Spicy Butternut Squash Stew

Ingredients:
Quinoa

Butternut squash

Chicken broth

Chicken

Kale

Red pepper

Sweet potato

Carrots

Onion

Garlic

Red pepper flakes

Cayenne pepper

Pepper

Oregano

Sriracha

Directions:

Cook cut up squash in chicken broth until soft, then blend in blender. Add chicken and squash broth to cock pot and cook on low. Add veggies and everything a couple hours later.

Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Courtesy Pinch of Yum (slightly modified)

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked wild rice
1 pound chicken breasts
2 cups mirepoix (onions, carrots, celery)
Zucchini
Broccoli
6 cups chicken broth
½ cup butter
¾ cup flour
2 cups whole milk
a few tablespoons white wine (optional)
up to 2 cups additional milk or water

Salt

Pepper

Sage

Thyme

Onion herb mix

Directions:
Rinse the wild rice. Place the uncooked wild rice, raw chicken, mirepoix, chicken broth, and poultry seasoning in a crockpot. (best to sauté onions first)  Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours. The chicken should be cooked through and the rice should be soft. There will be extra liquid in the crockpot; do not drain.
Remove the chicken breasts from the crockpot and allow to cool slightly. Using two forks, shred the chicken. Return the shredded chicken to the crockpot.
When rice and chicken are done cooking, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and let the mixture bubble for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the whole milk until a thick, creamy mixture forms. Stir in the wine.
Add this to the rice and chicken in the crockpot and stir to combine. Add extra water or milk to adjust the consistency as you like it. Season with additional salt and pepper.

Beef & Broccoli Mash Potatoes

Roast
Grapeseed oil
Onions
Honey
Rosemary
Thyme
Broccoli 
Baby Reds
Garlic
Chives
Salt
Pepper

Sweet & Spicy Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken (3 breasts)
Brown sugar (1/4 cup)
Soy sauce (to taste)
Pineapple juice (about a cup)
Pineapple chunks
Broccoli
Red pepper
Red pepper flakes (if desired)
Hot sauce (if desired)

Directions:
Put chicken in crock with brown sugar, soy sauce, and pineapple juice.  Toward end of cooking add pineapple, red pepper, and broccoli.  Serve over rice (jasmine rice is very good with it).

Pearl Soup

Ingredients:
Chicken in crock pot
1 cup Pearl Couscous, NOT cooked
2 cans (15 oz. each) Beans, drained
1 cup carrots, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped.
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 can (14.5 to 15 ounce can) Diced Tomatoes
1 cup Spaghetti Sauce
32 ounces Chicken Broth (4 cups)
1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Olive Oil

 Directions:

Cook chicken for 3-4 hours in crock pot.   Sautee onion, pepper, and carrots in olive oil before adding.  Put everything in crock pot, cook for 2-3 hours (until couscous is cooked).

Chipotle Enchiladas

Courtesy the Nutritious Kitchen!

Crockpot Chicken:
1 lb chicken breast (or a chuck roast for beef!)
3 cloves garlic, minced
Half large onion, chopped
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp each: garlic powder, basil, old bay seasoning
1 tsp chipotle sauce 
Shredded Zucchini (toward end)

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Enchilada Sauce
12 oz tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup vegetable stock
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp chipotle sauce
1 tsp each: cumin, cayenne and basil
2 Tbsp chopped onion
Juice on one small lemon
Dash of sea salt

Enchilada Filling
Medium sized corn tortillas
Crockpot chipotle chicken
1/2 cup jack cheese + more for topping

Directions:
Cook chicken and ingredients in crock pot until shredded nicely.  Saute onion and garlic in a large skillet with olive oil on medium heat. Add in seasonings and stir until combined. Gently add in tomato paste, chipotle sauce and vegetable stock, a little at a time. Simmer on low for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.  Mix shredded chicken from crockpot with jack cheese and about 1/2 cup of the sauce in the crockpot. Set aside.
Pour about 1/2 cup of your enchilada sauce into a 9x11 baking dish.  Place a tortilla into sauced baking dish. Place about a 1/4 cup of chicken filling into tortilla and roll up. Repeat this process until all chicken is used up. Pour remaining sauce over the enchiladas.
Sprinkle with jack cheese, cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover foil and broil for about 2 minutes.

Honey Garlic Chicken

Ingredients:

Crock Pot:
Chicken
Hoisin sauce
Little bit of sesame oil
Olive oil
Honey
Soy sauce
Chopped spinach
Blackberry jam
Garlic
Onion
Red pepper flakes
Scallions (garnish)

Everything else:
Spinach and/or arugala 
Couscous
Sesame seeds
Sunflower seeds
Carrot sticks
Chopped cabbage

Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the honey, soy sauce, blackberry jam, hoisin, sesame oil, olive oil, garlic, onion and crushed red pepper flakes, and then pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover the slow cooker and cook the chicken on LOW for 4 to 5 hours until the chicken is fully cooked.  Strain chicken a bit out of crock pot. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of cold water to make a slurry.  Transfer the liquids from the slow cooker into a small saucepan set over medium-high heat and whisk in the slurry. Bring the sauce to a boil and cook it until it reduces and has thickened slightly, about 3 minutes. Pour the sauce over the chicken, tossing to combine.

Cook couscous and put on bottom of dish.  Layer on top spinach, carrots, and sliced cabbage.  Add chicken, garnish chicken with scallions and sesame seeds (sunflower seeds too).  

Optional:  Cook spinach and carrots in pan with olive oil and cover until soft.

Pineapple Hummus Quesadilla

Ingredients:
Chicken
Tortillas
Avocado
Lime
Red pepper hummus
Red pepper
Pineapple
Coconut oil (or olive)

For chicken:
Garlic
Chili paste (or chilis)
Cumin
Cayenne pepper
Chili powder
dash of cinnamon
Salsa
Black pepper
(should be pretty spicy for this, just make how you want and test it out)


Directions:
Cook chicken in crock pot.  Add garlic, chili paste, chili powder, cayenne ppper, cumin, cinnamon, salsa and pepper.  Heat skillet to medium with coconut oil.  Spread hummus on half of or whole tortilla (depending if whole quesadilla or half size folded).  Sprinkle hummus side with cheese.  Add chicken.  Add red pepper, pineapple, and whatever else you want.  Sprinkle more cheese to seal in when melted.  Fold over and cook on skillet until just crispy.  Serve with left over pineapple and sliced avocado squirted with lime!  Yum!

Banana Bread Quinoa

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 1/2 cup low-fat milk (or cream)
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 banana (past ripe)
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional I hate nuts)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Chocolate Chips (optional)

Directions: 

1. Mash the banana in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the brown sugar and walnuts together.
2. Pour quinoa, creamer (or light cream), milk, water, butter and vanilla into the crock pot. Add the mashed banana and stir to evenly distribute. Sprinkle the sugar and walnut mixture into the quinoa and stir to mix.
3. Cook on low for 4 – 6 hours, or until the quinoa is fully cooked. If you need to, add additional liquid or sugar to the mixture for taste. 
4. Serve warm and garish with slices of banana and chocolate chips!

Mexican Shredded Chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken
Red pepper flakes
Chili powder
Cumin
Salsa
Pico

Could add:  corn, black beans, tomatoes

serve with:  cheese, basmati rice w/ cilantro & lime, tortillas, chips, tostada, taco shells, shredded lettuce, spinach etc.


Directions:

put salsa, spices, and chicken in crock pot 6-7 hours (could add corn and beans at some point if desired).  Do what you want with it now, but my favorite option:

Take a medium to small sized tortilla (just easier to flip) and put down a layer of cheese, add the hot chicken, add a layer of pico de gallo, and add a little more cheese.  Olive or coconut oil a pan and just cook it a few min on each side to crisp it and melt the cheese.  Cut with pizza cutter and you have the greatest quesadilla ever.  I'm going to add cut up spinach next time to make it healthier.

Pineapple Chicken

Ingredients:

Teriaki sauce (or BBQ sauce)
Chicken
Pineapple tidbits

OR

1 cup water
2 TBSP organic cane sugar
4 TBSP coconut aminos
2 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 TBSP olive oil
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
crock pot 6 hours, shred


serve with:  on bun, with baked pineapple instead, over rice with spinach, in tortilla with lettuce 

Directions:

Crock pot for 6 hours, add pineapple with it or baked separate, shred, eat.

Asian Beef Broccoli

--- Untested ---

Ingredients:

Chuck roast
broccoli
garlic
onion
soy sauce
Sesame oil
ginger
sesame seeds

Serve with - Asian noodles, rice, ramen


Directions:

Put beef, onions, and garlic in crock with a little water.  Cook all day.  Add broccoli and everything else for about the last 2 hours.  Cook rice or noodles (could do ramen noodles minus the nasty flavor packet of sodium doom).

Shredded Beef

Ingredients:

Beef chuck roast
Chopped onion
Pepper
Salt
Garlic powder
Thyme
Rosemary

Serve with:  buns, on baked potato, on roasted veggies/baby reds

Directions:

Place meat and onions in crock pot with a little water.  Cook all day.  Sprinkle in seasonings at some point.  Add BBQ if desired.  Shred up with fork.  Place on something and drizzle meat with BBQ sauce.

Shredded BBQ Chicken

Ingredients:

Oven
Olive oil
Chicken
Rosemary
Thyme
Garlic
Pepper

Crock 
Chicken
BBQ sauce
Brown sugar

Serve with:  Buns, tortillas, on baked potato, on roasted veggies/baby reds

Directions:

Oven
Heat oven to 380.  Spray glass pan with olive oil cooking spray and sprinkle chicken with the seasonings.  Cook chicken for 45 or so min, cutting it up as it cooks to shred a bit.  Drizzle with spicy BBQ when done.

Crock
Put chicken in crock pot, at some point add the BBQ and brown sugar.  

Beef Stew

Or soup, or just roasted beef and veggies...

Ingredients: 

Beef chuck
Baby reds
Carrots
Broccoli
Garlic (or powder)
Chopped onion
Beef broth
Green beans
Rosemary
Thyme
Pepper

 Directions:

 Throw meat in the crock pot first with just the onions.  As it cooks add the veggies and seasonings.  Depending on type they will cook slower or faster.  Carrots, fresh green beans, and whole or halved baby reds take longest (at least 5-6 hours).  Broccoli, frozen beans, frozen carrots, and smaller cut baby reds only need a couple hours.  For the last 2 hours or so add the gravy and broth (both are optional, broth makes it more of a soup, gravy more of a stew, or neither more of just roasted meat and veggies.  Add amounts as you wish it).

Make sure you fully stir the meat on the bottom at some point, I've noticed without stirring it well the beef can remain super pink and uncooked looking.  Might be fine, but I'm a pink meat phobe.