Crock Pot's Finest

 Okay, Crock Pots hate me.

True story.

I'm the only person in this world that could mess up a crock pot recipe, unless it's for an apple butter or chutney.

However, I found this recipe for Cilantro Lime Chicken, and it looked so good I could resist.

 I also couldn't resist tweaking it a bit.

First off, instead of plain salsa, I used a generic brand of Peach Pineapple Chipotle Salsa, still 24 oz.

And instead of 2 jalapenos, I used 1 and 1 bell pepper.

And then it looked super chunky - like the picture to the right, so I added a can of Rotel Tomato and Chili sauce.

 Once the mixture looked more liquidy, I added the chicken.

Oh, but I used 8 chicken thigh tenders instead of 4-6 breast halves.  I just like dark meat more, okay?!

And then I put it on high, because I wanted it done in two hours.

HAHA!  Didn't happen.

 Our Crock Pot, well this one, rather (we have 4 or five of various sizes) has a timer function where it cooks for the time you set it for.

I set it on high for 4 hours, and by the time I had prepped everything and added it to the pot, it was at 3:47 remaining.  That's an easy prep, yes?

Ended up with that as the cooking time, too.

However I had eaten by then, so it made 6 hearty lunch/dinner portions when added to my cilantro brown rice.

Sorry, no pretty shots, just Tupperware.

But when I did eventually try it, it was completely worth the wait!  I can't wait to have this again, and maybe serve it with tortillas next time, too.  So juicy and tender, you should try this one ASAP!!

Two-fer Tuesday!

In order to celebrate my benevolence today (Thomas is coming home, how could I not feel in great spirits?!), I'll doling out two recipes for the price of none!  Yay!!

The first is an easy and relatively healthy Thai Lime Chicken.  I love a good peanut flavored dish, so this was a no brainer for me.  Plus, it only has five ingredients, of which I just needed to buy the lime, so that was a HUGE bonus.

 Of course, I also had the added bonus of being able to use my Pampered Chef Citrus Press...  It always makes my life so much more simple!

You juice the lime over the chicken (top and bottom), and then coat the chicken with your peanut/ginger/garlic mixture.

How easy is that?!  Plus, it doesn't take terribly long to cook, so it's an easy dish all around.

Bake it at 375 for about 25 minutes.

Oh, but that other dish?  The side dish for this one?

Yeah, I might have made it with Brown Rice, so in this case, the side took longer than the main.

Ah well.

For my side, I threw some peppers on a skillet to cook them through.  Didn't add oil, salt or anything, just cooked them to an al dente.

But the long rice dish I made, that was a skinny knock off of Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice.  I used barely any oil, and only salted the water.  We're trying to be more heart healthy, so this was an experimental dish.

 I used barely any oil, and only salted the water.  We're trying to be more heart healthy around the house, so this was an experimental dish.  However, it was still tasty, and the brown Jasmine rice held up well again.

Definitely impressed.

So that was my two-fer.  Thomas gave them all a thumbs up, and the flavors complimented each other nicely.  Plus I made a double batch of the rice to sue as a side dish for weeks to come!

Salsa Verde Chicken

Before I talk about the wonders of this meal, let me pause and say this...

Is it really the end of January already?!  I feel like we were just celebrating the holidays last weekend, but here we are at February's doorstep.  I am absolutely in love with my life, every day, and I love to cherish the moments, but when you turn around, they're gone.  I thought life didn't speed up this way until after 40.  Shoot, in my head I'm still 21.  (And now that was more than a decade ago!!  Yikes!)  Maybe I'm just doing the year-end reflection thing a month late.  Sorry for the diatribe.  Now on to our regularly scheduled dinner!

Salsa Verde Chicken Bake - the original recipe is here, from Very Culinary.  Found it on Pinterest, big surprise. Every recipe I've made in the past two weeks has been lifted from there.  I love this continual influx of new ideas.  Although, I do have to say that on Wednesday of last week, there was very little new and exciting info and I was almost disappointed.  Almost.

This recipe does make up for it, however, and it's pretty ridiculously good for you, too.

 Ingredients (of which there are FOUR!)

2-3 lbs Boneless, skinless chicken (I went with the pre-marinated thighs since they are juicier, but I'm sure breast would work as well.)
1 (16oz) jar of Salsa Verde
2 cups of white cheese shreds (I used half queso fresco, and half Mexican 4 cheese mixture since I had them both already)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

That's it.  The directions?  Even more simple.

Lightly spray a 9x13 pan and lay out chicken so it's evenly distributed and not overlapping.  Evenly pour salsa verde on top.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Then, take out your dish and cover it in cheese.  This time, bake at 400 for 15 minutes.  I think the temperature bump is to help brown the cheese.  I wasn't too impressed, so I broiled it for a minute to get that nice crispiness that we so love and desire in our household.

Finally, when you've got your desired consistency, remove it and sprinkle your cilantro on top.  If you're not a cilantro person, use a flat leaf parsley or omit.  Your kitchen, your call.

Throw it in a tortilla if you'd like!

 I served it with whole wheat tortillas and (my very exciting new find) brown Jasmine rice.  I ate some just on the rice and some in the tortilla.  Either way, this was totally worth the effort.  Perfect week night meal for our household.  Be forewarned, though, that Jasmine rice takes about 20 minutes to prepare and brown jasmine rice takes 50 minutes.  I didn't realize that until the chicken was in so I had to work a little more quickly than I expected.  Overall, though, my husband didn't mind eating the brown rice (huge victory), and the entire meal was a smashing success!