot, and come home in the evening to instant dinner. It's like having your own personal chef cooking for you. Well, almost. Someone needs to invent a crockpot that can cook in multiple sections so you can have an entire 4-course meal waiting for you at the end of the day. ;-)

I don't remember where I got this recipe from. It's probably a combination of pieces of numerous recipes I've come across over the years, but I've been making this for quite a while now. The beauty of this recipe is that you can add whatever you want to the base, including a bag of frozen peas or corn, different types of beans, diced bell peppers, etc. And instead of using plain canned diced tomatoes, you can used canned tomatoes with peppers, zesty tomatoes, or even RoTel. You also don't have to use chicken, I've made it with pork loin and that's delicious as well. It's also great as leftovers the next day (or even the next week) as the flavors have time to all meld together.

Crockpot Taco Chicken
Adapted from I don't remember where.


Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, all visible fat removed
  
• 2 tablespoons dry taco seasoning
• several dashes of garlic powder
• several dashes of onion powder
• 1/4ish teaspoon salt
• 1 large can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
  
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans
• half a 4 oz can of diced jalapenos
  

Directions:

• Layer everything into your crockpot in the order listed above. Set on low for 8 hours.
• After the 8 hours, shred chicken with two forks and mix it all up well. Let sit for 15 minutes before serving so the shredded chicken can soak up all of the yummy goodness.
  
• Serve rolled up in warm soft tortillas, stuffed in crusty bread for a sandwich, scooped with Triscuits, or ladled over rice with a dollop of sour cream.