Slow Down for the Season...

So as you know from my last post, I LOVE Fall!  Besides the cooler weather and the beautiful scenery the food is wonderful.  Fall is the time when I start to make heartier, homier meals.  It is the time for comfort foods to shine!  This is also the time I pull out my slow cooker from it Summer hibernation in the closet.  This Autumn, the slow cooker has been working overtime-from BBQ Chicken to Applesauce I have loved using it again. 

As far as slow cooking goes, I was always afraid to do it.  My Mom never used one when I was growing up and I was convinced it was because the house would go up in flames if left unattended.  This may have been a possibility with the crock pots of the late '70's but today's crock pots are super sleek and as far as I know super safe!  I have even left the house with the slow cooker on!!!  Me, nervous, anxiety prone me actually left the slow cooker on with NO ONE HOME!  Baby steps folks-I'm getting there.

So the first venture was applesauce.  My kids love applesauce and will eat it with anything.  When Matthew was a baby, I made all of his food and his favorite was homemade applesauce pureed with chicken.  Not much has changed except they'd much rather eat regular chicken separate from their apples.  This time around I made Brown Sugar Applesauce.  It is a dark, yummy applesauce filled with warm caramel sort of flavors.

BROWN SUGAR APPLESAUCE

8-10 apples, peeled, cored & sliced (I used a combination of Golden Delicious and Gala)
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground clove
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Place all the ingredients into the slow cooker and mix well.  Cook on LOW for 8 hours.  Stir every so often.  When the time is up, you can mash with a potato masher for chunkier sauce or use an immersion blender for a smooth sauce.  Remember-the flavor of the spices will intensify in the slow cooker so if you don't love the punch of the spices, lower the amounts.

I kept sneaking apples out of the cooker-they tasted like yummy apple pie!

Finished product-darker than what I was used to, but super caramel yumminess!

I also tried a new chicken recipe last week.  I love barbecue anything.  From pulled pork to barbecue chicken, if it has barbecue sauce on it, I'll most likely LOVE it.  The recipe I tried was BBQ Chicken-a moist, yummy, flavorful chicken.  I used a few different slow cooker BBQ chicken recipes and took a bit from each one and this seemed to be my favorite.  I served the chicken with roasted potatoes and green beans.  I only add a few dashes of Tabasco because the kids won't eat it if it's too spicy.  I add some Tabasco to my own dish at dinner.  I totally forgot to take the pics of the process, but then again, do we really need to see pics of raw chicken?!?!

BBQ CHICKEN BREASTS

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 oz can tomato sauce
6 oz. water
2 TBS yellow mustard
3 TBS Worcestershire
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt
dash pepper
dash garlic powder
4 TBS brown sugar
a few dashes of Tabasco
small onion, chopped

Trim excess fat from the chicken.  Sprinkle with Lawrys & rub into both sides of the breasts.  Spray the slow cooker with non stick spray and place chicken in cooker.  In a medium bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients.  Pour over the chicken and cover the slow cooker.  Cook on LOW for 6 1/2 hours.  For a thicker sauce, you can cut the water to 4 oz. or leave the cover off for the last hour of cooking.

 

 

This season brings out my inner comfort food cook, so I can't wait to keep cooking and eating this Fall.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy these and it's almost time to make more applesauce! Next blog will be about pumpkins!!!!  Painting, picking and maybe even some carving.  Until then, enjoy the cool breeze and pray the rain stops-the minis and I need to get out and play in some leaves!