Monday, January 19, 2009

A love affair with my slow cooker

For Christmas my mom got us a slow cooker. Admittedly, I never bought one or put it on our wedding registry because I could never imagine using it often.

With a perfect storm of a left-over ham bone from our New Year's Fest weekend at the beach and a brand new slow cooker, I christened it by making split pea soup. It was the easiest thing I have ever done. 1 bag split peas, 1 Ham bone with lots of delicious ham still on it, 1 clove minced garlic, 2 quarts chicken broth, 2 bay leaves, some celery. Put it all in the pot for 8 hours on low. And Voila! liquid gold! It was so so yummy!

The next week I decided to try my hand at another dish, corned beef. Again some potatoes and onions on the bottom of the pot, a bay leaf, a juicy corned beef brisket on top of the veggies and a little water. 8 hours later we had a wonderful meal.

Well, I was on a roll so when I offered to make dinner for Michelle and Mark I decided the slow cooker was the best bet. I Googled the ingredients we had on hand - chicken and sweet potatoes and came up with this wonderful dish:

Slow Cooker Latin Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Black Beans

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Sprinkle chicken thighs with 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.
  2. Heat 12-inch skillet over med-high heat until hot;add chicken and cook until browned on all sides.
  3. While chicken is cooking put beans and sweet potatoes in slow-cooker.
  4. Place chicken on bean mix in slow-cooker.
  5. In skillet, mix paprika, allspice, broth, remaining cumin, salsa, and garlic.
  6. Pour this over chicken in crock pot.
  7. Cover with lid and cook on low 8 hrs or 4 hrs on high.
  8. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

There is no end to what the slow cooker can do!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

My mom is making the sweet potato dish for the Super Bowl, and we're making it this week too!