Easy crock pot chicken

This is the easiest crock pot chicken recipe. I almost feel silly calling it a recipe.

I make it when I'm stumped for dinner ideas because of two reasons:

1. I always have the three ingredients around.
2. It turns out surprisingly great every time. So good that I'd make it for company. Really. I think I even made this for a special homecoming dinner for hubby once.

Toss into the crock pot (with a life-changing liner):

• Chicken (boneless breasts or thighs)
• Rosemary (FRESH!)
• A can of *Progresso creamy mushroom soup

Cook on low until you come home from work. Serve over rice with the vegetable of your choice.

*A note about the soup: It didn't always used to be gluten free, and some of the non-gf cans are still around. Find a can that says GLUTEN FREE right on it. Then buy 5 to have in the pantry.

You're welcome for this super easy wonderful crock pot chicken recipe.

This week's menu

Crap. I didn't realize that picture was blurry until just now. Too bad, I'm not taking another one.

This week is a regular work week. Holy Moley, I needed this weekend to rest.

The lab gods made last week pretty hectic. I wonder what they will decide for this week? At least I have some yummy meals planned to enjoy for lunch-- IF I can get out of the lab to take a lunch!

P.S. It's still hot outside. Too hot.

2nd Breakfasts-
Cottage cheese with strawberries and sliced almonds
Peanut butter on GF toast

Sunday- Thai Peanut Noodles. Because I'm still obsessing over that sauce.
Monday- Crock pot chicken + rice + broccoli
Tuesday- Burgers + beans + potato wedges
Wednesday- Big salads
Thursday- Black bean enchiladas- made in the toaster oven
Friday- Salmon kabobs + salad

Have a lovely week.

Thai Peanut Noodles

Why, yes. I AM obsessed with this peanut sauce.

Since I discovered it, I've had it on salad, with spring rolls, with takeout sushi, and now I'm eating it with noodles. It's THAT good.

Thai Peanut Noodles

Gather ingredients:
1 batch peanut sauce (made with peanut butter instead of cashew butter)
cooked and still hot GF spaghetti noodles
chives, chopped
frozen peas
red pepper flakes
parsley
Optional: chopped leftover chicken breast

Mix it all together in the still-hot spaghetti noodle pot, and dig in.

This week's menu

What do we have here? Another menu.

It dawned on me that I've been neglecting to post a very important part of my weekly menu: 2nd breakfast. I always eat a snack around 10am when I take my break at work.

I eat a small bowl of cereal before I leave the house, but a few hours later I always need something more. And yes, I usually plan these second breakfasts along with these dinners.

So! Let's welcome 2nd breakfasts into the weekly menu.

2nd Breakfasts: Peanut butter and granola on Udi's GF bread

Wednesday- Leftover soup + salad, if I can get to it before it gets too slimy
Thursday- Buffalo chicken and broccoli bowls
Friday- Burgers + beans + potato wedges
Saturday- Grilled fish tacos + avocado corn salsa
Sunday- Crock pot chicken + rice + broccoli

not salad dressing

I've been trying to eat more vegetables this year. So far I've actually done a great job- I eat WAY more vegetables on a regular basis than I ever have.

While there are many vegetables out there, eating more veggies pretty much = eating more salads. However boring salads can be, they're the easiest way to ingest more veggies. They're a necessary evil.

One day we ran out of salad dressing.

Oh, me! Oh, my!

However will I eat my salad?

Good thing I had hummus to the rescue.

It turns out, a dollup of hummus is even better than salad dressing. It can be thinned out with water to a dressing consistency, or simply plopped into the salad as-is. It tastes better and has more protein aka I'm not as hungry an hour later.

Try it.

P.S. More ways to eat veggies

freezer dump soup

It's hot.
Did I mention it's hot?
Because it's hot.

And I don't want to cook hot things. But salads and sandwiches get old.

Enter stage left: The crock pot. And the big freezer cleanout.

Dinner is served.

This is my freezer dump soup. The recipe changes, because it consists of cleaning out the fridge and freezer and dumping anything soup-worthy into the crock pot.

And it's usually delicious.

The secret to delicious freezer-dump soup is to heavily sautee all the things you can before dumping them in the crock pot. That char gives the soup and extra depth that really makes a difference.

This particular soup starts with sauteed corn, green peppers, and onion.

It got tossed into the crock pot with chicken broth, a forgotten carrot, peas, some wine, and a freezer burned chicken breast.

It turned out wonderful. I had 2 bowls.

I usually serve with a nice big scoop of rice or quinoa to round things out.

This "week's" eats

My "weeks" always get a bit weird when I work weekends. That's why this "week" starts on a Saturday. Also it's too effing hot to cook over the stove. So salads, sandwiches, and crock pots are my friends right now.

Saturday- Sandwiches
Sunday- Tuna salad on salad
Monday- Crock pot soup (freezer cleanout = dump all the things in the soup!)
Tuesday- Buffalo chicken and broccoli bowls