Cooking Clean in the Crockpot

Yesterday I tried a new crockpot recipe. I have to say it turned out mighty delicious. It was nice to come home from church to the smell of yummy chicken, garlic and curry waiting to be devoured. 

I came across this recipe the night before and was excited to find out I had all but two of the ingredients. And those ingredients were ones I felt comfortable substituting with ones I did have. I honestly don't claim to be a good cook. I can follow a recipe but when it comes to improvising, most of my creations turn out less than stellar:) but I am getting better. But the small changes I made to this recipe turned out fantastic. I am sure the original recipe would be great too but I will stick to my version  in the future simply because these are ingredients I usually have on hand.

I am posting the original recipe (from www.the graciouspantry.com) and putting my changes in parenthesis...

Clean Eating Curry Chicken

(Makes 8 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 large chicken breasts (I used just two large breasts and we still have leftovers)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 shallot, diced (I used a sliced red onion)
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, no sugar added ( I used a can of no-sugar added peaches and drained the juice)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
• 12 cloves garlic, chopped (yes, 12. That’s not a typo, but I wasn't brave enough to put this much garlic in so I used 6. The garlic flavor wasn't strong so u really could use 12)
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4 cup chicken stock (use 2 cups if you want gravy, + 1-2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour. Whisk well into the broth before adding to the crock pot to avoid clumps.)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• Juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in the crock pot and stir as best you can to get everything mixed and coated in the spices.
2. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
3. Serve over brown rice and add a side of broccoli or greens beans....Yum!

I considered adding in a can of chickpeas but decided against it because I knew we were already going to have a lot of leftovers. But i think they would be yummy. You could just use chickpeas and leave out the chicken if you wanted to make this a vegetarian dish.  Sweet potatoes would be great too. Tonight I am using the leftovers and serving it on whole wheat buns like a pulled pork sandwich with some grilled veggies. 

What's for dinner at your house tonight?

Chicken Burgers...

I have a yummy chicken burger recipe that goes great with the Asian Slaw recipe I posted about ahwile back.  It is an easy recipe to put together and the leftovers are great too.  Perfect dinner for a warm spring day like today:)

1 Lb Ground Chicken

1/4 cup panko

1 TBSP lime juice

1 TBSP cilantro

1 1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp Sirachi

(If you like spicy you will want to add a lot more than this.  I probably added closer to a TBSP and it wasn't spicy.  And I am a wuss when it comes to spice)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup bell pepper (finely diced)

Pretty much just mix it all up together and make the patties.  I opted to cook these in a skillet because it was pooring rain and hail outside.  I think they would cook fine on a grill but I would spray the grill to prevent the burgers from sticking. 

Serve the burger on top of the slaw salad.

 

I am off to teach kickboxing!  What are your workout plans for the day?