Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken

Found this recipe on Good Thing Utah's recipe page.  It was really good!  A Thai twist on the popular haystack.

• 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
• ¼ cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
• or 1 tsp Shirley J Chicken bouillon
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp lime juice
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp ground red pepper
• 2 Tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
• Toppings: red bell pepper,
• grated zucchini, peanuts,
• coconut flakes, cilantro

Directions:

1. Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker.
2. In small bowl combine the coconut milk, peanut butter, bouillon, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic powder, ground red pepper and tapioca. Whisk until smooth. Pour over the top of the chicken.
3. Cover and cook on LOW for about 3-5 hours.
4. Remove lid. If sauce needs to be thickened combine 2 Tbsp cornstarch and 2 Tbsp water in a small bowl. Stir until smooth. Pour into the slow cooker. Cook on HIGH for 10 minutes without the lid, until sauce thickens.
5. Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Top with desired toppings. 

Lasagna (you don't have to precook the noodles!)

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup onions
1 clove garlic
1 bottle spaghetti sauce
3/4 cup water
1 box of lasagna noodles
Large container cottage cheese
1/2 cup parmesan
3 cups mozzarella

Preheat oven to 375

9x13 pan

1st layer - sauce and beef mixture
2nd layer - lasagna noodles
3rd layer - mixture of cottage cheese, 1/2 of parm and all of mozzarella
Repeat
Top layer should be sauce

Cover with foil, bake 1 hour. Uncover, cook 5-10 minutes, sprinkle with the rest of the parmesan cheese and serve.

Chicken Enchiladas Verdes

This recipe is from a cookbook called, The Juan-Carlos Cruz Calorie Countdown Cookbook, by Juan-Carlos Cruz.  It's my favorite recipe in the whole book. 

Ingredients:

1/2 pound tomatillos, husked and quartered, or 1 (13 oz) can, drained

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies

1/4 cup egg substitute

salt 

black pepper

2 tsp. olive oil

1 medium onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. ground coriander

3/4 cup beer (or chicken broth)

olive oil cooking spray

8 corn tortillas

3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese

3 Tbsp low-fat sour cream

Directions:

1.  If using fresh tomatillos, preheat the broiler.  Place the quartered tomatillos and roast for about 5 minutes, or until softened.  Remove from broiler and transfer to a blender (if using canned tomatillos, drain and place directly in the blender).  Add the cilantro, half the green chilies and the egg substitute.  Pulse until you have a salsa with a chunky consistency.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

2.  Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet.  Add the onions and saute until tender, then stir in garlic.  Saute one minute longer until fragrant, add chicken breast, remaining green chilies, cumin, coriander and salt to taste.  Turn the heat to medium high and saute chicken mixture for 5-10 minutes, until cooked through.  Transfer to a bowl.  Add the beer (or chicken broth)and bring pan to a boil, stirring constantly to scrape up any tasty food particles on the bottom of the pan.  Boil until there is only about a 1/4 cup of liquid in the pan.  Stir the chicken mixture back into the pan and set aside.

3.  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Lightly grease a casserole dish with the olive oil spray.  Fill a medium size sauce pan with water and bring o a simmer.  Using tongs, dip a tortilla into the water, count  seconds then remove.  You must dip the tortillas quickly, the goal is to soften it so that it's easy to roll, but bot to moisten it so much that it falls apart.*  Place about 1/3 cup of the filling on each tortilla, roll up and place seam side down in the casserole dish.  when all the tortillas have been filled, pour the sauce over them and place in the oven.  bake 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven, top with the cheeses and return to the oven to bake for 10-15 more minutes, until the cheese has melted and the enchiladas are bubbling.  Serve warm, garnish with the low-fat sour cream.

*  In step 3 where the recipe talks about dipping the tortilla in water and blah, blah blah...  Well, I usually skip this step, it just takes too long for my liking.  Instead, I put a layer of tortillas on the bottom of the casserole dish, layer them with the filling and then top with a second layer of tortillas.  Then I pour the sauce over the top and I follow the rest of the recipe like it says.  However, I find that I usually need 10-12 tortillas instead of the 8 that the recipe calls for if I do it like this.  Kind of an enchilada casserole instead.

I also like to eat this with some rice, beans and over a bed of lettuce like a taco/enchilada salad with some salsa in addition to the sour cream.  Enjoy!

Pork Barbacoa

5-6 pound pork roast*
1 Tbs. cumin
1 cup brown sugar
12 oz bottle La Victoria taco sauce
20 oz Coke


Place pork roast in a crock pot, add water halfway covering roast.
Cook on low for 12 hours (or on high for 6-8 hours)
Drain water and shred pork.

Add remaining ingredients and cook 2-4 more hours on low.

Serve over rice, in tacos or in a salad (Cafe Rio style)

*  We have used pork butt (shoulder) to make this recipe and it works very well also.  However, the butt seems to cook faster than a roast does (it only took 4 hours on high until it was tender enough to shred).   So, basically just keep an eye on your meat as it cooks and shred it when it's tender.  

**  My brother also experimented with this recipe and cooked a pork butt in the oven at 220 F overnight (about 8 hours) and it turned out awesome too.  

Have fun and eat well!  :)

Brisket

1/2 bottle liquid smoke
1 Tbsp. garlic salt
1 Tbsp. celery salt
1 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce

Mix together and brush over medium sized brisket in a covered pan. Cook for 8 hours at 250. Drain and throw away dripppings. Cool meat and slice.

After cooking and cooling mix:

1 large diced onion
1/4 cup vinegar
1 cup catsup
4 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar one
8 oz. can tomato sauce

Place sliced meat in pan and pour sauce over brisket. Cover and cook for 1 hour.

Sloppy Joes

Recipe from T.J. Wilcken


2 lbs. ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire
½ teaspoon pepper
1 can chicken gumbo soup
1 cup ketchup
2 tsp. prepared mustard
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Brown meat, add salt, pepper, and onion, drain well. Add rest of ingredients and simmer 20 minutes

Porcupine Meatballs

1 1/2 cup Multi-bran Chex cereal
1 lb. lean ground beef
2/3 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup milk
1 package onion soup mix
1 egg
1 cup water
2 cans tomato juice

Heat oven to 425 degree ofen. Crush cereal. Mix cereal, beef, rice, milk, dry soup mix and egg in large bowl. Shape mixture into 30 meatballs. Place in ungreased rectangular baking dish or 3 quart casserole. Mix water and tomato juice, pour over meatballs. Cover and bake 50-55 minutes.

Chicken Broccoli Cordon Bleu Casserole

4 boneless chicken breasts
1 (16 oz) bag cut-up frozen broccoli
1 cup ham, diced
4 oz. swiss cheese, diced
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp. butter
salt and pepper to taste

Cut chicken breasts into strips. Saute garlic and chicken strips in butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat until cooked and lightly browned. Place broccoli in bottom of 2 quart casserole. Lay chicken strips over broccoli. Top chicken with diced ham and cheese. In small bowl combine soup and milk and pour over chicken mixture in casserole. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook uncovered for 45 minutes in 350 degree oven.

Carne Adovada

Mary's recipe (August 2002 Playgroup)

This is a combination of several recipes and some experimenting (provided I'm giving you the right version). It's not a quick, toss-everything-in-and-run-out-the-door recipe, but it's my favorite think that I make in a crockpot. Serve with rice and beans and tortillas.

1/3 cup peanut or vegetable oil
2 1/2 pounds pork loin or butt, cut in 3/4-inch cubes (2 1/2 to 3)
4 cups hot water
2 onions diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons ground coriander seed
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 Tbs chili powder
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
3 dried ancho chiles
1 chipoltle peppers in adobo sauce or 2 tsp of dried ground chipotle pepper (1 to 2)
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt, to taste (1 to 2)
1 lime
1 orange


1. Place dried chiles in a bowl with the hot water. Set aside.

2. Cut pork loin into 1 inch cubes. Add 1/2 the oil to a frying pan on medium heat and add pork. Brown pork cubes on all sides. Remove pork to a crock pot.

3. Saute onions until translucent with rest of oil, in the same pan used to brown the pork. Add onions to the crock pot.

4. In a bowl combine garlic, coriander seed, chili powder, oregano, crushed red pepper, vinegar, salt and honey (and chipotle chile powder, if using). Mix until well combined. Add to the crock pot.

5. Now, prepare the chiles that have been soaking in the hot water. At this point they should be softer, and tear easily. Remove the stems and seeds. The stem should pull off easily. The seeds can then be rinsed out in the soaking water. Place the chiles in the crock pot. Add the soaking water to the crock pot through a strainer to catch all the seeds. (Add chipotle chiles in adobo sauce if using).

6. Cut the orange and lime in half and squeeze juice into crock pot. Put the rest of the orange and lime into the crock pot. Mix everything together well and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. If possible remove the orange and lime about 1/2 way through the cooking to keep the carne adovada from getting too bitter.

7. Near the end of cooking (30min to 1 hour) before serving taste the sauce and make adjustments for flavor. Add salt and pepper if needed. If its too bitter, add more honey.



Notes:
1. Dried chiles can be bought and any local supermarket in the Southwest, but they may be harder to find other places. They will generally be sold in cellophane bags and can either be found in the aisle with Latino/Hispanic foods, or near the produce.

2. If you want to serve this after work you can cook it longer on medium, or even cook it overnight the night before, refrigerate and reheat.

3. Dried chipotle chile powder can be found with the spices. Chipotle chiles in adobo sauce can be found with Latino/Hispanic foods.

Saucy Porkchops

Brandii's Recipe (August 2002 Playgroup)

8 boneless porkchops (1/2 inch thick)
2 TBL veg oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cans (10 3/4 oz EACH) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 med onion,chopped
1/2 C ketchup
2 TBL worcestershire sauce
Mashed potatoes or hot cooked rice

In lg skillet, brown the chops in the oil until lightly browned on each side.
sprinkle w/ salt and pepper.
Transfer to slow cooker.
In a bowl combine all other ingredients EXCEPT the rice or potatoes.
Pour over chops.
Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hrs or until meat juices run clear.

Serves over potatoes or rice

NOTE I usually DOUBLE the sauce depending on the size of the chops.