Creamy Chicken Leftovers Makes Lunch

And baby makes three. 3 kids to feed, that is. With the boys being in preschool 2 days per week now, I really enjoy our lunches at home. They seem to be so much easier for me than packing a lunch to go. Maybe it’s because I often just warm up leftovers and cut up some fruit. Easy! And, Anna just loves to watch her brothers eat and they think it’s so fun that she gets to eat with them now.

Here’s a sample of my lunch for 3 this week. The boys had creamy chicken and black beans from the freezer, a leftover sweet potato from dinner the previous night and kiwi. Anna had porridge and sweet potato.

Creamy Chicken and Black Beans

in the slow cooker or crock pot

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 lb uncooked frozen boneless skinless chicken breast
• 15 oz can black beans, drained (or dried beans soaked overnight and cooked)
• 1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes OR 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
• 16 oz jar salsa
• 8 oz whole fat cream cheese

DIRECTIONS

• Put frozen chicken breasts in crock pot, cover with black beans, tomatoes and salsa.
• Cook on high 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked.
• Place block of cream cheese on top. Cook for an additional 30 minutes. Stir to incorporate cream cheese into sauce. The stirring
• should cause the chicken to shred.

SERVING IDEAS

• Serve with brown rice and guacamole.
• Roll in tortillas and add your sides of choice.
• Put a serving on top of salad greens and add any salsa, sour cream, or guacamole.
• Put on a tortilla and make into a quesadilla.
• This is a great recipe to freeze. I just store in serving size containers that I know I want to use for lunches.

Tags: chicken, Crock pot, Freeze, lunch, plate

TIP OF THE DAY: Staying Cool in the Kitchen

Tags: Crock pot, summer, tips

Crock Pot Basic Recipes

Since my recent discovery and first batch of apples with my crock pot, I decided to make a few more things. These are basics and could be prepared and pureed for younger babies or left in pieces like i did for older babies and toddlers. I have also included my recipe for apples here for easy reference.

Crock Pot Apples
Mix together the following ingredients. Slow cook the following on high for 2-2.5 hours.

• 7 organic gala apples, peeled, cored, and cut into bite size pieces
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla.

Crock Pot Carrots
Mix together the following ingredients. Slow cook the following on high for 2.5-3 hours.

• 2 cups water
• 3 lb organic peeled carrots, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Crock Pot Pears
Mix together the following ingredients. Slow cook the following on high for 2-2.5 hours.

• 5 organic pears, peeled, cored, cut into bite size pieces
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp all spice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

TIPS

• Make large batches and freeze extras in single serving containers. Thaw as you need them. I use glass containers with lids and put them in labeled freezer bags.
• I buy the bagged carrots that are already trimmed and peeled to save time.
• Only include spices for age-appropriate babies, but be creative and change it up as you go.
• Keep your pieces age-appropriate and consistent for even cooking.
• Use the high setting on your crock pot for faster batches, but keep an eye on it for over cooking. Note that the amounts and times above worked in my large 6.5-quart slow cooker.
• Need a crock pot?

Please share your thoughts and ideas.
::

Tags: Crock pot, recipe, spices

WEEK 09: Apples

After my recent revelation about using my crock pot for making batches of food to freeze, I set out to cook some apples. With gift cards received one Christmas, I treated myself to a really large, nice All-Clad Crock Pot. I am more grateful than ever for this purchase. It is a wonderful tool for cooking large amounts of food. Of course, you can use any crock pot or slow cooker for these apples.

FOOD DESCRIPTION
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. I grew up hearing that one (among many, many others). My boys eat applesauce weekly, sometimes mixed with other fruits or with added cinnamon. I had some organic apples that were about to be past their prime and decided it was time to cook them all.

We are also making progress on our “eating with the family” goal. The boys shared another crock pot creation with us for dinner. I made chicken that just tore apart into perfect pieces for their little fingers. It made for a nice dinner together.

Another small addition this week was celery. It wasn’t necessarily a new food as they’ve had it cooked into things before, but never alone.

PROCESS

• Cinnamon Apples I’ve mentioned before, but my boys love apples, so I thought while cooking in the apples in the crock pot, I would add some extra flavor. I had 7 organic gala apples, so that is what I used. I peeled them and cut them into bite size pieces, and put them in the crock pot. Then, I poured in 1/2 cup of water, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla. I didn’t add any sugar as I don’t think they need it, but some brown sugar sure would be tasty. I was in a hurry this day, so I let them cook on high for 2 hours and they were sizzling perfect. We ate a big serving and saved 2 dishes for the freezer as we were heading out of town for the weekend.

• Applesauce Chicken I followed this recipe from on of my favorite sites. I even included the pepper and the boys didn’t seem to mind at all. It was an easy recipe in my favorite crock pot.
• Celery I didn’t do anything new here…just cut organic celery stalks into bite size pieces and steamed. We stored in the refrigerator and were a nice green addition to the lunch plate this week.

WHAT I LEARNED
This was a great way to use those slightly soft apples that you aren’t crazy about biting into, but are still good and flavorful to eat. And, it makes the house smell oh, so good! This also makes for super easy batch food making cleanup.

I will say that my chicken was severely over-cooked and I will probably do full breasts and less time in the pot next time.

REACTION
My boys loved the apples and I did too. I’m excited to see how they do after being frozen.

The chicken was a great hit (even dry and over-cooked) and I think they even liked that they could eat the same thing that was on our plates.

I can’t say that the celery was as well received. They ate it and it went ok, but we’re still working on it a little further. I must say that my favorite part of celery is the wings that precede it or the ranch that it gets dipped it. So, it’s a little hard for me to argue with them not embracing the flavor.

SUMMARY
The crock pot is a great way to make a large batch of fruits or vegetables. It is, of course, great for the family meals as well, but I’m looking forward to cooking more produce to soften for my boys to be able to eat easily and enjoy good, nutritious flavor. I’m also continuing with more family meals to share together.

Please share your thoughts or ideas.
::

Tags: apple, celery, Crock pot

Crockpot Baby Food

I’ve mentioned before that I love my crock pot and making things easily and quickly is a top priority. Well, here it is…the ultimate combination of making baby food in a crock pot. I’ve thought about this before, but never done it. I think it’s because I never read about anyone actually doing it. Well, just today I was on one of my favorite crock sites and it hit me…enter the search term “baby food” and there it was. She had done it and had a post about it. I will say that it’s not super detailed, but it has given me the inspiration to batch prepare some food for my boys in my crock.

Take a look at it here.

Please share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences.
::

Tags: baby, Crock pot