Crock Pot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

I made these for dinner last night (first time out with this recipe) and it was AWESOME! The barbecue sauce appears to be the key. So if you try this, make sure and buy good sauce. We used Sweet Baby Ray's.

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken (I used a couple of packages of the shrink-wrapped thighs that you can get at Costco). Make sure you get all the little bits of fat off the chicken or you'll end up with greasy sauce. Yuck!
1 medium onion, sliced
1 bottle (18 oz-ish) of barbecue sauce
Buns

Method:

1.) Throw everything in the crock pot and turn it on! If you use 1 lb of chicken, you won't need the whole bottle of sauce.

2.) Cook for 8 hours on low.

3.) When you're ready to eat, pull out the chicken and shred it with a fork. Then, plop some on a hamburger bun.

4.) Dinner!

Engagement Chicken

Whether you're looking for that special someone to pop the question or you just want a different and delicious way to cook chicken, this recipe is for you! The real recipe is found here, but I didn't feel like adding all those garnishes, so I simplified it a bit and added lemon juice to the sauce.

Ingredients:

1 whole roasting chicken
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 or 3 whole lemons
salt
pepper

Method:

1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

2.) Remove giblets and rinse chicken thoroughly, inside and out. Make sure it's dry-ish (like no puddles of water left inside)

3.) Pour the lemon juice all over the inside and outside of the chicken.

4.) Salt and pepper the chicken, inside and out.

5.) Prick the lemons with a fork a few times all over, then place them inside cavity of the chicken. I only needed two lemons and I had to shove pretty hard to keep them inside. I think I broke a few ribs, so don't be shy about getting those lemons to stay put.

6.) Place the chicken breast-side down in a roasting pan with a rack. Bake for 15 min at 400 degrees F.

7.) Take the chicken out of the oven and flip it over. My chicken wasn't too hot, so I could do it with my hands, but a pair of tongs or wooden spoons works too. Reposition the lemons if they fall out.

8.) Lower oven temp to 350 and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, depending on the weight of the chicken. The recipe gave an equation of 18-20 minutes per pound plus an extra 15 minutes because it's stuffed with lemons.

9.) When the chicken is cooked, let it rest for 10 min. before serving. Take the lemons out and squeeze them into a bowl. They'll be nice and soft and everything will come out easily. Pour the drippings (which they called "marry me juice") into that bowl as well and pour the concoction over the chicken as you eat it.
10.) YUM!!!!

Chicken Divan or What Am I Going To Do With All This Leftover Turkey??

With Thanksgiving over, I find myself with about eight pounds of frozen turkey sitting in my freezer.  I have made about a billion turkey sandwiches and a couple of gallons of turkey soup.  So, now I am on the hunt for good recipes that will use up that turkey.  This is one that has been a family favorite forever and translates well from chicken to turkey.  I recently tried a recipe for chicken a la king, which didn't work out so well, but I will keep trying and will share the good ones here.  So, to business.....

Chicken (or Turkey) Divan
Serves 4-ish

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast (about 2 breast halves)
1 12-16 oz package frozen broccoli
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/4 c lemon juice
1 can cream of chicken soup (cream of mushroom works ok too)
1 tsp mild curry powder (or more if you like)
cheddar cheese
croutons (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1. Cook frozen broccoli.
2. Mix mayo, lemon juice, soup and curry powder in a small bowl
3. Put chicken and cooked broccoli in an 8 x 8 baking dish
4. Pour soup mixture over top.  At this point I usually stir things up a bit, so the sauce gets all over everything
5. Grate cheddar cheese over the top (In my house, if you can still see broccoli or chicken, there's not enough cheese :) )
6.  Add croutons if you want.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes till cheese is melted and bubbly and a litte browned.
Serve over rice