Cooking Ideas from Karen

I know, some of you probably just fell out of your chair. Cooking ideas from, ... KAREN? I know as unlikely as that is, I have a great website I wanted to point you all too.

I saw the movie Julie & Julia a few weeks ago, and was totally uninspired, other than the part about doing something everyday and blogging about it. Don't get me wrong it was a fabulous movie, and I've now watched parts of the Julia special they've been running on PBS a few times. I think she was brilliant and wonderful. But I'm not really a cook. I'm just a fake. I can't make an omelet or any of those wonderful french dishes Julie & Julia made. What I do love to cook with is my slow cooker.

I love my slow cooker (fyi - slow cooker is the actual appliance, crockpot is a particular brand of said appliance). I use it about once a week, sometimes more. It's really boosted my self-confidence in the kitchen and I have several recipes our family simply adores. I've even made cake in my slow cooker (and it was delicious too!)

I love this cookbook I found at Murrietta Hot Springs one of the years we had women's retreat there. A few of the above aforementioned recipes come from it. And then I found this blog, A Year of Slow Cooking. The author, now publishing a cookbook having completed her 365 days of slow cooking, spent a year eating dinner from her slow cooker. She tweaked recipes her family only mildly liked until they became family favorites. She tried new things, flavors, courses, etc. And then she blogged about it daily, writing reviews instructions and improvements along the way.

I've recommended these two sources to many a person who asks about my slow cooking recipes, and then it occurred to me today, some of you might enjoy this knowledge too. I hope you do!

And as an added bonus, here's one of our favorite recipes: Apricot Chicken
4 frozen boneless skinless chicken breast pieces
1 bottle of Russian or Catalina dressing
1 packet of dry onion soup mix
1 jar of apricot preserves

Place frozen chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Mix half the bottle of dressing, onion soup mix and half the jar of apricot preserves in a small bowl. Then pour over chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 4-6 hours. Serve over warm rice. (Tip: I love Trader Joe's frozen Jasmine rice. It cooks in the microwave in 4 minutes and comes out PERFECT every. single. time. Shout out here to Amy for tipping me off to this fabulous rice years ago!) Add a veggie or salad and dinner is done.

Variations to mix it up: Instead of apricot preserves, mix in one can of whole cranberry sauce. And you've got Cranberry Chicken. Instead of Russian or Catalina use French dressing. Add a little dry basil and thyme (about a teaspoon of each) to the recipe. For a larger crowd I've added more chicken and more dressing and preserves.