There are two appliances I absolutely adore; my Bellini and my slow cooker. Slow cooking makes life so much easier on work days and leftovers are always great for lunches or the freezer. For this recipe I utilise both appliances to make prep really quick but you can definitely chop your ingredients if you don’t have a thermo. You could even chop the veggies the day before so you can literally dump and run in the morning. I use a little external timer on my slow cooker for days when I’m out for longer than the cooking time. It switches off before we get home but the food inside stays nice and hot. I literally walk in the door and dish up the food! This Mexican Chicken is a hit in our house. Last week our 5 year old polished off two big bowls and then took leftovers in a thermos to Kinder the next day. Success! You will need: 1 Kg chicken breast 1 medium sweet potato, scrubbed and cut into 1 cm thick slices 1 tin of chopped tomatoes 2-3 tablespoons of taco seasoning, depending on your spice preference (see following recipe to make your own) 1 large or 2 small onions, peeled and quartered 3 sticks of celery 2 carrots 1 green capsicum (I use rough quantities of veggies and even throw in the odd zucchini. It’s a great fridge cleaning meal!) I serve this on brown rice with sour cream, avocado and corn chips. Cooking the rice ahead makes the dinner rush much easier. I just keep snap lock bags of it in the freezer ready to reheat. Firstly, I like to give my slow cooker a quick spray with olive oil. Line the bottom with the sliced sweet potato. Next, lay the chicken breasts on top. At this point I throw the remaining veggies into my Bellini and blitz for a couple of seconds, until they are finely diced. You could chop them by hand if you don’t have a thermo. Spread the veggie mix over the chicken and sprinkle with the taco seasoning. Pour over the tomatoes and a few tablespoons of water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Every slow cooker is a little different. If I cook this in my large SC it needs only 4-6 hours because it is more spread out. I suggest trying it on a day you’re home, perhaps on your Sunday Cook Up! Pull the chicken apart with a couple of forks and there you have it, Shredded Mexican Chicken. We love this served on brown rice with sour cream, mashed avocado and a few corn chips. Yummo! Serves 4 with lots of leftovers. Notes: The kids don’t love spicy food so this is a very, very mild dish. If you like spicy food double the taco seasoning. I always get my slow cooker going before I leave home and have it turn off while I’m out if needed. I do this because once I came home to raw dinner because I mucked up the timer and because I don’t think you should leave raw meat just sitting around for hours. Homemade Taco Seasoning Some store bought taco seasonings contain all kinds of junk I don’t want to feed my kids so I came up with this version. This recipe makes a small jar so you can make it once and use it in many dishes. Into my Bellini I put:
2 tablespoons dried cumin 2 tablespoons dried coriander 2 teaspoons dried garlic 2 teaspoons ground paprika 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes 2 teaspoons black peppercorns 1 tablespoon dried oregano Then simply blitz it all up on speed 10 for 20 seconds and check the pepper had become a powder. Pop it in a jar and store it in the pantry.
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