June 6 - Crockpot Chicken

I started off this morning with a delicious breakfast that I just threw together with random things that looked good from my fridge, and ended it was a scrumptious dinner and glass of wine...it was a great food day!

Before I get into dinner, here's a picture of my own healthy version of a breakfast burrito.

I scrambled 3 egg whites with a little bit of skim milk, and tossed in some diced yellow pepper and mushrooms. I have some of the Laughing Cow's french onion cheese, so I spread that on a whole wheat tortilla and added my eggs and veggies. Not only did it taste great, but it was hearty and filling, and only had about 300 calories total. YUM!

Now, onto dinner...

I had a bag of chicken parts frozen (2 breasts and 3 drumsticks), so I decided to make some crockpot chicken and used a variation of a recipe called 40-Clove Chicken. I didn't use 40 cloves of garlic, so to call it that would be a total misnomer. We grilled up the rest of the bunch of asparagus I had bought a week or two ago, and I made rosemary bread in the breadmaker (it is BY FAR the best bread I've ever had). The only issue I've been having with my bread-making is that the knead bar in the pan keeps baking into the bread. It drives me absolutely insane - I just can't figure out why it won't stick in the pan. If anyone has a solution, please let me know! Here are the recipes for the chicken and for the bread:

Garlicky Crockpot Chicken in White Wine (I think I need a new name?! haha)
Ingredients
3 lbs. chicken parts
Salt and pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
Dash red pepper flakes
12 cloves of garlic
Splash of lemon juice
1 large onion, cut into thick rings

Directions

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes or until browned on all sides. Remove to platter.
3. Combine wine, parsley, basil, oregano and red pepper flakes in a large bowl.
4. Layer onion across bottom of crockpot. Place chicken on top.
5. Cover chicken with wine and seasoning mixture, and splash a little lemon juice over top. Toss garlic on top of chicken and around crockpot.
6. Cook over low heat for approximately 8 hours.

My chicken was frozen when I put it in the crockpot, so I skipped step 2 and it still turned out fantastic. I also used my crockpot's "auto" setting so it would defrost and cook in the 6 to 8 hours I had until dinner. As for the bread, here's that recipe:


Jo's Rosemary Bread
Ingredients
1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 packet of yeast

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. 
2. Select white bread cycle; press Start.