Gotta Share!

I can't believe it! Wow! If I had known it would turn out even half as well as it did I would have documented the process with my camera. I will next time, (and there will definitely be a 'next time',) but I can't keep this to myself!

My husband has a new job this year and it is taking loads of his time. I am happy to let him put in the time because a)he loves it and b)it won't always be like this. He is spending time with G in the evenings and once she is in bed he works from home. Well, we both do, but I finish HOURS before he does. Since I can't actually help him with his work I have decided (timing would allow it, but I am not calling this a 'New Year's Resolution') to do more than my 'share' in the kitchen.

What am I doing? The dishes every night…. Well, let me back up.

Remember, we live overseas. One of the many benefits of our lifestyle is being able to have a 'helper'. We hire a woman to come to our house, twice a week, for a couple of hours each time, to clean and cook. So, I don't do the dishes the two nights before she comes. And I don't have to cook every night to ensure a home-cooked meal.

I am also doing more meal planning and preparing. Since I can't drive here, I make sure I put what I need for the week on the grocery list before my husband's Friday (remember our weekend is Thursday / Friday) trip to the store. (He did most of the grocery shopping at our last school too, but if I didn't have it all together I could hop in the car and take care of the last minute items.) This way I am not asking him to take the time on a weekday evening (for us Saturday - Wednesday), which would make his nights even later.

Anyway, on with today's story…
This week I picked out a Crock Pot recipe called "Savory Chicken and Oregano Chili". It calls for two cups of shredded, cooked chicken. Easy, I thought. I will have him pick up a little, cooked chicken and I'll shred it and throw it in. Except he hasn't found a place that sells little, cooked chickens here. When he called from the store (very typical) to inquire I told him to get a raw one and I would cook it.

I am finally getting to what I have to share. I went online (I especially like this website for slow cooker recipes) to figure out if and how I could cook the chicken in my Crock Pot. I ended up simplifying the ideas I found. This is what I did. Are you ready? I will finally get to the point. I put the chicken in the Crock Pot (breast side down since that is how I roast turkeys), put the lid on, turned it on low, and went to bed. 10 hours later I reluctantly took it out and OH MY GOODNESS! The meat literally and completely fell off the bone. I tore it apart and threw it back into the crock pot with the fixings for my recipe and went to school. 10 hours later we came home and dinner was fabulous. Even G, at 2.5, had 3 helpings.

So, I gotta tell you.
If you need to cook a chicken, toss it in the Crock Pot and walk away.
That's it!

(And it took me 593 words to tell you that one, simple point.)

 

 

laptop photo credit
shopping cart photo credit
Crock Pot photo credit