Pineapple Salsa Chicken over Spaghetti Squash
02 Mar 2012 7 Comments
in Chicken, Crock Pot, Quick and Easy Meals Tags: crock pot, crushed pineapple, fruit salsa, microwave, Newman's Own, Santa Barbara salsa, shredded chicken, spaghetti squash
Great news! The house is all back together. In addition to hot water and heat, we now have plenty of propane as well. My stove and I will be getting re-acquainted over some minestrone today and possibly some brownies. Yippee! Zena (my cat) is pretty psyched as well — she may never leave her spot in front of the fireplace again. She was quite vocal about missing that this week. God bless the Siamese. They sure can make their needs known.
Many thanks to all who sent me alternate recipe ideas while I was without a stove. It is much appreciated. I have lots of great tastes to try in the near future. This recipe is from my friend, Janine. I modified it a bit to fit my family’s tastes (i.e. crushed pineapple instead of chunks, and I omitted the zucchini). Then, stumbling over a long-forgotten spaghetti squash in the pantry, decided to cook that up and serve the chicken on top.
Everyone love this. It is saucy with a sweet/spicy flavor, and is so easy to make that I feel a little guilty calling it ’cooking.’ With only three ingredients going in the crock pot, the most time-consuming part was trimming the chicken. I am kind of particular about that because I like to eat just the chicken, not the pieces of skin, fat, and sometimes cartilage left attached. Ick. If this is you, do what I should have done and just buy chicken cutlets instead of boneless chicken breasts. So much simpler!
Pineapple Salsa Chicken over Spaghetti Squash
Serves 6
1.25 pounds boneless chicken breasts
24 ounces of a fruity tomato salsa (like Santa Barbara Mango & Peach Salsa or Newman’s Own Mango Salsa)
8 ounces crushed pineapple, undrained
1 small spaghetti squash
Put chicken in the bottom of a crockpot. Add salsa and pineapple. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4 hours. When chicken is fully cooked, remove them from the crockpot and transfer to a large cutting board. Shred the chicken breasts with two forks, then transfer the meat back to the crockpot. Stir to combine. Cover and leave on low to heat through.
Cut the spaghetti squash lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a large spoon. Place both halves, cut side up, in a microwave-able dish with a little water in the bottom of it (I use an 8×8 glass pan, and cut one of the squash in half to make them fit). Cover loosely and microwave on high for 10 minutes. When done, you should be able to scrape the squash easily out of its shell with a fork.
Serve chicken atop squash, or add a layer of baby spinach if you like.
Slow Cooker Pork with Sweet Savory Sauce
19 Dec 2011 1 Comment
in Crock Pot, Pork Tags: clove, cranberry, crock pot, nutmeg, pineapple, Super easy pork loin
Sunday, the “day of rest,” had a to-do list longer than Santa’s naughty/nice list. We were checking things off that list in a blur all day long. Prune Christmas tree so we can actually fit some presents under it? Check. Sweep up ridiculous amounts of pine needles that appear to spontaneously dive off of tree every time I walk by? Check. Decorate what is now left of tree? Check. Wash disgusting windows near the tree? Check.
These are the kinds of days when I often hit 5:00 pm, starving, and with no plan for dinner. That can be a real bummer if you like something more satisfying than scrambled eggs. Thankfully, my husband is a much better planner than myself. Before the day could get away from us, he took the lead and found a great new recipe online for the hunk of pork loin we had just bought. Thanks, Markus!
After several hours of slow-cooking, the aroma in the house was unbelievable! A mixture of clove, nutmeg, and garlic with the sweet tang of cranberry and pineapple promised a delicious dinner ahead. We were not disappointed. This was excellent, the meat tender, and the sauce so yummy, it is a shame there is hardly any leftover for tomorrow! The picture does not even do it justice – you just can’t photograph flavor.
Simple, simple, simple, too. Sprinkle this, pour that, then leave it alone for eight hours. Yeah, I think I can handle that. Wait, who am I kidding, I didn’t make this, but I am sure I could – and will! – again sometime soon. This recipe may just give my favorite pot roast a run for its money!
All hail the crockpot! Dinner made? Check.
Slow Cooker Pork with Sweet Savory Sauce
Serves 6
Adapted from About.com Southern Food section
1 boneless pork loin roast, about 2 1/2 -4 pounds
Salt & pepper
garlic powder
1 (1 lb.) can pineapple chunks, with juice
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 can (14 ounces) jellied cranberry sauce
1) Trim visible fat from pork, then set in bottom of crockpot.
2) Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder over the meat, to taste. (or ~ 1/4 teaspoon each)
3) Add nutmeg and cloves
4) Add cranberry sauce and pineapple chunks and juice.
5) Cover and cook on Low for 6-8 hours.
6) Remove meat to a platter, and put sauce from the crockpot into a serving bowl. Serve meat sliced with sauce over the top.
Enjoy!
Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
04 Jun 2011 4 Comments
in Chicken, Crock Pot Tags: BBQ, crock pot, pulled chicken
- Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich
I would love to bear-hug whoever it is that invented the crock pot. Anybody know? Hold on a second, I will Google it…
OK, I’m back. Sigh. It was just some white collar R&D guy named Robert Scott who worked for Rival Corporation circa 1970. I was hoping to find an interesting story here. You know, a harried housewife sick of being chained to her kitchen morning, noon, and night invents a life-changing cooking device, goes on to defy 1970′s gender stereotypes by becoming CEO of a little-known company which she eventually sells to Big Appliance, allowing her to retire in gazillionaire comfort, never having to step foot in a kitchen again.
Not this time, I guess, but sounds like a good made-for-TV movie, doesn’t it?
So, here I was on Friday afternoon with nary an idea in my head as to what to make for dinner on what would be another busy night of baseball and soccer. I hadn’t cooked for the family in a week. We were still living off Memorial Day cookout leftovers, sandwiches, and frozen pancakes. Balanced meals? Sure. Variety? Minimal. Fresh? More questionable by the day. It was time for me to buck up and figure something out. I took a look at my crockpot, and then the bags and bags of soft hamburger rolls left over, and realized I had all the makings for pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches.
Sweet and savory, and so easy it can hardly be called cooking. I threw it all in the crockpot (frozen chicken, even!) and walked away feeling accomplished, like I’d just solved the Rubik’s Cube. If your family likes BBQ, they should love this!
Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Serves 4
1 lb. boneless chicken tenders or chicken breasts
1 c. ketchup
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. cider vinegar
1 1/2 t. garlic powder
1 t. smoked paprika (regular paprika is fine, too)
1) Combine all ingredients except chicken in a small bowl, mix well.
2) Put chicken in crockpot. Cover with sauce, and stir to coat.
3) Cook, covered, on ‘high’ setting for 3-4 hours.
4) Shred chicken in the pot using two forks.
5) Serve on soft hamburger buns or in tortillas.
