Crock Pot Butter Chicken

Since I'm trying to cook with more spices which I talked about when I posted the Basil Curry Chicken recipe before, I decided to try making my own Butter Chicken--and even better, it's a crockpot recipe, so no need to heat up the whole house slaving over the stove top!

Crockpot Butter Chicken--Ready to Eat!

The recipe was super simple, and basically amounts to simply throwing everything in the crockpot and letting it cook! I served mine over some white rice with a piece of naan. It was delicious and made an even better lunch the next day!

Crockpot Butter Chicken

Ingredients

• 1.5 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size chunks
• 1/2 onion, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons curry paste
• 2 tablespoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use less if you are not a spicy person)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk, regular or lite
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup half and half or heavy cream

Instructions

1. In a large glass measuring cup or bowl mix together the coconut milk, greek yogurt and cream. Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, ginger and all the spices. Mix well.

2. Sprinkle the onion over the bottom of the crockpot. Add the chicken and then pour the coconut milk mixture over the chicken so the chicken is completely covered. 

3. Add the butter and place the lid on the crockpot. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours. 

Once the curry is done cooking, serve it hot over rice and with some naan for scooping and dipping (my favourite part!) This meal was Toddler Approved which is always a nice bonus! For the boy-o I mixed some of the butter chicken up with some of the rice, and put into a tortilla shell with some cheese and gave it a quick grill to make it into a burrito of sorts. He gobbled it right up and I was super happy to have leftovers for lunch the next day because it was delicious!

Beef and Sausage Slow-Cooker Stew

When it gets chilly outside nothing beats throwing dinner together in a slow-cooker and letting it simmer away all day. It's such a relief to come home to a hot dinner that's filled the apartment with delicious smells and is ready when I am. We're trying to use the slow-cooker more, and part of that has been venturing out into stews. I'm not a huge fan of stew because I don't dig chunks of meat like that, but making it myself was a much better experience. I was able to trim the meat to my preferences, and I made sure to dice it into smaller bite sized pieces (rather than the huge chunks you often see--which, I'll admit, gross me out.)

This is the recipe that we used this week:

Beef and Sausage Slow-Cooker Stew:

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup all purpose flour

- 2 TSP salt

- 1 TSP black pepper

- 3 lbs beef for stew

- 1 can diced tomatoes in juice, undrained

- 1/2 lb smoked sausage, diced

- 3 potatoes, peeled and diced

- 1 cup chopped leak

- 1 cup chopped onion

- 4 stalks of celery, diced

- 1/2 cup chicken broth

- 3 gloves of garlic, minced

- 1 TSP dried thyme

Directions:

1. Combine 1/2 cup flour, salt, pepper, and beef into sealed bag and shake to coat.

2. Place beef in slow cooker, and add remaining ingredients. Sir well and cover. Cook on low 8 to 12 hours, or on high 4 to 6 hours.

3. If stew is too liquidy before serving, add a TBSP of flour to stew and stir well. Simmer until stew thickens and serve!

This delicious stew will go perfectly with a nice big hunk of zucchini and cheese damper too! The meat was so tender it essentially fell apart in the stew making it almost more of a ragu than a stew and it was delicious. 

It's Chilly, Time for Chili!

Chili is one of my all time favourite things to make when the weather starts to get cooler. It's easy, it's healthy, and I can make a huge batch in my crockpot and freeze some for quick meals later. Chili is a very personal food, and I know a lot of people are very particular about their chili recipes. I learned how to make chili from my mom who used to make it fairly often when I was growing up. I've taken her recipe as a base and adjusted it to make it my own. Chili is also a great way to use up some of the random veggies you  might have kicking around your fridge.

 

Crockpot Chili:

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground meat (we usually use Turkey)
2 tbs garlic powder
1 or 2 large green peppers, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
1 handful of shredded carrots
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can Vegetable Garden beans
1 can brown beans in tomato sauce
1 packet chili powder
1/2 can or bottle of beer (You can use water instead if you prefer, it just adds some liquid to the chili)


Directions:

1. Brown ground meat in a skillet and drain extra fat and liquid. Sprinkle garlic powder over meat.
2. Add ground meat to the crockpot and then add everything else, adding the beer last.
3. Mix together well to combine ingredients together.
4. Cook on low in crockpot for 6 hours.


Once the chili is ready I love to sprinkle some cheese on top! I usually add a little parmesan and then some grated cheese as well. My hubby loves to eat his chili with some nacho dips to dip in it. I really like pairing my Zucchini and Cheese Damper with my chili! There's something super satisfying of really dense bread with a hearty meal like chili.

One of my ultimate favourite ways of eating up leftover chili is to make it into chili nachos! To make chili nachos cover your plate with a generous amount of nacho chips. Sprinkle re-heated chili over chips. Add salsa, grated cheese and jalapenos. Microwave for a minute or so to melt cheese. Remove from microwave and add some sour cream. Enjoy! (You might need to eat them with a fork!)