Crockpot Masala Chicken & Chickpeas

January 20, 2015 by Jennifer

Hi there!

Guess what day it is?!

Um, no. It’s not Wednesday. Yet. That’s tomorrow. Patience, grasshopper.

It’s Tasty Tuesday!!

After you check out my tasty new recipe and subsequently go to the grocery store to buy the ingredients so you can have it for dinner tomorrow, don’t forget to head on over to Lena’s page to check out all the other Tasty Tuesday yumminess!

Oh wait, check out her page first. She’s got tomorrow’s breakfast covered. 🙂

I had picked up some organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs from Harris Teeter but I didn’t really have a plan for them.

I wouldn’t recommend doing that on a regular basis. If you’re me, you might forget that you bought them, never be inspired, never come up with a plan and then they’ll go bad and you’ve just wasted money.

Wasting money is bad.

BUT, turns out I was inspired!

I decided to make a riff on Chana Masala and my Chana ma-Chicken and use my crockpot to do the heavy lifting.

Yes, Chana ma-Chicken. I told you I need work on recipe naming. #dontjudgeme

When I got home from work, the house smelled so delicious with all the lovely curry and Indian spicy smells.

You know, it just occurred to me how much that must torture my dogs when I cook in the crockpot. A dog’s sense of smell is what, a bazillian times greater than ours? Can you just imagine the anguish they must feel smelling delicious dinner ALL DAY LONG and then, they don’t even get any?!

It’s quite possible that I’m the worst doggy mama ever.

Crockpot Masala Chicken & Chickpeas
serves 4-6

2-3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 ounces) fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon allspice
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
Cooked rice, for serving

1. Place chicken thighs and chickpeas in crockpot.

2. In a small bowl, mix diced tomatoes and spices. Pour over chicken and chickpeas. Cover crockpot and cook on low, 8 hours.

3. NOM. NOM. NOM.

Talk to me: What’s your favorite chickpea recipe? How many times a week do you use your crockpot?

– jennifer

smoky beef and black bean chili

December 2, 2014 by Jennifer

Hi there!

It’s time again for Tasty Tuesday!

To find out what Tasty Tuesday’s all about, head over to Lena’s to check it out – just click the hyperlink! She started the whole thing and each week, bloggers link up with their best recipes and other posts about food goodies. It’s pretty fabulous and who knows – maybe you’ll find that new favorite recipe you’ve been waiting for! 🙂

This week, I’m bringing you a new crockpot recipe to try – smoky beef and black bean chili!

Chili is such a versatile dish and SO perfect when the weather turns cooler and you want something to warm you up from the inside out.

And, using your crockpot makes the whole process so much easier! Just a little bit of prep work, toss everything in, turn it on, and walk away.

When you come home – from work, from building snowmen, from shoveling, from raking leaves, from the gym, etc! – a healthy and hearty dinner is waiting for you to customize and enjoy.

Smoky Beef and Black Bean Chili
serves 4-6
(doubles easily to serve 8-10)

1 tablespoon fat (bacon fat, olive oil, etc)
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (remove seeds if you prefer)
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
1-2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 pound ground beef or bison
2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tablespoon adobo sauce from chipotles
Salt, as needed
1 (14.5 ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes (I use Muir Glen)
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained (substitute beans if desired)
Desired toppings: cheese, avocado, sour cream, green onions, tortilla strips, Fritos®, etc

1. Heat fat in large skillet over medium until shimmering. Add onion and peppers (bell and jalapeno), season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 6-8 minutes.

2. Add the garlic, chili powder, and cumin; stir to coat and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. And ground beef, season with about 1 teaspoon of salt, and cook, breaking the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until the beef is no longer pink, about 7 minutes. When beef is nearly cooked, add the chopped chipotle peppers and the tablespoon adobo sauce and continue to cook.

3. Transfer mixture to a crockpot, add the diced tomatoes and their juices, tomato sauce, and beans, and stir to combine. Cover and cook 8 hours on LOW or 5-6 hours on HIGH.

4. Taste and season with salt, if necessary. Spoon out into bowls, top as desired, and enjoy! 🙂

Talk to me: Do you prefer Fritos®, cornbread, or tortilla chips with your chili? What’s your favorite chili topping? Beans or no beans?

– jennifer

Thanksgiving recap and some food prep

December 1, 2014 by Jennifer

Hi there!

How was your Thanksgiving?

Ours was pretty good! I took a little bit of time off of everything – blogging, working out, showering…..

Hey, if I wasn’t sweaty, why would I need to shower?

Okay, seriously, I’m kidding. Sheesh! I showered. I promise.

We headed up to my folks’ house for Thanksgiving.

Halfway there, I realized I left the butternut squash at home. #sidedishfail

But, it worked out okay because 1. less butternut squash I have to share, 2. I remembered the brownies, and 3. we had PUH-Lenty of food!

And wine, of course. 🙂

Most of it was catered but there was reheating, etc to do. Took a MAJOR load of stress of my mom’s shoulders.

And I was pretty thankful about that, too, because my sailor and I usually end up in charge of the turkey (we grill it) and it was raining and miserable. I love me some grilling but grilling outside in the cold rain is about as much fun as waxing the bikini line. Right? Right.

Everything was really, really good!

My sister was in charge of the pumpkin pies and she totally made me a gluten-free (minus the crust) pumpkin pie!

swoon!

I was totally not expecting it and was weighing my pumpkin pie options (do I just eat the pumpkin and leave the crust, take my chances with the gluten-y crust, or skip it altogether and just eat a brownie?) when she pulled it out of her bag of tricks. 🙂

We headed back home on Friday (Black Friday shopping? no thank you.) and proceeded to sit on our butts all weekend.

Okay, not really.

We ran errands on Saturday and we hit up some antique/consignment stores and found the most amazing chairs for our dining room table!

We bought the table from Ikea back in 2001 and still had the original chairs we bought with the table.

13 years and 7 moves later, those chairs were DONE. One actually broke a couple of weeks ago. While someone was sitting in it. Thankfully, the chair took the brunt of the damage.

We also bought a new Christmas tree!

The tree we’ve replaced was almost 20 years old and had been through WAY more than 7 moves. It was falling apart and starting to look a little like Charlie Brown’s tree.

source

It was definitely time to upgrade. This one is pre-lit! No more ring around the rosie trying to string lights! #winning

I also did a little bit of food prep.

I made some of Lindsay’s Quinoa Breakfast Bars for grab ‘n go breakfasts/snacks (edited the recipe to make it gluten free). They’re all individually bagged and ready for snacking.