Thai Chicken Thighs (slow cooker)

I've never been a huge fan of cooking with chicken thighs (usually go straight for the breasts) - I don't now whether it's having to work around the bone to eat it, or the realization that because of the bone the nice plump chicken thighs that looked so appetizing in the grocery store end up hardly being more than a mouthful by the end of things.  I don't know....just one of my many little foibles I'm sure.
Today though, I wanted to try a slightly adapted version of Julie Van Rosendaal's dish from her 'Dinner with Julie' website that I came across.  I added some garlic and adjusted the quantities a little, and to our tastes it was delicious - I might add just a little bit more spice next time, possibly some red pepper flakes, but only to satisfy my hubby's spicy palate even more :o)

Thai Chicken Thighs
3-4 servings

8 skinless chicken thighs
1 1/2 cup chunky salsa
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
3 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs lime juice
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp garlic, chopped

• combine everything in your slow cooker and heat on LOW setting for 5-6 hours.
• easy peasy!!

Thai Chicken Thighs ingredients.

put everything in the slow cooker and combine thoroughly.

after 5-6 hours the chicken is drop-off-the-bone tender.

serve with some fragrant vegetable rice and enjoy.

Applesauce (slow cooker)

We have two large, well established apple trees on our property - a Grimes Golden and a Gravenstein - which, over the years have succeeded in giving us copious amounts of fruit which have gone towards the making of pies and tarts, and cider, and the freshest apple juice that you've ever tasted (the Gravenstein is just pure heavenly nectar that gets squeezed out at a local 'juicing' company called The Cider Press), and of course applesauce - from chunky to go alongside juicy pork chops, and spiced to be used in cakes and cookies, to o'naturel-nothing-added pureed for friends babies.

Unfortunately this isn't the time of year for us to be able to harvest our own crop, but horror of horrors I've completely ran out of our applesauce in the pantry and I just can't bring myself to buy the grocery store brand - I think I've been completely spoilt from being able to make my own now. :o)  I usually make it in a saucepan but have decided today to give the slow cooker a try after coming across quite a number of other people that prefer to make it this way.  Apart from the usual prep work at either end of the day of chopping and storing it's all the same simple ingredients just a longer cooking time where I can just forget about it - and the house smells....DIVINE!!!!

Applesauce (slow cooker)
makes approx 5 cups

15 small-medium apples (I used a mix of Spartan and Royal Gala today)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup water (or fresh apple juice)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
juice from 1 lemon

• peel, core and dice the apples and put into a 5-6 quart slow cooker.
• in a small bowl, combine all the other ingredients and pour over the apples:  mix well.
• cover and cook on LOW heat for 8-10 hours (or HIGH for 3-4 hours).
• when the apples are soft and tender use either a potato masher or an immersion blender to get your desired consistency.

 Applesauce ingredients.

peel the apples - yay, all in one piece!!

I use my handy coring and slicing gadget, but that's just me :o)

dice all the apples and put them into the slow cooker.

mix all the other ingredients in a small bowl (most of the cinnamon will float and won't mix all that well, but that's okay.)

pour the liquid over the diced apples;  mix well, cover and cook.

 after 9 hours of cooking on low heat.

I like to use my applesauce in cookie and cake recipes so I mash it a little to break down the larger pieces.

sometimes I freeze the applesauce in plastic containers or strong ziploc bags, or as I did today I processed them in jars to store in the pantry.

before I mashed the applesauce I took out a couple of spoonfuls with the larger chunks to put over some creamy vanilla ice cream - yummy!!!

Cheesy Potato Bake

I couldn't decide what to make to go alongside the beef stew that I had put into one of our slow cookers first thing this morning.  Should I go with some crusty bread, or to pour it over some egg noodles, or maybe even some nice garlic mash potatoes - decisions, decisions.  In the end I figured that, seeing as I have two slow cookers I might as well get something going in the other one as well and have a really easy dinner - I might have some simple prep work to begin with, but when the time comes it's just take off the lid and dish up - and this yummy little potato dish is always a crowd pleaser.

Cheesy Potato Bake (Slow Cooker)
6-8 servings

1 1/2 lbs potatoes
1 cup cheese, grated (I used white cheddar)
1 red onion, chopped
1/2 brick cream cheese, cubed
1 jar Alfredo pasta sauce
2 Tbs Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp dried garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

• cut the potatoes in half and then cut each half into 1/4 inch slices;  put the sliced potatoes into a 4-5 quart slow cooker.
• add the grated cheese, chopped onion and cream cheese to the potatoes and combine.
• in a medium bowl combine the Alfredo sauce, Dijon mustard, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper and blend together.
• pour the sauce over the potato mixture in the slow cooker and mix well.
• cover and cook on LOW setting for 6-8 hours.

 Cheesy Potato Bake ingredients.

half the potatoes lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch slices.

put all of the potatoes into a 4-5 quart slow cooker.

add the chopped onions.

add the cheeses and mix well.

put the Alfredo sauce, mustard, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper into a medium bowl.....

 blend well.

pour over the potato mixture in the slow cooker and mix thoroughly.

I served it with the rich beef stew that I had cooked in our second slow cooker....yummy!!!

Beef Stew

We woke up this morning to about an inch of snow - not much really for the area we live in (although we are forecast for more in the next couple of days) but enough that one of my first thoughts was......it's a slow cooker day.  Can you think of anything better than hunkering down at the end of a snowy day, with the fire blazing and a big bowl of beef stew on the table.....mmmm mmmm.

Beef Stew (Slow Cooker)
6-8 servings

1 kg stewing steak
2 cans condensed mushroom soup
1 can onion soup
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbs worcestershire sauce

• peel and slice the onion and chop the garlic cloves; set aside.
• into a 5-6 quart slow cooker pot empty the three cans of soup.
• add the onion, garlic and worcestershire sauce and mix well.
• add the stewing steak and mix to combine everything thoroughly (if you want you can brown the meat in a skillet before adding to the slow cooker, but I never bother and it always comes out beautifully tender and moist)
• cook on LOW setting for 6-8 hours.

 Beef Stew ingredients.

slice and chop the onion and garlic.

put the soups, onion, garlic and worcestershire sauce in the slow cooker and mix well.

add the stewing steak and mix - I admit that at this stage the colour especially doesn't look very appetising, but by the end of the cooking time it will be a deep brown, bubbling bowl of bodaciousness ;o)

what did I tell you about the bodaciousness.....yummy!!

(I got our second slow cooker going with cheesy potato bake to go alongside...mmmmm)

Chicken Casserole with Biscuits

Everyone should have at least one recipe in their repertoire that requires the absolute minimum of preparation, using ingredients that will probably already be in your fridge, freezer or pantry.  Just for those days when the least amount of effort for a huge and tasty payoff is required.  This one is even cooked in the slow cooker, so even better.

This is mine.....
(By all means, if you have the time or inclination, please, please make your own biscuit dough for the topping, but I'm more than happy with using those tube biscuits - like I said, 'minimum preparation'!! :o)

Chicken Casserole with Biscuits
6 servings

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 Tbs butter, softened
1 onion, sliced
1 can condensed chicken soup
1 can condensed mushroom soup
1-2 tbs dried garlic (or 1-2 cloves, chopped - but that was just too much effort today :o)
2 Tbs chicken seasoning
pinch salt & pepper
vegetable stock
1 tube refrigerator biscuits

• in a 4-6 quart slow cooker, combine the chicken breasts, butter, onion, soups, garlic, chicken seasoning and salt and pepper; pour in enough vegetable stock to almost cover the chicken, and mix well.
• cover and cook on LOW heat for 4 hours.
• remove the chicken breasts and chop into bite size pieces; return to the slow cooker and mix well, check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
• break each biscuit in half and arrange across the top of the casserole, sinking them into the sauce slightly.
• turn the heat to HIGH, and cook for a further 1.5 - 2 hours, until the biscuits are puffed up and golden.

 Chicken Casserole with Biscuits ingredients.

this is about the hardest of the prep work that you'll have, apart from opening a few cans ;o)

I just love the concept of throwing everything in the slow cooker and leaving it to do it's own thing - ingenious!

mix everything up well.

I didn't even use a knife to cut the chicken, just the spoon that I was going to mix it back into the sauce with - it's soooo tender.

I always jump at the 'pop' as the tube explodes open - I usually expect them to fly across the room!!

tear the biscuits in half and submerge them slightly in the sauce.  Don't worry if you think the sauce is a little too 'liquidy' at this stage - the biscuits will soak some of that up as they bake.

the biscuits puff together and are wonderfully moist.

if, like today, I wanted as little work as possible I make ours pretty basic, but on occasion I'll add some frozen vegetables (peas, corn, green beans - whatever's handy) just before I put the biscuit topping on and it's delicious that way too.

Wholesome Tasty Bean Bake

I have a wonderful cookbook called For The Breasts of Friends, published by a group of women who have all been affected with cancer.  They collected the recipes from friends and family and over the past couple of years since I bought the book, I've added post-it notes all throughout showing the recipes that I've either already tried or are on my 'to-do' list, so it's definitely one of my go-to books when I need inspiration.

Today, with snow on the ground outside and more forecast for this evening, I was really in the mood for something warm and filling from my slow cooker, hence this bean bake.  With a bowl of bean and a roasted chicken breast on top it's the perfect meal for these cold evenings.  The only difference I made from the original recipe was to cook it longer than advised - I checked it at 3 hours (as the recipe stated), but found that the chick peas were still a little hard.

Wholesome Tasty Bean Bake
recipe book doesn't specify servings, but easily 6-8, so lots of leftovers for us :o)

8 rashers bacon, diced
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 can (14 oz) red kidney beans
1 can (14 oz) pinto beans
1 can (14 oz) lima beans (I used navy beans)
1 can (14 oz) chick peas
1 can baked beans in tomato sauce (undrained)

• rinse and drain the: kidney, pinto, lima beans and chick peas, and combine in a 4-5 quart slow cooker.
• in a medium saucepan saute the bacon pieces until crispy; drain on a paper towel covered plate and set aside.
• in the same saucepan (no need to wipe out bacon drippings), saute the onions until tender.
• add brown sugar, vinegar, salt, mustard and garlic powder; mix to combine.
• add the cooked bacon bits, baked beans and the onion mixture to the drained beans in the slow cooker and combine well.
• cover and cook on HIGH for about 4 to 4 1/2 hours.

 Tasty Bean Bake ingredients.

 combine all of the drained beans in your slow cookier.

I find the easiest way to 'dice' bacon is to cut it with scissors directly over the pan.

once you've sauted the onions, add the sugar, vinegar, salt, mustard power and garlic powder.

add the baked beans and their juice and the onion mixture.

after 4 1/2 hours it's a wonderful golden colour with a smoky, sweet flavour.

I served in a large bowl with a roasted chicken breast, sliced and sprinkled with parsley.

Delicious!!!