Falling in love with my Crockpot...

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WithWhatsLeft
WithWhatsLeft Posts: 196 Member
in Recipes
It's just me at home this week and I got tired of eating salads with grilled chicken and tuna sandwiches. I wanted something warm and comforting, so this is what I did:

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/4 28oz can of good quality crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons of chopped raw mushroom
2 tablespoons (maybe more) of chopped raw onion
1 or 2 tablespoons of capers, because they are awesome
pinch of: Lowry's Garlic Salt, oregano, fennel seed, basil, black pepper, red pepper

Measurements are approximate because I measure by eye but I'm pretty good at it.

I tossed all the above into my smaller crock pot for 3 or 4 hours on low. By that point, the chicken has absorbed all the veg and spices, and it falls apart in terror when you look at it.

Then I boiled up about a quarter cup of whole wheat thin spaghetti, and I roasted some cut up zucchinni with herbs and olive oil. Too much OO, I need to start measuring that one because it was fantastic but too much oil.

This was fabulous! I put it all on my plate (well, half the chicken breast) and splurged with perhaps a teaspoon of real shaved Parmesan.

Loving my crockpot and I have more to share if anyone's interested. Does anyone else love their crockpot?

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  • nancyhall18
    nancyhall18 Posts: 9
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    One of my favorites is boneless skinless chicken breast in the bottom of the crockpot with a jar of mango salsa (or any salsa, whatever you like) dump over chicken. Cook all day on low while I'm at work. It's ready to go when I get home.YUMmmmmm :tongue:
  • WithWhatsLeft
    WithWhatsLeft Posts: 196 Member
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    Oh I've done that, it is quite good on whole wheat tortillas or salads. Regular salsa, i mean. I don't like fruit in anything but cereal. :) I buy salsa by the can in the International foods section; compare the labels if you haven't done so yet. It's cheaper and quite often less ingredients, fat, calories and sodium. I'm not sure of the brand my current fav is, not Goya, I can't remember.

    Dump in some black beans and corn while you are at it! That's great, I wish I wasn't the only one in my family that likes this.

    One of my favorites is boneless skinless chicken breast in the bottom of the crockpot with a jar of mango salsa (or any salsa, whatever you like) dump over chicken. Cook all day on low while I'm at work. It's ready to go when I get home.YUMmmmmm :tongue:
  • nichelle02
    nichelle02 Posts: 39
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    I would *love* more ideas. Just yesterday I was looking up low calorie crock pot meals. I work a LOT and don't have much time to cook. I was thinking I could toss something simple in the crockpot and it could be ready when I got home. These days, I'm eating a lot of salads. And as much as I love them, I'm sure I'm going to get bored of them. I have some Lean Cuisine/Healthy Choice meals in the freezer but I'd like to limit those.

    So, if you have more crock pot ideas, I'd love to hear about them.
  • ice1200s
    ice1200s Posts: 237 Member
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    Crock-pot cooking is something I need to get back into the habit of. I haven't done much since I started to lose weight. My friends quite often tease me by calling me the Crock-Pot King. I have five of them, and almost every weekend I would have two of them going at the same time. I kept my freezer loaded with a variety of meals. Sure came in handy when I used to work.
  • ittybittybadonkadonk
    ittybittybadonkadonk Posts: 11,634 Member
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    I made bbq pulled pork last night ( skinnytaste.com) ..I make buffalo chicken and then make buffalo chicken eggrolls .... I will be making pork carnitas later ( skinnytaste.com) I love love love my crockpot
  • myrahonbarrier
    myrahonbarrier Posts: 191 Member
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    I do not ever want to live without my crockpot
  • WithWhatsLeft
    WithWhatsLeft Posts: 196 Member
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    Here's one you can do with frozen chicken breasts - put them in the pot first thing in the morning.

    Add whatever bottled buffalo sauce you like (remember there's a lot of sodium in most of these), just enough to almost cover the chicken.

    Cook on low for 6 or 7 hours. Then take the chicken out and shred it with 2 forks. It will fall apart.

    Now you have chicken for wraps, salads, etc. You can divvy it up and freeze it in portions as well.

    You can actually do this with any chicken and any sauce. It really doesn't matter. Last week I did it with a Mexican red enchilada sauce and made burritos all week with it.
  • nichelle02
    nichelle02 Posts: 39
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    I made bbq pulled pork last night ( skinnytaste.com) ..I make buffalo chicken and then make buffalo chicken eggrolls .... I will be making pork carnitas later ( skinnytaste.com) I love love love my crockpot

    ... off to check out skinnytaste.com!
  • nichelle02
    nichelle02 Posts: 39
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    Here's one you can do with frozen chicken breasts - put them in the pot first thing in the morning.

    Add whatever bottled buffalo sauce you like (remember there's a lot of sodium in most of these), just enough to almost cover the chicken.

    Cook on low for 6 or 7 hours. Then take the chicken out and shred it with 2 forks. It will fall apart.

    Now you have chicken for wraps, salads, etc. You can divvy it up and freeze it in portions as well.

    You can actually do this with any chicken and any sauce. It really doesn't matter. Last week I did it with a Mexican red enchilada sauce and made burritos all week with it.

    That sounds great. I have a favorite sauce I use for wings. I'm going to check the nutritional values and just might give that a shot. Thanks!
  • WithWhatsLeft
    WithWhatsLeft Posts: 196 Member
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    Oh share your sauce recipe please? I've got a man who loves wings and we can just never make them at home. He likes it hot.
    Here's one you can do with frozen chicken breasts - put them in the pot first thing in the morning.

    Add whatever bottled buffalo sauce you like (remember there's a lot of sodium in most of these), just enough to almost cover the chicken.

    Cook on low for 6 or 7 hours. Then take the chicken out and shred it with 2 forks. It will fall apart.

    Now you have chicken for wraps, salads, etc. You can divvy it up and freeze it in portions as well.

    You can actually do this with any chicken and any sauce. It really doesn't matter. Last week I did it with a Mexican red enchilada sauce and made burritos all week with it.

    That sounds great. I have a favorite sauce I use for wings. I'm going to check the nutritional values and just might give that a shot. Thanks!
  • ittybittybadonkadonk
    ittybittybadonkadonk Posts: 11,634 Member
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    I personally like franks buffalo sauce
  • nichelle02
    nichelle02 Posts: 39
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    Oh share your sauce recipe please? I've got a man who loves wings and we can just never make them at home. He likes it hot.

    Oh it's totally a bottled sauce! I'm a lazy cook most of the time :yawn: It's from a local chain called Green Mill. They sell their Diablo wing sauce and it's a favorite. ( http://greenmillfoods.com/sauces/diablo-marinade-and-wing-sauce ). It's not that hot, though.

    My mother was an AMAZING cook (southern food) so on holidays I cook all of her old recipes. Other than that, I'm just looking for something fast and easy.
  • WithWhatsLeft
    WithWhatsLeft Posts: 196 Member
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    Here's a favorite that I used to superfood myself out of a very bad cold (well, this and blueberries) once. My family loves this, and we toast up some french bread with a little butter on it when I'm being bad.

    It's a spicy whole chicken in a crockpot, used to make chicken noodle soup. The spice heat is good, the veg is good, it's all good. It's really hard to mess this one up and it's so good for you. You need a big crockpot for this! Got to be able to stick the whole chicken in there.

    It's going to take about 6 to 7 hours in the pot, all day, on low. You will have chicken that falls apart and a lot of broth. I often freeze half the cooked chicken because again, it's often just my fiance and myself. Then I make soup with it later. This recipe is for a whole chicken but again remember I measure with fingertips and the palm of my hand, old school.

    Follow this recipe for the chicken in the pot - it's highly seasoned - http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-whole-chicken-33671

    Whole lot of red pepper going on there. That's good for you.

    Now, once the chicken is about done, yank out your big (big) pot. We call it a crab pot or soup pot where I'm from. You know, the BIG one.

    Saute in olive oil:
    1/4 cup or so of raw chopped mushroom
    2 or 3 cloves of chopped fresh garlic

    Saute them just until they get fragrant, maybe 2 minutes. Now pour in:
    1 to 2 big boxes of fat free, low sodium chicken broth
    Broth from the chicken in the crock pot. I drain off most of the fat - I can get almost 2 cups of broth from a good sized chicken. That's the good stuff!

    (I'm sorry, I don't have the amounts but I'll go look them up for anyone who needs to know. The point of the broth is a lot of liquid. Much of that will evaporate or get soaked up into the veg)

    Now, add some fresh veg - not frozen if you can help it:
    3 or 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
    cup or so of trimmed green beans
    2 or 3 stalks of chopped celery
    (at this point you can go nuts. Add anything. Lima beans, corn, sweet potatoes, even spinach at the last second. Whatever you like.)

    Now chop up the cooked chicken.

    Throw that in. If you need more liquid (remember it's a soup) add more broth.

    Now throw in a bunch of whole-wheat egg noodles.

    Remember the chicken is already cooked, and the egg noodles take maybe 5 to10 min to cook.

    This soup will fix you up.
  • nichelle02
    nichelle02 Posts: 39
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    I'm saving that recipe! And I've spent a lot of time on skinnytaste.com now. This weekend I'm going to take my crock pot out of its box (that's right it's still in the box from when I bought it a year ago) and try a couple of recipes.

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