Monday, July 30, 2012

We're having a "Create your own BURGER BAR!!!!"

Well sure enough, my brother-in-law, Chris did not disappoint and had some killer burgers and food at his birthday gathering. Chris is on the road to becoming the BBQ Pitmaster of Herndon VA. On the menu this past Saturday were stuffed burgers with all kinds of fixins. Chris was super excited to tell me we were having a "Create your own BURGER BAR!" when I showed up. Um ...I loved it already and I hadn't even seen it.
He got this contraption that molds the perfect patty but also creates a divot to stuff goodies into.



Before we got there Chris cooked up sausage, chicken, cocktail wienies, jalapenos, onions...all kinds of fixins just to stuff in the burgers. On top of that we had 3 different kinds of cheese to choose from and spices. This really is an excellent idea for a small party. It got everyone in the kitchen and involved all talking about food and it was really fun to put what you wanted in your burger and make it yourself. Its like a grown up's version of "create your own sundae bar".

Chris is also pretty adventurous in the kitchen and loves making really interesting food combinations like horseradish barbecue sauce (it's good too). We love talking about opening a restaurant one day but I dont know how we could ever narrow down the menu--i think a general theme would probably be meat and bacon though. The Meaty Bacon Bistro maybe. I feel like I would need two restaurants. One to indulge in my more Paula Dean style cooking and one with a really eclectic, fresh, and healthy menu.

So back to burgers-I put buffalo wing cheese, spiced chicken, and fresh jalapenos in mine. I didn't get a picture of that one but here is someone else's and check out the cocktail wienies.



The finished product was huge! BUT it fit great on the buns and tasted amazing! I ate the whole thing.


Everyone had a blast and Chris's lovely wife Danielle and sister-in-law Jen made these amazing corn fritters. I am going to have to get the recipe and share it.

There were stuffed burgers, corn fritters, bacon ranch pasta salad, and ice cold beer.
Not a bad afternoon with family and food.
Lily was amazing all afternoon while her nieces and nephews hugged, kissed, and poked at her and she was passed around the party. However, this baby knows her bed time and like clockwork she lost it around 6pm...but that was actually just fine by me...with a full belly and beer in the afternoon I was fading fast. The guys went out on the town that night on their own and THAT is a whole other story which I probably won't be blogging about but I will say Nick was in the doghouse all Sunday and his punishment was that he had to take care of Lily all last night and do several chores.
 We also had little Lyla's 2 year old birthday party Sunday which is a whole other story but the best part was when Lyla got a little baby doll and a stroller for her birthday and proceeded to run around the house rolling over everyone's feet and bashing into everyone's shins with her new stroller. It was hilarious. I am told there are some pictures of her tearing into her cupcake and also going crazy on some carrots and ranch dressing. Maybe we have another little foodie in the making. That kid loves to eat just like her Aunt KK.
All in all is a was very fun filled and memorable weekend...more recipes and stories to share later.
And here is a funny picture of Lily.....

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Two birthdays One weekend

I grew up in a pretty large family. My paternal grandparents had 9 children and all of them married at some point and had children and now most of those children have had children and even some of those children have children....hahah. So I had 18 aunts and uncles, tons of cousins, and starting to have a good amount of 2nd and 3rd cousins. We didn't all live down the street from each other but in our way, our family is very close and we surely see each other at least once a year at someone's birthday, anniversary, wedding, baby shower, or sadly lately and too often a funeral...but that's life. Now that I have married the love of my life I have even more family and Nick's side of the family is pretty large as well. His brother alone has 4 children. So with all these wonderful people in my life, it is always someone's birthday! This weekend we are celebrating my brother-in-law Chris's 28th and my niece Lyla's 2nd birthday (Yes, I have a Lily and my sister has a Lyla...it gets confusing). So its a weekend filled with celebration and family.
This morning we are prepping the house to have my mother and father-in-law come stay the night and Lily is really enjoying watching us run around her tidying up! I just have to show off this adorable outfit she is wearing...



One thing we must tackle today is our backyard. My poor poor yard and garden has turned into a dead sad jungle. Somehow we are still getting tomatoes which is great but everything else is a hot hot mess. My herbs have flowered from over growth, my roses and salvia have stopped blooming from lack of water and trimming, the patio has sprouted so many weeds that you can hardly see the brick....its a horrid mess. With Lily still waking up about 3-4 times a night, its hard to find the energy to take care of my garden. Its at the point now where neighbors might complain so we have to at least mow.....how embarrassing right? I was so proud of my back yard and now its like a dirty little secret behind our fence.


Hopefully we have everything done in time to go to Chris's birthday gathering. Chris and I have a passion for grilling and sauces so I am excited to see if he whipped up something new today for his party. He has a great grill and a smoker and has produced some of the best tasting ribs and wings I have had....even better than mine and that's hard for me to admit. So I will have to share later if he has some fabulous saucy grilled meats at his shin dig.


We also have my little niece Lyla's birthday party tomorrow and I ordered her cupcakes from The Cupcake Chic! My friend and co-worker Stephanie Baron makes beautiful and delicious cupcakes for all occasions. She did cupcakes for my wedding, baby showers, and now for Lyla's birthday. If you live near Frederickburg's VA she is available for weddings and special occasions but she will travel. She has a day job in Fairfax and can work out bringing cupcake orders there for pick as well.
She is really fabulous and creative...check out her website to see pictures and flavors.


www.thecupcakechic.webs.com


Here is a picture from my wedding of the cupcake tower she did and then below that is a picture of the rainbow carebear cupcakes she did for Lyla.....Awesome! 











I can't wait to see Lyla smash her little face into all that icing. Kid's birthdays are some of the best. I can't wait until Lily can eat and smash cake. 
Have a great weekend everyone and when in doubt, just add bacon or cheese or cheese and bacon....

Friday, July 27, 2012

Connie's Kitchen: Magazine Recipes and Random Gifts

My beautiful mother was the most amazing person I have ever known. She survived a childhood filled with horrific abuse, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her 20's, and through all this she was full of more love and strength and good humor than you could imagine.She never met a stranger or someone she didn't love. She and my Dad raised my sister and I in a warm and loving house where we never wanted for anything. She made sure we had everything she never had and turned her horrible past into a beautiful future for us. She battled hard times with humor and could turn the worst moment into something hilarious. Even in the very end, after two awful weeks in the hospital and finding out she had a stage 4 cancerous brain tumor, she still cracked jokes and made you feel like everything was going to be OK. She was always more concerned with everyone else being happier than herself...
My amazing and courageous mother passed away in March 2011. In her honor I am going to try to post a story and recipe for her on Fridays in a series I am calling; "Connie's Kitchen".

So for today I am going to share a little story about my Mom and a recipe for Grilled Chicken Marinated in my Lemon Pepper Garlic White Wine Marinade and Fresh Green Beans with Lemon and Feta.
I made the chicken recipe myself. Its a staple in our house and something I came up with several years ago but the green beans are from my Mom... or at least from her People magazine.
 Mom got on this kick where she would bring me recipes from her People magazine whenever she saw me. She would usually show up at my house with a big shopping bag full of random gifts and there were always a few of these photo copied recipes with a picture of some celebrity next to it. My Mom was the queen of giving random gifts to my sister and I because she just had to show up for a visit with something. We picture her running around the house gathering any extra thing she could find right before her and Dad got in the car. Her grab bag of items would contain something like:
A plunger
a bulk size bottle of conditioner
a couple boxes of flavored rice
two camisoles
a roll of paper towel
5 coupons
and a lint brush
AND course a photo copied recipe

She would always be so excited to give me this recipe and she would open up the folded paper from her purse and show it to me and point at it several times or slap it down on the counter and point at it saying "ooh look! doesn't this look good!".
I have a wooden box full of these magazine recipes and I am going to try to make them all one by one just like the Julia and Julia girl.

So last night I whipped up my favorite grilled chicken and green beans. The green beans are from the people magazine recipes my mom gave me and its one of my favorites. I make it my own way so here it is:

Grilled Chicken-Lemon Pepper Garlic White Wine Marinade
Take a few raw chicken breasts and marinate them in this mixture for 15 mins or several hours if you can.

Juice from 1 or 2 lemons
1/2 cup white wine
2/3 cup Italian dressing
drizzle olive oil
lots of lemon pepper seasoning--lots
few dashes of salt and pepper
2 T minced garlic from a jar or fresh
a couple dashes of oregano
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
1 T of blue cheese dressing (sounds weird but its good)



Mix all that together, coat chicken, and then let chicken sit in the mixture for 15 mins or more. The longer the better.
Then heat up the grill, place chicken on the grill, brush some of the marinade on the breasts and sprinkle with some more lemon pepper seasoning. Flip and sprinkle with more lemon pepper.

While the chicken is cooking steam your green beans.



Green Beans with Feta and Lemon

1 T fresh lemon juice
3 T olive oil
salt
pepper
crumbled feta
chopped tomato-vine ripe or cherry are good
avocado, bacon, and/or slice almonds are optional.

In a small bowl mix lemon juice, olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Steam green beans. While they are cooking you can cook up some bacon if you like. Its a wonderful option to top this side dish off.




Also chop up some tomato. I used a couple small ones from my garden.


Once the beans and bacon are all done, drizzle the beans with some of the lemon and oil mixture and toss. Next toss in tomato and feta. Its great to add that feta while the beans are still warm. Top off with a little more pepper and salt if needed and crumble some bacon on top and you are ready to enjoy.
Avocado and slice almonds are also a really nice touch if you have them.

Check out the finished dish! Healthy and delicious....I didn't have bacon on mine but I really wanted to....


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Part two: Stuffed Peppers 3 ways on Mom's Fruit Plates

So Mom's fruit plates are these chipped up gray plates with fruit painted on them that you may have been noticing in the pictures on the blog. Mom had a country theme in her kitchen back in the 90's with striped wall paper complete with roosters here and there and these sweet fruit plates were what we ate on as a family for several years. Mom got two 8 piece sets of these plates with bowls and little coffee mugs from JCPennys or somewhere like that. I inherited every piece of that dinner set that was still intact...whether I wanted it or not. Nick and I moved in together and I needed plates and the fruit plates came out of the storage room. It has been over 3 years now and I still use Mom's fruit plates everyday. I keep saying I am going to get another set but I never seem to do it....so for now we eat on these chipped up JCPenny fruit plates that remind me of my Mom and mashed potatoes and gravy.

So.. Stuffed Peppers Italian Sausage Style:

2 packs ground turkey
4 large bell peppers--red are really good with this one
several slices of turkey pepperoni
2/3 cup shredded low fat mozzarella but make sure you have extra for later
1 1/2 T garlic powder or fresh minced garlic
1 1/2 T Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary)
1/2 cup fennel seeds (that gives it the sausage flavor)
1/4 cup Italian dressing
black pepper and salt
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 T dried minced onion flakes
Marinara

You basically cook these the same as the others. Preheat oven to 400. Hollow out bell peppers and place in foil lined baking pan. Mix together ground turkey, garlic, fennel, Italian seasoning, Italian dressing, Parmesan cheese, onion flakes, and several dashes of salt and pepper. Once its mixed well, add in 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella and mix. Line the bottom of each pepper with a few slices of pepperoni then stuff with turkey meat mixture.
Cover with foil and cook 30 mins. While the peppers are cooking, heat up a jar of your favorite marinara or red sauce...even vodka sauce or Alfredo are really good on these peppers.
After 30 mins, take peppers out and top with several spoons of sauce. Cook another 20 mins. Pull peppers out again and top with some mozzarella and a few slices of pepperoni. Cook another 10 mins.

Be careful to check the temp of the meat inside each pepper and make sure it is cooked well. It should take about an hour. After they are all done, plate as is or fillet them and top with more sauce and cheese. Oh but consider stabbing with peppers with fork or knife while still in pan

A little whole wheat pasta is perfect on the side. You can cut up some pieces of the pepper and eat it with the pasta.


Greek Style Stuffed Peppers
2 packs ground turkey
4 large bell peppers-red, yellow, or green...i think the sweetness of the red pepper would be great.
black pepper and salt
1 t mint
1 t oregano
1 t thyme
1 1/2 T garlic powder or minced garlic
juice from 2 slices of lemon
1/2 cup feta cheese
olive oil

Prep peppers and preheat oven. Mix turkey with mint, oregano, thyme, garlic, and several dashes of black pepper and salt. Then add juice from the lemon, feta, and drizzle a little olive oil in and mix.
Cook 30 mins covered and then another 30 mins uncovered.
It should take about an hour.
After they are all cooked through, fillet open and add more crumbled feta, some fresh cracked pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.

I also have a recipe for yogurt cucumber sauce you could use....stay tuned and I will share that one another time. 

Enjoy these healthier dishes my bacon lovers. :)








Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Stuffed Peppers 3 Ways on Mom's fruit plates...


Whew what a crazy couple of days. I think we finally got a handle on the ant invasion. Lily seems to be going through a growth spurt so i have pulled out some new fun clothes...like her cat outfit! Doesn't she look purrrfect...

 Oh but not perfect....It turns out Lily has been out of diapers for 3 days at daycare!! Nick was picking her up and didn't realize that "more diapers" was checked on her daily activity sheet. By the time I saw it they were circling it 3 times and added "please!!!". I was so embarrassed that I almost called the daycare at 6pm when I got home just to apologize. 
Here is how she felt about that...

oh AND i started a blog...i am crazy but I am used to being busy and I am really enjoying this so I am not going to stop. The cheesy bacon/healthy low carb, singing, mommy cook will continue to share recipes and stories so here is another....
As promised I am sharing my stuffed peppers recipes. I learned how to make stuffed peppers back in high school and never understood why they had rice in them and why they were so boring...or at least why the basic recipe I found was so boring. Since then I have been experimenting making them all different ways. 
Tonight I made them in a Mexican style but I also plan to share an Italian Sausage version and a Greek inspired version...all made with ground turkey! 
So the main ingredients you need to make stuffed peppers in my house are:

2 packs of ground Turkey
4 Large bell peppers

and from there you can create so many different versions of this dish depending on the spices and sauces you add.

Mexican Style Stuffed Peppers by Karissa
2 packs ground turkey
4 large bell peppers-green 
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
1 t oregano
1T garlic powder
1 packet of taco seasoning (tonight i used a chipotle one from wegmans-it had raisins in it and that was awesome)
1 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1 1/2 cups grated Monterrey jack or a Mexican blend from any grocery store
Juice from 1/2 a lime

First preheat oven to 400 degrees. Then line a small baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Place 4 cleaned bell peppers in the pan with the tops chopped off and all seeds and insides hollowed out.


Next mix all dry spices in a large bowl. Add uncooked ground turkey and mix. Add cheese and lime and mix again. Stuff peppers with turkey mixture. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 mins. 

After 30 mins, pull peppers out and spoon enchilada sauce (recipe below) on top of each pepper. Put back in oven uncovered for another 30 mins. Check temp of meat before you eat. The meat inside these dang peppers can take forever to cook sometimes! 

While the peppers are cooking you can whip up my enchilada sauce and spanish rice. **note that I have never read a recipe for how to make these things so if I am breaking some latin traditions, I apologize. I just made these up one day. 

Enchilada Sauce

1 1/2 T tomato paste
1 can tomato sauce
1 T oregano 
2 T chili powder
2 T cumin
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 T garlic powder
2/3 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend or Monterrey jack

In a small pot take tomato paste and oregano and cook on med high until paste gets brick red and nice and hot. Next add tomato sauce and all spices. Stir and cook on med for 10 min. After that add cheese and turn down to med low and keep warm until peppers are done. stir often. taste test and add more spices and/or a little red pepper if you want a kick. 


Spanish Rice

1 Cup rice
water
salt 
cumin
chili powder
garlic powder
2 T butter or margarine
juice from 1/2 a lime
1 can diced tomato (hunts fire roasted with garlic is great)
1/2 cup cooked chopped onion

So make rice according to instructions on box or bag. I do not use minute rice. 
My rice says to boil 1 1/2 cups water and add 1 cup rice, stir, and simmer covered for 20 mins.
So I add water to the pot and also add salt, cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder. I probably used a 1/2 T of each. Once the water boiled I added rice and cooked for 10 mins. At that point I added butter and a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes. While that was cooking I quickly sauteed some chopped onion and added that  once the onion is soft. I cook all this another 10 mins or so on med low, stirring often. I probably added more spices as I cooked and then juice from 1/2 a lime once it was done. 


Once everything is done cooking, I stab the bottom of the peppers with a knife while still in the pan to let some of the juice out, otherwise things can get a little crazy on your plate. 
I plate the pepper by cutting it in half or I guess you call it, filleting it, covering it with more sauce and cheese. Then I plate the rice and top with some cheese as well. Hopefully everything is still nice and hot and the cheese melts.
Enjoy!

OK this post was long and its 9:45 so I will share part II tomorrow and let you know how I do the peppers two other ways. AND these are all probably better with bacon....

Monday, July 23, 2012

Plan B and a haircut....

So I had been planning on making stuffed peppers since yesterday but after another battle with the ant invaders and fussy Lily who didn't want to go to bed...I was too hungry and tired to make the peppers. I usually have plan B ready to go and tonight that was some simple pasta marinara. Low carb whole wheat pasta and some garlic and olive oil marinara from a jar is a perfect quick healthy dinner. Nick usually likes a little meat in his sauce so he and I searched the freezer and found some beef cocktail wienies! He actually wanted those in his sauce so I defrosted them and cut them up and put them On his plate. I usually wouldn't put basically hot dogs in my pasta but....Nick seemed to like it and if you cover it in cheese everything tastes better. Cheese and bacon.... Lily finally fell asleep and we were able to eat and then cut nick's hair. Pretty random night. Ant battle, hot dog pasta, and a hair cut. It's now 8:30pm and it still light outside and all I want to do is sleep. Tomorrow I will share three ways to do stuffed peppers for sure! Promise.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Apparently our house is falling apart but you gotta eat right..?

As this scorching summer goes on and all these intense storms batter our homes my husband Nick and I keep having major issues with our house...
on the minor side, we need to paint our shutters, framing around our windows and roof and apparently we have to paint some concrete that is showing from our foundation or we will get fined by our HOA. At some point an owner painted this concrete white and that white paint is chipping...so thanks for making more work for us dude...and why did you think painting concrete white was a good idea? On the major side, our AC probably needs to be replaced, our roof seems to be leaking in Lily's closet, and all of a sudden we have ants!! Oh and on top of this my garden is out of control! I worked very hard on designing and planting a memorial garden last year in honor of my mother who passed away in March 2011 from a massive brain tumor. Once you build something like that, it takes ALOT of work to maintain. I am so happy i have my garden but with a new baby in the mix, a lot of things have gone to the wayside...like the garden.
So as it seems like our little home is just falling apart, I am still thinking about food...you gotta eat right...

This morning Miss Lily is being a sweet little angel and Nick has decided to help clean the floors to get rid of these invading ants so I make breakfast...Lily helps...
I wanted to make bacon and eggs but we only have two eggs...That's just not enough BUT we have a loaf of bread, powdered sugar, spices....sounds like french toast is about to happen!

Quick French Toast

2 eggs
4 pieces of wheat bread
milk
cinnamon
nutmeg
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
butter or margarine
maple syrup
AND maple bacon!!!

First crack eggs in a wide bowl. Add a pinch of nutmeg, dash of cinnamon, 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract, dash of powdered sugar, and a T milk. Whisk all together
Melt butter or margarine in your frying pan or even better; your iron skillet. Dunk bread in egg mix and let it soak a few seconds on each side. Really get that bread wet. Drop bread into hot skillet.


Heat another pan and drop in a few pieces of maple bacon and cook until perfectly crispy. That outcome all depends on your stove and how much time and attention you give your bacon...its different for everyone.
Keep an eye on your toast and flip after a few minutes.
Put cooked bacon on a plate with a paper towel to soak up extra grease and remove french toast from pan once it is golden brown on each side. Go ahead and slap a little butter or margarine on the toast too.
For final plating, place french toast and bacon on plate. Sprinkle french toast with a little powdered sugar and drizzle with maple syrup. Add some fresh fruit to the plate to really top it off and make it a more balanced breakfast.
Enjoy!


Ps Lily loves rice cereal in her bottle! just started that last night.

AND the pulled BBQ chicken is even better today!



Saturday, July 21, 2012

Pulled Peach Chipotle BBQ Chicken...the outcome

The BBQ turned out really really great. I ended up toasting and buttering Nick's bun and I used a 100 cal sandwich thin. On the side we had sliced tomato from my garden and sliced cucumber-both with some fresh cracked sea salt sprinkled on top. We also had my favorite roasted sweet potatoes. They are amazing. I actually learned this recipe from a people magazine and just kicked it up a notch. Recipe is below.



Lemon Molasses Sweet Potatoes

1 large sweet potato
olive oil
salt
black pepper
cinnamon
1 lemon
1/4 cup maple syrup

Peel and chop potato and put pieces in a small roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cinnamon, and toss. Cover with foil and cook for 15 mins on 350. While cooking, whisk together lemon and syrup. Pull out potatoes and drizzle half of lemon and syrup mixture on top and toss. Place back in oven, uncovered, for another 10-15 mins. Check potatoes and if they are soft enough remove from oven and drizzle the rest of the lemon and syrup mixture on top, toss, and maybe sprinkle a little more salt on top.
Serve and enjoy!

Why I do the cooking...

While i was making the BBQ today I noticed my wooden salad tossing spoon was burned. Found out Nick was making a frozen bag meal while i was out last night singing...hence burned spoon.

A new recipe during a long nap

So for my very first blog post ever I decided to come up with a new dish, which is kind of a twist on an old signature dish I used to make. I am not exactly sure yet what my blogging style will be so for this first post I am just going to share how I came up with this dish and what happened along the way. Also, as many of you know, I love adding cheese and bacon to my dishes. You are sure to get plenty of bacony goodness from this blog but I also am very passionate about low fat and low carb cooking so sometimes I plan to share two versions of a dish...the bacony fat fat version and the healthier version...so..here we go.....

Its a rainy gloomy Saturday and I am exhausted from a singing performance from the night before (Stephen Gregory Smith's fabulous cabaret at Signature Theatre) and also from taking care of my 4 month old little girl who isn't sleeping through the night yet. It's 11am and baby Lily just went down for a nap.
 I am sitting on my big white couch (kinda rethinking the white couch decision now but that is another story) watching the food network, like I always do, and starting to get hungry, like I always do. I was thinking how we really really need to go to the grocery store and was getting hungrier and hungrier as I watched Giada cook greek pizza. I was also thinking how I really really didn't want to go to the store yet so what could I put together in my crazy kitchen. We have a sweet potato, a value pack of chicken breast, some canned food, condiments, baby formula, and a few random frozen items like tots....not much to work with.
So I decide to do something with all that chicken in the slow cooker and it came to me... I used to make pulled whiskey pineapple turkey BBQ for parties (I will share that recipe later but its a bit of work and involves cooking a whole turkey--so worth it though). I don't have all the ingredients to do that but I do have tons of chicken, canned peaches, BBQ sauce, and left over chipotle peppers from when I made BBQ chipotle chicken salad the other day.
So I guess Pulled Peach Chipotle BBQ Chicken is on the menu for dinner!
I have precious little time to whip this up with a napping Lily in the other room so I grab up spices, sauce, the chicken, and get this thing going.


Here is what I came up with:

PULLED PEACH CHIPOTLE BBQ CHICKEN

5 large chicken breast
preheat oven at 325

Dry rub:
1 T of garlic powder
1/2 T of paprika
1/2 T of chili powder
1 t of adobo seasoning
1/2 t of black pepper
dash of salt
dash of cumin
mix

take large cookie sheet and line with foil.
spray foil with cooking spray
lay chicken on the foil in a circle, all touching with some space in the center.
rub all pieces with olive oil.
then sprinkle dry rub on each piece on both sides and rub in a little.
rub is a little salty so be careful not to over season.
next take a square of foil and form into a bowl and place in center of chicken circle.
pour white vinegar or apple cider vin into the foil bowl. fill half way or a little more.
fold up foil on cookie sheet around chicken and then cover over top with a sheet of foil.
do not wrap too tight so juices and vin can kinda help steam chicken a little.

slow cook chicken for an hour or more.

while chicken is cooking make BBQ sauce.
Sauce:

1 and a half cups BBQ sauce. I used Jack Daniels smokehouse brand.
1/2 cup peace preserves
1/2 cup chopped canned chipotle peppers with adobo sauce (i used peppers in a spicey sauce)
1/2 cup apple cider vin
1 and a half T of minced garlic-from jar or fresh
1/2 cup of canned peaches (strained)
1 T of dry rub mixture
1 T of dijon mustard.
cover and set in fridge while chicken cooks.


I was only going to cook the chicken for 1.5 hours but then Lily woke up screamin for a bottle and I got distracted. I ended up cooking the chicken for about 2 hours and it came out perfect! Super juicy and tender and pulling apart easily.

Make sure to save all those juices and the vinegar and now wait for the chicken to cool, then shred. You can pull apart with your fingers or you can take two forks and use those to shred-use a cutting board for this.
Then throw all of the chicken in the slow cooker on low. Add all that wonderful chicken broth from the cookie sheet and the vinegar from the foil bowl in the slow cooker too. Dump in all of the BBQ sauce, stir, and wait. I am probably going to let it sit in the slow cooker for 4 hours at least.




I haven't tried the final product yet so I guess I will post later and share how I think it turned out. I plan on making roasted lemon and molasses sweet potatoes to go with the chicken and will share that recipe too.

Hope you enjoy making this one too! If you attempt it, let me know if you make any changes that you think enhance the dish. I am sure it would be better with bacon....

btw Lily hates my blog already!