Monday, December 19, 2011

Hustle and Bustle

I’m officially one day shy of a month since my last post.  I’m finally getting a new one up just under the wire.  I would be lying if I said that wasn’t metaphoric for the rest of my Christmas preparations… 

Teacher gifts due tomorrow (all eleven of em): haven’t finished
Cookies for Santa and neighbors: Made them, then ate 90% of them.  Oops.
Christmas shopping: not even close to finished
Christmas wrapping: HA! now that’s funny


I’m not the only female whose running shoes are getting a little extra workout this month.
Can’t say I’ve been cooking up a whole lot of masterpieces in the past month.  Thank God for the Crockpot… there is nothing better than dumping something in there first thing in the morning, spending the day running around like a mad woman, then coming home to a house that smells awesome coupled with the knowledge that dinner is done.

Thanks to my Pinterest friends for pinning this gem and trying it out first!  It’s a winner. I modified the sauce a bit to be more potent, and added some veggies.


Crockpot Thai Peanut Chicken

1 lb Chicken Thigh (breast is good too, but I like thigh way better in the crockpot… holds up better than breast especially if you want to start your crockpot earlier in the day and leave it for more than 5 hours).
1 cup salsa
1/3 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
Juice from 1 lime
2 tbl Soy Sauce
2 tsp fresh or dried ginger
1/4 cup lite coconut milk
Red Chili sauce (for more kick)
Cilantro for garnish
Broccoli (my chosen veggie) … Next time I’m doing red pepper





Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl… salsa

PB

Lime

Soy Sauce


Coconut Milk… since you only use 1/4 cup, I meal planned THIS later in the week and saved the rest for that .

Mix er up

Pour over chicken in the crockpot… I know… looks so appetizing!  Cook for 5-7 hours on low

So I wanted to add some kind of veggie so I wasnt just eating straight up peanut butter rice.  Broccoli would have been AWESOME… if I put it in the right time (which would have been about an hour before serving).  I accidently added it about 5 hours before we ended up eating it, so the broccoli got pretty mushy.  Red pepper would be a better choice next time because it holds up better for long periods in the crockpot.  You could throw the red pepper in at the beginning with the chicken/sauce.


On the flip side… the broccoli got so mushed up that the kids didn’t even know it was in there!  Gotchya!

Overall a winner… flavors were mild enough for small people, easy as can be to throw together, and I actually had all the ingredients on hand anyway.  A great quick meal!

May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas together!  I’ll be back in 2012, renewed and ready for a lot more posts in the new year!