My husband would happily eat leftovers or cook spaghetti for himself every day
But part of being a wife is that I get to serve him dinner.
The problem is while he works from home and I have a regular 9-5 job.
And after work, I sometimes have errands to do. Like the fact that
I opted for an acupuncturist holistic doctor instead of a regular one
But that means I have to drive 30 miles to Jacksonville after work once a week
to deal with my allergies and such.
He will cook a balanced meal and serve it on days like that,
But let’s face it. One of my best gifts is being able to cook really, really good food.
Why deprive him of that?
Thanks to slow cookers, I don’t have to.
And thanks to a blog post that someone shared on Facebook,
I found some brilliant new recipes to prep ahead of time.
I’d like to take full credit for this one, but it’s been “grandfathered” down.
Variations of the recipes below were listed in Kojo Designs blog
And the busy housewife/mom who wrote it
Had taken them from about 4 other blogs
And adapted them to fit her family’s tastes.
That’s kind of how this whole social network thing works, though isn’t it?
Even some of the ideas on my friend’s Redeeming the Day blog were adapted
From other things she’s heard.
You share something someone else did and someone re-shares it off of your wall
And so on and so forth and each time it gets adapted or added on to
And the circle of life continues…
So without further adieu, here are our four big bags of frozen goodness:
Coconut Chicken Curry
IN THE BAG
-Six chicken tenderloins
-1 skinned, chopped butternut squash
-2 medium onions, chopped
-8 minced garlic cloves or 2 tablespoons of garlic powder
-1 oz fresh ginger, or 1 teaspoon of ginger powder
-2 T curry powder
-1 t ground coriander
-1 t ground cumin
-coarse salt
TO COOK- Add the contents of the bag and a can of coconut milk to a slow cooker and cook on low all day. 25 minutes before serving, remove and chop up the tenderloins, then return them to the cooker. Add another can of coconut milk and a bag of frozen peas.
TO SERVE- spoon over rice and garnish with black sesame seeds
BBQ Chicken
IN THE BAG
-2 chopped sweet potatoes
- 2 cups red and green bell pepper
-1 cup chopped carrots
-2 cups chopped onion
-3 cups sliced zucchini
-2 T flour*
-5-6 chicken tenderloins
-2 cloves garlic or 1 teaspoon powdered garlic
-1 t salt
TO COOK- Dump bag plus one bottle BBQ sauce into crock pot, cook on low for 6-8 hours.
TO SERVE- spoon onto a plate with a side of sweet potato fries
Orange Chicken
IN THE BAG
-2 cups chopped carrots
-2 cups chopped bell peppers
-6 boneless skinless chicken tenderloins,
-3 cloves garlic, or 1.5 tsp powdered garlic
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 t pepper
-8 oz. orange juice concentrate (orange pineapple will work as well)
TO COOK- Cook on low in crock pot, 4 to 6 hours
TO SERVE- Garnish with mandarin oranges and green onions (two, chopped).
Serve on rice. Stir fried veggies make a great side.
Hot and Spicy Braised Peanut Chicken
IN THE BAG
-2 cups chopped onions
-2 cups chopped carrots
-2 cups chopped zucchini
-1 chopped red pepper
-1/2 t grated lime peel
-2 T lime juice
-2 T tamari or soy sauce,
-2 T flour*
-4 garlic cloves or 1 tbsp garlic powder
-6 chicken tenderloins.
TO COOK- Dump contents of bag in slow cooker.
Whisk ¾ cup of chicken broth with 1 tbsp of peanut butter, pour over chicken.
Cook on low for 5-6 hours. For the last five minutes, add in 1 can of coconut milk and 1 bag of frozen peas.
TO SERVE- To make it spicy, add 1/2 teaspoon of sriracha before serving. Garnish with chopped peanuts and cilantro. Serve over rice.
And here’s what they look like.
I prepped all of this food on Sunday
With intentions to make one of the four this week.
So three went in the freezer (not a lot of space in there)
And one stayed in the fridge and went into the crock pot
This morning. Mr. Works-from-home-hubby can do the honors
Of adding the last ingredients this afternoon.
Since I like to encourage him to participate in everything,
Instead of just doing things without his say one way or the other,
I let him select the bag he wanted to try first.
Coconut Curry Chicken it is.
