Chicken al la Shirley

So I woke up this morning hungry. Yesterday was an emotional day, and I didn't eat well.  I open the freezer to find 2 - weight watchers chicken breasts (these are 3oz portions), and some frozen chopped red peppers. Fridge has white onion and a bag of baby carrots... Into the pantry I go, and find a can of almost expired cream of mushroom...  And with that - lunch is created. 

I put all the ingredients into a zip topped bag (with the exception of the can), and head to work. 

Ingredient list

2 - 3 ounce portions of boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Large handful chopped red pepper ( I buy these in bulk, chop & freeze so I did not actually measure)

1/4 of a medium white onion - large chunk chopped

Handful of baby carrots

Seasonings - salt, pepper, onion powder. (Use for your taste) 

Since the items were in the zip top bag, I just poured into the crock & gave it a quick stir.  I know so many sites say, place the chicken on the bottom, veggies on top but in my experience it doesn't really matter.  

In my small, desktop crock pot, I've placed this on high and am waiting.  I'm assuming it'll be 2-3 hours, but if sooner will drop it to warm until it's time to eat.  

UPDATE - cooking time was 2.5 hours on high in my small crock, I dropped it to low and added a can of Mexi-Corn, giving a good stir, let it cook for an additional 30 mins. 

I served the mixture over a whole wheat tortilla, and used that for the "gravy" pic to come once my phone syncs to the cloud :) 

Today's Lunch - Chili!

So when I traveled to visit my parents in mid-September, my Dad made a big pot of chili and froze some for me to bring back to Florida.  Sunday morning, I put the container in the fridge for defrosting, thinking I'd eat it up this week. 

My Dad's chili is one of my favorite meals - its easy and amazingly simple to make, and has some great flavor.  Sadly, my dad's cooking skills consist of "a little of this, a bit of that"  he says he cooks for FLAVOR!  lol  So I'm putting together his recipe and then converting it into a crock pot meal!   His version is a sweeter chili, not spicy.  You can add spices as you wish though. 

**This serves a large family, so you can break it down however you need. **

Hamburger  - 2lbs, 85/15 - 

Kidney beans - 2 cans light, 2 cans dark

can of tomatos

onion

green peppers

ketchup

yellow mustard

white vinegar

white sugar

chop onions & peppers into smaller/bite sized pieces. 

saute onions and peppers with a small amount of EVOO, salt & pepper. 

add hamburger and brown through.  Place in your crock pot on low.

Add cans of light & dark of kidney beans with liquid

Drain tomatoes (reserve liquid) - depending on how "liquidy" you want your chili  you may want to add. 

Now, this is where it can be tricky -  I typically add a 20oz bottle of ketchup, about 2 tbsp of yellow mustard, a cap full of white vinegar (small bottle size), and a sprinkle of white sugar to taste.  

Mix it all up, taste - if it tastes good, you're done.  If it tastes to mustardy, add more ketchup,  if it tastes to ketchupy - add mustard.  Remember - add everything in SMALL amounts, you can't take it out! 

I put the ingredients in my crock on LOW for at least 2 hours to simmer.  Since everything is already cooked, you're just melding the flavors together.  Once you're ready to eat, serve it up with some shredded cheese, sour cream, sliced jalapenos -- whatever you want!  

This recipe freezes well too, so you can make it in advance and freeze.  Then toss it in the crock pot on low for a bit, and it'll be ready for you! 

my Gear

I shared my first post with a friend and she asked, "So what do you cook with" 

1 - this made me laugh for awhile because it sounded so awkward but yet professional 

2 - after the laughing subsided I figured, I should share that so people know what I use!

My primary Crock Pot for this blog is my Rival 2 Quart Crock Pot.  I think its intended for warm dips and smaller portions like that, but its perfect for the single girl.  It also travels well, well the crock does, as you can see from the picture the lid handle snapped the first time I tried to transport it lol - but it works!   The ceramic insert fits nicely in the dishwasher as well. 

I also own a larger crock pot - West Bend Crockery - I beleive this one is 6 or 7 quarts - I know it can hold close to 2 gallon sized cans of nacho cheese...  yeah, I've done that.  

First Recipe - Chicken Fajitas at my desk

So this morning I got up and thought, I'm in the mood for something filling, healthy and spicy for lunch today!  My friend Kim recently shared a chicken fajita recipe on Facebook, so I thought I'd make my own spin off that.    I headed into Publix before my shift.

Now, I've definitely learned that no matter what Store name you visit, every section is different.  So as I buzzed into the store I knew, I had no idea what I was looking for regarding the peppers and onions for this dish.  Some locations have a "fajita kit" that includes the peppers and onions - sometimes even the chicken is already in the packaging!  Unfortunately, this location did not have that. 

Back over to the produce section I went and found this bag of goodness.  Now, I have a reaction to Red Onions - so I can't eat them.  White, yellow, any other type I'm fine, its just the reds.  This mixture had green and red peppers, and white onions - perfect for my needs. 

Next up - chicken.  Now, my desk crockpot is only a 2 quart size, so I couldn't go all family style with my cooking.  Poultry...  well, I couldn't find a single chicken breast packaged - I know, I know, Publix will break apart their packaging, but I had about 25 minutes before I was due into the office, so I was in a rush.  I found a Chicken Kabob package for $3.75, it had 4 nice size pieces of chicken, green peppers and white onions. (sorry, forgot to take a picture of it).  The package as a whole was 0.6lbs - that includes pieces of Onion and Green Pepper.  I'd say it was equivilant to a Cup of chicken

A can of Ro-tel Tomatoes w/ Green Chilies, a small can of chopped Green Chillies, a packet of fajita seasoning, shredded cheese, lite sour cream, and a package of whole wheat tortillas rounded out the shopping.  

Following the guidelines from Kim's post, I placed the package of the veggies on the bottom of the crock pot, then slid the chicken kabob off the skewer. I poured the cans of Ro-Tel and Green Chillies over top, pouring their juices as well.  I mixed the fajita seasoning packet into about 1/2 cup of water and poured over the mixture. 

Crock Pot went on High with the lid on.  Stirring every hour or so. 

Final outcome -  talk about JUICY!  Doing this again in the future, I'll probably mix the fajita season into the Ro-Tel and then pour over, rather then using the extra water.  I actually tipped the lid to the side for about 20 minutes to help some liquid simmer off.  It helped but was still juicy. 

Served up with a light sprinkle of shredded cheese I had on hand, and some sour cream. 

Two full torts for lunch, and i'm FULL!  I have enough leftover for lunch tomorrow - so the lid is going on the crock and the insert is going straight into the fridge :) 

 Thank you Kim R for sharing your original post!  Definitely a happy girl here. 

*** Note - I would not recommend using a paper plate for this meal...  unless you have some super duty ones :)

I LOVE FOOD!

Welcome to my new blog - Single Girl Crock Pot Cooking!  I think that title gives away alot of what this page is about.  To start - I'm not a chef, I'm a 30-something single lady, who likes food.  I'm definitely working on being a healthier person, so healthier posts are likely, but not guaranteed. 

My goal with this blog is to share recipes, gizmos and anything else that can help the Single Girl (or Guy) with their cooking needs. 

If you've ever lived on your own, you know how hard it can be to cook a decent meal, at a good price, and not have enough leftovers to feed the neighborhood - or eat that same meal for 4 days.  

Please feel free to comment, share posts and other recipes and let me know your thoughts on what I'm doing.  Please be kind, and remember, I'm no professional - half of these items may be made at my desk at work (shh, not supposed to have a crock pot at my desk)  LOL