Crockpot Chicken red skinned potatoes and chunky carrots

If you are looking for an easy and really delicious recipe this one will catch your eye.  With Simple ingredients and spices you can cook up a satisfying as well as healthy meal for your family.

Enjoy!

Crockpot chicken 

2 pounds of boneless chicken breasts

1 pound of small red potatoes (quartered)

1/2 pound carrots (trimmed and peeled) or 4 carrots cut up in large pieces

1/4 cup of olive oil

1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice(I used bottled lemon juice)

1 teaspoon of onion powder

2 teaspoons of minced garlic

1 teaspoon of salt

freshly cracked black pepper to taste

note: You can add other spices to this meal as in oregano or Italian spices but I felt it did not need anymore than I used in the above recipe.

I invited our daughter for lunch today and this is the meal I served.  She came over at noon and I put everything in my crockpot at 8 on the low setting and it was done by noon.  She liked it so much she took a copy of the recipe home with her.  She'll make it for sure.



Season chicken breasts slightly with salt and pepper and place chicken breasts on one side of crockpot, add quartered potatoes and carrots.

In a small bowl place olive oil, salt,  lemon juice, onion powder and minced garlic.

Pour over chicken, potatoes and carrots

Cook 4 hours high

8 hours low

6/15/16

Chicken Pita Salad

In keeping with a few days of new salad recipes this one was definitely a good choice.

I have discovered using pita bread!  Actually the only time I would use pita's were to make a pita pocket sandwich but now I use them much more as they compliment most salads and are easy to freeze and take out and heat in the oven or toast for a nice fresh taste.

The key to this salad is the dressing and herbs.  It was recommended that you use fresh herbs but I used dried because they were handy.  **They compliment the lemon and olive oil and I make the dressing a little ahead so that the herbs will have some time to enrich the lemon and oil with their flavor.

1 pound thinly sliced chicken breast, cut into small bite size pieces
1/2 tsp.salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 wheat pita breads, toasted
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cucumber, peeled, sliced and seeded
2 scallions sliced
1 tsp.  mint (fresh is recommended but I used dried)
1 tsp. of cilantro( fresh is recommended but I used dried)
3 T lemon juice
2 tsp. olive oil
sprinkle of ground cumin

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.  Spray a non stick skillet with cooking oil and set on medium heat.  Add the chicken and cook, stirring until cooked thru and no longer pink.  Set aside in bowl.

Tear pitas into 1 inch pieces and add to bowl along with tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, mint, cilantro(I used dried), lemon juice, oil, cumin and the remaining salt and pepper.  Toss to mix well.

Note: **I used dried mint and cilantro so before I tossed the salad I added the dried herbs with the oil and lemon juice and whisked it several times to allow the flavor to seep into the oil.

7/21/15

Turkey, Orange and Fennel Salad

Here's a Weight watchers recipe that caught my eye and since we're cutting down and not out this makes a great light meal or lunch. I substituted oven roasted deli turkey instead of pork that the recipe called for.

My first time using a fennel bulb.  I have eaten fennel roasted with other vegetables but not in a salad so this was a first that I was using it in my salad.  I would definitely use it again.

I was totally surprised of the light taste of the fennel.  I had thought it might be overwhelming and it was not and it added a delightful crunch too!

This recipe served hubby and I fine.  The only other thing I would have done and had planned on doing was toasting some pita pockets but I forgot! Enjoy!!



3/4 lb. thinly sliced deli turkey
8 pitted kalamata olives
1 small red onion sliced thin
2 oranges peeled and sectioned
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 bunch red leaf lettuce, torn in small pieces
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
4 T orange juice

Whisk together vinegar, orange juice, salt, and oil and set aside

Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.  Drizzle with dressing and gently toss to combine.

1/14/15

3/20/17

7/5/17

Crockpot Sausage stuffed peppers

I don't know why I haven't tried this before but today I decided to stuff some variegated peppers I had bought and not used. 

 Wow!  Why did I wait so long?  We loved them and they were so easy that I'm almost embarrassed to say how little time and effort it took.  Of course I had amazing hot sausage so I must give my special butcher credit for this sausage. 

1 lb. loose Italian sausage (you can use link sausage but you must remove casing before stuffing the peppers)
3 medium size variegated peppers
Note:  red, yellow and orange are the sweetest.

1 (28 oz) large can of your favorite tomato sauce.(I used Hunts but I like Contadina too).
A little water(clean out can with about 1/4 cup water)

Clean and hollow out peppers.  Wash thoughly in cold water

Fill with sausage. I pack the sausage tightly in the pepper.

In a large Dutch oven pan place 2 to 5 T oil. Place heat on medium heat to warm , add stuffed peppers and allow to brown slightly on each side.  Add sauce turn heat to low simmer covering slightly. Stir slightly from time to time so they do not stick.

Cook until peppers are soft and sausage is cooked.  Simmer after starting to bubble On low heat until cooked thoroughly.

  Approximately 1 1/2 hours to be cooked to our liking.  Enjoy!

Serve with bread or vegetable.

PS  This meal is crockpot friendly. I like to brown the peppers before I put them and the sauce in the crockpot.

Asparagus Shrimp Salad

It's salad time!  This is another WW salad recipe that is a wonderful choice if you are cutting back on portions.  I served it with some baked pita bread and it was delicious! Bake pita's in aluminum foil at 325 for 10 minutes.  Perfect addition for those who need some carbs with their meal.

I added some red leaf lettuce to the mix to add some color.

1 lb. asparagus, trimmed
2 T lemon juice ( I tripled this amount) We like lots of dressing!
1 1/2 T olive oil(I tripled this amount)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 lb. peeled and deveined cooked medium shrimp
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 small red onion sliced thin
2 T fresh or  1 tsp. dried parsley
2 hard cooked eggs, sliced

Fill a large skillet with about an inch of water and bring to a boil over high heat.  Add asparagus and cook covered, until crisp tender about 5 minutes.  Drain and rinse under cool water.

Whisk lemon juice, oil, salt, pepper and parsley flakes in a small bowl and set aside.

Transfer the asparagus to a large bowl.  Add the shrimp, tomatoes, onion and parsley.  Drizzle with the dressing and toss to coat evenly.  Top with eggs

6/1/17