Wednesday, February 22, 2012

A Yummy Wednesday

Hey all,

It's wet and gloomy today.  A day perfect for staying inside and cuddling up next to a fire with a good book.  
Certain days make you think of warm hot cocoa and something delicious simmering on the stove.  When I lived in snow country I always had something fragrant cooking.  It just seemed to add to the ambiance of enjoying the day.

And nine times out of ten I'd use my slow cooker.  It's easy, quick to get things ready, and I've made some of my best meals using them.

I know there are dozens of recipes for a slow cooker out there, but I'm always looking for new ones.  Unfortunately, I can't carry around my crockpot on tour, but that doesn't mean you all can't benefit from me searching out those delicious slow cooker recipes.

Today's recipe I got from a local restaurant here in Barcelona.  While they didn't use a slow cooker, it was very easy to adapt it into a recipe for one.  Since I love artichokes, I couldn't wait to try it and I have to say it's one of the best recipes I have.  I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do...


Artichoke Chicken Pasta

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray
2 lbs. cubed browned chicken
3 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes with basil, oregano, and garlic
2 14-oz. cans artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup whipping cream
12 oz. dried linguine, fettucine, or other favorite pasta
Sliced green olives and/or sliced pitted ripe olives
Crumbled feta cheese or finely shredded Parmesan cheese 

Directions

1. Coat the inside of a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Drain two of the cans of diced tomatoes (do not drain remaining can). In the prepared cooker, stir together drained and undrained tomatoes, the artichoke hearts, cubed chicken and garlic.

2.  Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 to 4 hours. Just before serving, stir in whipping cream; let stand about 5 minutes to heat through.

3.  Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Serve chicken and sauce over hot cooked pasta. Top with olives and cheese. 

Makes 6 servings.

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Please let me know what you think.  And if you have any slow cooker recipes you'd like to share, do so in the comments below.

Hugs,

CJ England  
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g53/cjengland/Blog%20Pics/HereComesPeter100x154.jpg
Follow Your Dreams

6 comments:

Kaylyn D said...

My hubby is in the army so I never know what time he will be home for dinner so I use my crock a lot! This recipe sounds awesome. I will be trying it out soon!

Ray said...

I forwarded the email to my wife. We have more than one slow cooker. In fact one of them is small enough you could probably carry it around with you with no trouble. Do they have them in Europe? Since I was aboard ship I only bought appliances for American current.

The last thing we had in the crock pot was spaghetti. It was heated the regular way and then placed in the crock pot with the sauce so it would stay warm. It isn't anything you would want to leave over night,but it was good for two meals. It was turned off late at night. I put what remained in the microwave the next day. One thing I learned was that 30 seconds in a microwave will kill most bacteria from vibration of the molecules. In fact if you put milk in the MW for 30 seconds it will last twice as long in the refrigerator.

Ray

CJ England said...

Let me know what you think, Kaylyn. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!!!!

CJ England said...

I'll have to see what kind of slow cookers they have over here, Ray. We have a little room, but unless I can find a sturdy one, the moving around might do it in. LOL

Interesting fact about the bacteria. That's a new one for me!

Phylis said...

One of the things I like to put in the slow cooker is meatballs. I get the Italian frozen ones and then put spaghetti sauce in them. We usually have them over hoagies with mozzarella. Yum! My favorite would be chili. I use red kidney beans, crushed tomatoes and hamburger with chili seasoning and that slow cooks all day. Yummy!

CJ England said...

Phylis,

I LOVE a good chili. The scent of it simmering all day. Yum! And then add some fresh cornbread and I could eat it forever!!!!

Now I'm hungry! LOL